As expected, Nanny Zhou didn't find out the family that Qu Minghui was engaged to, and the elders in the mansion didn't know either, they just heard that it seemed to be true.
As for the Yu family, the one they care about the most is Hailan. As an accomplice, Hailan is still in jail.
However, not long after Nanny Zhou came back, Miss Qu Luqin came again.
Yuchun led the people in.
"Miss Fourth, do you want to ask about Miss Han?" Qu Luqin asked in a low voice.
"Miss Han? The family my second brother is engaged to?" Qu Moying thought for a moment and asked. She remembered that she seemed to have heard before that Yu's sister-in-law's surname was Han.
"Yes!" Qu Luqin nodded.
"How did cousin Luqin know about this? I sent someone to inquire about it before, and no one in the mansion knew the truth about this matter." Qu Moying asked with a smile.
"When the Fourth Young Miss sent someone to ask, the maid happened to hear it and came to tell me. I wanted to help the Fourth Young Miss, so I went to ask grandmother." Qu Luqin explained.
"Thank you, cousin Luqin. What does you know?" Qu Moying asked with a smile. He was not surprised that Qu Luqin appeared here at this time.
After all the previous events, nothing happened in the end, and this cousin doesn't look like someone who will accept her fate.
The fact that the second old lady brought her here today but not Qu Hongqin already shows that Qu Luqin is not a simple person.
"I heard that she is the niece of Yu's sister-in-law. Her surname is Han and her maiden name is Yijiao. However, Han is just a minor official like Yu. When they got engaged, Han was promoted. I heard that she once entered the Hanlin Academy, but was later sent out. Originally, she should have been able to be high-profile after returning from the post, but I heard that something happened and she was implicated in a case."
"After coming back, he never got reinstated. He wanted to come to the house, but Yu refused. Then things kept happening in the Qu Mansion, and then things also happened in the Yu Mansion."
Qu Luqin came to please Qu Moying, so of course she found out everything she could. Now she didn't keep anyone in suspense and told him everything she had just found out.
The cause and effect of the matter sounds simple, but when you think about it carefully, it is an expression of disdain for the other person. Moreover, it does not sound like it was just a verbal agreement, otherwise he would not have been waiting there for Qu Mansion.
"What is the evidence?" Qu Moying asked.
"It's a jade pendant, but this jade pendant was stolen when the second young master came out of the imperial examination. I didn't notice it before, and I found it after I returned home. I searched the mansion at that time, but I didn't remember it until I couldn't find it. After checking, I found that several people had seen it."
Qu Luqindao.
Qu Moying knew something about the jade pendant. After hearing what Qu Luqin said, her eyelashes fluttered twice. Does this mean that it was really stolen
"Do you want to cancel the engagement now?" Qu Moying asked again.
"I want to cancel the engagement, but I don't have the jade pendant to do so. It's not easy to cancel the engagement without the jade pendant!" Qu Luqin said.
At that time, there was an engagement ceremony. If one wanted to cancel the engagement, one would naturally return the jade pendant. If there was no jade pendant, how could the engagement be considered officially canceled
So, this is a difficulty
"Do you know what kind of person Miss Han is?" Qu Moying asked after a moment of silence.
"This... I really don't know. What I mean is that Yu liked her very much before and felt that her personality was compatible with her. As for the others, no one in the mansion knows or has seen her." Qu Luqin shook her head.
"Thank you, cousin Luqin." It seemed that this was all the information that could be found out. Qu Moying thanked her with a smile.
"Miss Fourth, you don't have to be polite. This is... what I should do." Qu Luqin sighed, smiled bitterly, stood up and bowed deeply to Qu Moying, then straightened up, "Miss Fourth, if there is anything else you need from me, just send someone to tell me. I'm going back first, and grandma will be looking for me soon."
"Thank you, cousin Luqin!" Qu Moying also stood up and returned the greeting, asked Yuchun to send the person to the gate of the courtyard, and then sent Yudong to investigate.
The news came fairly quickly, and Yu Dong reported everything about Miss Han to Qu Moying.
What Qu Luqin said was true, but apart from these things, not much was found out. It was said that Miss Han had good character and was a good person. And it was said that the Han family seemed to have some relatives with Concubine Zhu Jing in the palace, but it was a distant relationship, and Concubine Zhu Jing in the palace had never sought any benefits for them.
However, given Concubine Zhu Jing's physical condition, she could not provide much help to her own family, and of course she could not take care of her more distant cousins.
Miss Han's father was said to be a talented Hanlin at the time, but he was implicated in a corruption case and was depressed after returning to Beijing.
"Miss, the jade pendant, the token of engagement, is gone. How... can you cancel the engagement?" Yu Chun was completely confused and could only change the subject again.
"Then don't cancel the engagement!" Qu Moying said indifferently.
"But if the engagement is not cancelled, what are you doing now? Shouldn't you find the jade pendant first?" Yu Chun still didn't understand. Since the jade pendant was lost, the engagement could not be cancelled.
"Unless you retreat forcefully!" Yu Dong smacked his lips, tasted the food, and said.
"Forced retreat?" Yu Chun was shocked. "This... this can be forced retreat, how will people see our Qu family? Will even the young lady be criticized and scolded?"
If he really forced to retire and then something went wrong, it would be hard to deal with the matter. Moreover, at this important juncture, when his young lady was about to get married, if the incident was too embarrassing, his young lady would definitely be punished.
"What good will it do for me if I quit this matter, and what bad will it do for me if I don't?" Seeing Yu Chun's panic, Qu Moying smiled, reached out to pick up the teacup, took a sip, and said with some sarcasm.
Yuchun and Yudong thought about it together and then shook their heads.
"I think this matter has nothing to do with you. It is not up to you to decide whether to withdraw or not." Yuchun frowned. She really didn't understand what the young lady had to do with this. Aren't the second master and the lady in charge now? When will it be the young lady's turn to make the decision
"Maybe he wants to take advantage of the young lady... or something?" Yu Dong couldn't explain it.
"Don't be in a hurry, let's wait and see!" Qu Moying put down the teacup in his hand and looked down at the tea leaves in the cup. The floating and sinking tea leaves looked quite unique. There was actually something mysterious about the floating and sinking tea leaves.
Without knowing the specific situation, she could only wait, but it seemed that she wouldn't have to wait for long.
Sure enough, in the evening, the lady asked my nanny to invite her over.
Not only was the lady-in-waiting present, but also Qu Zhizhen and Qu Mingcheng were there. All the family members of the West Mansion were present, and it seemed that they were going to discuss something important.
Qu Moying came in and asked Taifu
After Renhe exchanged greetings with Qu Zhizhen and Qu Mingcheng, he sat down on a chair on the side. Coincidentally, he sat opposite Qu Mingcheng.
Qu Mingcheng lowered his head and his expression could not be seen clearly, but he did not look in a good mood.
"Ying girl, what do you think about your second brother's affairs?" Qu Zhizhen spoke directly in the face of the hesitant gaze of the lady.
"Father, shouldn't this matter be decided by you and grandmother?" Qu Moying asked softly.
"Originally, you shouldn't make the decision on this matter, but you're about to marry into the British palace, and there will be a lot of things going on in the backyard. Your grandmother and I want you to try to make the decision. If you make the decision, what would you do? If what you say is wrong, your grandmother and I will naturally reject it."
"Girl Ying... just treat this as an experience for you. Your father's intention... is to let you experience this kind of thing." The lady sighed and finally spoke with embarrassment.
"Grandma also thinks that this is something I should be in charge of?" Qu Moying looked at the lady and asked.
"I'm not saying that you have to take care of it. You can try to do it. If it doesn't work or it's not right, your grandmother and I will help you." Qu Zhizhen quickly replied.
"This matter... Actually, it's better for me to take care of it..." The old lady sighed again and turned her eyes to her second son, "Ying girl is still young after all, how can she understand what's going on here!"
"Mother, she's going to marry into the British palace, and she's bound to see more things than we do here. The royal backyard is not something that ordinary people can experience." Qu Zhizhen disagreed, "Mother, Ying has experienced a lot, and she won't be panicked when she encounters various things in the future. You said before that there was no rush, but now, look..."
The lady fell silent after hearing this. She looked at Qu Moying with some heartache in her eyes and gave in: "Ying girl, just help grandma and give some suggestions. Don't be indifferent. Although His Royal Highness the King of England is not interested in women, he will have other women eventually. Don't be too sad!"
There was something special in the lady's words. Qu Moying raised her watery eyes slightly, looked at her silently for a few seconds, and then smiled, "Grandma is right!"
"It's the best that you think so!" The lady was relieved to see that she agreed. "In fact, we just need to observe this matter from the sidelines. Tomorrow we will go to Qingyun Temple and meet that family. You can talk to that young lady more and see what kind of person she is. Do we need to cancel this marriage..."
The old lady felt a little ashamed when she said this. According to her original intention, this marriage could not be cancelled. It would be a betrayal. But what her second son said made sense. For a moment, the old lady could not make up her mind.
"Grandma, is it difficult to cancel the engagement? It was just a verbal agreement at that time?" Qu Moying asked.
"Yes, it was a verbal agreement, and it was made by the Yu family. Just for this reason, I don't like it very much. In fact, the two families have not had any contact for so many years, and they have already made their intentions clear. The Han family should also be aware of this. I heard that they were helping my daughter to find a partner before."
Qu Zhizhen took up the topic again.
A verbal agreement and a jade pendant? Why does the cheap father's words sound so unbelievable? Is he sticking to a verbal agreement even if he has no shame
The lady opened her mouth, but in the end she didn't say anything contrary to her son's opinion. She just looked at Qu Moying guiltily. As for Qu Mingcheng, he kept his head down from beginning to end, and it was impossible to tell what he meant...