Chapter 119

Chapter 119 It Finally Happened

Qu Moying lifted her head with her eyes wide open. An unsettled feeling arose in her heart, making her clench her clothes and hold her breath unconsciously.

“Earl Ling’an passed away,” the Old Lady said in a deep voice.

Her words hit Qu Moying’s heart like a heavy strike as those eyes behind the veil were immediately filled with tears. She had to bite her lip hard to suppress the pain that tasted like blood.

She knew her father died a long time ago, in a miserable way, and the current death announcement was faked. Or to say, she was the one who forced the Ji Family to announce it earlier. However, hearing it with her own ears again was still so painful. She was exhausted from controlling her boiling emotions, felt depressed, and couldn’t even breathe smoothly. In a blink, time jumped back to the day when she heard it for the first time on the Linyuan Pavilion.

Those cruel words came out of Ji Youran’s mouth. Every single one of them was a backstab on her heart, making it too hurtful to breathe. At that moment, she really wanted to jump off the Linyuan Pavilion together with Ji Youran. She had to let her enemy pay, even at the cost of her own life.

But in the end, Ji Youran was saved by a guard while she was pushed off the Linyuan Pavilion.

If she wasn’t reborn, her body should’ve rotten down there.

Moreover, nobody would ever know how miserably she and her family died. They didn’t even get to keep their bodies whole in the end.

Nobody would ever know that waiting for the happy bride on her wedding day was not the red, festive bedchamber but bloodshed. The blood of Earl Ling’an’s family dyed the Crown Prince’s bright future and Ji Youran’s upward path.

How would she forget about it? Her red eyes were bulging. If possible, she would do anything to save her father’s life, sacrificing her own.

“My lady, my lady…”

“Ying, Ying!”

“Moying, Moying…” The chaotic sounds around her started to get further and fainter. But after a little while, they came back, louder and closer.

“Hurry! Go call a doctor over,” the Old Lady said, flustered.

“Grandmother, I’m fine!” Qu Moying lifted her head and slightly opened her eyes. She couldn’t take the shock and passed out for a second.

“Are you really alright?” The Old Lady looked at her pale face worriedly.

Qu Qiuyan looked around and said hurriedly, “We should let a doctor check on her first. How come she suddenly fainted? Does she have any other sickness that we don’t know? Then seeing a doctor is even more necessary.”

Her words made the Old Lady more anxious.

Qu Moying adjusted her breath as she came back to her senses. Her face was still pale, but her behavior looked much more conscious and calm. She comforted the Old Lady, “Grandmother, I’m fine. It just suddenly startled me.”

“Startled you?”

“Yeah. We just talked about visiting my uncle, worrying that there was not that much time left for him. But who would’ve thought that Uncle just…a few days after my cousin passed away. But he was a Level-One General. I know he must be grieving over my cousin’s death, but why did he break down because of that while everyone else in the Ji Family is fine? Why only my uncle, the most robust one in the family, passed away?” Qu Moying sobbed.

“Indeed…” The Old Lady fell into thoughts for a few seconds and added, “General Ji had practiced martial arts for years and should be pretty healthy. Everyone else in the Ji Family seemed fine. Only he died of too much grief. It’s indeed…indeed…”

Suddenly, the Old Lady stopped talking as a trace of shock crossed her face.

“Grandmother, General Ji only two daughters, and it was said the younger one even passed away before the Crown Princess’s wedding. He lost both daughters, and he had been sick for a while. Maybe the grief was just too much for him,” Qu Qiuyan said carelessly.

Before, she had sent people to ask about it and heard some rumors.

But this was not her focus. “Grandmother, let’s ask a doctor to check on Moying. Her body seems quite weak and even can’t take a little shock. This is not good.”

Qu Qiuyan was determined to make Qu Moying take off her veil because she believed that this Qu Moying was someone else.

As long as she proved that Qu Moying was a fake, the stains on Yu, herself, and even Yu Qingmeng could all be removed.

The more Qu Moying didn’t want to expose her face, the more suspicious she was in Qu Qiuyan’s eyes. She must be someone else who posed as Qu Moying while holding some evil intention.

If she could get a doctor to check on Qu Moying, Qu Moying must take off her veil and show her true colors.

“Thank you, Third Sister, but I’m fine now. Grandmother, since my uncle passed away, I…I want to go mourn him as quickly as possible.” Qu Moying totally ignored Qu Qiuyan’s suggestion, making the latter more convinced that Qu Moying was guilty because she was a fake.

“Tomorrow should be the first day of the funeral. Let’s go tomorrow,” the Old Lady nodded.

Qu Moying shook her head, “Grandmother, I want to go there today.”

“Today? But the Ji Family won’t start the official funeral today. Isn’t it a bit inappropriate?” The Old Lady frowned and turned to look at Granny Wu, who sent the message just now. “Did you get the message from the Ji Family?”

“No, they haven’t sent people here yet. I heard it outside. Their people sent the message to the Eastern Palace first, and it may take a while for them to get here,” answered Granny Wu.

Although the Qu Family was related to the Ji Family, they were not very close, and Qu Moying was in the young generation. The Qu Family should be one of the last to be informed among all the Ji Family’s relatives.

“Ying, we haven’t been informed by them yet. It’s inappropriate for you to go now.” The Old Lady looked outside. “It will probably be in the afternoon when we receive the notice. If you want to go, you can prepare yourself to visit them tomorrow. No matter what, it’s quite inappropriate to visit today.”

The Old Lady didn’t have any opinion on the Ji Family before. But after that old maid from the Ji Family came, who acted like they were up to something, the Old Lady never considered getting close to the Ji Family again. So, she didn’t want Qu Moying to visit them so early, let alone it was inappropriate anyway. No one would go there unless they were close relatives.

“Grandmother, I will go with Cousin Yue today. Then I will go with you again tomorrow.” Qu Moying shook her head and said, “Cousin Yue told me to visit the Earl Ling’an’s Mansion with him if my uncle passed away. After all, we are the youngsters among First Madam Ji’s relatives. People living in the capital who will visit them are all the Ji Family’s relatives. We are the only ones who are related to my aunt, Earl Ling’an’s wife.”

She knew the Ji Family should be in a mess now. The more chaotic, the better for Qu Moying. She must go look for some clues and take someone out of the Earl Ling’an’s Mansion when the situation was in chaos. She couldn’t reveal the truth behind her father’s death yet, but she had to cause people’s suspicion at least.

Qu Moying already expected that the Ji Family couldn’t hold it longer and would release the information about Earl Ling’an’s death these two days. So, she asked Yue Wenhan a while ago to go with her and lend a hand to the Ji Family if anything happened to Earl Ling’an. Even though they couldn’t see Earl Ling’an for the last time when he was alive, they had to show their respect.

Yue Wenhan was quite surprised by her request but still agreed.

“You promised Mr. Yue before?” the Old Lady asked while frowning. She still didn’t like the idea, but it was acceptable for her since Qu Moying had an appointment with Yue Wenhan before, and they would go together.

But Qu Moying couldn’t leave before they received the official notice from the Ji Family today.

“Grandmother…” Qu Moying begged the Old Lady while staring at her.

“Fine. Go prepare yourself. If we receive the notice from the Ji Family later and Mr. Yue comes to pick you up, you can visit them first to see if they need any help,” the Old Lady said reluctantly.

“Thank you, Grandmother.” Qu Moying stood up and curtsied to the Old Lady gratefully.

“Go get ready. Even though the funeral starts tomorrow, you can’t be too casual today. You need to take everything with you, like candles and other stuff,” the Old Lady told her about essential rules of etiquette, fearing that she would be rude unintentionally.

“I know. I will go get prepared now.” Qu Moying said goodbye to the Old Lady and left hurriedly with Yu Chun.

The situation changed too drastically. Before Qu Qiuyan had time to say something and stop Qu Moying, Qu Moying had already left. “Grandmother…” said Qu Qiuyan.

“Go back first and help prepare some candles. We should still have some left after we went to the Eastern Palace. Go check to see if we have enough for the funeral this time. If the left ones are not enough, you can ask people to buy some more. You can ask me any questions. You need to help handle the affairs in the mansion right now. Your aunt will come to give you some guidance later,” the Old Lady interrupted Qu Qiuyan and gave her orders.

“Yes, Grandmother. I will go right now.” Feeling unwilling, Qu Qiuyan had to take the work first. After curtsying to the Old Lady gently, she left with her maid too.

After she walked out of the Old Lady’s yard, she thought for a second and turned in another direction. Instead of going back to her own yard, she headed directly to Yu’s.

At the yard door, she immediately noticed a strong smell of medicine lingering in the yard.

Qu Qiuyan entered the main house and walked into Yu’s bedroom, where Yu lied. She waved her hand to signal everyone else in the room to leave as she and her mother stayed in the room alone.

Hearing people leaving her room, Yu slowly opened her eyes on the bed. Yu looked haggard and dehydrated. Clearly, she was severely ill and lost a lot of weight. She tried to struggle up by supporting herself with her arms. But she didn’t have enough strength and fell back on the bed.

Qu Qiuyan helped her sit up and put a pillow behind her back to let her adjust her breath.

“Mother, how do you feel?” asked Qu Qiuyan in a low voice.

“I’m fine.” Yu let out a heavy breath as tiny beads of sweat showed up on her forehead. She closed her eyes feebly and slowly opened them again. “Anything happened?”

“Earl Ling’an died too!” said Qu Qiuyan.

Hearing her words, Yu suddenly burst out laughing. But due to her lack of strength, she soon started to cough loudly. Qu Qiuyan hurriedly patted her back and helped her breathe better.

After a while, Yu said hoarsely, “Good, good. This is fantastic! That’s great news for us!”

Then she laughed out loud again. Her skinny face was twisted by the exaggerated expression, filled with maliciousness…