Chapter 311 – Invitation To Go Out On The Qixi Festival
Chapter 311 Invitation to Go Out on the Qixi Festival
Xiao Hanyuan felt that Qu Xuexin was the best among the four young ladies of Qu Mansion. Although she was not as beautiful as Qu Qiuyan, her manner was decent and elegant. However, the one his parents chose for him was Qu Moying. Qu Moying’s eye disease hadn’t recovered yet. Besides, he thought she was too frivolous.
She had already known about the marriage proposal between him and her, but she still went on a blind date. Wasn’t it because she looked down upon his family and was attracted by He Mansion’s wealth? Moreover, He Mansion was related to Lord Jing.
Even if such a woman was gorgeous, Xiao Hanyuan did not like her.
When he heard from the servants that she went on a blind date, he didn’t believe it at first. He specially went to have a look, and he found that the servants were right. Qu Moying did go on a blind date.
Now that something had happened to Third Young Master He, his proposed marriage with Qu Moying might still count. He felt so disgusted, as if he had eaten a fly. He couldn’t accept the marriage arrangement.
He was not afraid of not being able to find a wife. But anyway, he would not marry Qu Moying.
He had expressed his intention to marry Qu Xuexin to his parents, but his parents had not responded yet. Thinking of this, Xiao Hanyuan frowned slightly. His parents would probably not agree with his idea, and he couldn’t help but get angrier with Qu Moying.
He collected his thoughts and followed the lad servant into the inner room. He saw Qu Mingcheng in the inner room, and the two of them exchanged a few words before he sat down on a chair at the side.
“Mingcheng, why were you beaten so badly?” When Xiao Hanyuan heard that Qu Mingcheng had been beaten up, he thought that it was just a light beating. However, he was shocked when he saw Qu Mingcheng’s injuries.
Qu Mingcheng let out a long sigh and said helplessly, “I don’t want to mention it. It’s all because of Moying.”
“What does it have to do with Fourth Lady Qu?” Xiao Hanyuan frowned as well. He was displeased when he heard that Qu Moying was mentioned.
“I won’t hide it from you, Cousin Brother. Previously, she had a marriage proposal with He Mansion. Because something happened to Third Young Master He, I wanted to ask Third Young Master He why he made a fool of her. I didn’t expect West Prison to come to arrest him, and they also caught me. Although father bailed me out, he blamed me and beat me up!”
Qu Mingcheng sighed again with bitterness in his eyes.
Xiao Hanyuan’s heart skipped a beat. “Did their marriage proposal come to an agreement?”
“Of course. He Mansion was supposed to send betrothal presents over in these two days. Unexpectedly, such a thing happened. Their proposed marriage naturally failed. Poor Moying. She was full of joy before, but now… She must be at a loss. Third Young Master He looks good, but he turned out to be such a person.”
Qu Mingcheng said.
Xiao Hanyuan asked, “Did Fourth Lady Qu meet someone else for marriage before?”
“There should be. I heard that she was meeting somebody. But I don’t know who the other party is. I just heard Grandmother mention it once. Previously, Moying thought Third Young Master He was better, and she wanted to marry into He Mansion. The other marriage proposal has yet to be made known to the public. It doesn’t count.”
Qu Mingcheng said indifferently.
Xiao Hanyuan was so angry that his face turned pale. His parents were serious about asking him to marry Qu Moying. They asked him to live in Qu Mansion to nurture his relationship with Qu Moying. But it seemed that he was just a plan B to Qu Moying. Thinking of this, Xiao Hanyuan, who had always been confident, couldn’t hold back his anger and slapped heavily on the table.
Qu Mingcheng was frightened and asked anxiously with a pale face, “Cousin Brother, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing!” Xiao Hanyuan tried hard to suppress his anger, but he could no longer sit still. He suddenly stood up with a cold face.
“Cousin Brother!” Qu Mingcheng was startled.
Xiao Hanyuan slowly sat down, suppressing the anger in his heart, and explained, “I suddenly thought of something just now. Sorry.”
Qu Mingcheng said with a smile. “It’s fine. I thought there was a big deal! Cousin Brother, what do you think of Eldest Sister? Compared with the other ladies in our mansion, Eldest Sister is the best.”
“What do you mean?” Xiao Hanyuan’s heart skipped a beat as he looked at Qu Mingcheng.
“Cousin Brother, don’t hide it from me. Do you also think that Eldest Sister is good? If you think so, you have to hurry up.” Qu Mingcheng teased with a smile. Perhaps his smile was too big that his wounds ached. He quickly shut his mouth with a bitter face.
“Eldest Cousin Sister is indeed good!” Seeing that Qu Mingcheng had found out about his feelings, Xiao Hanyuan nodded with a slightly red face.
“Cousin Brother, if our two mansions are bound by marriage, we will be closer to each other. If you marry Eldest Sister, that will be great!” Qu Mingcheng said with a smile, but he did not dare to smile too happily this time.
Xiao Hanyuan was silent and looked at Qu Mingcheng.
“Cousin Brother, are you worried you can’t make it a reality? Don’t worry. I have a way to make your dreams come true.” Qu Mingcheng waved at Xiao Hanyuan, who hesitated for a moment but still leaned over him…
Qu Moying went straight back to her yard. However, not long after she returned, Qu Xuexin came with a sewing box, which meant that she was going to do embroidery in Qu Moying’s place with the reason that Qu Moying’s qin cover could only be used here.
After inviting Qu Xuexin to come in and sit down, Qu Moying placed the qin cover in front of her and walked to the desk in front of the window. She asked Yu Chun to prepare a brush and ink for her and then picked up the brush to draw a picture to be the embroidery pattern.
Qu Xuexin exclaimed from behind, “Moying, the butterflies you drew are wonderful!”
Only then did Qu Moying notice that she had casually drawn a Love of Butterfly picture. Sure enough, Ji Hanyue’s memory was deeply engraved in her heart, and her casual drawing was the pattern she liked the most in the previous life.
Fortunately, this would not affect anything. She smiled slightly and said, “Eldest Sister, I want to learn embroidery from you. It’s too difficult to embroider a peony, so I drew two butterflies to embroider.”
Qu Xuexin said, “It’s so beautiful. Moying, can you give this picture to me? I can’t draw such a beautiful butterfly!”
Qu Moying said, “This one is too big. If you like it, I will draw a smaller one for you.”
Qu Xuexin applauded and said, “Moying, can you draw two pictures? One for me and one for yourself. Let’s embroider them on sachets.”
Qu Moying drew two small pictures as Qu Xuexin asked. Then, she asked a maid to get embroidery frames and two pieces of cloth for Qu Xuexin to choose from.
Qu Xuexin picked the peachy pink piece, and Qu Moying used the light lotus color piece that Qu Xuexin did not choose.
The two of them sat down and quietly did the embroidery. Qu Moying’s embroidery skills were not as good as Qu Xuexin’s, but she had embroidered butterflies many times, so she was quite skilled. Even if she was not as proficient as Qu Xuexin, she was not much worse.
Qu Xuexin looked at Qu Moying from time to time. Seeing that Qu Moying was more skilled than her and that her embroidery was quite good, she became more and more jealous. Couldn’t she excel over even a blind person?
Thinking of this, she became more and more depressed. She was determined to win Qu Moying, so she embroidered even more seriously.
The room quieted down. Qu Moying was quietly embroidering, and she answered Qu Xuexin’s words from time to time.
Yu Dong quietly walked in and reported. “Lady, Young Master Xiao is here!”
“Invite him in!” Qu Moying glanced at Qu Xuexin, who was sitting at the side, and put down the embroidery frame. Since he came here at such a time, she naturally had to meet him.
Xiao Hanyuan walked in and saw Qu Moying and Qu Xuexin sitting in the room. Qu Xuexin smiled gently at him with an embroidery frame in her hand. It was obvious that she was embroidering. Although he couldn’t tell what the embroidery was, he thought it was a good one because of its beautiful color.
As for Qu Moying, her embroidery frame was put aside. He didn’t understand why a blind person did embroidery. He didn’t think she could embroider well, and he thought she was just imitating Qu Xuexin.
His heart was filled with disgust, but he didn’t show it.
After bowing to each other, they each took a seat. The maids served them tea and stood aside.
Qu Moying looked up and asked, “Cousin Brother, is something the matter?”
Xiao Hanyuan said with a smile, “In a few days, it’s the Qixi Festival. Mingcheng can’t get up, so I want to invite you ladies to be my guides and show me around to see how people in the capital celebrate the Qixi Festival!”
The Qixi Festival was also known as the Qiqiao Festival, and it was young girls’ favorite festival.
Qu Moying’s gaze fell behind him and then turned to Qu Xuexin, who looked a little shy. Her eyes were unfathomable. Xiao Hanyuan came to her place to invite them to be his guides, but he clearly came to invite her alone. However, if he only invited her, she would definitely not agree.
After all, it was easy for people to misunderstand them if only the two of them spent the festival together.
Did Qu Xuexin come here for this?
As expected, seeing Qu Moying’s hesitation, Qu Xuexin quickly agreed, “Cousin Xiao, it’s true that we should show you around the capital. It’s a big festival. When the time comes, the capital will be very lively. Moying, when you were in the village, would you come out for a walk in this festival?”
Qu Moying grew up in the village, and she rarely went out. She should not go out alone on such a festival. The meaning behind Qu Xuexin’s words was really suspicious.
Fortunately, Qu Moying was prepared. She smiled faintly and said calmly, “No matter what festival it was, I never wanted to walk around. I didn’t have a relative by my side but only some maids and old maids. I really didn’t have the mood to walk around!”
“Since you haven’t been out for a walk at such a festival, I’ll take you around. It’s a deal. Cousin Xiao, please wait at the outer yard on that day. We’ll go out together after dinner.” Qu Xuexin clapped her hands, but then she frowned, “Someone should tell Grandmother about this, right?”
She was asking everyone, but she was looking at Qu Moying. Of course, she meant for Qu Moying to say it. Qu Moying was the most suitable person. The Old Lady doted on Qu Moying, and everyone in the mansion knew it.
“Since both of you are interested, let’s go together. I’ll go and tell Grandmother. We can talk about it after Grandmother agrees.”
“That’s great. Thank you, Fourth Cousin Sister.” Xiao Hanyuan was very happy. He stood up and bowed deeply to Qu Moying. Qu Moying moved sideways to avoid him.
Qu Xuexin suggested, “Moying, when you ask for Grandmother’s approval, tell her that Eldest Brother and Qiuyan will go with us. Let’s go out together so that others will not gossip about us. We can have a good time together.”
Her words made sense, and Qu Moying naturally agreed.
Since the matter was settled, Xiao Hanyuan said goodbye to them. When he reached the door, he suddenly turned to look at Qu Moying. Qu Moying wore a faint smile on her face. Although her face could not be clearly seen, she still looked elegant and gentle. His eyes darkened, and he shook his head. Then, he turned around and left…