Chapter 38
Chapter 38 As Your Wife Or Concubine?
“What happened?” Old Lady Qu’s heart jolted. She thought that Yu had plotted something evil again. Then her face turned sullen at once.
“Nothing, it’s just… Yesterday, I heard from a servant…” Qu Moying’s face suddenly turned red and she couldn’t continue the sentence.
“You do the talking!” Old Lady Qu looked up at Yu Dong who was standing behind Qu Moying and said that coldly.
“Old Lady, I… I did have… heard something. Lady… Lady Yu…” Yu Dong who had been called by Old Lady Qu knelt down in panic and faltered.
“Be more specific.” Old Lady Qu said in a harsh voice.
“Yes… Yes. I heard Lady Yu say… say that she was preg… pregnant… or… something… like… that. I don’t know whom the father is. I… I didn’t dare to get too close.” Yu Dong got more panicky as he heard Old Lady Qu talking so harshly. Luckily, he managed to finish the whole speech.
Granny Wu realized what he meant at once, then the look on her face changed instantly.
Old Lady Qu’s facial expression also changed and there was coldness flashing in her eyes. If what she thought was true, Young Master Yongning truly was not a decent guy.
This just broke Old Lady Qu’s last hope for Xu Lipeng!
“Grandma… Yu Dong didn’t hear the whole story. Maybe Lady Yu was talking about someone else.” Qu Moying tried to coax Old Lady Qu as she saw the latter wearing a glum face.
Old Lady Qu took a deep breath to suppress her anger. Then she said to Yu Dong coldly, “How could you tell your lady about that when you don’t have proof? Go kneel outside.”
“Yes!” Yu Dong didn’t dare to say anything and walked out. Then he knelt down on the porch outside.
“Grandma, Yu Dong only told me that for my own good.” Qu Moying stood up and wanted to kneel down too, trying to plead for Yu Dong.
Old Lady Qu stopped Qu Moying right away and scolded her, “A lady who hasn’t got married like you can never hear something like that!”
“But, if I didn’t hear it, I wouldn’t even know who is trying to hurt me!” Qu Moying said with her eyes turning red and she still knelt down perversely. “Grandma, such being the case… am I still going to marry him?“
Seeing her being so persistent, Old Lady Qu tried to pull her up with resignation. Granny Wu also gave a hand to help Qu Moying up. “All right, I see. I won’t let you suffer, but we have to make a thorough plan first.” Old Lady Qu said.
“I know. Thank you so much, grandma!” Qu Moying made a compromise and wiped the corner of her eyes with her handkerchief. She wore a gentle smile on her face as if she had only made the concession because of her grandma’s words.
Old Lady Qu’s heart softened as she saw her granddaughter trusting her words so much. As she thought about Qu Moying’s current situation and what had happened recently, Old Lady Qu just got angrier and angrier.
Yu was clearly an evil person. Old Lady Qu had made Yu a madam for the sake of the twins, Qu Qiuyan and Qu Mingcheng, and now she truly regretted it because of the trouble Yu had caused.
“Old Lady, Young Master Yongning wanted to see you!” A senior housemaid came in in a hurry to report.
Young Master Yongning had just left yesterday because the people of the two families all agreed not to disturb each other for a while. However, Old Lady Qu never expected that he would come back so soon. As she remembered what Yu Dong had said, her face turned glum at once.
It seemed that what Yu Dong had said was true, otherwise Xu Lipeng wouldn’t be so anxious.
“Grandma, I’ll go back then.” Qu Moying stood up. She would settle the things between her and Xu Lipeng sooner or later. However, she would still avoid meeting this Young Master Yongning whenever possible because he and the Crown Prince were so alike.
They both sought fame while committing adultery secretly. Xu Lipeng always reminded her of Pei Luo’an.
“Go!” Old Lady Qu didn’t want Qu Moying to hear any dirty things here either.
“Grandma, Yu Dong…” Qu Moying pleaded for Yu Dong.
“She could go with you. Tell her to be a good servant.” Old Lady Qu waved her hand and agreed to let Yu Dong go.
After Qu Moying said thanks to Old Lady Qu, she left Kangming House with Yu Chun and Yu Dong.
Qu Moying took a detour on purpose in order to avoid this self-righteous Young Master Yongning. She had to break off the engagement. Now that Old Lady Qu already suspected the relationship between Yu Qingmeng and Xu Lipeng. No matter what Xu Lipeng said, Old Lady Qu wouldn’t believe him.
“Old Lady Qu, it’s an honor to meet you.” In the main room of Kangming House, Xu Lipeng who had no idea that Qu Moying had already implied something to Old Lady Qu gave obeisance to Old Lady Qu and said gently.
His manner was still tender and graceful as before, which made him look kind.
In the past, Old Lady Qu had been glad to see him being like this. After all, Xu Lipeng always visited Old Lady Qu first every time he came.
For all these years, he had kept doing things this way.
However, now Old Lady Qu only found him quite a hypocrite when she saw Xu Lipeng’s behavior.
“Save the courtesy. Please have a seat!” Old Lady Qu said nonchalantly.
After Xu Lipeng sat down, the maid served tea at once. Old Lady Qu took a sip of the tea and then put the teacup down. Still, she didn’t utter a single word and only fell her eyes on Xu Lipeng, waiting for him to talk.
The air in the room was a bit somber.
“Old Lady, I’m here to discuss something about Lady Yu. Don’t worry, no matter what happened to Fourth Lady Qu, our engagement wouldn’t be affected. As for the accident caused by the horse, I’ve already explained to people of the Yu’s family. They said they wouldn’t mind about that.”
Xu Lipeng finally spoke.
So he meant that they should all ignore the fact that he had hugged Yu Qingmeng on the street?
Old Lady Qu, eyebrows knitted, looked at Xu Lipeng with a sullen face but didn’t say anything at first. After a long while, she asked, “What did the people of the Yu’s family say?”
“They said I had a reason to do so and that it was not my fault. I saved her life on the street, so they wouldn’t force me to marry Lady Yu. She would at most become my concubine.”
Xu Lipeng said smilingly.
That was a nice speech. He had put himself in Qu Moying’s shoes and talked with a composed look as if there really was nothing between him and Yu Qingmeng.
Old Lady Qu’s heart jolted. If Yu Dong hadn’t said these things just now, she might have already believed him. After all, Xu Lipeng looked quite trustworthy. Also, he seemed to have said that in consideration of the Qu’s people’s feelings. If Yu Qingmeng didn’t care about her indignity, she would at most be a concubine, which would make her despised by a lot of people.
What Xu Lipeng had said could dissolve the misunderstandings caused by the engagement between him and Qu Moying.
Now, Old Lady Qu already suspected him, she would think more when listening to him. To be a concubine at most? There was already a girl from the Yu’s family who had become a concubine. Yu had married into the Qu’s family as a concubine. If Yu hadn’t been pregnant at that time, Old Lady Qu wouldn’t have accepted her. Old Lady Qu blamed her unpromising son for having a crush on Yu and sleeping with the latter. But at last, Old Lady Qu could only let Yu marry her son for the sake of the kids.
Yu had only become a noble concubine because of her children. At that time, Old Lady Qu’s second son had wanted to make Yu his wife. It hadn’t happened only because Old Lady Qu hadn’t let him.
Now, the Yu’s family must be playing the same trick again!
Old Lady Qu, snorting inwardly, took a sip of the tea and thumped the cup on the table, saying, “Young Master Xu, you have to make it clear. The Yu’s family wants her to be your wife or your concubine?”
After she pondered on Xu Lipeng’s words, she found his speech full of loopholes. He must have prepared the whole speech in order to deal with Old Lady Qu!
“Old Lady Qu, that’s not what I mean…” Xu Lipeng never expected Old Lady Qu to be so hard to handle. Then he explained anxiously.
Old Lady Qu interrupted him directly, “Young Master Xu, just tell me if the Yu’s family wants her to be your wife or not. I’ll be blunt first. I don’t want you to marry her, no matter she’ll be your wife or concubine. If you take her in, the engagement you have with Ying will be over.”
“Old Lady, Fourth Lady is from a prestigious family. She should be dignified and sensible. I don’t think she would mind if her husband wanted to have a concubine.” Xu Lipeng was irritated by the absolute certainty in Old Lady Qu’s voice and showed an angry look on his face. He had wanted to have a nice talk with Old Lady Qu, but never did he realize that the latter would have such a rude attitude. Qu Moying was not only ugly but also blind. He wondered why the Qu’s family was so confident that she deserved to be a madam.
He felt that the Qu’s family should be honored that he was willing to marry Qu Moying.
If Madam Yongning hadn’t repeatedly told him to persuade Old Lady Qu, he would have gone off in a huff.
In his view, Qu Moying was an ugly, blind and untalented girl who would never compare to Yu Qingmeng who was tender and even willing to be his concubine.
“Our ladies can only be dignified for good reasons. We won’t allow you to marry Yu Qingmeng.” Old Lady Qu said.
“Old Lady, a wife should regard her husband as her god. Fourth Lady is not the only one I’ll marry anyway.” The look on Xu Lipeng’s face already turned a little glum.
“We’ll talk about that in the future. At least for now, I didn’t see your sincerity at all. Also, I heard that you always hung out with Lady Yu every time you came to the Qu’s Mansion.”
“I was engaged to Fourth Lady. I came here to visit the elders. Lady Yu was Second Madam’s niece. When I met her here, I would surely have a chat with her. Most of the time, Third Lady was with us too. Old Lady, what are you suspecting?” Xu Lipeng’s face turned red. There were certain things that couldn’t go public. Some of the servants in this mansion did know the affair between him and Yu Qingmeng, but none of them dare to say anything to Old Lady Qu. Xu Lipeng didn’t realize that Old Lady Qu would bring that up at this moment.
“Young Master Xu, I never asked too much about what had happened between you and Lady Yu. But I think we should break off the engagement!” Seeing Xu Lipeng being so guilty, Old Lady Qu got angry at once and said coldly.
“Old Lady Qu, such being the case, I got nothing to say. Excuse me for leaving.” Old Lady Qu’s unflinching attitude enraged Xu Lipeng, and the latter nearly snapped at her. Anyhow, he still knew that the woman was the Old Lady of the Qu family. So he stood up and said with a cold face.
“Suit yourself. Please ask Madam Yongning to come when she’s free. The marriage between the two families should be discussed by the elders.” Old Lady Qu said. She didn’t think Xu Lipeng had a say on this matter, so she planned to argue with Madam Yongning. As for Xu Lipeng’s affair with Yu Qingmeng, she would send someone to investigate and get some proofs first.
Xu Lipeng gave obeisance to Old Lady Qu with anger and strode away.
After he walked out of the yard, he calmed himself and turned to the direction of Qianyue House. He had always gone to that place before, but this time he wanted to go there to find Qu Moying. He heard that she had already moved into Qianyue House.
Since he couldn’t convince Old Lady Qu, he preferred to make everything clear with Qu Moying…
