Chapter 28
Chapter 28 Who Rules the Qu Family?
“Sick?” Old Lady Qu, with a cold look, glanced at Yu, who came early to make obeisance to her.
Yesterday, the senior housemaid whom Yu had sent here had made a great disturbance, so Old Lady Qu had already known about everything. As she looked at Qu Moying, who was sitting there quietly and then at Yu, who was wiping her swollen eyes, she just couldn’t help getting angry.
Old Lady Qu didn’t believe there would be such a coincidence!
“I heard that Qingmeng had run into an accident on the busy street yesterday. If it were not for Young Master Xu… She might… She might not be able to come back. She’s a vulnerable girl. After she was frightened, she kept having nightmares last night. That’s why she’s sick.” Yu wiped her eyes again.
“Ying was also frightened, but she was fine last night. Today she even came here to visit me early in the morning. Originally I worried about Ying the most because her body is the weakest.”
Old Lady Qu scolded with a sullen face.
Though Yu Qingmeng also looked thin and weak, her body was actually strong. Qu Moying was slimmer than her with a more petite figure. When the two of them stood together, Qu Moying was obviously the more delicate one.
Now Qu Moying was still sitting there, but Yu Qingmeng had been scared out of her wits.
Yu’s heart jolted as she heard of that. Then she said in a hurry, “Old Lady, Qingmeng is very timid and always thinks too much. That’s why she got sick.”
“Think too much? What makes her think too much? Yu, the yard she lives in was prepared for Ying. Now that Ying’s back, just let Lady Yu move to the guest’s yard,” Old Lady Qu said straightly.
“Mother, Qingmeng is still ill now.” Yu didn’t realize that Old Lady Qu would be so blunt and could only say that with an embarrassing look.
Meanwhile, she just secretly hated Old Lady Qu even more.
“Even so, she could still move to the guest yard. She’s the guest. How could she stay in the lady’s yard the whole time? Or, do you want your niece to marry into our family?” Old Lady Qu snorted.
Yu had given birth to a boy and a girl. Qu Mingcheng and Qu Qiuyan were twins. That was why Yu could get a foothold in the Qu family even though Old Lady Qu didn’t like her.
Qu Mingcheng was the apple of Yu’s eyes.
“Mother, what are you talking about? Mingcheng is younger than Qingmeng. Now he’s preparing for the imperial examination. How could he think of that kind of thing?” Yu got anxious right away.
Her son was much more important to her than her niece.
“Since you don’t want Lady Yu to marry into this family, then don’t send the wrong messages to others by keeping a yard for her in this mansion. I know my words are harsh, but your niece is a grown woman and still hasn’t got engaged. Maybe others really assume that you want her to marry your son.” Old Lady Qu warned Yu coldly.
Yu twisted the handkerchief in her hand. She had no idea that Old Lady Qu would say that.
She was clear why Yu Qingmeng hadn’t got engaged. Actually, she had made a great effort to let Yu Qingmeng marry into Marquis Yongning’s family.
Of course, she didn’t dare to tell Old Lady Qu that. Now, as she heard Old Lady Qu’s words, her face just turned redder and redder.
“Mother, even if Qingmeng has to move to the guest yard, her stuff is hard to clear up for the moment.” Yu had to swallow hard.
“When I came back home, you said that you were cleaning that place up and only had some finishing touches. Why are there still too many things in the yard now?” Qu Moying raised her head to look at Yu while asking.
“I thought there weren’t many at that time, but I was wrong.” Yu had to explain.
Yu had said that she was cleaning up the place only to muddle through. To make those words more reasonable, during those days, Yu Qingmeng still came to Qu’s mansion during day time and would return to Yu’s mansion at night.
However, yesterday, after what had happened to Yu Qingmeng, Yu completely forgot that as she saw Yu Qingmeng’s pitiful face and told Yu Qingmeng to stay. Last night, the message which the senior housemaid had brought to Yu made her and Yu Qingmeng even angrier. They only wanted to occupy the yard, and little did Yu know that Qu Moying would mention the words she had said.
“Mother, Qingmeng is our guest. We can’t let others say that we are bad to our guests and drive a sick guest away,” Yu turned to Old Lady Qu and said with a sincere look. After all, only Old Lady Qu could make the call.
Old Lady Qu valued her family reputation a lot and would never kick a guest out.
In ordinary times, although Old Lady Qu didn’t like Yu Qingmeng, she never made it obvious and could at least be polite to Yu’s relatives.
After all, Yu’s family was related to the Qu family now. Embarrassing Yu was no different from embarrassing her own.
So now Yu wanted Old Lady Qu to say some nice words to settle this.
As long as Old Lady Qu gave the order, Qu Moying couldn’t change anything no matter what she said.
Yu only needed to persuade Old Lady Qu.
If Qu Moying hadn’t mentioned what Yu Qingmeng had done in front of Old Lady Qu yesterday, the latter might really be persuaded because she didn’t want it to get ugly. However, last night she saw Qu Moying coming back with blood all over her clothes and heard that Xu Lipeng had sent Yu Qingmeng home. She got suspicious and asked Granny Wu to ask for information.
She rarely meddled in family affairs.
Xu Lipeng would come on every festival day to send gifts and sometimes visit Old Lady Qu. He was pretty close to this family. So back in the old days, she had thought that Xu Lipeng was a great man and supported this engagement.
However, after hearing what Granny Xu told her, she directly flew into a rage.
So Yu had let Yu Qingmeng stay with Xu Lipeng alone more than once. What did she want?
It turned out every time Xu Lipeng was here, Yu Qingmeng was the one keeping him company. Old lady Qu now understood everything. Now she even wanted to kick Yu Qingmeng out of this mansion instead of the yard.
The Qu family had always regarded Yu Qingmeng as a decent girl, but Yu had taken advantage of that and tried to steal the fiancee of the Qu’s lady.
It was like biting the hand that fed her. Yu was so despicable!
“Is Lady Yu a lady or a madam of our family?” Thinking of that, Old Lady Qu just said with a harsh voice.
“Second Madam, the stuff in the yard should be the furniture prepared for me. Did Lady Yu bring anything from Yu’s mansion?” Qu Moying said slowly.
Their words got Yu speechless.
Qianyue House was where Yu Qingmeng stayed now and also the best one in the mansion. It was as large as Qu Qiuyan’s Furong House with graceful surroundings. When Yu Qingmeng moved in, everything had been set up. And all the stuff there belonged to the Qu family, not Yu Qingmeng.
“Mother, I’ll tell Qingmeng to move now.” Under Old Lady Qu’s cold stare, Yu had to concede with her teeth gritted.
“That’ll be perfect. So do it now!” Old Lady Qu ordered Yu to leave with a cold voice.
Yu was so angry that she gnashed her teeth hard, but she still had to get busy moving Yu Qingmeng out.
Seeing Yu leaving, Qu Moying lifted the corner of her lips silently. This was not enough. Yu Qingmeng stayed in this mansion as a lady and drove Qu Moying, the real lady, away from her home. Not only that, but she had also seduced Xu Lipeng, who had been engaged with Qu Moying. What she had done was way more disgusting.
At this moment, Yu Qingmeng still stayed in Qu’s mansion. Now she had to move even if she got ‘sick.’ This was a great humiliation for her. She wouldn’t be willing to let it go.
“Grandma, do we need to invite Madam Yongning over to have a discussion?” Qu Moying said with a gentle voice.
Xu Lipeng had to be here when Yu Qingmeng suffered a great grievance.
“Ying, tell me, do you really want to give up on this engagement?” Old Lady Qu looked at Qu Moying with a serious look and confirmed.
“Grandma, no matter how good a man Young Master Xu is, the one he loves is someone else. As for me… I’m afraid that he’ll either snub me or replace me with the girl he likes. My mother… my mother… she…” As saying that, Qu Moying lowered her head with her voice turning hoarse. Although she wasn’t very straightforward, Old Lady Qu still understood what she meant and felt heartbroken for the delicate girl.
It was hard to say if Xu Lipeng would become the next Qu Zhizhen, or might even do something worse than him. He and Yu Qingmeng seemed pretty close, which made people wonder what kind of relationship they had.
It was not that Old Lady Qu had a prejudice against Yu Qingmeng. After all, Yu had done the same thing before. By then, Yu Qingmeng would be another Yu, and Qu Moying would walk down the same path as her mother.
“Fine, let’s break off your engagement with him. I’ll invite Madam Yongning later.” Old Lady Qu nodded without any hesitation.
Qu Moying looked up with a tender smile, saying, “Thanks, grandma!”
She really felt grateful for Old Lady Qu because the old woman gave her a feeling of home. As for her father, she could pretend that he didn’t exist.
At least she still had a grandma who was willing to protect her. That was enough.
Her grandma brought some warmth to her broken heart.
“Thank you, grandma!”
“Go back to have some sleep. You don’t need to visit me so early,” Old Lady Qu said gently.
“Grandma, I’m fine. I want to go to the Qianyue House first. I overheard from the servant that it was a beautiful place.”
Qu Moying rejected Old Lady Qu with a smile. She couldn’t take a rest in a moment like this.
She lifted the corner of her pale mouth and gave her grandmother a joyful smile like a child. Seeing that, Old Lady Qu only felt more sorry for her. As a lady in this family, Qu Moying had never stepped into the yard prepared for her. But Yu Qingmeng had lived there first with a good cause. Old Lady Qu only found Yu and Yu Qingmeng very barefaced now.
“Go, have a look at it. If there’s anything you don’t like, just tell someone to replace it. It’ll be your yard from now on.” Old Lady Qu suppressed her sympathy for Qu Moying and gave her a kind smile, “Tell Granny Wu if you need anything. She could get things from my storeroom.”
“There’s no need, grandma. I heard that the place was decorated like Third Sister’s, so I won’t need anything else. You don’t have to give me anything.”
Qu Moying said smilingly.
She wouldn’t let Yu take anything away from the yard. Now she was going to supervise Yu.
Of course, she was not in a hurry. She had to wait for the people from Marquis Yongning’s family to come first. After what had happened yesterday, people from Marquis Yongning’s family would definitely arrive soon, not to mention Old Lady Qu had already sent the invitation.
Since Yu Qingmeng pretended to be ill and weak, Qu Moying would lend her a hand to make her look more pathetic. Xu Lipeng should come with Madam Yongning, and that would be great…
