The maid had served Ming Xian'er for a long time. She was also a member of the opera group and regarded Ming Xian'er as her older sister. After Ming Xian'er was taken away by Ji Youran, she stayed near the woodshed till midnight but couldn't find a way to help her. This morning, she hurriedly finished some of her work and went to meet Ming Xian'er secretly again.
She found a chance when the old maid guarding the woodshed was called away and hurriedly sneaked inside to talk to Ming Xian'er.
Ming Xian'er specifically asked about Qu Moying. After hearing that Fourth Lady Qu was staying in the Eastern Palance, she became overjoyed and asked the maid to seek help from Qu Moying.
It was just a simple thing, and Qu Moying immediately figured out Ji Youran's intention after hearing the maid's story.
Ji Youran would never degrade herself to envy a female performer like Ming Xian'er since she was the Crown Prince's second wife. If she
“Sister Ming, His Royal Highness may have already known that you were punished. Moreover, you can’t possibly reach him right now.” The maid looked anxious.“It’s okay. His Royal Highness must be in the altar room currently. Let’s go there,” said Ming Xian’er while gnashing her teeth. She wouldn’t allow Ji Youran to get all the benefits - getting rid of her and earning a good name at the same time. “Do we still have the mourning clothes they gave me yesterday?”“Yes, I put it in a cabinet yesterday,” the maid said hurriedly.“Have you washed them?”“Not yet. I was too worried about you and didn’t have time to do any laundry,” said the maid. She had been wandering around the woodshed for the whole night, thinking about how to rescue Ming Xian’er. After she woke up this morning, she was called away to do some work. Then she finally had a chance to sneak out.“Go clean the stain on the mourning clothes immediately a
“The two maids said they would let me escape on purpose and then kill me outside. Then they can just blame my death on me...since I...I run away first!” Ming Xian’er bent over while wailing and trembling. Seeing Ji Youran walking outside, she moved closer to her on her knees. She then touched the ground with her forehead heavily several times.Ming Xian’er looked so pitiful with tears on her face and messy hair clinging to her forehead as she knelt on the ground. While the two women both acted feebly, Ji Youran surely couldn’t compete against a performer like her. Ming Xian’er hadn’t had any food since yesterday and wore the just-washed mourning clothes that were still wet. Purposefully, she made herself seem as messy as possible and knocked her forehead heavily on the ground so that everyone around her could hear it. She was sure her forehead must look red and swollen right now, and people would believe her sincerity in asking for forgiveness at on
“Cousin, don’t go now. Even if you do, you can’t find out anything or may even be framed by someone. When I was in the altar room before, I found that Princess Ji may not be as simple as she looks,”Qu Moying hurriedly stopped Yue Wenhan. The reason why she had this conversation with him was to prevent him from doing something impulsive!“Framed by someone?” Yue Wenhan stopped. For the first time, he found something was different about this cousin, who had always been weak and soft in his eyes.“Cousin, if Princess Ji is truly involved in the Crown Princess’s death, do you really think you can find the truth so easily? If there is a secret behind the Crown Princess’s death, then what about the Crown Prince? Has he been really in love with her deeply? Shouldn’t he know everything that has happened in the Eastern Palace? So, if he knew but still watched the Crown Princess die, what does this mean?”Qu Moying took two steps up.
Soon after, Yue Wenhan came back. He came in and sat down on a chair quietly with a sullen face.“Cousin, did you find out anything?” Qu Moying raised her eyes to look at him and asked, feeling a bit nervous. The two maids they were investigating were Wei Yu and Xie Feng, and Xie Feng was the one who took her to the Linyuan Pavilion on the night she died.“The Crown Princess brought two private maids with her when she married into the Eastern Palace. One of them went missing on the wedding night when assassins sneaked into the Eastern Palace and caused chaos. No one knows if she is still alive. The other one had been helping Princess Ji take care of the Crown Princess. After the Crown Princess passed away, she said she was willing to work for Princess Ji,” Yue Wenhan said in a flat voice.“Which one went missing?” His words made Qu Moying feel unsettled. She didn’t even notice her voice was trembling.“The one called Wei Yu.
“Emm...” Xiao was stunned by Qu Moying’s sudden change of the topic.“The Crown Princess has deceased. Earl Ling’an and Cousin Yanyue are the only two people left in her family. Please allow us to meet her, Madam,” said Yue Wenhan as his eyes fell on Old Lady Ji’s face. He started to feel weird about their attitude, so he supported Qu Moying.“Please, Madam,” Qu Moying immediately followed.Behind the veil, her eyes were cold and sharp. She knew her father and younger sister probably had passed away already. Still, she wanted to see the Ji Family’s reaction. Now, she was sure that Xiao and even Old Lady Ji both knew what had happened to her father and younger sister. She couldn’t believe why Old Lady Ji could be so cruel to let her own son get killed!Old Lady Ji fell into silence for a few seconds. “Yanyue passed away.” Then she lowered her head and wiped her tears with a hanky.“What?” Yue Wenhan was truly sho
“Cousin, did you notice anything wrong?” After Yue Wenhan left the side yard with Qu Moying, he immediately asked, feeling suspicious.It was not only about Qu Moying’s attitude but also everyone from the Ji Family’s reaction.He once visited the Earl Ling’an’s Mansion before. At that time, the Second Master of the Ji Family received him, saying that Earl Ling’an was severely sick and couldn’t get off the bed to meet guests. He didn’t find anything weird by then.At this moment, Yue Wenhan still had no idea that Ji Yongming, Earl Ling’an, had lost his life long ago.“I don’t know. I just have this weird feeling. Even if Cousin Yanyue really died of sickness, they at least had to announce it. If they didn’t want to affect the Crown Prince’s wedding, they could just keep a low profile about it. But instead, they chose to hide a person’s death from everyone like this. Moreover, it is a noble lady’s death. What if it was a maid?
Before, Pei Luo’an was told that Pei Yuanjun wanted to marry Liu Xiangshan, the Guardian General Liu Xiangshan’s daughter. That lady had an eye problem too. The Crown Prince heard that Pei Yuanjun had brought Lady Liu to Old Lady Qu’s banquet. Lord Jing, his younger brother, was interested in her and wanted to marry her as well.Not only Pei Yusheng, but he also wanted to marry Lady Liu too.He failed to get military support from Ji Yongming before. If he could get it from Liu Xiangshan, it would benefit him. But he didn’t dare to pursue Lady Liu yet.After all, his image in people’s eyes was the Crown Princess’s loving husband. If he showed his interest in Liu Lanxin now, it wouldn’t do him any good.He couldn’t marry her, so Pei Yusheng couldn’t marry her either, let alone Pei Yuanjun.Maybe he could use Fourth Lady Qu for his plan, who so happened to stay in the Eastern Palace now. It seemed that he needed to
Since Qu Moying didn’t seem to agree, Ji Youran had to hold back her rage and stop forcing her. With that faked smile, she asked more about daily life in the Qu’s Mansion, especially expressing her anger toward Second Madam Qu while saying that she would help Qu Moying show them justice.When it came to Yu, Ji Youran indeed was irritated by her.She didn’t care if Yu wanted to scheme her step-daughter or not, but when Ji Youran herself was involved, that became a different story.Her old wound almost healed before, but now it worsened and kept hurting. The Imperial Doctor said it wouldn’t recover soon and could fester. Consequently, the scar would get bigger and harder to entirely remove.Thinking of her wound, Ji Youran wished she could kill everyone in the Qu Family.However, with the Crown Prince sitting behind, she needed to hold her temper and patiently build a good relationship with Fourth Lady Qu. Suppres