The Chinese new year’s eve was destined to be a troublesome day!
Moreover, the first day of the new year was not as quiet and simple as that in the past.
It was widely spread that in new year’s eve, His Excellency in duke’s manor drank too much in the palace and got driven out of the palace. Besides, it was said that he had improper relations with First Miss Mo and tried to rape her. But First Miss Mo didn’t agree so that the carriage got out of control and knocked on a tree when they fought against each other.
When they fell down from the carriage, First Miss Mo picked up a chip of porcelain which was next to her hand and stabbed His Excellency hard with it. It resulted in His Excellency’s damaged face and coma. If he hadn’t been saved by a passenger, he might have been stabbed to death by this tough first miss.
Everyone felt surprised that it was actually not Mo Xuemin’s fault, but all blamed her because the one who hurt her was in a coma and his life was in danger, which aroused people’s sympathy and got him rid of people’s slanders.
On one hand, it happened in the imperial palace which made their relations seem like lover’s secret dating. On the other hand, Mo Xuemin had always pretended to be generous and kind, so it was unimaginable that she would use a sharp chip of porcelain to stab someone like a shrew. More people disdainfully thought that they had already had improper relations and didn’t have to pretend to be so faithful.
Besides, after such a thing that they were caught hugging together indecently, if Mo Xuemin didn’t want to become a nun, she had to marry Sima Lingyun. The feudal ethical code was stricter with women than with men, and Great Qin was known for its respect for feudal ethical code. As a result, no matter who was wrong in this incident, after such a great entanglement, it might be a romantic affair for a man but a big event of a lifetime for a woman.
The one who found them took them to Duke’s manor, and Mo Xuemin was forced to stay in Duke’s manor and take care of Sima Lingyun who passed out by duchess at the night. Early on the new year’s day, Duchess Zhenguo took Mo Xuemin to the gate of Mo Manor furiously.
“Clang dang, clang dang!” A ringing and powerful sound coming from the knocking on the doorbell woke up the guard who overslept because of last night’s drama.
“Wait, wait, what are you so hurried for? Are you rushing to get reincarnated?” The guard rubbed his sleepy eyes and murmured to open the door and said with no good attitude. No one would like to get up so early on a new year’s day.
“Is your Old Madam here? The duchess is here, and needs your Old Madam’s welcome.” The loud voice shocked the guard a lot that the guard nearly got tripped down. When he lifted his eyes amazedly, his sleepiness was completely gone. There was a strong man standing by the gate, who stared at him with those round eyes. The man didn’t seem to be coming to wish them a happy New Year with his hands on his hips and his eyes staring at them.
“Pardon me, where are you from? And why are you here?” Seeing them so tough, the guard’s voice turned soft and bent over to ask carefully. He had been so sleepy that he hadn’t heard them clearly. He just heard that someone was coming and needed Old Madam to come to greet.
“Our Madam is the main wife in Duke’s manor, and she comes to wish you a happy New Year. You should go and find your Old Madam to come here. Our Madam is busy and has to greet Princess Xianjun in a while. You’re supposed to deliver the message right away, or you may hold up our Madam’s arrangement.” The people from Duke’s manor came here to niggle. Since His Excellency in Duke’s manor passed out in bed, the duchness was very angry and came here to bring them trouble. However, as a servant, he didn’t dare to offend her and had to scold the people in Mo Manor, echoing her.
The people from Duke’s manor came to greet Old Madam, but they asked Old Madam to welcome them by the gate in person!
The guard was quite smart and knew what they meant by those words. He tiptoed and saw a big carriage park outside the gate. There was the sign of Duke’s manor on one side of the carriage, and the curtains were lifted. Inside was the duchess with a dark face. She coldly looked at Mo Manor, which looked like asking for payment of debt rather than wishing a happy New Year.
The guard was scared and held his neck back. He was about to ask more details to tell Master to make the latter satisfied when he saw someone coming from the next carriage. He was completely shocked and groaned without any words. He just stretched his neck and swallowed saliva.
No wonder he was so scared. It’s just too surprising to see the person on the next carriage.
There was a small carriage behind the duchess’s big wagon, which was quite inconspicuous. However, the guard noticed a little character Mo by the curtains of the carriage. It was one of those Mo Manor sent out to deal with trifles. The guard used to see it a lot, so he could easily recognize it.
What amazed him was that after the curtains were the gentle elegant first miss who looked pale and was in disheveled clothes!
The first miss who used to wear dignified and graceful clothes was now dressed improperly. She just wore ordinary clothes which looked like clothes for maids. Besides, it was not only untidy but also stained with blood. There were even several holes on the clothes, so she had to hold on to it. She was too uncollected to be recognized.
The guard trembled and didn’t dare to say anything more. He just hurried in to deliver the message.
It seemed that there was going to be big trouble!
By that time, Mo Huawen had already gotten up. He had drunk a lot at the palace feast last night and come back early. As for what happened later in the palace, he knew nothing about it. He only knew that his eldest daughter had returned soon too. The youngest daughter was left in the palace until late in the night and wasn’t sent back until her feeling uncomfortable.
In the morning, he heard that Mo Xuetong didn’t feel well last night, so Mo Huawen got up early to see her. He didn’t know that Mo Xuemin left from the back door at midnight last night.
Right at the moment, the guard rushed in hurriedly.
“Master, something horrible happened. The first miss was caught by the duchess and seemed to have been beaten up. You should go to have a look right away!”
“The duchess caught Min’er and even beat her?” Mo Huawen hesitated for a moment, rubbed his ears and asked unbelievably.
“Yes, Master, there was blood all over first miss’s clothes and she was caught and forced to the gate by the duchess. Besides, the duchess asked Old Madam to greet her in person.”
It’s not the guard’s fault to have misread it. There was actually blood all over Mo Xuemin’s clothes, and some was already dry. Therefore, it looked scary on her clothes. Consequently, it’s normal for the guard to misread it with the duchess’s angry expressions.
“Bang!” Mo Huawen got furiously and stood up fiercely. He gnawed his teeth and said angrily, “Go ahead and invite the duchess inside. Tell her that I’ll greet her in person!”
Although the status of the duchess was much higher than that of Old Madam, Duke’s manor didn’t have much power indeed. Besides, the marriage of Qiong’er and Sima Lingyun was quite assured, so Old Madam could be seen as an elder for the duchess. However, the duchess didn’t even care about their feelings and acted like this on the New Year’s day, which clearly meant they didn’t want to maintain the relations anymore.
“Go and check who let first miss out from the back door?” Mo Huawen told the servant behind him and then hurriedly rushed to the gate. It was Old Madam who was supposed to greet duchess. In no case was the Master supposed to greet the guests.
It was not only disrespectful to the female guests, but also a very rude and impolite thing!
On usual days, Mo Huawen was a modest gentleman. However, now that he was so angry and they wanted to tear the faces apart, he didn’t care about dignity and fame anymore. Qiong’er was still little, and that incident was not concerned with love affairs. Though Qiong’er and that man hugged together, it was forgivable in the big fire. After two years’ time when the incident was forgotten, he would choose another marriage for her. They didn’t have to depend on Duke’s manor on Qiong’er’s marriage.
The duchess sat in the carriage with a dark face, not knowing that Mo Huawen was hurrying here angrily.
She was really angry too. About her two children, at first, her daughter was humiliated and locked herself in the room crying. And she said that her big brother didn’t help his own kinfolk and hurt her for another girl. The duchess got this thing through after a long talk.
When she was comforting her sad daughter, she surprisedly heard that her son was almost killed for this girl. When she saw Sima Lingyun who was carried in and covered with blood, she almost passed out and hated Mo Xuemin so much. Therefore, she wouldn’t let Mo Xuemin go and asked someone to send raggedly dressed Mo Xuemin into Sima Lingyun’s room and let all the doctors who came to check on Sima Lingyun’s disease see her.
Thinking that her son was stabbed like that by a sharp chip of porcelain, the duchess wanted to eat her alive. Thus, she didn’t care about how she was dressed. She just wanted to ruin Mo Xuemin’s innocence and let everyone know Mo Xuemin was in Sima Lingyun’s room for a whole night.
Since her son cared so much for Mo Xuemin, she’d get Mo Xuemin for him. Even if Mo Manor didn’t agree on this, she would make this marriage happen unless Mo Huawen didn’t want this daughter anymore! When thinking about that, the duchess coldly smiled and leaned over to look. When she saw gaunt pale Mo Xuemin, she couldn’t help frowning.
She couldn’t see her beauty and thought she was not as pretty as her niece. When she got back, she would ask Yun’er to give Yiqiu a name. Now that they were together, it would be a scandal if they had a kid without a proper name. Of course, such a thing wouldn’t happen in a rich and famous family. It would be extremely disgraceful to have a concubine’s child before a main wife’s child.
Fortunately, the duchess didn’t care about that. When two daughters of Mo Manor became the concubine’s Sima Lingyun, it didn’t matter who would become the main wife anymore. No miss from a third-class official would marry into Duke’s manor. Therefore, she would let Yiqiu have the biggest power and make her the main wife. She could trust her own niece.
After his two daughters married Sima Lingyun, Mo Huawen couldn’t have been idle in light of Sima Lingyun’s career and future.
The duchess’s anger was gradually gone when she had such a perfect plan in mind. When hearing the sound of opening the door, she thought Old Madam went out and got out of the carriage with the maid’s support. She tidied her clothes and intended to be politer. Now that the marriage was for sure, she would pretend to be generous, so that Mo Huawen would have nothing unsatisfying to say.
She put on a slightly lifted face and looked to the gate’s direction arrogantly. She didn’t believe she couldn’t deal with an old madam from the countryside! Besides, she made it clear that this old madam was not Mo Xuemin’s grandmother by blood. Therefore, she just needed to scare her and let her make Mo Xuemin marry her son. Even if Mo Xuemin didn’t want to marry, she wouldn’t let Yun’er down and make him sigh all day like the last time.
The duchess didn’t know it was a trade between Sima Lingyun and Mo Xuemin, and she mistook Sima Lingyun’s imagination about Mo Xuetong for that of Mo Xuemin! Thinking that Mo Xuemin almost took Sima Lingyun’s life, she wanted to tear Mo Xuemin apart. Hearing the sound from the gate, her face got cold, which highlighted the strict expression on her square face.
