Chapter 379
Chapter 379 Peculiar Intentions
Was he stalling? Wei Yuewu smiled faintly. “Where did he go next?”
“After everything has been settled, he left the construction site. I followed him all the way as he walked around the mansion leisurely. It seemed that he was very familiar with the layout of the mansion. He even casually walked around the garden before finally turning to the flower gate.”
Because she felt that the geomancer might be stalling for time, Shufei thought about it carefully and continued, “I feel that he spent the longest time outside the door of a particular courtyard. There were a few plum blossoms planted there, but they weren’t that beautiful, so much so that they could captivate him to look at them again and again.”
“Did anyone come out?” Wei Yuewu frowned and asked.
“Yes! Someone did come out. I saw a woman pouring a basin of water out, and she seemed to accidentally pour it on him. She apologized to him and even said a few words to him, but I couldn’t hear anything because I was standing too far away.”
“Was she a maid?” Wei Yuewu nodded and asked.
“She doesn’t look like a maid. Although I was far away, I could see that she was not wearing the maid’s uniform. The maids’ uniforms in the mansion are only of these few colors, and they are all very ordinary. That woman’s clothes were much more gorgeous, and she looked very charming and beautiful.”
There were only servants and masters in the mansion, but no Master in the mansion would personally come out to pour water. If she was neither a maid nor a master, who was she?
“Where is that courtyard?”
“That place isn’t the second branch,” Shufei said uncertainly. She was certain that she had never been to that courtyard before.
Concubine Huang was now in charge of the second branch, but having a concubine take charge of the affairs was unjustifiable. Moreover, only the Second Master and Eldest Young Master were left in the courtyard, and both the young ladies of the second branch were not in the mansion.
Ever since the Eldest Young Master came back, Concubine Huang found it more and more difficult to manage the household. After all, Wei Ziyang was a grown-up now, and Concubine Huang couldn’t interfere with the affairs in his courtyard. Moreover, Concubine Huang was not favored at the moment. The one who was favored was Concubine Luo from Mulberry Picking Courtyard who was sent over by Mo Huating.
Therefore, the second branch was in a mess recently!
“Is Eldest Brother in the mansion?” Wei Yuewu’s gaze fell on the window, and her eyes dimmed slightly. After the incident with Lady Li, Wei Ziyang had not been in the mansion for several days. She did not know where he had gone. She only heard that he lived in a friend’s house. When she entered the palace, he was still nowhere to be seen.
“The Eldest Young Master has not returned to the mansion. I heard that he lived in Prefectural Prince Huai Mansion, but he had been back once. After the incident with the Eldest Young Lady, he accompanied the Madam Dowager to visit the Eldest Young Lady, but he continued to stay at Prefectural Prince Huai’s place after that,” Shufei replied.
The new Prefectural Prince Huai, Han Ming, was said to be Master Fenghe’s younger sister’s son. He and Wei Ziyang had been friends since childhood, so it was understandable for Wei Ziyang to live in his place.
Wei Yuewu actually felt a deep sense of guilt towards Wei Ziyang. However, she had no choice but to take this step.
“Where did the geomancer go after that?” Wei Yuewu adjusted her thoughts to the current situation.
“After that, he stopped wandering around and went straight to the flower gate. When he was there, he greeted the old maidservant who was guarding the door and then left,” Shufei thought for a moment and answered.
She did not suspect anything before, but now she felt that it was really suspicious. She thought about it and looked at the calm Wei Yuewu. In the end, she could not help but ask curiously, “Miss, do you think that the geomancer hooked up with someone in our mansion again?”
Shufei listened to Jin Ling’s report. Then, the more she thought about it, the more she felt that it was possible. The geomancer was obnoxious, to begin with. He could have hooked up with someone in the mansion, right?
“That place is close to the flower gate, right?” Wei Yuewu did not answer Shufei’s question, but she asked her a question instead.
Huamo had already dried her hair for her, so she draped her hair over her shoulder and let it dry for a bit.
“Yes, it is very close, but it needs to take a detour. I think that the wall is probably connected to the wall outside the flower gate, just like the yard where the Fifth Young Lady and Fourth Young Lady met Imperial Academician Xie last time.” For a moment, Shufei could not describe the courtyard. Suddenly, she thought of the courtyard where Wei Qiuju and Lady Li had framed her Miss the other day.
“Eldest Young Master’s courtyard?” Wei Yuewu’s heart skipped a beat.
“Not entirely. There may be no courtyard there, but the wall should be connected with the outside of the flower gate,” Shufei explained.
“We’ll visit the Madam Dowager first, and then we’ll take a look at the courtyard,” Wei Yuewu said as she gestured for Huamo to tie up her hair. She was basically certain of the woman’s identity now, but she wasn’t sure of the exact details. She had to take a good look at her.
Once suspected, it would be difficult to clear one’s name. Since the Madam Dowager believed the geomancer so much, she wanted the Madam Dowager to see if the geomancer was trustworthy.
“Miss, are we going to visit the Madam Dowager now?” Huamo asked while combing her hair.
“Yes, now. After all, it was because of me and Wei Yuejiao who caused Grandmother to have the asthma attack.” Wei Yuewu looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes filled with ridicule.
The Madam Dowager always thought highly of Wei Yuejiao. It was said that she favored Wei Yuejiao more than Wei Yan in the past. She was even considerate to Concubine Dong and wanted to help her ascend to the position of Marquise Hua Yang. She wondered if the Madam Dowager would still have such thoughts under this circumstance.
Moreover, there was a scheme behind all this. The incident in the small kitchen was only a prelude to her plan. The big events were coming later…
When Wei Yuewu arrived at the Madam Dowager’s Tranquility Courtyard, Wei Luowen and his two brothers were there. Wei Qiufu, Wei Qiuju, Wei Ziyi, and Wei Zifeng of the third branch were all there as well.
“What exactly happened? How did the fire start in Grandmother’s kitchen?” When he saw Wei Yuewu, Wei Luowen asked unhappily.
“Father, at that time, Third Elder Sister wanted the maid in the kitchen to prepare more ingredients. The maid told her that they didn’t have those ingredients there, and Third Elder Sister was curious about why I had the ingredients I wanted there and pointed at my ingredients. Then, she tripped over something and pounced on me. I avoided her, and she knocked over the stove that was just lit.”
Wei Yuewu explained unhurriedly. She didn’t say anything that discriminated against Wei Yuejiao too much, and Wei Luowen nodded continuously.
In fact, he had already called the maid over to ask and knew that it was Wei Yuejiao who had caused the fire.
Of course, this was something that Wei Yuewu had predicted long ago.
“Your Third Elder Sister is so ignorant. Look, she even caused the Madam Dowager to be so angry,” Wei Luowen rebuked angrily. When he thought of his usually sensible and mature third daughter, Wei Luowen felt a headache coming on.
Wei Yuejiao was sensible and obedient when she was young, but as she grew up, she became more and more ignorant. She looked very much like Wei Yan of the second branch. Thinking about what happened to Wei Yan in the end, Wei Luowen felt a headache.
There was a general in the army who wanted to marry Wei Yuejiao back then. Had he known this would happen, he would have agreed to the proposal. Now, he could arrange her marriage quickly so that she wouldn’t cause too much trouble at home. He decided that when the Madam Dowager got better, he would let the Madam Dowager help him take a look at the candidates.
They could marry her off to someone with a mild temper and slightly rich. With her competitive and eager personality, she would probably quarrel every day should she be married to an aristocratic family, and she would end up with a bad reputation.
“Eldest Brother, Mother is really angry now. Just now, when I mentioned Yuejiao, she closed her eyes and ignored me,” Second Master Wei Luowu sighed with a gloomy face.
He then looked at the room full of the children of the younger generation. Most of them were from the third branch. Although Eldest Brother had fewer children, he at least had one child by his side. He was the most pathetic. He had two daughters and one son, but now, they were either dead, injured, or absent. He didn’t even have a child to appear beside him when he needed their presence. He felt more and more depressed.
Later, he would order his men to get that bastard son home. How could he fool around outside and not come home?!
Wei Luowu felt somewhat disappointed.
“Lord Marquis, the Madam Dowager heard the Sixth Young Lady is here. She wants the Sixth Young Lady and Fourth Young Lady to go in and talk.” Nanny Hong came out of the inner room and bowed respectfully to Wei Luowen.
Wei Qiufu stood up. She did not understand why the Madam Dowager wanted her to go in at this time.
Wei Yuewu’s eyes flashed, but she did not speak.
Although Wei Luowen did not know why the Madam Dowager wanted to see Wei Yuewu and Wei Qiufu at this time, he waved his hand and urged, “Okay. You two, go in and see your grandmother!”
The two of them followed Nanny Hong into the inner room.
The Madam Dowager was lying on the bed weakly. Her face looked a little sallow, and her complexion was very bad. Her eyes were closed, and there was a wide bandage wrapped on her head.
“Madam Dowager, the Fourth Young Lady and Sixth Young Lady are here,” Nanny Hong walked to the bed and whispered to the Madam Dowager.
“You go out first!” The Madam Dowager nodded and did not open her eyes.
“Yes, I’ll be waiting at the door. If you need anything, just call me,” Nanny Hong said softly before turning and retreating to the door of the inner room.
The Madam Dowager had already told her before that there were some things that couldn’t be heard by the several masters waiting outside, so Nanny Hong specially went to the door and waited there.
“Qiufu, did you destroy Yuewu’s clothes?” On the bed, the Madam Dowager suddenly opened her eyes and stared at Wei Qiufu tightly. Although she was listless, her glare was stern and fierce.
“No, Grandmother, I didn’t!” Wei Qiufu was so scared that she suddenly knelt down and hurriedly quavered.
She was really innocent in this matter. Obviously, these things had nothing much to do with her. All she did was send those two sets of clothes to Wei Yuewu. She didn’t do anything else that led to the final catastrophe, but she was blamed for it. No matter how she looked at it, she was the person who had been wronged.
However, she had no choice but to take the fall!
She and Wei Yuewu clearly knew that if the two sets of clothes had been discovered in Wei Yuewu’s room, the result would definitely have not been so simple.
Wei Yuewu would have ended up in a bad situation because of the Empress’ wrath, Third Princess’ provocation, as well as the involvement of someone with ulterior motives. However, now, the Empress and Third Princess tacitly chose to deal with this matter in a low profile.
“Qiufu, come over here!” The Madam Dowager looked at Wei Qiufu and suddenly waved kindly. Wei Qiufu had a blank expression on her face and did not know what the Madam Dowager meant, but she walked toward her slowly.
Wei Yuewu was behind, but she was stunned as she looked at the Madam Dowager’s gaze that had suddenly become fierce…
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