Chapter 130 – Another Funeral
Chapter 130 Another Funeral
Qu Moying got up in the early morning the next day. After washing up and eating some congee, she headed to the Old Lady’s yard with Yu Dong and Yu Chun.
People from the East Mansion had already arrived. Qu Moying saw Luo sitting aside with Qu Xuexin and Qu Caiyue.
Qu Moying curtsied to the Old Lady and seated herself. Then she looked up at Qu Caiyue, who so happened to sit opposite to her. They hadn’t seen each other for a while, and surprisingly, Qu Caiyue seemed like a different person. She acted more discreetly, sitting there in silence with her head lowered.
Feeling Qu Moying’s gaze, Qu Caiyue lifted her head, threw her a stern glare, and lowered her head again.
Confused by her reaction, Qu Moying moved her eyes away.
Today they would go to mourn for Earl Ling’an. The only one missing was Qu Qiuyan now.
After the Old Lady sent people to urge Qu Qiuyan several times, she finally showed up in the room. People noticed that her eyes looked red as if she had just cried. The Old Lady was irritated by her misbehavior and wanted to give her a lecture when she came. But after seeing her face, the Old Lady dropped her idea.
The group of people left the mansion. Compared to the last time they went to the Eastern Palace, Yu was the only one missing this time.
The rest of them were still here.
Carriages had been ready for leaving as Qu Zhizhen, Qu Zhilin, and their two sons stayed aside, waiting for the females as usual.
Qu Zhizhen’s ankle hadn’t recovered yet, so he would take the carriage too.
The Old Lady got into the carriage first, followed by Luo, who hesitated for a few seconds. Qu Moying continued to walk down. What a coincidence. She took the same carriage with Qu Caiyue again.
Meanwhile, Qu Xuexin and Qu Qiuyan had gotten into another carriage,
Before Qu Moying climbed up the carriage, a gentle voice came aside. She turned around and recognized its owner – Qu Mingcheng, Qu Qiuyan’s twin brother.
“Moying!” Qu Mingcheng was a good-looking, well-educated young man who had a gentle aura that could easily leave a good impression on people. This was the first time Qu Mingcheng proactively greeted Qu Moying.
“Second Brother!” Qu Moying stopped and curtsied to him.
The youngsters of the two mansions were ranked together. As Qu Zhizhen’s only son, Qu Mingcheng was the Second Young Master in the Qu Family.
“Moying, can we talk in private for a second?” Qu Mingcheng said gently.
Qu Moying hesitated for a few seconds and nodded at him. The two of them moved a bit away from the crowd.
The curtain of a carriage seemed to move a little bit. It appeared that someone noticed their movement and was peeking at them.
“Moying, my mother is a narrow-minded woman and made a mistake. I apologize to you!” After they stopped walking, Qu Mingcheng immediately bowed deeply to Qu Moying.
Qu Moying hurriedly moved aside to avoid his obeisance.
“Second Brother, it has passed already. You don’t need to mention it again,” said Qu Moying. Was this Second Brother the same kind as he looked like? She still felt skeptical about it. She had stayed in the mansion for a while since she came back. But this Second Brother didn’t show any attitude to her yet, always maintaining a proper distance.
They only nodded to each other and gave a simple greeting when encountering before.
But right now, he acted so kindly in front of her. His behavior was gentle and polite without any trace of resentment. Yet, Qu Moying was still the root reason why Yu fell sick and had her name ruined. But he acted as if he didn’t care about it at all.
He called Moying with no hesitation, as if it was coming from the bottom of his heart.
If Qu Moying had just returned to the mansion and met him for the first time, she would have found his attitude much more convincing. But right now, the more reliable he looked, the more suspicious she felt.
But no matter how skeptical she was, Qu Mingcheng at least behaved like a real, honest gentleman.
“Thank you, Moying.” Qu Mingcheng bowed to her again with a smile. “Mother is still sick right now. After she recovers, I will definitely ask her to apologize to you in person. Family members shouldn’t be so distant. I know my mother took many things for granted. It’s actually my fault. I should tell her more about the importance of a family’s harmony.”
“Second Brother, you have nothing to do with it. Even if Second Madam really did it, you can’t blame yourself for it,” Qu Moying said softly.
A trace of wariness crossed her eyes. A few words already made her feel like this Second Young Master Qu was not a simple person to deal with.
He didn’t ask for her forgiveness but properly apologized on Yu’s behalf. He even said he would ask Yu to apologize to Qu Moying in person. But no matter what, Yu was still an elder in the family for Qu Moying. If she really visited Qu Moying and apologized to her in person, rumors would spread out that Qu Moying was a rude stepdaughter who forced Yu to apologize in person.
Yu’s crime was investigated, but the one who found out the truth and told it to the Qu Family was Ji Youran. Technically, the Qu Family had never confirmed it, and Yu didn’t admit she did it in public. So, Qu Moying couldn’t identify Yu as the culprit who framed her. She used an ambiguous way to say it.
She had to be ambiguous about it.
“It’s…Father’s and my fault anyway. No matter my mother…did it or not, she was involved. After she recovers, she will give you a clear answer to it, Moying,” Qu Mingcheng said with a firm look.
His reasoning was perfectly rounded and flawless. Anyone who heard it would think of Qu Mingcheng as a kind person, totally different from his mother, Yu.
Everything he said made sense.
“Thank you, Second Brother!” answered Qu Moying.
Qu Mingcheng didn’t say anything more but bowed to Qu Moying again. Then he straightened up and reached out to show Qu Moying the way. “Moying, please get into the carriage!”
Qu Moying nodded and didn’t reject him. When she got to the carriage and was about to climb up with Yu Dong’s help, Qu Mingcheng reached out and lent her a hand. Holding Qu Mingcheng’s hand, Qu Moying climbed up the carriage with a smile on her face. Then Yu Dong and Yu Chun followed her as Qu Mingcheng stepped aside.
He took the reins from a young servant after the carriages all started to move, got on the horse, and slowly followed behind.
“Mingcheng seems to treat you really nice, even better than his own sister.” Qu Caiyue put down the curtain and said to Qu Moying sarcastically. She had a tough time holding herself back in front of the Old Lady. Seeing Qu Moying reminded her of the hardships she had been through before. She couldn’t help but start to provoke Qu Moying immediately.
Because of what happened in the Dabei Temple, Qu Caiyue listened to many lectures after returning to the mansion. She even heard from her mother that the First Madam wanted to find her a random husband and let her get married as soon as possible. Of course, Qu Caiyue was unwilling to accept it, but she didn’t dare oppose the First Madam. She could only vent her anger on Qu Moying.
“Second Sister, you want another argument, or you want to frame me again?” Qu Moying squinted her eyes and asked calmly.
Qu Caiyue’s face flushed immediately. She pointed at Qu Moying in rage and wanted to curse her.
“Second Sister, Grandmother and Aunt Luo are in the carriage ahead. First Brother and Second Brother are riding horses next to us. Oh, right, and Uncle. Second Sister, if you are not afraid of getting scolded later, say it louder,” staring at Qu Caiyue, Qu Moying leaned back and said lazily.
Hearing her words, Qu Caiyue shut her mouth immediately, only glaring at Qu Moying with annoyance.
She had listened to enough lectures from Luo these days, and even her mother was involved. This happened all because she framed Qu Moying before.
If she started another argument with Qu Moying, she would definitely be the one who got blamed.
Qu Moying never had a good impression of Qu Caiyue, who only knew flattering Qu Qiuyan and trampling on Qu Moying’s ego. She cast a glance at Qu Caiyue, with a blushed face in rage, leaned back, and closed her eyes.
“You…Don’t be so complacent yet…” Qu Caiyue’s lowered voice rang near her ear.
Qu Moying ignored her.
“You…You… You will have your turn soon,” Qu Caiyue said in exasperation, unwilling to be ignored.
“Second Sister, if you keep talking bullshit, I will stop the carriage right now and exchange my seat with Third Sister. I believe you will enjoy her companionship more, right?” Qu Moying suddenly said.
Qu Caiyue was so scared that she immediately pressed her into a straight line, feeling aggrieved and irritated.
Although she knew it was not really possible to happen because Qu Moying would get scolded for asking to change her seat, Qu Caiyue didn’t dare to take any risk right now. Before leaving the mansion this time, the Old Lady had warned her many times to behave well. If she misbehaved again, they would find a random husband for her and let luck decide her fate.
Qu Moying’s threat was very effective since Qu Caiyue didn’t have the nerve to risk her own marriage. Luo was the one who had the right to make the call, so Qu Caiyue didn’t dare to cause any trouble again.
The carriage fell into silence as it headed to the Earl Ling’an’s Mansion. The two masters were quiet, let alone the maids. On the first day of Earl Ling’an’s funeral, there were few guests. The people present were all family friends and close relatives. The Qu Family’s carriages entered the Ji Family quickly and stopped at the parking lot under an old maid’s guidance.
After the carriages stopped, the Qu Family got off and followed behind the Ji Family’s servants to the altar room.
Qu Moying saw white ribbons hung everywhere in the Earl Ling’an’s Mansion along the way, totally different than what it looked like yesterday. Because they just announced it when she visited yesterday and didn’t have time to change the decoration in the mansion yet. Everything was ready today.
The Qu Family went to mourn Earl Ling’an in the altar room. They looked at the coffin in the center and let out some sighs. They just saw the Crown Princess’s coffin a few days ago, and now it was her father’s turn. This father and daughter were indeed pitiful.
After finishing the mourning session, the group was divided into two teams. Qu Moying followed the Old Lady to the inner yard where females stayed while Qu Zhilin and Qu Zhizhen took their sons to the outer yard.
They came pretty early today, so not many people were inside the living room when they followed an old maid there.
Old Lady Qu and Old Lady Ji had known each other for a long time. When they saw each other, Old Lady Qu comforted Old Lady Ji, whose eyes were red because of too much crying. Old Lady Ji’s voice was so hoarse that she couldn’t even talk, and she looked haggard in grief.
Xiao had been comforting her aside in a low voice too.
Xiao looked feeble and pale today, different from her aggressive look yesterday. Not only Xiao, everyone in the Earl Ling’an’s Mansion, including all the servants, had red, swollen eyes. The entire Ji Family was immersed in sorrow.
Qu Moying sneered inwardly, impressed by their excellent performance. If she didn’t know the truth behind her father’s death, she would be totally convinced that her father had just died yesterday…
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