Chapter 84

Chapter 84 – Yu’S Impressive Acting

Chapter 84 Yu’s Impressive Acting

“Third Lady Qu, there might be a misunderstanding. Maybe someone is trying to use this hairpin to set up your family. You can ask your father to check on it. There have to be some clues that he can find out. You and your sister are just two ladies, and it will be inconvenient for you to make an investigation,” said Pei Yusheng.

His words acted as an excuse for Qu Qiuyan, implying that someone wanted to frame Qu Zhizhen by ruining his daughter’s name. Qu Qiuyan was also a victim and had nothing to do with it.

Qu Moying raised her brow and stepped back quietly, leaving the space to Qu Qiuyan and Pei Yusheng.

Chun Xiu arrived pretty late and didn’t see the whole process. Frowning, she looked at the two people in the center and whispered to an old woman next to her, “What happened? Why does Lord Jing spend so much effort defending Third Lady Qu?”

At the same time, Qu Qiuyan took out her hanky to wipe her tears, feeling wronged. If there weren’t many people here, she would’ve already rushed into Pei Yusheng’s arms and asked for his comfort pitifully.

“I don’t know. But by the looks of them…they indeed seem pretty familiar with each other… Maybe Lord Jing is interested in Third Lady Qu!” the old woman answered her in a low voice. She was not talking so quietly, but with all the people around discussing, no one could hear her clearly.

“So, Lord Jing is helping Third Lady Qu to get her out of trouble?” Chun Xiu exclaimed, catching many people’s attention, including Pei Yusheng’s. People all turned around and looked at her while she covered her mouth in embarrassment. She gave people an apologetic smile and lowered her head hurriedly.

People all fell into silence for a second and then looked back at the center where Qu Qiuyan and Pei Yusheng stood. They started to have a guess in their minds.

Everyone believed that it was Third Lady Qu who wanted to frame her younger sister. She said she gave the hairpin to Qu Moying. However, the hairpin ended up in a man’s hand who claimed he received it from a strange maid. Since Third Lady Qu was the hairpin’s owner, naturally, she was the one who sent it.

She sent it on behalf of her younger sister to a poor scholar. Although the scholar was a hard-up one, he still had the backbone to return the hairpin, feeling annoyed by the lady’s misbehavior. What happened later clearly showed that Third Lady Qu was trying to blame it all on her younger sister.

But then Lord Jing showed up, saying someone was trying to set up Vice Minister Qu’s family?

Hinted by Chun Xiu’s words, many people didn’t buy Lord Jing’s excuse.

“Okay, this is over. Third Lady Qu, Fourth Lady Qu, please ask your father to make an investigation on this when you are back home.” Pei Yusheng pulled a long face, took a glance at Chun Xiu, and left with his group.

If Chun Xiu weren’t Liu Lanxin’s maid, he would vent his anger on her for being rude, but he couldn’t do anything to her right now. Moreover, he even needed to come up with a proper explanation to tell Lady Liu. He couldn’t make her think he had something to do with Qu Qiuyan.

He used to think Qu Qiuyan was a kind, considerate girl whose appearance was his type too. Although sometimes she would have a temper, all he needed to do was to say some pretty words and let her vent it out. However, seeing her made Lord Jing feel inexplicably annoyed. He started to regret meeting her in private on Old Lady Qu’s birthday banquet. Otherwise, people wouldn’t spread the rumors about them, which kind of ruined his plan.

Following Pei Yusheng, County Lady Jingyu turned back to look at the crowd and then asked softly, “Your Royal Highness, what’s going on?”

“Nothing surprising there. It’s just the conflict between officials. I need to go back and report it to my father.” Pei Yusheng swung his wide sleeve furiously.

County Lady Jingyu didn’t dare to say anything more and left with him. However, when they almost walked out of people’s sight, she turned her head again. This time, her eyes fell on Qu Moying…

After all the things that happened, there was no time for Qu Moying to worship the Buddha anymore.

“My lady, where’s your divination stick?” Yu Dong looked around and noticed the divination stick in Qu Moying’s hand was gone.

Qu Moying’s eyes darkened as she looked down at her hand and shook her head, “I probably lost it when I walked out of the hall.”

“Well, that’s a pity. Otherwise, you can ask the monk to analyze it for you. I heard the sticks’ fortune-telling is pretty accurate,” Yu Dong said regretfully.

Qu Moying didn’t respond and lowered her head. Actually, she threw the stick herself because it somehow gave her an unsettled feeling as if her secret would be exposed in public.

What she didn’t know was her lost divination stick was picked up by a monk…

When Qu Qiuyan and Qu Moying returned to the Old Lady’s yard, she had already got the news. As her two granddaughters came in, the Old Lady’s cold gaze fell on Qu Qiuyan, “Yan, tell me about the hairpin.”

“Grandmother, I really gave the hairpin to Moying. Granny Wu saw it too,” Qu Qiuyan said hurriedly. She pressed her pink lips and stared at her grandmother pitifully with her teary eyes. “Grandmother, I don’t know why the hairpin I gave to Moying showed up in a man’s hand. At first, he said it was sent by Moying, and in the next second, he said he didn’t know about it.”

“Third Lady, I did see you pull out a hairpin from your hair and give it to the Fourth Lady. But I didn’t know which one you gave her,” Granny Wu walked up and said politely.

She was standing in the hallway and heard them talking about it, but she couldn’t see it clearly. Qu Qiuyan always wore multiple hairpins on her head, and Granny Wu couldn’t tell which one she had taken off at that time.

“Third Lady, we’ve asked the First Lady’s maid already. She said she did see someone stole the Fourth Lady’s hairpin after bumping into her. The Fourth Lady even searched it around for a while with her two maids,” added Granny Wu.

“Grandmother, I…” Qu Qiuyan didn’t understand why things turned out this way. She should have nothing to do with it except for giving Qu Moying the hairpin out of good intention. How come all the evidence proved that she was the one trying to frame Qu Moying?

“Go pack your stuff, and we are going back to the mansion right now,” the Old Lady’s voice was stern. After they arrived at the Dabei Temple, bad things kept happening. If they were in the mansion, things wouldn’t be known by so many outsiders. Feeling furious, the Old Lady was having a heartache and didn’t want to spend one more second in this place.

The Old Lady had the most amount of stuff, but all her things had been packed up already before the ladies came back. Soon, everyone else finished their packing and got on the carriages.

However, Qu Moying was sitting with Qu Xuexin this time while Qu Caiyue was in the same carriage as Qu Qiuyan.

In the carriage, Qu Qiuyan was wearing a sullen face and gnashing her teeth, on the edge of an explosion.

Qu Caiyue had known what had happened as well. She showed a concerned look on her face and asked discreetly, “Qiuyan, don’t be so angry. It must have something to do with that bitch Qu Moying. She must’ve set you up! That’s what she did to me before!”

“Bitch, bitch, bitch!” Qu Qiuyan lowered her voice and kept cursing Qu Moying, looking malicious.

Qu Qiuyan couldn’t even say how bitter she felt right now. First, her plan about framing Qu Moying backfired. Then, Lord Jing said these hairpins were something he lost and refused to admit they were his gift to her while County Lady Jingyu stood next to him. Qu Qiuyan once heard that Noble Consort He picked Liu Jingyu as Lord Jing’s wife candidate. Thinking about it, she couldn’t feel more jealous and resentful.

Although Lord Jing explained to her before that it was just Noble Consort He’s own wishful thinking, Lord Jing was literally with County Lady Jingyu just now. Moreover, he didn’t want to admit that he gave her those hairpins as a keepsake of their love.

Liu Jingyu didn’t say anything, but Qu Qiuyan clearly saw the sarcasm in her eyes, which fired Qu Qiuyan with anger.

The first person she hated the most was Qu Moying, and the second was Liu Jingyu.

Liu Jingyu got her title of County Lady only because her grandfather was Duke Qi and nothing else. Nothing was outstanding about her, and how dare she think she was the future Madam Jing?!

“Qiuyan, how about considering the next step first? Grandmother has always been defensive about that low-life girl, and she won’t go easy on you this time. Besides, those…those outsiders…”

Looking at Qu Qiuyan, whose eyes were bulging in anger, Qu Caiyue didn’t dare to continue speaking.

Rumors had spread everywhere that Qu Qiuyan wanted to frame her younger sister. Qu Qiuyan didn’t have any evidence to prove the rumors wrong. Moreover, there was evidence to prove that she had been lying the whole time, which was very unfavorable to her. Qu Qiuyan didn’t expect any of this at the beginning.

It took her some time to suppress her anger. Hearing Qu Caiyue’s words, Qu Qiuyan’s eyes darken as she sneered, “Second Sister, are you enjoying it a lot?”

“No…no, I’m not. I…I’m just worrying…worrying about you.” Glared by Qu Qiuyan, Qu Caiyue hurriedly waved her hands.

“Good. Otherwise… You know me, Second Sister…” Qu Qiuyan said in a cold voice.

“Yeah, I know. Of course, I know. Qiuyan, you can ask me for help anytime. I’d love to do anything for you,” Qu Caiyue flattered.

Qu Qiuyan curled up her lips in disdain. What else could Qu Caiyue, a concubine’s daughter, do expect for flattering her? Nothing! However, Qu Caiyue wasn’t totally useless to her right now. Her mother Yu must’ve been thinking of a way to fix the current situation, and maybe Qu Caiyue still had her value in it…

In front of the Qu’s Mansion, Yu had known everything that happened and waited for a while. Seeing the carriages, she hurriedly walked up.

The Old Lady got out of the carriage first. Her face was pale, and she looked fatigued. The Old Lady was still sick when they left, but she pushed herself to go out with her granddaughters so that they could have a good time in the Dabei Temple. However, she never expected terrible things to keep happening, making her more and more stressed.

Following the Old Lady, Qu Xuexin got out of the carriage and then Qu Moying. Yu immediately rushed up with a beam, “Ying, how do you feel on the mountain? Did you have a good time? If you need anything, just tell me. I know you still feel strange in the mansion after all the years in the village, and you rarely speak for yourself. I’ve always worried that I do something wrong in terms of taking care of you. If there’s anything that makes you unhappy, feel free to tell me about it. After all, we are mother and daughter, and we should be close to each other.”

Yu even took out her hanky to wipe her faked tears.

Anyone who didn’t know them would think Qu Moying must be Yu’s own daughter since she had deliberately ignored Qu Qiuyan for the whole time.

At the same time, the Old Lady was standing at the gate, steadied by Granny Wu. The Old Lady turned around with a stern look on her face and watched Yu acting.

Qu Qiuyan walked towards the gate with Qu Caiyue. Seeing Yu, her eyes turned red immediately, and she pouted, “Mother…”

Tears flew down her cheeks. She was too upset to say anything else, using her hanky to cover her eyes. Losing all her strength, Qu Qiuyan almost fell to the ground. Qu Caiyue hurriedly went up to steady her.

Meanwhile, Qing Ju, Qu Qiuyan’s maid, rushed up and curtsied to Yu.

However, in the next second, Yu threw a hard slap on Qing Ju’s face. The unexpected pain made the maid step back and fall to the quartzite floor in front of the mansion…