“Oh, cousin Fen is not in good health now.” Mo Xuetong gave a faint smile, with coldness in her eyes.
“Sister-in-law, no. It is… I was sick a few days ago. So…” He Yufen felt greatly disgraced, so she raised her watery eyes and looked at Mo Xuetong aggrieved, just like a tender and decent young lady.
Mo Xuetong just looked at her quietly with her head tilting up slightly. Then, she put the book in her hand aside on the table, and the smile on her face gradually dissipated. She took up the teacup on the table and said in a cold voice, “Since Cousin Fen is not in good health, why not rest at home, but still run out. In this weather, it will be terrible if the virus is spread out.”
The words sounded rather impolite, different from Mo Xuetong’s style. He Yufen froze for a moment, then raised her head in surprise, and looked at Mo Xuetong unbelievably, only to spot the displeasure in Mo Xuetong’s bright eyes. He Yufen was too embarrassed to say a word.
To put it crudely, if He Yufen was ill but still came to the manor, she did not have any dignity and deliberately spread the virus. How malicious she was!
“Sister-in-law, I…” He Yufen stood up and stuttered, trying to explain for herself.
“First Miss He, you’re so casual. My Lady hasn’t allowed you to stand up, but you just do it. It seems that you are so snooty about My Lady.” Looking at Mo Xuetong’s expression, Mo Lan knew that Mo Xuetong wanted to show severity to He Yufen, so Mo Lan said with a sneer.
“I, I’m not…” He Yufen hadn’t finished her explanation for the first question, and another emerged, which made her tongue-tied for a moment.
“First Miss He, isn’t it? Or does First Miss He make fish of one and flesh of another? Just now, when seeing His Highness, you ran from far away just to pay a salute to His Highness. But why did you salute to My Lady so casually now? Is it possible that First Miss He looks down upon My Lady?”
Mo Lan said coldly, with piercing criticism.
Although Mo Lan’s words were a bit partial, they were all about the facts. To be honest, He Yufen did despise Mo Xuetong and thought Mo Xuetong just had a beautiful face, far behind He Yufen herself. But at present, Feng Yuran just did not how good He Yufen was. If he knew it one day, he would definitely marry her. He Yufen firmly believed that.
Therefore, He Yufen always paid a casual salute to Mo Xuetong. At this time, when Mo Lan took the matter and made a fuss about it, He Yufen was at a loss for an explanation for a while, and her face turned pale now and red then. She was so vexed.
“I’m not…”
“First Miss He, please stand up.” Mo Xuetong took Mo Lan’s topic and gave a simple smile. But her eyes showed no a hint of joy and just stared at He Yufen deeply, as if the eyes could see through her from face to heart, which racked He Yufen with a shudder. Hearing Mo Xuetong did not even call her cousin, He Yufen felt bad and did not dare to say more, just called timidly, “Sister-in-law!”
“I really don’t deserve to be First Miss He’s sister-in-law. Since First Miss He has never treated me as your sister-in-law, I think I am not worthy of the address!” Mo Xuetong laughed grimly with her eyebrows arched. Since Consort Zhao had taken action, this meant that Mo Xuetong and He family were bound to stand on the opposite side and corroborated some of Mo Xuetong’s guesses.
No matter what kind of role He family played in the matter of Consort Xian, they would not bring goodwill.
Therefore, why did Mo Xuetong have to draw back again?
It was known to all that He family wanted to join King Xuan’s Manor. They still tried to fool Mo Xuetong by exchanging He Yufen and He Yuxiu, the two sisters. Now, He Yufen did the thing like that, and she still had the face to see Mo Xuetong!
He Yufen had never expected that Mo Xuetong, who used to be gentle and innocent, would be so fierce. He Yufen blushed, but still pretended to be pitiful with tears in her eyes, and argued. “Sister-in-law, it is not the truth. In my heart, I always treat you as my natural sister-in-law. If I have done something wrong, you can scold or beat me, but you cannot evaluate me like that.”
He Yufen looked sincere and pitiful, but her heart was full of resentment. He Yufen thought, “If Mo Lan had not come to block me, I could have had time to grab King Xuan’s clothes. If I had grabbed Feng Yuran’s clothes, even though I could not run into his arms, I would have pulled him to stumble. If so, we two might have fallen together. And then, no matter what the cause was, the result was just that– we fell in a cuddle.”
“I am an unmarried girl. But since such an accident happened to me, Feng Yuran has to give me an explanation. Consort Zhao said that as long as I could have an affair with Feng Yuran, she would have a way to help me enter the King Xuan’s Manor, and even being the legitimate wife was not a dream.”
“But unexpectedly, the poor maidservant appeared in the way and kept me out of His Highness, which made me not only tumble, but also watch His Highness walk past me.” Thinking of this, He Yufen gritted her teeth with hatred.
And now, He Yufen fell into a passive position where she had to pretend to be pathetic, trying to muddle through.
Mo Xuetong threw her a glance and did not unmask her. Mo Xuetong gave more smiles, but looked much colder. With a look at He Yufen, Mo Xuetong shifted the topic. “First Miss He, His Highness will send some people to the south a few days later. If you have anything to pass there, His Highness is happy to help.”
“King Xuan will send people to He family?”
He Yufen’s face turned pale immediately, her lips quivering. Scared with little color on the face, she clenched her hand which was holding the handkerchief and huddled it up. Now, she was inwardly chaotic, not knowing how to answer Mo Xuetong. She looked at Mo Xuetong with a guilty conscience, tried to force a smile, and stuttered. “Sister-in-law, I, I have nothing to say. There are always letters from home. I have nothing to send.”
Unsurprisingly, something weird! Mo Xuetong kept staring at He Yufen, and her eyes became gloomy.
What shady affair had He family done? It seemed that many people knew it!
“Where is the problem? What have I ignored?”
The more Mo Xuetong thought about it, the more skeptical she felt. He Yufen was utterly frightened in front.
When they talked about what had happened in the front yard, even if He family was not a grand one, it was still too unruly for a girl to do it. However, except for some shame and annoyance on He Yufen’s face, she didn’t show any guilt, and even had the nerve to come to see Mo Xuetong with the maidservants, as if it were just a common thing.
Why did He Yufen give her a weird feeling?
“First Miss He has nothing to say. Well, I don’t know if Second Miss He has any words sent there. His Highness will send many people there this time.” Mo Xuetong said coolly.
“Second young sister… Second young sister has nothing to say. Sister-in-law, I feel unwell now and want to go home to take a rest.” He Yufen became more nervous, and her hand which held her maidservant’s hand shook. She seemed to be unable to support herself any longer. So He Yufen looked at Mo Xuetong and begged.
Mo Xuetong took the tea from Mo Lan, took a sip and asked blandly, “First Miss He came to see His Highness, but His Highness is out now. Will First Miss He not wait for His Highness to come back?”
“No, no need! I just come to see you, sister-in-law!” At this time, He Yufen did not care about the reason. The thought that King Xuan would send people to Jiangnan made He Yufen want to go home as soon as possible, so that she could figure out how to cover it. The anxiety to return home prescinded her mind from the others.
He Yufen’s original intention was to hang on the manor. Since she fell and got injured in the manor, she could reasonably stay in the manor at least for 10 days or more. During this period, Mo Xuetong, though she was the legitimate consort, was unable to control what would happen. But now, He Yufen was shocked and frightened, only wishing to go home as quickly as possible to work out a plan, and she was totally not in the mood to stay in the manor any longer.
Moreover, today Mo Xuetong’s imposing manner stunned her.
“First Miss He, since you are unwilling to stay here, then just leave as you want.” Mo Xuetong raised her eyes lazily and said in a casual way. She looked at He Yufen up and down with a hint of taunt in her eyes. And her beautiful eyes flickered and finally fell on He Yufen’s clothes stained with mud. The eyes were filled with scorn.
Mo Xuetong’s glance made He Yufen full of shame and resentment, but not dare to strike back. He Yufen had to suppress the resentment in her heart, and paid a salute to Mo Xuetong with her teeth gnashed, and then, she held her maidservant’s hand and walked out.
“My Lady, will His Highness send people to investigate He family in Jiangnan?” When He Yufen left the courtyard, Mo Yu asked curiously.
Mo Xuetong stood up, retracted the contempt on her face, walked to the window, and then gave a smile and said with some indications, “How can His Highness have so much free time that he will especially run to Jiangnan to investigate He family?”
There must be something fishy in He family. But even if people were sent to investigate it, they might not be able to find out the truth. He family must be very powerful locally, and sometimes they took action secretly. How were the people sent from the capital able to investigate clearly as they wanted? If it was really as Mo Xuetong guessed, He family must have done that reconditely.
But because He Yufen was still young and just lost face in the front yard, she was too ashamed to keep her head, and Mo Xuetong could prise some information out of her.
Mo Lan fell in silence for a while, but could not help reminding Mo Xuetong. “Does He family have anything concealed from His Highness and you, My Lady? And the thing was some kind of shameful sin. My Lady, will it be harmful to you? You should be more careful.”
He Yufen’s behavior was rather suspicious, and she could not cover her guilty look.
“Rest assured. Even if He Yufen wants to enter the manor again, she has to be given a chance first. If she still comes these days, just tell her I am sick.” Mo Xuetong turned around to sit back, took a sip of tea leisurely, and said with a smile.
“My Lady, you can’t avoid her like this, instead, you should give her a lesson, otherwise, she really thinks that she is the master of this manor. I think this First Miss He is a think-skinned woman, and I’ve never seen such a lady like her. If Mo Lan had not stopped her in time, she would have reached her hands out to pull His Highness. How could a unmarried lady be so shameless?” Mo Yu gave a snort and said angrily.
It was true that there was not an unmarried lady so shameless, but if she was not an unmarried lady?
Mo Xuetong praised Mo Yu’s words inwardly, but did not show it on her face. She patted Mo Yu’s hand and said with a meaningful smile, “Who said that I was going to avoid her? I just want to leave her out for a few days and deal with her after that.”
Hearing Mo Xuetong did not avoid He Yufen, Mo Yu became calm and nodded with a smile. She was very confident that with the Lady’s wisdom, it was a piece of cake to deal with a shameless woman.
On the other hand, He Yufen went home in a hurry. Before the carriage stop stably, she jumped out of the carriage anxiously and helped her maidservants rush into the house. When passing the garden, she happened to see the idle He Yuxiu.
