After losing the battle with Qu Moying, Yu didn’t return to her yard. Instead, she went directly to Furong House where her daughter Qu Qiuyan lived.
“Mother, how is Qing He?” Qu Qiuyan asked anxiously after she led Yu into the room. She was afraid that she would be involved instead of worrying about Qing He.
Qu Qiuyan kept feeling scared after Qing He was taken away by the Old Lady.
She did it, so she was clear. She thought when the fire broke out, Qu Moying would die for sure. She was blind, and no one was around her. She couldn’t open her eyes in the strong light. Even if she wanted to escape, she couldn’t. No one knew who did it afterward. Others would believe that the blind girl knocked over the oil lamp carelessly, and nobody would be blamed for her death.
“Qing He has been exposed!” Yu dropped on a chair and rebuked nervously, “Why were you so imprudent? I told you to wait for a few more days and act after thinking more carefully, didn’t I? But you couldn’t wait to do it at this time. It is easy to be exposed.”
“Then… what can I do?” Qu Qiuyan asked nervously. She was so panic-stricken that her face became pale.
“Kill Qing He, of course. Only in this way can everything be settled.” Yu pressed her forehead, and her head hurt a lot, “But Qing He is kept by the Old Lady now. And the Old Lady has taken the advice of the blind girl to sell Qing He and her family. No matter where the servant is settled, she would be a source of disaster!”
Because Qing He was kept by the Old Lady, Yu didn’t dare to act rashly.
“Mother, I will take someone to flog Qing He to death now with the excuse of avenging the misfortune of the blind girl. Then even if grandma punishes me, it will be too late!” Qu Qiuyan suggested, rolling her eyes and lifting the tips of her eyebrows.
“No!” Yu reached out her hand to stop her. Qu Qiuyan was usually imperious and had flogged several servants to death when the Old Lady didn’t know. However, now the Old Lady paid close attention to Qing He, and it was not a good time to do anything.
“Don’t act in our mansion. When Qing He is sold, ask someone to buy her and then kill her secretly!” Yu said and then reminded Qu Qiuyan again, “Don’t do anything to the blind girl recently. Wait until the trouble is solved. If your grandma finds something wrong, we’ll come to a bad end.”
Yu became more upset. She had been Qu Zhizhen’s wife for many years, but the Old Lady always disliked her and her daughter.
“Mother, don’t worry. I won’t act rashly!” Qu Qiuyan nodded. After thinking it over, she still felt restless, “Will grandma ask me about Qing He?”
“Probably.” Yu was not sure either.
“If she asks, what can I say?” Qu Qiuyan panicked. She was always scared of the Old Lady.
“Explain that it has nothing to do with you. When you greet the Old Lady tomorrow morning, admit your mistake and ask for punishment actively. Don’t avoid your responsibility. Now the matter is about a servant girl trying to murder another master, while as her master, you know nothing. Admit that you didn’t discipline her and failed to see her true colors.”
Yu taught her daughter.
“Why should I take the blame?” Qu Qiuyan was not convinced.
“Yan, if you say that, the blind girl cannot charge you even if she has grievances. She also needs to be tolerant because as her elder sister, you have already taken the blame. If she insists on getting to the bottom of it, she will be thought petty and doesn’t care about the sisterhood. After all, you seem to be innocent in this matter.”
Yu explained patiently.
“If I do as you say, will everything be fine?” Qu Qiuyan asked doubtfully.
“Of course. Come here. Let me tell you what you should say if your grandmother asks you about it.” Yu waved at Qu Qiuyan.
Qu Qiuyan craned to Yu and nodded while listening…
When the Old Lady had someone summon Qu Qiuyan, she and her mother had worked out a plan. It was a good chance. The earlier she admitted her mistake and asked for punishment, the better the result would be. Therefore, Yu took Qu Qiuyan hurriedly to the Old Lady’s room.
“Yu, how do you manage the business in the family? If you can’t manage it, hand over the power.” As soon as seeing Yu, the Old Lady began to curse her in rage.
“Mother, I just asked Yan about the fire in Moying’s house. She had no idea of it and was angry too. Qing He usually pretended to be kind. No one expected she would be so evil!” Yu thought the Old Lady cursed her for the fire, so she explained instantly. Then she winked at Qu Qiuyan.
Qu Qiuyan took the hint, walked forward, knelt before the Old Lady, and shed crocodile tears, “Grandmother, I really don’t know what Qing He did!”
Then she turned to Qu Moying and said hypocritically, “Moying, I am sorry that I didn’t discipline Qing He. If you are angry, please vent it on me. It has nothing to do with my mother. I failed to teach my servant to behave herself. Luckily, you are fine, or I can’t absolve myself from the blame even if I die a thousand times.”
While saying this, Qu Qiuyan wiped her tears with a handkerchief to express her penitence.
“Ying, it’s all your sister’s fault. She was too careless.” Yu echoed. She walked to Qu Moying, held her hands kindly, and took her to Qu Qiuyan, “Moying, your sister is to blame. Even if you hit her today, she deserves it.”
They echoed each other and made concessions in order to gain advantages!
“Madam, now that you think I can hit her, I will do it.” Qu Moying glanced at Qu Qiuyan and sneered. Then she shrugged off Yu’s hands and gave Qu Qiuyan two slaps on her pretty face.
The slaps shocked everyone. No one had expected that Qu Moying would hit Qu Qiuyan.
Her long pinkie scratched the tender face of Qu Qiuyan and left two faint bloodstains on her face.
“Qu Moying, you are a blind and ugly bitch. How dare you slap me? Don’t you know what kind of rubbish you are? You are even inferior to a servant!” Qu Qiuyan couldn’t maintain her tender expression anymore. She had never expected that she would be slapped by Qu Moying who she looked down upon most. Out of control, she pointed at Qu Moying and cursed loudly.
“Behave yourself! Where did you learn the dirty words? Who taught you? Yu, do you discipline her in this way?” The Old Lady came to her senses now. When she heard Qu Qiuyan cursing so offensively, her face became blue in anger. She picked up a cup near her hand and smashed it hard at Qu Qiuyan’s feet.
The cup was broken near Qu Qiuyan’s feet. A few tea leaves flew to Qu Qiuyan’s clothes. Seeing the raging face of the Old Lady, Qu Qiuyan didn’t dare to curse anymore. Her eyes were close to tears with a grievance. She looked at the Old Lady, shed more tears, and complained, “Grandmother, she slapped me!”
With a similar face to Yu’s, she looked extremely pitiful.
“Sister, if you don’t think you deserve the two slaps, let’s notify the government about the crime. Qing He is still alive. Someone tried to murder me. I’d like to appear in court as the victim!”
Qu Moying sneered, and her eyes looked fierce.
She kept Qing He’s life to handicap Yu and her daughter in due time. Now it was the right moment!
“Moying, you’re talking nonsense. You are sisters. Why do you do that? Your sister is indeed wrong because she kept a servant with evil intent, and the servant nearly caused a disaster. But you are sisters and unmarried girls. It won’t be good if this matter escalated. Mother, do you think so?”
Hearing Qu Moying say that she planned to interrogate Qing He in the courtroom, Yu hurried to mediate and turned around to glower at Qu Qiuyan, signaling to her not to act rashly.
Taking Yu’s hint, Qu Qiuyan gritted her teeth and yielded. She touched her face and felt a burning pain. Seeing the two faint bloodstains on her palm, she knew her face was scratched. How she wished she could scratch Qu Moying’s face! However, she had to repress her anger. Her eyes were full of hatred.
“Lady, something is on fire in the southeast. It’s a large fire. I don’t know which house is on fire!” A servant girl rushed in hurriedly and reported.
“Not in our house?”“No!” The servant answered.“Mother, I had someone investigate it just now. Our house can’t be on fire again.” Yu understood what the Old Lady meant and responded with a grievance.“What did you do before that? Why didn’t you investigate it until Ying’s house was on fire?” The Old Lady snorted coldly and was disgruntled at Yu.After Yu heard the question, her face became frozen, and she didn’t know how to answer it.“Ouch. Ah… That hurts. Grandmother, my face hurts.” Qu Qiuyan covered her face with a hand and shouted in the half-genuine and half-sham way to rescue Yu from the embarrassment.“Go to see a doctor!” The Old Lady said coldly. No matter what Qu Qiuyan had done, she was a granddaughter of the Old Lady. Besides, the Old Lady thought Yu was to blame for everything.Yu took advantage of the chance to say worriedly, “Mother, let me take Yan to see the doctor. H
There were many gaily-painted pleasure boats by the lake. In the early spring, flowers were not in bloom yet, but it was enjoyable to see the sights in the boats.After getting off the carriage, Qu Moying boarded a boat.It was just an ordinary gaily-painted pleasure boat. One person was rowing it at the stern, and the other was about to pull the rope.“Boatman, let’s go!” Yu Chun said loudly.“I’m so sorry. Please take another boat. This one is out of business today!” A middle-aged man came out from the stern. Looking at Qu Moying and Yu Chun, he said politely but looked gloomy.“Hey, what do you mean? Passengers have boarded but you refuse to earn the money?” Yu Chun said.“I want to earn the money, but I can’t!” The middle-aged man forced a smile. They observed him and found him sallow and limp.“Boatman, what’s wrong?” Qu Moying asked softly.“Nothing. I’m just not well
“What happened?” Qu Moying grabbed the window to stabilize herself and asked.Yu Chun lifted the curtain and poked her head out for a look, only to see a gaily-painted pleasure boat of the same size parked near theirs, “My Lady, another boat crashed into ours.”Before she was done, another bang was heard. The boat shook. Qu Moying’s hand went limp, almost getting her thrown out.“My Lady, it crashed into us deliberately.” Qu Chun also found something wrong and said angrily.“Tell the boatman to fight back.” Qu Moying grasped the window corner with force and said coldly.Yu Chun nodded and shouted to Zhou An outside, “Fight back!”Zhou An had found the other boat crashed into theirs deliberately. In such a case, he used to fight back regardless, but now he didn’t want to make trouble for Qu Moying, so he tried to avoid the collision.Hearing what Yu Chun said, he knew Qu Moying’s intenti
“Who is your master?” Qu Moying asked casually.“I…I serve the Third Lady and just come back.” The woman servant replied hurriedly.“You wanted to throw me into the water by running into my boat, right?” Qu Moying continued. Though her eyes couldn’t be seen, the coldness in her words was clear. “Who came up with the idea?”“I…I…” The woman servant let her eyes wander and looked around.Suddenly, the rudder to which she clung was pressed into the water, making her sank with it, too. Her head was submerged, so she swallowed much water. Her hands and feet went limp, and she felt again that she would die here.“My Lady, I mean…the Third Lady sent me here…” The woman servant shouted and struggled desperately to get out of the water. She wanted to browbeat Qu Moying by virtue of Qu Qiuyan’s influence.The rudder rose out of the water, and so did the woman servant. She almost lied prone on the rudder and c
Two boats collided. A woman servant fell into the water and was rescued. Afterward, she fell into the water again and was interrogated on the rudder. At last, she was released.It lasted a long time and was noisy. Though people on the bank didn’t see that, many passengers in the boats heard the noise and came to see the fun.Some of them saw the girl wearing a long veil on her eyes and handling things calmly. Though they just caught a glimpse of her, they couldn’t help guessing her identity secretly. A young lady, ranked fourth in her family, had an eye disease. Besides, according to the woman servant, the ringleader was the Third Lady.Various clues led some people to focus on the Mansion of Vice Minister Qu. Qu Zhizhen had a blind girl, didn’t he? He also had an elder girl with a good reputation.And the two daughters were not born of the same mother.Indications showed that it was the Third Lady
“My Lady, I’m glad you come here!” Once getting off the carriage, Qu Moying saw Granny Miao waiting aside.“They came to see me?” Qu Moying asked. She guessed what happened through Granny Miao’s anxiety.“They have come here several times for you. I said you had been gone to fetch a doctor.” Seeing Medical Officer Zhang get off the carriage behind, Granny Miao breathed a sigh of relief.“Granny, please take Medical Officer Zhang slowly to the Furong House of my sister. I’ll visit the Old Lady first and then go there.” Qu Moying said.She emphasized the word “slowly”. Taking her hint instantly, Granny Miao nodded repeatedly and smiled happily, “OK, My Lady, I will take the Medical Officer there.”Granny Miao hadn’t expected that Qu Moying would fetch the Medical Officer of the Imperial Hospital.She wasn’t worried about her medicinal powder. The way to prepare it was arcane, and it was alien to the C
Qu Moying ran into Granny Miao near Furong House.Granny Miao had been showing Medical Officer Zhang around for a while. As she saw Qu Moying, she brought him to the latter excitedly at once. Then they walked into Furong House together.As they just stepped into the yard, they heard someone shouting abuse. A keen-eyed maid went into the room to report their arrival at once.“That bitch is here? Let her in!” Qu Qiuyan’s voice came from inside the room.Medical Officer Zhang frowned.The maid who had delivered the message walked out in a hurry. After she arrived at the door, she glanced at Qu Moying and lifted the curtain, saying in a sarcastic tone, “Fourth Lady, you are so busy. It took you so long to get here. Third Lady told you to get in!”The maids who served Qu Qiuyan never respected Qu Moying, thus this maid also looked down upon Medical Officer Zhang who followed Qu Moying. After all, those d
“Yes, I am!” Medical Officer Zhang looked at Qu Qiuyan with a sullen face.Although his official rank was not as high as the vice minister, he had a lot of chances to meet the nobles from the royal family as an imperial doctor. Many officers always turned to him for help and even the prime minister respected him a lot.The look on Qu Qiuyan’s face turned awkward. She had thought that this man was just a quack and never did she realize that he was from the imperial hospital.But her mother told her that Qu Moying had just returned to the capital and didn’t know a lot of people. How did she manage to find the medical officer?“Are... you lying?” Qu Qiuyan said suspiciously.“Third Lady, are you questioning me now? Fine, I'm on duty in the imperial hospital today. Why don’t you come with me?” Medical Official Zhang snorted.As Qu Qiuyan heard his intimidating words, her face turned red and green. She f