The next day, in a private room of a teahouse, Qu Minghui and Qu Moying met Qu Minghui's good friend.
“Brother Qu, this is…” The person who came in didn’t expect that there was a woman in the private room and was stunned for a moment.
"Brother Wang, this is my sister. We happened to go out together today." Qu Minghui gave instructions with a smile.
Qu Moying did not take off her veil, but stood up and bowed slightly.
"Miss Qu, you are too polite." The prince said hurriedly and returned the greeting. He had heard that there was only one young lady left in the Qu Mansion. Could it be this one
If it was this person, he really couldn't accept this gift!
He hurriedly returned the greeting and said he didn't dare!
The two sides sat down again. Qu Minghui didn't waste any more time and asked the servant to take out the scroll: "Brother Wang, this painting is not real, right?"
"How can this not be true? It must be true!" Brother Wang denied it. "If it is not true, I will not only return Brother Qu's money, but also double it!"
These words were spoken with such finality that they immediately refuted all of Qu Minghui's words.
Qu Minghui was speechless and subconsciously looked at Qu Moying.
"Sir, I have seen the original of this painting." Qu Moying said, his eyes falling on the face of the prince through the veil. It seemed that the prince really had an honest face.
"This... How is this possible? Ours is the original!" Brother Wang said anxiously, shaking his hands, and then turned back to look at Qu Minghui, "Brother Qu, we have known each other for a while. Don't you know what kind of person I am? Would I buy you a fake one?"
After hearing what he said, Qu Minghui was even more speechless, and turned to Qu Moying: "Fourth sister, this matter... is there any misunderstanding?"
"There is no misunderstanding. I know very well where the original painting is, and I can also find strong witnesses. I am not questioning the authenticity of the painting now. What I am asking is where it came from?" Qu Moying's voice turned cold, and he no longer argued with the young man surnamed Wang about whether it was real.
Is it true? Who knows better than her
"Ms. Qu, I... I don't understand what you are saying... What do you mean, where did this painting come from? Of course it was passed down from my ancestors. If I didn't really need it urgently, I would never have bought it." Young Master Wang looked at Qu Moying, then at Qu Minghui, and laughed.
He put his hand on the table and said, "If Brother Qu really doesn't believe me, I won't explain. I'll return the money to you and take the painting." Then he reached out to take the scroll on the table.
"Wait!" Qu Moying said in a deep voice.
A trace of nervousness flashed in Brother Wang's eyes: "Miss Qu, what else is there? I am willing to return the money now, what else can I do? It's just a pity that Brother Qu and I have been friends for so many years, but in the end, you are unwilling to believe even such a small thing. Forget it!"
At the end, Brother Wang sighed deeply.
Qu Minghui showed a bit of embarrassment on his face and looked at Qu Moying for a moment. He believed in this brother king from the bottom of his heart, but what the fourth sister said was so true, he also felt it was credible.
"Mr. Wang, please wait a moment. Is this scroll really yours?" Qu Moying smiled slightly, with a hint of sarcasm in his eyes.
However, this meaning was hidden behind the veil, and the only thing that fell into everyone's ears was Qu Moying's elegant and indifferent voice.
"Of course it's mine, passed down from my ancestors.
It was brought down from the past. It survived the war and was not lost. It is treasured in our family. "Brother Wang said very displeasedly, "I don't know where Miss Qu got the news from. She actually said that my family's is not real? I can be sure that my family's is real. If there are other places, it must not be real."
What he said was righteous and sounded a bit arrogant and angry, which made people feel that what he said was true.
"Young Master Wang, since you are unwilling to speak, I will send this scroll to the Dali Temple." Qu Moying motioned Yu Dong to step forward and forcefully take the scroll from Young Master Wang's hands.
The money for the scroll has not been returned yet, so it belongs to the Qu family. Even if Master Wang is unwilling, he has to let it go. Moreover, it doesn't make sense for him to lower his status and compete with a maid.
"Dali Temple? Brother Qu wants to take this matter to Dali Temple? What's your reason, Brother Qu? I've already told you that if Brother Qu doesn't believe me, I will just return the money, so as not to ruin the relationship we've had for so many years. Don't you think this is not enough?"
Brother Wang glared at Qu Minghui angrily.
“Brother Wang, that’s not what I meant…” Qu Minghui had no idea that things would turn out like this. He felt extremely embarrassed and quickly stood up to persuade him.
Brother Wang shook off his hand and said, "Brother Qu, we have known each other for so many years, but I didn't expect that money would ruin our relationship. After all... money betrays people's hearts!"
“Brother Wang, this is really not what I meant. This is mainly…” Qu Minghui was still explaining anxiously.
"Brother Qu, you don't have to say anything, I get it!" Brother Wang sighed and interrupted Qu Minghui. He looked at him, then looked at Qu Moying who was sitting on the side, and sighed heavily, "Brother Qu, return the painting to me. I will go get the money and pay you back in a while. From now on, the two of us... are even."
“This… this…” Qu Minghui really didn’t know what to do. He spread his hands and didn’t know what to say for a while.
He looked at Qu Moying as if asking for help, feeling anxious.
"Young Master Wang, please wait a moment. This matter really cannot be settled privately. We have to let the people from the Dali Temple know. I have already asked my cousin to come over, and he might be here by now." Qu Moying said lightly.
Brother Wang was stunned, his face immediately panicked, "This... How can this be justified... We all agreed to this... Why do we have to alert the Dali Temple?"
The Dali Temple handles more serious matters than the Ministry of Justice. Who would want to go to the Dali Temple for no reason
"This painting is not legitimate, and it is related to the Dali Temple Shaoqing. If you don't want to tell me and my elder brother, then wait until my cousin comes!"
Qu Moying said calmly.
When Yue Wenhan came over, if he wanted to know something, as the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, he would not simply ask like this.
Young Master Wang looked at the helpless Qu Minghui, and then at the extremely leisurely Qu Moying. His face turned blue and white, and his eyes were visibly panicked, which was clearly a sign of guilty conscience. Even Qu Minghui was silent this time, and watched how the situation developed.
"Mr. Wang, please take a seat. My cousin is a very easy-going person, perhaps even easier to talk to than me and my elder brother." Qu Moying seemed not to notice his panic, and calmly pointed to a chair on the side.
A table and three chairs were arranged beforehand. When Brother Wang came in, he was happy. This showed that Qu Minghui really believed in
But now he felt it was a mockery.
Can he still sit down? Can he still dare to sit down
Would the Junior Official of the Dali Temple be easier to talk to than the two siblings of the Qu Mansion? This must be a lie!
Restraining his panic, Brother Wang waved his sleeves vigorously, gritted his teeth, and had to admit the matter before the Dali Temple Shaoqing came over: "Okay, this painting is indeed not mine."
"If it's not yours, then who asked you to buy it?" Qu Moying seemed to know that he would definitely say this. As soon as he finished speaking, Qu Moying added this sentence lightly.
"Yes... my cousin asked me to buy it, but this is true. My cousin said that it was passed down from his ancestors. He had no choice but to ask me to buy it." Young Master Wang said angrily. He was ashamed to be forced to this point by Qu Moying.
"It's another one passed down from our ancestors. Young Master Wang told my eldest brother this before. My eldest brother believes in Young Master Wang's character, but is the character of Young Master Wang's cousin definitely good?" Qu Moying asked.
This was not an easy matter. She had long guessed that it was not an easy task to buy the offerings in front of her mother's spirit tablet.
“This…” Brother Wang’s forehead was covered with sweat.
"Young Master Wang probably doesn't trust your cousin that much. I wonder what kind of troubles your cousin has suddenly encountered that forced him to buy this kind of thing passed down from his ancestors?" Qu Moying said slowly while looking at the scroll.
“He… he’s short of money recently… he has no money for a while, so…” Young Master Wang stuttered. The matter had already been exposed, so he had to continue.
Qu Minghui's face looked very ugly already, his chest heaving with anger. He had truly believed in this brother Wang before, and wholeheartedly regarded him as a friend, but he didn't expect that this friend actually deceived him.
If it weren't for the fourth sister, this fake picture would have been sent to the Zhou residence, and then our family would have lost all face, and might even have been blamed by the Zhou residence.
My mother had never been so fond of this marriage in the first place. If the Zhou family picked on it, my mother would be even more unhappy. And then it would be Miss Zhou Er who would be wronged. Thinking of the anger, Qu Minghui even wanted to beat up Mr. Wang.
"Suddenly being without money is usually not a good reason. From what Master Wang said, it's not the problem of other family members, but this cousin. That's really strange... Master Wang, didn't you ask around? I don't know who this cousin of yours is, what's his last name, what he does for a living, and who he used to associate with?"
Qu Moying threw out questions one after another, and when the matter was traced to this point, it was already clear that this so-called cousin was the key person.
Most of Qu Moying's questions were about Master Wang's cousin, but Master Wang could understand the implicit rebuke in his words. If Qu Moying had not directly exposed him, he would have had reason to refute it, but now, he really had no reason to defend himself.
In the beginning, he really helped to act as an intermediary because he was motivated by profit and thought this was true. Now that things have come to this, he doesn't want to ruin his reputation because of his cousin.
"Forget it, let me tell you all about these things!" Brother Wang stamped his feet and said with gritted teeth.
My heart has been opened, so there is no need to hide other things. It is better to talk about it now than to go to the Dali Temple. I heard that the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple is named Yue, and he is the cousin of the fourth lady of the Qu family...