Chapter 198 – Lord Wei Was Prejudiced
Chapter 198 Lord Wei Was Prejudiced
No one had expected that Lord Jing Pei Yusheng and Lord Wei Pei Qingmin would actually be in Qu Mansion.
They had come secretly, and they were only walking around casually in Qu Mansion at this time. They had not expected to see such a scene in front of them.
“Fourth Lady Qu is the one whose marriage engagement was annulled before. She looks capable though. The other one is the Second Lady.” Pei Yusheng pointed at the waterside pavilion and said casually.
“Fourth Lady Qu?” Lord Wei’s face was pale and sickly. He hadn’t walked too far just now, but he was already a little out of breath. At this time, he stopped walking. He, too, saw the scene just now clearly. The corners of his lips curved silently, carrying a bit of ridicule. He naturally recognized Qu Mansion’s Fourth Lady.
Sure enough, rumors could not be trusted.
It was said that the Fourth Lady was extremely pitiful. She was envied by her stepmother and had no choice but to live in the village outside the capital, and many years went by just like that. It was also said that she had an eye disease. Recently, Xu Lipeng jumped into the water to save Duan Mansion’s Second Lady, so he had to cancel the marriage engagement with the Fourth Lady to show his responsibility for Duan Mansion’s Second Lady.
It was rumored that the Fourth Lady was extremely pitiful.
However, he felt that people were biased. The Fourth Lady was clearly not a good person and was very scheming.
Not to mention the last time in the governor’s mansion. She was clearly the one who instigated the concubine to make a complaint. Moreover, her wheelchair was clearly the same as his wheelchair. Besides, she even almost bumped into him. Although it was said that she fell later because of Uncle Yun Lord Yun, Lord Wei did not believe that Uncle Yun would bump into anyone, let alone a woman.
The most likely possibility was that she was trying to blackmail Uncle Yun by bumping into him. She might have been completely fine, but she deliberately bumped into Uncle Yun and then pretended to fall and hurt herself. Perhaps she got a little closer to Uncle Yun, so after she fell down, she pushed all the blame onto Uncle Yun. As soon as he thought of this, Pei Qingmin felt that he was almost the one who fell for this trick.
That day in Crown Prince’s Mansion, Fourth Lady Qu was clearly trying to blackmail him. Whether it was him or Uncle Yun, there was only one goal. It was to get close to him and Uncle Yun.
He had seen so many women of this kind, and he felt very disdainful toward them. Her wheelchair must have been prepared early. It seemed that he was the Fourth Lady’s first target, and Uncle Yun was the next.
Compared to Uncle Yun, he was naturally much easier to plot against. Unfortunately, people could not predict the future. As her last resort, the scheming Fourth Lady Qu had no choice but to plot against Uncle Yun, who was the most difficult to plot against.
Now that she was being used as an excuse by Uncle Yun, she would certainly come to no good end.
Among the aristocratic ladies, there were many who were bent on climbing up the societal ladder by marrying a Prince or a Lord, so Pei Qingmin was not surprised. In the past, he would just walk away and would not even give any response. However, this Fourth Lady Qu really made him feel annoyed, so he commented a few words.
“Qu Mansion’s Second Lady is really pitiful. As an older sister, she almost knelt to her younger sister. It seemed that she wanted to ask her younger sister for a favor, but in the end, she did not succeed,” Lord Jing Pei Yusheng said meaningfully.
Both of them had clearly witnessed the scene just now. They had also seen how Qu Caiyue almost pushed Qu Moying down, but Qu Moying’s maid was the one who fell in the end.
However, one of them two deliberately led the topic, while the other had prejudice. Of course, they indifferently neglected Qu Caiyue’s actions and didn’t care about it.
“Fourth Lady Qu is indeed capable,” Pei Qingmin nodded and agreed. Then, he said indifferently, “Let’s go and take a look elsewhere. All of Qu Mansion’s ladies do not seem to be easy to deal with. It’s better to stay far away from them.”
When he said this casually, Qu Qiuyan was also included. When he finished speaking, he suddenly smiled and said apologetically, “Except Third Lady Qu, of course.”
The brothers all knew that Lord Jing liked Qu Qiuyan. As for the visit to Vice Minister Qu’s Mansion this time, it was said that he had something to say to Vice Minister Qu about the Ministry of Works, but in fact, it was nothing important—an old palace needed to be renovated. It was indeed something under the Ministry of Works, and it was indeed related to Lord Jing.
But the problem was, was there a need for Lord Jing to make a trip himself?
Thinking of the fact that his Second Brother had disappeared for a while and that when he reappeared, his neat clothes were a little messy, Lord Wei smiled elegantly, and his lips curved slightly.
Lord Wei’s health was not good, but it did not mean that his brain was not good.
It was obvious that Lord Jing had come for a reason, and Lord Wei should be the excuse.
However, Qu Mansion’s upbringing was obviously not good. Otherwise, Third Lady Qu would not be secretly meeting Second Brother, and Fourth Lady Qu would not be trying to get close to the Emperor. As for Second Lady Qu? She was also really interesting!
“Although Second Lady Qu is a daughter of a concubine, she is a rare beauty in the capital. If not for the fact that her eldest sister should get married first, Qu Mansion’s threshold would have been flattened by a large number of people who went to ask for marriage!” Pei Yusheng said with a smile. They had already turned around and casually walked forward. There was no one else. The two brothers were joking with each other.
“Indeed, but these men should not be serious, right?” he said faintly.
Pei Yusheng grinned. There were some things that needed not to be said. Even if she was a wife-born daughter, it was impossible for her to marry into the imperial family as the wife, let alone she was just a concubine-born daughter.
“Which family have you taken a fancy to, Second Brother?” Pei Qingmin glanced at him and asked indifferently.
“I’m still thinking about it,” Pei Yusheng sighed and said, feeling a headache.
He had taken a fancy to County Lady Jingyu before, but now he felt that she was not the best choice. Liu Xiangshan’s daughter, Liu Lanxin, was excellent, but Miss Liu clearly had no interest in him at all. Most importantly, Liu Xiangshan also gave no response to his gallantry.
He had previously used Liu Lanxin’s name to send things to the border, and they had all fallen on deaf ears.
Although Duke Qi was powerful, the most important thing was still military power. If he had military power, things would be much simpler. Even though he knew that Lord Wei did not have any ambitions, there were some things that Pei Yusheng could not say out and could only be vague about.
The Crown Prince had many tricks, and his relationship with Pei Qingmin was also good. Pei Yusheng did not want to ruin his main business because of a moment of mistake.
As for Qu Qiuyan, since she was not on the list of consideration for the position of Princess Consort, he was not afraid that Pei Qingmin would know about it. Or rather, he could show his goodwill to Pei Qingmin. Since he was not even on guard against Pei Qingmin and told him this, it had already shown his intimate attitude toward Pei Qingmin.
Among his brothers, the one who made Lord Jing feel the least danger was Lord Wei Pei Qingmin.
Although Lord Wei was pretty useless, if Lord Wei could be by his side, it would also be a helping hand. It could also make people feel that he was showing love and respect to his own brother. This was what the Crown Prince thought, which was why he had always been very good to Pei Qingmin.
Lord Jing also played this move.
“Isn’t County Lady Jingyu good? I heard that the Noble Consort He had sent people to see whether County Lady Jingyu was a good match before,” Pei Qingmin asked curiously. Previously, in the Empress’ Pepper House Hall, Pei Yusheng had also found an excuse and given a perfunctory answer. He said that he had not thought it through yet and that Noble Consort He had repeatedly dealt with this matter. That was why he could not make the decision himself. He pushed the matter onto Noble Consort He.
Everyone in the palace knew that Noble Consort He was much more favored than the Empress.
“County Lady Jingyu was originally very good and very suitable. Mother also thought that she was good and even thought of arranging a marriage. But recently…” Pei Yusheng’s face darkened and his expression turned cold.
“What happened?” Pei Qingmin looked up and asked.
“The Crown Princess is gone. The Empress must choose a new Crown Princess again. County Lady Jingyu has a good identity and is suitable in all aspects. She had contact with Mother before. After the Crown Princess passed away, she… basically stopped contacting Mother.” Pei Yusheng sighed. Of course, he would not mention that he had never been to the Liu Family again since then.
Him not looking for the Minister of Works but for the Vice Minister of Works regarding the matter of the Ministry of Works explained the problem.
“The Liu Family actually has the guts to do this?” After understanding the meaning of Pei Yusheng’s words, Pei Qingmin sneered. As a Prince, he could understand that it was naturally unhappy for a Prince to be chosen like this.
“We can’t blame them for this. After all, the Crown Prince… is different from us.” Pei Yusheng smiled bitterly and pointed to a pavilion not far away. “Do you want to rest for a while? We’ve walked a bit too far. I’m tired.”
In fact, it was Lord Wei Pei Qingmin who was tired. His lips looked extremely pale. Pei Yusheng knew that he would not be able to hold on any longer. This younger brother of his was actually very smart. Unfortunately, his health was not good, and this saved him a lot of trouble.
“No, let’s go back. After all, this is someone else’s residence. If the two of us stay here for long, I’m afraid there will be bad rumors,” Pei Qingmin said. He did not want to be implicated with the ill-mannered Qu Mansion.
He did not have any affection for Qu Mansion’s ladies. Not to mention Princess Consort, even if his Princess or Concubine, he did not want them to be from Qu Mansion.
“Well, then let’s go back. Can you hold on?” Pei Yusheng looked at Pei Qingmin’s face with concern and reached out to support him.
“I’m fine. Let’s go.” Pei Qingmin shook his head and retracted his hand, just in time to avoid Pei Yusheng’s hand.
Pei Yusheng didn’t think much of it. He knew that this brother of his was the least willing to be touched.
They turned around and left with a group of guards.
Granny Miao came out from behind a tree. She happened to pass by. When she saw people coming over, she hurriedly hid and did not dare to move. She was afraid to disturb them.
She did not expect that the people coming were actually Lord Jing and Lord Wei. However, why were these two in the mansion? She had not heard anyone in the mansion mention it before. It seemed that they had suddenly come over, so even Qu Mansion’s people did not know about it.
She had not overheard much just now. She also did not know whether these two Princes’ appearances in the mansion had anything to do with her lady. Looking at the backs of the two, Granny Miao hurriedly walked back in the other direction. She had a feeling that the two Lords suddenly appearing in Qu Mansion was not a small matter. She had to tell her lady about it.
“Lord Jing and Lord Wei?” Qu Moying had just returned not long ago. When she heard Granny Miao’s words, her watery eyes slightly rose. After taking off her eye veil, her eyes were like water, and the light red at the corners of her eyes added a bit of charm to her. Her long eyelashes fluttered twice, and she suddenly put down the brush in her hand. “Let’s go and take a look!”
“But they said they were going back. They should have left at this time!” Granny Miao said uncertainly.
“Not yet!”
