"So what? I remember the main wife was pregnant with a baby at that time, which was my legitimate brother. When you did that, you didn"t hesitate like this!" Mo Xuemin blamed Auntie Fang with no pity, "You should know that girl has become suspicious of you. If she asks for help from General Manor and searches our house at Cloud City through, can you make sure that she can"t find any evidence? At that time, we were leaving for the capital, you couldn"t have clean it all up, could you?"
If this thing was revealed, it wouldn"t matter anymore whether she could get the position of the main wife or not! Auntie Fang"s face paled instantly, pointed at Mo Xuemin in horror and just couldn"t say anything. That thing was the secret at the bottom of her heart, and she thought Mo Xuemin didn"t know it. She couldn"t imagine that Mo Xuemin would bring it up.
That meant she had known already? How would she know? How could she know? That thing was done secretly, and even Mo Huawen never suspected of it. How could Mo Xuemin who was only eleven years old by then know? Thinking about that maybe Mo Xuemin wasn"t the only one who knew it, and Mo Huawen might get to know the whole process of that thing, Auntie Fang"s hand fell onto the edge of the bed frightenedly and started to s.h.i.+ver.
"Concubine, now between you and that girl, only one can survive. If you stick to being stupid and don"t figure out the real situation, sticking to your stupid idea and waiting for dad to think and give you the position of the main wife, you"re waiting for death. By then whether your child is born alive or not, he or she will have no mother in the end, and my brother and I will be concubine"s children and looked down on for the rest of our lives. Father won"t treat the child well, whose mother had killed his main wife. So, either the child in your belly dies now, or all of us die together."
Mo Xuemin"s grim voice sounded in the house. That beautiful but pale face brought the feeling of horror and ferocity without reason. Under the dim light, Mo Xuemin"s shadow cast on the bed, which enveloped Auntie Fang"s pale and livid face, exaggerating the ghastly horrible atmosphere.
Auntie Fang"s fingers trembled!
She couldn"t, she couldn"t let Mo Huawen find the truth. Mo Xuemin didn"t exaggerate. Due to Mo Huawen"s character and his affection for Luo Xia, if he found the truth, he wouldn"t forgive her. Auntie Fang didn"t dare to gamble on this. To tell the truth, she can"t gamble on Mo Yufeng"s future, her wealth, or her rank.
"What"s more, it may not be a son, but just a daughter." Mo Xuemin continued to coax her. Seeing Auntie Fang"s face turning from pale to livid, she knew that she almost succeded. She stood up and her face lit up with a gentle smile.
She walked to the bed, squatted, reached out to hold Auntie Fang"s hand and said tenderly, "Haven"t you always hoped that I could call you mom? If you get the position of the main wife, my brother and I could even call you mom in front of other people! And you don"t have to act furtively, or do those filthy things. When you get the position of the main wife, my father will love you more, and you can have another baby. The lost one can be made up..."
"B, but..." Auntie Fang opened her mouth and gasped for breath. Cold sweat was spreading across her forehead.
"There is no but. What makes a secret secret is that no one will ever know it. If anyone knows it, it will get him trouble and death!" Mo Xuemin stood up and said with a gentle smile.
"No, that"s your blood younger brother!" Auntie Fang held pieces of Mo Xuemin"s clothes desperately, and begged her with wide open eyes.
"OK, now that you love your children so much, as a daughter, I"ll give you another solution. If you can"t achieve that, this will be the only way." Mo Xuemin looked condescending and coldly looked at Auntie Fang who was almost humble in the contrast.
At the same time, at the entrance of the imperial palace, Mo Huawen held the imperial edict in hand and felt very worried. He felt very vexed and confused inside. There was already someone from his mansion waiting at the entrance of the imperial palace. When he saw Mo Huawen come out, he told him the good news. Knowing that Mo Xuetong was safe, Mo Huawen just felt relieved. But when he glanced at the imperial edict, he was worried again and forced a faint smile.
In such a strange situation, as an official, if he didn"t deal with it correctly, it might be difficult to predict...
Last night, a thief went into Mingguo Manor, which had never happened before. The Four Feat n.o.ble Families not only have strong capabilities from the outside but also have unimaginable skills in private. How brave the thief was to steal there! But somehow last night, when there was a fire at Mo Manor, it was stolen.
The last official was dismissed because of this.
It was said that more than ten thieves got to Chuihua Men at Mingguo Manor at midnight yesterday, and killed several old maids. They rushed into the inner court and robbed plenty of treasures. When people at Mingguo Manor realized that, it had been a while. Then there was a mess. Some of the thieves were killed right away, and the others escaped.
More importantly, a girl at Mingguo Manor was looted away. If this news got out, it would not only ruin the girl"s name but also bring shame to then entire family. Such a thing happened at this Feat n.o.ble Family. Emperor Zongwen was very furious and ordered that they had to find the thieves and kill them no matter what it would take. But now they were gone, it would be so hard for Mo Huawen to find them in such a big world.
Mo Huawen got into the carriage helplessly and decided to have a look at Tong"er at first. When he went back to his study, he would convene the staff and come up with a solution. It was great that the emperor didn"t set a deadline, so they still had time to think of a plan. But before the carriage could go far, it was stopped. Outside the carriage, the duke"s son, You Yuecheng looked more determined than before in the moonlight.
"Greetings to Official Mo, could I have several minutes with you?" You Yuecheng held the sword with his left hand, and cupped his hand in the other toward Mo Huawen.
Mo Huawen had to get out of the car, followed him to the side of the road and asked, "His Excellency, what is it?"
"Official Mo, I have a request. I hope it won"t bring you any trouble. If you have any information on my fifth younger sister, would you please inform me of it right away?" You Yuecheng said in a soft voice and his face seemed colder.
That fifth younger sister must be that missing girl in Mingguo Manor! Looking at his sword, Mo Huawen knew what his words meant and sighed lightly. It was not such a pleasant thing to be born in such a rich family. But he replied without any hesitation. "His Excellency is too polite, and I will inform you as soon as I get any information about your sister."
"Thank you, Official Mo." You Yuecheng offered a big bow, turned around and disappeared with his men in the darkness. He was not heading to Mingguo Manor, so it was clear that he didn"t give up the chance to find his sister by himself.
Looking at his back figure, Mo Huawen didn"t know whether he should be happy or nervous, but he felt relieved at last. Compared with what happened at Mingguo Manor, the thing that happened at Mo Manor was a minor one. Min"er had a nice marriage at last. He didn"t want his daughter to be a concubine. But Mo Xueqiong was not a talented one, so he had nothing to do with it!
He shook his head, frowned and went into the carriage. He ordered carter to start. The carter whipped at the horse and drove toward Mo Manor.
Indeed, the next day, the news about Mingguo Manor spread across the city.
The fire in Mo Manor was not that important when compared with the accident in Mingguo Manor. There were just some small rumors about it.
After all, Mo Manor was the residence of a third-grade official that couldn"t match with You Manor. Besides, the thing happened at Mo Manor was trivial. People heard that it was a mistake. The girl who was saved from the fire by Zhenguo Hou His Excellency was not the first miss, but the fourth miss. The clothes of the sisters in Mo Manor were quite similar. So, the maid made a mistake and called the wrong one. Later, they realized it was the fourth miss.
The fourth miss at Mo Manor was a concubine"s daughter, so Duke"s manor couldn"t marry her as the main wife, but only to be a concubine. Since Sima His Excellency didn"t have the main wife, so she was just given a concubine"s place. Besides, the miss forth was very young. It would take two or three years more for her to be the concubine. By then, Sima His Excellency would have a main wife or even a son. So, it would be perfect for her to marry him.
That was what the news was. But there was another version. It was said that the first miss that had been saved then, but the first miss didn"t agree to be the concubine. So, she made her younger sister the one to be the concubine. But no matter whether it was true or not, it was satisfying that Mo Xueqiong would become Sima Lingyun"s concubine.
Anyway, Mo Huawen didn"t want to let his talented and intelligent first daughter be a concubine, but when such a thing happened, someone had to deal with it. Now that Mo Xueqiong and Sima Lingyun had some emotional connections, Mo Huawen had to adopt the advice given by Auntie Fang. At least, in this way, one of his daughters didn"t have to be a concubine.
Mo Xuemin was very quiet. Ordinarily, she used to greet grandma in the yard, visit Auntie Fang and make many small clothes for the child in Auntie Fang"s belly when she was free.
After Mo Xuetong recovered, she continued to greet and visit grandma. And granda still treated her indifferently. She just waved her hand and let her go. Mo Xueyan was the only granddaughter who could stay with her for a long time and chat with her. Grandma didn"t like other granddaughters.
If it wasn"t for the fact that her granddaughter"s marriage had to depend on Mo Huawen, she wouldn"t want to chat with Mo Xuetong and Mo Xuemin. But Mo Xuetong didn"t seem to realize this at all, because she just followed the courtesy as a granddaughter and always kept the older lady company. That day, grandma just murmured something and sent her away.
By the time she just returned to the court, Mo Yu ran to her with an invitation in her hand and said, "Miss, Old Madame Qin sent an invitation to ask if you have time to accompany her to the Buddha at Qingliang Temple in the countryside?"
The Qin"s had come to the capital for some time but didn"t send the invitation until then. It was clear that their relations.h.i.+p was not close as before.
"Is it from grandaunt"s maid?" Mo Xuetong took it over, opened it with a smile and asked.
"It"s not from Old Madam, but a maid of Madame Yu. She seemed to be a second-grade maid in her yard, named Xia"er." Mo Yu was also surprised.
"Where is she?" Mo Xuetong put down the invitation and asked lightly.
"She was in the yard. Miss, you may go back into the room. I"ll ask her to come in so that you can question her."
Mo Xuetong took Mo Lan into the room and sat down. Mo Yu led in a small maid who was about thirteen years old. Mo Xuetong and her maids had stayed in Qin Manor for more than a year, so they knew the maid was from Mdm Yu"s yard. Old Madam Qin and Mdm Yu didn"t get along well all the time, and she normally wouldn"t send anyone from Mdm Yu"s yard.