Chapter 92

Chapter 92 A Funeral or a Performance?

The carriages stopped far away from the Eastern Palace’s gate.

Qu Moying lifted the curtain and looked into the distance. Carriages decorated with white ribbons crowded the whole area, making the space look pure and solemn, like a white ocean. People were all here for the Crown Princess’s funeral. The Qu’s carriages were still very far from the Eastern Palace, showing how many visitors there were today.

Quietly, Qu Moying curled her lips into a sarcastic smile. These people coming and going all wore a sad look on their faces, but she didn’t even know them before. They all gathered here today only to help Pei Luo’an finish his loving-husband performance.

The carriages crawled forward slowly, almost like walking. It seemed that there would be still a long time before they arrived at the Eastern Palace.

“Are these carriages from Vice Minister Qu’s family?” someone suddenly asked outside.

The Old Lady froze for a second and patted Qu Moying gently to let her sit up. Then Granny Wu lifted the curtain, “Yes. It’s the Old Lady, madams, and ladies from the Qu Family.”

Standing outside was an old maid who should be in charge of receiving important guests. She curtsied to the Old Lady in the carriage politely and said, “Since Fourth Lady Qu is the Crown Princess’s cousin, please follow me this way.”

The maid was pointing at the side door of the Eastern Palace, a passway particularly opened for the royal family members. It was pretty shocking that the Qu Family shared the same privilege with the royals today. Some families that didn’t know the relationship between Ji Hanyue and Qu Moying even started to ask around about the reason.

“Thank you, Granny,” the Old Lady said politely.

Granny Wu got out, followed the old maid from the Eastern Palace, and led the carriages toward the side door.

Meanwhile, people waiting in the carriages behind them started to talk about gossips.

Many things had happened to the Qu Family recently, for example, the canceled engagement between Fourth Lady Qu and Young Master Yongning. It was said that Young Master Yongning rescued Second Lady Duan, who fell into the lake accidentally on the Old Lady’s banquet. Because of this, Young Master Yongning was forced to marry Second Lady Duan and break off the engagement with Fourth Lady Qu, which made poor, blind Fourth Lady Qu’s life even more miserable.

However, it seemed not Young Master Yongning’s fault either since the Marquis Yongning’s Family had kept their promise and maintained the engagement for years. Moreover, everyone knew that Second Lady Duan didn’t have a good reputation. It was said that after being rescued that day, Second Lady Duan couldn’t take her eyes off Young Master Yongning. Afterward, she hurriedly forced Young Master Yongning to break off his engagement and marry her. No matter how people looked at the situation, she seemed to be the most suspicious one.

But new rumors spread out yesterday that after breaking off his engagement, Young Master Yongning immediately married a concubine, who was Second Madam Qu’s niece. They said she hooked up with Young Master Yongning long ago and even tried to frame poor Fourth Lady Qu in the Dabei Temple out of jealousy.

If the rumors were true, Young Master Yongning might be a sophisticated person, not as righteous as he looked.

Since the incident in the Dabei Temple happened yesterday, not many people knew about it, and the rumors were just spread in a small range. However, many carriages were stuck in the middle of the road right now. Seeing the Qu’s carriages go to the side door because of Fourth Lady Qu, people’s curiosity arose. Suddenly, everyone started to talk about gossips related to Fourth Lady Qu.

Some people even went into other acquainted families’ carriages to have a chat to kill time. Of course, they talked about Fourth Lady Qu the most.

Anyway, Fourth Lady Qu was the most pitiful one in people’s eyes. After her mother died, her stepmother Yu never treated her well and even caused her an eye problem. Her father didn’t fulfill his responsibility as a father either, leaving his wife’s daughter alone in a village while spoiling a concubine’s daughter and son.

Her ex-fiance Young Master Yongning seemed like a righteous young man, but he turned out to hook up with Yu’s niece long ago. He claimed he was forced to break off his engagement with Fourth Lady Qu, but maybe he was the one who designed it to protect his reputation. In the end, Fourth Lady Qu, a poor, weak girl, was pushed into such a helpless situation.

People all started to suspect Young Master Yongning’s true colors.

This was how rumors worked – the more people talked about them, the more authentic they sounded. While everyone was stuck in the traffic jam, waiting for entering the Eastern Palace, rumors spread quickly. Soon, most people present knew about what happened in the Dabei Temple and in front of the Qu’s Mansion’s gate. Consequently, their opinions on Young Master Yongning, who used to have a good reputation, were totally changed.

Among them were many madams who were experienced in reading people. After they took a second thought, they remembered many details that showed Young Master Yongning’s dissatisfaction toward his initial engagement.

Although he never spoke ill of Fourth Lady Qu, he never complimented her either. Moreover, when people mentioned Fourth Lady Qu in front of him, he even put on a disdainful look and tried to talk about her as little as possible. After his engagement with Fourth Lady Qu was broken off, he immediately married a concubine and got engaged with another woman. His life couldn’t be better, while Fourth Lady Qu’s life became even more miserable because of him.

From this perspective, Young Master Yongning seemed pretty shameless.

The gossips finally spread to a plain-looking carriage among all the luxury ones. After a maid told Marchioness Yongning what she heard outside, Marchioness Yongning started to tremble in rage. She threw a hard slap on Yu Qingmeng’s face and scolded her in a low voice, “Bitch! My son’s name is ruined all because of you.”

“M-Mother…” Slapped on the face all of a sudden, Yu Qingmeng’s eyes turned red because of aggrievance. “It was my aunt. I have nothing to do with it. They must mistake it.”

For avoiding trouble, she even didn’t show up that day.

“If you have nothing to do with it, why would they mention you and my son? Bitch, it’s all your fault that my son’s name is ruined.” Marchioness Yongning started to hate herself for being too soft-hearted and allowing her son to marry Yu Qingmeng before. If they didn’t get married, she would have every reason to argue back for her son. However, she couldn’t do anything about the rumors right now.

Everything started from Yu Qingmeng. How could Marchioness Yongning not be annoyed by it?

Her son was her biggest hope and pride. Compared to her useless, flirtatious husband, Xu Lipeng was her whole life.

“Mother…” Yu Qingmeng cried.

“A bitch like you is not qualified to call me mother,” Marchioness Yongning sneered.

“M-Madam…” Feeling aggrieved, Yu Qingmeng changed her address quickly while sobbing, “Madam, I really have nothing to do with it. All I know is my aunt wants to get rid of Qu Moying. I don’t know anything else about it.”

“Your aunt? Do you still believe your aunt is a good person? If it weren’t for your dear aunt, my son wouldn’t be involved in this nonsense. How can you be so stupid? Haven’t you realized that you were used by other people?” Marchioness Yongning scolded her sternly. The more she looked at Yu Qingmeng, the more annoyed she felt.

Yu Qingmeng looked a bit like Yu and had been close with Yu. Looking at her face, Marchioness Yongning couldn’t be angrier. How dare Yu use Xu Lipeng to help her daughter get rid of trouble?! Speaking of which, her daughter didn’t look like a decent lady at all, so ambitious to become Lord Jing’s wife. In Marchioness Yongning’s opinion, Qu Qiuyan was only qualified to be a concubine.

Yu was a concubine, same as her niece and her daughter, raised up by her. No wonder they were in the same family. Marchioness Yongning would never forgive Yu for targeting her family. If she had a chance, she would not go easy on that shameless woman.

Meanwhile, Yu had no idea of Marchioness Yongning’s growing hatred toward her. She got out of the carriage holding Qu Qiuyan’s hand and hurriedly walked to the Old Lady to help her.

“Madams, ladies, please follow me.” The guiding maid said respectfully, “Her Royal Highness has been waiting for you inside after hearing Fourth Lady Qu’s arrival.”

“We are very sorry for bothering Her Royal Highness,” Yu said hurriedly.

“Fourth Lady Qu is the Crown Princess’s cousin from her mother’s family, while Her Royal Highness was the Crown Princess’s cousin from her father’s family. Technically, Fourth Lady Qu is also Her Royal Highness’s cousin. Thus, Her Royal Highness respects Fourth Lady Qu’s family as her own family. For Her Royal Highness, waiting for you is obeying the etiquette.”

The maid from the Eastern Palace surely knew how to do pretty talks. With a few words, she clarified their relationships and even complimented the madams from the Qu Family.

As they talked, another carriage stopped behind them. A dignified woman in her thirties got out from it, surrounded by many servants. She was a princess. The Old Lady hurriedly asked her family to step aside and make room for her. Only after the noblewoman left, they dared to follow the old maid and walk inside.

Qu Moying walked next to the Old Lady with her head lowered, finding the situation very ironic.

As usual, Ji Youran was still good at making a show for her own benefit.

There was nothing much she could do about Ji Hanyue’s father’s family since Ji Hanyue’s father and Ji Youran’s father were brothers. But Ji Hanyue’s mother’s family was a different story. The Yue Family lived in the South, and the only two people in the capital who were related to Ji Hanyue were Yue Wenhan and Qu Moying. However, Yue Wenhan was a male, so it was not appropriate for Ji Youran to meet him directly. Therefore, Qu Moying, the Crown Princess’s poor cousin, became the trump card in Ji Youran’s hand to show Ji Youran’s family love and kindness.

Treating Qu Moying well was a performance Ji Youran made to tell people how close she was with Ji Hanyue. After Ji Hanyue passed away, Ji Hanyue would naturally put her love for her cousin on Qu Moying.

Ji Youran and Pei Luo’an were truly meant to be a couple, both malicious, cruel, and good at acting.

Quietly, Qu Moying curled up her lips and adjusted her sleeves as her heart was filled with bloodthirsty rage. Good. So many people wanted to use her to achieve their own goals. She couldn’t wait to see what kind of performance they would make today.

Except for Yu and Ji Youran, Qu Moying didn’t forget another person who could have an important role in this – Marchioness Yongning. Knowing Marchioness Yongning’s personality, Qu Moying didn’t think she would just sit tight after Yu ruined her son’s reputation. If anything bad happened to Yu, Marchioness Yongning would definitely be the first to make it even worse for her, which would be fantastic for Qu Moying.

Qu Moying took a deep breath and gazed at the white, solemn scene in front of her coldly. Who would’ve known that under the peace and sadness hid everyone’s dirty secret and scheme? These malicious people were like clowns, and their fake smiles made her disgusted. Including Pei Luo’an, each of them was so pretentious and hypocritical…

As the maid said, Ji Youran had been waiting inside. Seeing the people from the Qu Family, she walked up to them with her eyes turning red. When the Old Lady was about to curtsy to her, Ji Youran hurriedly held her hand and stopped her, saying she was just a youngster and the Old Lady shouldn’t bow to her. But facing Yu and Luo, she still acted as Princess Ji, whose status was high above them. After Yu and Luo curtsied to her, she slightly waved her hand at them to let them stand up.

Then she saw Qu Moying, who was wearing a white veil on her face. Ji Youran rushed over, wrapped her arms around Qu Moying, and started to wail, “Moying, we lost our cousin forever!”