Chapter 61

Chapter 61

Chapter 61 The Prideful Second Young Master Yan

Something was wrong. Qu Qiuyan’s eyes darkened as she was immersed in thoughts. The plan which she thought was perfect now lost its crucial evidence, making her feel unsettled. She couldn’t meddle in this matter anymore, or her involvement would be exposed. But when did it go wrong?

“You were just looking around? Second Sister, if you have nothing to do with it, do you dare to let Granny Wu search your room?” Qu Moying raised her eyebrow and said coldly.

“Why will I not dare to? If you want to take a look in my room, please help yourself, Granny Wu!” Qu Caiyue had been feeling flustered for a while. However, she lost the chance to back out and had to bite the bullet.

“Granny Wu, how about you take Yu Dong there to have a look? Just in case Second Sister was blaming me for something that doesn’t even exist. I’ll accompany Grandma,” Qu Moying said to Granny Wu gently.

“Go take a look!” as the Old Lady talked to Granny Wu, she glared at Qu Caiyue with an irritated look on her face.

This granddaughter was her least favorite one not only because she was a concubine’s child but also for her mean personality. Even though the Old Lady lived in the West Mansion, she often heard rumors about Qu Caiyue from the East Mansion. People said she always fawned on Qu Qiuyan but was very mean to her servants, often cursing them and abusing them.

The Old Lady had no good impression of her at all. Still, she didn’t want to take her parents’ responsibility to educate her since Qu Caiyue rarely came over to the West Mansion. However, she irritated the Old Lady this time by making such a big scene involving her other two granddaughters.

Granny Wu nodded and went to Qu Caiyue’s yard with Yu Dong.

Qu Moying held the Old Lady’s arm and headed back to the main yard. At the same time, Qu Qiuyan rushed up and walked on the other side to help support her grandmother, acting like a filial lady.

When they just arrived at the Old Lady’s yard door, Granny Wu hurriedly rushed over and whispered something in the Old Lady’s ear. Then the Old Lady pulled a long face, steadied herself by grabbing Qu Moying’s hand, and gazed at Qu Caiyue, who was standing aside.

She fell into silence for a while and then said, “Let’s go to Caiyue’s yard.”

Then the Old Lady continued to walk, holding Qu Moying’s arm.

The others followed her there. They closed the door after everyone was inside, shutting the guests’ curious gazes outside. Those onlookers stared at each other, shocked by the sudden change of the situation. Did it mean the lady secretly dating a man was not Fourth Lady Qu but Second Lady Qu?

Fourth Lady Qu proved her innocence just now, but what about Second Lady Qu?

Some people couldn’t hold back their curiosity, standing close to their yard door and trying to eavesdrop on them, while others, restrained by manners, pretended they were taking a walk around and watching the views but strained to hear every sound inside the yard.

The Old Lady vented her rage immediately after they walked into the yard and yelled at Qu Caiyue, who was following behind, “Kneel down!”

Qu Caiyue had been in a panic already, and her body reacted even faster than her mind. She knelt down at once and pouted, “Grandmother.”

Qu Moying glanced at the yard and helped her grandmother sit down on the stone stool aside.

At the same time, Yu Dong walked out of the house with a small package in his hand. He put it down on the stone table in front of the Old Lady and opened it. Everyone saw a fancy piece of clothes lying inside, along with an exquisite jewelry box. Inside the box was a pair of white jade earrings, looking valuable.

Seeing the familiar package, Qu Caiyue almost fainted. She had to put her hand on the ground to support herself, shivering. She remembered clearly that it was put in Qu Moying’s bag, but why did it show up here?

She recalled every moment after they arrived at the temple, but she couldn’t think about one when Qu Moying had the chance to sneak into her yard and put the package in her bag. Then why was this package in her bag?

“Tell me, where did you get these things?” the Old Lady asked her angrily.

“I-I don’t know. Grandmother, I-I have no idea wh-where they came from…” Qu Caiyue stuttered as her face turned pale. Her mind was a piece of blank, and she only wished she could pass out right now. Why did it happen? How come it ended up like this? Shouldn’t this package be in Qu Moying’s bag?

She raised her eyes and glanced at Qu Qiuyan, seeking help, but Qu Qiuyan gave her an icy glare, stepped back, and then looked away.

“This is a piece of clothes from the Huayi Boutique, right? I don’t remember you bought any clothes from that shop. Neither did our family buy any clothes from the Huayi Boutique for the ladies. Did you purchase it secretly by yourself?” the Old Lady asked her coldly after checking the clothes.

The Qu Family had a strict yearly budget for the ladies’ clothes – every lady had four suits of clothes for each season. If they wanted more, they needed to pay for the extra by themselves.

The Old Lady’s other two granddaughters, the First Lady and the Third Lady, were both given birth by a wife. Their mothers could financially support them. However, Qu Caiyue’s mother was Madam Mei, and a concubine like her wouldn’t have any disposable money to buy her daughter extra clothes. Qu Caiyue couldn’t possibly afford such a fancy piece of clothes from the Huayi Boutique.

“G-Grandmother…th-this piece of clothes i-is mine,” Qu Caiyue said while gnashing her teeth. She had no choice but to continue the lie.

“What about the earrings?” The Old Lady’s face was full of disappointment.

“I-I-I-I don’t know where they came from. I was sitting in the same carriage with Moying. They must be hers… They are Moying’s…” Qu Caiyue was aware that people didn’t believe she would buy clothes from the Huayi Boutique because she was poor. But after all, this was just a piece of clothes. If Qu Qiuyan gave her some money, she could still buy it. That was why she dared to say the clothes were hers.

As for the earring, she’d rather have nothing to do with them. She had no idea how much they cost and their background since Qu Qiuyan prepared all of them, and she didn’t even bother to ask.

Sitting in the same carriage with Qu Moying might be a feasible excuse, so Qu Caiyue immediately blamed it on her.

There were only four people in the carriage. She thought Qu Moying wouldn’t have a good reason to defend herself.

“Nonsense!” the Old Lady scolded her in rage, looking furious.

“Grandmother, they must be Moying’s. I have no idea when she put them into my bag,” Qu Caiyue cried out loud, pretending to feel wronged. She decided to clutch at the last straw she had.

“Second Sister, you said this pair of earrings is mine?” Qu Moying glanced at Qu Caiyue and asked.

“Of course, these are yours. I don’t have anything like that. We put our packages together in the carriage on the way here. These must have dropped into my bag accidentally from your bag,” Qu Caiyue straightened up and said confidently.

It was ridiculous that Qu Caiyue was still trying to blame things on her at this point. Qu Moying sneered inwardly and touched the clothes on the table. “I heard the Huayi Boutique has a record of every single new piece of clothes they’ve sold. This one looks like one of the newest they have, and it should just come out this year. We will know who bought it once we take a simple investigation.”

She had never bought any clothes from the Huayi Boutique in this life. However, when she was Ji Hanyue, she would purchase every new piece she liked from this shop, and that was why she knew about it.

Qu Caiyue was startled by her words, with her lips turning pale. She opened her mouth but couldn’t utter a single word, and then she looked at Qu Qiuyan helplessly. Both of them were aware that the person who bought the clothes was Second Young Master Yan, Yan Yu. They planned to use the clothes to set Qu Moying up, but the only chance they could find to let the young master and Fourth Lady Qu meet was at the market just now.

However, the clothes obviously had been in Qu Caiyue’s bag since long ago, even before they went to the market. For Qu Caiyue, admitting the clothes were her possession had no difference than admitting her secret relationship with Second Young Master Yan.

If the earrings’ purchasing record could be found as well, any explanation would be useless.

Qu Caiyue trembled as tears flowed down her cheeks. There was no need to frame Qu Moying anymore since everyone was convinced that she was the one who misbehaved due to the clothes.

“As for the earrings, I’m even more clueless. Everything I did in the village should be known by the village head. I didn’t even meet Young Master Xu at that time, let alone other young masters. After I came back to the mansion, I didn’t have any chance to meet an outsider either. Grandmother, let’s check where they came from and who bought them. Costly things like these usually had brand marks. It should be very easy to track their sources.”

Now the whole situation was clear to Qu Moying.

They tried to secretly give her the clothes and then created a situation where she was rescued by a young master. That young man with upturned eyes should be the main role of this show. He looked like a righteous gentleman, but who would’ve known that he worked with Qu Qiuyan to set her up. If Qu Moying acted like a typical lady and talked with him a little bit more after being saved from the punks, this would become strong evidence for them to argue against her.

Love at first sight was a romantic story for a man but was deadly for a woman’s name, especially when her engagement with Xu Lipeng was just broken off.

If they really found these things from Qu Moying’s yard, with all the onlookers outside her place, her name would be permanently ruined.

Although she didn’t care about marriage in this life, she couldn’t allow Yu and her daughter to ruin her name for their own sake. Thinking about this, Qu Moying curled up her lips into a grim smile.

“Go invite Second Young Master Yan over,” the Old Lady calmed herself down and said to Granny Wu. No matter how she disliked Qu Caiyue, she didn’t want her family to become famous for a scandal.

The Old Lady wondered what kind of person Second Young Master Yan was. She only heard that he was a playboy but never expected him to be involved with the Qu Family. The Old Lady decided to invite Earl Fengyang, his father, over and talk with him after she returned to the mansion.

Granny Wu went out for a while. Finally, she came back with a man, walking in slowly. Qu Moying immediately recognized him – he was the man she met at the market. A trace of coldness flashed across her eyes.

Yan Yu was not flustered at all, knowing he was here to “clarify” the situation. Seeing the old maid sent by Old Lady Qu, he even changed his clothes before coming over. He stayed at the Dabei Temple as well, but in another living area specifically for male guests, not far away from here. After entering the yard, the first scene he saw was Qu Caiyue kneeling on the ground and sobbing desperately.

At the same time, Qu Moying stood beside the Old Lady while the latter held her hand tightly. The intimate posture clearly showed the Old Lady’s preference in terms of her granddaughters, making Yan Yu feel more disgusted. In his opinion, Fourth Lady Qu not only had a weird and malicious personality but also was good at manipulating other people.

She should be the one who misbehaved, but Second Lady Qu became the poor one being punished. The girl was kneeling on the ground and crying, but no one dared to help her. It was exactly the same as Yu Qingmeng said – Old Lady Qu favored the Fourth Lady a lot. Even an outsider like him felt this was too much.

But since Fourth Lady Qu was such an evil-minded person, he could frame her without feeling guilty…