Chapter 308
Qu Mingcheng was dragged directly to the yard of the study. He was pressed on a flat stool and the guards began to beat him.
Gritting his teeth, Qu Mingcheng tried to hold back his scream, but in the end, he failed. When the stick beat him again, he screamed continuously. His face was pale, and his forehead was sweating heavily.
Qu Mingcheng had never suffered any hardship since he was a child. He had always been the apple of his family’s eye, and he had never been beaten up like this. After being beaten ten times, he was already unable to hold on.
Qu Mingcheng stopped screaming. He was gasping for breath, but he could no longer make a sound.
Several people suddenly came into the yard, and one of them was the Old Lady. Seeing Qu Mingcheng being beaten, she rushed over and hugged him, her eyes turning red.
Qu Qiuyan was already crying. She squatted down and pulled Qu Mingcheng’s sleeve. She had just found out that the situation in the yard was not good, so she couldn’t bother to complain to Qu Zhizhen but hurriedly went to ask the Old Lady for help.
Hearing that there was such a fuss in Qu Zhizhen’s place, the Old Lady couldn’t sit still. In her heart, Qu Mingcheng was always the most sensible one. Although she didn’t like Yu and Qu Qiuyan, she did like Qu Mingcheng very much. Moreover, Qu Mingcheng was Qu Zhizhen’s only son, so she doted on him very much.
Seeing Qu Mingcheng being beaten like this, she was both angry and annoyed.
In fact, Qu Zhizhen had thought it was about time to stop the beating. Just as he was about to ask the guards to stop, his mother came, so he took advantage of such good timing. He pretended to be submissive and let the servants carry Qu Mingcheng to rest. Qu Qiuyan cried and followed them.
Qu Zhizhen invited the Old Lady to sit in the study. Looking at Qu Zhizhen’s expression and thinking about the situation just now, the Old Lady knew that he had something to say.
With a wave of her hand, she left the maids and the old maids outside the door, only bringing Granny Wu inside.
After sitting down, the Old Lady’s eyes fell on the jar of the water lotus on the desk. It was too eye-catching and beautiful on the desk.
It was impossible for the Old Lady not to pay attention to it.
After taking a glance at the water lotus, she reprimanded Qu Zhizhen, “What’s going on today? You made such a big scene after coming home. Do you want to kill Mingcheng?”
Qu Zhizhen patted the table and said helplessly, “Mother, I don’t want to do this, but I have to beat him. Otherwise, Lord Yun won’t let him off. He offended Lord Yun.”
“How did he offend Lord Yun? He has been studying in the mansion all the time. How did he cause so much trouble?” The Old Lady was ignorant of what happened outside these days. Both Qu Zhizhen and Qu Moying did not bother the Old Lady with Qu Mingcheng’s matter, so the Old Lady did not know what had happened.
She only knew that Qu Moying had made a trip to the palace to visit Dowager Consort Qu. Qu Zhizhen left the mansion once, and he almost beat Qu Mingcheng to death after he returned. She also knew that Mrs. He had come to the mansion. When she knew that Mrs. He had caused a ruckus at Qu Qiuyan’s place, she was angry, and she decided to tell Qu Zhizhen not to let people like Mrs. He come into the mansion in the future.
There was no madam in the inner yard who was in charge of family matters now, and there were only two unmarried young ladies. Even if they wanted to receive guests, it would be inconvenient.
According to the information that Granny Wu had gathered, Mrs. He clearly came to Qu Mansion with ill intentions. She first went to Qu Qiuyan’s yard. Then, she went to Qu Moying’s yard aggressively. Finally, she went back to Qu Qiuyan and made a fuss in the yard. It was said that she acted so rude that she didn’t look like a noble lady at all.
However, before the Old Lady could go to Qu Qiuyan, Qu Qiuyan came to her for help. Qu Qiuyan asked her to save Qu Mingcheng. This was something that had never happened before.
“Mother, you knew that Dowager Consort Qu sent Granny Yan over to educate Moying. Previously, it was said that it might have something to do with Lord Yun, but there was no further news. You said that it might not be the case. But I met Lord Yun just now, and it is the case!”
Qu Zhizhen lowered his voice.
“Wh… what?” The Old Lady was so shocked that she almost stood up. She pressed her hand on the corner of the table and trembled slightly. “Did he say that?”
Qu Zhizhen nodded. “Yes, he said it!”
The Old Lady shook her head confusedly and frowned. “What… What should we do? With Moying’s status and the fact that she had lost her mother and was raised in the village, she will definitely be looked down upon by others. Moreover, the other party is from the royal family. She definitely couldn’t be his Princess Consort…”
Thinking that Qu Moying was going to be a concubine, the Old Lady felt depressed, her eyes turning red.
“Mother, it’s not up to us. Lord Yun has the final say on it. He asked me to bring this back for Moying,” Qu Zhizhen said, pointing at the water lotus on the side.
The Old Lady asked anxiously, “What… what does he mean?”
Qu Zhizhen shook his head. “I don’t know either. When I went to look for Mingcheng just now, he even showed me around West Prison. Inside West Prison…”
Qu Zhizhen stopped at this point, afraid of scaring his mother.
However, even though he did not say anything, the Old Lady was still frightened when she heard him mention West Prison. She shivered, and her face immediately turned pale.
“West Prison? Why did you go to West Prison?”
“Mingcheng went to He Mansion and asked Third Young Master He about some things. Coincidentally, West Prison’s people went to catch Third Young Master He, and they took Mingcheng away as well. I went to bring him out. When I happened to mention Moying’s failed marriage, Lord Yun became angry. He said that he wanted to teach Mingcheng a lesson. I thought I’d better teach him myself, so I had Mingcheng beaten according to the family rules.”
Qu Zhizhen explained, not telling the whole truth.
The Old Lady asked in a panic, “Is… Is he angry?”
Qu Zhizhen nodded. “He also said that the palace had already made the decision. He told us not to bother about Moying’s marriage. He also said that the one He Mansion chose might not be Moying. I agreed with him immediately.” Qu Zhizhen sighed. He did not hide anything from his mother on this issue.
At that time, he had no choice but to say so.
“So, our Moying could only be his concubine?” The Old Lady cried and wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.
Qu Zhizhen nodded. “Mother, let’s not bother about Moying’s marriage! Things have come to this, so we can only wait!”
They had no initiative. The initiative was in the palace, or rather, in the hands of Lord Yun. The Old Lady had been anxious to marry Qu Moying to someone because she was afraid that Qu Moying would have to be some royal member’s concubine. She had thought the thing was over because there was no follow-up development, but it was not!
Moreover, they couldn’t say anything before the matter was officially announced!
“I actually want Hanyuan to marry her.” The Old Lady said bitterly, feeling extremely sad. Right now, all they could do was resign themselves to fate.
Qu Zhizhen comforted her, “Mother, there is no hurry. Fortunately, Moying is still young. Maybe this incident will be over after a period!”
His words were perfunctory. Not only was the Old Lady unconvinced, but Qu Zhizhen also doubted himself. He was sure that Qu Moying would enter Lord Yun Mansion in the future. Moreover, the palace had already known about it and had agreed to it. They were only waiting for a suitable opportunity. Or perhaps, Lord Yun still didn’t want to get married yet.
After all, he had remained single for so many years.
“We… We can only let it be.” The Old Lady wiped away her tears helplessly.
Qu Zhizhen said, “Mother, it’s useless for us to worry about Qiuyan and Moying. You’d better care about big brother’s family.”
The Old Lady sensed something and looked up to ask, “Is there anything wrong?”
Qu Zhizhen said, “When Third Young Master He left that day, he met Xuexin. It was said that she accidentally bumped into him. The two of them talked for a while together. He asked for a doctor for her. I’m not too sure about the details. Mother, if you want to know, you can ask someone.”
He had heard a little about this matter, but he did not care about it at that time. Now, he told the Old Lady about it. He was in West Mansion, whereas Qu Xuexin was in East Mansion. He didn’t like Qu Xuexin. He was just her uncle, and he knew he’d better not talk to her directly about this.
The Old Lady understood what he meant and nodded. She thought for a moment and said, “Xiao Mansion told me that they wanted to marry someone in our mansion, and they hinted to me that it was Moying. They didn’t make it clear. Now it seemed to be OK with Xuexin. At least it’s also the marriage between the two mansions. But I still have to ponder over it.”
The Old Lady felt that she still needed to think it over even if the other party was her grandnephew. There was no problem with his family background, but she had to know more about his personality!
Would he be able to get along with Xuexin?
Thinking about how Qu Xuexin had “accidentally” bumped into Third Young Master He, the Old Lady was displeased. Qu Xuexin had grown up. If she didn’t get a good marriage as soon as possible, she would be filled with resentment.
When Qu Moying saw the water lotus jar on the table, she was stunned for a moment. She took a close look at the water lotus. It was really familiar. “Is this sent by my father?”
The lad servant explained with a smile, “Yes, Second Master asked me to send it over. He said it was from Lord Yun Mansion. He thought you would like it, so he asked me to bring it here.”
Qu Moying pursed her lips. She already knew that it was Pei Yuanjun’s idea.
Qu Moying shifted her gaze to look at the lad servant, “I heard that Second Brother is back. How is he?”
The servant said with a bitter face, “Second Young Master was beaten up by Second Master just now. If the Old Lady had not come over, something might have happened to Second Young Master!”
Qu Zhizhen told him to say so.
“Why did father beat Second Brother?” Qu Moying pretended to be ignorant. How could she not know since there was such a big commotion? Presumably, it must be Pei Yuanjun’s means to make Qu Zhizhen beat his beloved son. It was very interesting!
For some reason, she felt that she had vented her anger!
The lad servant shook his head. “I don’t know. I just saw that Second Master was very angry.”
As they were talking, a voice suddenly came from outside, “Moying, are you here?”
Qu Moying smiled thoughtfully, “What a coincidence. Qu Xuexin is here. East Mansion got the news as fast as West Mansion.”