Chapter 160 A Secret Date in the Palace, and the Maid Sent a Secret Message
“What’s that? Let me have a look.” The attention of Feng Yulei who was sitting by the other side of Feng Yuxuan and always liked this kind of poems was caught by their beautiful sentences and got quite curious. Thus, he asked for it from Sir Qin who was sitting by the other side.
Sir Qin was actually in the middle of trouble and didn’t know what to do with it. He was wondering what to say next. When he heard that King Yan wanted to have a look at it, he stood up right away and handed it over to Feng Yulei obediently.
Feng Yulei didn’t have many concerns, taking it over and started to read, “Two b.u.t.terflies on a splendid dress, red rouge was uneven. Standing alone in a colorful dress, waiting for the swallow to come back in the light rain.” He put down the poem letter with a slight smile when he finished reading the poem, “It’s a nice love poem which describes the loneliness of an unmarried girl. The misses waited for the swallows to come back and waited alone in the rain. The splendid dress and red rouge made the poem so gorgeous. Eighth brother and His Excellency You are right about it.”
This was supposed to be a normal poem for those unmarried girls, but it gained unexpected coquetry after his explanation. Many people revealed content smiles and thought that this miss was so misbehaved to have written such a flashy poem.
“Third brother also thinks it is great, isn’t it? I think so, too. I haven’t seen such talented sentences back in Hongxiuzhao. It can be compared to the best poem there. I wonder who wrote it. Third brother, do you have any clue? Such a poem should be from a beauty.” Feng Yuran waved his hand at You Yuecheng smilingly, which showed he didn’t care about it. Then he smiled at Feng Yulei with interest.
He compared this poem from an unmarried girl with those flashy ones from the prost.i.tutes in Hongxiuzhao and said it could be compared to the best of them. After his remarks, this nice poem didn’t have any sobriety at all. Besides, it sounded like he wanted to see the girl in person, which made both Sir Qin and Feng Yulei embarra.s.sed.
They were all sons from famous and rich families and couldn’t smear a girl’s reputation like that. At first, Feng Yulei thought it was fun. But then he felt uncomfortable and pa.s.sed the poem to the servant standing by the side, which meant he wanted the poem to be pa.s.sed on.
In front of all the sirs coming from rich and famous families, he couldn’t disgrace his own family. Feng Yuran’s behavior smeared the whole imperial family and he was also disgraced. The servant following him was pretty smart. He stepped back and walked to the other end, which was distant from Feng Yuran and wouldn’t catch his attention.
“Eighth brother, I heard that you had just built Mingyue Pavilion in your manor recently, which was opposite to your Jinwei Pavilion. And there were not only rockery, stream, bridges and lotus pool but also some rare plum blossoms which are of two different colors. Is it because that you don’t want to live in Jinwei Pavilion and want to move out?” Feng Yulei smiled, took a cup of tea from the table and asked smilingly.
Everybody knew King Xuan had moved into Jinwei Pavilion because of instant enthusiasm. But none would imagine that he had the energy to change his residence just after he got grounded by Emperor. He was a dandy indeed.
Hearing them talking about his room, Feng Yuran blinked his eyes and seemed to become interested. He forgot about the poem and leaned on the banister behind, “Mingyue Pavilion is not finished yet. I do want to move in, third brother, but there are not enough plum blossoms. Maybe you can talk to dad about it and bring me some of the plum blossoms from King Jin’s old residence?”
Although it had been more than thirty years after King Jin’s attempt to seize the crown, some of the big families knew Emperor Zongwen cared about it, so they didn’t dare to mention it. No one would even mention King Jin’s old residence so recklessly like King Xuan. Through all these years, no one dared to mention it to bring up Emperor’s unhappiness though all knew it was King Jin’s old residence.
He was so reckless! Everyone was shocked inside, but they didn’t reveal any of it. Under their chattings, they were all listening to conversation between Feng Yulei and Feng Yuran secretly.
“Eighth brother must be kidding. I don’t dare to mention that in front dad which will definitely make him scold at me. It’s no big deal. If you really like plum blossoms, you can have mine which are also precious plum blossoms with two different colors. Do you like that?” Feng Yulei glanced at Feng Yuran, tasted the wine and said smilingly.
“Thank you so much. When I finish building Mingyue Pavilion, I can appreciate the bright moon and soft breeze there. By then, I’ll definitely invite you there with me, and we can dance with the beauty again, which will be a great fun and joy? Do you agree with me?” Feng Yuran’s eyes brightened and he smiled.
Invite the beauty to dance? How could he say such words in front of so many people? But he had to be polite for the sake of the royal family. He foung the situation very awkward…
“Let’s see then. I’ll definitely interrupt you at your manor if I have a chance.” Feng Yuxuan temporized.
“Yes, come with first brother if you have a chance.” Feng Yulei didn’t seem to be embarra.s.sed at all though he was temporizing him. And he dragged Feng Yuxuan into this. They were pretty clear that they both had their own business to mind and couldn’t mess around like Feng Yuran.
During their conversations, all the girls had packed their poem letter. The servant gathered all the poems in a beautiful box and delivered it from the left island.
Mo Xuetong didn’t know many people and didn’t have much to say to the others like Mo Xuemin. So she just quietly sat aside and looked at Mo Xuemin who was in the middle of the crowd and smiled gently and generously. She seemed to be the center of the party. By the time when the party was almost finished, those misses who had been in the performance walked back. They gathered in small groups of three or four and chatted with laughter.
Mo Xuetong felt peaceful because she knew few of them. She watched the view alone. The two islands lay across to each other in the beautiful surroundings were like two hands holding tightly.
A maid came over to refill her tea. When she was about to take over the tea, it didn’t land on her hand. Mo Xuetong lifted her head in astonishment. Then she saw the maid blinking at her, signaling at her to follow.
She looked around and saw everyone talking in small groups. She was the only one in the corner and was not noticeable. She put down the cup and stood up silently. Then she followed the maid to the other side. Beside them, Mo Xuemin was talking to some girl. Then she lifted her eyes and saw the color of Mo Xuetong’s clothes. A slight sign of pride and viciousness appeared by her lips. Then it turned into tenderness, and she continued her chatting and laughter with those misses.
“Where are you from? Is there anything wrong?” Mo Xuetong followed the maid to a quiet corner and stopped to ask.
The maid who was walking in the front turned around and bowed to her, “Are you Third Young Miss Mo? A young master asked me to give this to you.” She presented a piece of paper after the words.
Mo Xuetong took over the note and glanced at it. There were only a few words on it, which said “See you in Qingfang Pavilion at midnight! I knew something about your mom’s death”. There was no signature left on it. However, Mo Xuetong clenched her fist because it’s about her mother’s death.
“Miss, that sir left with the only sentence. He said that if you doubted about it, you would know the truth later. I’ll come to lead you there at the right time.” The maid saw her eyes got clear and cold and answered swiftly before she could ask.
“Where is that sir from?” Mo Xuetong asked though she knew she could get no answer.
The maid hesitated for a while as expected and replied obediently, “I really don’t know which family he belongs to, so I can’t tell you even if I want to. Please forgive me. I don’t know what’s on the note. If you really don’t want to go, I’ll go tell him. Is that okay?”
“There is no need. Thank you for telling me.” Mo Xuetong thought for a while and smiled lightly. Then she took a hairpin with a red diamond from her hair and gave it to the maid. She said gratefully.
“Thank you, miss. I didn’t do much for you and of course can’t take your jewelry.” Seeing such a beautiful golden hairpin, the maid hesitated but finally said no to the temptation.
“You’re too polite. You’ve done me a big favor and I have to give you something in return.” Mo Xuetong held her hand smilingly and warmly put the hairpin in her hand.
“Then I can only be thankful to you. Third miss should stay there by the river bank and wait for me to guide you there.” The maid refused a few times, but in vain, so she just accepted it smilingly and added. After the words, she bowed to Mo Xuetong and left.
This maid was not an average one, for that she naturally avoided her questions. She didn’t tell her where she was from. On one side, she said she knew nothing about the note. On the other side, she offered to lead her there. To tell her the truth about her mom’s death? Mo Xuetong felt the pain in her heart and then smiled coldly. Someone wanted to frame her for this cause, which meant someone knew what happened to her mom and her and that she was doubtful about her mom’s death.
Such a person must be from Mo Manor!
Someone that was from Mo Manor and had something to do with her mom’s death. Now this person had a connection in the palace…
It seemed that Mo Manor was more than complicated…
But she wondered how the maid found her in so many girls. She had been in the palace for only one time. Before that, she had been in Cloud City and hadn’t seen many people. So how could she recognize her so quickly? Thinking of how the maid looked around when she got in and how her eyes brightened when she saw Mo Xuemin, she understood it.
No wonder Mo Xuemin acted so prominently tonight and attracted all the madams and misses around her, leaving her alone and ignored. Mo Xuemin had always acted so gently and would never leave her alone so obviously, which would disgrace their sisterhood.
Her eyes quickly glanced at Mo Xuemin who was standing near, and her eyes turned bleak!
Mo Xuemin had something to do with it again!
When she got back, the party was almost ended. Queen was announcing the list of the final winners. However, unexpectedly, Mo Xuemin was the winner and there were so many crosses on her poem paper, which showed those young masters all appreciated her poem.
Therefore, Mo Xuemin was brought to Queen by maids.