Chapter 395 – She Was Hoisted By Her Own Petard
Chapter 395 She Was Hoisted by Her Own Petard
“Third Lady, our Lady said that our Madam’s things are too messy and haven’t been sorted out yet. Many things have been lost. It’s difficult to find out the few Buddhist scriptures, so our Lady let me borrow a Buddhist scripture from others for you. Third Lady, you can copy this one first. After our Lady finds our Madam’s Buddhist scriptures, she will send them to you.”
Yu Dong said with a cheeky smile and handed over the Buddhist scripture in his hand. Although his words were polite, he looked quite disrespectful.
After he finished speaking, he even raised his eyes and stole a glance at Qu Qiuyan’s reaction.
Qu Qiuyan happened to see his disrespectful action, and her face turned pale with anger. She pressed her hand on the railing of the chair and suppressed her anger.
“I’m not in a hurry. I can wait for your Lady to find them.”
“How can you not be in a hurry? Our Lady said that you are going to pray for the Old Lady and Second Master out of filial piety. This cannot be delayed, so she specially asked me to go out and borrow this Buddhist scripture.”
Yu Dong stressed the word “borrow” again, which enraged Qu Qiuyan.
Qu Qiuyan knew that Qu Moying was deliberately humiliating her. Of course, she borrowed those Buddhist scriptures from Qu Moying for another purpose. She knew that Noble Consort He liked Buddhist scriptures now, and she was doing this to please Noble Consort He.
Of course, she had never planned to return them. If Qu Moying wanted to get them back, she could only go to the palace to ask Noble Consort He for them!
Qu Qiuyan had heard from Yu that there was a set of Buddhist scriptures in Qu Moying’s mother’s dowry. They were obtained from a Buddhist master in the South and blessed in a famous temple.
There were many temples in the South, and Buddhism flourished there. Some monks in the South were even more famous than the monks of the Dabei Temple in the capital. Therefore, the value of these Buddhist scriptures was really high. Although Yu did not talk about this set of Buddhist scriptures in detail, Qu Qiuyan set her heart on them after hearing from Lord Jing that Noble Consort He was interested in Buddhist scriptures recently.
She wanted to “borrow” the Buddhist scriptures from Qu Moying.
But what was this Buddhist scripture in front of her? She could tell it from the cover that it was not a precious one. It looked ordinary, and it seemed to be casually bought outside. Qu Qiuyan thought, “I don’t think Qu Moying borrowed it from someone. She must have bought it randomly, and it shouldn’t be worth much.”
She didn’t get the Buddhist scriptures she wanted to please Noble Consort He, and she even had to spend a lot of effort to copy such a scripture. Moreover, she felt she was looked down upon by a maid. She thought Yu Dong’s smile was contemptuous!
She tried hard to hold back her anger but failed. She suddenly stood up and reached out to pick up the Buddhist scripture in front of her. Then, she fiercely threw it on the ground and said coldly, “It’s fine if Moying doesn’t want to lend the Buddhist scriptures to me. There is no need for such a hypocritical show. I will go to Grandmother and ask her for a better set of Buddhist scriptures.”
After saying that, she turned around and walked inside. She thought to herself angrily, “Since Qu Moying doesn’t want to lend me the Buddhist scriptures, I will go to Grandmother again. Anyway, I’m praying for Grandmother and Father. I believe I can get the set of Buddhist scriptures from Qu Moying!”
“I will definitely get them, and I will let her personally send them over!”
“Third… Lady, how… how could you throw the Buddhist scripture!” Yu Dong’s panicked voice came from behind her. He sounded to be astonished.
Qu Qiuyan sneered, ignored him, and continued to walk inside.
Sure enough, she heard the voice of her maid. “What’s the big deal? If Fourth Lady likes it, our Lady will buy a few sets for her and send them over!”
Yu Dong panicked. “It’s not something you can buy. Our Lady borrowed it from someone. This is a big problem!”
Qu Qiuyan sneered in her heart, “Qu Moying’s maid is just like her. How ridiculous this maid is! Does she think that our mansion can’t even afford a Buddhist scripture?”
“What problem can it be? Don’t make a fuss. Don’t scare our Lady.” Qu Qiuyan’s maid spoke up for Qu Qiuyan, and Qu Qiuyan was very satisfied.
“This is… This is the ex-Crown Princess’ Buddhist scripture… What… What should we do? It… it’s broken.” Yu Dong pointed at the half piece of paper that had fallen to the side, and his expression changed greatly.
The maid was a little flustered and scolded, “The ex-Crown Princess? What nonsense are you spouting?”
“It’s true. Our Lady borrowed this from Earl Ling’an’s Mansion. The ex-Crown Princess used to copy it in the past. You… You…” Yu Dong stuttered as if he was really scared, “It… it should be returned to Earl Ling’an’s Mansion in three days!”
Qu Qiuyan suddenly stopped. She felt that something was wrong. After a pause, she turned around, gritted her teeth, and asked, “What did you say?”
“Third Lady, our Lady sent me to Earl Ling’an’s Mansion to borrow it. She can only keep it for three days. Originally, she wanted to find our Madam’s Buddhist scriptures within three days, but she was afraid that you would be anxious, so she specially borrowed this copy for you. But… but now, how… how can it be returned? If Earl Ling’an’s Mansion makes a big deal out of it, we will be severely punished for being disrespectful…”
Yu Dong did not beat around the bush. Instead, he explained the whole matter clearly. After he finished speaking, he looked at Qu Qiuyan in a panic as if the problem was really big.
Qu Qiuyan’s gaze fell on the Buddhist scripture that she had thrown to the ground. There was half a page lying on the ground. Apparently, one page of the scripture was broken.
Qu Qiuyan’s hand holding the handkerchief trembled, and her face was pale. She knew what this meant. It was disrespectful to the ex-Crown Princess. Moreover, the Crown Prince was said to be really affectionate to the ex-Crown Princess.
More importantly, the Crown Prince had never been on good terms with Lord Jing. If the Crown Prince took advantage of this to deal with Lord Jing, Lord Jing might have a chance to get away with it, but Qu Qiuyan would be doomed.
“Third Lady, what… what should we do now? It should be returned… in three days!” Yu Dong was still stuttering. He was putting on a good show!
“You can go back first. I will handle this matter. There is no need to bother your Lady. I will send it back myself!” Qu Qiuyan was nervous. She thought that it was better for her to deal with the matter as soon as possible. She didn’t want to wait for three days. She wanted to deal with it right away.
She could not let anyone find out about this mistake. Otherwise, she would really be done.
Qu Qiuyan was not an ignorant fool. She knew that this matter could be played down or escalate into a really big deal. If she was accused of blasphemy against the ex-Crown Princess, she would end up miserably. She might not even be able to save her life, not to mention enter Lord Jing Mansion.
Yu Dong seemed to want to say something else. “Third Lady…”
“Go away!” However, Qu Qiuyan could not maintain her calmness. She was now thinking about how to settle this matter. How could she bother to pay attention to a maid?
Yu Dong seemed to want to say something, but Qing Mei came over and pulled him away. He took advantage of the situation and turned to leave. When he turned around, he took a glance at Qu Qiuyan. He saw Qu Qiuyan’s extremely fearful and nervous look for the first time. Her face was as pale as snow as if she was about to faint.
Qu Qiuyan had been bullying and scheming against Qu Moying, and now it was her turn to suffer!
After pulling Yu Dong outside, Qing Mei, who used to like talking to Yu Dong, had no interest in talking with him at this time. She pushed Yu Dong outside the yard and hurried back. It seemed that both this scheming maid and her Master worried about this thing.
Yu Dong turned around and left in satisfaction.
It was silent in the main room. When Qing Mei came in, she saw Qu Qiuyan squatting on the ground, carefully picking up the Buddhist scripture and then picking up the piece of paper, looking extremely pale.
The maids around stood motionless, and their faces were also as pale as snow.
If something happened to Qu Qiuyan, every one of them would be implicated.
Qing Mei was different from ordinary maids. She took two steps forward to help Qu Qiuyan up and said in a low voice, “Lady, let’s think of another way. Maybe we can stick it together.”
Qu Qiuyan stood up, staggered, and almost fell. Another maid hurriedly supported her and helped her to the chair together with Qing Mei.
Qu Qiuyan’s fingers trembled. The pages in her hands rustled. She closed her eyes and calmed herself down. Finally, she stopped trembling and placed the Buddhist scripture on the table in front of her.
Qing Mei went forward to open the Buddhist scripture. She immediately flipped to the broken page. It was greatly damaged, and it was obvious that it couldn’t be fixed by sticking.
Qing Mei said in a low voice, “Lady, it seems that it can’t be fixed by sticking.”
“I know!” Qu Qiuyan said in a low voice. She tried her best to calm down. She looked up coldly in the direction of Qianyue House and gritted her teeth. “Qu Moying, I will make your life worse than death one day!”
All of this was naturally Qu Moying’s scheme. If Qu Qiuyan had known that it was the ex-Crown Princess’ Buddhist scripture, she wouldn’t have broken it. How could Qu Qiuyan not know that this was Qu Moying’s scheme? She was schemed against by Qu Moying, and she would not let Qu Moying get what she wanted.
She made up her mind that she would deal with Qu Moying as soon as she entered Lord Jing Mansion. She would let Qu Moying end up in the dirtiest place and live a miserable life.
But she could only deal with Qu Moying after she obtained power. Now, she had to deal with the broken Buddhist scripture first.
There could be a solution to this matter. After all, the other party was Earl Ling’an’s Mansion but not Qu Moying.
“Prepare valuable gifts. I’m going to Earl Ling’an’s Mansion!” Qu Qiuyan finally calmed down and said coldly. She had to personally go to Earl Ling’an’s Mansion to deal with this matter. She needed to settle this matter before others discovered it. As long as Earl Ling’an’s Mansion’s people said that this scripture was not the ex-Crown Princess’ Buddhist scripture, or if there was another Buddhist scripture, this matter would be considered settled.
Since the matter was related to Earl Ling’an’s Mansion, it was better to ask Earl Ling’an’s Mansion to solve it.
The maids all knew how serious the matter was, and they made preparations in a panic. This time, Qu Qiuyan was quite generous with the gifts because she must let Earl Ling’an’s Mansion help her. The gifts were intended to save her own life, so how could she be petty?
Not long after, Qu Qiuyan left Qu Mansion with her maids and headed for Earl Ling’an’s Mansion.
When this news reached Qu Moying, she was playing the qin. Her fingers gently pressed on the strings of the qin, and the music stopped. The surroundings were silent. She smiled coldly. Her smile gave off a chilling feeling in this hot summer.
Whoever saw her smile would feel a chill from their bone…
“Get the carriage ready. Let’s go out and take a look!”