Chapter 325 – The Carriage Driver Escaped
Chapter 325 The Carriage Driver Escaped
Yan Yu stood at the door with burning anger in his eyes.
Li was shocked, but when she saw that it was her son, she became angry. “How could you say that? I am your mother!”
“I didn’t do anything because you are my mother.” Yan Yu said angrily. Then, he looked at his slightly trembling sister with disappointment, “I thought you were innocent, but now it seems you are just the same. What did Fourth Lady Qu do wrong? Why did the two of you scheme against her again and again?”
Yan Yujiao’s face turned red, and tears of grievance were about to fall. “Mother, look at Second Brother!”
“Yan Yu, you’re well-educated. How could you contradict your mother and your sister for a woman?” Li was furious.
“Mother!” Yan Yu suddenly calmed down with a layer of malice in his eyes. He solemnly cupped his hands towards Li and said, “Mother, I will say it again. There is nothing between Fourth Lady Qu and me. It was just your wild guess based on my words. You harmed a woman crazily out of your wild guess. If something really happened to Fourth Lady Qu, I will make you regret it.”
Then, without looking at Li’s livid face, Yan Yu strode away.
Li was shocked by her son, but then she was furious. Now that her son had already gone far away, she trembled in anger.
Seeing such a situation, Yan Yujiao quickly reached out to help her mother sit down on the chair. Then, she comforted her and said, “Mother, don’t be angry. There really is something fishy about this!”
She was not sure before and did not dare to say it. Now seeing that her mother was so angry with Yan Yu, she was afraid that her mother would faint from anger, so she quickly changed the topic.
Li pointed outside and cursed, “What’s fishy about it? It’s obvious that Qu Moying has taken a fancy to your Second Brother. Look at your Second Brother, he hasn’t married her yet, but he has spoken to me like that for her. If he really marries her, they will make a mess in the mansion!”
Yan Yujiao tugged at Li’s sleeve and said, “Mother, there really is something fishy. There was something wrong with the carriage collision between me and Qu Moying. Someone seems to be plotted it behind the scenes.”
Hearing that, Li got even angrier, “Someone plotted it? It must be Qu Moying. I didn’t expect a blind like her to be so capable. She is even more capable than those who are not blind.”
Yan Yujiao quickly spoke out her unfinished words, “Mother, no, Qu Moying nearly died this time. If no one cut off her horse’s leg, she would have died.”
Li was stunned for a moment before turning to look at her daughter in shock. “She almost died?”
“Yes, if no one cut off her horse’s leg, she would have been badly injured even if she survived the accident.” Yan Yujiao thought for a moment and then looked at Li and said hesitantly, “Mother, I think this matter has something to do with County Lady Jingyu.”
“County Lady Jingyu?” Li asked in surprise. She calmed down slowly and listened carefully to her daughter’s account of what had happened.
Yan Yujiao told her what she had investigated later in the bookshop. Although what she found out couldn’t directly prove that there was something wrong with Liu Jingyu, it could show many things as well.
After Liu Jingyu left, Yan Yujiao also left the bookshop and got on the carriage. On her way back, her carriage inexplicably bumped into Qu Moying’s carriage.
Li was naturally more experienced than Yan Yujiao. She quickly had a clue and ordered the old maid next to her, “Go and check on the carriage driver of the carriage the lady took today.”
The old maid hurriedly went to look for the carriage driver of the carriage that Yan Yujiao took today. It was a servant in the mansion.
But not long after, the old maid returned to report to Li in a hurry, “Madam, that carriage driver is gone!”
“What? He is gone? Where did he go?” Yan Yujiao suddenly stood up straight. When she came back just now, he was still there. How did he disappear after just a while?
The old maid said, “I don’t know where he went. I heard that he was afraid that you and madam would punish him because of the collision today, so he packed up after returning to the mansion and ran away.”
Li snapped, “Is there anyone related to him in the mansion?”
The old maid said, “Madam, he had only been in our mansion for a month, and he was all alone. Madam, it was you who pitied him and let him work in the mansion.”
Only then did Li remember that there was indeed such a thing. That day, she went out in her carriage. It happened to rain heavily, and the wheels of the carriage were stuck in the mud. The carriage driver couldn’t handle it alone. Fortunately, a passer-by helped them push the carriage up and repair the wheels.
Li sent an old maid to thank him. The man said that there was no need to thank him. He said that he came to the capital to seek help from his relatives, but he didn’t find them, and he was in a miserable situation. He hoped that Li could give him a chance to work.
Li asked him what he used to do. He said that he used to drive the carriage for an official in his hometown.
Li thought that there weren’t many carriage drivers in her mansion, and it just so happened that one of the carriage drivers had returned to his hometown, so she let him take the place of that carriage driver.
This new carriage driver did quite a good job. Although he had only entered the mansion not long ago, he was nice and diligent. Every time someone needed a carriage driver, he would enthusiastically offer the service. But it turned out he was actually the carriage driver who was involved in this matter.
Li couldn’t help but get angry, but there was nothing she could do.
This carriage driver was a new one. Although he was willing to sell himself as a slave to the mansion, the procedure was not completed yet. Li was busy these days and had long forgotten about this matter. It meant that the carriage driver was owned by the mansion yet. Now that he had left, she could not do anything to him.
“There must be someone plotting this, and that person knows something about our mansion.” Li snorted and pulled Yan Yujiao to sit down with a frown.
After all, she was Earl Fengyang’s wife. Now that she calmed down, she linked things together, including the matter of her going to Qu Mansion to propose marriage.
“I was angry about your Second Brother taking a fancy to Fourth Lady Qu before. I wanted to see her, but I didn’t have the idea of being a matchmaker to set her up with someone else. However, a madam reminded me. She told me that if Fourth Lady Qu married someone, your Second Brother would give up on her. I listened to that madam and chose Third Young Master He.”
Li slowly explained to Yan Yujiao.
“I had heard from your father before that there is something wrong with Third Young Master He. If that madam hadn’t suggested me again and again, I wouldn’t have been to Qu Mansion directly…”
This madam had a very good relationship with Mrs. Liu. It was said that the two of them were already close friends before they got married.
Yan Yujiao’s face darkened. “Mother…”
“My dear daughter, you’d better stay away from County Lady Jingyu from now on. If she invites you to do anything again, you’d better not accept it.” Li warned. She was afraid that her daughter would suffer a loss.
“Mother, if she really schemed against me, isn’t she…” Yan Yujiao was tongue-tied. “Isn’t she too powerful?”
Li sneered, “How would a person who wants to be Crown Princess not be powerful? However, I heard that Crown Prince’s Mansion has a Side Princess who is doted on. Even if she marries into Eastern Palace, she might not end up well!”
She reached out to hold Yan Yujiao’s slightly cold hands and reminded her again, “Stay away from her in the future.”
“Mother, I get it.” Yan Yujiao lowered her head obediently, but a trace of anger flashed through her eyes. She was also a noble lady. Even if she was not as noble as Liu Jingyu, she was still from an aristocratic family. Thinking that she was almost killed because of the scheme of Liu Jingyu, she was furious.
She couldn’t stand it!
An old maid said to Liu Jingyu with a smile, “County Lady, everything is done!”
Liu Jingyu sat in a pavilion that was surrounded by rockeries and ponds. It was a pavilion in Duke Qi’s Mansion with beautiful scenery. As the most favored maternal granddaughter of Duke Qi, Liu Jingyu came to this pavilion the most, and she almost occupied it for herself.
The servants in the mansion vaguely guessed that the relationship between their lady and County Lady Jingyu was ordinary because their lady never came over when County Lady Jingyu was here.
However, County Lady Jingyu always came to Duke Qi’s Mansion, so their lady hardly came here.
“Let’s wait and see!” Liu Jingyu stretched out her hand and plucked the strings in her hand. Among the four arts, she was best at playing the qin.
She should be the one who was best at playing the qin among the noble ladies in the capital after Ji Hanyue died.
Thinking of this, she felt great and plucked the strings again. She smiled beautifully in a good mood.
“Cousin sister!” Hearing the qin music, a man who passed by stopped and came to Liu Jingyu. He was Duke Qi’s Mansion’s Eldest Young Master, Qi Xiuran. He treated Liu Jingyu well, as if she was his own sister.
There was only a lady in Duke Qi’s Mansion, and her father was born by a concubine, so it was not too much to have another lady.
“Cousin brother!” Seeing Qi Xiuran, Liu Jingyu stood up, bowed to him, and asked with a smile, “Cousin brother, why are you in such a hurry?”
Qi Xiuran said gently, “Have you finished reading the qin music score I lent you? I want to return it now.”
When he was reading the qin music score before, Liu Jingyu saw it, and she also liked the qin music score, so she borrowed it from him.
“Cousin brother, please wait a moment. I’ll have it fetched now.” Liu Jingyu said softly as she sent a maid to fetch the qin music score.
After the two of them exchanged a few words, the maid brought the qin music score over. Liu Jingyu personally gave the qin music score to Qi Xiuran and said in a delicate voice, “Cousin brother, this qin music score is not bad. The handwriting is also nice.”
Qi Xiuran smiled and said nothing. He took the qin music score and stood up to say goodbye to Liu Jingyu.
As she watched Qi Xiuran leave coolly, the smile on her face slowly faded. Then, a trace of coldness appeared in her eyes as she cursed in a low voice, “Bitch!”
She didn’t seem to be a person who would curse others like that at all. No one had thought that this gentle and elegant lady would do things like this.
The maids and old maids all lowered their heads, not daring to move…
They were the only ones who knew that County Lady Jingyu was just pretending outside. The real face of her was terrifying…
