“The two Princes left for their own homes in a rather good mood and Second Young Miss Ling also returned home. I heard that the Empress’ Palace replaced all their ceramics today. After that, there was a fuss about a disrespectful palace maid at the imperial concubine’s. The maid was punished by beating.” Feng Yue was not in charge of matters in the palace. However, Shen Kun was busy and asked him to come to report to their lord.
“How about the Mo Manor?” All was silent on the bed and the person only spoke softly after a long moment.
“Third Young Miss Mo went to bed not long after she returned to the manor. She still does not know about what happened to First Miss Mo. She will probably find out tomorrow.” Feng Yue knew that his master treated Third Young Miss Mo differently and tried his best to answer his queries about her fully. After he answered his master’s queries, he asked curiously, “Your Highness, should I send the formulated medicine over immediately?”
“Prepare it and send it here first.”
“Yes!”
Mo Xuetong slept very little at night and as such, woke up late the next morning. The old madam had been ill and had told everyone in the manor not to greet hear early in the morning. As such, Mo Xuetong had not cared so much and had slept as much as she wanted. However, she had not woken up before Mo Lan woke her. She held her head, feeling rather dizzy, only reacting moments later. Mo Lan said that something happened to Mo Xuemin!
Something happened to Mo Xuemin! She had still gone to the night market last night. How did something happen to her? Mo Xuetong rubbed her forehead with her left hand vigorously and then looked up with confused eyes, focusing on what Mo Lan was saying.
“Miss, the Minister’s Manor sent someone over and they have already been invited in. They said that they want to take the first miss as a wife after his first wife passed away. Young Master Li sent an official matchmaker early in the morning and old sir was furious. He chased the matchmaker out of his office and sent someone to fetch the first miss. He’s really angry…”
Mo Yu took over excitedly. “Miss, you didn’t see it, the first miss made such a huge fuss. I heard the servants from Fuqing Garden say that first miss has been throwing a tantrum since early this morning. If Mo Xiu had not found her early, she would have hit her head on the wall and died. The rumors have spread throughout the manor. They are saying that first miss has not been virtuous and left the house in the middle of the night. She was molested and it was Young Master Li who saved her…”
Mo Yu was very excited when she thought of how the hypocritical first miss who always pretended to be gentle and nice had finally shown given herself away. She chattered on and on and wanted to say something else. However, Mo Lan tugged on her braid lightly, and she caught on moments later and fell silent. Mo Ye put down the things Mo Xuetong used to clean up and went to the curtains. She picked up the curtains and took the opportunity to look at their surroundings while asking the maids to sweep the courtyard.
“Relax. Auntie Fang is not in charge now and Nanny Ming dotes on our mistress the most. She already told the two aunties to get rid of the disobedient servants in this courtyard. Those who are left will not dare to speak nonsense even if they are not on our mistress’ side.” Mo Yu was in a good mood and made a face at Mo Ye. However, she lowered her volume anyway.
After Nanny Ming had gotten rid of some people in Qingwei Garden after she took charge. However, it was unlikely for there to not be a single outsider among them.
“Where is father?” Mo Xuetong’s mind had cleared by then. She touched her heavy head and asked with a frown.
Mo Xuemin had gotten into trouble and had been the one who asked You Yuecheng to introduce Mo Xuetong to the loafer who saved her. She would not believe that Feng Yuran had not been involved in the matter. She had heard clearly that Feng Yuran was the one who ordered his guards to find Young Master Li.
She did not know how he had plotted against Young Master Li though. He had wanted to marry Mo Xuemin and no one else after seeing her!
Mo Xuetong had guessed correctly. Feng Yuran was the mastermind of the entire incident!
Yesterday, Mo Xuemin had left Fragrance House and got onto her carriage after bidding a reluctant goodbye to You Yuecheng. Because she had snuck out, she did not use the large horse carriage meant exclusively for Mo Manor’s use. Instead, she used the oil paper walled small carriage that regular women used when they went out. The carriage was not large and it was a donkey-pulled carriage.
She did not know what happened. Mo Xuemin was about to get on the carriage when a few mean-looking young thugs approached. She only had a slender maid beside her and was getting onto a normal donkey carriage. She was beautiful and the thugs thought that she was the daughter of an average family. As such, they teased her and then even touched her.
Even though Mo Xuemin was a concubine’s daughter, she had been brought up in seclusion in the Mo Manor. While her heart was evil, it did not show up on her face. Even though she wanted Mo Xuetong to die, she would only act in secret. She was furious when she met the ruffians who teased her shamelessly. She ignored them and got onto the carriage.
Mo Xiu stood in front of her and was pushed around a little by two ruffians. She lost her balance and fell, hitting the donkey pulling the carriage. The donkey was shocked and threw its head up and whined. Mo Xuemin who was about to get onto the carriage was thrown off it and into the arms of Li Youmo, who had just gotten off his horse and was about to enter Fragrance House.
Li Youmo was a lecherous person and there were many beautiful women and pubescent boys in his home. He did not differentiate between genders. When he saw a beautiful woman falling into his arms out of nowhere, he pulled out a look of stern righteousness and beat the ruffians up who then ran away. Then, he carried Mo Xuemin in his arms and wanted to take her away.
Mo Xuemin would be ruined if he really brought her away! Mo Xuemin would not allow him to.
She wrenched herself out of his embrace while Li Youmo was not paying attention and gave him a tight slap!
Who was Li Youmo? He was Minister Li’s only son and was doted on and spoiled. In the Minister’s Manor, Minister Li had never disciplined him. And the minister’s mother would rush out to protect him if anything happened. Li Youmo had never been slapped and was furious. He was not a gentleman and it was not like he had never hit a woman. He rushed forward and was about to hit Mo Xuemin.
It was a coincidence that You Yuecheng exited from Fragrance House at that moment and saw what was happening. He stopped Li Youmo and pulled him to the side, telling him who Mo Xuemin was. Mo Huawen was now a third-grade governor. Even though his ranking was not as high as a minister, he was a close subordinate of the Emperor and was not just any third-grade official.
You Yuecheng’s intentions were to get Li Youmo to stop. However, the rascal was an unreasonable person. Even though he released Mo Xuemin because of You Yuecheng, he grew more and more annoyed when he returned home. A woman had dared to hit him. Those around him jeered him on and he ran off to Old Madam Li in the morning and said that he was interested in First Miss Mo. He had to marry her!
Li Youmo was Old Madam Li’s precious darling. Even if he created trouble outside, his father did not dare to do anything to him. He had always been a playboy and had never been interested in settling down. The Old Madam had been worried about it. He had finally agreed to take a wife two years ago but she had been tortured to death by him in just a few short days. After that, he had refused to marry again.
Now he had taken the initiative to ask for another girl’s hand. The Old Madam was exhilarated. She sent people to ask around about Mo Xuemin and heard that despite First Miss Mo being a concubine’s daughter and having a less than stellar reputation, she was said to be gentle and gracious, talented and beautiful. Even though her status as a concubine’s daughter and the bad rumors about her were not very satisfactory, but she knew what kind of person her grandson was.
As such, she sent an official matchmaker to the Mo Manor early in the morning to ask for Mo Xuemin’s hand. She told the matchmaker to say that First Miss Mo had been molested by others and her grandson had been the hero to save her. They were seen hugging each other by so many people and it was the truth. Furthermore, the Mingguo Duke’s son was a witness as well.
To make this more credible, the Li family lowered themselves slightly. After all, Li Youmo had saved her.
Mo Huawen heard these from the official matchmaker and was furious! He chased the matchmaker out. He did not know about anyone else, but Li Youmo was an infamous character. He had fought over a prostitute with someone and the scuffle had caused an entire street to come to a standstill. And then, the next day, he would ride in a horse carriage down the streets openly with a male singer… A person like this dared to come up to their doors and ask for his daughter’s hands. This was definitely not good news and was a great insult to the Mo Manor.
When he thought about how he had only grounded Mo Xuemin yesterday and something like this happened, he understood that Mo Xuemin had only pretended to be obedient. He was extremely disappointed in his usually obedient and gracious daughter. And this incident made him hate Auntie Fang even more. Mo Xuemin was indeed a child taught by a concubine. He ignored all the news about Mo Xuemin committing suicide because he was angry and stewed in his anger alone in the study.
When Mo Xuetong hurried to the study at the front courtyard, Mo Huawen was sitting in front of his desk, a hand propping up his head with a troubled frown.
Old Madam Li had told the official matchmaker to tell Mo Huawen about the incident yesterday firstly to claim that the two had met and it was not because her grandson was interested in the daughter of Mo family for no reason. Secondly, it was a veiled threat. Her grandson had done the heroic act of saving a beauty and everyone saw them touching each other. It would be a beautiful incident if they got married. But if they did not, it would become a scandal. Furthermore, the Mingguo Duke’s son was present as well.
Li Youmo was an unreliable person and if he were to spread rumors about what happened yesterday, the Mo Manor could just insist that the person he was with yesterday was not First Miss Mo. However, You Yuecheng was different. He was the Mingguo Duke’s son and his reputation had always been stellar and was an honest person. If he said that it was Mo Xuemin who was present last night, Mo Xuemin had to be present even if she was not!
When he thought of that, Mo Huawen’s head hurt badly. He felt that the matter was pressing and could not be bothered with punishing Mo Xuemin. His only thought was how to dodge this disaster!
He knew that Mo Xuemin definitely cannot marry Li Youmo. This was not just about Mo Xuemin. If she were forced to marry Li Youmo, that would mean acknowledging Mo Xuemin sneaking out alone in the middle of the night with just a maid. Was she meeting someone?
The reputation of the daughters of Mo family would be ruined. Mo Xuemin being forced to marry Li Youmo would make her seem guilty. The marriages of the other daughters of Mo family would be affected as well and that was something Mo Huawen did not want to happen.
He thought of how Tong’er would be the next to marry after Mo Xuemin. His obedient and adorable Tong’er would be gossiped about because of Mo Xuemin and then would not be able to find a good husband. Mo Huawen grew anxious when he thought of that. He grew angry and annoyed and could not sit nor stand around. He walked around in the study but still could not think of a solution.
Mo Xuetong’s gentle voice sounded at the door just as stewed in his anger and annoyance. “Father, have you had breakfast? I still haven’t. Would you have some breakfast with me?”
He looked up to see his daughter’s concerned and somewhat cautious expression. Even though her tone was rather playful, she seemed to be trying to please him because of her concern. Despite so, his heart still softened at the look of her.
The sun streamed into the study from behind Mo Xuetong. She held a red wicker food basket and stood at the door. Compared to the large basket, Mo Xuetong seemed slender and soft. The eyes of the person on the portrait behind the desk seemed to be scrutinizing her carefully. She bit her lips, her eyes were as clear as pools of water, looking as if she could see through one’s heart. The concern in her eyes were clear as well.
