At a corridor below the pavilion, a woman appeared. She was dressed in red and looked very festive. She was followed by a maid who also seemed to be enjoying the scenery.
It was a little far away, so I couldn't see clearly who it was.
The guests who came today were mainly received by the Madam and Mrs. Luo. Qu Moying's identity was not ordinary. Although he was in charge of the affairs of the Qu Mansion, not everyone could see him.
At first glance, she really didn't recognize this person.
She narrowed her watery eyes slightly, and after taking a glance, she looked at Yuxiu on the side. Yuxiu's eyesight was much better than hers.
Yuxiu shook her head silently, a little surprised.
"Is this the one?" Qu Moying asked.
Qu Caiyue also narrowed her eyes and argued carefully for a while, then said uncertainly: "It must be her. Yudong was with her at the time. Now it seems that she is not a maid or a lady. Or maybe someone sent Yudong here, that's possible!"
This is a very vivid statement, and it makes basically the same sense whether it is said or not.
"Go and invite this young lady over." Qu Moying ordered.
With her current status, there is no need for excessive tact. If she has any doubts, she can just call the person over.
A maid came out from behind, walked through the attic and went to the corridor where the young lady was.
After seeing the maid coming over from afar, she bowed to the young lady, then pointed in their direction. After seeing clearly where they were, the young lady came over with her people.
This time I didn't come up from the attic, but went directly from the steps of the rockery, which was much more inconvenient than going up and down from the attic.
As the young lady came closer, Qu Moying looked at her carefully, but still did not recognize her.
The unmarried young lady from a noble family was dressed up and looked quite pretty.
"Master, it's the cousin from the East Mansion." Yuxiu had already seen clearly who the person was. Qu Moying didn't know but she had seen this cousin before. This cousin had been in the East Mansion for some time. It was said that she was from the Luo sisters' side.
Qu Moying had heard about the cousin from the East Mansion from people around him, but he had never seen her.
Han Xuenniang already knew that the person she was going to meet was the Princess of England, and she felt uneasy. She followed her maid and saw three people sitting in the pavilion.
One of them was sitting alone on the side, looking a little gloomy, and was very beautiful.
Two people were sitting on one side, one of them was extremely beautiful. At just one glance, Han Xueniang identified that this one was the Princess of England. She heard from her aunt that the Princess of England used to have an eye disease and her eyes were always covered with a veil. After the veil was removed, people discovered that the Princess of England was not only not as ugly as others rumored, but also stunningly beautiful. No one in the capital could compare to her.
These words certainly express Luo's love for her niece, but she must also be truly stunningly beautiful.
Although the single one is also beautiful, she is far inferior to the other one. One glance is enough to make people feel stunning.
Han Xueniang deliberately paid a few more glances at her, and when she saw the maid standing behind this person, she was even more certain of her identity.
He hurried forward and saluted: "Meet the Princess of England."
"Since you are my aunt's niece, there is no need to be polite. Please take a seat, Miss Han." Qu Moying smiled slightly and said. Yuxiu had already told her the name of this cousin just now.
Han Xuenniang stood up uneasily and looked at the other two. These two should be the other second young lady of the West Mansion
"You are my mother's niece. I have never seen you before." Qu Caiyue smiled and stood up. She is the daughter of the East Mansion.
Tian came here on behalf of Prince Jing's Mansion to congratulate Qu Zhizhen on his marriage, and he has not yet returned to the East Mansion. "This is my third sister."
"Greetings, Madam Consort." Han Xueniang immediately knew the identities of these people, and bowed to Qu Caiyue, "Greetings, Madam."
"We are all family, there is no need to be so formal." Qu Caiyue pulled Han Xueniang to sit down affectionately, "Just call me second cousin, this is third cousin, and this is fourth cousin."
He stretched out his hand and pulled Qu Qiuyan and Qu Moying in.
Han Xuenniang blushed and followed suit stiffly, but with some hesitation. She and Qu Caiyue were indeed formal cousins, but they were more distant from the two from Xifu. Besides, the identities of these two were not high enough for her to marry, so she always felt that it was inappropriate to call them that.
But we can't offend Qu Caiyue.
"Cousin Han, when you were outside today, did you see a maid who looked pretty... and you slapped her in the face, do you remember?" Qu Caiyue asked directly and gave a general description of Yudong's appearance.
"That maid?" Han Xueniang was stunned, then nodded immediately, "I remember it."
"Is that maid yours?" Qu Caiyue asked.
"No, I don't know what happened to this maid... She came here suddenly..." Han Xueniang frowned, "Today when I went out, this maid came out of nowhere and knocked down an old woman next to her. My maid held her back, but she still spoke rudely and even pushed the old woman who had just stood up. I was so angry that I slapped her."
Han Xueniang looked at Qu Moying uneasily, then looked cautiously at Qu Qiuyan, who was sitting on the side in silence and just looking a little gloomy, and her voice unconsciously lowered.
At that time, she was really angry. Not only did she bump into herself, but she also bumped into the old woman. The old woman had just stood up with great difficulty, but this man not only spoke rudely, but also pushed the old woman. At that moment, she was so angry that she slapped her.
Could it be that the maid's master is one of these people? He began to feel uneasy.
She has been in the East Mansion since she entered the mansion. Although her aunt likes her, her cousin is very annoyed with her. Although she has some thoughts about Qu Minghui, she is also smart and knows that these people in front of her are not easy to mess with. As a cousin, she is a cousin if she can acknowledge them, and nothing if she doesn't acknowledge them.
"Was there anyone else there at that time?" Qu Moying asked, glancing at Han Xuenniang who looked a little timid.
"Other...other things, I didn't notice it at the time, I don't know if there was anything else, and then the maid left in a hurry." Han Xuenniang didn't dare to say anything final. After thinking about it, she spoke more lively. She really didn't know if there was anything wrong at the time. When this happened, she was in a hurry to come out to buy some things for her aunt.
Then we went back home.
"Fourth sister, Yudong is not like this. This doesn't sound like Yudong. Could something have happened to Yudong? Do you want to check it out?" Qu Caiyue saw Qu Moying remained silent with her brows slightly furrowed. Knowing that she really believed it, she was delighted and hurriedly advised her.
She has completed the two tasks that came to her house today, and the prince will definitely reward her handsomely.
"Thank you, Second Sister. Is this troublesome?"
"It's not a problem. It just so happened that the princess asked me to help take care of some things. I have several managers under me, and I saw it with my own eyes, so it will be much easier for me to investigate than my fourth sister." Qu Caiyue smiled and took the job for herself.
This is said sincerely, I didn't expect there is such a meaning
The prince was very happy. After hearing this, he had to give himself a title of manager, otherwise the explanation here would not make sense.
She is neither favored in the mansion nor does any work, so she can only rely on Qu Qiuyan on weekdays. Unfortunately, Qu Qiuyan's life is not easy now, and there is always a gap between the two of them.
The reason why she came here today was that the prince had repeatedly told Qu Qiuyan to listen to him, and because she had said so many good things to him, Qu Qiuyan did not undermine her.
I have to have some power over things...
Hearing her polite words, Qu Qiuyan looked up at her, moved her mouth, and finally closed it, turned her head to look outside, feeling inexplicably irritated...
"Mrs. Qu's dowry?" Pei Yuanjun raised his eyebrows and asked back.
He just came over, and it was actually too late, but no one dared to pick a fight with him. The manager led him to a small living room on the side, where sat colleagues in the court who were on good terms with Qu Zhizhen. When they saw that it was the King of England who came in, they hurried forward to salute.
The steward went to invite Qu Zhizhen out, and an official couldn't help but talk about the dowry with a smile.
"What does Mrs. Qu's dowry have to do with me?" Pei Yuanjun made the official feel uncomfortable before he slowly added the next sentence.
“No... no, it’s the dowry of Princess Ying...” the official stammered, regretting that he had agreed to Master Zhu’s request on impulse.
Is it so easy to find out about the King of England’s affairs
"What does this have to do with my palace? Are you saying that all the dowry was added by my princess?" Pei Yuanjun glanced at him and asked coldly.
His slightly closed eyes looked somewhat gloomy.
“No… I don’t know. I don’t know. I just heard…” The official panicked and shook his hands.
"Since you don't know, it must be hearsay. Could it be true? Princess Ying moved my inventory to save face for the Qu family?" Pei Yuanjun asked.
There are many meanings in this statement, but no matter which one, the officials cannot answer it.
“I heard… I heard from the Zhu family. They only found out about it when the dowry was just delivered. They said there wasn’t that much dowry for Madam Qu… I don’t know where Madam Qu got the dowry from. It’s actually… It’s actually that much…” The official made up his mind. Since he had already said this, he had to make it comprehensive and also expressed his opinion on behalf of his good friend.
The Zhu family really didn’t know about this.
"My good princess really brings honor to me!" Pei Yuanjun snorted coldly.
In one sentence, the official's face turned pale and his hands trembled. He felt that today's incident would cause trouble for the British princess. This was not his original intention. He just wanted to help his friend clarify the matter and did not want to make enemies with the British princess.
How many women who marry into the royal family have simple lives? Even this British princess who is said to have an extremely good fate, he dared not underestimate her.
"Maybe... maybe it was added by the concubine of King Jing. It may not be related to the Princess of Ying. I spoke out of turn. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
The official hurriedly bowed his head and admitted his mistake.
"This matter... Now that we have come to this, I have to check it out, lest others know about it. I am the last one to know about it." Pei Yuanjun's voice became leisurely, but no one dared to take the meaning of his words as if nothing had happened.
Several officials looked at each other, some even frowned. If this was true, then what Qu Zhizhen did was not a good thing. He really treated the King of England as a soft persimmon and dared to let his daughter move good things to her parents' home without telling the King of England...