Chapter 223 – The Kind Duchess Qi
Chapter 223 The Kind Duchess Qi
The Old Lady brought her three granddaughters and followed the old maid who led them into the reception hall.
Sitting on the top seat was Duchess Qi, who was about the same age as Old Lady Qu. She sat there with a straight back and looked imposing. Compared with Old Lady Qu, her figure was thinner, and there was a hint of seriousness in the corners of her eyes. She was a relatively domineering titled lady. Although she was old, she still looked young.
It was said that Duchess Qi was the daughter of a prominent general. Even though she was old now, she was different from the other ordinary madams. Ji Hanyue had seen her in her past life and deeply admired this madam. At that time, Duke Qi’s position was held by the eldest brother of the current Duke Qi. The previous Duke Qi almost caused the entire Duke Qi’s Mansion to be destroyed.
Fortunately, the current Duchess Qi, who was then the second lady of Duke Qi’s Mansion, had a prominent background and her family offered great help. In addition, the current Duke Qi was loyal to the Emperor and had saved the Emperor before. That was why other people in Duke Qi’s Mansion were able to survive the catastrophe. Only the original Duke Qi’s family had to atone for their crimes. Thus, the current Duke Qi was very respectful to this Duchess Qi.
Duke Qi had a total of two sons and one daughter. Only one son was born from a concubine, and the other son and daughter were all born by Duchess Qi.
It was said that the concubine-born son was the child of Duke Qi and his bedroom maid, who had been serving him before his marriage. After Duchess Qi entered the house and gave birth to a son, the bedroom maid also gave birth to a son.
“Greetings, Duchess Qi.” Old Lady Qu stepped forward and bowed.
“Old Lady Qu, right? Please take a seat!” After Duchess Qi looked at Old Lady Qu, she nodded and ordered someone to help Old Lady Qu sit down.
Although her attitude was not intimate, it was not too arrogant either. Seeing that Old Lady Qu was getting older, she specially asked someone to put a cushion on the chair.
After the Old Lady sat down, Duchess Qi looked at the three Qu Mansion ladies who followed suit to salute.
Vice Minister’s Mansion was really nothing to Duke Qi’s Mansion. In the past, Duke Qi’s Mansion did not pay attention to the young ladies of Qu Mansion, but this time she specially looked at Qu Qiuyan and Qu Moying.
She had seen Qu Xuexin before, but she did not pay much attention to her. She only vaguely remembered that she was gentle and had pretty good looks. The Third Lady Qu in front of her was very beautiful. It was no wonder that she heard that Lord Jing was interested in her. Before this, her granddaughter had talked to her about this matter. At that time, she even comforted her granddaughter, because she was confident that her granddaughter’s appearance was better than that of the Third Lady Qu.
Now it seemed that the two each had their own merits. She did not expect that this Third Lady Qu was so outstanding. No wonder people said that Lord Jing liked her.
If it had been in the past, Duchess Qi would definitely have said something to test Qu Qiuyan. But now, her granddaughter could not make up her mind. Duchess Qi also felt that she should wait and see. As for the last lady, Fourth Lady Qu, Duchess Qi was sure that she had never seen her before.
However, this Fourth Lady Qu was dressed very conspicuously. She wore a long eye veil, revealing only her fair forehead and pink lips. Most of her face was hidden behind the wide eye veil. This lady had an eye disease, and she was said to be neither talented nor good-looking. Thinking about it, it made sense. How much talent could she have cultivated growing up in the village?
As for her appearance, Duchess Qi felt that the rumors were indeed not credible. Judging by her experience, even if this lady was not the best, she was not plain-looking either. She must have a good appearance. This girl reminded her of the woman surnamed Yue, who married into the capital and had visited her once. Back then, Duchess Qi felt that Yue was very beautiful and she liked her upon first sight.
Yue family in the South and Duke Qi had a good relationship. Now, the head of Yue family and Duke Qi were good buddies. This was also why when two Yue ladies married into the capital, they both went to see Duchess Qi.
It was a pity that in the end, Yue died so young. Vice Minister Qu was not a good person. Why did Yue choose such a person as her husband at that time? This thought really made her sad.
“You are the Fourth Lady born by Yue?” Duchess Qi waved to Qu Moying.
Qu Moying took two steps forward and said softly, “Yes, madam!”
“Good child. It must have been hard on you!” Duchess Qi sighed. She held Qu Moying’s hand and looked her up and down. “How is your eye disease? Can it be cured? Do you want to wear an eye veil like this forever?”
“It’s almost healed. It’s just that I still can’t bear the strong light now. The veil can be removed after a while,” Qu Moying said with a smile.
Yue family in the South was related to Duke Qi’s Mansion. Ji Hanyue had heard her mother mention it. However, it was a brief account. Her mother had said that at that time., she did not like Duke Qi’s daughter, who was Minister Liu’s wife, and they became distant from each other later on. When she met Duchess Qi at a banquet, they would have a chat, but that was all.
“Good, good, good, good!” Duchess Qi patted Qu Moying’s hand again. There was a bit of kindness in her eyes, causing her appearance to become gentle. “When I first met your mother, she was already married into the capital, but she didn’t look much older than you now. Just looking at her made me feel she was a good person. She was so gentle. She spoke softly, and she was quite a congenial friend to me. It was just that…”
Duchess Qi sighed and pursed her lips with a handkerchief. Then, she raised her head and gently patted the back of Qu Moying’s hand. “Since you are back now, you can come to see me more often in the future. I am old now, and I will always think of some old acquaintances. Your mother can be considered a junior that I adore.”
This meant that she was going to back up Qu Moying. Old Lady Qu looked at Duchess Qi gratefully.
“Mother, why do you always like people from Qu Mansion? It was Mrs. Qu before, and now it is Fourth Lady Qu. Could it be that you are especially fated with Qu Mansion?” A gentle voice came from the side with a gentle smile. The voice was neither high nor low, making people feel comfortable.
Qu Moying turned her head and saw a beautiful face. She was about thirty years old, but she looked very young. She was Minister Liu’s wife, the only daughter of Duchess Qi, who was also Liu Jingyu’s birth mother.
Either identity meant that this madam had a noble status.
“Oh, you, you always like to say such things. When you saw Second Madam Qu, you said the same thing.” Duchess Qi smiled and pointed at Mrs. Qi.
“Well, that’s because you do like Qu Mansion. I’m not that good-looking, so you naturally dislike me…” Mrs. Qi smiled, looking as if she had been wronged. Her words made Duchess Qi laugh. Duchess Qi put down Qu Moying’s hand and asked her to sit down. “Even if you were not good-looking, how could I, as a mother, dislike you?”
“Mother, you do dislike me. See, you just said that I’m ugly,” Mrs. Qi spread out her hands and said.
The few madams sitting next to her also laughed. They gave all kinds of comments and were happily poking fun.
Qu Moying lowered her head and played with the handkerchief in her hand. The madams in front of her were either from prestigious noble families or high-ranking titled madams. It was not Qu Moying’s turn to speak on this occasion.
She had seen Minister Liu’s wife before. In her previous life when she was Ji Hanyue, she had seen this madam more than once. Every time she saw her, she felt that she was a gentle person. In terms of both personality and appearance, Liu Jingyu was very similar to her. However, she did not like Liu Jingyu and felt that she was very fake.
Therefore, she also felt that this Mrs. Qi was a little fake.
When her mother mentioned this Mrs. Qi in the past, she did not have a good impression of her either. However, she did not say anything specific about her. She only said that Mrs. Liu was actually not a very good person. Even if she saw her, she would only smile at her. Moreover, she was still young at that time, and the two of them rarely interacted in the social circle. Therefore, they did not actually speak much.
Now, it seemed that this person spoke eloquently. With just a few words, she managed to make Duchess Qi happy. It was no wonder that Duke Qi wanted to put his credit under the name of his maternal granddaughter and not his paternal granddaughter. On one hand, it was because his paternal granddaughter was born by a concubine-born son. On the other hand, it was also because Duke Qi and his wife liked the wife-born daughter.
At this time, a few people came to the flower hall.
“Xiangyu, take these young ladies to the garden for a walk. We are old people, and there is no need for them to keep us company. Young people should walk outside and take a look around. Your cousin has already been here. Go and call her over as well,” Duchess Qi ordered.
Qu Moying looked over and saw Duke Qi’s Mansion’s only daughter, Qi Xiangyu, who was the daughter of the second branch’s concubine-born son, came out from behind. After bowing to the Old Lady, she invited the young ladies to go out with her.
Qu Moying stood up with everyone and followed behind her. There were at least a dozen young ladies in total.
Qu Moying did not want to fight for space with them, so she walked at the back. Beside her was Qu Xuexin. Qu Qiuyan had already started talking to familiar ladies, and Qu Xuexin ended up in the back.
“Eldest Sister, are there not any ladies you are familiar with?” Qu Moying asked in surprise when she saw that Qu Xuexin also lagged behind just like her.
Logically speaking, Qu Xuexin should know someone. Even if they were not familiar with each other, this Eldest Sister of hers was smart and kind, and she could easily find someone to talk to.
Qu Xuexin shook her head and lowered her head with a bitter smile. “Yes, there are.”
“Why don’t you talk with them?” Qu Moying felt more and more puzzled. It was rare for them to meet each other, so naturally, they would start chatting if they knew each other.
Qu Xuexin shook his head again and sighed. “Forget about it. Maybe it’s not a good idea. Maybe I’ll be ridiculed.”
“Why would they ridicule you, Eldest Sister?” Qu Moying asked in confusion. After she finished speaking, she immediately understood. “Is it because of what happened to Second Sister?”
It had been a few days since the incident in the palace. The identities of these ladies in front of them were all extraordinary. They must have heard what happened in the palace. Lord Jing Mansion had not responded and what happened could not be undone, so no matter how one looked at it, it was the daughter of Qu Mansion who had been embarrassed. Qu Xuexin and Qu Caiyue were both from East Mansion, and she would naturally be afraid of being implicated at this time.
“Eldest Sister, Third Sister has gone over.” Qu Moying no longer asked about this question. She raised her chin and pointed at Qu Qiuyan, who was talking to a noble lady enthusiastically.
“Third Sister is different from me,” Qu Xuexin said. She looked up at Qu Moying and said with a serious face, “Fourth Sister, when we were in front of the mansion, Third Sister wanted to take the same carriage with you. I saw her standing there awkwardly, so I asked her to come with me.”
