Duan Jinxiang, the second young lady of the Guanglu Temple, was not in a good mood.
She had been in a very good mood some time ago. Being able to get engaged to the famous prince of Yongning Marquis and become the future prince consort of Yongning Marquis was great news.
Duan Jinxiang had always heard of the son of the Marquis of Yongning. She only said that he was a very good person. Even though his fiancée was untalented and ugly, and was nothing, he did not despise her. He even insisted on this marriage, which was said to be arranged since birth, and there was no news of any extravagant affairs between them.
In the past, she just sighed, but when she saw the Prince of Yongning, she decided on him.
The two families got engaged without much fuss and canceled the marriage between the Yongning Marquis's son and the previous blind Miss Qu Si. Duan Jinxiang felt very proud of herself.
With her talent and beauty, she is the woman worthy of the Prince of Yongning.
But what happened next made Duan Jinxiang unhappy. She said that she had to take a concubine first, and that she would be the same as herself. She felt helpless and said that the Prince of Yongning had saved this Miss Yu on the street, and this Miss Yu was willing to be a concubine because she was still engaged to the Prince of Yongning at that time.
This was booked long ago, before she was rescued.
How would people view her? They were all saved by the Yongning Marquis’s son. Yu Qingmeng was grateful after being saved and volunteered to be his concubine, but she threatened the Yongning Marquis’ son to cancel the previous marriage, leaving this “poor” Miss Qu Si with no one to marry, while she herself was engaged to the Yongning Marquis’ son.
This is clearly an ungrateful statement.
Duan Jinxiang has been talked about a lot when she goes out recently. She didn't care about it at first, but after hearing several young ladies who used to have a close relationship with her talking about her behind her back, her mood has been bad.
Those people said behind her back that she was fierce and ugly, and would definitely be neglected in the future. Those who steal other people's marriages will never have a good ending. They also said that Yu Qingmeng was extremely beautiful, and was a perfect match for the Yongning Marquis's son. She was a gentle and considerate person, much better than her. They also said that she and the Yongning Marquis's son were in a deep affection, and there would be no place for her in the Yongning Marquis's mansion in the future.
Some of the words were even more unpleasant to the ear, and Duan Jinxiang was so angry that she wanted to rush out to argue with others, but when she wanted to say something, others dispersed.
No one paid any attention to her, and such rumors became more and more frequent. The Prince of Yongning, whom she fell in love with at first sight, only came once and never came again.
Duan Jinxiang was furious, but after she went to the mansion to invite them, no one came. They only said that the Prince of Yongning was busy with his official career recently, and would come to discuss the marriage between the two families when he was free. It was obvious that he was not very serious about it, which made Duan Jinxiang more and more irritated. She couldn't even eat for the past few days.
"Second Miss, someone has come from the Qu Mansion. Your Excellency would like to see him." A maid ran hurriedly into the yard where she lived and said.
"No." Duan Jinxiang didn't figure out which Qu Mansion it was for a moment, and just said it irritably. Her mind was full of the Yongning Marquis's son, and she only wanted to see the Yongning Marquis's son, and didn't want to see anyone else.
"My lord wants you to see him. He says it's a matter concerning you and wants you to make your own decision." The maid said vaguely.
"Bring the person in!" It seemed that it was really related to her, Duan Jinxiang waved her hand irritably.
The maid left and came in with a maid soon after.
"Your servant greets Miss Duan Er." The old woman stepped forward and bowed with a smile.
“
Who sent you?" Duan Jinxiang asked reluctantly, glancing at the old woman. She had never seen her before!
"Miss Duan, our master is the second wife of Minister Qu. Please come over to have a chat, and let her meet Miss Yu." said the old woman.
"Which Miss Yu?" Duan Jinxiang still hadn't reacted at this time.
"She is Miss Yu who has already moved into the Yongning Marquis' Mansion. She was originally our Madam's niece and also our cousin." The old woman explained.
As soon as she said this, Duan Jinxiang's face darkened, "Yu Qingmeng?"
"Yes, our cousin is Yu Qingmeng." The old woman said with a smile.
"A concubine, what do you mean by young lady? The young ladies in your Qu Mansion are really... all kinds of things!~"
Duan Jinxiang curled the corners of her lips sarcastically. She had been furious for a long time, mostly because of Yu Qingmeng. In her opinion, the Prince of Yongning must have been bewitched by Yu Qingmeng, which was why he was so lukewarm towards her.
"Our fourth young lady said that even if Miss Cousin is a concubine, we cannot... In our house, we are still used to calling her Miss Cousin." The old woman explained.
"Your Fourth Young Lady is really generous." Duan Jinxiang curled the corners of her lips and said sarcastically, "But she is she and I am me. This matter has nothing to do with her at the moment."
Duan Jinxiang looked down on Qu Moying the most. The fact that the Prince of Yongning gave up her for herself spoke volumes. It was a huge loss for the Prince of Yongning to be with Qu Moying. How could a blind and uneducated Miss Qu be worthy of the handsome and elegant Prince of Yongning
This engagement should have been called off long ago. If Qu Moying had realized early on that she was not worthy of the Prince of Yongning and had broken off the engagement with him earlier, she would not have been criticized so much.
“Our Fourth Young Miss has no relationship with him now, but in the past… there was… a little bit of relationship.” The old woman seemed to have realized what was going on and said hesitantly.
"There was a little bit before. What was it?" Duan Jinxiang said unhappily, looking like she was looking for trouble.
"Well... not just before, but a little bit now." The old woman from Qu's house seemed a little panicked. She lowered her head in panic, and the more she looked, the more guilty she felt.
Duan Jinxiang had only said it casually, but when she saw the mother-in-law's reaction, she suddenly slapped the table and said, "Didn't they cancel the engagement? Could it be that they are still in contact?"
"There's no connection, no connection. It's just that the prince gave our Fourth Miss some things before, but it's actually nothing. He just felt pity for our Fourth Miss." The old woman in the Qu Mansion shook her hands and said hurriedly.
"Did he really give your fourth young lady something? It's really absurd. A woman who broke off an engagement is still flirting with her previous fiancé. How can this be so?" Duan Jinxiang's nose was crooked. She suddenly stood up, approached the maid of Qu's mansion, and shouted, "Tell me, what did you give her?"
Yu Qingmeng had already made her extremely jealous, and now there was another Qu Moying. Thinking that Qu Moying might still be pestering the Yongning Marquis's son, and that the Yongning Marquis's son didn't like her, Duan Jinxiang felt like her lungs were about to explode, and she just felt that she couldn't swallow this bad mouth.
Could it be possible that the fourth young lady of Minister Qu's mansion is so lowly that she is willing to be a concubine and follow the son of the Marquis of Yongning
She will never agree to it!
"Nothing... nothing, it's just that our fourth young lady fell down before, and the prince heard that the fourth young lady's wheelchair was inconvenient to move, so he went to Qingyun Temple to find some grease to make the wheelchair more convenient to move.
There is nothing more." The maid in Qu's house said something in a panic.
"Bitch!" Duan Jinxiang's face turned pale. She pulled the flowers out of the vase beside her, crushed the petals and threw them on the ground.
She wished she could go to Qu Mansion right now to grab Hua Qu Moying's face, tear off her veil, expose her ugly eyes in broad daylight, and see if she was still hooking up with the Prince of Yongning.
"Second Miss, please calm down first." A maid came out from behind Duan Jinxiang and comforted her softly. She was sent by Duan Jinxiang's biological mother to be by her side, and she was a relatively steady person.
Duan Jinxiang was quite receptive to advice. She glared coldly at the maid from Qu's mansion and sat back down on her chair.
"Your second wife asked our young lady to meet Aunt Yu?" After the old woman comforted Duan Jinxiang, she asked the old woman from the Qu Mansion with a forced smile.
When talking about Yu Qingmeng, she is directly referred to as aunt.
"Our second lady thought that the two families would have to visit each other in the future, so she wanted to let the cousin and the second Miss Duan meet first. We cannot hurt the relationship, and they should live in harmony in the future. The son of the Marquis of Yongning may come over by then." The old woman from the Qu Mansion hurriedly replied with a smile.
The words were very polite, but they made Duan Jinxiang even more angry.
I have invited the son of Marquis Yongning several times, but he always said he was busy. Now, the matter of a concubine might actually come up.
"Then we will go to see Madam Qu tomorrow." The old woman agreed on behalf of Yu Qingmeng.
"There is something I need to trouble Miss Duan Er with." The maid from the Qu Mansion said again.
"What's the matter?" Duan Jinxiang asked coldly.
"Our second wife has been recuperating from injuries recently. When Miss Duan comes over, please say that you are here to visit the patient." The old woman from the Qu Mansion said cautiously.
"Your Madam is ill, yet she is still so worried about a concubine. She is really kind-hearted." Duan Jinxiang said sarcastically.
The most talked about person in the capital now is Madam Qu Er. Everyone says that she is a bad person with a vicious heart. She was so kind to her ex-wife and daughter, but no one would have thought that she would be so concerned about her concubine.
The sarcasm in Duan Jinxiang's words was too obvious. The maids in the Qu residence did not dare to respond and could only laugh dryly a few times.
"Please inform your second wife that our second young lady will come to visit the patient tomorrow." said the maid from the Duan Mansion.
Seeing that the matter had been settled, the maid from the Qu Mansion said goodbye to Duan Jinxiang. Duan Jinxiang waved her hand impatiently, signaling her to leave.
After the people from the Qu Mansion left, Duan Jinxiang said to her maid unhappily, "Why should I go to visit her? She is not like me. She doesn't even look at what people outside say about her. Why does she want me to visit her?"
Duan Jinxiang also heard about Madam Qu's affairs.
"Miss Second, don't you want to meet the son of Marquis Yongning?" the old woman said with a smile.
"She may not come. She is a relative of a concubine, not a real relative!" Duan Jinxiang said unconvinced. As long as she thought that Yu was Yu Qingmeng's biological aunt, she was unwilling to go.
"Second Miss, Madam Qu Er is not just a relative of a concubine, she is also the nominal mother of Fourth Miss Qu. The Prince of Yongning was previously engaged to Fourth Miss Qu, and later it was proved that Madam Qu Er intended to frame Fourth Miss Qu. If the cancellation of the engagement was also due to Madam Qu Er, then it has nothing to do with you."
The old woman reminded.