Mo Ye reached out to stop her.
Mo Xuetong looked the woman up and down again, gently pushed Mo Lan’s hands away, stepped forward and asked softly, “Who are you? Why did you find me? Lady, I don’t know you, so what can I help you? Or do you get separated from your maidservants and nannies? Should we help you find them?”
The woman raised her eyes, looked at Mo Xuetong with tears in her eyes, and said, “Your Highness, I am a concubine of the King Chu’s Manor.”
Of King Chu’s Manor? Mo Xuetong was surprised and frowned slightly. King Chu, Feng Yuxuan, was so cruel and merciless that he had framed Mo Xuetong more than once. In the last life, Mo Xuetong’s tragic fate was mostly due to Feng Yuxuan who incited Qin Yufeng to support Mo Xuemin and Sima Lingyun to gang up against Mo Xuetong, making her fall into a miserable end.
In this life, Feng Yuxuan also snared Mo Xuetong many times. Especially that time, Mo Xuetong was sent to King Yan’s Manor, and almost was destroyed by him.
Now, what trick did he want to play?
Mo Xuetong’s eyes became stern and looked at the woman. She contemplated for a while and said to Mo Lan, “Mo Lan, you and others stay here. Mo Ye and I will go there.”
Watching the woman in front with vigilance, Mo Lan persuaded anxiously, “My Lady, as for such a woman of dubious background, you’d better not go with her. No one knows if there is any trick set up. We just ignore it. Otherwise, if you touch the matter, it will be possible that you will fall into others’ traps.”
“It’s okay. I know.” Mo Xuetong said softly, “I’ll just have a word with the woman beside. Accompanied by Mo Ye, I will be fine. Or dare the woman to assassinate me?”
The sadness and eagerness in the woman’s eyes could not be concealed. The sorrow and despair reminded Mo Xuetong of who she used to be.
Then, Mo Xuetong said to the woman, “Come with me.”
Then, Mo Xuetong walked down towards a tree on the other side. Mo Ye followed her with an alert, separating Mo Xuetong from the woman.
The woman was surprised, and then wiped the tears on her face, and followed hurriedly.
Mo Xuetong stood well under the tree and asked softly, “You are the servant of Consort Chu, so you should find King Chu to deal with your matter. Even if you don’t find him, you should find Consort Chu. Why did you come to find me instead?”
The affairs of King Chu’s Manor should be handled by Feng Yuxuan and Ling Rui’er. Mo Xuetong did not understand why a concubine of King Chu’s Manor came to find her, as she had no connections with the people of King Chu’s Manor and wasn’t on good terms with Ling Rui’er. Therefore, even if there was something terrible, Mo Xuetong could not lend a hand in. In this regard, how could a concubine ask her instead of them for help?
The woman asked tearfully, “My Lady, have you remembered Mo Yarui, the daughter of the Assistant Minister’s Manor?”
Mo Yarui, the daughter of the Assistant Minister’s Manor? Mo Xuetong went blank for a while and remembered who Miss Mo was. At the banquet prepared by Princess Royal, Mo Yarui had some interactions with Feng Yuxuan. At that time, it seemed that Miss Mo would have the opportunity to enter King Yan’s Manor. Later, Ling Fengyan fell, and Ling Rui’er entered the Manor. Miss Mo seemed to enter the manor and became Feng Yuxuan’s second consort when Ling Fengyan was still the mistress.
Mo Xuetong asked frowningly, “The second consort of His Highness, King Chu? What happened to her?”
“My name is Mei Yu, a concubine of King Chu. I used to be Second Consort Mo’s close maidservant, and followed Second Consort into the manor. However, His Highness did not like our Second Consort and seldom came to her place. Several days ago, our Second Consort found that she was pregnant, but was discovered soon by Her Highness. So when Second Consort paid respects to Her Highness, Her Highness asked someone to hit Second Consort and made her miscarry. What’s worse, with the excuse that Second Consort offended Her Highness with rude remarks, Her Highness did not allow a doctor to check Second Consort.”
“This time, I took the opportunity of praying for His Highness to come out, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not find a chance to send a message to the Assistant Minister’s Manor. Your Highness, could you give a hand to send a message to Assistant Minister Mo? Otherwise, our miss, no, Second Consort will die.”
Mei Yu knelt in front of Mo Xuetong and cried sadly.
Mo Xuetong asked softly, “Shouldn’t you go to find His Highness King Chu? Isn’t he supposed to handle it?”
“His Highness… His Highness only bestows favors on Her Highness and follows every word she says. Even if His Highness knows it, he may not necessarily care about it. Besides, with my humble status, I am not qualified to see His Highness. Your Highness, please save our miss, and send a word to our old sir.”
Mei Yu choked with sobs, and her words were not as coherent as before. She called Second Consort Mo as Miss, and Assistant Minister as Old Sir, as if Second Consort Mo were still a girl unmarried. Mei Yu did not regard herself as a concubine of Feng Yuxuan, which showed her disapproval of Feng Yuxuan in her heart.
“Will Assistant Minister Mo save your Second Consort?” asked Mo Xuetong.
Assistant Minister Mo was an assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, and now was working with Lian An around Feng Yuran to repair the Qiming Pavilion. Mo Xuetong once saw Assistant Minister Mo in the yard who was talking about how to repair the Qiming Pavilion with Lian An, even argued with him. Assistant Minister Mo did not cower, instead, he tried to convince Lian An on just grounds, who left a good impression on Mo Xuetong.
“His Excellency will surely save Second Consort, as she is his only daughter. But for Second Consort’s love for King Chu, His Excellency would not have allowed our miss to marry him. But no one had ever expected that not long after the marriage, Second Consort lost the favor, and now she could hardly keep herself alive. Your Highness, please, please save our miss.”
Mei Yu cried at the top of her voice and slammed her head hard on the ground, totally ignoring the red blood marks on her head.
Mo Xuetong slightly gestured to Mo Ye, and Mo Ye hurried to help Mei Yu up.
“You go back first. I’ll ask someone to send a message to Assistant Minister Mo later. And you go back and attend your lady well. Otherwise, before Assistant Minister Mo is able to save his daughter, I don’t want something bad to happen to her.” Mo Xuetong said with a benign smile. The reason why Mo Xuetong did it was about nothing but resentment for Ling Rui’er’s cruelty. Besides, Mo Xuetong was impressed favorably by Assistant Minister Mo’s behavior.
So conceivably, although Ling Rui’er was somewhat capricious in the past, she knew the proper limits for her action. Since she was neither the firstborn daughter nor the most beautiful woman, she was too inconspicuous in the Ding General Manor, living under the two ladies’ brilliance. But everything was different now. She became the Consort Chu, and the two ladies of Ling family either had died or were inferior to her. Moreover, she enjoyed all of King Chu’s love, so the brutality and arrogance in her character were exposed completely.
But for a Second Consort conferred by the Emperor, Ling Rui’er dared to torture her to death in the manor. How lawless she was!
Hearing Mo Xuetong agreed, Mei Yu was so excited that she went limp and wanted to kowtow to Mo Xuetong again. “Your Highness, thank you so much. Second Consort and I will do our utmost to reciprocate your great kindness.” Mo Ye quickly stopped her and held her up.
Mo Xuetong looked at her and said gently, “You go back first, and it will be terrible if you are discovered.” Mei Yu was a loyal servant. Although she had become Feng Yuxuan’s concubine, she did not forget her old master. When her old master was in trouble, Mei Yu still tried everything she could to save her old master. She deserved respects.
“Your Highness please… I don’t dare to stay here too long. I sent the nanny who came with me to fetch the cloak. I’m afraid that she will come back at this time.” Mei Yu knew that it was not the time to speak more, so she hurried to wipe her tears with a handkerchief and bow low to Mo Xuetong again.
Mo Xuetong nodded. “Just go back.”
Mei Yu turned around to the bamboo forest. From Mo Xuetong’s direction, she could see there was a path. Mei Yu was a clever woman, and she knew that when she came from the path, even if the nanny ran to look for her, the nanny could not find her, but only wandered around. The nanny was unable to see Mo Xuetong on this side of the bamboo forest.
“Mo Ye, send a maidservant to the Assistant Minister Mo’s Manor to tell him that the maidservant, Mei Yu asked him to save his daughter as soon as possible.” Mo Xuetong frowned slightly. She did not understand that with Feng Yuxuan’s temper, how could he turn a blind eye to Ling Rui’er’s rampant behavior? Since it happened in King Chu’s Manor, Feng Yuxuan was impossibly not in the know.
Even a vicious tiger would not eat its cubs. How could Feng Yuxuan let Ling Rui’er make Mo Yarui miscarry without doing anything…
This matter was really weird!
“Yes. I will ask people to send the message soon.” Mei Yu, a weak woman, dared to do that for the sake of saving her old master. If Ling Rui’er knew it, Mei Yu would die without doubt. Since Ling Rui’er dared to murder a Second Consort, how could Ling Rui’er fear to deal with a concubine? With a simple order, the concubine would be beaten or sold out.
When Mo Ye thought of it, some admiration took on her eyes, so she replied immediately.
Mo Xuetong didn’t stay there any longer. Otherwise, the nanny came to encounter her and went back to tell Ling Rui’er, which might bring harm to Mei Yu.
Mo Xuetong, followed by her servants, went deeper into the mountain and found a small platform in the form of the Puguang Temple on the halfway of the mountain. There were a few Buddhist rooms. Mo Xuetong sat well in a pavilion beside, and asked some nannies to make inquiries, and she stayed in the pavilion with Mo Ye and Mo Lan.
When the nannies walked away, with a flash in front of eyes, Mo Feng appeared before Mo Xuetong.
Mo Feng pointed at the Buddhist rooms and said, “My Lady, the place ahead is the residence of the Puguang Temple’s abbot. During 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. this afternoon, the abbot will practice Zen, and a lot of people will come to listen. My Lady, you just need to listen with other people at that time. I will make the following arrangement.”
“Listen to Zen from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.?” Mo Xuetong smiled gently and got what Mo Feng said. She nodded and asked, “What did Mo Xueqiong do after coming to the Temple, and who did she meet?”
Mo Feng reported. “The second consort did not have any status in the manor. Although she came here in a carriage alone, after she entered the temple, except the two maidservants around her, all the people ignored her. She worshipped the Buddha first, and entered a room alone. No one came to mee with her, and she did not come out.”
About Mo Xueqiong’s situation, Mo Xuetong had already guessed. On that day, Mo Xueqiong and Mo Xuemin ganged up against Mo Xuetong, trying to push her off the startled horse, while the horse ran to the cliff. At that moment, Mo Xuetong had realized that Feng Yulei had planned to kill Mo Xueqiong to prevent divulgence of the secret. As for the so-called promise to marry her as a Second Consort, it was just a fake promise made by Feng Yulei to lure Mo Xueqiong.
Against this background, how could Mo Xueqiong live a comfortable life in the manor?
She was just a discarded puppet, but was sent into the manor deliberately by the Emperor. It was a slap on the face. How could the royal prince, Feng Yulei, be slapped obediently and treat her well?
But now, Mo Xueqiong resigned herself to do nothing, which was rather doubtful.
Obviously, the plan could not be figured out by Mo Xueqiong. But who was behind her? Didn’t the person pay more attention to Mo Xueqiong so as not to let her mess things up? Mo Xueqiong’s rashness was not formed in one or two days. Mo Xuetong’s long eyelashes flickered, and she felt that she had neglected something, but it was hard to catch anything.
