“When you go to Qingliang Temple this time, who else will go there besides grandaunt and aunt?” Mo Xuetong said smilingly, with her fingers rapping on the table casually.
She was different from the way she had been when she had left the Qin Manor. She was much less plaintive but much calmer as a young lady from a rich family. When she lifted her cold eyes, though talking smilingly, she had an imposing manner, which made the maids following her all the time identify with her opinions involuntarily.
“Madam also invited the concubine and miss from her uncle’s family, and Old Madam asked the second son to come along, which would add to the lively atmosphere.” The little maid answered in full details.
As expected, it was not arranged by Mdm Qin. But Mdm Yu had no good impression of her, and even tried to get rid of her the other day. Mo Xuetong laughed grimly and thought that she wouldn’t invite her without a good reason.
Besides, there was Yu Sirong, who was blamed and kicked out by her father, and Yu Sirong’s mother named Mdm Chen. Mo Xuetong had seen that Madam before, who was said to be vicious. It could be proved by the fact that Yu Sirong had no brothers or sisters from a concubine.
So many people seemed to be against her, whatever, Yu Sirong had owed her so much the previous life that hadn’t been paid back! If she wanted to frame her like in the previous life, she would let her pay for it. Her hand that was holding the handkerchief pinched a little, and then she lifted her eyes and said.
“Tell grandaunt that I am free tomorrow, and I will go to Qingliang Temple with her!”
Having made up her mind, she waved her hand to have people tip the maid. Then Mo Yu led her out.
Qingliang Temple was not a big temple which was located in the countryside, but it attracted a great number of worshippers and pilgrims. Besides, people heard that the monks there were good at cooking vegetarian meals, which attracted numerous people from the world. And there were many plum trees. Though they were not as famous as the plum trees in King Jin Manor, they were pretty beautiful.
The legend had it that a long time ago, a scholar headed to the capital to take the examination. He passed out by the road in winter without money to pay for a room in the inn. A monk from the temple saved him, brought him into the temple, and offered him accommodation. Later then, the scholar did find his name on the list of successful candidates. So he not only rebuilt a golden body for the Buddha in the temple, but also planted many plum trees in the temple, which symbolized the noble qualities of the monks.
Therefore, plenty of people went to Qingliang Temple to eat a vegetarian meal and watch plum blossoms.
Out of entertaining purpose, most people liked to go there.
Mdm Yu and Yu Sirong intended to do something to her there…
Whatever, if it’s supposed to come, it would come. She had no chance to escape, and she didn’t want to escape.
“Mo Lan, how is Mo He doing?” After standing by the window for quite a while, Mo Xuetong sat down, took over the tea offered by Mo Lan and asked.
It had been a while after Mo He’s affair. But what happened next caught her unprepared, so she had no time to ask about Mo He’s affair. This morning, Mo Yu came to report that Mo He wanted to talk with her in private.
She had been very disappointed at Mo He already. It’s common to make the same mistakes all over. Now that Mo He could discard their friendship for a man and left her in trouble, there was a great possibility that she would do that again. Since she had this second life, she had become cruel.
In addition, if Mo He was regretful, she would have mentioned it to Mo Lan and Mo Yu. They grew up together, so there was nothing they couldn’t share. But she waited until her recovery to beg for mercy. So if she didn’t make it, she might not beg for her mercy and still be the first maid.
It’s not such a horrible thing to make mistakes. But she didn’t even realize her mistake, and only begged for mercy when she had to. She didn’t dare to keep someone like her. She just wanted someone loyal, but it’s a pity to fall out with Mo He.
She didn’t expect that she would betray her so quickly…
She used to think that her liveliness was an expression of innocence. Now she realized that it was herself who excessively beautified it.
“Miss, Mo He wants to see you, and she said she would never do anything like that in the future.” Mo Lan answered.
“Mo Lan, you pack some clothes for her, and some silver. Besides, you can bring this jewelry of mine to her, as a memory of our friendship. And you can give her indenture back. Both of her parents seemed dead, so there is no relative of her in the manor.” Mo Xuetong kneaded her eyebrows and said.
Driving her away before the big mistake, she had paid back for their friendship in her last life.
Mo Lan understood what she meant, but she couldn’t help saying, “Miss, are you sure that you want to let Mo He leave? She…”
They had been growing up with Mo Xuetong since they were young, which brought them a close connection different from others’.
“Of course, it’s true. Do you think what Mo He did isn’t a big deal?” A cold smile appeared on Mo Xuetong’s face, “If someday Mo He and Bai Yihao’s maid really have a quarrel in the manor, my honor will be damaged. When that happens, what should I do? Most people in the manor treat me coldly. If something shameful happens, they’ll do everything they can to kill me.”
Auntie Fang and Mo Xuemin had been waiting for such a chance, so she was even more determinedly and she could not do anything wrong.
“You should also bring this back to her. It was found in her room, and belonged to Auntie Fang.” Mo Xuetong took out a diamond hairpin from the drawer of the dressing table and gave it to Mo Lan. From the glamorous radiance of the diamond, it was clear that a maid couldn’t afford anything like that.
Mo Lan trembled in her heart, and her face turned pale when she looked at the hairpin in her hand.
She was smart, and she had heard something from Mo He these days. When Mo Xuetong told her the thing with all the details, she understood that she did try to frame their miss. As a result, she didn’t dare to say anything more, brought Mo Xuetong’s jewelry and some of her own, and delivered them to the room where Mo He was kept.
She told the nannies to open the door. Walking in, she saw Mo He sitting on the couch. She hadn’t seen her for only a few days, but Mo He’s face turned thin and pale. Her pretty face was blank and decadent, which was pitiful to see. But Mo Lan just couldn’t pity her.
“Mo Lan, when will miss come to see me?” Hearing the sound of the opening door, Mo He stood up and asked hurriedly.
“Mo He, miss don’t want to see you because of that thing. Considering the emotions of being a maid of her, miss asked me to give you these and your indenture when you entered the manor. I also prepared some for you. You can take them all.” Seeing that Mo He’s eyes were full of expectation, Mo Lan hesitated for a while. Then she sighed and took all the stuff out.
“Why? Why miss dismissed me?” Mo He got scared, pulled Mo Lan’s hand and hurriedly asked.
The result was so different from what she had in mind, so it frightened her very much. She had thought that Mo Xuetong would lock her up for a few days at most or might punish her. But it shouldn’t be like this!
“Mo He, you should know it, right?” Mo Lan coldly took her hand out of hers. She didn’t look at her anymore, put down the things, turned around and left. She paused by the door when she heard the sound of Mo He falling down, but she didn’t go back in again. She just walked out of the door directly, and the door was heavily closed.
Now that everyone knew the truth, she didn’t need to elaborate. Nobody was so stupid as expected. The reason why Mo Lan pleaded for Mo He was that she hadn’t known the truth. Now she understood that she had been fooled by Mo He. She couldn’t imagine that Mo He had become so different at some point.
The things Auntie Fang gave her even made her discard the sisterhood with her and emotions with her miss.
It was fine that at least miss didn’t make her disgraceful. Mo Lan knew that miss would also give her and Mo Yu the dignity.
The next day, Qin Manor did send someone there. Mo Xuetong and Mo Huawen headed to Qin Manor in the carriage after a notice. Since they greeted grandma first, they were a bit late there. Mdm Qin saw her but said nothing, after a short greeting, she brought Mo Xuetong out of the gate.
Out of the Manor, Mdm Yu had already been waiting there. When she saw Mo Xuetong came holding Mdm Qin’s hand. Her eyes blinked, warmly walked to them, greeted and then said to Mdm Qin, “Mother, it’s a nice day today and suitable for an outing. I heard that the vegetarian meals in Qingliang Temple were great, so I thought we could go there to try the vegetarian meals and live there for several days to relaxe.”
Hearing what she said, Mo Xuetong couldn’t hold back her surprise because she didn’t expect that they would live there for several days. It was not scheduled. Then she played innocent, looked at Mdm Qin, and asked uneasily, “Grandaunt, do we have to live there for several days? If so, I don’t know what to do, for I didn’t bring enough clothes.”
Looking at her little embarrassed cute face, Mdm Qin patted on her hand and said smilingly, “We don’t have to live there. The guest rooms in Qingliang Temple must be crowded, so we may not have a place to live in. Let’s have a look there first. If we want to live there, it’s okay to ask the maids and nannies to come back to get clothes.”
“Ah, I thought grandaunt had forgotten to inform Tong’er!” Mo Xuetong made a face smilingly and looked enlightened. Therefore, Mdm Qin patted her hand again with love. Looking at this cute little face, she thought about something different. She used to look down upon Mo Xuetong, but now it was different. Mo Huawen got promoted, and even Mo Xuetong became well-behaved and honey-mouthed.
If Xuan’er could marry her, it would be a nice marriage. She was much better than Yu Sirong, who had been staring at Xuan’er disgracefully. So as soon as Mdm Yu offered that advice, she agreed to take Mo Xuetong out immediately.
With that plan in mind, she treated Mo Xuetong even better.
Seeing that they were chatting cheerfully, Mdm Yu smiled kindly with them and said, “How could grandaunt forget Tong’er? She’ll never forget Tong’er. There is no need to worry. When everything is ready, grandaunt will send someone to get clothes, and dress Tong’er beautifully! Nobody will be able to compare with you.”
“Thank you, aunt!” Mo Xuetong smiled shyly and her face turned red because what was in her mind was spoken out loud.
The carriage had been ready for a while, and there were three of them. The first one was for Mdm Qin. The second was for Mdm Yu. And Mo Xuetong with Mo Lan and Mo Ye got into the third one. Qin Yuxuan rode on a horse. He had wanted to go ahead, but Mdm Yu asked him to look after the carriage. It was until then that he could come and greet Mo Xuetong!
Hardly had Mo Xuetong sit steadily in the carriage when someone knocked on the window of the carriage. Mo Xuetong opened the left window and saw Qin Yuxuan’s gentle and handsome face. The boy was beaming evidently.
“Sister Tong, this is for you. It’ll take a long time to get there, and this will make you feel peaceful and refreshed.” Qin Yuxuan handed over a middle-sized brocade box. As soon as it was opened, a fresh smell came out which smelt like orchids in the valley. It was quite refreshing, and it would be a necessity during a long, dreary trip.
“Thank you, Cousin Xuan! I may cause you a lot of trouble along the road, and please inform me of delicious food and great entertainment!” Cousin Xuan always looked after her so carefully, which moved her. She closed the brocade box, curled her lip and bantered with him.
“Okay, if I find anything delicious or good amusement, I’ll ask you to come, all right?” Seeing that she spoke close to him as before, Qin Yuxuan’s face turned red with excitement. But he pretended to contemplate for a while before he answered smilingly.
“So it’s a deal!”
“Okay, it’s a deal!”
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