Chapter 156 – The Bracelets Finally Made A Pair?
Chapter 156 The Bracelets Finally Made a Pair?
“My lady, wake up.” Looking at the shadow at the door curtain, Yu Dong went forward to wake Qu Moying up.
“What’s wrong?” Qu Moying opened her eyes.
“We are in the outer yard. Eastern Palace’s maid advised you to move to the yard where the womenfolk rest,” Yu Dong explained while supporting Qu Moying up.
“Sure!” Qu Moying replied.
After Qu Moying sat up and tidied up a little, Yu Dong took the opportunity to show Qu Moying the jewelry box in his sleeve, hinting that the jewelry box had already been switched.
The jewelry box looked fine, exactly the same as before, but in fact, Yu Dong knew very well that this jewelry box was no longer the same one as before. It had already been switched.
Speaking of which, Yu Dong felt that Princess Ji was such a shameless person. The dignified Princess Ji of Crown Prince’s Mansion actually took a fancy to his lady’s bracelet and even used such a method to get it. It was really embarrassing for her to do this.
No matter how valuable this bracelet was, it was only a bracelet. This Princess Ji was too petty. From this, it could be seen that Princess Ji’s character was indeed not good.
Yu Dong did not believe at all what Princess Ji said about taking care of the Crown Princess as the reason why she entered the Eastern Palace.
In this matter, Yu Dong actually misunderstood Ji Youran. If not for the extraordinary significance of this bracelet, Ji Youran would not have used this method to switch out Qu Moying’s bracelet.
It was not that she was petty, but that this pair of bracelets was very important to her.
Qu Moying narrowed her eyes and then nodded. She picked up the jewelry box and gently shook it a few times. There was the sound of broken pieces. It did not sound like a whole piece of item. Then, she put it in her sleeve and held Yu Dong’s hand as she walked out.
Outside the room, the maid was waiting. When she saw them coming out, she first bowed to Qu Moying and then led the way in the front.
Qu Moying slowly followed behind the maid, and a trace of coldness flashed through her eyes. This route was indeed toward the inner yard, but it was not the most direct way to get to it. In fact, the maid could have chosen another route that connected directly to the Floral-pendant Gate of the inner yard. However, the maid did not hesitate to take her to this route even though she clearly saw another route just now.
It could be seen that Ji Youran had planned for this long ago.
She was now sure that the bracelet that Ji Hanyue wore at that time must have been broken or shattered. Of course, even so, there could still be a few intact pieces left.
In front of them was an intersection. The maid waved to them. Yu Dong helped Qu Moying to walk forward. Before they turned around, a person suddenly came into them. Yu Dong was shocked and hurriedly pulled Qu Moying back. As he took two steps forward, he bumped into that person.
It was a young servant. After crashing heavily, he and Yu Dong both took two steps back and fell to the ground.
Fortunately, Qu Moying had been pushed away by Yu Dong, but even so, she almost fell down. Only by supporting herself on the rockery did she stand steadily.
“What’s going on?” A man’s voice came from behind the young servant. Then, Qu Moying saw a group of people behind the young servant. Looking at the sick and weak man surrounded by the crowd, Qu Moying immediately knew that the person who was plotted against at the same time was Lord Wei, Pei Qingmin.
None of the people present today were so easy to scheme against. However, in comparison, this man was weaker.
“What’s going on?” Looking at the maid and the young servant who had fallen to the ground, Lord Wei asked with a cough.
“Greetings, Lord Wei.” The Eastern Palace’s maid hurried forward to apologize. “I accompanied Fourth Lady Qu here. I didn’t expect that Fourth Lady Qu’s maid would walk so fast as to bump into you, Lord Wei. Please forgive us, Lord Wei.”
Qu Moying also came out from the corner of the rockery and bowed to Pei Qingmin. “Greetings, Lord Wei.”
Just now at the mourning hall, Pei Qingmin had seen Qu Moying. Qu Moying had a different appearance from the others. Just the eye veil was a very recognizable symbol of her. Moreover, she fainted in the mourning hall, so Lord Wei stole a few more glances at her.
He immediately recognized the person in front of him was Fourth Lady Qu.
After sizing her up, he asked gently, “There is no need to be so polite. Do you feel better, Fourth Lady Qu?”
“Thank you, Your Highness. I… I feel much better.” Qu Moying answered with a pale face. However, no matter how one looked at her face, it did not look like she was better.
Lord Wei himself was not in good health. He took a few more glances at Qu Moying, who was also in ill health. Recently, there were many rumors about this Fourth Lady Qu, and she seemed to have the intention of overthrowing the previous rumors. The Fourth Lady was not tall, and she looked underweight. In addition, her appearance seemed to have a bit of timidity. It seemed true that her health was not very good.
Her hair was black and was simply tied up with a hairpin. Her face was pale, and her lips were light-colored. Even though the shape of her lips looked charming, the color was a little too pale, revealing a kind of light color that made people pity her. If such a face was paired with a pair of bright eyes, Pei Qingmin felt that she would be a beautiful young girl.
His health was not good, but he was quite knowledgeable about calligraphy and painting. He understood very well how Qu Moying would look with a pair of bright eyes. Words of such a young girl being ugly were clearly not true. Needless to say, it must have been spread around by the jealous step-wife of Qu Zhizhen.
This step-wife even dared to lay a hand on the daughter born of the first wife at the Crown Princess’s funeral, so what was there for her to be afraid of?
It was also said that this Fourth Lady Qu was rejected by Young Master Yongning, Xu Lipeng, in terms of marriage, and it seemed that there were other causes and effects. Anyhow, she was indeed extremely pitiful.
Meanwhile, the young servant and Yu Dong had already stood up, and after glaring at each other, they still did not dare to say anything.
“Fourth Lady Qu, if you need anything, just tell Princess Ji.” Pei Qingmin said gently. After that, he led the people forward, and Qu Moying retreated to the side.
After Lord Wei left, Qu Moying held Yu Dong’s hand again and followed behind Eastern Palace’s maid.
No one would think that there were many accidents in this small episode. After all, it was just a maid bumping into a young servant. For the two Masters, this was nothing serious.
The maid led Qu Moying to a yard. It was indeed the place where the womenfolk rested. After she led them in and arranged for someone to serve Qu Moying, the maid left.
As soon as the maid got out of the yard, she hurried to another yard in the inner yard. This was the yard where Ji Youran lived, which was close to the yard of Crown Princess, Ji Hanyue.
When she entered the main room to report, Ji Youran was sitting in the middle.
The maid came forward to salute, holding a jewelry box in her hand. It was the one that Qu Moying had before. “Princess Ji, the jewelry box has been exchanged.”
Ji Youran nodded. Her private maid, Shui Ning, stepped forward and took the box. She then placed it on the table in front of Ji Youran and gently opened it. Inside was a blood jade bracelet.
Ji Youran picked it up and inspected it carefully. From the color to the flower pattern and then to the subtle grain on it, they were all the same. She could not help but smile.
The other maid, Xie Feng, went into the room and took out another jewelry box. Compared with this jewelry box, the other one was more beautiful. After it was opened, there was also a bracelet in it.
Ji Youran took it out. When the two bracelets were placed side by side, everyone could tell that they were a pair.
The color and appearance were exactly the same.
The smile on Ji Youran’s face became complacent. She first put one bracelet on her wrist and then wore the other one. Checking out the two bracelets, she grew even more satisfied.
Finally, the bracelets made a pair! Every time she saw only one of the bracelets, she would think of many bad things and would feel displeased. Now, she finally owned a pair of them.
As she swayed the blood bracelet on her wrist, she grew all the more satisfied the more she looked at them. When Ji Hanyue wore the bracelet in front of her, Ji Youran just wanted to have a look. But Ji Hanyue said Ji Youran had to be careful as this belonged to her Grandmother, so she could only let Ji Youran have a look and not wear it.
Now that Ji Hanyue’s bracelet was on Ji Youran’s wrist, everything belonged to her.
Satisfied, Ji Youran looked up at her surroundings. In the past, she had envied Ji Hanyue countless times in her heart. Now, the owner of this place was her. Ji Hanyue was already dead. Everything that was Ji Hanyue’s now fell into Ji Youran’s hands.
Including Ji Hanyue’s dowry.
“My lady, will Fourth Lady Qu start a fight?” Shui Ning asked worriedly. She was Ji Youran’s dowry maid. When Ji Youran entered the Eastern Palace, she was in a hurry, so it was impossible for her to bring many people in. Thus, she only brought one of her most trusted maids.
“How could she dare? She has been very timid. Crown Princess once told her before to not be afraid and to make trouble if something happened and that Crown Princess would support her. If she did not say anything, Crown Princess could not interfere either. However, she has always lived in the village and it looks like she wants to be a village girl forever.”
Xie Feng curled her lips and replied disapprovingly. She was Ji Hanyue’s maid before, and now she was Ji Youran’s maid. It just so happened that she made up for the lack of Ji Youran’s personal maids. Normally, she would be eager to talk to Ji Youran, showing that she now stood on Ji Youran’s side wholeheartedly. As for her original Master, she had completely forgotten about her.
“But, Madam once sent a message that Fourth Lady Qu could not be underestimated.” Shui Ning felt still a little uneasy. She looked worriedly at Ji Youran, whose gaze had never left the bracelet in her hands.
In the message that Qu Mansion sent over, it was said that this Fourth Lady Qu could not be trifled with and that Princess Ji should be careful.
“Shui Ning, what are you worried about? The mansion only told Princess Ji to be careful, and they did not say that the Fourth Lady was powerful. She was really not powerful, though. She usually does not speak to others and has her head low when others speak. Although it was better now, it would not be much better. What she said in the Ji Family must have been taught by someone. How could she know all these? How could she dare!”
Xie Feng became more and more disdainful. She had really seen Fourth Lady Qu. One time, when she was sent by Ji Hanyue to deliver things to the village, she met Fourth Lady Qu. Therefore, she really could not understand what Shui Ning was afraid of right now.
Ji Youran finally finished appreciating the bracelets. She put the blood jade bracelet into the beautiful jewelry box, then closed the lid and said slowly, “It’s fine. It’s not my business even if she starts a fight. The person she bumped into was Lord Wei. What does it have to do with me? If she wants to debate, she should go to Lord Wei!”
In this matter, Ji Youran was really not afraid of Qu Moying making a fuss, especially at this time. Crown Prince was in a bad mood. No matter who made a fuss, Crown Prince would know it, and it would not be good.
“Princess Ji, His Highness wants you to go over.” While they were in conversation, an old maid came running in a panic to report a message. For a moment, the room quieted down, and the faces of several people turned dark…
