Chapter 362

Chapter 362 – It Was A Long Story

Chapter 362 It Was a Long Story

Qu Moying was quite calm and had an expressionless face.

In fact, she was really calm. Her eyes were also as calm as water. She had never had any expectations for the so-called family members in Qu Mansion. Ever since she was reborn, she had been framed by them again and again. She had no feelings for the people in Qu Mansion except the Old Lady.

The Old Lady sat down opposite Qu Moying. Looking at her calm face, she felt sad. “Moying…”

She didn’t know how to continue. She looked at Qu Moying guiltily and didn’t know how to start the conversation. She felt sorry for Qu Moying. She knew that there was something wrong with Qu Mingcheng, but she had no choice but to let him go.

It was because Qu Mingcheng was her second son’s only son!

She couldn’t really have control over her second son. Right now, she was just warning Qu Mingcheng and protecting Qu Moying according to Qu Zhizhen’s wishes.

In fact, only Qu Zhizhen was in charge of Qu Mansion.

Neither she nor Yu was able to call the shot in Qu Mansion!

Qu Moying held the Old Lady’s trembling hand and comforted her softly, “Grandmother, I know what you mean. I won’t be dissatisfied with you.”

The Old Lady’s eyes turned red. She tried hard to suppress her mixed feelings and gently patted Qu Moying’s hand. “Good girl, you are a good girl. But I failed to protect you, just like how I failed to protect your mother back then… Your mother is also a good woman, but…”

At this point, the Old Lady’s voice became hoarse, and she couldn’t continue speaking for a while.

Her sentence seemed to be unfinished. Qu Moying’s heart skipped a beat, but then she reached out and gently shook the Old Lady’s hand. “Grandmother, I found that my Eldest Sister is close to County Lady Jingyu, but County Lady Jingyu didn’t seem to like me.”

After saying this, she looked a little distressed.

She did not probe into the meaning behind the Old Lady’s words. In fact, she knew it all. She didn’t need the Old Lady to feel embarrassed. The Old Lady had done very well in some things. She was asked to stay here because the Old Lady wanted to remind her to be on guard against Qu Xuexin and Qu Mingcheng.

Obviously, Qu Mingcheng was also untrustworthy.

However, the Old Lady was Qu Mingcheng and Qu Xuexin’s grandmother. Moreover, Qu Mingcheng was treated as a treasure by Qu Mansion. Unlike Qu Moying, who had been abandoned since she was a child, Qu Mingcheng received much care from Qu Zhizhen. Qu Zhizhen even specially sent him to East Mansion and let Qu Zhilin take care of him because he was afraid that Yu would misguide Qu Mingcheng.

It could be seen that Qu Zhizhen really cared about Qu Mingcheng.

It could also be seen that Qu Zhizhen did not care as much about Yu as people expected. Otherwise, he would not have taken Qu Mingcheng away from her and sent him to East Mansion. Although Qu Mingcheng had grown up now, Qu Zhizhen believed that he would not be affected much by Yu because he rarely saw Yu.

However, Qu Zhizhen was wrong!

Qu Moying did not want to make things difficult for the Old Lady, so she directly skipped the topic. They could just keep this thing to themselves.

What she wanted to ask now was another thing. Since it might have happened in her previous life, she inexplicably felt that the Old Lady might know something.

“County Lady Jingyu?” The Old Lady was shocked. She suddenly sat up straight and subconsciously pinched Qu Moying.

“Grandmother?”

After a moment of silence, the Old Lady said, “Stay away from her and also Minister Liu’s wife.”

“Grandmother, why? Mrs. Liu seemed to be a kind person.” Qu Moying looked at the Old Lady in surprise.

The Old Lady was silent for a moment before saying, “Maybe I was wrong, or maybe County Lady Jingyu has heard of something else. But since she doesn’t like you, you should be careful.”

Qu Moying asked again, “Grandmother, why doesn’t she like me?”

The Old Lady sighed and said, “It has been so long. I don’t know if it is because of this reason. Initially, your mother was not going to marry your father but Minister Liu. The Yue Family of the South first chose Minister Liu, but later on, Duke Qi’s Mansion also took a fancy to Minister Liu, so your mother married your father in the end.”

The Old Lady had heard this matter from others before. She asked the Yue Family about it in private and found out that it was true.

Qu Moying’s long eyelashes fluttered as she asked, “It sounds like… my mother was the one who suffered a loss. Why are they still holding grudges?”

Qu Moying could tell that her mother was obviously the one who suffered a loss in this matter. Since her mother had passed away, why was Mrs. Liu still holding grudges against her? This really did not make sense.

“I don’t know the exact details. Your grandma told me about this back then, and she also told me to guard against Mrs. Liu. But after so many years, I didn’t find anything wrong with her. Before she got married, she was a very decent noble lady. After she married Minister Liu, her status became unusual, and she was one of the few most notable noble madams in the capital.”

The Old Lady shook her head and smiled bitterly.

She could understand some things, but not everything. If Old Lady Yue did not tell her about this, she would not have taken this matter to heart.

Now that Qu Moying mentioned Liu Jingyu, this matter naturally came to her mind.

She had felt that this matter was not a convincing reason as soon as she started to say it, but since she had started her account, she decided to tell the whole story.

“Alright, that’s all I have to say. Don’t take it too seriously. It’s been so long, and it’s all small matters. After that, your mother didn’t have much contact with Mrs. Liu, and your father was quite a troublemaker. Things happened one after another. Your mother was tired of dealing with matters in the backyard, so she rarely went out.”

The Old Lady sighed again and looked at Qu Moying with more pity. “Poor child! Her mother also had a hard life. It was not easy for her mother to give birth to her, but her mother only saw her once and then passed away, leaving her alone. Her father did not care about her. Worse still, Yu was her stepmother.”

Qu Moying asked thoughtfully, “Grandmother, what kind of person is Mrs. Liu?”

“She was Duke Qi’s only wife-born daughter. I heard that Duke Qi had another daughter before, but she died, so Mrs. Liu of the second branch became the only wife-born daughter of Duke Qi, and he cherished her very much. It was said that she had been very sensible since she was a child. She behaved well. Everyone thought that even if she was not chosen by His Majesty, she was worthy of any prince. However, she married Minister Liu, who was unfamous and had just passed the imperial exam at that time.”

The Old Lady said after thinking for a while. Because the topic had switched from the previous heavy one, the Old Lady felt that her chitchat with her granddaughter was relaxing.

It had been more than thirty years since this matter about Duke Qi happened, but Ji Hanyue had heard of it. However, she did not pay attention to it at that time because it happened too long ago, and it had nothing to do with her. She just read it from a historical record.

At that time, she was a little curious about the episode and specially read about it.

In fact, the current Duke Qi was not the former Duke Qi. He was the younger brother of the former Duke Qi. The former Duke Qi was involved in the rebellion of the three lords, so people of Duke Qi’s Mansion’s first branch were all beheaded, including the former Duke Qi, Duchess Qi, and their children.

If the current Duke Qi had not coincidentally saved the Emperor, he would definitely have been implicated, too.

Because he saved the Emperor, the Emperor gave the title to Duke Qi’s Mansion’s second branch, and he became Duke Qi.

The current Duke Qi was not the original one.

However, no matter which one of the two brothers was Duke Qi, he had great power. As Duke Qi’s one and only wife-born daughter, Mrs. Liu indeed had an extraordinary status. But she took fancy to a scholar who had just passed the imperial examination. It seemed that she was quite discerning because this scholar later became Minister Liu.

But Qu Moying thought it was a bit far-fetched.

She couldn’t figure it out for a while. After chatting with the Old Lady for a while, Qu Moying left with an invitation card that the Old Lady gave her. The Old Lady said that whether to go or not was up to her and didn’t explain much. Qu Moying took the card and left.

She said she would read it later.

It seemed to be just a gathering of some noble ladies in the capital. It was not a formal gathering but a gathering of friends. In the past, such invitations had been sent to Qu Mansion, but the Old Lady usually gave them to Qu Qiuyan. However, she gave it to Qu Moying this time.

After returning to her room, Qu Moying sat in front of the qin. She stretched out her hand and gently stroked the qin. She frowned slightly because she found this matter strange.

“Yu Dong, go and see if Granny Zhou is in the yard.” Qu Moying ordered, her hand on the strings.

Yu Dong complied and left. In a short while, he brought Granny Zhou over.

Qu Moying directly asked Granny Zhou, “Granny Zhou, did my mother want to marry Minister Liu in the past?”

“Lady, how… how did you know about this?” Granny Zhou asked subconsciously after being stunned for a moment.

It could be seen from Granny Zhou’s reaction that there was really such a thing. Qu Moying’s eyes turned cold. “Granny Zhou, tell me, what exactly happened?”

Granny Zhou hesitated. “Lady, it has been so long, and Madam is gone now. I am afraid it is not good to talk about it!”

Yu Dong quickly said, “Granny Zhou, you can just say it. Otherwise, who knows when our lady is hurt by County Lady Jingyu! I don’t know why County Lady Jingyu hates our lady so much. She always wants to deal with our lady. Now she even colluded with First Lady.”

There were some things that Granny Zhou did not know. She was now helping Qu Moying manage Qianyue House and was usually very busy. Qu Moying’s personal affairs were mainly handled by Yu Dong. This was the first time Granny Zhou knew about this kind of matter. However, she had long known that Qu Xuexin held ill intentions.

Hearing what Yu Dong said, Granny Zhou was stunned for a moment as if she did not understand what Yu Dong meant for a moment. But then she understood, and her face turned red with anger. Waving her hand, she said angrily, “What do they mean? Are they still unsatisfied after snatching Madam’s marriage? They even want to deal with our lady. How shameless they are!”