Chapter 265 – Cousin Xiao Moved In
Chapter 265 Cousin Xiao Moved In
“Fourth Lady, Her Ladyship wants to see you.” An old maid sent by the Old Lady said with a smile.
“Is there anything?” Qu Moying asked in surprise. When she greeted the Old Lady this morning, the Old Lady didn’t say anything. Why did the Old Lady suddenly send someone over at this time?
“Fourth Lady, you will know as long as you get there.” The old maid was all smiles. It seemed to be a good thing.
Seeing that the old maid really didn’t want to tell her, Qu Moying didn’t ask again. She asked Yu Chun to help her freshen up. Then, she went to the Old Lady’s yard with Yu Chun.
When Qu Moying entered the Old Lady’s room, she saw that there was a guest in the room. She lowered her head and went forward, and then she bowed to the Old Lady in the middle. “Greetings, grandmother.”
“Come here. Come and meet your Cousin Xiao.” Old Lady Qu said with a smile.
Qu Moying obediently took two steps forward and looked at the young man sitting next to Old Lady Qu. She lowered her head slightly and bowed sideways again. “Greetings, Cousin Xiao.”
However, she did not know who this so-called “cousin” was.
“Fourth Cousin Sister, nice to see you.” The young man stood up and looked Qu Moying up and down. Even though her eyes were covered by an eye veil, he could tell that she should be good-looking. He relaxed slightly, but he didn’t know what her eyes looked like. He didn’t know if she could still see things or if her eyes would affect her appearance.
After all, she was said to be neither talented nor beautiful.
But she looked fine now.
After they both took their seats, Qu Moying looked up at the young man. He was around seventeen or eighteen years old. He looked gentle, kind, and handsome.
“Ying, this is the nephew of my parents’ family. You can call him Cousin Xiao. He will be staying in our mansion during this period of time to prepare for the Imperial Examination next spring. Your father became an official after taking the Imperial Examination, and Minister Liu had the same experience. They took the same Imperial Examination.”
Qu Moying did not know about this. She smiled and nodded gently.
“Later, take your Cousin Xiao with you and arrange a yard for him. It doesn’t need to be big, but it must be quiet, so that your Cousin Xiao won’t be disturbed when studying.”
Qu Qiuyan was grounded to copy Buddhist scriptures. Although she was still in charge of matters, trivial matters were all handled by Qu Moying. The matter of finding a yard naturally was the business of Qu Moying.
“I will arrange it now.” Qu Moying stood up and said.
“Then bring your cousin along to take a look. It’s better for him to pick one himself.” Old Lady Qu suggested with a smile.
Qu Moying looked at the Old Lady and then looked at Cousin Xiao, who had been smiling at her. She frowned slightly but still nodded. “Yes.”
“Hanyuan, although Ying has eye disease, she has basically recovered. Right now, she is in the final stage of recuperation. She’ll be no different from normal people in the future.” Old Lady Qu explained to Xiao Hanyuan with a smile.
Xiao Hanyuan stood up and bowed deeply to Old Lady Qu. “Grandaunt, Fourth Lady is very good.”
“That’s good. The two of you have just met. You can take a walk with her and pick a suitable yard.” Old Lady Qu nodded in satisfaction.
Watching the two of them leave one after the other, Old Lady Qu kept smiling. Granny Wu knew the situation, so she came over and said to Old Lady Qu, “Your Ladyship, you can rest assured now. Fourth Lady didn’t say anything, and Young Master Xiao seemed to be satisfied with Fourth Lady.”
Old Lady Qu nodded and said, “Let’s wait and see. I don’t know if they can get along well with each other. He is not bad, and he is from my parents’ family. Therefore, it is easy for me to protect Ying if they get married. Although I’ve hinted to them before, it depends on themselves. If they couldn’t be together, I will choose someone else for Ying.”
Old Lady Qu didn’t want her granddaughter to suffer at all, even if the other party was her grandnephew.
“Your Ladyship, you are doing this for the Fourth Lady’s good. She will understand.” Granny Wu knew what Old Lady Qu was thinking and comforted her.
The Old Lady sighed and didn’t say anything else. Her smile slowly faded, revealing a trace of worry.
This was all she could do now. As for the rest, she could only wait and see…
Qu Moying and Xiao Hanyuan went out of the yard one after the other. When they arrived outside the courtyard, Xiao Hanyuan stood still and waited for Qu Moying. Seeing her step forward, he smiled and said, “Fourth Cousin Sister, I will have to trouble you.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Qu Moying smiled and said gently, slightly distancing herself from Xiao Hanyuan.
Xiao Hanyuan naturally knew that Qu Moying wanted to avoid arousing suspicion, so he did not wait any longer and slowly walked forward. The two of them walked one after the other towards the backyard. In the end, Xiao Hanyuan chose a relatively remote and medium-sized yard. This yard was also close to the back door, so it was convenient to get in and out of the mansion. It was indeed a good place, and the environment was also elegant.
Since Xiao Hanyuan had chosen the yard, Qu Moying asked the maids to clean up the yard and carry Xiao Hanyuan’s things into it.
Xiao Hanyuan only brought a young servant with him, so Qu Moying assigned some young and old maids to serve him. After that, she said goodbye to him and left.
Xiao Hanyuan stood in the corridor and watched Qu Moying leave. He smiled gently and looked very polite.
He was the Old Lady’s grandnephew, and the Old Lady let him live here. None of the servants in the mansion dared to neglect him. They took him seriously and served him wholeheartedly.
When Qu Zhizhen returned to the mansion, he learned that Xiao Hanyuan had come to the mansion. He specially asked Xiao Hanyuan to go and have an audience with him. After a brief talk, he was extremely satisfied with Xiao Hanyuan and kept praising him. He said that Xiao Hanyuan was quite knowledgeable and that Xiao Hanyuan should be able to pass the Imperial Examination next spring.
Qu Mingcheng also knew about Xiao Hanyuan’s arrival. He went to see Xiao Hanyuan in the afternoon.
Hearing that Qu Mingcheng was coming over, Xiao Hanyuan specially went out to greet him. The two of them had a very pleasant conversation. Qu Mingcheng was also going to take the Imperial Examination next spring. The more they talked, the more congenial they became. That night, Qu Mingcheng did not even return to East Mansion but stayed in West Mansion.
When someone reported it to Qu Zhizhen, Qu Zhizhen smiled. He thought it was a good thing. Previously, Qu Mingcheng had only one study companion, namely, the son of Qu Zhizhen’s eldest brother. Now that there was another person with good knowledge, it would be a good chance for Qu Mingcheng to improve.
Since everyone in Qu Mansion had accepted Xiao Hanyuan’s arrival, Xiao Hanyuan stayed in Qu Mansion. He sometimes followed Qu Mingcheng to East Mansion. He did not meet with Qu Moying often, and he was very polite when he met her occasionally. They would exchange a few words after they greeted each other.
Such a peaceful life was suddenly disrupted by one thing.
But for Qu Moying, this matter was not surprising…
Yamen’s men came to the door, looking for the shopkeeper Yu Qian.
Coincidentally, Qu Moying was at the Old Lady’s place. She saw the Old Lady let someone from the Ministry of Justice enter the living room. It was a young official.
The official from the Ministry of Justice politely bowed to Old Lady Qu and said, “Your Ladyship, I would like to meet the Second Madam Qu and ask her about some things.”
Qu Moying and Qu Xuexin were both there. The two of them looked at each other in surprise and continued to look through the folded screen.
The two of them were originally in Old Lady Qu’s living room, but now they hid behind the folded screen.
“What do you want to know?” Old Lady Qu frowned and asked carefully.
“I want to know if a person called Yu Qian works for her? Does she know what he has done? Or did she ask him to do it?” The official from the Ministry of Justice said.
“What happened?”
“There is indeed some trouble. Yu Qian used the name of the Second Madam Qu to swindle people, and the victim sued him.” The official said with a smile, not trying to hide anything.
Old Lady Qu’s heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly asked Granny Wu to call Hai Lan over. It was inconvenient for Yu to see anyone now, and she had not woken up yet.
Aunty Hai Lan soon followed Granny Wu into the room.
After Aunty Hai Lan bowed, the Old Lady asked, “Hai Lan, do you know Yu Qian?”
Just now, the Old Lady had heard the official mention Yu Qian several times. Hearing the name “Yu Qian”, she felt that he must have something to do with Yu.
Hai Lan did not understand why the Old Lady called her over. She was already uneasy. Hearing the Old Lady’s question, she became increasingly uneasier. However, she did not dare to hide it. “There is indeed such a person. He is a shopkeeper of Madam. He has been managing Madam’s shop for so long. He is quite capable.”
“Do you know that he is going to sell your Madam’s shop?” The Old Lady asked coldly.
Aunty Hai Lan was stunned. “How… how could this be?”
“He said that it was Second Madam Qu’s intention. It was Second Madam Qu who asked him to sell the shop.” The official looked at Aunty Hai Lan and said, “He accepted the buyer’s money, but he couldn’t give the buyer the deeds of the shop. Now, he has been caught by the Ministry of Justice.”
“Madam… Madam won’t do such a thing.” Hai Lan anxiously said. She hated Yu Qian for causing the trouble. How could he do such a thing and even involve Yu at such a time? She asked suspiciously, “Are you mistaken? He is just a shopkeeper. How can he have the right to sell the shop?”
She found it suspicious. Yu Qian used to be quite reliable and had never made any big mistake. How could such a big thing happen at this time?
“It’s true. He said that Second Madam Qu ordered him to do it. Since you work for Second Madam Qu, go to the Ministry of Justice with us to give testimony.” The official said.
Since Second Madam Qu could not go with him, he could bring her private maid with him.
Both sides had to confront each other in court since they both had a point.
Hearing that she had to go to the court alone, Hai Lan panicked. She looked up at the Old Lady and said sadly, “Your Ladyship, I still have to serve Madam.”
The Old Lady pondered for a moment, looked at her, and said, “Go to the Ministry of Justice first and find out the truth. I will send someone else to serve Yu.”
It meant that Hai Lan had to make this trip.
Behind the folded screen, Qu Moying’s eyes flashed with a hint of gloom, and the corners of her lips curved up silently. This thing happened at the right time…
