Chapter 51
Chapter 51 Ming Xian’er, the Star of the Xifu Opera Group
When Qu Moying went back to accompany the Old Lady, the Old Lady had known what happened. She held her granddaughter’s hand and let her sit down next to her.
Many people were staring at Qu Moying when she came up to the pavilion. The rumors about Young Master Yongning saving Second Lady Duan were spread out, and Madam Duan had already headed there. It seemed like the marriage arrangement between the Qu Family and the Marquis Yongning’s Family would be broken off.
Young Master Yongning did the right thing to rescue the young lady who fell into the lake, but now he had to marry her. With Second Lady Duan’s family background, she couldn’t possibly be a man’s concubine. Her mother, an arrogant and tough shrew, wouldn’t let it happen either.
It was not anyone’s fault but just the rules of society.
There was finally a conclusion to this famous engagement between Fourth Lady Qu and Young Master Yongning. Some people sighed, some people felt bad for Qu Moying, but most of them looked down on her. Among the three people involved, only her life would be ruined.
Her reputation was already bad before, and now the failure of her engagement added fuel to the fire. Who would marry her in the future? What a poor girl!
Some sharp-eyed people noticed Yu was gone too after someone came to talk to her. Before she left, she whispered something to the Old Lady, who looked displeased after hearing it.
Now the Old Lady held Qu Moying’s hand as if she was trying to comfort her, showing her intention clearly.
More and more people started to look at Qu Moying with sympathy. But sympathy was the only thing they felt since many of them didn’t approve of this engagement in the first place. They didn’t think Fourth Lady Qu, an ugly, blind girl who grew up in a village, deserved a good man like Young Master Yongning. Now, everything just went back to the position where it should be.
Under people’s complex gaze, Qu Moying sat next to her grandmother calmly as if nothing happened while the Old Lady was irritated. But it was not the time to tell people that the engagement was already broken off.
She suppressed her anger and asked Qu Moying, “Ying, when will your eyes fully recover?”
“Grandma, my eyes will recover soon. My eyes need some time to get used to all kinds of light. I still feel uncomfortable when the sunlight is too strong outside,” Qu Moying said softly.
“That’s good. That’s good.” The Old Lady nodded at her, then let out a quiet sigh, “He’s not a good match for you anyway. Your father was supposed to go to the Marquis Yongning’s Mansion and talk to them about it. What happened just now is a good coincidence for us.”
Around all the female guests eavesdropping on them, the Old Lady couldn’t directly talk about it. Still, she could imply it by saying other things.
The engagement was broken off because Xu Lipeng had an affair with Yu Qingmeng. The Qu Family didn’t tell any outsiders and let him find a proper reason to cover the scandal up out of courtesy. But now, they brought shame to her granddaughter and made everyone think Qu Moying was a poor, abandoned fiancee. How could the Old Lady not be angry?!
“Yes, Grandma!” Qu Moying lowered her head and squeezed the hanky in her hand.
“Since your eyes will recover soon, everything will be alright for you. Ying, I’m actually not worried about your future at all. You are not worse than anyone, no matter at temperament, appearance, manner, or competence. If I have to be picky, I’d say you like being alone too much and should mingle with people more. But as your grandmother, I very much enjoy your companionship, and I don’t want you to go back to that village again,” said the Old Lady.
Qu Moying knew the Old Lady was trying her best to help her, and she found people’s reactions pretty ridiculous since they all looked at them in shock. Temperament, appearance, manner, and competence… She wondered how her grandmother came up with these words.
For others, three of them would still sound reasonable except for her appearance. She bet people present were laughing at them inwardly right now!
Her grandmother spent so much effort, so she had to keep it up with her. She answered the Old Lady in a soft voice, “Grandmother, I will not go back there. I will stay here for you.”
“Good, good!” The Old Lady smiled and nodded at her.
She looked around and noticed all the madams and young ladies who heard them curled their lips in disdain. Sensing her glance, they all looked away and started to chat with each other or watch the performance as if they didn’t hear anything.
Things went as most people expected. After a while, a servant came to call the Old Lady over, and Qu Zhizhen, sitting in the opposite pavilion, left at the same time.
So far, Qu Moying’s plan had been carried out smoothly. She stayed in the pavilion since it was not appropriate for her to interfere with the discussion among the two families’ elders.
“This female role looks stunning with her makeup on. I heard the performer herself is a gorgeous woman too,” someone not far away from Qu Moying muttered.
“I heard about it too. People said it’s so hard to book her. When someone tried to invite her last time, she said she was not feeling well, and their schedule was tight because they were rehearsing a new show. Come on, they are just an opera group. Who do they think they are?” another one snorted.
“Shall we meet this female performer?” the first person who talked proposed in a low voice.
“Sure. I do want to know why an opera performer can be so popular. I heard her name is… Ming Xian’er, right?” the second one said with a bit of annoyance. Clearly, she was one of the people who got rejected by the opera group before.
Being rejected by a low-life opera performer was one of the most irritating things for those prideful madams and ladies.
Qu Moying fiddled with the round silk fan in her hand and listened to them absentmindedly.
“First Madam Luo, can you call Ming Xian’er, that female performer, over? We like her singing and want to give her some tips,” the first person said to Luo.
Since the Old Lady and Yu were both gone now, Luo, the madam from the East Mansion, was the only one who could make a decision here.
This was just a little request from the guests, so Luo nodded and sent someone to bring Ming Xian’er over.
Ming Xian’er was well-known in the city, but not many people had seen her in person. When she came closer, many young ladies put on a weird look.
How come a low-life opera performer was even more beautiful than most of them? The more they thought, the more jealous they felt as they sized her up warily.
“It’s an honor to meet you, madams and ladies,” Ming Xian’er said and bowed to them.
She was called over in a hurry, so she only had time to remove her makeup. She was still wearing the costume and keeping the same hairstyle for the performance. She was supposed to rest after getting washed and changed since she had finished her part of the performance. Now she had no choice but to come here since the female guests wanted to meet her in person.
“You are Ming Xian’er?” asked Luo, sizing her up with surprise.
“Yes, I am!” Ming Xian’er slightly lowered her head.
“I heard you are the star of the Xifu Opera Group, but the group has rejected many performance invitations. I wonder how you make money to pay all these people,” one person questioned her, sounding unfriendly. Many among them didn’t have a good impression of her.
“We do accept invitations. It’s just we spend most of our time preparing new shows for the Crown Prince, so we don’t have much time left to perform outside,” she answered calmly in a polite manner.
“I heard the Crown Princess hasn’t been feeling well, and the prince is very concerned about her. How come he has so much time to spend on entertainment?” another person said in disdain.
Her words drew everyone’s attention to Ji Hanyue, the Crown Princess. Rumors about her sickness had been spread for a while.
“I wonder how the Crown Princess is doing now. She always looked energetic when I saw her before,” someone sighed.
“Yeah. Who knows? She got sick all of a sudden, and I heard it’s pretty bad,” another person agreed with her.
“First Lady Ji also lives in the Eastern Palace now…”
“Not First Lady Ji anymore. You should call her Princess Ji!” Someone giggled with sarcasm, but she didn’t dare to say it out loud.
“Princess Ji… She surely knows how to grab her chance!” another person sighed…
Ming Xian’er stood quietly in front of the guests with her back straightened up and head lowered, looking confident but obedient.
Qu Moying had been observing Ming Xian’er’s reaction. Seeing her calm behavior, Qu Moying curled up her lips with a trace of coldness in her eyes. Then she signaled Yu Dong by patting his hand. He moved closer and bent over, and she whispered something by his ear. He nodded at her and left quickly.
She planned to meet Ming Xian’er outside before. Now, Ming Xian’er was standing right in front of her, which still worked for her plan. Her arrangements outside could be canceled now, and she was going to deal with her right at this place. Qu Moying had prepared something good for this woman who lived in the Eastern Palace, also the Crown Prince’s secret lover.
After people chatted for a while, someone got back to the point, “Ming Xian’er, you live in the Eastern Palace too. Have you seen the Crown Princess? How’s she?”
“I stay at a side house near the Eastern Palace temporarily. I don’t know about things that happened inside the palace,” said Ming Xian’er.
“You haven’t seen the Crown Prince?” someone asked.
“I’ve only seen His Royal Highness from a distance,” she answered.
That person wanted to ask more, but another lady next to her pulled her sleeve, signaling her to stop. Talking about a performer didn’t matter, but they couldn’t afford the consequence if they related her with the Crown Prince.
Before they met Ming Xian’er in person, everyone thought the Crown Prince liked the Xifu Opera Group’s performance because of another male star, as the rumors said. But now they saw Ming Xian’er’s appearance and understood the situation immediately – this young woman was probably the one he was actually fond of. No wonder the Xifu Opera Group had the guts to reject many noble families’ invitations. The Crown Prince was their secret patron!
Since the Crown Prince had the time to make Ming Xian’er prepare new shows when the Crown Princess was heavily sick, he must’ve paid a lot of attention to her. Then, didn’t it mean that the Crown Prince didn’t really care about his wife?
Many madams’ expressions changed after they had a guess.
They heard that the Crown Prince got sick because he worried too much about the Crown Princess’ health conditions. Was it a lie so that the Crown Prince could have a good reputation? So, he was actually a double-faced man rather than a loyal, honest husband in the rumors.
A simple answer led to many deep thoughts, which was not what Ming Xian’er expected. Noticing the judgmental looks on these madams’ faces, she started to get flustered. She thought about the words she said again and realized her carelessness, frowning slightly.
“Someone, give her some tips!” First Madam Luo raised her hand and said hurriedly. She realized the change of the atmosphere after her first daughter Qu Xuexin pulled her sleeve.
An old maid behind her rushed forward and gifted Ming Xian’er a small purse.
“I heard there’ll be another show later, but the performer is not you. Many madams haven’t had enough watching your show. I wonder if you can perform another one for us later?” Luo gave her a smile.
Ming Xian’er’s work was done today, but she couldn’t really reject them at this moment. She didn’t have any good reason since she was already here. She grabbed her sleeve secretly to calm herself down and said in a low voice, “Yes, madam!”
