Chapter 50
Chapter 50 An Accident With an Unexpected Outcome
After Duan Jinxiang fell into the water, she thrashed around wildly as her maid screamed, “Help! Help!”
The rail broke because Duan Jinxiang hit it too hard. Her maid tried to pull her up, but she got further away from the shore while struggling in the water. Meanwhile, another two maids from the Qu’s Mansion passed by. Hearing the noise, they dropped everything in their hands with fear and started to yell for help together.
By the lake, a few young masters passed by with some young servants. They were stunned by the desperate cry for help from the maids. One of the young men in the front realized what happened first, then he jumped into the water immediately, and swam toward Duan Jinxiang, who was still struggling. The rest of the young masters looked at each other with embarrassment, but no one followed the first one and jumped down again.
“Is there someone calling for help?” Yu asked hurriedly. She had kept an ear out for unusual noises for the whole time and noticed the screams immediately.
A few madams and ladies noticed the sound as well and got flustered.
“I’ll go take a look!” Yu went down with some servants as the madams’ eyes met across the table, and they decided to follow her.
As they went down, the noise got louder. It was not far away from the pavilion where the female guests stayed. Yu headed toward the small pavilion in the front, followed by a group of madams and ladies.
The path Yu walked down led straight to the lake, hidden in between some trees and buildings. Through this path, it would only take them a few minutes to get there.
In a yard nearby, Qu Qiuyan was gazing at Lord Jing affectionately while he was talking. Suddenly, she heard the scream for help and stood up, “Your royal highness, shall we go take a look? Did something happen? Someone’s calling for help?”
Qu Qiuyan asked anxiously.
“Let’s go!” Lord Jing heard the noise as well. He stood up, put on a serious look, and walked out first. Qu Qiuyan followed him closely behind, and the two almost walked side by side.
When Yu arrived with other people at the small pavilion, the three maids were still screaming for help. The two maids from the Qu’s Mansion noticed Yu and rushed over.
“What’s going on?” Yu asked them coldly.
“We… We are not very sure what exactly happened. When we got here, we saw a lady in the lake, and her maid was crying for help. We don’t want anything bad to happen to the lady, so we scream with the maid together for help. A young master already jumped into the water to rescue her!” The two maids pointed at the lake as everyone’s eyes fell on the waving water.
A young man was swimming toward the shore while holding a lady in his arms. The two in the water looked a bit too intimate, making the madams and ladies stare at each other with embarrassment.
They couldn’t see the two people’s faces clearly right now. If they both were not engaged, it could be a romantic story. But the situation would be very awkward if any one of them was engaged.
When they got ashore, a large group of young servants and maids had already gathered there. They hurried to help the two people up. Now people recognized the young man’s face – he was Young Master Yongning, Xu Lipeng. Instantly, everyone put on an awkward look.
They all knew that Young Master Yongning was Fourth Lady Qu’s fiancé. Even though his fiancée was an ugly girl with an eye problem, he didn’t choose to break off the engagement and acted like a gentleman for years. His background story earned him a good reputation and much respect from people in the city. Moreover, his friendly personality made people like him more.
But what was going on right now?
After Xu Lipeng got up from the lake, he took out his coat and threw it on Duan Jinxiang, who was rescued by him. He was wearing a simple suit inside, so it wouldn’t be considered a discourtesy to take off his coat.
He was still acting like a gentleman, considering the lady’s reputation and helping cover her body with his coat. However, being a gentleman couldn’t stop the rumors from spreading.
Everyone fell into silence, having no idea how to handle the situation.
A sharp-eyed lady recognized the young girl rescued, “Is it Second Lady Duan?”
“It’s Second Lady Duan.”
“It’s her!” …
A buzz of whispers filled the space. Second Lady Duan was notorious for being a shrew who didn’t get along with people and had a bad reputation.
“Jinxiang, h-how did you fall into the lake?” Someone exclaimed in shock behind the crowd. People turned around and saw First Lady Duan, who was said to be obedient, and Fourth Lady Qu standing beside her. They recognized Qu Moying through the long veil covering her eyes, and the expression on people’s faces became more awkward.
Some sharp-eyed people also noticed two people standing at the crossing behind the two ladies – Lord Jing and Third Lady Qu, Qu Qiuyan. Although they were standing one behind the other, their posture still seemed quite intimate, almost side by side. No one else was with them except for their own servants, who stood a few steps away behind them.
Did it mean that…Lord Jing was going to marry Third Lady Qu as his wife?
If so, it would be big news!
The madams present were surprised to see the scene as some of the young ladies interested in Lord Jing lowered their heads and felt upset while tears rolling in their eyes.
Lord Jing didn’t expect so many people to be here. Since they all saw Qu Qiuyan and him together, rumors would spread out soon. He hesitated, thinking about Lady Liu, who came with Pei Yuanjun before. It would be better to keep a proper distance from Qu Qiuyan because he didn’t want Lady Liu to be misled by the rumors.
However, then he remembered Qu Qiuyan’s family background. With the current conditions, she could at the most be his second wife. Since the position of his first wife was still vacant, he didn’t need to care about the rumors too much.
Feeling people’s gaze, he strolled over to the crowd, which made Qu Qiuyan overjoyed. In her opinion, the lord’s willingness to appear in public with her revealed his intention of marrying her as his first wife. She quickly caught up with him with a shy look on her face. Her mother was right – Lord Jing had already decided to marry her!
People stepped back to make way for Lord Jing as he walked closer. He saw Xu Lipeng, whose clothes were soaked in water, and frowned, “Young Master Xu, you rescued the lady?”
Xu Lipeng was wearing an irritated look on his face. Ever since he was told the lady he rescued was Second Lady Duan, his expression had been like this. When he noticed Qu Moying and First Lady Duan, the wife candidate in his mind, standing behind the crowd, his whole face turned as white as a sheet. He glared at Qu Moying, gnashing his teeth resentfully.
Since it was Lord Jing asking, he had to answer him properly. He tried hard to suppress his rage and said slowly, “I heard the maids’ screaming and jumped into the water. Fortunately, the lady was alright.”
His voice sounded righteous, and his wet clothes didn’t affect his gentle temperament. At this moment, Duan Jinxiang was held by maids and wrapped Xu Lipeng’s coat around herself. She gazed at this young gentleman with a noticeable trace of admiration in her eyes. Young Master Xu… He was the young master everyone praised. She couldn’t help but feel delighted, with her heart pounding in her chest.
She took a complacent look at Qu Moying, who was standing aside. She bet the Fourth Lady regretted so much that she didn’t invite Duan Jinxiang over. Now, she had to suffer from the consequence of losing her fiancé to her! Second Lady Duan couldn’t be happier about it!
She felt lucky that she fell into the lake by accident, or there was no way she could get such a good marriage. She had been proposed by other young men before, but none of them was as excellent as Young Master Yongning. Her whole heart was filled with happiness, and even Duan Yuxiang looked less annoying than before. She leaned on a maid to show a fragile look, but in fact, she needed to grab the maid hard to suppress her excitement.
“Please take Second Lady Duan and Young Master Xu somewhere to get changed first. Although the weather is warm now, they still can’t stay outside for too long in wet clothes,” Yu urged the servants, showing her courtesy as the host.
But deep down inside, she was flustered as well. She thought the person who fell into the lake was First Lady Duan, but why did it turn out to be Second Lady Duan? At the same time, she noticed Qu Qiuyan standing next to Lord Jing like his little girlfriend and was pleased by the scene. At least the plan about her daughter didn’t go wrong. Now it was guaranteed that her daughter would marry Lord Jing as his first wife.
Since Lord Jing showed up in public with Qiuyan, he must’ve decided to marry her already.
Yu knew it was the right decision to let her daughter play hard-to-get with Lord Jing, who had never shown his intention this clear before. And today, they were witnessed by many guests here, which meant their marriage was pretty much confirmed.
As for Yu Qingmeng, she couldn’t do anything to help her right now. Yu’s primary purpose today was to make Lord Jing and her daughter show up together in public, and everything went smoothly as she planned!
No matter how much she liked her niece, a niece was just a niece.
It was no big deal since she had many chances to offer help to Yu Qingmeng later. With her daughter, the future Madam Jing’s support, she doubted that Duan Jinxiang, a daughter given birth by a second wife, could cause any real trouble, no matter how aggressive she was.
Since everything was settled, the crowd dismissed. Duan Yuxiang followed her younger sister to help her change clothes as Qu Moying still stayed at the end and fell into deep thoughts while watching people leaving.
Lord Jing hadn’t left yet as well, and Qu Moying caught his attention. Before, the female guests sat too far away from him, and he couldn’t see Qu Moying’s appearance clearly. Now that he could see it, he felt that her face looked a bit familiar. His eyes fell on her light-colored lips and ivory skin with a confused look on his face.
But then he found himself ridiculous. He heard this lady had grown up in a village outside of the city. They couldn’t possibly meet each other before!
“Your royal highness, let’s head back!” Seeing no outsiders around, Qu Qiuyan softened her voice, which was much more affectedly sweet than usual. She stood in between Qu Moying and Pei Yusheng to block his sight.
Pei Yusheng wasn’t really paying attention to her now. He turned around, took Qu Qiuyan to leave, and asked casually, “Is that Fouth Lady Qu? Her eye problem doesn’t seem to be very serious since she could walk here by herself. Didn’t people all say she’s blind?”
“Her eyes are better now after Mother sent some doctors to treat her. Her eyes could function better, but they still looked pretty bad, and her face… That’s why she keeps wearing the veil,” Qu Qiuyan explained softly, implying that Qu Moying’s sick eyes looked terrible and her appearance was totally ruined.
Hearing her words, Pei Yusheng thought that Qu Moying’s eye disease left her many scars, or maybe it was because the medicine she was using had a strong side-effect on her appearance. It reminded him of Lady Liu, and he started to feel a bit upset. He wondered how Lady Liu’s face looked. Should he send an Imperial Doctor to the Liu’s Mansion to check on her?
The Guardian General dedicated himself to the country, and it was unfortunate that his only daughter suffered from such pain. Lord Jing doubted people would find it strange if he sent an Imperial Doctor to their mansion. Making up his mind, Pei Yusheng nodded quietly.
Watching these two walk away, Qu Moying curled up her lips into a smirk. Yu and her daughter had no idea about Lord Jing’s plan, but she did. This lord had already decided to marry Qu Qiuyan as his second wife while Yu and Qu Qiuyan were still daydreaming about their bright future. Things were getting more and more interesting.
Qu Moying chose to ruin Xu Lipeng’s plan, but she didn’t do anything about Yu today. Instead, she even lent a hand by standing in front of Lord Jing and Qu Qiuyan so that people’s attention could be easily drawn to them. Her purpose was to let everyone find out that Lord Jing and Qu Qiuyan had been secretly dating…
For the next step, Qu Moying would add more fuel to the fire…
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