Chapter 120 – Planting The Seed Of Suspicion
Chapter 120 Planting the Seed of Suspicion
“The Crown Princess is dead. Earl Ling’an is dead. Now that blind girl has no one to rely on. Hahaha…” Yu’s laugh sounded restrained but mad.
Qu Qiuyan frowned at her and pulled a long face. “Mother, this is not the focus. We have to prove Qu Qiuyan is a fake and show her true colors to everyone.”
“She’s not a fake. She is the real Qu Moying, definitely the real one,” Yu stopped laughing and said while panting heavily. “Mother, you lost your mind because of the sickness. You said she was a fake one before.”
Annoyed by her mother’s absurd words, Qu Qiuyan raised her voice.
When she told Yu about her suspicions, Yu agreed with her and even let her tell Lord Jing about it to blame what happened in the Eastern Palace on Qu Moying. But right now, Yu changed her words and said that girl was the real Qu Moying. Yu’s inconsistent behavior irritated Qu Qiuyan.
Right now, she was almost convinced that the current Qu Moying was a fake one.
It must be someone else who came out of nowhere and posed as Qu Moying for some evil intention. After all, the real Qu Moying couldn’t be like the person she saw every day. As a girl who grew up in a village and was taught by a tutor bribed by Yu, Qu Moying should only know a few words at the most. The calm and graceful aura she had didn’t seem to belong to the real Qu Moying.
This reason alone was enough for Qu Qiuyan to believe that Qu Moying was a fake.
Yu pressed her chest hard and finally regained her normal breathing pace after gasping for some time. She leaned back on her pillow and stared at Qu Qiuyan, looking much calmer.
“She is the real Qu Moying, but she is possessed!” Yu whispered.
The serious look on Yu’s face really made Qu Qiuyan believe that her mother had lost her mind. Yu’s opposite behavior made herself look more like a possessed person.
“Mother, stop talking nonsense!”
Yu’s eyes darkened. She took a deep breath, looked at her daughter, and said in a hoarse voice, “After Lord Jing heard it from you, what did he think?”
She hated the feeling of lacking the strength to even sit up on the bed and couldn’t accept spending the rest of her life lying here. She had to stand up again.
All the blames she took right now were all because of Qu Moying.
If Qu Moying was a fake or possessed, all her troubles wouldn’t be troubles anymore.
“Lord Jing said he would let someone investigate into it.” Qu Qiuyan pulled a long face and said in displease, “Lord Jing probably believed what I said, but I don’t think he will make an effort to investigate Qu Moying. It seems that he doesn’t care about it at all.”
Lord Jing promised that he would investigate it but also told her not to cause any trouble again and asked her to build a good relationship with her sisters. More importantly, he indicated that Noble Consort He was not satisfied with her and wanted to choose another lady as his first wife. Qu Qiuyan was irritated by his words since he almost made it clear that he wanted to marry her as his second wife.
She had considered this possibility before, but she still believed that she deserved more. She had a beautiful appearance and was well-educated. Even her father spent time tutoring her before, making her different than ordinary noble ladies. Although her father’s rank was a bit low, it didn’t mean that he would stay in that position forever.
Once he got a promotion, he would be a minister, a real high-ranking official in the empire. As a minister’s daughter, she would be qualified enough to be Madam Jing. Her father was a talented man and still young among all the officials. Clearly, a bright future was waiting for him, and he would eventually become a minister. His current position couldn’t define his future.
Qu Qiuyan couldn’t understand why Lord Jing and his mother didn’t think she was qualified to be Madam Jing.
Qu Qiuyan was dissatisfied with Lord Jing’s implication, but what happened in the Eastern Palace became his excuse. He told her that if he was not deeply in love with her, she would never get the chance to marry into a royal family because of it. By then, she would have no choice but to marry a mediocre husband…
Pei Yusheng’s words irritated her and pleased her simultaneously. In the end, she had to take a step back, saying that she didn’t care about her position as long as they could be together. However, these pretty words were just a lie. Of course, she cared about her position.
What happened in the Eastern Palace became a smudge on her name. If she couldn’t get rid of it, she would never be Lord Jing’s first wife. Moreover, since the Crown Prince was involved, it was covered up, and she didn’t have a chance to explain it in public. Thus Qu Moying turned to be the key point. She could easily solve the problem as long as she could pass the buck to Qu Moying.
But Lord Jing’s ambiguous attitude made her feel impatient.
Noticing Qu Qiuyan’s exasperated face, Yu knew how her daughter felt right now. “Don’t be so anxious. We have two ways to do it. We can first say she is a fake and make up some evidence to prove it. If it doesn’t work, we can then say she is possessed.” She gave her daughter a hint in a low voice and then started to cough again feebly.
She knew that her sickness was because of Qu Moying too.
For this reason alone, Yu and her daughter had to get rid of Qu Moying and blame everything on her
It didn’t matter if she was really a fake or not. All they wanted was that everyone else believed that Qu Moying was a fake.
Qu Qiuyan could tell Yu had a plan in mind through her expression. Then she leaned over and asked in a low voice, “Mother, what should we do?”
Yu moved her head closer and whispered in Qu Qiuyan’s ear. Qu Qiuyan nodded as a complacent smile showed up on her face…
Qu Moying didn’t wait for too long. Right after lunch, a person from the Earl Ling’an’s Mansion arrived to inform them about Earl Ling’an’s death. Soon, Yue Wenhan’s carriage came. Since Qu Moying had told the Old Lady before, she immediately took the package prepared by the Qu Family and headed outside with a letter in her sleeve.
To her surprise, she ran into Qu Qiuyan at the place where the carriage parked.
“Moying,” Qu Qiuyan called her in a sweet voice from a distance. Qu Moying stopped walking and stared at Qu Qiuyan coldly, who was moving closer. She didn’t utter a word.
Their relationship seemed fine on the surface, but both of them saw each other as an enemy and knew what the other did. In front of the Old Lady, they would still pretend they were good sisters. But since no one was around right now, Qu Moying didn’t want to spend any effort collaborating with Qu Qiuyan’s acting.
“Moying, I’ve asked people to help prepare candles for you, but I’m not sure if they are enough. Take a look,” Ignoring the cold look on Qu Moying’s face, Qu Qiuyan pointed at a smaller carriage and said. The carriage’s curtain hadn’t been put down yet, and Qu Moying could see almost half of the carriage was occupied by candles.
These should be more than sufficient.
“Thank you, Third Sister,” Qu Moying said in a flat tone and wanted to leave immediately. She was not in a good mood right now and didn’t want to deal with Qu Qiuyan.
“Moying, you don’t need to be in a rush. The Earl Ling’an’s Mansion was the Crown Princess’s home, and the people you will meet there should all be your elders. Moreover, you are going there to offer your help. The situation there is probably pretty chaotic, but as a helper, you can’t forget about these rules of etiquette. I know candles are just a small matter, but it’s better to check carefully before you leave,” Qu Qiuyan said softly with a smile.
She pulled her sleeve. “I’ve counted them once. How about you check them again? I just took over the affairs in the mansion, and there are many things that I don’t understand yet. Moreover, Grandmother wanted you to help me with it too.”
Qu Moying stopped and gazed at Qu Qiuyan. The way Qu Moying acted was a bit too intimately without anyone around, as if she and Qu Moying were really two close sisters.
Who was her performance for?
Her watery eyes looked around, but she didn’t notice anything unusual. Then she spent a moment observing the place they were at carefully. This was a carriage parking lot in the outer yard where females’ carriages and males’ carriages departed from.
Yu Dong walked up and gently pulled Qu Moying’s sleeve toward the direction of the side door. Yu Dong started to work for Qu Moying not long ago, but they had already developed a tacit mutual understanding. Through this tiny action, Qu Moying immediately understood Yu Dong’s intention, but the expression on her face remained unchanged.
“Thank you!” Qu Moying glanced over the carriage and said coldly. Then she turned around to leave with Yu Dong as the smile on Qu Qiuyan’s face gradually faded away.
After watching Qu Moying’s carriage leaving, Qu Qiuyan lowered her head with a pitiful look.
“My lady, don’t be upset. Fourth Lady had lived in the village, so she doesn’t feel close to you,” Qing Ju hurriedly comforted her.
“It’s not only me but everyone in our family. She is not even close to Grandmother and Father. But shouldn’t family mean everything to a person? Why does she never care about any of us and never treat me as her real sister?!” Qu Qiuyan let out a quiet sigh, feeling aggrieved.
Since no one was around, Qu Qiuyan and her maid could talk more casually than usual without worrying that outsiders would hear them and spread it out.
“My lady, as you said, Fourth Lady indeed is not close to anyone in the mansion.” Qing Ju nodded and said in irritation, “Even though she grew up in the village and hadn’t seen everyone for years, but family is still different than other people. Not only to you, my lady, but she is also the same frigid to the Old Lady and the Second Master. My lady, say, will Fourth Lady is actually someone else that pretends to be her?”
“Don’t talk nonsense. If Father hears it, he will blame me,” Qu Qiuyan scolded her as the upset look on her face disappeared.
“Sorry, my lady. I won’t say it again. But…but…” Qing Ju hurriedly looked around and hesitated as if she wanted to say something but didn’t dare to.
“What’s wrong?” Qu Qiuyan sounded displeased, “Just say it. Don’t act so strangely. If people see you like this, they will think you want to talk about some dirty rumors.”
“My lady…”
“Spit it out!”
The side door of the parking lot was facing the outer yard. A moment earlier, Qu Zhizhen was walking over with some people, but he suddenly stopped moving and stood next to the wall outside of the door with his eyes darkening. He had arrived here before Qu Moying left, and he didn’t intend to walk in now, still standing outside and listening to their conversation.
Indeed, his daughter Qu Moying was not close to him at all…
