Chapter 125

Chapter 125 Seizing the Opportunity to Reclaim a Gift

The leading person who rushed over was the current hostess of the Ji Family, Xiao. She noticed Pei Luo’an and hurriedly lowered her head to greet him. After she couldn’t hear Pei Luo’an’s footsteps, she lifted her head and looked at the yard whose door was slightly open. A maid standing at the door was curtsying to her obediently.

“Where’s your master?” Xiao asked coldly with an irritated look on her face.

“The lady is inside,” Yu Dong said. He was standing in front of the door, but he pretended that he didn’t realize he blocked Xiao’s way.

“This is the Crown Princess’s old yard. No one can enter this place without permission,” Xiao said angrily. She didn’t expect Fourth Lady Qu to be so bold and find the Crown Princess’s yard by herself.

Once she heard the bad news from the old maid, she immediately rushed over but still came late. She couldn’t see the Crown Prince’s expression from a distance, but she could tell he was not in a good mood.

“Second Madam Ji, I can’t take a look at my cousin’s old yard?” Qu Moying showed up behind Yu Dong and asked calmly.

“Fourth Lady Qu, is this the first time you are at another family’s mansion? Do you know as a guest, you should obey the host family’s rules? How can you do whatever you like without any permission here?” With the rage in Xiao’s heart, neither her expression nor her tone was friendly. She purposefully laughed at Qu Moying, indicating that she was an abandoned child who had never visited other families before and didn’t know the rules of being a guest.

“Are you blaming me for it, Second Madam Ji?” Qu Moying said in a flat tone.

“I didn’t mean it!” Xiao said coldly.

“Good! My cousin had always treated me kindly, and she promised to give me some things as a gift before her wedding because she didn’t need them anyway. After the accident, this matter has been delayed till now. Can I take those things back this time?” said Qu Moying as she took out a letter from her sleeve and handed it to Xiao.

“What’s this?” Xiao was stunned for a second and then pulled a long face.

“It’s a letter from my cousin, of course. Please take a look at it, Second Madam Ji.” Qu Moying curtsied to her and moved the letter closer to Xiao.

Flustered, Xiao took a step back and almost stepped on a maid’s foot. Her hands were still in her sleeves while she looked at Qu Moying in shock. At the same time, her face turned pale.

After a while, her hoarse voice rang, “When…When did you receive this letter?”

“Before the Crown Princess married into the Eastern Palace.” Qu Moying smiled at her.

The stern look on Xiao’s face softened when she heard Qu Moying received the letter before the Crown Princess’s wedding. Then she reached out to take the letter and opened the envelope. There were just some trifles in Ji Hanyue’s letter. She told Qu Moying to take good care of her eyes and promised a few things to Qu Moying since she wouldn’t need them anymore after she married into the Eastern Palace.

There were only a few things, but all of them had been used by Ji Hanyue very often.

Xiao quickly calmed herself down. She had no other choice but to agree. Although these things were valuable, they were just some old personal belongings of Ji Hanyue’s. It was not her place to break the Crown Princess’s promise. “Since the Crown Princess promised them to you before she passed away, you can take them back with you, Fourth Lady Qu.”

After a short talk, Xiao had already found that Fourth Lady Qu was a tough one to deal with.

Qu Moying could still act calmly after she entered the Crown Princess’s old yard without permission and met the Crown Prince, which was an obvious sign of threat for Xiao. Was this really the useless Fourth Lady Qu everyone talked about?

Xiao thought about her planning of letting her son marry her and started to feel it was a bad idea.

As for the shops, Xiao couldn’t understand what was Ji Hanyue thinking when she promised two shops to Qu Moying. In the letter, Ji Hanyue said the two shops could be Qu Moying’s financial foundation to protect herself in the future.

“Thank you, Second Madam. Can I go inside and pick them up?” Qu Moying took back the latter from Xiao’s hand and asked.

Anyone who had seen Ji Hanyue’s handwriting could tell she indeed wrote the letter. Of course, Pei Luo’an was most familiar with it since he knew how to imitate her handwriting. Qu Moying didn’t worry about his potential investigation at all.

“Fourth Lady Qu, even though the Crown Princess promised those, don’t forget you are still a guest here,” Xiao reminded Qu Moying coldly.

Qu Moying didn’t push her again. She ignored the hostility in Xiao’s words, gave her a smile, and curtsied to her again. “Then thank you for giving them to me in advance, Second Madam Ji.”

She had taken a look at inside anyway. It didn’t matter if the one who fetched the stuff was herself or Xiao since everything was still at their place as before.

Soon, Qu Moying got what she asked for – a guqin, a scent burner, a decorative table screen, a few srolls of Ji Hanyue’s painting and calligraphy, and at last, a set of emerald jewelry left in the mansion by Ji Hanyue.

“Second Madam Ji, is everything here?” Qu Moying asked, looking at the things in the maids’ hands.

“The shops’ accounts haven’t been cleared yet. These all belong to the Eastern Palace now after the Crown Princess got married. It’s inappropriate for us to ask them back,” Xiao rejected with displease.

She had no problem giving Ji Hanyue’s personal belongings to Qu Moying, but not the shops under her name. Those shops were not part of Ji Hanyue’s dowry because Ji Hanyue wanted to give them to her younger sister, Ji Yanyue. After Ji Yanyue died, those shops naturally became the Ji Family’s property. Xiao wouldn’t allow Qu Moying to take a piece from them.

“My cousin, unfortunately, passed away right after she married into the Eastern Palace. Also, she didn’t bear any children for the Crown Prince. Does the Crown Prince want to keep her dowry?” Qu Moying asked with a seemingly careless smile.

If a married woman died and didn’t bear any children, her family could reclaim her dowry. This was a common rule in the capital.

Of course, Ji Hanyue didn’t have any children since she died soon after marrying into the Eastern Palace. It couldn’t be more reasonable for her family to reclaim her dowry. As long as they mentioned it, Pei Luo’an had to return everything at once.

He was the Crown Prince of this empire, who couldn’t possibly do things such as keeping his dead wife’s dowry. Moreover, many people knew that the Crown Princess died because she was hit by an assassin to protect the Crown Prince. In this situation, the Crown Prince would be too shameless if he shamelessly kept her property.

A future heir of the empire could never do such a thing.

But since the Ji Family didn’t mention it, Pei Luo’an just pretended that he didn’t remember it. The Ji Family didn’t reclaim Ji Hanyue’s dowry because Ji Youran could take it as her own dowry now. When she became the next Crown Princess in the future, Ji Hanyue’s dowry could help show Ji Youran’s dignity. Qu Moying was absolutely aware of the Ji Family’s intention, so she wrote this letter on purpose.

She wrote about the two shops because she knew Xiao wouldn’t be willing to give them to her and would pass the buck to Pei Luo’an. After all, Qu Moying was just a weak lady. Xiao didn’t expect her to have the guts to confront the Crown Prince.

After hearing Qu Moying’s words of asking for Ji Hanyue’s dowry from the Crown Prince, Xiao became more irritated. She scolded, “Fourth Lady Qu, this is the Ji Family’s private business. I don’t think you have anything to do with it.”

“I had nothing to do with it before, but not when two of the shops are mine now.” Qu Moying gave her a bright smile and then suddenly changed the topic, “I have another thing to tell you, Second Madam Ji. I will take a former servant with me this time.”

Qu Moying was not in a hurry to reclaim the two shops right now. As long as Xiao admitted that the shops were still in the Crown Prince’s hand, she was not worried about them at all. Xiao’s excuse would become a perfect reason for her to intervene in some situations in the future.

Otherwise, it would still be inconvenient for her to do it only under the name of the Crown Princess’s cousin.

“Who is it?” Xiao suddenly had a bad feeling about it. She cast a glance at the old maid who came to report before.

Immediately, the old maid lowered her head in fear. She just realized she was too flustered to mention the matter about Granny Zhou before.

“Granny Zhou,” Qu Moying said smilingly.

“No way!” Xiao refused with no hesitation. She said firmly, “Granny Zhou is the Ji Family’s servant who used to work for my sister-in-law. After my sister-in-law passed away, it has become our responsibility to take care of her servant. I can’t give her to someone else.”

“You are wrong, Second Madam Ji. I’m taking back a former servant with me. Granny Zhou used to be the Qu Family’s servant and a private maid who my mother brought from her family. Because my aunt had an argument with my father before, my aunt took Granny Zhou here to protect her. But still, she should be the Qu Family’s servant,” Qu Moying explained calmly.

The logic in her words was so perfect that Xiao didn’t even know how to argue back with her jaw dropped.

Xiao then remembered what Qu Moying said was true. When Granny Zhou was taken to the Earl Ling’an’s Mansion, Xiao has married Second Master Ji already. She knew the whole thing and even recalled that she comforted her sister-in-law. After all these years, she long forgot about it and thought of Granny Zhou as her sister-in-law’s servant. She never expected Qu Moying to mention the history and ask for Granny Zhou.

Technically, Granny Zhou was indeed the Qu Family’s servant. Xiao didn’t have any reason to stop Qu Moying from taking her away.

“Since Granny Zhou is the Qu Family’s former servant, you can take her with you, Fourth Lady Qu. But we need to check her luggage before she leaves just in case she takes things away that belong to our family!” Xiao said in rage.

Qu Moying was not afraid of Xiao’s accusation at all and threw another sharp question to her. She curled up her lips and said in a soft voice, “Things that belong to your family? Do you mean things inside my aunt’s yard? That yard is incredibly shabby and messy. I know my uncle didn’t have the energy to care about it since he had been sick for a long time, but what about you, Second Madam Ji? I heard from my cousin that my aunt’s yard should be as clean and neat as when my aunt was still alive. But how come it ended up like this? What do you mean by it?”

Xiao almost hit the ceiling and threw a stern glare at the old maid next to her. The old maid didn’t tell her about this matter either, but clearly, Qu Moying had visited First Madam Ji’s old yard too.

It made sense since First Madam Ji’s old yard was the only place where Qu Moying could meet Granny Zhou. Otherwise, Qu Moying wouldn’t remember Granny Zhou’s background and mention it.

The more Xiao thought about it, the angrier she felt. If she was not occupied by other things today, she wouldn’t be in such a passive position and let a low-life girl take whatever she wanted. Qu Moying indeed picked a good time to take advantage of the Ji Family.

“Fourth Lady Qu, I suggest you pay more attention to your family affairs. I heard that Second Madam Qu is heavily sick. Why are you interfering with other family’s business instead of serving your stepmother in front of her bed?” Xiao couldn’t help but say sarcastically.

Everyone knew that Yu framed Qu Moying in front of the Crown Princess’s coffin. She mentioned Yu purposefully to provoke Qu Moying and reminded her of her position in her own family. Qu Moying meant nothing for the Qu Family, let alone the Ji Family.

Suddenly, a snort came from aside as the smile on Xiao’s face faded away…