Chapter 181 The Evil Beauty Employed an Artful Ruse by Inflicting an Injury on Herself to Win the Trust
Mo Xuemin arrived in a short period of time, dressed in plain clothes without any rouge on her face, which made her more pitiful and delicate than in her usual luxuriant garments. Before words could be spoken, she knelt in front of Mo Huawen’s writing desk and cried on the ground, her sleeves covering her face.
Mo Xuemin cried painfully and aggrievedly, which seemed very innocent.
“Father, I, I… really don’t know what happened. I just wanted to go to the market to buy some rose pastries. I knew you liked them and would be happy to see them on your desk in the morning. But I, I just suddenly passed out on the carriage. When I woke up again, I found His Excellency Sima lying beside me with blood all over his body…”
On the way here, Mo Xuemin had thought the whole thing through. Although the nanny at the back entrance had been Auntie Fang’s confidant, the nanny wouldn’t keep the secret now that Auntie Fang lost her power and Mo Xuemin was not doing so well. She had told the truth before Mo Huawen found out from someone else.
After all, her father was too proud to let anyone frame his daughter, so she had to make him believe that she was innocent. She hoped her father would forgive her for the sake of this and had naturally made Sima Lingyun disappear in this matter.
Mingguo Manor would hold a feast in a few days, and by that time she would have a great chance to frame You Yuecheng and make him marry her. She wanted to marry into a rich family with a high position rather than Duke Zhenguo’s manor which had no real power but a title. She had to get her father’s support.
According to her experience, playing pitiful and miserable was quite a useful tactic to use with her father.
“Mo Xuemin, you said your younger sister asked you to Qingfang Pavilion last night, but she was with the princess. Are you saying the princess lied?” Mo Huawen said with a dark expression, ignoring Mo Xuemin’s pale face covered with tear stains.
“Dad , when I was in the palace, a maid sent me a note, which said my third sister asked me to Qingfang Pavilion. I thought she had something to tell me, so I hurried there. By the time I was there, I saw the her maid following a girl into Qingfang Pavilion, so I thought it was the third sister. It was very chaotic in the palace, and I was afraid of being accused of having improper relations with that libertine, so I wanted to ask my sister to prove for me. I never expected that someone would try to frame both of us at the same time. So, my third sister was suspected in the end, which was definitely my fault.”
Mo Xuemin wiped her tears. They were only young girls who couldn’t have offended others. If someone wanted to frame them, it could only be Mo Huawen’s political enemies.
She saw clearly that night. That attractive man who held Mo Xuetong in his arms just lifted his eyes, and then the blood-covered head of a human being fell in front of her with those dead fish eyes and wavering lips. In those eyes, she saw a frigid callousness that left endless terror in Mo Xuemin’s heart.
But she would never tell that to Mo Huawen!
She had a feeling that if she had said something about King Xuan, she wouldn’t live to see another sunrise.
She didn’t dare to offend such a man!
Seeing her used a compromising tone to explain for herself as in usual days, Mo Huawen didn’t say anything for quite a while. When the oppressive atmosphere pushed Mo Xuemin so hard that she could barely breathe, he asked, “You mean you were both framed?”
“Father, I thought it was like that. But I don’t have much knowledge and can’t tell if it’s true. It’s also possible that she and I got lost and somehow confused in the palace.” Mo Xuemin knew her father and could sense the discomfort in Mo Huawen’s voice. She quickly changed the topic and took up the handkerchief to wipe off her tears.
When she was ten, Mo Xuetong was “accidentally” pushed into the river by Mo Xuemin and almost died. Then she just used a few caring words to get out of it. Mo Xuetong’s mother, Luo Xia, was still alive and almost died when she saw her daughter in a coma.
Mo Huawen did punish Mo Xuemin for that, but he still forgave her. He just said it was an accident because the little daughter was too naughty and noisy and no one wanted it to happen!
This kind of thing happened many times, and Mo Xuemin was very skilled at manipulating events.
Mo Huawen looked at his daughter, who was crying so hard with a handkerchief in her hand. There were no real tears, and he saw that she was watching for his reaction behind her handkerchief.
He had never noticed these things before, because he had trusted this beloved daughter so much that he ignored the details. Now that he saw Mo Xuemin wipe her face while observing his reactions through glances, he realized that she had been manipulating him all along.
He hadn’t become the capital official by being stupid. He had keen eyes in observing others’ behaviors, but he had never used this observation at home. Thus, he ignored the abnormality of Mo Xuemin and Auntie Fang. He had only thought it was warm and harmonious at his home. Now he realized he had been cheated all the time and failed to see the truth.
He closed his eyes bitterly. Then he slowly opened them and regained his calmness, saying lightly, “After the accident that happened last night, you had no other choice but to be a concubine in Duke Zhenguo’s manor. It’s good that you are familiar with Sima Lingyun since a young age, so he would not hurt you after you marry him.”
He was very disappointed in his daughter and didn’t ask about what had happened in the palace. Anyway, her mouth was full of lies but no true words. He waved his hand and said impatiently, “Take my daughter back to Fuqing Pavilion. She is to stay there until someone from Duke Zhenguo’s manor comes for her.”
“Yes, sir!”
Seeing two guards who she didn’t know coming in, Mo Xuemin suddenly changed her expression and knew that her father was serious about it. She knelt towards her father’s direction, holding her father’s leg and crying miserably.
“Dad, dad, I don’t want to marry Sima Lingyun! A nasty man like him will ruin my whole life. You can’t just watch me fall into that horrible situation. Please save me. Sima Lingyun wanted to rape me, and I fought against him. Maybe it disgraced my fame, but I kept my virginity. Even if it was heard by others, I did nothing wrong!”
Mo Xiu cried and knelt down behind Mo Xuemin, crying and begging while kowtowing towards Mo Huawen. “Sir, sir, it was really not our miss’ fault. Our miss didn’t know who was trying to frame her. She was filial and just wanted to present you with your favorite Rose Pastries. She didn’t do anything wrong. No one would expect such a thing to happen. Sir, on every New Year’s Day in the past few years, our miss offered the pastries to you. You really can’t see how devoted she has been over the past years? Do you remember the year before last’s New Year’s Eve when our miss got out and got knocked down by a carriage? Then her arm was broken and didn’t recover for quite a while.”
On that New Year’s eve, Mo Xuemin went out to buy Rose Pastries for Mo Huawen, but somehow she was knocked down by a horse and the carriage crashed on a tree by a side of the road. Her arm was totally broken, which made Mo Huawen heartbroken. He had found a doctor and a nurse for her, and the first thing he did every day after he came back from the palace was to call on his injured daughter.
Every time he got something tasty or interesting, he thought of this cute gentle daughter first.
After Mo Xiu’s words, Mo Huawen recalled the whole thing, and couldn’t help fixing his eyes on Mo Xuemin’s arms which was tightly holding his legs. He had pulled a leg back to kick her, but the doctor had said that her arm couldn’t stand strong force anymore, and it would be difficult for her arm to recover if it got hurt again.
Anyway, she was still his daughter, and he just couldn’t bring himself to kick her.
Seeing his hesitant expression, the two guards who had been following Mo Huawen to deal with matters recognized that Mo Huawen’s attitude had changed. They looked at each other and sighed quietly. They bowed to Mo Huawen and left.
“Father, I really didn’t have any love affairs with Sima Lingyun. I just ran into him and chatted with him for a while. But I didn’t expect him to be so aggressive and… I had no choice but to struggle, which caused the horse to get out of control. If you insist that I marry such a mean and horrible man, I shall have no choice but death.”
Although Mo Xuemin covered her face with her sleeves, her eyes were fixed on Mo Huawen’s reactions. She saw his facial expressions turned soft and his eyes landed on her arms. Seeing an opportunity, she cried even harder and knocked her head onto the ground. She knocked so hard that her left hand crashed on the leg of the table. She groaned and her face immediately turned pale. With the cold sweat flowing down, her body shook.
“Miss, miss, what’s wrong? Did you hurt your hand?” Mo Xiu screamed and knelt forward to hold Mo Xuemin who was in too much pain to respond.
Mo Xiu turned and begged Mo Huawen with her eyes full of tears, “Sir, our miss’ arm is hurt again. When she was getting changed, I saw her arm was swollen. She didn’t tell you because she was afraid you might get worried. Please send for a doctor to check on her, sir. Our miss’ arm can’t stand the hurt anymore.”
After her words, there was a total mess in the study!
Mo Xuetong, who was standing on the other side of the room, lifted her lips and smiled. Mo Xuemin never let anybody forget the “good” things she had done. She was sure that father would fall for her trick!
However, Mo Xuemin had used the trick so many times that Mo Xuetong wondered if it would keep working…