Chapter 257
He regretted not keeping Yue’s daughter by his side and cultivating her well because she might be of great use now.
Qu Qiuyan left, crying.
Looking at everything in front of her, Old Lady Qu was depressed. She didn’t know what to say about her son. Even now, he only cared about the benefits of Qu Qiuyan marrying Lord Jing, which sent a chill to her heart.
“Zhizhen, it seems that you have already known how to deal with Yan. I don’t want to say anything about it, but I must arrange a good marriage for Ying.” Old Lady Qu said.
“Mother… Ying is extremely intelligent and beautiful…” Qu Zhizhen said reluctantly.
“Zhizhen, I have the final say on Ying’s marriage.” Old Lady Qu said impatiently. “You have never cared about her for so many years. You are just her father in name. Do you want to arrange her fate now? She has an eye disease. How many people in this world can truly accept her?”
“Mother, I will treat her well in the future.” Qu Zhizhen said with a serious face.
However, this made Old Lady Qu even more disappointed. She watched his son grow up, but she could not see through him. She did not know whether he was sincere or not. She reached out and took out a divination stick from her pocket. The divination stick was picked by Granny Wu for her, and she got it by going to the temple with Qu Moying this time.
“Zhizhen, are you hiding something from me?”
She reached out her hand and handed the divination stick to him. When he saw the words “Garnet seeds hugging each other” on it, an embarrassed look appeared on his face.
“I don’t hear any good news in the mansion and anything from Luo recently, but I heard from Granny Wu that Yu asked for a lot of things recently, and you allowed her to get them. I originally thought that you were just soft-hearted, but all these things came to my mind when I saw this divination stick.”
Old Lady Qu said slowly, looking at Qu Zhizhen.
If she did not think about those things, she would not discover anything, but if she thought about them carefully, she would find many clues. Although Old Lady Qu didn’t interfere with the management of the mansion now, Granny Wu beside her was assigned to help Qu Qiuyan with some affairs, so she could be considered Old Lady Qu’s ears and eyes.
No doubt, Old Lady Qu knew that Yu was pregnant again.
“Mother, Yu is weak now. I don’t dare to tell you because I’m afraid that you really want the child, but we might not be able to keep it in the end.” Qu Zhizhen said awkwardly.
It was right not to announce the news in the early stage of pregnancy because there was a chance of miscarriage, so it would be better to release the news after a few months. However, Old Lady Qu was not an outsider, but Qu Zhizhen did not even tell her. It was inappropriate, and it seemed like he was worried that Old Lady Qu would deal with Yu.
Old Lady Qu was depressed because she could not know what was on Qu Zhizhen’s mind, and he seemed to be on guard against her. It made her more determined to get the decision-making power concerning Qu Moying’s marriage. Otherwise, Qu Zhizhen might trade Qu Moying’s marriage for his own benefit.
Old Lady Qu was so disappointed with Qu Zhizhen that she didn’t want to say anything more.
“Yu took so many strong medicines before. Do you think she can safely give birth to the child?” Old Lady Qu said coldly.
“Mother… Yu said that there should be no problem. She said that it was alright. As long as she takes care… it will be fine.” Qu Zhizhen said hesitantly.
He was also worried before, but when he saw that Yu looked good and energetic, he was not that worried anymore. After hearing Old Lady Qu’s question, he felt worried again.
“Mother, will something really happen?” Qu Zhizhen asked reluctantly. He had too few sons and really wanted one more.
“Even if she could give birth to the child, it would be mentally retarded. Do you really want to see that happen?” Old Lady Qu sighed. She was actually more eager for babies than Qu Zhizhen did. However, Yu had only given birth to a pair of twins all these years after entering Qu Mansion. One of Qu Zhizhen’s concubines had been pregnant, but she had a miscarriage and failed to keep the child.
Thinking of this, Old Lady Qu had always suspected that it was Yu who did something to the concubine.
“Mother, what should we do?” Qu Zhizhen could not make up his mind. He looked at Old Lady Qu.
“Since this child can’t be kept, you should make up your mind early. After discussing it with Yu, abort it.” Old Lady Qu sighed again, feeling depressed.
If possible, she also wanted to keep this child. Even if this child was born by Yu, it was still her son’s flesh and blood.
“Mother, I understand.” Qu Zhizhen nodded.
Old Lady Qu was a little soft-hearted again and warned in a low voice, “Since she is pregnant, you should be euphemistic when you talk about this with her…”
Old Lady Qu only needed Yu to be obedient. As long as Yu didn’t make trouble, she didn’t mind letting Yu live a better life in detention.
“Mother, I know what to say.” Since Qu Zhizhen had already made up his mind, he nodded, no longer hesitating. He had arranged for people to take good care of Yu more because he cared about this child. But now that he knew that the child was definitely to be aborted, he didn’t take it seriously.
Right now, he should care about his two daughters.
“Mother, Yan is indeed not good. She is narrow-minded like her mother. However, she has a relationship with Lord Jing, so we can’t always lock her up. This time, we have taught her a lesson. How about letting her out after some days?” Qu Zhizhen pleaded for Qu Qiuyan.
“I can’t do anything about her. If I interfered too much, you guys might be annoyed. I’ll only take care of Ying. I’ve already had an idea on her marriage, so you don’t have to worry about it.” Old Lady Qu said unhappily.
“Mother, please don’t say that. With you taking care of them, I can rest assured. As for Ying, I heard that someone has taken a fancy to her…” Qu Zhizhen said hesitantly.
Old Lady Qu waved her hand unhappily. “Stop it. You are just an assistant minister. Are you going to marry both of your daughters to the royal family? What do you want? Aren’t you afraid that His Majesty will suspect you?”
Qu Zhizhen’s face darkened as soon as he heard this. Old Lady Qu’s words had a point.
He only had two daughters. Qu Qiuyan would definitely enter Lord Jing Mansion. What about Qu Moying? Moreover, he could not let her marry that person as he wished, and he was not sure whether that person really liked Qu Moying or not.
“Zhizhen, I only asked for the right to decide Ying’s marriage. Can’t you even leave that to me?” Seeing that he had been silent all this time, Old Lady Qu became unhappy.
“Mother, I don’t dare. Of course, you should be the one to decide.” Qu Zhizhen gave in.
“Alright, I’ll find a suitable family for Ying in a few days. As for Yan, if you don’t teach her well, I’m afraid that even if she enters Lord Jing Mansion in the future, she might end up in a miserable situation. Look at Yu, isn’t she just asking for it?” Old Lady Qu warned him.
Her words impressed Qu Zhizhen, and he found them reasonable.
After leaving Old Lady Qu’s place, Qu Zhizhen went to East Mansion and met his son. He loved and valued his son more than his daughters.
Although Qu Mingcheng was born by Yu, he moved to East Mansion to study when he was young. His relationship with Yu was neither close nor detached, which made Qu Zhizhen feel relieved. Qu Zhizhen was proud of Qu Mingcheng, who was young and talented. He secretly arranged for a few people to stay by Qu Mingcheng’s side to take care of him.
“He went to East Mansion?” Qu Moying raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, I saw Second Master going to East Mansion and he returned after about an hour.” Granny Miao nodded.
Qu Moying had specially let her stay at the side door that connected the two mansions to pay attention to the matters between the two mansions. Granny Miao happened to see Qu Zhizhen going to East Mansion. Qu Zhizhen had never been to East Mansion in the past few days. However, he went to East Mansion after leaving Old Lady Qu’s place today, which was strange.
After the matter between Qu Caiyue and Qu Qiuyan happened, Qu Zhizhen and his elder brother were not very happy. They had never been angry with each other for so many years. But these days, they had tried to avoid meeting each other in case they would quarrel with each other.
“Miss, I think that Second Master is not going to see the Eldest Master.” Granny Miao said.
“Why do you think so?” Qu Moying asked with a smile.
“Old Lady Qu must have reprimanded Second Master for Third Lady’s matter. Second Master was in a bad mood, and he went to East Mansion later. But he seemed to be in a much better mood when he came back. This matter had nothing to do with East Mansion’s Eldest Master, and the Eldest Master was also in a bad mood. Second Master wouldn’t feel good if the two of them had met each other.”
Qu Moying narrowed her eyes and said, “So, it’s very likely that the one he met… was Second Young Master?”
“Yes, it must be Second Young Master. The person Second Master likes the most in the mansion is Second Young Master.” Granny Miao said with certainty.
Qu Moying nodded thoughtfully. It seemed to be true. Why did Qu Zhizhen go to see Qu Mingcheng at this time?
What did Qu Mingcheng say that made him so happy? Or was Qu Mingcheng going to intervene?
She had never underestimated Qu Mingcheng.
“Granny Miao, go and keep watch. See if Second Young Master will come over later.” Qu Moying ordered. Granny Miao nodded and left.
If Qu Mingcheng came over, it meant that he was going to interfere with the matter, and she had to be vigilant.
When Granny Miao walked to the door, she met Granny Yan who came out of the wing room. They looked at each other, and Granny Miao smiled and bowed to Granny Yan.
Strictly speaking, even Qu Moying had to bow to Granny Yan. Granny Yan was still staying in Qianyue House. It seemed that she still had missions. Granny Miao did not know why she still stayed here, but she knew she couldn’t ask her about it.
Granny Yan glanced at Granny Miao but did not say anything. She turned around and returned to her room as if she was not interested in anything.
Qu Moying woke up early in the morning and was tired at this time. She went into the inner room and slept for a while. Then she sent Granny Zhou out to inquire about the Ji Family.
Granny Zhou came back in the afternoon. She heard Old Lady Ji was going to promote Concubine Xiang to the position of a legitimate wife. She ignored her son’s objection. She had already invited the clan elders to go to the Ji Family tomorrow to hold the ceremony for Concubine Xiang. As for the second branch’s Xiao, she might not have received any news. She had been taking care of Princess Ji in Crown Prince’s Mansion.
It was said that Ji Youran was indeed injured!
Qu Moying had expected this result. At this time, Xiao was too busy. After thinking for a while, Qu Moying walked to the window, picked up a brush, and wrote a letter. She had to add fuel to the fire because Old Lady Ji might give up if others stepped in…
This was the most important part of the plan…