Chapter 393

Chapter 393 Borrow the Buddhist Scriptures

Second Madam Qi straightened her body and asked her daughter seriously, “Do you think Jingyu is dealing with Fourth Lady Qu?”

“Yes. I guess not only me but also many young ladies thought the same. You didn’t see how aggressive Cousin Jingyu was! She seemed to be threatening Fourth Lady Qu, and she almost quarreled with East Mansion’s Princess Ji.” Qi Xiangyu sneered.

There was no outsider in the room, so she did not need to hide her feelings.

She did not like Liu Jingyu.

As the only daughter of Duke Qi’s only son, she felt displeased that it was actually Liu Jingyu but not her who got the title of County Lady. Every time she heard someone call Liu Jingyu “County Lady”, she felt angry and aggrieved.

Therefore, the harmony between Liu Jingyu and her was only for show.

However, Liu Jingyu was very smart. Every time she came to Duke Qi’s Mansion, she could make Duchess Qi and even Duke Qi happy. In this respect, Qi Xiangyu admitted to being inferior to her.

Qi Xiangyu’s father was not Duchess Qi’s biological son. Even if Qi Xiangyu tried to please Duchess Qi, the latter might not be impressed. In terms of pleasing Duchess Qi, Qi Xiangyu was inferior to Liu Jingyu.

It was also because of this that Qi Xiangyu and Liu Jingyu did not really get along with each other.

After careful observation, Qi Xiangyu found that Liu Jingyu was actually very good at pretending. In front of the elders in the mansion, Liu Jingyu seemed to be gentle, but she was just pretending. She pretended to be magnanimous, decent, and elegant just to please Duke Qi and Duchess Qi.

“Mother, do you remember that Fourth Lady Qu almost had an accident in our mansion last time she came here? I later investigated it and found that it had something to do with Cousin Jingyu!” Qi Xiangyu suddenly remembered something. She didn’t think much of that thing at that time, but she felt something unusual after witnessing the things that happened today.

“Do you mean that Jingyu has always been dealing with Fourth Lady Qu and doesn’t like her?” Second Madam Qi asked in surprise and then shook her head. “No way. Even if Jingyu is a two-faced person, there is no way she can’t tolerate a mere lady from Vice Minister’s Mansion, who is not a threat to her.”

Qi Xiangyu lowered her voice and said meaningfully, “Mother, she might be a threat to Liu Jingyu.”

Second Madam Qi asked, “What did you see?”

Qi Xiangyu said, “Mother, I saw the Crown Prince stop Fourth Lady Qu today. The two of them chatted for a while. I was walking around at that time and saw it!”

She did see the Crown Prince from afar and saw him catch up to Qu Moying in a hurry. At that time, there was no one else around them.

Qu Moying and the Crown Prince acted in line with etiquette, and they didn’t do anything that crossed the boundary. Although Qi Xiangyu didn’t know what they were talking about, she knew that the matter was not simple when she saw the Crown Prince send a eunuch to stop Qu Moying.

Second Madam Qi couldn’t believe what she had heard and asked, “The Crown Prince sent someone to stop Fourth Lady Qu?”

“Yes, but it might be…” Qi Xiangyu hesitated, “It might be for some other reason. Eastern Palace’s Princess Ji said that the ex-Crown Princess was Fourth Lady Qu’s cousin sister.”

“This is also possible…” Second Madam Qi said with a serious face. Of course, she knew that Liu Jingyu was going to marry into Eastern Palace. It would be announced when the right time came. But what did the Crown Prince mean? Could it be that the person he liked was not Liu Jingyu but Qu Moying?

If this was the case, it made sense for Liu Jingyu to deal with Qu Moying.

Was it because Liu Jingyu had discovered something long ago that she had been dealing with Qu Moying?

“Xiangyu, don’t get involved in this kind of thing.” Second Madam Qi thought for a while and warned her daughter. This was not something that Qi Xiangyu could interfere with.

Qi Xiangyu asked, “Mother, what about the qin?”

Second Madam Qi shook her hand and said, “It’s no rush. I will ask Fourth Lady Qu about it in detail when I meet her.”

She was afraid that her daughter wouldn’t be able to figure it out and therefore got into trouble.

“Mother, I heard from Fourth Lady Qu that this qin was one of her mother’s dowry items. I think it might be our qin. I heard that our mansion and Fourth Lady Qu’s maternal grandparents’ family had a good relationship in the past.” Qi Xiangyu wanted to investigate this matter. She had an intuition that this matter was not simple.

The Yue Family of the South used to have a good relationship with Duke Qi’s Mansion. They used to be in close touch, but later they contacted less, and their relationship was not as good as before. They might have contacted each other by letters occasionally. If Duchess Qi didn’t mention this when Qu Moying came to Duke Qi’s Mansion last time, Qi Xiangyu really wouldn’t have known about this.

She suspected that the qin was sent to the Yue Family of the South by Duchess Qi!

But she denied her own guess on second thought, “If it was sent out as a gift, why was ‘couldn’t be found’ written on the record? It meant that the qin disappeared or was destroyed, and our mansion was not clear about its whereabouts.”

“Don’t worry. This matter can’t be rushed. I will investigate it slowly. Don’t say anything to your grandmother about this, or your grandmother will get angry and think that you quarreled with Jingyu again.” Seeing her daughter’s expression, Second Madam Qi worriedly reminded her again. Duchess Qi was extremely biased towards Liu Jingyu.

After all, Liu Jingyu was her biological granddaughter.

“Mother, don’t worry. I won’t talk nonsense.” Qi Xiangyu pouted and said unhappily. Of course, she also knew that her grandmother liked Liu Jingyu, and she couldn’t compare with Liu Jingyu in her grandmother’s heart.

She was not aware of it when she was a child, but how could she still be unaware of it now?

The next morning, Qu Moying went to Old Lady Qu to pay her respects and said that she wanted to send gifts to Duchess Qi.

“Grandmother, I heard that my mother occasionally sent gifts to Duchess Qi when she was alive. I heard from Duchess Qi that Duke Qi’s Mansion used to have a good relationship with my maternal grandparents’ family, so I wanted to send a gift over on behalf of my mother.”

Qu Moying said softly.

Because of Little Yue’s death, the connection between the two families was cut off. Now that Qu Moying had returned, it was reasonable for her to send gifts to show that her family was willing to get along well with Duke Qi’s Mansion again. Moreover, the Old Lady felt that it was right for them to be friends with Duke Qi’s Mansion, and she sighed heavily.

“Indeed, you should send a gift over. After all, you are…”

The Old Lady paused. She seemed to be worded in her heart, but she shook her head and looked at Qu Moying with a smile. “I also want to prepare some gifts for them. Yours could be sent over together with mine.”

After all, Qu Moying was a junior. Old Lady Qu meant to send the gifts over in her own name, but there were actually gifts prepared by Qu Moying.

“I get it, grandmother.” Qu Moying nodded and told the Old Lady what she had prepared.

The Old Lady listened carefully and nodded repeatedly. She thought Qu Moying dealt with matters appropriately. How could a lady who was abandoned to the village by her father be able to act so sensibly? It showed that Qu Moying was gifted and blessed. Otherwise, it was impossible for her to develop such a good character in that kind of environment.

Qu Moying’s manner and bearing were no different from that of a well-bred lady from an aristocratic family!

As the two were talking, an old maid suddenly came to report, “Your Ladyship, Third Lady wants to see you!”

“Let her in!” The Old Lady stopped smiling and looked at Qu Moying’s calm face. She sighed secretly in her heart. She could only blame her son for making the situation like this.

Thinking of Qu Zhizhen, the Old Lady could only sigh. He had his own ideas, and she could not control him. Otherwise, things would not have come to this point, causing her grandchildren to be estranged from each other!

Qu Qiuyan walked in slowly and bowed to the Old Lady, “Greetings, Grandmother!”

The Old Lady said, “Get up!”

Qu Qiuyan had been obedient these days. Although the Old Lady gave the invitation card to Qu Moying, she didn’t make a fuss. She had been staying in the mansion. The Old Lady heard that she was cultivating her spirit by copying Buddhist scriptures. The Old Lady was satisfied with this, and her expression softened a lot.

Qu Qiuyan stood up and smiled when she saw Qu Moying. “Moying, you’re also here. What a coincidence. I happen to have something to ask you.”

Qu Moying looked up at Qu Qiuyan. “Third Sister, what do you want to ask me?”

Qu Qiuyan asked, “It’s nothing special. I heard that you have a few Buddhist scriptures. Can you lend them to me?”

The Buddhist scriptures Qu Qiuyan mentioned were not ordinary Buddhist scriptures. They used to belong to Qu Moying’s mother, Little Yue, and these few Buddhist scriptures were said to be blessed by monks. Little Yue brought them over as dowry items from the Yue Family of the South.

Previously, these Buddhist scriptures had fallen into Yu’s hands, but Yu did not like them, so they were put on the shelf. Later, these Buddhist scriptures returned to Qu Moying’s hands.

“I’m not sure about my mother’s items. If there are such Buddhist scriptures, I can lend them to you. Third Sister, are you going to copy them?” Qu Moying asked with a smile as a hint of darkness flashed through her eyes. She didn’t think that Qu Qiuyan could calm down and copy the Buddhist scriptures. Moreover, the fact that Qu Qiuyan wanted to borrow Buddhist scriptures from her was really strange.

Qu Qiuyan said earnestly, “Yes, can I borrow them? I want to pray for Grandmother and father by using them.”

Since she had said so, how could Qu Moying refuse?

“So, Qu Qiuyan came here just to meet me and say these words in front of the Old Lady?”

Qu Moying nodded and agreed. “I will ask Yu Dong to send them to you later!”

“Thank you, Moying!”

Qu Qiuyan was overjoyed and was about to bow to Qu Moying, but Qu Moying turned sideways to avoid Qu Qiuyan’s bow and said coldly, “You’re welcome, Third Sister!”

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Qu Moying and Qu Qiuyan were only in harmony on the surface. The Old Lady sighed in her heart, but she knew that the two of them could not get any closer even if she tried to mediate between them, and it was already good enough for the two of them to be on speaking terms.

After leaving the Old Lady’s yard, Qu Moying went back to her own yard.

Qu Moying had prepared the gifts for Duke Qi’s Mansion last night. Except for the qin music score, the other gifts were prepared by Granny Yan. The gifts were not luxurious, but they could show Qu Moying’s sincerity.

At this time, Qu Moying asked Yu Chun to sort out the gifts again and send them all to the Old Lady’s yard. The Old Lady would send them out together with her own gifts.

As Yu Chun left with the gifts, Qu Moying asked Granny Zhou on the side, “Granny, are there some Buddhist scriptures in my mother’s dowry?”

As soon as she finished asking, she saw Granny Zhou’s face change…