Novel Full The servant brought the jade plate to An Eryan, and other ladies in the corridor all came up.
Someone read out loud, “From hill to hill no bird in sight/ From path to path no man in sight/ A lonely fisherman afloat/ Is fishing snow in lonely boat.”
An Eryan was amazed, “Good calligraphy! Good poem! …” With only this poem and plum-blossom-like hand-writing, she sincerely admired her talent.
“Miss. Mo is indeed the first talented lady in the world. An unprecedented poem it is…”
“Here is the comment from Academician Jia… The background of this painting powerfully sets of the lonely thin figure of the fisherman in the cold and desolated mood and renders to the full the weather and scenery in which the fisherman is fishing. No many strokes are employed, but they efficiently depicts a lyrical atmosphere consisting of multi-peaked mountains reaching the sky up high and down to rolling river. A thousand-miles view is managed to complete with a few strokes…”
“Miss. Mo is the first lady who get such an appraisal from Mr. Jia. You really live up to your fame…”
Mo Qianxue didn’t care about these words, what she paid attention to was always the expression of Princess Yuhe.
At this moment, the fake smiling mask on her face was shattered utterly, and it was replaced by a cruel smile which subtly contained a joy as if she was well-placed to win.
Mo Qianxue’s heart sunk. At this point, the garden was going to close. Did she have other schemes?
A person should be innocent but not ignorant in believing everything in the world was kind and always preparing for the best. That was sheer fool.
From Princess Yuhe’s sweet poisonous words to the two fake servant girls that she had arranged, all these proved that she was a smooth-tongued cold-hearted person.
If Mo Qianxue wasn’t cautious in each step, she was afraid that she would be devoured by her entirely. This time the two fake servant girls were enjoyed by Bihuan. If she messed up with her again, she would definitely find an opportunity to let Yuhe enjoy the service for once and use her own blood to wash the foul.
Back in modern times, she would despise her evil thoughts, but in this time, the various traps within the seven days after coming to the capital and the subtly vile smile that Princess Yuhe gave her forced her to be overly cautious.
Taking this party as an example. Even Ning Shaoqing had told her that there wouldn’t be men coming inside. Nobody dared to do that. Even if someone intended to bully her in the garden, the most would be desolation or embarrassment in pubic or turning her into a laughing stock.
However, …
Mo Qianxue frowned. The reason why Princess Yuhe was so bold as to set up a disgusting trap in the garden was because she had the Empress behind her, while the one behind the Empress was the Emperor and the Xie family.
In order to stand up under the schemes of these inhumane perverts and even to live a good life in the schemes, there were only two choices, either to become the same filthy or to wash the filthy with their blood.
She chose the latter!
In the twilight when birds flew into the forest and night breeze slanted, this year’s peach blossom party came to a perfect end.
Princess Yuhe smiled mildly and gave more praising words to Mo Qianxue before ordering servants to send the ladies out of the garden. The ladies thanked, curtsied and said goodbye, while Princess Yuhe stood at the Pavilion and watched them leaving with a smile.
She, as the host, must wait until the ladies left and then took the carriage back to the palace.
When they reached the peach blossom forest, the sky was completely dark, and the setting sun cast lights through the trees on the ladies, creating a mixture of light and shadow. It was no longer as beautiful as in the morning, like certain unknown metaphysics stroking Mo Qianxue’s heart.
The smile of Yuhe was two creepy. She wouldn’t believe that there weren’t follow-up schemes.
The ladies were tired and less talkative and lively as they came. They quietly walked out of the garden. Mo Qianxue was in them, arm in arm with Junzhu Susu. Occasionally, some ladies came to say hello, and she greeted back smiling, in a modest manner.
Dozens of carriages lined up in two rows waiting for the ladies coming out of the garden.
Junzhu Susu ranked high. Besides the Princess’s carriage, no others’ dared to park next to hers.
Hence, as soon as they walked out, the nanny of Junzhu Susu met her at once. Nanny Mo also walked over. The two girls waved goodbye, and Junzhu Susu got into the carriage.
Nanny Mo bowed and said, “Congratulations, lady. You’re now the first talented lady in Tianqi.”
Mo Qianxue wasn’t the first one to get out, so the news of her winning the fame was already spread like wildfire.
Yet, nanny Mo got the news not from others but from the close servant of Mr. Jia.
Just now, the servant of Mr. Jia shouted loudly to search for the carriage of the Founder mansion, congratulated nanny Mo that her lady won the fame and presented the invitation from Mr. Jia to invite Mo Qianxue to give lectures and attend seminars in the Academy.
There had never been a lady invited by Mr. Jia from the Imperial Academy. Mo Qianxue was the first one.
Mo Qianxue held nanny Mo up, “Don’t be courteous with me. Get up first. I’m tired. Let’s talk in the carriage.”
Seeing that lady wasn’t as cheerful as she expected but looked sullen, nanny Mo knew there was something serious, so she didn’t talk more, got up and walked towards the carriage with lady.
Junzhu Susu’s carriage had set off down the hill, and other ladies had left too.
Nanny Mo followed Mo Qianxue up to the carriage. Awu waved the whip and the carriage started.
Onboard, the first sentence Mo Qianxue said was, “The Empress intends to kill me again.”
There weren’t outsiders in the carriage. Nanny Mo regarded her as daughter, and Chuyi was completely loyal. As the carriage ran, there wasn’t eavesdropping either, so she needn’t to scruple.
Chuyi seemed to understand something, while nanny Mo’s face turned black instantly.
“Today in the garden…” Mo Qianxue narrated roughly everything taking place in the garden.
There were things and stance that her people should be clear.
Then, Mo Qianxue asked nanny Mo, “Are the Empress and mother really close as sisters?”
Nanny Mo had said that when Feng Qingyu was alive, she did take Mo Qianxue to the imperial palace to visit the Empress twice, but mother never said anything bad about the Empress. However, Mo Qianxue didn’t believe it. The fact talked her out of it.
She couldn’t deal well without the knowledge of the reasons.
Hearing the question, nanny Mo was immersed in memory, “The Empress and madam really were close as sisters, but…”
“But what?”
Nanny Mo seemed to make a huge decision, “Madam and the Empress met the Founder and the Emperor at the same time. By then, the Founder was merely a fifth-level general, while the Emperor was Prince Yang… Madam fell in love with the Founder at the first sight, and so did the Empress, but the Founder never liked the Empress. The Emperor, the Emperor…”
“The Emperor what?”
“The Emperor also liked madam and secretly made a proposal with old master Feng, promising that when he took the throne, he would make madam a high-level concubine. Old master Feng loved madam deeply. Besides, the Emperor didn’t succeed yet at that time and only made a secret promise. Old master Feng loved madam so much that he, after some struggle, married madam to the Founder.”
Nanny Mo told the past stories, some of which were facts and some were her guess. Anyway, most of them were about love and hate.
Before she finished, the carriage stopped abruptly.
Mo Qianxue lifted up the curtain and saw a scholar-like man reaching out an arm to stop the carriage. They had gotten out of the hill where the garden was situation, just out of the inspection ring of the imperial guards. The carriage couldn’t be at a high speed. Since they were still in the sight of the imperial guards, it was impossible for Awu to use martial art to kick the man away. Hence, he could only stop the carriage.
A good selection of place!
Seeing the carriage stopped, the man rushed to it and shouting lovingly, “My dear wife, I know you’re inside. Please come out and see me. I miss you so much!”
“Who are you? Who’s your wife? This is lady Mo of the Founder mansion. Get out of here!” Awu raised his whip and made a cracking sound in the air, trying to scare the crazy man away.
The scholar seemed to be frightened but didn’t leave, saying sadly, “My wife is exactly Mo Qianxue. You stupid driver. You’re so unruly!”
Awu had a cold face and now it was colder. He pushed the scholar to the ground, “If you keep talking nonsense and offend lady, I’ll beat you to death directly.”
Normally in such a case, he would have whipped him up already, but now with so many ladies around, lady would be wronged and suffer again if he really beat him to death in a moment.
The man was knocked down on the ground and sat next to the wheel, crying bitterly, “My dear wife. Earlier, you were saved by villagers in Tianxiang and married me as a luck wife. You’re my legal wife. Nanny Mo came to me, and you promised you would take me to the capital together. But why did you come to the capital alone without me? … My dear, don’t you recognize me after you resumed your identity as a lady? …”