Chapter 172

Chapter 172 – Crown Princess Had Poor Judgement!

Chapter 172 Crown Princess Had Poor Judgement!

The matter at Qu Mansion had caused quite a lot of trouble recently. Everyone knew that the Second Madam, the one who got appointed later on, was a bad person. Now, it seemed that she was also greedy for Second Madam Qu’s dowry.

Come to think of it, this matter was normal. She had murdered her husband’s ex-wife’s daughter. How could she not covet the ex-wife’s dowry? If the daughter died, wouldn’t all the dowry fall into her hands instead?

“Old Lady Ji, we will just sort it out quickly. Concubine Xiang will come back soon.” Qu Moying said with a smile.

Old Lady Ji went silent for a moment. She looked at Concubine Xiang, who was kneeling on the ground. This matter was considered to have come to an end here. It was actually no big deal whether Concubine Xiang stayed here or not.

As long as her entire family admitted that what Concubine Xiang said was true and what her eldest son wrote was true, Lord Yun could not interfere. Since Concubine Xiang was useless, it was fine to send her out. At least the annoying Fourth Lady Qu would finally leave, which was a good thing.

Next, the Old Lady would discuss this with her second son and his family. If Fourth Lady Qu were still around, it would be troublesome.

As Old Lady Ji thought of this, her expression became a bit kinder. She nodded and said, “Alright then. Hurry up and come back soon.”

“Thank you, Old Lady!” Qu Moying replied quickly. She thanked Old Lady Ji with a smile, then stood up and said goodbye.

Seeing that she was finally leaving, Old Lady Ji casually said a few words of courtesy and asked the old maid to send them out.

Concubine Xiang followed Qu Moying out. After walking a few steps, she looked in the direction of where the first branch lived with tears in her eyes and stopped. “Fourth Lady Qu, I can’t leave. Earl Ling’an had just passed. How can I leave at this time?”

She knew that Qu Moying was trying to save her, but she was really unwilling to leave at this time.

“If you don’t leave at this time, are you waiting to be killed by Princess Ji and Second Madam Ji?” Qu Moying asked with a cold face.

“No, I am Earl Ling’an’s concubine. Princess Ji and Second Madam won’t do that to me.” Concubine Xiang shook her head and said with tears, “Even if they beat me up, I wouldn’t care. I just want to accompany Earl Ling’an. He is now all alone there. I…”

When Concubine Xiang said this, she choked and couldn’t continue. Tears trickled down her cheeks.

“They will take your life,” Qu Moying said with certainty.

“No, although Princess Ji and Second Madam are a little selfish, they won’t do such a thing. In the past, Princess Ji and the Crown Princess were very close.” Concubine Xiang shook her head.

“They will! Crown Princess had poor judgement.” Qu Moying sneered and said with certainty.

She was mocking herself. In her last life, she was ignorant. Even the people around her mother felt that although Ji Youran was a little selfish, Ji Youran was good overall. Who would have thought that Ji Youran would collude with Pei Luo’an to kill Ji Hanyue’s father, push Ji Hanyue down into the water from Linyuan Pavilion, and even cruelly chop Ji Yanyue to death?

Concubine Xiang was so shocked by the meaning of Qu Moying’s words that her face turned pale. She yelled out, “Fourth Lady Qu!”

“Let’s go. I will tell you in detail when we get back!” Qu Moying waved her hand and walked out.

Concubine Xiang wanted to say something more, but she saw Qu Moying’s cold face. For some reason, Qu Moying looked somewhat like the Second Lady in the past. For a moment, Concubine Xiang did not dare to say anything more. Back then, Second Lady had an imposing manner. Even when it was Concubine Xiang who saw Second Lady, she would be well-behaved and did not dare to take a wrong step.

The carriage was waiting at the same place. After the two of them got on the carriage, Qu Mansion’s carriage immediately headed out of the gate and left.

Not long after they left, a few lowly old maids chased out of the mansion. Hearing that Qu Mansion’s carriage had already left, they helplessly returned.

“Mother, why did you let Fourth Lady Qu take Concubine Xiang away?” Hearing the servant report that Qu Mansion’s carriage had already left, Xiao angrily stomped her feet.

“It’s fine. Concubine Xiang will be sent back soon. Qu Mansion’s matter is also very chaotic. That Fourth Lady Qu was so unruly. She just kept talking here and didn’t even know she should leave to avoid arousing suspicion.” Old Lady Ji rubbed the space between her eyebrows and said.

The elders of the Ji Family had already been invited by Ji Yong’an to have a talk in the yard beside. Only Xiao was here, and Ji Youran was not here because she had gone to talk to the Crown Prince.

“Mother, Concubine Xiang is very important. I’m afraid that you might not be able to find her when you look for her again.” Xiao was furious. She regretted that she had come a little late. She thought that Concubine Xiang was only an ant in her palm and she could strangle Concubine Xiang to death however she wanted. She did not expect that Concubine Xiang would actually escape right under her nose.

She really had no idea that Fourth Lady Qu had come over here.

“What are you saying? What do you mean by not being able to find her? So what if we find her? Can we say that what she said is false? This matter is settled. Tomorrow, we will hold a ceremony in the ancestral hall to transfer Yuanhai to Yongming’s first branch. He will be considered Yongming’s wife-born son and appointed as Yongming’s heir. The title of Earl Ling’an will be given to Yuanhai. Anyway, he is your son. No matter who the title is given to, his relationship with you will not change.”

Sensing the blame in Xiao’s words, Old Lady Ji slammed the table in displeasure. After that, she ignored Xiao. She held an old maid’s hand and walked inside, leaving Xiao alone, who was so enraged that she almost passed out.

How was it the same? That concubine-born son had nothing to do with her. It was not the same no matter what.

Her son had missed getting the title, and now, the son of a concubine had gotten the benefits instead. Xiao felt that she was going to be pissed to death by this brainless old woman.

However, it was not reasonable to transfer her son to the first branch to become the heir. After all, her son was the only wife-born son from the second branch. In this case, it was impossible to transfer him to the first branch.

The only candidate right now seemed to be Ji Yuanhai.

However, Xiao was dissatisfied. She had schemed for so long and so much, to the point of even risking getting herself beheaded. In the end, the title of Earl Ling’an fell into the hands of this little bastard Ji Yuanhai, while her son had to stand aside instead.

And now, Old Lady Ji was so brainless as to let Concubine Xiang be taken away by Fourth Lady Qu. It was useless for Xiao to talk anymore. After stomping hard, she turned back and went out to discuss things with her daughter. She had to find her daughter. Old Lady Ji, the selfish old woman, was so useless that she couldn’t even detain a concubine.

Xiao hurriedly went to find Ji Youran. Meanwhile, Ji Youran was not in a good situation.

After she spilled everything, Pei Luo’an’s originally calm face immediately showed anger. His cold gaze landed on her face, and he asked sternly, “How could there be such a thing? Didn’t you say before that nothing would happen in the Ji Family?”

“I… I didn’t know that Concubine Xiang would suddenly come out of the temple hall and even make such a scene.” Ji Youran cried with tears.

While wiping away her tears with a handkerchief, she looked very aggrieved. She looked extremely delicate. “Also, I did not expect that Lord Yun Mansion’s people would actually bump into her. Moreover, that eunuch called Ji Hai even took the initiative to follow her back.”

“What exactly did he say?” Pei Luo’an asked coldly.

“He said that he would report to the governor to help investigate this matter. After all, this matter is related to Eldest Uncle. No one can be careless about it.” Ji Youran sobbed sadly. “Your Highness, I wonder what Lord Yun is up to. Why does he have to intervene in this kind of thing? This is clearly not his business. He…”

Ji Youran said indignantly. The more she thought about it, the more she felt wronged. This matter had nothing to do with Lord Yun Mansion, so how could they get involved? Lord Yun was definitely meddling in others’ business. No matter how powerful Lord Yun was, he was only an official. How could he dare to go against the Crown Prince?

“Shut up!” Pei Luo’an snapped, suppressing his anger. He did not want to hear anything about Pei Yuanjun. How could he not know what Pei Yuanjun was like? Pei Yuanjun had always displayed his attitude clearly. Pei Yuanjun was arrogant and did not take the Crown Prince seriously. But what could he do? He had not ascended to the throne yet.

The position of Crown Prince was not reliable enough.

In fact, in front of Father, he was not as honourable as Uncle Yun.

When this matter was mentioned, he felt aggrieved. He had never let out this kind of grievance when in front of others. The only one who he expressed it to was Ji Hanyue.

In front of Ji Hanyue, he could say it, and he said it very naturally. But in front of Ji Youran, he was not willing to mention it, which only made him embarrassed.

“What’s in those letters?”

“Just… just some letters that Eldest Uncle wrote to Aunt Luo. Letters from a long time ago when he was still at the border.” Seeing that Pei Luo’an had been pulling a long face, Ji Youran panicked and stammered. She felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere. In the past, if she showed such an expression, Crown Prince would definitely appease her. No matter how serious the matter was, it would be no big deal.

In the past, she was sure that the Crown Prince was sincere to her and that he was just pretending to love Ji Hanyue. It was just that Ji Hanyue had a good father. If Eldest Uncle were her father, the Crown Prince would definitely marry her instead, and thus she could become Crown Princess.

But now, some things seemed to be different from what she had imagined. This kind of difference started after Ji Hanyue died.

Crack! A heavy slap made Ji Youran take two steps back and bump into the antique shelf behind her. She staggered a few steps before stabilizing herself. She covered her face with her hands, and her eyes were full of tears that streamed down her fair, tender face. Ji Youran wailed very sadly, but she did not dare to make a sound.

Pei Luo’an’s eyes were cold, and his cold gaze fell on her face. “Is this what you meant when you said nothing would happen?”

“Your Highness, I… I really didn’t know it would turn out this way.” Ji Youran sobbed. Her breath was very delicate, and she looked extremely sad and aggrieved.

“Go back to the mansion!” Pei Luo’an turned around and strode outside. This matter was complicated, and he did not want to get involved. It was just a matter of the title of Earl Ling’an, so it was not a big deal. Of course, it was best to have this title, but it was really not bad either if otherwise. Ji Yong’an was obviously not someone capable. He would not do a good job at controlling Ji Yongming’s connections. Pei Luo’an needed to think of another way.

“Your Highness…” Ji Youran cried out sadly.

Pei Luo’an seemed to have thought of something. He stopped in his tracks, and his expression softened a little. He waved at her.

Overjoyed, Ji Youran hurriedly ran over and excitedly reached out to grab Pei Luo’an’s outstretched hand. “Your Highness!”

“Let’s go back first. We’ll discuss this when we get back!” Pei Luo’an’s expression had already calmed down. He held her hand and explained gently, “I was a little impatient just now. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again!”

“Your Highness… I’m fine.” Seeing Pei Luo’an explain to her with a gentle expression, Ji Youran was moved to tears again. The Crown Prince was indeed devoted to her.

“Princess Ji…” Xiao came in from the outside and saw the scene in front of her…