Chapter 68

Chapter 68

Chapter 68 The Fight Had Already Begun

The Old Lady still felt unwell today. After giving her granddaughters a short speech, she lost her energy and waved her hand to let them leave. She only made one requirement to them – the four of them had to go out together, or no one could leave the yard.

If what happened yesterday became well-spread rumors, it would not only be about Qu Caiyue. People would also say the ladies from the Qu Family didn’t get along with each other. It really irritated the Old Lady. Now that they all wanted to free Qu Caiyue from her punishment, they had to make efforts to prove their good relationship.

The four ladies understood the Old Lady’s intention, and all agreed. After they left the Old Lady’s yard, Qu Caiyue stopped walking, her face was still pale.

“First Sister, Qiuyan, thank you for defending for me,” she said sullenly.

Qu Xuexin comforted her in a soft voice, “That’s what sisters should do for each other.”

“Don’t mention it. Be careful next time,” Qu Qiuyan said while giving a sophisticated glance at Qu Moying.

“Yes, I will surely be careful next time in case someone sets me up again,” Qu Caiyue said, gnashing her teeth. Qu Qiuyan’s words stung her heart, and she glared at the culprit in her eyes, Qu Moying.

She did give the package to Qu Moying, but somehow it showed up in her bag again. She couldn’t figure it out under stress before, but now everything was clear – Qu Moying secretly put it back in her bag when she was taking a nap in the carriage.

Qu Moying ignored her glare and her hostile attitude provoked by Qu Qiuyan. These two tried to frame her first, and now they just got what they deserved. Qu Moying knew they hated her so much that they probably wanted her dead, so she didn’t bother to keep the formality and fake her kindness either.

Qu Moying kept moving forward, ignoring them.

They were still in front of the Old Lady’s yard. With the Old Lady’s order just now, Qu Xuexin hurriedly caught up with Qu Moying. As the eldest sister in this family, she had the responsibility to take care of every sister.

Qu Caiyue and Qu Qiuyan followed them behind quietly.

After they walked for a little while, Qu Qiuyan looked around, went up to Qu Xuexin, and suggested, “First Sister, shall we go to the peach forest together? It is the most famous place in the Dabei Temple.”

The weather on the mountain tended to be warmer than the one down. The peach trees in the city had only grown flower buds right now, while the ones in the Dabei Temple had fully bloomed already. This was part of the reason why the temple had so many guests recently. Since we are here, we might as well go take a look and not miss the beautiful view.

“Moying, shall we?” Qu Xuexin stepped closer and asked beamingly.

Qu Moying nodded at her. She just wanted to take a walk around, and it was not a bad idea to enjoy the view of peach blossom in the Dabei Temple.

Led by Qu Xuexin, the group of young ladies walked toward the back of the mountain.

From a distance, they had already seen the pink color of peach flowers. There were many people under the beautiful cloud of flowers, including young masters, noble ladies, and some ordinary guests. In the Dabei Temple, people would skip some unnecessary formalities. People from different classes all gathered here to enjoy the stunning view.

In such a beautiful, lively environment, people all felt very pleased.

The temple also considerately built pavilions everywhere for guests to take a rest in case they felt tired. The pavilions could be seen beside the forest and in between the trees.

“First Sister, is that County Lady Jingyu?” Qu Qiuyan suddenly pulled Qu Xuexin’s sleeve and asked in a low voice.

Qu Moying looked in the same direction and recognized some familiar faces. She had met County Lady Jingyu a few times in her past life and had a good impression of her. In Ji Hanyue’s eyes, she was one of the few high-born ladies with a kind personality.

Liu Jingyu was the Minister of Works’ daughter, and her grandfather was the illustrious Duke Qi. She got the title of County Lady because of her grandfather. Pei Luo’an mentioned to Ji Hanyue before that Duke Qi saved the emperor’s life before, and the reward he asked for from the emperor was a noble title for his daughter’s daughter instead of his son’s daughter. It clearly showed that how much County Lady Jingyu was pampered by her family.

Her background determined her high-born identity, one of the noblest ladies in the capital. Qu Moying could tell that the people around Liu Jingyu all used to hang out with her in the past life. It was just everything had changed.

After a quick glance, Qu Moying moved her eyes away. Now she was just the Fourth Lady of the Qu Family.

“It seems so.” Qu Xuexin noticed the ladies in that pavilion too and nodded. Then she pulled Qu Qiuyan’s sleeve, “Qiuyan, let’s find another pavilion to take some rest. That one is occupied.”

“Why? Everyone can sit in those pavilions,” Qu Qiuyan argued back but didn’t move an inch.

Qu Moying’s eyes lit up behind the veil. It sounded like something had happened between them. She was surprised that even Qu Qiuyan showed a trace of fear facing Liu Jingyu.

“Let’s go. The view is better at the front!” Qu Xuexin said and pulled Qu Qiuyan’s sleeve again.

“Qiuyan, let’s go,” Qu Caiyue convinced Qu Qiuyan too as she took a cautious glance at that pavilion, showing a trace of panic on her face.

Their petty actions were seen clearly by Qu Moying. Something must have happened before that she didn’t know.

Feeling interested, Qu Moying raised her eyes and looked into a pair of pretty eyes. It was County Lady Jingyu. She was staring at Qu Moying with an icy look. Then she turned around immediately, showing the back of her head as if she saw something really disgusting.

Confused by her reaction, Qu Moying was stunned for a second. She was sure that she had never met County Lady Jingyu in this life, but the sense of disgust she felt from County Lady Jingyu was real.

It seemed like County Lady Jingyu was not the person she thought in her past life either. Qu Moying’s eyes darkened as she turned around and left, following her other three sisters.

“Cousin, what are you looking at?” Noticing the displeased look on Liu Jingyu’s face, Qi Xiangyu, Duke Qi’s other granddaughter, asked with surprise.

“Some filthy things that make me feel disgusted,” Liu Jingyu said coldly as she took out her hanky to gently press the corner of her eye.

“Since it was filthy thing, you’d better not to look at them. Let’s go pick some peach flowers. With so many of them here, the monks in the temple won’t notice if we pick some, right?” Qi Xiangyu smiled and stopped paying attention to Liu Jingyu.

“There are many flowers, but there are also many guests here. If everyone picks one or two branches, I guess there will be no flowers left.” Liu Jingyu moved her eyes away from the four sisters of the Qu Family. None of them left a good impression on her.

“Um… alright!” Qi Xiangyu nodded since her words sounded reasonable.

Other ladies around them all agreed with Liu Jingyu, and few of them noticed the four sisters of the Qu Family who passed by just now. The Qu Family was still not comparable to their families…

“First Sister, did you hear what County Lady Jingyu said…?” Qu Qiuyan whispered to Qu Xuexin as her face turned pale due to anger, and she clenched the hanky in her hand.

“Qiuyan, no matter who you will become in the future, she is County Lady Jingyu right now. Her identity is much nobler than ours,” Qu Xuexin reminded her.

“But… but why? Even though my father is her father’s subordinate, she can’t treat me like this,” Qu Qiuyan said aggrievedly.

“Qiuyan, just bear with her now. You will have everything in the future when you… Even she has to bow to you by then. You can ignore her and make her embarrassed as you want at that time,” Qu Caiyue glanced at Qu Moying, who was following behind them, and mumbled to Qu Qiuyan.

Then she gave a cold glare to Qu Moying again.

Feeling her random hostile attitude, Qu Moying didn’t care about it too much. If one got bitten by a dog, he would only get rid of the dog, not bite the animal back…

Qu Moying stared at some peach flowers as she fell into her thoughts. Liu Jingyu looked at her with such a cold face. Was it because she held a grudge against Qu Qiuyan? Consequently, she disliked everyone related to Qu Qiuyan?

But it didn’t make too much sense for Qu Moying. The emotion hidden behind the stern look Liu Jingyu wore was not as simple as dislike, more like resent and wariness.

But Qu Moying was simply a girl with an eye problem who just came back from the village. How did she make a high-born lady like Liu Jingyu hold such hostility to her? The only possible reason was Qu Qiuyan.

In her past life, she heard that Noble Consort He picked County Lady Jingyu among all the noble ladies and wanted Lord Jing to marry her as his first wife. The two families started to keep in touch after Ji Hanyue was engaged with the Crown Prince.

The empress once picked Liu Jingyu too as the candidate of the Crown Princess. But then Ji Hanyue got the position.

People found out the relationship between Qu Qiuyan and Lord Jing at the Old Lady Qu’s birthday banquet. However, their relationship had started a while ago. The outsiders didn’t know about it, but County Lady Jingyu should know. So, this time was the encounter of two love rivals?

It seemed like Lord Jing would have a tough time after getting married since the fight between his future wives had already begun.

“I can’t stand it. There were so many people around last time. I can’t believe she… she poured the water on me and said it was an accident. She obviously did it on purpose! She also deliberately gave me the cold shoulder before and kept mentioning… mentioning Qu Moying.”

Qu Qiuyan gnashed her teeth and threw an angry glare at Qu Moying.

If it weren’t for this blind girl, she wouldn’t be laughed at by other people. Liu Jingyu teased her last time, saying it was unbelievable that the Qu Family raised a wife’s daughter in the village and allowed a concubine’s daughter to mistreat Qu Moying. Both Qu Qiuyan and her mother were insulted by Liu Jingyu. Qu Qiuyan was so angry that she almost lost her temper immediately, trying to argue with her.

She didn’t do it only because her mother grabbed her hand hard, signaling her not to offend Liu Jingyu.

She felt aggrieved every time she thought about it.

She was the woman that Lord Jing liked. Liu Jingyu only got the noble title of County Lady because of her grandfather, who would be nothing compared to Qu Qiuyan after she became Madam Jing in the future.

“Qiuyan, look… over there…” Qu Caiyue suddenly pulled Qu Qiuyan’s hand and pointed in a direction with excitement.

Qu Qiuyan looked in that direction. After she recognized the person, joy showed up on her face. She lifted her dress and got ready to rush over…