Chapter 82

Chapter 82 A Tribute to the Royal Family

“It’s a hairpin.”

“Huh, a golden hairpin decorated with purple pearls.”

“I’ve never seen purple pearls before. I wonder how much do they cost.”

“It must belong to a rich family.”

“Judging by the clothes the boy wears, his young master must be pretty poor. He shouldn’t afford such a valuable thing. Wait, what’s this? A note?”

Someone noticed a note dropped from the wallet and hurriedly picked it up before anyone else.

“I have to return these beautiful pearls with tears in my eyes. I wish I had met you before getting married.” The one who picked the note up was not illiterate, and he read the words on it out loud.

Although some people couldn’t comprehend the first sentence, the second one was straightforward enough to understand.

It meant a lady was interested in a man and gave him her hairpin as a gift. But the man returned it to her, saying he had already married and didn’t want to betray his wife. It was an apparent rejection from him.

The man should be from an ordinary family, but the woman sounded like a wealthy one.

However, the man rejected the woman after she ignored the etiquette and sent him her hairpin as a keepsake in private.

This story was even more entertaining than one about a couple secretly dating each other.

People didn’t expect to witness this kind of scandal in the Dabei Temple and couldn’t wait to see it through.

And everything simply started from a young servant bumping into an old woman. No one would’ve known such a big secret would be revealed.

People all fell into wild imaginations, getting more excited.

Those curious and thrilled eyes all fell on Qu Moying, standing behind Yu Dong. It seemed like no one could be the lady in this scandal except for Fourth Lady Qu.

“Moying, this…this hairpin… Isn’t it the one I…I gave to you?” Qu Qiuyan’s expression suddenly changed as she subconsciously reached out her hand and touched her hair, catching everyone’s attention on the hair ornaments she was wearing. The hairpin on her head so happened to be the same as the one on the ground.

No one noticed Qu Qiuyan before. After seeing her reaction, everyone found that the hairpin on her head and the one on the ground were a pair.

So, it was confirmed that Fourth Lady Qu broke the rules, fell in love with a man, and even shamelessly gave her accessory to him as a gift.

After a second thought, people started to understand why she did it. Although Fourth Lady Qu was from a noble family, it would still be hard for her to find a suitable husband with her eye problem. So, she picked a man from an ordinary family and tried to privately send her hairpin as an engagement keepsake. Unfortunately, she probably didn’t expect the man was married.

Fourth Lady Qu? The Fourth Lady, Vice Minister Qu’s daughter? Since she was known for being ugly and dumb and losing her mother at a young age, people didn’t find it strange that she did something like this.

Some people in the crowd had already realized Qu Moying’s identity and started to talk about it.

The young servant suddenly pushed the old woman away and ran out of the crowd. Some nosey people chased him and saw him running to a tree outside the Buddha hall where a slim young master stood. The young man was wearing clothes made of coarse cloth too, but he was a good-looking man who seemed pretty gentle.

Seeing the boy staggering over, he even reached out to help steady him. After a short conversation, he looked up at those chasing after his servant, turned around, and left immediately.

However, he was stopped by a maid soon. It was Yu Dong.

She was one of the people chasing after the boy.

“Mister, are you the one trying to frame my master? Since you are here, please clarify the situation with us face to face.” Yu Dong stood in his way.

On the stairs of the Buddha hall, Qu Moying was walking down slowly, followed by Qu Qiuyan.

Qu Qiuyan originally wanted to find an excuse and leave as soon as possible. But after Yu Dong left, Qu Moying started to hold Qu Qiuyan’s maid Qing Ju’s hand while walking. Qu Qiuyan couldn’t leave without her maid, so she had no choice but to stay with them.

Then all the onlookers were outside to see what would happen next.

Qu Moying strolled to the young man and looked at him. After confirming she had never met him before, she pulled a long face and asked coldly, “Who are you? Why do you try to frame me?”

“Fourth…Fourth Lady Qu, I…I’m sorry that I caused you trouble,” having no chance to leave, the man directly turned around and said to Qu Moying.

Qu Moying’s identity could be easily told since no one wore such a long veil except for her.

At the same time, other people nearby were attracted by the noises, and one of them was Lord Jing, Pei Yusheng. Standing behind the crowd, he recognized the two ladies in the center were Qu Moying and Qu Qiuyan, and frowned. He really hated that Qu Qiuyan was involved in such a big scene.

It was clearly not something decent. How did Qu Qiuyan show up here?

Beside Pei Yusheng were some young masters and noble ladies, including County Lady Jingyu, who was liked by Noble Consort He. She also looked at the crowd, but her eyes fell on Qu Moying.

No one in Lord Jing’s group intended to get into the crowd, purely observing the situation. They didn’t see what had happened before, so they didn’t know anything about the hairpin, which was in Qing Ju’s hand right now. Qu Moying asked Qing Ju to pick it up before.

“Who are you?” Qu Moying stared at the young man calmly, ignoring his words. “Do I…know you?”

“Fourth Lady, When I was on my trip to the capital, I passed by the village you lived in and even stayed there for two days. You can’t lie about not knowing me. The village head can prove it.”

The young man’s face turned red and then pale, irritated.

“Fourth Lady Qu, I know I caused you trouble. But please don’t send any gifts to me. Thank you for letting me stay in the village before,” after finishing his words, the young man was about to leave, looking pretty furious.

He didn’t say much, but it had already explained everything.

First, he had a solid reason for knowing Qu Moying. Second, there was even a witness. Third, Qu Moying let him stay in the village since she was already interested in him at that time. Then people all knew what happened next – Qu Moying sent him a gift to show her affection but got rejected by the young man.

Their relationship should be ended in private, but no one expected a young servant would ruin everything.

“You say you know me?” Qu Moying suddenly giggled.

“Of course. I met you when staying in the village,” said the young man.

This good-looking man had good manners and seemed to be well educated. Even though he was irritated right now, he was still talking politely. Moreover, he returned another woman’s hairpin because he didn’t want to betray his wife, leaving people a good impression of him.

Everyone was more convinced by his words than Qu Moying’s.

“You say I gave you the hairpin?” Qu Moying continued to question him, “When did I send it to you?”

“Before lunchtime. I ran into you and received this hairpin later. Fourth Lady, I know you might think I’m a poor man and want to support me financially, but I can’t take such a personal item. Please forgive me, Fourth Lady,” said the young man.

What a kind gentleman!

He knew Fourth Lady Qu broke the etiquette by sending her hairpin, but he used a good reason to save her from embarrassment.

People all started to like this young man.

But which lady would financially support a man by giving him her private hairpin? She could just give him some money instead!

Qu Qiuyan started to feel it was not bad staying here. She lifted her hanky to cover her lips, hiding her complacent smile from others. It was truly amazing to see Qu Moying’s name getting ruined with her own eyes.

How dare this blind bitch compete with her? And her grandmother even treated her so nicely. Today, she would reveal this low-life girl’s true colors to everyone!

If Qu Moying didn’t get killed this time, she would be locked in a nunnery on some remote mountain for the rest of her life and could never come back again.

Qu Qiuyan didn’t think her father would disagree. The only trouble would be her grandmother, but the Old Lady couldn’t do anything about it. It would be a mercy that Qu Moying was not forced to kill herself to protect their family reputation. After Qu Moying was driven away to a nunnery, she could just hire a rogue to rape her. By then, Qu Moying would probably kill herself instead of living in shame.

The more Qu Qiuyan thought about it, the more exciting she felt. She almost couldn’t hide the big smirk on her face and quickly lowered her head to calm herself down.

Qu Qiuyan knew this young man named Gao was found by her mother Yu to deal with Qu Moying. But they didn’t expect Qu Moying to come back to the capital so soon and lost the chance to frame her while she was in the village. Now, it seemed not bad that Yu Qingmeng used this man.

If Qu Moying died, that man was useless to them anyway.

“Are you sure this was sent by me?” asked Qu Moying.

“The maid who sent it to me said so,” the young man responded.

“Which maid?” Qu Moying continued her questioning.

The young man looked around. His eyes fell on Yu Dong’s face for a second, but then he shook his head, “I don’t see her here. I don’t know who she is.”

He was a scholar, and a smart one. His initial plan was to leave before Fourth Lady Qu walked out, but he didn’t expect this maid called Yu Dong to make such a fast move and stop him here.

Qu Moying’s calmness gave him an unsettled feeling, so he didn’t do as Yu Qingmeng said, which was blaming it on Yu Dong.

“Are you sure this hairpin is mine?” Qu Moying pointed at herself as her pale lips curled up.

“Well… That maid said it was yours.” Gao An started to feel flustered. He thought it was a piece of cake before, but things turned out to be way more complicated than he expected. Clearly, Fourth Lady Qu was not an easy one to deal with.

People all said the Fourth Lady in the Qu Family was an ugly, dumb, solitary girl who had an eye problem, but the calm lady standing in front of him was apparently well-educated, not scared at all. Was she really Fourth Lady Qu everyone talked about?

Qu Moying took the hairpin from Qing Ju’s hand, lifted it, and shook it in front of everyone. The purple pearls gleamed beautifully under the sunlight, even looking shinier than before. Seeing the hairpin, Pei Yusheng’s expression suddenly changed. He was just watching what was happening behind the crowd, but then he recognized the hairpin. It was a gift from his mother for his future wife, and he took out two of them and secretly gave them to Qu Qiuyan.

“This hairpin is a tribute to the royal family!” Qu Moying’s following words made him feel even worse. Plus, he also saw someone he really didn’t want to see right now, and that person was squeezing through the crowd from the opposite side.