Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Chapter 14 Another Important Person

Two boats collided. A woman servant fell into the water and was rescued. Afterward, she fell into the water again and was interrogated on the rudder. At last, she was released.

It lasted a long time and was noisy. Though people on the bank didn’t see that, many passengers in the boats heard the noise and came to see the fun.

Some of them saw the girl wearing a long veil on her eyes and handling things calmly. Though they just caught a glimpse of her, they couldn’t help guessing her identity secretly.

A young lady, ranked fourth in her family, had an eye disease. Besides, according to the woman servant, the ringleader was the Third Lady.

Various clues led some people to focus on the Mansion of Vice Minister Qu. Qu Zhizhen had a blind girl, didn’t he? He also had an elder girl with a good reputation.

And the two daughters were not born of the same mother.

Indications showed that it was the Third Lady with a good reputation that plotted against the Fourth Lady. Those people discussed it in boats and increasingly believed their deductions were correct. They even raked up what happened in the Qu Family long ago.

Qu Zhizhen’s concubine entered the Qu Family later, but she gave birth to a baby earlier than the wife did. After his wife died while bearing her daughter, the concubine became the mistress of the family immediately. Then the daughter born of his wife was sent away from the Qu Family with the excuse of eye disease and was kept in a village out of the capital, which made others think the Second Madam was sinister.

Once a child had a stepmother, her father would treat the child like a stepfather!

There was a medium-sized gaily-painted pleasure boat in the center of the lake. People in it witnessed the scene too.

Two young men were sitting in the cabin. One looked elegant and gentle, while the other was more outgoing. Seeing Qu Moying’s boat run to the bank, the latter patted the hand of the opposite gentle man with a fan and joked, “Won’t you go ashore to meet her? She is your fiancée!”

The gentle man put down his cup and said emotionlessly, “Our engagement is just the arrangement of our parents and the match-maker.”

The outgoing one was Yan Yu, a good friend of Xu Lipeng, the eldest son of Marquis Yongning. As the second son of Earl Fengyang, Yan Yu didn’t need to succeed to the position of his father like the eldest son, so he was unrestrained. He studied in the Imperial College with Xu Lipeng, so they were classmates.

“It’s really unfair to you. You were betrothed when still in womb by parents of both parties. Don’t you want to break the engagement?” Yan Yu said and leaned back. He was defending his friend against injustice.

Xu Lipeng was a talent in the capital and the eldest son of Marquis Yongning, so he was promising. Many madams in the capital thought highly of him and wanted to marry their daughters to him. Unexpectedly, he had been engaged. What was worse, his fiancée was a talentless, plain-looking, and most importantly, incapable and blind girl.

Unfair. Very unfair!

“She has been so miserable. How can I add insult to injury?” Xu Lipeng shook his head and stared at the boat that went farther and farther as if deep in thought.

He once met her, but he just saw the top of her head last time. Her voice was too low that he could hardly hear it clearly. Was she really that girl with an imposing manner just now?

He recalled that face for no reason. Even though the veil covered most of her face, it could be judged that she was not ugly. The wind lifted her long veil, and her slim figure almost danced in the wind just like a fairy. Could such a girl be ugly, blind, talentless, and plain-looking?

“You’re too kind. But you shouldn’t waste your whole life!” Yan Yu felt more indignant. He thought his friend was great, but he had a woman’s soft nature and was too gentle. Apparently, they are not a perfect couple, but he still obeyed the engagement.

“Wait and see. If she is really not suitable…let’s talk about it later!” Perhaps because of Yan Yu’s kindness, Xu Lipeng became less stubborn and said smilingly. He looked down and couldn’t help frowning. If what he saw today was the true side of Qu Moying, his earlier plan wouldn’t be achieved easily.

He had to look for a chance to know more.

What he said showed clearly that he was perfunctory, but at least he was less stubborn, so Yan Yu was excited and didn’t insist on what happened just now. He changed the topic to something interesting…

The woman servant returned to the Mansion of Vice Minister Qu first. Qu Moying boarded the carriage waiting on the bank, traveled around on the streets, zigzagged, and then stopped at the door of a clinic.

This was her other destination.

The clinic wasn’t large. It couldn’t be reached unless you walked along several paths. If a person wasn’t familiar with its location, he couldn’t find this place.

The clinic door was ajar, and no one could be seen. The clinic was isolated, and its business was bad. Who chose to run a clinic here?

Qu Moying looked closely and told Yu Chun to knock on the door.

The unlocked door was opened, and a servant came out. Looking up and down at Yu Chun and Qu Moying, he asked casually, “Can I help you?”

“Excuse me, is Mr. Zhang at home?” Yu Chun asked smilingly.

“Mr. Zhang isn’t here. Please go to the Zhang Family for him. This is just a clinic.” The servant said while curling up his lips. As a servant of the Medical Officer in the Imperial Hospital, he thought he was qualified to speak in this way.

“Could you please show the painting to Mr. Zhang?” Qu Moying looked at the servant. If he was just an ordinary servant, he couldn’t dare to speak so impolitely. It seemed that Mr. Zhang was in the clinic, but he didn’t want to see visitors.

Medical Officer Zhang was keen on the paintings of a famous painter, and this one was created by that painter. The Old Lady hung it out, which meant it couldn’t be fake. She authenticated it last night.

She heard about his hobby by chance from Pei Luo’an, the Crown Prince, in her previous life. So was the unknown clinic. No one could expect such an old, small, and isolated clinic was run by the Medical Officer of the Imperial Hospital.

It appeared that there was only an old sleepy doctor that treated patients, but if Mr. Zhang had been satisfied, he could treat patients himself.

The servant was clear about the hobby of his master. He took over the painting, glanced suspiciously at Qu Moying and Yu Chun, raised his head, and said proudly, “Wait. Don’t look and move around.”

Then he left. Qu Moying looked at his back and smiled. Mr. Zhang could play an important role…