Chapter 341

Chapter 341 I Want to Offer a Stick of Incense to Crown Princess

“Was it the thing that she fell into the water?” After thinking for a moment, Yu Dong asked. He guessed that the matter that Qu Xuexin tried to hurt Qu Moying had been exposed. He didn’t expect Qu Xuexin to be so stupid to expose this thing.

“First Lady fell into the water? When?” Yu Chun asked in surprise, her eyes wide open.

“If that’s not the case, what is it?” Yu Dong was also stunned. He looked at Yu Chun and asked hesitantly. It seemed that something else had happened after Qu Xuexin separated from them.

Qu Xuexin really was a troublemaker. She actually caused trouble again in such a short time. Yu Dong couldn’t help but get interested. He pulled Yu Chun to the side, wanting to listen to the whole story.

Yu Dong did not have a good impression of Qu Xuexin because she plotted against Qu Moying. Hearing that something bad had happened to Qu Xuexin, he cheered in his heart.

Yu Chun said, “I don’t know the exact details. She seemed to have a conflict with Crown Prince’s Mansion’s Princess Ji. Princess Ji seemed to do something to her, and Eldest Young Master saw it. Eldest Young Master did not recognize Princess Ji, and he pushed her. Then, this matter became big.”

The matter would undoubtedly become big because Crown Prince’s Mansion’s Princess Ji was pushed and fell.

Yu Dong naturally knew Princess Ji, who was not a good person, either. Previously, Qu Moying had asked him to trick her into going to the Sea of Lanterns.

But why did Princess Ji have a conflict with Qu Xuexin? There shouldn’t be a conflict between the two of them. If there was a conflict between Princess Ji and someone, the other person should be County Lady Jingyu, who was casting greedy eyes on the position of Crown Princess.

“First Lady is really unlucky!” Yu Dong sighed without much sincerity.

At that time, when Princess Ji left Yue’s Clothing Pavilion, she was obviously looking for trouble. However, it seemed that she didn’t meet County Lady Jingyu. Instead, she had a conflict with Qu Xuexin. Yu Dong only felt that Qu Xuexin was really unlucky.

Qu Xuexin had fallen into the water once, and now she ended up in such a mess. It seemed that there was a follow-up!

Yu Dong was glad to watch the fun, but he was afraid that this matter would implicate Qu Moying if it escalated. Now that Pei Yuanjun was about to leave the capital, it would be bad if Qu Moying was involved in this matter.

Yu Dong was worried that Qu Moying would be implicated. At the same time, in Crown Prince’s Mansion, Ji Youran was angry and also worried.

She was worried because Pei Luo’an refused to see her.

After leaving Yue’s Clothing Pavilion in a fit of anger, Ji Youran went directly to the Sea of Lanterns. After asking around, she knew where the lanterns that had caught fire were piled up. She walked over to the place and quickly saw a pair of lanterns with Pei Luo’an and Liu Jingyu’s handwriting.

The words on the lanterns were taken from their names. If one did not look carefully, one would not be able to notice them. Of course, they would not be able to recognize whose lanterns they were.

One of the lanterns read “An” and the other read “Rou”. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

They were placed aside. No one suspected that they were Pei Luo’an and Liu Jingyu’s lanterns. Even if they were put together, no one could be sure that they were their lanterns.

However, Ji Youran still recognized them at a glance. The word “An” was clearly Pei Luo’an’s handwriting. As for the “Rou”, it must be Liu Jingyu’s writing. Seeing these two words, Ji Youran was so angry that she wanted to slap Liu Jingyu. She worked so hard to reach this step by pleasing Pei Luo’an, but Liu Jingyu reaped her fruit.

How could she be reconciled?

Just as she was about to go find Pei Luo’an and Liu Jingyu, she saw a woman coming over. The woman came to take Pei Luo’an and Liu Jingyu’s lanterns.

The people around Ji Youran tried to stop her but failed. The woman said that this pair of lanterns belonged to her.

Ji Youran was in a rage. Hearing the woman say that the lanterns were hers, she asked someone to slap her twice, causing the woman to fall to the ground and cry.

The onlookers all looked at them. Just as they were making a big ruckus, a man came over and pushed away Ji Youran’s people. Ji Youran was surrounded by her people, and she was pushed to step back and fall to the ground.

Her servants were frightened and immediately shouted “Princess Ji” while preventing the man from leaving.

Ji Youran was helped up. After the interrogation, she found out that the woman and the man were siblings from Qu Mansion. The woman was First Lady Qu, and the man was Eldest Young Master Qu. They were the children of Imperial Censor Qu.

Ji Youran couldn’t help but think of Fourth Lady Qu, and she got even angrier. Her current situation had a lot to do with Fourth Lady Qu.

She asked someone to send Qu Xuexin and Qu Minghui back and asked Qu Mansion to give her an explanation tomorrow.

After that, she went back to Eastern Palace. She heard that Pei Luo’an had already returned. Without washing up, she went directly to Pei Luo’an to complain about the matter. However, Pei Luo’an rejected to see her.

A eunuch came out and smiled at Ji Youran. “Princess Ji, His Highness is tired today. He asked you to go back first.”

Ji Youran covered her eyes with a handkerchief and begged while crying, “I… I was pushed and fell just now. An official’s daughter did it. I want to talk to His Highness about this.”

The eunuch looked at her awkwardly.

“Go and report this matter to His Highness. Tell him that there should be a minister coming over tomorrow to talk to him about this.” Ji Youran said. She was using this excuse to ask for an audience.

Pei Luo’an was very cautious, so he would definitely meet her.

Sure enough, the eunuch had no choice but to enter the room and report to Pei Luo’an. Not long after, he came out and said to Ji Youran, “Princess Ji, please follow me in.”

Ji Youran wiped her tears and said, “Yes!”

Inside the room, Pei Luo’an was sitting with a qin by his hand. He put his fingers on the qin, but he did not make a sound. His expression was obscure and difficult to understand.

“Greetings, Your Highness.” Ji Youran stepped forward to greet him. She restrained the jealousy in her eyes and told herself that her enemy was County Lady Jingyu.

“Get up!” Pei Luo’an waved his hand, his eyes still fixed on the qin in front of him, and he did not look at Ji Youran.

Pei Luo’an asked, “What’s going on? Which minister’s daughter was it?”

“She’s… she’s from Qu Mansion.” Ji Youran’s eyes became redder. She looked pitiful.

Qu Mansion?

Pei Luo’an raised his head and looked at Ji Youran. Her dress was a little messy, and her hair was disheveled. She looked pitiful, and her eyes were red. Even when she was in such a mess, she still looked pitiful. He used to enjoy the sight of her being delicate like this.

But he felt dull as he looked at her now!

Although Ji Youran was not as beautiful as Ji Hanyue, he thought she was gentle and considerate. Even when she suffered from Ji Hanyue, she never complained to him about that. When he found out that Ji Hanyue treated Pei Yusheng differently, she still covered up for Ji Hanyue.

But now, Ji Hanyue was gone, and his feelings for Ji Youran seemed to fade away as well.

He didn’t know if it was because of Ji Hanyue or because what Ji Youran had done recently dissatisfied him.

He thought what his mother said about Ji Youran was right. Ji Youran didn’t deserve to be the Crown Princess with her upbringing. She made Eastern Palace into such a mess.

Pei Luo’an looked at Ji Youran thoughtfully and remained silent.

Pei Luo’an did not speak, and Ji Youran raised her eyes in worry and stole a glance at him. Seeing that he was deep in thought, she panicked and called out softly, “Your Highness!”

Pei Luo’an said coldly, “Make it more detailed!”

“I went to Sea of Lanterns because I wanted to hang a pair of lanterns for you and me. However, a woman ran out and grabbed a couple of burned lanterns and tried to take them away. I thought she was going way too much, so I had someone stop her. That woman quarreled with the servants, and then a man rushed out of the crowd. He reached out and pushed people beside me, which caused me to fall down. Your Highness, I was useless. I disgraced you. After asking for their identities, I knew that they were from Qu Mansion, so I didn’t make things difficult for them. I just asked the Master of Qu Mansion to come to Eastern Palace tomorrow to apologize!”

Ji Youran felt wronged and sobbed. She portrayed herself to be extremely innocent.

She didn’t mention Liu Jingyu either.

She knew that she could not mention Liu Jingyu before she was deadly sure about the thing, or it would be bad for herself. Moreover, she wanted to mess up the matter so that County Lady Jingyu wouldn’t be able to marry into Eastern Palace.

If she had known that County Lady Jingyu would marry Pei Luo’an one day, she would rather keep Ji Hanyue alive. At least, Ji Hanyue was nice to her.

However, the two of them were destined to be enemies. She wanted to step on Ji Hanyue and take her place.

But now, Ji Hanyue was dead, and it seemed that she was not as obsessed as before.

“Which young lady from Qu Mansion?” Pei Luo’an asked after listening carefully. His eyes flashed slightly.

“It’s First Lady Qu.” Ji Youran’s heart skipped a beat. Although the Crown Prince did not say anything, she understood the meaning behind his words because she had followed him for quite a period.

She did not like this meaning.

“The daughter of Imperial Censor Qu. Alright, I see.” Pei Luo’an nodded indifferently. His gaze was still on the qin, and he did not say anything to keep Ji Youran.

“Your Highness…” Ji Youran still wanted to say something, but seeing Pei Luo’an act like this, she could only bite her lips and lower her head, “I will go and light off a stick of incense first to the Crown Princess…”

Pei Luo’an asked casually, “Why are you doing it now?”

Ji Youran said with a bitter smile, “The Crown Princess used to like such a day… Thinking of this, I feel sad. What happened that day was an accident. No one wanted it to be like this. It was the Crown Princess’ fault, but I couldn’t help feeling sad when I thought of her. It’s my… I’m sorry. I want to talk to her.”

After saying this, Ji Youran bowed to Pei Luo’an and prepared to leave.

“I will go with you.” Pei Luo’an’s voice came from behind her ear.

The jealousy in Ji Youran’s eyes was obvious. She tried hard to suppress her feelings before turning her head again. There was even a surprised smile on her face. She asked with tears in her eyes, “Really? Your Highness, are you really going to see Hanyue?”

As she called out “Hanyue”, she saw a trace of bitterness appear on Pei Luo’an’s face. Pei Luo’an stood up and said faintly, “Let’s go!”

Ji Youran’s heart sank. Her heart was filled with hatred and jealousy. She clenched her hands tightly and felt the sharp pain in her hands. She wouldn’t be reconciled even if she died…