It turned out to be someone close to my grandfather.
Grandfather wanted to find grandmother for something, but why didn’t he go in? What was he doing so secretly? And it seemed like he had something in his hand. Could it be that he was showing it to grandmother
Although Liu Jingyu was surprised, he didn't take it to heart. There were more important things to do at this time, so he just walked out.
The servant hiding in the shadows shrank back, carefully avoiding Liu Jingyu's gaze, and continued to wait here. He had just come over, but didn't see the person he was waiting for come out.
Qu Moying sat quietly behind the lady, lowered her head and played with the handkerchief in her hand, casually listening to the voices of the ladies in the flower hall.
"Fourth sister, fourth sister." The right sleeve of her clothes was pulled, and Qu Moying raised his eyes to look at Qu Xuexin.
Qu Xuexin leaned over and whispered to her, "Fourth sister, can you accompany me to change clothes?"
Qu Moying nodded.
Qu Xuexin whispered something to the lady dowager, and the lady dowager nodded. The two sisters walked around from behind the crowd and left the hall from the side. When they were out of the hall, they called a maid to lead the way and walked out together. The servant in the shadows moved and followed them out.
The maid led Qu Xuexin into a place, while Qu Moying was waiting outside. Suddenly, a servant came from the side and seemed to hit them. Yu Dong hurriedly stepped forward to block him, and the servant tried his best to stop and did not hit them. He fell heavily to the ground, and something he was holding in his hand broke at Qu Moying's feet.
"Ah, the brush washer." The servant squatted down in panic, and his voice changed, "The Duke's brush washer."
Qu Moying lowered his head to take a closer look and found that it was indeed a brush washer. Even though it was broken, it could still be seen as a fine product.
“Miss, this… this is our Duke’s brush washer…” The servant boy sobbed and wiped his tears. He didn’t look very old.
"You're not going to blackmail our young lady by saying she was hit by someone, are you?" Yu Dong got annoyed when he heard the implication of his words.
"I dare not. I just want the young lady to testify for me." The servant cried.
"What proof?" Qu Moying asked gently.
"I want you, young lady, to testify for me in front of the Duke, saying that I did not break the brush washer on purpose. I almost bumped into you by accident, and I didn't stand firmly, so I broke it." The servant cried and said, looking really pitiful.
There was no intention of shirking responsibility in his words.
"I am a woman, so it is not convenient for me to go to the front." Qu Moying said softly.
"No need to go to the front yard. The Duke is in the pavilion not far away. He originally had something to ask Madam, so there is no rush for now. Just wait in the pavilion in front." The servant said hurriedly, stretching out his hand and pointing forward. From Qu Moying's angle, he could really vaguely see a pavilion, and there seemed to be someone in the pavilion.
“Miss, please help me. If the Duke thinks that I broke it on purpose, I will be punished.” The servant’s eyes turned red from crying.
"Okay." Qu Moying nodded.
The servant was overjoyed. He wiped his tears and led Qu Moying forward. He didn't even bother to pick up the broken pen washer on the ground.
It looked quite close, but in fact it took a detour. When I arrived in front of the pavilion, I saw that there was indeed a person sitting in the pavilion, an old man in his fifties or sixties. Even at his age, he looked vigorous and majestic. This should be the Duke of Qi. I heard that the Duke of Qi was a veteran.
Although he is no longer in charge of things, he was once a general and fought on the battlefield.
The power of the officials is different from that of the civil servants.
The servant asked Qu Moying to wait outside for a while while he went in to explain. No one knew what he said, but the Duke of Qi turned his gaze to Qu Moying and nodded slightly.
The servant continued to speak, a little further away, and his voice was low. Even Yu Dong did not hear the specific words they said. He only vaguely heard the old Duke say: "Hmm," "Okay," and "Okay."
After the servant finished speaking, he listened to the Duke say a few more words, then turned around and trotted over to Qu Moying, smiling and pushing her away: "Miss, our Duke invites you over."
Qu Moying nodded. Since he was here and saw the Duke of Qi, he naturally had to come over to pay his respects.
Following the servant forward, he came to the pavilion and bowed to the old Duke: "Greetings, Duke Qi."
"Are you the fourth daughter of Minister Qu's family?" Duke Qi's eyes fell on Qu Moying. After examining her for a long time, he slowly said, "No need to be polite!"
Qu Moying stood up straight and looked at the ground in front of her, "Yes!"
Her appearance was too obvious, with a long veil covering so much of her face that it could be seen from a distance. She was also the only one in the capital, so anyone who had heard of her would find it easier to recognize her.
"I heard from the servant that his pen washer was broken accidentally and almost hit you?" Duke Qi asked slowly, his voice neither loud nor low, but with a hint of majesty.
"That's right!" Qu Moying nodded and responded.
She could feel the Duke of Qi's eyes still looking her up and down, but she just stood there quietly.
"Did you get hit?" asked the Duke of Qi.
"It's okay." Qu Moying said. Duke Qi's eyes fell on her again, looking at her again and again. The pavilion became quiet. The silence lasted a little too long. Qu Moying frowned uncomfortably. This old Duke made her feel a little strange.
In her previous life, when she was Ji Hanyue, she had never seen this Duke. It was said that this Duke no longer cared about things and liked to live out his retirement in a farm outside the city. He was basically never seen in the houses in the capital. She didn't expect to see this retired old Duke in the Duke of Qi's Mansion the first time she came here.
Didn’t you say that you are rarely in the mansion
"Your mother is the daughter of the Yue family, and your grandfather and I have a very good relationship. If you have any difficulties in the future, you can directly find help from the Duke of Qi's Mansion." The Duke of Qi finally spoke, speaking softly.
"Thank you, Duke." Qu Moying bowed sideways again.
Duke Qi nodded, stood up, looked at Qu Moying deeply again, then walked away slowly with his hands behind his back, and the servant hurriedly followed.
After the footsteps faded away, Qu Moying slowly raised her head and looked towards the back of the Duke of Qi. Her brows slightly frowned, and she felt very strange. She couldn't tell why, but she felt that there was some discord here. Would the Duke of Qi come to see her specially
This thought was very abrupt, but she immediately dismissed it in her mind. It was impossible. She was sure that this was the first time she had seen the old Duke, whether in her previous life or this life. There was no intersection between the two of them. Was it because of her adoptive father, or her mother
"Miss, why didn't you put away the brush washer?" Yu Dong looked at the receding figure of Duke Qi, and then looked at the direction they had come from before. This direction was obviously two directions. Why didn't the servant let anyone put it away and just followed Duke Qi
, full of sense of disobedience.
"Maybe someone will clean it up!" Qu Moying said uncertainly, walking slowly towards the previous place.
Sure enough, when we got there, the brush washer on the ground had been cleared away, but there was no sign of the maid from the Duke of Qi's mansion around, which showed that they had been gone for a long time.
It won’t take long if I go there and come back here, right
"Fourth sister!" Qu Moying came back to her senses when she heard Qu Xuexin's voice. She saw Qu Xuexin standing beside her, smiled and nodded.
"Let's go!"
The two of them walked back together.
"Fourth sister, why did Concubine Ji look for you just now?" Qu Xue Xin asked as they walked.
"Ask about my cousin." Qu Moying answered vaguely.
"Crown Princess? What does the Crown Princess need to ask you about?" Qu Xuexin was more and more surprised and asked casually. After asking, she felt rude and immediately said with some apology, "Fourth sister, I didn't mean to ask anything. I'm just afraid that this Concubine Ji will do you harm. I don't think this Concubine Ji is really good to you."
"What did you see, elder sister?" Qu Moying turned her head and looked at her gentle young lady.
"I didn't see anything, but..." Qu Xuexin hesitated for a moment, but still answered, "I just feel that she is the most senior in the Prince's Mansion, so it should be the same in the Ling Anbo Mansion. But she came to ask you alone, and it always feels a bit awkward."
"I'm just asking about my cousin's past visits to see me." Qu Moying paused before answering.
Qu Xuexin took a deep breath and said repeatedly, "That's good, that's good. I was just worried that Concubine Ji might dislike you or something, which would be troublesome."
As they were talking, two people had arrived. After entering from the side door, they went around and sat behind Madam Qu again, listening to the conversations of the other ladies in the hall.
After a while, Liu Jingyu walked in. Her face was gentle and she was smiling when she looked at people, as if there was no difference from before. However, Qu Moying could sense some difference. At least a hint of coldness flashed in the corner of the eyes of this Jingyu County Lady from time to time, which showed that this Jingyu County Lady was not in a good mood at that time.
It is conceivable that Ji Youran's purpose of coming today is very clear, which is to intimidate. It would be strange if Jingyu County Lady, who wants to be the Crown Princess, is happy.
Facing Liu Jingyu, Ji Youran seemed to have met his match, which was good for him. With Liu Jingyu restraining Ji Youran, he could let go of some things.
After talking for a while, the banquet started in another large flower hall at the side. It was attended only by female relatives, not a large number of them. They all gathered together, talking and laughing, and seemed quite happy.
There were not many young ladies, so everyone just sat down. Qu Qiuyan sat with her best friend, and did not sit with Qu Xuexin and Qu Moying. Since entering the Duke of Qi's Mansion, Qu Qiuyan had not sat with the two sisters, and it was obvious that she disliked them very much.
Qu Moying sat down gracefully, with Qu Xuexin on one side and an empty seat on the other. The maids left this seat for her. After a while, Liu Jingyu came hurriedly and sat on this seat. She looked at Qu Moying and said with a smile, "Fourth Miss Qu."
"Lord Jingyu County." Qu Moying stood up and bowed.
"Please take a seat, Miss Qu Si. I have something I want to ask you." Liu Jingyu smiled gently, his attitude was friendly and natural, without a trace of disgust, as if everything Qu Moying had seen before was wrong.