Hearing Mo Xuetong’s casual words, Ling Rui’er felt that she failed to influence Mo Xuetong. She took a deep breath and bit her lip, suppressing the anger surging in her heart. Then she cast a glance at the yard not far behind the trees and her eyes darkened. An imperceptible cold smile appeared in her eyes.
Even though Mo Xuetong didn’t react to her words, Ling Rui’er did not believe that she would not react a while later.
“All right, Consort Xuan. Then I will not stand on ceremony. I will definitely come with His Highness to take a look at the garden of your manor in a few days. If there are some spots we like, we can improve our garden,” she responded with a smile. Her tone was extremely friendly without her harsh intentions towards Mo Xuetong, as if there was no hidden strife between the two of them.
Mo Xuetong glanced at her quietly before she rolled her watery eyes and nodded with a smile of unconcern. Then, she chatted with Ling Rui’er in the same kind of intimate tone, as if they had not said anything with hidden message. While they were talking, the group of people had turned around a wall in front of them and saw a yard.
A madam stood in front of the yard and looked at it. She waved the palace fan in her hand and said with a smile, “Consort Chu, the architectural style of this yard is beautiful. It seems to be different from the average yards!”
The yard in front of them looked no different from others at first glance, but after careful observation, one could tell that it was still a little different: the pink outer wall, white lines, the light framework outer wall and some vines planting beside the wall, covering more than half of it.
The pink wall was decorated with green vines, which was visually unique and attracted everyone’s attention at once.
“This yard was built in reference to some yards which His Highness had seen in other countries. It is a little different from the yards in our country. His Highness said that he likes this kind of different building, so he especially asked people to build a yard here. The style inside is a little different from the local ones.” Ling Rui’er introduced with a smile.
Then she waved her hand and motioned the maidservant beside her to push the gate open, indicating for everyone to look inside.
The gate was half-closed and immediately opened with a push. Everyone followed behind Ling Rui’er and entered with curiosity.
“Usually, there are few people here and it’s very quiet. His Highness seldom comes here. He only rests here when he occasionally walks in the garden and gets tired. It is close to the front yard and isn’t far away from the back yard. It’s a great place.”
Hearing Ling Rui’er’s praise, the madams and ladies wanted to go in even more. If it was really good, they could go back and build a similar yard.
Suddenly, there came a low moan of a woman. Although it was very soft, they heard it clearly. Everyone could not help but be stunned and looked at Ling Rui’er.
Ling Rui’er had long known that it was Mo Yarui and her cousin, Hong Ming. Her eyes were filled with complacency. She looked at Mo Xuetong who was standing by the side with a slight smile on her face. Then she wore a strict look and asked the maidservant beside her, “Who is inside?”
“I don’t know… There’s usually nobody here!” the maidservant shouted in a hurry for fear of taking responsibility, which attracted everyone’s attention.
Before Ling Rui’er could say anything, a man’s heavy breathing could be heard from inside. Everyone held their breaths this time and heard it clearly.
“Who dares to do such a thing in our manor? Go and open it. Let everyone see who is so shameless.” Ling Rui’er was furious
Two older maidservants came up from behind her and kicked the door open. As soon as the door was open, a wide and kind of square bed came into everyone’s sight. On the bed, a man and a woman were hugging each other intimately. Hearing the voice, the man looked back hurriedly. At the sight of Ling Rui’er standing in front of him, he screamed, pushed the woman away and quickly pulled the quilt on the bed to cover himself.
The Sixth Princess was so shocked that her face turned pale. She was unmarried, so she couldn’t bear to see such a scene. Instantly, she was dragged out by the nanny beside her.
The woman was pushed aside, and her long black hair hung loose, covering her face. She did not dare to look at anyone, screaming and pulling the quilt.
Ling Rui’er had not seen this man before. He had a mildly handsome face. Was he Mo Yarui’s cousin? It seemed that the two really had an affair. She had wanted everyone to see the two of them lying together in disarray, and she did not expect them to really be making out. Mo Yarui usually looked gentle, and she did not expect her to be a slut. Even though Ling Rui’er could not see her face clearly, she thought that the woman was definitely Mo Yarui.
“Mo…” Mo Xuetong, who was standing beside, suddenly seemed to have discovered something. She opened her eyes wide in shock and looked straight at the woman’s naked back. She covered her mouth with a handkerchief as if she had been frightened.
Ling Rui’er followed her gaze and saw the woman anxiously covered her head in the quilt.
“Mo Xuetong has seen Mo Yarui’s face!”
“Good. I don’t have to think of a way to get Mo Xuetong into the trap,” Ling Rui’er thought proudly.
“Consort Xuan, have you seen it clearly? Is it really Second Consort Mo? How could this be? Didn’t you ask Second Consort Mo to talk to you just now? Why is she here?” Ling Rui’er seemed to be frightened as well and she took two steps back and expose the scene inside to the madams and young ladies.
As first, everyone thought that someone was meeting secretly here. However, the Sixth Princess, Consort Chu, and Consort Xuan were standing in front of them, and they did not dare to go forward even if they wanted to.
Some unmarried young ladies also heard the abnormality inside and did not dare to look inside. They also followed the Sixth Princess to walk out the room. Only the married madams came up to see what was going on. But the naked man and woman hid in the quilt and wrapped themselves. For a moment, people looked at each other, but couldn’t see who they were.
Mo Xuetong turned around and did not dare to look inside. She looked out with a blush and argued, “Consort Chu, when did I say that she is Second Consort Mo?”
“You said it! I heard clearly that you mentioned Second Consort Mo. Could it be that you’ve seen the face of the woman lying on the bed clearly, Consort Xuan? That’s right. From your angle, you should be able to see her face clearly.” Ling Rui’er did not wait for Mo Xuetong to argue. She immediately turned around and said to the older maidservant standing beside her, “Go and find out who Second Consort Mo was meeting secretly. How did he enter the yard?”
As soon as she gave the order, a maidservant said timidly, “Second Consort Mo was called away by Consort Xuan just now. I also saw Consort Xuan’s maidservant was with Second Consort Mo.”
She meant that Mo Lan went to Mo Yarui with a maidservant.
“Consort Xuan, when I sent tea to these madams in the yard, I saw you beside the rockery. There was a man behind the rockery. He seemed to be this man. At that time, the man seemed, seemed to be…” Another older maidservant looked at Mo Xuetong and did not dare to continue.
Reminded by her, several madams present remembered it. At that time, they seemed to also find that there was a man in that place, but they couldn’t see him because they were far away from the rockery. At that time, only Consort Xuan sat there and rested. Could it be that this man had something to do with her?
Most of the madams’ suspicious eyes landed on Mo Xuetong.
“What was it then? Go on!” Ling Rui’er glared at the older maidservant and snapped coldly.
The older maidservant was so scared that she knelt on the ground with a plop. She trembled with fear and couldn’t even say a word.
“Somebody, drag this servant away and beat her hard until she can say it clearly. How dare they do something so indecent in King Chu’s Manor? Do they want to die?” Ling Rui’er yelled righteously. She pointed at the older maidservant and looked mad. That was reasonable. It was a shame to have something like this happening at the banquet even if it had nothing to do with the host. Furthermore, the woman in bed seemed to be Second Consort Mo.
Then she was cuckolding King Chu, and it was his birthday banquet. As the first consort of King Chu, how could Ling Rui’er not be livid with anger?
The older maidservant grew anxious when she saw that someone was coming to drag her. She suddenly became glib and reached out to grasp the door, begging for mercy, “My Lady, please spare my life. My Lady, please spare my life. I’ll make it clear. I saw Consort Xuan talking to the man. The man was at the rockery and poked his head out. The two of them spoke a few words.”
Second Consort Mo was called over by Consort Xuan, and this man had once spoken with Consort Xuan in the garden. That was to say, Consort Xuan knew both of them. Then the two behaved inappropriately here. It was King Chu’s birthday banquet. Could it be that Consort Xuan had caused the matter in order to ruin King Chu’s banquet?
Now the foreplay was enough. Ling Rui’er turned around angrily and snarled at Mo Xuetong, “Consort Xuan, can you explain this matter? Who is that man? How did you bring him into the manor? And how did you trick Second Consort Mo into coming here? What on earth do you want to do?”
At this moment, all the madams could understand Ling Rui’er. Anyone would not be able to take it lying down when such a thing happened in their manor.
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, Consort Chu!” Mo Xuetong had already calmed down and a slight smile appeared on her lips. There was a hint of confusion on her face and her brows furrowed slightly. She looked as if she did not know what had happened. There was obvious surprise in her clear eyes!
Ling Rui’er was full of anger when she heard Mo Xuetong’s words. Her chest rose and fell rapidly and she glared at Mo Xuetong with her almond-shaped eyes. Looking at Mo Xuetong’s face, which was filled with anxiety but still beautiful, she was jealous and hateful. “You don’t understand? Consort Xuan, do you want me to find more witnesses for you? I thought that you were here to celebrate His Highness’ birthday with sincere. I trusted you and especially told servants that when your people came, there was no need to check carefully. It turns out that you were the one who brought the man in…”
Her voice was full of hatred, and her eyes were almost spitting fire!
This was to blame Mo Xuetong for bringing the man into the back yard and making him to have an affair with Mo Yarui. Furthermore, she did not allow Mo Xuetong to argue. The method was very vicious. She intended to destroy Mo Yarui and Mo Xuetong at the same time.
Needless to say, Mo Yarui had an affair with another man behind King Chu’s back and this was enough to condemn her to death by being drowned in a pig cage. Mo Xuetong was also in trouble. She directly intervened in her brother-in-law’s inner yard. Even though no one caught her on the spot, she had an ambiguous conversation with a man and even brought him into the inner yard to meet Mo Yarui in private. For this crime alone, the Emperor would not let her live.
Consort Xuan also represented the royal family’s decency. How could the Emperor tolerate such a disgraceful daughter-in-law?
“My Lady, I remember. This man also came yesterday and entered the manor with the gifts of King Xuan’s Manor. At that time, I thought that he was King Xuan’s Manor’s steward who sent the gifts here, so I didn’t care where he went.” Another maidservant suddenly pointed at the man on the bed and exclaimed.
“Yes, I remember too. He secretly left from the back door.” Another older maidservant came out to testify. All the evidence proved that Mo Xuetong’s bad intentions, and this man, with Mo Xuetong’s help, had entered King Chu’s Manor more than once.
The madams who had been suspicious before glowered after hearing so many pieces of evidences. It seemed that it was true that Consort Xuan was really unreliable. She had a secret date with a man and had an ambiguous relationship with him. She seemed to be a dissolute woman.
“Consort Xuan, how are you going to explain?” Ling Rui’er pointed at Mo Xuetong, looking as if she wanted her to explain. Her face was full of anger, but her eyes were filled with satisfaction. She did not believe that she would not be able to kill the slut this time!
