The young ladies in the room were all injured and did not want to interrupt others. Seeing that everyone was staring at her hopefully, Wang Yilan thought for a while before she straightened up and reached out to get the books. The books were originally beside her. Even though she was injured, she could get them without much effort. In this situation, they did not want more people to see them, so Wang Yilan did it herself.
Anyway, Yu Siyan was right—Consort Xuan would not mind such a trivial thing.
She reached for the pile of books and picked up a book casually. She took it out, looked at it and found it was a medical book. She could not understand such a book. She wondered why Consort Xuan would leave this book in her room. Wang Yilan held the book up, facing it to the opposite. The other three young ladies shook their heads and did not want to read this book.
Yu Siyan suddenly pointed at a book protruding from outside and said, “Miss Wang, the next one, it seems to be “The Book of Songs”. Take it out and let me have a look.”
The book was located on the upper half of the pile of books, with a few books on it. A small part of it was exposed. Wang Yilan looked at it and found that it was indeed “The Book of Songs”. She noticed that the book under the one that had been removed was also a medical book. She estimated that the next few books were the same, so she simply took out “The Book of Songs”.
She stretched out her hand to pull it, but she failed. She grabbed the edge of the bed with one hand and pulled it hard with the other hand. This time, the book was pulled out. But before Wang Yilan could hold the book and read it carefully, there was a loud noise behind her. She was so scared that she threw away the book in her hand and hurriedly turned her neck.
When she looked back again, she was dumbfounded!
She didn’t know where she had collided, but the pile of books fell behind her. These books were very heavy, and a few of them fell to the ground heavily. They even knocked down the stool that had been put aside when the maidservant applied the medicine to her injury, making a heavy sound.
Silence fell inside and outside the room. Then, a group of madams suddenly rushed in from outside. The ones in front were the mothers of these young ladies in the room.
“What’s going on?”
“What’s the matter?”
“What has fallen?”…
An accident had happened just now. If something happened again, it would be too bad. The madams who rushed in were all very anxious.
“I… these books, fell!” Wang Yilan was the first to come to her senses. Looking at the madams and the other madams and young ladies behind them, who rushed into the room, she said with a grievance. She really didn’t figure out why the entire pile of books was turned over after she pulled out one book. The book was on the upper half of the pile of books, so how could it be turned over like this?
“How did that happen? You’re already injured like this and you even turned Her Lady’s place into this!” Wang Yilan’s mother, Madam Wang glared at her daughter unhappily. Seeing her daughter sitting there with tears in her eyes, she felt sorry for her. She could only scold her helplessly and asked her maidservant to pick up the book.
There had never been peace today!
Could it be that she didn’t burn incense when they went out?
The other madams also had a bitter look on their faces as they asked their maidservants to come over and help Madam Wang clean up the mess.
Mo Xuetong entered with her maidservants. The madams and young ladies all made way for her. Then Mo Xuetong saw a few maidservants of different families pack her books and the madams and young ladies all smiling.
“My Lady, I’m sorry. We wanted to read a book, so we took a few books by ourselves. We didn’t expect it to be like this…” Yu Siyan was the first to speak timidly, for the four ladies in the room.
“My Lady, it’s my fault. I wanted to pull out a book and read, but I didn’t expect that these books were all scattered,” Wang Yilan said, acting as if she was bearing the consequences of her own acts.
“It’s not Miss Wang alone. We all wanted to read books.”
“My Lady, I’m sorry. We were so bored and caused you trouble again,” the other two young ladies pleaded.
“My Lady, I’m sorry. They’re naughty. I’ll ask my maidservants to clear them up. If something really is broken, I’ll make up for it.”
Yes, yes, Your Highness, we’ll make up for it.”
The madams also expressed their stance one by one. They repeatedly promised that if anything was broken, they would definitely make up for it.
Now that they said those words, if Mo Xuetong took it seriously, she would seem petty. This had happened in the Mo Manor, and as the daughter of the Mo Manor, she had to take half of the responsibility. If she continued to argue with the injured, she would be too mean and ungenerous. As Consort Xuan, she would lose the face of the royal family.
“Ladies, you don’t have to blame yourself too much. It’s not your fault. Even though the books have fallen down, it can’t break anything. It scared you. Auntie Qing, tell my father later and ask him to send gifts to the four ladies to express our Mo Manor’s guilt to you.”
Mo Xuetong smiled graciously and walked up to them personally. She looked at their injuries and when her gaze landed on Yu Siyan’s wound, her watery eyes rolled slightly. Even though the smile on her face still looked warm, there was a hint of coldness that was hard to detect. She had thought that Yu Siyan was very brave. But now, it seemed that she could be cruel to others but could not be cruel to herself…
“Ah, this is… a piece of man’s clothing?” Just as Mo Xuetong was about to walk out with all the madams and young ladies, a maidservant suddenly screamed and held a robe sleeve in her hand.
Everyone suddenly turned around and saw a gray robe revealed under the pile of books. Half of it was outside, and it could be seen clearly that it was a man’s robe. The hem of the robe was embroidered with some plants. It was obvious that it was the clothing of a young man. The robe was originally pressed on the bottom of these books, and was hidden inside, so it was impossible to see it from outside.
But now, the books had fallen to the ground. In order to make it easier for them to clear up, the maidservants also organized the books that had not fallen down. Only then did they find out the secretly hidden clothing.
A piece of man’s clothing appeared in Consort Xuan’s boudoir. Furthermore, it was a young man’s clothing. The mystery behind it was sufficient to make one think over it. The clothing was hidden so well that one could tell at a glance that it was to hide it from others. Furthermore, it was too fancy for Mo Huawen, and everyone knew that King Xuan preferred purple clothes.
Then who was the owner of this robe?
Auntie Qing seemed to be frightened by everything in front of her. She was so shocked that she almost couldn’t stand still. She stumbled and held a maidservant’s hand to stand still. She exclaimed, “The clothing, how could there be a piece of man’s clothing here? It’s not Old Sir’s robe!”
As if she had sensed her slip of the tongue, Auntie Qing immediately turned around and snarled at the maidservant who found the robe, “What are you talking about? Even though there is a piece of clothing hidden here, it might be made by Consort Xuan for the Eldest Young Master. Do you need to make such a fuss?”
She seemed to want to make up for her slip of the tongue, but in fact, she said that Mo Xuetong had hidden another man’s clothing. She wanted to cover it up, which made people more suspicious.
The people here were all relatives of the Mo Manor. Of course, they knew about Auntie Fang. They also knew that Auntie Fang had killed Mo Xuetong’s mother. Even though Mo Xuetong, Consort Xuan, was magnanimous, and did not care about Mo Yufeng for her father’s sake, she could not be on good terms with Mo Yufeng and even made clothes for him.
Furthermore, Auntie Qing had just mentioned the word “hidden”. Under what circumstances did she use this word? There was no need to explain it to everyone present. If not for the fact that she got involved, even Mo Xuetong wanted to clap and praise her. Auntie Qing’s words were so wonderful that she almost made Mo Xuetong unable to retort.
Most importantly, Auntie Qing seemed to still be on Mo Xuetong’s side. No matter how one saw it, she was defending Mo Xuetong!
Everyone could not help but look at Mo Xuetong. Mo Xuetong decided not to leave. Mo Ye took a chair for her. The latter sat down unhurriedly and looked up. Her eyes averted from Auntie Qing’s face to Yu Siyan’s, and then to the face of Mdm Chen who was with Yu Siyan. Finally, she looked at the maidservant who had discovered the clothing. She was Mdm Chen’s maidservant!
Mo Lan took a few steps forward and pointed at the maidservant, asking coldly, “Do you know what the crime of ruining Her Lady’s reputation is?”
The maidservant was so scared that she knelt down and said in a panic, “I’m wrong. I didn’t mean it. I just packed the book and the clothing inside was revealed. I didn’t mean it.”
After saying that, she kept kowtowing. Due to her pull, more of the gray robe exposed. Everyone had been staring at the robe suspiciously. At this time, someone had seen a few pieces of notes pulled out from the clothing, which were full of words. The handwriting looked vigorous, and at a glance, one could tell that they were written by a man.
“How… how could there be a private letter from a man here?” Yu Siyan pointed at the half-naked note timidly and pulled Madam Chen’s clothes. She seemed to be frightened.
The note fell out of the robe. It would not expose at first, but because the little maidservant kowtowed too nervously, she forgot that she was pulling it in her hands. She used too much strength and pulled it out. At least there were three or four pieces of papers that were folded together, and it could be seen from the back that the powerful strokes were from a man.
“If you slander a member of the royal family, you’ll be sentenced to death!” Mo Lan smiled at Yu Siyan, her eyes cold and sharp.
“It has nothing to do with me… Who-whoever hid it… will be sentenced to death. My Lady, you must find out who hid it. Otherwise, you should confiscate her property and destroy her clan.” Yu Siyan seemed to be frightened and she spoke without thinking. She pulled Mdm Chen with a pale face and kept shivering.
“Yes, My Lady. I’ll get someone to investigate it. After I find who hid it, I’ll beat her whole family to death and clear your name,” Auntie Qing immediately answered, looking as if she was trying to avenge Mo Xuetong. She gritted her teeth viciously.
Mo Xuetong did not say anything. She took the cup of tea from Mo Ye and took a sip leisurely, waiting for what would happen next!
This was not the best time, and it was not the climax of the whole matter yet. Even if Yu Siyan, Mdm Chen and Auntie Qing could not hide the complacency in their eyes, Mo Xuetong, who was unlike them, could wait…
“My Lady, My Lady… I, mercy!” A maidservant dressed in the Mo Manor’s clothes rushed out of the crowd, shivering. She wanted to rush over and hug Mo Xuetong, but was stopped by Mo Ye. She had to kneel in front of Mo Xuetong and loudly begged and cried, “My Lady, save me. I’m not… My Lady, you can’t just watch me die! You asked me…”
The maidservant burst into tears and spoke incoherently. She had not yet finished her words, but her meaning had been fully expressed.
Mo Xuetong leaned back leisurely and sat steadily on the chair. She stretched out her right arm and put it on the table beside her before resting her head on the hand. There was a hint of coldness in her laziness, as if she was watching others’ performance. She did not panic at all. She was waiting, waiting for a better opportunity and waiting for more people to interfere.
As expected, Mdm Chen was the next one to speak!
“What are you talking about, little maidservant? It’s unclear. What is ‘Her Lady asked you’? What could Her Lady ask you to do? Did Her Lady ask you to hide this man’s robe and these private letters?”
“Hiding the man’s robe and private letters.” She wanted to prove that Mo Xuetong had an affair with another man!
Mdm Chen didn’t say much before, but she put all the blame on Mo Xuetong as soon as she opened her mouth. The surprised expression on her face seemed to be exaggerated. Those who didn’t know the situation thought Mdm Chen really cared about Mo Xuetong and spoke for her sincerely.
