The old lady took her three granddaughters and followed the old woman who led the way into the flower hall where guests were received.
The one sitting above was the wife of the Duke of Qi, who was about the same age as Madam Qu. She sat there with her back straight, looking very imposing. She was thinner than Madam Qu, and there was a hint of sharpness in the corners of her eyes. She was a relatively strong lady of honor. Although she was old, she still looked young.
I heard that the wife of the Duke of Qi was also a general's daughter. Even though she was old now, she was different from ordinary wives. Ji Hanyue had seen her in her previous life and had deep respect for this lady. The position of the Duke of Qi was originally held by the eldest brother of the current Duke of Qi, and the previous Duke of Qi almost caused the destruction of the entire Duke of Qi.
Fortunately, the wife of the current Duke of Qi, who was the second wife of the Duke of Qi's Mansion at that time, had a powerful family. In addition, the current Duke of Qi was loyal to the emperor and had saved the emperor, so other people in the Duke of Qi's Mansion escaped the danger. Only the original Duke of Qi's lineage was guilty. Therefore, the current Duke of Qi respects the wife of the Duke of Qi very much.
The Duke of Qi had two sons and one daughter. Only one son was born out of wedlock, and the other son and daughter were born to the Duke of Qi's wife.
I heard that the illegitimate child was born to the Duke of Qi's earliest maid, who had been in the room before the marriage. After the Duke of Qi's wife came into the family and gave birth to a legitimate son, a illegitimate son was born. But it was just a illegitimate son.
"Greetings, Madam Qi." Madam Qu stepped forward and saluted.
"Is that Madam Qu? Please take a seat!" Lady Qi looked at Madam Qu, nodded, and ordered someone to come and help Madam Qu sit down.
Although his attitude was not cordial, it was not cold either. Seeing that Mrs. Qu was old, he specially asked someone to bring a cushion and put it on the chair.
After the lady-in-waiting was seated, the wife of the Duke of Qi looked at the three young ladies from the Qu Mansion who came forward to pay their respects.
The Minister's Mansion is really nothing to the Duke of Qi's Mansion. In the past, the Duke of Qi's Mansion had never paid attention to the young ladies of the Qu Mansion, but this time she paid attention to Qu Qiuyan and Qu Moying.
She had seen Qu Xue Xin before, but she didn't pay much attention to her. She just vaguely remembered that she was a gentle and good-looking person. The Miss Qu in front of her was very beautiful. No wonder she heard that King Jing was interested in her. Her granddaughter had told her about this before. At that time, she comforted her granddaughter with a few words, thinking that her granddaughter must be more beautiful than her.
Now they all seem to have their own merits. I didn't expect that Miss Qu San is so outstanding. No wonder some people say that King Jing is in love with her.
If it were in the past, Madam Qu would have certainly warned Qu Qiuyan, but now, her granddaughter herself couldn't make up her mind, and the wife of the Duke of Qi also thought that she should wait and see. As for this last Miss Qu Si, Madam Qu was sure that she had never seen her before.
But the dress of this Miss Qu Si is very obvious, with a long veil binding her face, revealing only her fair forehead and pink lips. Most of her face is bound behind the wide veil. She has an eye disease, and is also said to have no talent or looks. As for talent, come to think of it, how much talent can she have when she has been kept on the farm.
As for her appearance, Lady Qi felt that the rumors were unbelievable. Judging from her eyes, even if she was not the best, she was not ugly either. She must be above average. She remembered that the girl from the Yue family had come to visit her after she married into the capital. She felt
Very beautiful, and very pleasing to the eye.
The Yue family in Jiangnan had a very good relationship with the Duke of Qi. The head of the Yue family was a good brother of the Duke of Qi. That was why after the two daughters of the Yue family married into the capital, they both came to pay a visit to the wife of the Duke of Qi.
It's a pity that in the end, the beauty died young. Minister Qu was not a good person. Why did Yue choose such a person as her husband? It's really sad to think about it.
"Are you the fourth daughter of the Yue family?" The wife of Duke Qi waved to Qu Moying.
Qu Moying took two steps forward and said softly, "Madam, the Duke's wife, that's right!"
"Good girl, I'm sorry for putting you through this!" Lady Qiguogong sighed, took her hand, looked her up and down, and asked, "Is your eye disease okay? Can it be cured? Do you have to keep it tied up like this?"
"It's almost healed. It's just not exposed to strong light now. After a while, it can be removed." Qu Moying said with a smile.
The Jiangnan Yue family has a relationship with the Duke of Qi's Mansion. Ji Hanyue had heard her mother talk about it when she was a child, but she only mentioned it once. Her mother said at the time that she didn't like the Duke of Qi's daughter, now the wife of Minister Liu, and later they stopped having any contact. She only talked about it when she met the wife of the Duke of Qi at a banquet.
"Okay, okay, okay!" Lady Qi patted her hands again, her eyes showing some kindness, which made her look gentle immediately: "When I first met your mother, she had already married to the capital, but she didn't look much older than you. She looked good, gentle, and spoke softly. She got along well with me, but..."
The Lady of the Duke of Qi sighed and pursed her eyes with a handkerchief before she raised her head and gently patted the back of Qu Moying's hand. "Now that you are back, you can come to see me more often in the future. When people get old, they always miss some old people. Your mother is also a younger generation that I like."
This meant to support Qu Moying. Madam Qu looked at the wife of the Duke of Qi with gratitude.
"Mother, why do you always like people from the Qu Mansion? Before it was Madam Qu, and now it's Fourth Miss Qu. Could it be that you have a special affinity with the people from the Qu Mansion?" A gentle voice came from the side, with a soft smile. The voice was neither high nor low, and it made people feel comfortable just listening to it.
Qu Moying turned around and saw a beautiful face. She was about thirty years old but looked very young. She was the wife of Minister Liu, the only legitimate daughter of the wife of Duke Qi and the biological mother of Liu Jingyu.
Regardless of which identity she is, it shows that this lady is of noble status.
"You always say such things. You said the same thing when you first saw Madam Qu." Lady Qi, the Duke of Qi, smiled and pointed at Madam Qi.
"Who told mother to always like the people from the Qu Mansion? I am ugly, so naturally mother dislikes me." Madam Qi laughed, looking aggrieved, which made Duke Qi laugh. She put down Qu Moying's hand and asked her to sit aside. "Even if you are ugly, how can I, as a mother, dislike you?"
"Mother, you're disgusted with me. Look, she says I'm ugly." Mrs. Qi spread her hands and said.
The ladies sitting next to her also started laughing and talked about all kinds of things, having a great time.
Qu Moying lowered his head and played with the handkerchief in his hand. The ladies in front of him were either from the noble families of Yun or the wives of high-ranking imperial officials.
To her to speak.
She had seen this wife of Minister Liu before. In her previous life, she was Ji Hanyue. She had only met this wife of Minister Liu, Qi, once. Every time she saw her, she felt that she was a gentle person. Liu Jingyu was very similar to her in both temperament and appearance, but she did not like Liu Jingyu and felt that she was very fake.
Therefore, I also felt that this Mrs. Qi was a bit fake.
When my mother talked about Madam Qi before, she didn't have a good impression of her, but she didn't say anything specific. She only said that Madam Liu was not a very good person. Even if she had met her before, she would just smile and pass by. Besides, they were not very old at the time, and the two of them rarely interacted in the same circle, so they didn't actually say a few words.
Now it seems that this person is good at speaking. He was able to please the wife of the Duke of Qi with just two sentences. No wonder the Duke of Qi wanted to give credit to his granddaughter instead of his own granddaughter. On the one hand, it was because this granddaughter was born to a concubine, and on the other hand, it was because the Duke of Qi and his wife liked their legitimate daughter.
At this time, a few more people came into the hall.
"Xiangyu, take these young ladies for a walk in the garden. There is no point in them keeping us old people around. Young people should look outside more. Your cousin is here now, so go and call her to come over." Lady of the Duke of Qi said.
Qu Moying glanced over and saw Qi Xiangyu, the only young lady of the Duke of Qi's mansion and the daughter of the second wife's illegitimate son, coming out from behind. After paying her respects to the lady-in-waiting, she called out to the young ladies to go out with her.
Qu Moying stood up with everyone else and followed her out. There were about a dozen young ladies in total.
Qu Moying didn't want to squeeze with them, so she fell to the end. Next to her was Qu Xuexin. Qu Qiuyan had already talked to a lady she knew well, so Qu Xuexin fell to the end.
"Sister, you are not familiar with these ladies?" Qu Moying asked in surprise when she saw that Qu Xuexin was always at the end like herself.
Logically speaking, Qu Xuexin should have someone she knew or was familiar with. Even if she wasn't, this elder sister was considerate and kind, so she wouldn't have trouble finding someone to talk to.
Qu Xuexin shook her head, smiled bitterly and lowered her head: "Someone I know."
"Then why don't you talk together?" Qu Moying felt more and more strange. It was rare for everyone to get together, so it was natural for those who could talk to each other to get together.
Qu Xuexin shook her head again and sighed: "Forget it. Maybe people will think it's not good and will ridicule me."
"Why are you mocking my eldest sister?" Qu Moying asked in confusion. After she finished speaking, she immediately understood, "What about my second sister?"
It has been a few days since the incident in the palace. The identities of these young ladies in front of them are all extraordinary, and they must know what happened in the palace. There was no response from Prince Jing's Mansion, and things happened again. No matter how you look at it, it is a shame for the daughters of the Qu Mansion. Qu Xuexin and Qu Caiyue are both young ladies from the East Mansion, and they must be afraid of being talked about by others at this time.
"Sister, third sister is over." Qu Moying stopped asking questions and raised his chin to point at Qu Qiuyan, who was talking excitedly with a young lady.
"Third sister and I are different." Qu Xuexin said, looking up at Qu Moying on the side, and said with a serious face, "Fourth sister, when we were in front of the mansion before, third sister wanted to get on the carriage with you, but I saw her standing there awkwardly, so I asked her to go with me."