The place where the female family members rested was not close. After going around in twists and turns, one could see that the Duke of Qi's Mansion was really big, much bigger than the Qu Mansion. It was indeed a family with hundreds of years of history that had stood for generations. In terms of its size, it was not comparable to any ordinary mansion.
The courtyard where the female family members rested was not small, with a row of three side rooms. Qu Moying was taken to the rightmost side room of the first side room. She pushed the door open and went in. The windows were bright and clean, and it was very comfortable. Although there were not many decorations, it was very elegant, and looking at it made people feel relaxed physically and mentally.
The maid left, and Yudong helped Qu Moying wash her hands. After washing her hands, Qu Moying was not in a hurry to leave. She sat down on the couch in front of the window. The back window was open, and a breeze came in, which was very pleasant.
The maid had walked in a hurry on the way here and felt a little hot. Now the cool breeze was very comfortable.
"Miss, it looks even better out the rear window!" Yu Dong exclaimed as he glanced out the open rear window.
Qu Moying stood up, walked to the back window and looked out. There was actually a yard outside. It looked quite large, with rows of tall bamboos. Outside the back window, there was a pot of water lilies that were in full bloom. The water reflected between the pavilions looked even greener, and the bamboos looked even taller. What was even more surprising was that there seemed to be a piano next to the bamboos.
It was vague and unclear, and there was a rockery or a huge rock, covering a corner of the musical instrument.
For those who love the piano, this feeling is like blindfolding one's eyes. One can only hear but not see, which is very uncomfortable.
Qu Moying was somewhat excited and tried to see carefully what kind of piano it was. However, from this angle, he couldn't see it clearly even if he leaned against the window.
A female figure walked by. It seemed that she was a lady who had just passed by. She had been standing in front of Qu Moying before and was wearing this dress.
"Miss, this is the place for the female relatives, so you can definitely take a look. When I came in just now, I saw several rows of rooms at the back for the female relatives to rest. Could it be that this young lady is resting there?" Yu Dong suggested when she saw that Qu Moying really liked it.
Qu Moying's heart moved slightly, he thought about it, and nodded.
"Okay, let's go out for a walk."
The two men went out and found that several young ladies had already left. The yard was empty and they didn't see anyone else. They turned to the back of the house, but they couldn't get out. They had to go around again. After turning several circles and passing through a door, they finally found this small courtyard with Yudong's relatively correct sense of direction.
The gate was half open, revealing a simple small courtyard that looked no different from usual. Qu Moying stopped.
"Miss, this is the yard." Yu Dong said affirmatively.
Qu Moying did not go in directly. She looked at the yard in front of her with a slightly frown.
"Miss..." Yudong looked at her in confusion.
Qu Moying walked slowly towards the door, gently pushed the slightly open door with his hand, but stopped.
The door suddenly opened without any warning. A maid was holding a basin of water. She was startled when she saw someone outside, and the basin fell down.
Yu Dong stood beside Qu Moying and quickly reached out to pull Qu Moying back, but even so, water still splashed on the hem of her skirt.
"Miss, are you...are you okay?" The maid of Duke Qi's mansion did not expect that there were people outside. She turned pale with fear and asked tremblingly.
Qu Moying lowered her head and looked at the hem of her skirt. There weren't many wet spots. Yudong reacted the fastest, but even if she was quick, it would be inappropriate to go out wearing it like that.
"Who lives here?" Qu Moying asked.
"This is a place where our young lady comes to sit when she is resting. This is not a place for anyone to live. Many young ladies came to the mansion today. Our young lady specifically asked us to clean up this place, saying that some young ladies might come to sit here. I was just cleaning up... I didn't see the young lady come to the door..."
The maid explained stammeringly, in a panic.
"Miss, please go in and sit down first. I will go get our young lady's clothes. Here are some of our young lady's newly made clothes. I'm afraid that some young lady may get her clothes dirty today and it will be inconvenient to get them again."
"Does your lady have clothes prepared here?" Yu Dong thought about Qi Xiangyu's figure. Although she was a little bigger than his own lady, she could still use them.
They had come a long way to get here, and although there was a spare set of clothes in the carriage, they couldn't let their young lady keep wearing this dirty set of clothes, so they changed her into clean clothes first.
"Our young lady has prepared something. Please follow me," said the maid, not caring about the basin that was still smashed on the ground. She stepped back, led the way inside, and opened the door straight.
Qu Moying stood at the door, looked at his feet, but did not move. He turned his eyes to the place he could see in the yard, and then turned around decisively.
“Young lady…” The maid who was leading the way was a little anxious. She turned around and wanted to persuade her, but she saw Yu Dong glaring at her with a sinister look. The maid was frightened and dared not to stop her anymore.
It's clear at first glance that Yudong is not someone who is easy to get along with.
Qu Moying turned around and left decisively with Yu Dong. When they turned an intersection, they suddenly heard noisy voices coming from the front. He took Yu Dong to one side, but saw several young men from aristocratic families walking towards them jokingly. The first one actually looked familiar, as he was the one he saw in the bookstore that day.
Several people seemed to be talking excitedly. One of them had dirty clothes. It was unknown whether he fell or bumped into something. He looked in a mess. The other people were pulling him back and forth while they were laughing. The laughter was particularly loud.
Qu Moying hid behind a tree, watching these young masters walking over with a large group of servants. His face turned cold and his eyes dark.
Yudong's face also changed drastically. If the young lady had really gone to change her clothes just now, and a large group of men came in at this time, it would be bad luck no matter which one of them she bumped into. What's more, one of them was in such a state that it was impossible not to wash him. The young lady would be really ruined.
If anything happens to the young lady, my master will take my life. The purpose of sending me here is to protect the young lady.
"Miss, who wants to harm you?" Looking at a group of people passing by, Yu Dong gritted his teeth and said hatefully, he was almost included in the plan.
Qu Moying shook his head, his eyes cold.
One thing is certain, this person must be related to someone in the Duke of Qi's Mansion. Not only is he related, but he is also very familiar with her. However, she has only met someone from the Duke of Qi's Mansion and they have never had any entanglement before. She doesn't know who can't tolerate him, or why they do this
Leading Yu Dong out again, they returned to the courtyard and saw the maid who had led the way before looking around, as if looking for someone. When she saw Qu Moying and his servant, she hurried over, wiping the sweat from her forehead and saying, "Where did Fourth Miss Qu go? She went to the front yard, which is not allowed.
The young master invited many young masters to come here today."
"Front yard?" Qu Moying stopped, a hint of coldness flashing in his eyes. There was a yard right behind the women's wing, right next to the front yard. It looked wrong no matter how he looked at it.
"Yes, it is behind a courtyard in the front yard, but in fact, there is no direct way to get there, and it is unlikely to be encountered unless you deliberately go around it. Where did Miss Qu Si go? I almost thought you went around to the front yard, and I went to report to Miss just now. Miss asked me to look for it again. If I can't find it, I will go to the front yard."
The maid said.
"I'll just look around here. I didn't go anywhere. Maybe we missed each other." Qu Moying said lightly, reaching out to lift the hem of her skirt. "You stay here with me. Yudong, go get some clothes."
She is in this state now, with stains on her dress, and cannot show herself to anyone.
"Okay, I'll be back soon. Miss, please wait here and don't go anywhere." Yu Dong said, fearing that Qu Moying would be in danger if she left, so she gave her special instructions.
Qu Moying nodded.
The maid of Duke Qi's mansion led her to several side rooms in the middle. Qu Moying looked at the side room on the far right and found that it was locked. There was a padlock hanging on it, and it seemed that no one was allowed to enter. But she had been led there before.
"Why could we get in there just now, but now we can't?" Qu Moying asked.
"That's not actually a place for the ladies to rest. When County Lord Jingyu came here in the past, she would specifically point to this place to rest. The view outside the back window is nice, and County Lord Jingyu likes that place the most. Everyone in the mansion knows that this room is not for other ladies to rest, but I didn't notice it just now... I was led to the wrong place."
The maid said apologetically.
I led the wrong person, so all the blame afterwards was mine. However, the maid in the other yard said something different when I turned around. The people in the Duke of Qi's Mansion were very strange. It seemed that some of them were kind to me, while others were malicious towards me. Some even hated me to the point of wanting to harm me.
Did she have such a big grudge against me that she set such a trap to deal with me
Yudong came back quite quickly. Qu Moying had just sat down to rest for a while when she hurriedly brought clothes over. After changing, she folded the dirty clothes. Yudong did not ask the maid from the Duke of Qi's mansion to help her take the clothes to the carriage. After folding them, she put them in the previous pocket and held them in her hands.
The master and servant followed the maid from the Duke of Qi's mansion to the pavilion they had been to.
"Fourth sister, where have you been? What happened? Why... why did you even change your clothes?" On the way to the pavilion, Qu Qiuyan saw Qu Moying from afar and stood up with surprise on her face.
Her voice was so loud that all the young ladies turned their heads and looked at Qu Moying in surprise.
Qu Moying walked over calmly, his eyes fell on Qu Qiuyan calmly: "Nothing, I accidentally fell, and I waited for a while to rest at the female family before coming back."
"Is everything really okay?" Qu Xuexin also stood up, looked Qu Moying up and down, and asked worriedly.
"It's really nothing!" Qu Moying shook his head.
"Since there's nothing else to do, let's go! The maid just said that my cousin might bring people here to enjoy the scenery in a while. We've been sitting here for too long, so why don't we go somewhere else to enjoy the scenery?" Liu Jingyu asked in a gentle voice, with a faint smile, not too much, not too little, just the right look.