Chapter 29
“What? Aunt, you want me to move now?” Yu Qingmeng looked at Yu with disbelief.
She didn’t expect that Yu not only hadn’t brought back any good news but even asked her to leave after she came back from Old Lady Qu’s place.
Under Yu Qingmeng’s gaze, Yu felt ashamed and angry because she had overshot the mark before. Having twisted the handkerchief in her hands, she said in a low voice, “I’ll ask someone to help you move to the guest room. Just live there for a few days. After these days, she’ll be too ashamed to live there. Then I’ll send her away in a sedan.”
Yu Qingmeng had believed that before, but now she couldn’t help doubting, “Aunt, is your plan going to work? What if something goes wrong again?”
“It will work. I already got in touch with Lord Jing’s cousin.” Yu put on a long face as she was questioned by her niece. Then with a cold look, she said, “Don’t overthink. You can’t act tough now, or we’ll be suspected after something happens to her. Now that you are busy moving out and I’m also occupied, we won’t be blamed for what’s about to happen.”
Yu Qingmeng nodded uncertainly and then sat up to get washed. In the meantime, she picked the things that she liked and planned to take them away with her.
She had lived in Qianyue House for a long while. The decorations here were all selected by her from Yu’s place and suited her taste well. Although she believed that she wouldn’t be away for too long, she still wanted to have some things she preferred. So she asked the maids to carry some of the stuff over.
For example, the drawer, the washing basin, and the delicately-carved redwood tables and chairs…
Those objects were not so big and would need at most two people to carry. Some lowly maids and senior housemaids already started to move the smaller stuff.
Yu Qingmeng didn’t want to use the ordinary objects in the guest room, and she assumed that Qu Moying would only live in this yard for a short while and that no one would know if she took away anything.
The few articles on the antique shelf were also Yu Qingmeng’s favorite. She was afraid of losing them and planned to take them with her. She could bring them back when she came back.
Meanwhile, Yu went to prepare for the arrival of He Dapang. She couldn’t do this in her own name. But Qu Zhizhen was not at home, so she sent the invitation on her son’s behalf.
The invitation had been sent to him yesterday, and now she only needed to wait for He Dapang to come.
“My lady, Fourth Lady is here!” A maid came in hurriedly to report.
“What is she doing here?” Yu Qingmeng was startled and then rubbed her head. There was a long ribbon around her head that looked like the veil Qu Moying always wore. Yu had told someone to wrap it around her head when she had pretended to be sick.
She never wore it before, and now she wasn’t used to it and had to press it from time to time in case it would fall off.
“She said she was here to visit you,” the maid said.
“Just tell her that I don’t feel well and can’t meet her!” Yu Qingmeng said crossly. She knew she would get angry if she saw Qu Moying. As a proud girl, she really couldn’t accept the fact that she was forced to move by an ugly and blind girl. This really drove her crazy.
The maid then walked out and said to Qu Moying, who was standing in the yard, “Fourth Lady, our lady really doesn’t feel well. She can’t meet you right now.”
“Your lady? Are you a maid of the Yu Family?” Qu Moying sized the maid up. As she saw the maid’s clothes, she said coldly.
The maid blushed at once. The maids and senior housemaids who worked in Qianyue House had been assigned to Yu Qingmeng by Yu. So they had got used to calling Yu Qingmeng ‘our lady’ and also regarded the latter as their master.
However, the truth was their lady never was Yu Qingmeng.
“Fourth Lady… I serve… in this mansion.” The maid lowered her head.
“This is the Qu’s Mansion, and Forth Lady is your real master. Move away!” Yu Chun scolded.
The maid, face turning red, peeked at Fourth Lady, who stood behind Yu Chun. At last, she gave up stopping them and stood aside.
Qu Moying walked into the room slowly with Yu Chun.
Yu Qingmeng was still sulking in front of the drawer. As she saw Qu Moying getting in, she flew into a rage immediately. Since there were no other people in the room, she felt there was no need to pretend to be soft like she always did. Then she looked arrogantly at Qu Moying, who was walking over slowly, “Qu Moying, what are you doing here?”
She was older and also taller than Qu Moying, who looked very slim. So right now, Yu Qingmeng looked pretty aggressive.
“I’m here to see if you have moved out.” Qu Moying stood still with the corner of her lips lifted. As she saw the white silk ribbon on Yu Qingmeng’s head, she said that gently.
“What do you mean?” Yu Qingmeng said with her teeth gritted.
“Nothing. I’m just afraid that you might take something with you when you leave. Everything here belongs to the Qu Family. You have no right to take away any of them,”
Qu Moying said in a flat tone.
As she glanced at the antique shelf, she saw a few obvious marks that seemed new! However, the articles which were supposed to be there were gone. Some of the tables and chairs also disappeared. However, the little boxes on the drawer were placed neatly there. It was clear to see that there were lots of jewels inside.
Seeing Qu Moying turn to the drawer, Yu Qingmeng put her hand on the jewel cases and said, “These are all mine!”
“You brought them here from the Yu’s Mansion?” Qu Moying asked.
Qu Moying had already checked with Granny Miao. Everything Yu Qingmeng had here belonged to the Qu Family, including the jewels presented to her by Yu.
Compared to Qu Moying, Yu Qingmeng seemed more like the lady in this family.
Those words made Yu Qingmeng blush with shame again. Then her face turned pale. With her hand pressing the table firmly, she only wished she could slap Qu Moying.
‘You blind girl! How dare you!’ she thought.
Qu Moying seemed to be suggesting that Yu Qingmeng had stolen the things from the Qu’s Mansion. Yu Qingmeng always felt that everything here belonged to her. As she heard Qu Moying’s words, she just fumed, “You blind girl, what the hell are you talking about?!”
Her words were very insulting.
Yu Chun’s face turned red with anger.
Qu Moying looked at Yu Qingmeng with coldness in her eyes, “Lady Yu, did I say something wrong? Why do you look so guilty?”
“I’ve been living here for years. Everything here belongs to me. What does that have to do with you if I take away a few things? You are just a blind girl who was abandoned by the Qu Family. How dare you take my things away from me? Don’t you find yourself extremely shameless?”
Yu Qingmeng blurted.
When she and Qu Qiuyan stayed together, they often mocked Qu Moying and never took the latter seriously. They even thought that Qu Moying was inferior to the maids in the Qu’s Mansion. However, Yu Qingmeng, now sneered by the person she despised the most, couldn’t hold back her anger anymore.
Qu Moying gave a sarcastic smile with her eyes falling on Yu Qingmeng’s arrogant and furious face.
Yu Qingmeng kept all these things to herself and regarded herself as the lady here. Meanwhile, she even treated Qu Moying, the real lady in this family, as an outsider who wanted to take everything from her. That really was absurd logic.
“Lady Yu, don’t you find yourself shameless?” Qu Moying said nonchalantly.
“You… you ugly blind bitch. How dare you talk to me like that!” Yu Qingmeng shouted abuse.
Qu Moying took a step forward slowly and raised her head to look at Yu Qingmeng with a sarcastic smile on her face, “Ugly and blind? Lady Yu, you are a guest here, and you cursed the lady in this family and flirted with my fiancé. Do you want everyone in the Qu Family to know that?”
“Today, Madam Yongning will come. If the engagement is broken off, the affair between you and Young Master Xu will be exposed. I wonder if Young Master Xu will still be willing to get engaged with you or even marry you if that happens. If the reputation he has been maintaining for years is ruined because of you, do you think he’ll treat you the same as always?”
Qu Moying’s words struck Yu Qingmeng’s heart, making the latter’s face red like blood. Suddenly, with the look on her face changed and her feet getting weak, she couldn’t help taking a few steps back.
She had been expecting the engagement to be broken off and even tried her best to push it. However, Xu Lipeng had only told her to wait and claimed that he had the best idea.
He had said that his reputation couldn’t be ruined because it would affect his career as an official.
However, she had been waiting for too long and was not young anymore. Knowing about Xu Lipeng’s scruples, she also knew that if she ruined his plan, Xu Lipeng might not marry her. This truly got her panicky.
Before, she just wanted to threaten Qu Moying by showing how great a couple she and Young Master Yongning was.
“What… what the hell are you talking about?” After a long while, Yu Qingmeng said, “At that time… it all happened so suddenly… Young Master Xu just wanted to save me.”
“Save you? He abandoned his fiancée and saved an outsider and even sent that outsider back home?” Qu Moying said coldly, “Lady Yu, did you just say that there was nothing between you and Young Master Xu? But when we were in the carriage, you said that you and Young Master Xu had a thing for each other. Why are you afraid to admit that now?”
Qu Moying showed an ironic smile on her face at first and then wiped it off, saying, “Or could it be that Young Master Xu never wanted to marry you and would only take you in as his concubine?”
Yu Qingmeng was cut to the heart as she heard those words because that was exactly what she was scared of. She took a few steps back and put her hands on the table, breathing heavily.
She did have thought of that but had been denying it the whole time. Now that Qu Moying had revealed the ugly truth, she felt her dark thought was exposed in public as if she was criticized by all the people she once looked down on.
Then she, trembling, pressed the table even harder. With a crazy look in her eyes, she only wanted to humiliate Qu Moying and trampled her underfoot.
Then she shouted, “I’m the one whom Young Master Xu loves. He promised me that he will marry me. You mean nothing to him, you blind and ugly bitch. He’ll never fall for you. Even if you marry him, only Young Master Xu and I can decide if you’ll live or die. Do you really think you are a lady of the Qu Family?!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” The door was kicked open.
The two women both looked back in surprise…