Chapter 267: A habit that lasted 10 years, through rain and shine
Mo Xueyan did not expect that joining this palace feast was one of the most correct decisions that she made.
She had successfully gotten married!
Even though she was married to You Yuecheng’s brother and not His Excellency Ming General, he was still married into Mingguo Manor. Furthermore, she was married to a reputable aristocrat, someone she had never imagined herself marrying in the past. The only concern was that he was the son of a concubine.
However, that would not be the problem since she could enjoy all the riches in the world after she gets married into Mingguo Manor.
She felt herself being strangled by Ming General You Zi and felt herself falling into the lake and being saved by You Yuelin. In front of the crowd, You Yuelin saved her from the lake, hugging her tightly. As if she was dreaming, the Empress opened her mouth and spoke. Even though she did not directly order the marriage, she allowed the two to exchange tokens of love.
With the Empress as a witness, this matter was pretty much settled.
From a desperate route, Mo Xueyan suddenly entered a sunny path of success. She was first confused before being surprised and finally became proud of herself. Her joy and excitement increased by the minute.
The servants were all waiting by the side and congratulated her, as they had heard the news prior. Having a good mood, she rewarded the servants handsomely, a rare gesture from the usually stingy girl.
At a forked route, Mo Xueyan stopped and sighed quietly before turning and walking towards Qingwei Garden, where Mo Xuetong stayed. Forcing her grandmother to act paid off since she obtained such a good marriage. Even though the process was troubling, the result was not bad.
Believing that she would be married into an aristocrat’s family immediately as his wife, Mo Xueyan, was uncontrollably arrogant and prideful. She could not wait to show off in front of Mo Xuetong and share this delightful news with her.
Mo Xueyan had never been someone who restricted herself. She decided to go to Qingwei Garden to see Mo Xuetong immediately.
Inside Qingwei Garden, Mo Xuetong was still injured.
“Oh my, Third Sister, you should have seen how polite the princes of Mingguo Manor were. Seeing that I had accidentally fallen into the lake, he hurriedly jumped in to save me. Indeed, it was fate that made me meet him. Our oldest sister can only marry herself to someone from Duke’s manor. How can a duke compare himself to a real prince.” Mo Xueyan smiled, accentuating her bright red lips, which had been decorated with a thick layer of lipstick. Before Mo Xuetong even spoke, she slumped onto her chair and continued, “You can come and see what the princes’ manor looks like when you get married over.”
“Thank you for your invitation.” Mo Xuetong was lying on her bed, a faint smile on her face.
“No need to thank me, we are family. When I am rich in the future, I will reward you too. If I have the chance, I will help you find a good husband too.” Mo Xueyan was beaming with happiness, squeezing a teacup tightly with her polished hands. Her newly trimmed long nails were poised as if they could penetrate the porcelain cup.
“Second Miss, my lady is tired. You should go back soon.” Mo Yu was trying her best to restrain her anger, especially since she knew it was Mo Xueyan who harmed her lady.
“Hey, you are just a servant…” Mo Xueyan was annoyed to have been interrupted in her delightful speech by Mo Yu. A tinge of hatred showed on her smiling face. If not for her good mood, she would have sapped Mo Yu already.
Mo Xuetong raised her hand to stop Mo Yu from talking. Smiling faintly, she continued, “Second Sister, our grandmother is looking for you. She wants to know what happened in the palace. Don’t stay here for too long, lest our grandmother gets annoyed.”
The thought of her grandmother made Mo Xueyan more prideful. She smiled brighter and decided not to punish Mo Yu. Even though she was arrogant and delighted, she pretended to be caring and said to Mo Xuetong, “Third Sister, don’t be anxious or jealous of my luck. When your leg recovers, I will bring you to more feasts and parties, and you will naturally find a good marriage.”
Before Mo Xuetong could even answer, she left with her servant, with her head up in pride.
“Miss…”
“Mo Yu, help me find out what exactly happened in the palace.” Mo Xuetong closed her eyes. She did not understand why Mingguo Manor would choose Mo Xueyan as the match for their prince. There must be something that she was not aware of.
You Yuecheng is not a fool.
It was strange that why would Mingguo Manor allow their sons to marry the daughter of a businessman, and why did the Empress interfere in the decision. Mo Xueyan was confused by the happenings, but she did know that something was amiss.
“Yes.” Seeing that Mo Xuetong’s expression turned stone cold, Mo Yu did not dare to express her anger of Mo Xueyan further. She hurried, “Miss, I shall go and gather information now. I will visit Nanny Ming tomorrow as well.”
Mo Xuetong nodded her head. She knew that Mo Yu was talking about He Xia. Ever since He Xia settled down, her health slowly recovered. To evade attention, she was staying in her mother’s Manor. Two days ago, she sent someone to hint that she had remembered something again. Nanny Ming sent someone trustworthy to ask, and she should have received the information by now.
Mo Yu retreated quietly. Only Mo Ye was left in the room accompanying Mo Xuetong.
The room was tranquil, such that even the sound of the wind blowing past curtain could be heard. Staring at the porcelain teacup in front of her for a long while, Mo Xuetong asked.
“Mo Ye, did Mo Feng find anything stalking Mr. Xing?”
“Mo Feng reported that Mr. Xing had a very normal schedule. He usually travels to and fro his shop and his house. He has a wife and two children left at home, and no one else.” Mo Ye answered.
Ever since Mo Xuetong found Mr. Xing’s reply suspicious, she allocated someone to stalk him. However, Mr. Xing did not appear suspicious at all. If he was not innocent, he must be hiding his secrets extremely carefully. Mo Xuetong believed that Mr. Xing had hidden his tracks well as there is a huge conspiracy surrounding this matter.
“But…” Mo Ye hesitated here.
“What’s wrong?” Mo Xuetong asked in shock as she stopped threading.
“Before Mr. Xing goes home every day, he will buy some snacks from a neighborhood restaurant. He repeats this day after day. I have asked Mo Feng to check, and we discovered that the restaurant’s specialty is their roasted chicken, which attracted many costumers. They will run out of chickens from time to time, but they always reserve one for Mr. Xing for the past ten years. Perhaps it was because he is an old costumer.”
Only single men who are too lazy to cook will visit restaurants often. Since the roasted chicken is a specialty, it will naturally be more expensive. Even though Mr. Xing had a pretty good income, he had to fend for his family, and thus, this was a strange act.
“Mr. Xing loved that roasted chicken and will always buy from there. Even if the weather is horrible, Mr. Xing will still go.”
What kind of chicken will tempt Mr. Xing so much?
Mo Xuetong did not expect that the servant that her mother had left behind will be so complicated.
“Ask Mo Feng to continue monitoring the man. If he does anything unusual, inform me immediately.” Mo Xuetong raised her head slightly and ordered. She had a gut feeling that this seemingly honest shopkeeper is harboring a big secret. Regardless of what secret that her mother’s store had been hiding, the fact that her father never suspected it for all these years made it impressive.
“Alright, I also asked Mo Feng to investigate the restaurant, but we have no discoveries yet.” Mo Ye explained, nervous.
“Go and find out the owner of the restaurant,” Mo Xuetong sighed. “And find out how long the restaurant had been open. Mr. Xing only took over Xiuning Workshop for these few years. There could be a connection.”
“Are you suspecting that Mr. Xing knows the owner of the restaurant?” Mo Ye asked, confused.
“I don’t know. All is possible.” Mo Xuetong lowered her head. The more she found out about her mother, the more she did not believe that the ignorant Auntie Fang harmed her mother. Even though Auntie Fang was malicious, her mother also harbored many deep secrets, which meant that there must be someone capable of her side.
Like Mr. Xing…
Will a woman with such secrets be so easily harmed by Auntie Fang? Mo Xuetong regretted not opening her mother’s letters. In the act of respect, she did not look at the letters her mother sent to her dad. Perhaps the answer lies within the letters. But now, she had to gather clues by herself to find out the secrets of her mother.
She even did not speak of this important matter to her father!
The curtain was gently lifted as Mo Lan entered. “Miss, Forth Miss is here.”
“What a special day to have both my sisters are looking for me after returning from the palace!” Mo Xuetong nodded, inviting Mo Xueqiong in.
As Mo Xueqiong entered, Mo Xuetong put down the embroidery in her hand. She did not want to sew but instead was thinking about the strange matters she had encountered while looking at the embroideries.
“Third Sister, I hurried over to send you a letter. A man asked me to bring a letter to you.” Mo Xueqiong took a sip of the tea that Mo Lan handed over before slamming down the teacup, with a tinge of mockery lingering on her lips. “I didn’t expect my Third Sister to have such a close companion that asked me to deliver a letter to you. I wanted to hand the letter to father, but I figured that you are more anxious, and thus, I rushed over.”
Actually, she had already sent the letter to Mo Huawen but she wanted to see how anxious Mo Xuetong would be.
“She was accusing me of having an affair!”
Mo Xueqiong will not let go of any opportunity to mock her.
Mo Xuetong snickered as she replied calmly, “How dare someone to send me a direct letter! Fourth Sister, you should have sent the letter directly to father, and let him judge! How can you send me a letter for no reason? Did you forget the teachings from ‘Classics for Women’?”
“Third Sister, I am merely a messenger. How am I at fault?” Mo Xueqiong did not expect Mo Xuetong to be so unconcerned and thus became embarrassed. It was an unsatisfactory feeling as if she had just punched cotton.
“Forth Sister said that the letter was for me. But what evidence do you have? For us girls, a clear name is important. If you help others deliver letters, you might be tainting your reputation.” Mo Xuetong looked straight at her with her pure black pupils, making Mo Xueqiong look away out of discomfort.
“I had already handed the letter to my father…” Unwilling to be weak, Mo Xueqiong threatened her.
“That should be the case. Father will handle the matter perfectly.” Mo Xueqiong took up the teacup and sipped on the tea, not afraid at all by the threat. She did not want the letter, be it crafted by Mo Xueqiong or not.
She did not think that anyone will send a letter to her through Mo Xueqiong.
“The man said to hand over the letter personally to you.” Mo Xueqiong sneered, “Were you corresponding with him and deliberately lied to me to prevent me from knowing the truth?”
She wanted to force her to admit that she was having an affair.
Mo Xuetong’s face sank. “Fourth Sister, you shall be direct with your words and not to frame me without any reason! You found a letter from nowhere and wanted to send it to me?! Come, come, let’s go to father and see what he had to say. Fourth Sister, you brought a letter from nowhere and dared to bring it to us?”
She did not want to waste her time here with Mo Xueqiong, who merely wanted to gain the favor of her father. However, this method is too superficial.
Mo Xueqiong and Mo Xueyan returned to the manor together, but they entered their gardens one after another because Mo Xueqiong went to see their father.
“Mo Xuetong, don’t be arrogant! How can you defend yourself for your affairs!” Mo Xueqiong was provoked by Mo Xuetong and stood up, slamming the table. Regardless of the truth, she wanted to insist that Mo Xuetong did have an affair.
A snort came from the doorsteps. “Who dare accuse Tong’er of having an affair!”