Chapter 216 – Concubine Dong’S Lavish Gifts
“Yes… of course. Those gifts are specially prepared for her. So I must give them to her. I’ve asked Lord Marquis in person and he is really treating his daughters differently. Yuejiao has been growing up beside him for so many years. But in his eyes, Yuejiao is not better than the poor girl born by that bitch. He even asked me to let Yuejiao give way to Wei Yuewu!”
Recalling what Wei Luowen said just now, Concubine Dong gritted her teeth and said. Of course, she had to give those gifts to Wei Yuewu because those gifts were specially prepared for her.
On the way back to the capital, she received a letter from Lady Li. She once believed that Wei Yuewu was merely a little girl. But she didn’t expect that she would suffer such a blow because of her carelessness.
Since that was the case, don’t blame her for being unkind!
“Concubine, will Lord Marquis be suspicious?” Nanny Dong said worriedly.
“Suspicious? Does it have anything to do with me? I’m merely giving her some extra gifts. Given my status as a concubine, it’s quite reasonable for me to please the legitimate daughter born by the Marquise.” Concubine Dong sneered and her beautiful face showed a sinister look.
She was just one step away from becoming the new Marquise. But Wei Yuewu came back to the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang at this critical moment. If she had known that Wei Yuewu would ruin her plan, she would have been even more ruthless and gotten rid of her back then.
“Yes, you are right. You do everything for the good of the Sixth Young Lady. The Sixth Young Lady should blame no one but herself if she doesn’t behave properly.” Nanny Dong flattered and helped Concubine Dong back to her courtyard.
Everything outside had been tidied up. Many gifts were sent into Concubine Dong’s courtyard and then sent out by Concubine Dong.
Of course, the first gift was given to the Madam Dowager. The gift for the Madam Dowager was naturally the most precious.
After that, gifts were sent to the Second Master and the Second Lady, the Third Master and the Third Lady, followed by several nephews. And finally, gifts were sent to the daughters and nieces.
Although the Second Lady Li was not living in the mansion, she was still the wife of the Second Master, a minister. So, Concubine Dong especially sent people to deliver those gifts to Lady Li’s parents’ residence.
There was also a gift for Wei Fengyao from the Prince Nan’an Mansion and Concubine Dong delivered the gift to Prince Nan’an Mansion.
In the Lotus Courtyard, as soon as Wei Yuewu sat in front of the writing desk at the window, her gaze fell on the writing brush in the brush container once again. That brush gave her a very strange feeling. But when she looked around, she didn’t find anything unusual. Apart from the medicinal powder that could attract a dog’s attention and could even drive a dog crazy, nothing else was found on the brush.
Wei Yuewu stretched out her hand, took out the brush, and flipped through the brush to examine it. Nothing was special from its top, rod to its cap.
The brush had already been wiped and those medicinal powders had been completely removed. It was now a brush without any marking. There was nothing that could be used to frame her.
“Miss… is it possible that the brush was specially designed by the Eldest Young Lady in order to stop you from finding out any evidence?” Shufei couldn’t help but ask as she was also examining the brush with Wei Yuewu.
“It could be. But there should be some other reasons!” Wei Yuewu stared at the brush and thought to herself. Judging by what had happened last time, she could tell that Wei Fengyao was good at playing tricks and scheming others. Obviously, she had to be careful.
Recalling Wei Fengyao’s hateful and meaningful gaze at her, Wei Yuewu felt that gaze seemed to be especially meaningful, particularly under such a situation.
“Miss… Miss…” Huamo hurriedly rushed in. Because she was in a hurry, she accidentally hit Wei Yuewu’s hand. As a result, the brush in Wei Yuewu’s hand fell to the ground.
“I… I’m… Miss, what is this?” Huamo hurriedly apologized when she found that she had caused trouble. But when she saw the brush on the ground, she pointed at it and her look changed drastically!
Huamo rushed straight into the room because she had something urgent.
Wei Yuewu didn’t hold the brush tightly. As a result, the brush fell to the ground, and the tightly closed cap was knocked off, revealing a slip of folded paper.
Huamo screamed, “Miss, what is it?”
Wei Yuewu’s heart trembled. She bent down and picked up the slip of paper and opened it. There weren’t many characters on it. On the paper was a romantic poem. The signature below the poem was Qingzhao. Needless to say, the poem was written for her!
“Miss, this brush cap can actually be pulled open?” Shufei picked up the brush and cap on the ground and said.
Wei Yuewu had checked the brush several times. Although a small mark was found at the tip of the brush, the mark was not very deep. This showed that the brush was integrated. The mark at the tip of the brush was merely a part of its texture, without any real function.
However, after the brush fell off, Wei Yuewu found that it had a flat cut. It was clearly an incision made long ago. However, the incision could not be found from its appearance. If Huamo hadn’t rushed in quickly and forcefully hit the brush to the ground, the brush probably wouldn’t have been broken.
Previously, the puppy had also knocked over the brush container on the desk. But this brush did not show the slightest sign of breaking at that time.
“It’s that Xie Qingzhao again! Why does he keep causing trouble for us?” Huamo also saw the signature clearly and she said angrily.
Wei Yuewu’s gaze fell coldly on the slip of paper and the corners of her lips curled into a sneer. Since Xie Qingzhao was involved, it meant that Wei Qiufu had also taken action. Of course, with Wei Qiufu’s scheming capacity, it was impossible for her to directly get involved in this matter.
The name “Wu’er” at the very beginning plus the signature at the end of the poem were enough to prove Wei Yuewu’s love affair with Xie Qingzhao. Well, this imperial academician was really going all out for Wei Qiufu. But how come he was so confident that the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang would not disclose this matter?
Once this matter was known by the outside world, his career would be affected!
It seemed that after this incident, she had to meet Imperial Academician Xie, who had been busy interfering in the affairs of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang and had connections with several unmarried young ladies in the mansion.
She would like to see how shameless this Imperial Academician Xie could be and how many people he would harm for the sake of Wei Qiufu!
“Miss, what should we do?” Shufei picked up the brush and asked.
“Huamo, why did you come in such a hurry?” Wei Yuewu calmly turned to Huamo and asked.
Only when Wei Yuewu asked the question did Huamo remember what she was going to report to Wei Yuewu. She said hurriedly, “Miss, I heard that Concubine Dong is allocating gifts to the courtyards and she has even sent a gift to Lady Li who is now living with her parents. I happened to meet a nanny from Concubine Dong’s courtyard on my way. The nanny kept saying respectfully that Concubine Dong had prepared more gifts for you than for anyone else and that Concubine Dong values you the most! Miss, has Concubine Dong come up with another vicious plot against you?”
Ever since the several young maids started to work for Wei Yuewu, even the most simple-minded Huamo had become vigilant. Now, she was suspicious of Concubine Dong.
Wei Yuewu smiled. She picked up the brush cap that Shufei had placed on the side and put it back forcefully to the brush. As expected, no one could find that the brush cap and the brush were two parts from its appearance.
“To whom is the nanny sending the gift?” Wei Yuewu lowered her head and asked. Gifts must be delivered according to the order of seniority. Even though Wei Yuejiao was born by Concubine Dong, she could only be the last one receiving the gift. Nevertheless, for the sake of fairness, gifts for Wei Yuewu, Wei Qiufu, Wei Yuejiao, and Wei Qiuju should be delivered at the same time.
Wei Yuewu believed that Concubine Dong, who had always been good at pleasing others, would never get the order wrong.
“That nanny is going to deliver the gift to the Second Lady. She was going out when I met her.” Huamo thought for a moment. When she met that nanny, the nanny was still holding some gifts. The nanny should be delivering those gifts.
That meant gifts hadn’t been delivered to Wei Yuejiao and her yet!
Wei Yuewu’s heart skipped a beat. She took out the slip of paper from the brush and stood up. She picked up another brush from the desk and thought for a while. Then, she inked the brush and wrote something on the paper before flattening the paper and sitting down again.
“Shufei, can you recognize the Third Young Lady’s courtyard?” Wei Yuewu picked up the paper and asked.
“Yes, I can!” Shufei nodded.
“Do you know where Concubine Dong’s courtyard is?” Wei Yuewu folded the paper and carefully put it back into the brush. She raised her watery eyes and asked, “Is there a fork three-way intersection to Concubine Dong’s courtyard, the Lotus Courtyard, and the Third Young Lady’s courtyard?”
The reason why Wei Yuewu asked this was because it was a typical layout of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang. Several three-way intersections could always be found in the mansion so that everyone could get back to their own courtyards conveniently.
“Yes, there is. I remember that there is a place near the three-way intersection that could lead to our courtyard at one end and to the Third Young Lady’s courtyard at the other end, and it could lead to Concubine Dong’s courtyard as well.” Shufei thought for a moment and said.
Wei Yuewu put the brush and handed it to Shufei. She smiled coldly, “You just wait there. When Concubine Dong’s gift is being delivered to the Third Young Lady, you pretend to knock the gift over accidentally and put the brush into the gift.”
“Yes, I got it!” Shufei immediately understood what Wei Yuewu was going to do and answered with a smile.
“Miss, will Concubine Dong find out?” Huamo was a little bit worried.
“No! She is busy showing her ‘great love’ to me. She would not allow her servant to scold my maid. Moreover, in order to show fairness, she must be sending the gifts to us at the same time!”
Therefore, not only the gift for Wei Yuejiao but also the gift for Wei Yuewu would appear at that intersection. If many gifts were put together, the servants delivering the gifts would be unable to distinguish the gifts, not to mention a small brush!
“Yes, I got it!”
Shufei understood what Wei Yuewu meant. She smiled and turned to leave with the brush in her hand.
She waited at the edge of the three-way intersection. She looked as if she was tired after walking and was taking a break there. She knew that Concubine Dong would first send gifts to the Second Lady, Third Lady, and the young masters. And then, she would send gifts to the young ladies.
When Shufei saw three nannies carrying three sets of gifts, she knew those were the gifts given to the three young masters.
Not long after, Shufei found a total of four young maids coming. The leading young maid didn’t have many things in her hand. But the last young maid was holding the most things.
The four of them were divided into two groups, with two of them heading for the courtyards of the third branch. They should be sending gifts to Wei Qiufu and Wei Qiuju.
The gifts carried by the other two maids varied greatly in numbers. Everyone could see that Concubine was biased or preferred the one who was receiving more gifts.
At first glance, the gifts carried by one maid were several times more than the gifts carried by the other maid. Several nannies and young maids passing by started to talk about the gifts. They had already learned that more gifts were given to the Sixth Young Lady. So they kept praising Concubine Dong for her care about the Sixth Young Lady.
The three-way intersection was just ahead and the young maids were about to take different paths. Suddenly, Shufei, who was taking a break there, seemed to remember something. She shouted “Ah” and hurriedly passed them. Perhaps she was too panicked so that she lost her balance and immediately fell onto the young maid who was carrying more gifts.
Follow current nov𝒆ls on freew(𝒆)bnov𝒆l.(c)om