Chapter 394

Chapter 394 Madam Duan Was in a Dilemma

Granny Zhou asked anxiously, “Lady, why do you want Madam’s Buddhist scriptures?”

Surprised, Qu Moying looked at Granny Zhou, who was overreacting, and asked, “Granny Zhou, is there anything wrong with my mother’s Buddhist scriptures?”

“No… no!” Granny Zhou shook her head in panic and explained, “It’s just that those Buddhist scriptures were Madam’s dowry. Old Lady Yue specially asked a renowned monk in the South to bless those scriptures for Madam.”

“Third Sister said that she wanted to copy Buddhist scriptures to pray for my grandmother and father and wanted to borrow the Buddhist scriptures. She might know that there were Buddhist scriptures in my mother’s dowry.”

Qu Moying smiled.

Granny Zhou asked, “How many of them does she want?”

“How many Buddhist scriptures are there in total?”

“There are a set of five copies in total.” Granny Zhou answered after thinking for a moment. She still remembered it clearly because she watched Old Lady Yue place those Buddhist scriptures into Little Yue’s dowry boxes. After that, Little Yue always brought these Buddhist scriptures with her. Even on the day she passed away, these Buddhist scriptures were by her bedside.

Thinking of Little Yue’s death, Granny Zhou could not help but feel sad. Her eyes turned red. She was really unwilling to lend the Buddhist scriptures to Qu Qiuyan. As long as she thought of how Qu Qiuyan’s mother caused Little Yue to fall into a miserable situation, Granny Zhou could not calm down.

If not for Yu, Little Yue wouldn’t have been forced to that point, and what happened later on wouldn’t have happened. Everything was caused by Yu.

Now that Yu’s daughter wanted to borrow these Buddhist scriptures that were intended as a blessing for Little Yue, Granny Zhou was really reluctant to lend them to her.

“Lady, the Buddhist scriptures were a blessing for Madam. Even when Madam was giving birth to you, she still took these scriptures with her. When I sorted out the things later, I brought these scriptures back to the mansion…” Granny Zhou couldn’t help but choke, and she couldn’t continue for a moment.

She turned around, wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, and said, “I think if Madam knows about it in the underworld, she… she is also unwilling to lend them!”

Qu Qiuyan was the daughter of Little Yue’s enemy. Granny Zhou thought that even if Little Yue was gentle and kind, she would not be able to endure it.

Qu Moying didn’t know there were such things about the Buddhist scriptures. Knowing that her mother brought these Buddhist scriptures with her when she had a difficult labor, Qu Moying also felt sad. She bit her lips and suppressed the bitterness in her heart. If not for Yu, Little Yue wouldn’t have been forced to leave the mansion and go to a small convent to give birth, thus avoiding death due to the difficult labor.

It could be said that Little Yue’s death was mostly attributed to Yu.

Qu Moying pursed her lips and made up her mind. “Granny Zhou, I won’t lend them!”

Yu Dong said, “Lady, you have just promised Third Lady in front of the Old Lady!”

“It’s fine. Yu Dong, go outside and buy a few copies of Buddhist scriptures. Then send them to Third Lady. Tell her that I can’t find my Buddhist scriptures for now and let her copy the Buddhist scriptures you buy first. When I find mine, I will send them over!” Qu Moying said indifferently. Since she did not intend to lend them, she had to make an excuse.

She wouldn’t say that she didn’t want to lend them out, but she would say that she couldn’t find them for the time being.

It was a good excuse because it was hard to figure out whether Qu Moying found the Buddhist scriptures or not in a short time. After all, the Buddhist scriptures had been passed from Little Yue, then acquired by Yu, who later returned them to Qu Moying. They had passed through many people’s hands, so it was normal that they couldn’t be found for a while. Moreover, they didn’t seem to be something important in the first place.

“Yes, I understand!” Yu Dong smiled and was about to leave.

“Yu Dong, wait a moment.” Granny Zhou suddenly called out to Yu Dong and then said to Qu Moying, “Lady, please ask Yu Dong to go to Earl Ling’an’s Mansion to borrow a few Buddhist scriptures from Madam Duan. When the ex-Crown Princess was still in Earl Ling’an’s Mansion, she had some Buddhist scriptures. It’s better to use hers than to buy new ones!”

Granny Zhou’s words brought back Qu Moying’s memories. Her eyes dimmed, and her eyelashes lowered slightly, covering the trace of coldness in her eyes.

Although those Buddhist scriptures were obtained by Ji Hanyue from Dabei Temple, they were actually for Ji Hanyue’s younger sister, Ji Yanyue. Ji Yanyue was quiet and well-behaved. Every time she thought of her mother, she would sit down and copy Buddhist scriptures. She was calmer than Ji Hanyue, who personally went to the temple to obtain the Buddhist scriptures. After copying them, Ji Yanyue would offer them in front of her mother’s memorial tablet.

However, the cute and well-behaved Ji Yanyue had passed away!

The coldness in Qu Moying’s eyes turned to sadness. Ji Yanyue’s death was blamed on Ji Hanyue, but the truth about Ji Hanyue would be brought into daylight one day, and the real culprits would have to pay for Ji Yanyue’s sufferings.

Qu Moying exhaled hard. Originally, she did not want to lend the Buddhist scriptures to Qu Qiuyan, but now, she would like to use them to trigger something…

Not long after Yu Dong went to Madam Duan’s place, he returned. He brought back not only a Buddhist scripture but also a contract, which was the title deed of Yue’s Gold Pavilion.

“Lady, Madam Duan said that the deed will be left with you. As for the money, you don’t need to worry about it, and you also don’t need to write an IOU. She wanted to go to the Yamen with you to get the certificate, but Old Lady Ji didn’t allow her to go out, so she couldn’t do it for the time being.”

Yu Dong handed the deed of the store and land to Qu Moying and said, “I saw two old maids guarding outside Madam Duan’s yard. They didn’t seem to be Madam Duan’s servants. They should be guarding there to prevent Madam Duan from going out.”

When Yu Dong was about to enter Madam Duan’s yard, the two old maids sized him up from head to toe as if he was a thief, which made him very angry.

Later, he left the yard. After walking far away, he turned back and still saw the two old maids staring at him, which made him really uncomfortable. When he was in Madam Duan’s room just now, Madam Duan asked someone to guard in front of the window before giving him the stuff, which showed that she really had no freedom of action.

“The second branch of the Ji Family must have done something behind it!” Qu Moying said with a sneer. She glanced at the deed and placed it aside.

“Lady, you are not able to go through the process because Madam Duan is not allowed to come out, so I’m afraid you are not able to deal with the matters legitimately.” Yu Dong said. He had been thinking along the way, but there was something he couldn’t figure out. He wanted to hear Qu Moying explain to her.

With a smile, Qu Moying gently patted the Buddhist scripture on the table and said meaningfully, “Look at this. Isn’t this a good reason?”

She had already realized Madam Duan’s situation when she asked the shopkeeper of Yue’s Gold Pavilion. She had asked the shopkeeper of Yue’s Gold Pavilion to ask Madam Duan just to see how Madam Duan’s situation was. However, she hadn’t heard from Madam Duan, so she guessed that Old Lady Ji had strictly restricted Madam Duan so that the latter could not take the initiative to send the deed to her!

The second branch of the Ji Family must have played an important part in it. If the benefits weren’t great enough, the second branch wouldn’t have worked so hard to almost keep Madam Duan under house arrest. Qu Moying was sure that Xiao must have intervened, but she was not sure whether Ji Youran had intervened or not. But since Xiao had intervened, Ji Youran was also to blame!

The thing that Qu Qiuyan brought out was actually a coincidence!

Before asking Yu Dong to borrow the Buddhist scripture from Madam Duan, Qu Moying had figured out what to do next…

“Lady, you asked me to borrow a Buddhist scripture, but I don’t know which one to borrow, so I randomly took one. But how can Madam Duan come out due to this Buddhist scripture?” Yu Dong asked. This was what confused him most. “Other than you, who else will talk to Madam Duan about the Buddhist scripture?”

When he went out, Qu Moying repeatedly told him to borrow only one Buddhist scripture and told him to tell Madam Duan that if anyone came to her and mentioned the Buddhist scripture, she should try to go out with that person, and Qu Moying would go to meet her and settle the handover of the shop with her.

“Give the Buddhist scripture to Third Lady later. Tell her that I haven’t found my mother’s Buddhist scriptures yet and that she can copy this Buddhist scripture that I borrowed from somewhere else. After I find the Buddhist scriptures, I’ll send them over.” Qu Moying did not answer him directly. She patted the Buddhist scripture on the table and narrowed her eyes.

“Lady, I will go now!” Yu Dong nodded but did not leave immediately. Based on his experience, Qu Moying must have more to say.

As he expected, Qu Moying sat down and continued, “If Third Lady makes a fuss and throws the Buddhist scripture away, you should tell her that this Buddhist scripture is borrowed from Earl Ling’an’s Mansion and used to belong to the ex-Crown Princess and that it should be sent back to the Ji Family in three days. If it is broken, there will be great trouble!”

Qu Moying flipped open a page of the Buddhist scripture and randomly tore half of it. Then, she placed the page properly and closed the book again.

It looked exactly the same as before.

Yu Dong’s eyes widened as he watched Qu Moying act. He admired her more and more. Even if Qu Qiuyan didn’t do anything, the book had already been damaged.

It was a great disrespect to the ex-Crown Princess.

“After that, you can come back. Before leaving, tell her that you will go to fetch the Buddhist scripture in three days. You don’t need to say anything else. Third Lady will think of a way to remedy it!” Qu Moying said softly. She tapped her finger lightly on the Buddhist scripture. Since Qu Qiuyan had come to her, she would make use of her. It happened that it was not easy for Madam Duan to go out. By making use of Qu Qiuyan, Madam Duan would be able to get out of her mansion.

Yu Dong’s eyes lit up. He vaguely understood. “This Buddhist scripture is borrowed from Earl Ling’an’s Mansion. If Third Lady wants to solve the problem, she has to go to Earl Ling’an’s Mansion. Third Lady will think of a way to find Madam Duan.”

“Madam Duan is grounded. If it was in the past, the Ji Family wouldn’t have cared about Third Lady, who was only a lady of Vice Minister Qu’s Mansion. But now, the Ji Family is on the decline, and Third Lady is not an ordinary young lady. She has Lord Jing behind her, so she will definitely meet Madam Duan. Madam Duan can take advantage of this to go out with Third Lady.”

Yu Dong connected things together and slowly analyzed the situation. After he finished his analysis, he looked at Qu Moying with his bright eyes.

Qu Moying smiled slightly. She blinked twice to hide the ridicule in her eyes.

Not as powerful as it used to be, Earl Ling’an’s Mansion would not dare to neglect Qu Qiuyan, who had Lord Jing behind her. If Qu Qiuyan wanted to take Madam Duan out, Old Lady would not dare to stop her. Xiao would not dare to stop her as well because she was afraid of causing conflict between the Crown Prince and Lord Jing although everyone knew that the relationship between the Crown Prince and Lord Jing was not good.

Although their disharmonious relationship was known to all, they were still polite to each other when they met. It didn’t matter if they made trouble for each other in private, but they had to pretend to be good friends for show, or it could be said that they must pretend to be harmonious in front of the Emperor.