Novel Full Mo Qianxue nodded slightly, “Thank you, mom.”
She wasn’t broad-minded, so she would remember well who were enemies.
Mrs. Jia held her hand, glanced at Princess Jing with a smile, extending her hand, “This is Princess Jing. I guess you already know her.”
Princess Jing nodded, smiled, and sat back to the main chair.
Mrs. Jia pointed to the madam sitting next to her and introduced, “This is Mrs. Chang, wife of the Imperial Tutor.”
This woman was the first that mom introduced and sat next to her, so she must be in good terms with mom. Mo Qianxue curtsied and said respectfully, “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Chang!”
Mrs. Chang stood up, looking a little awkward, “Nice to meet you, Miss. Mo.”
As she spoke, Mo Qianxue understood. Since meeting her, Mrs. Chang only said this one sentence out of courtesy. There was neither hostility or warmth in her voice, so she intended to be neutral.
Since mom introduced her first and she sat closely to mon, she must be a friend of her. It was fine as long as she didn’t turn her back on mom, so that mom wouldn’t be embarrassed when Mo Qianxue began to deal with those women.
Mo Qianxue thought about it to herself, when Mrs. Jia introduced her to another madam, “This is Mrs. Qin, wife of the Imperial Coach.”
Mo Qianxue still greeted with respect, “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Qin.”
Mrs. Qin nodded to greet back, in the same attitude as Mrs. Chang.
Mrs. Jia didn’t look surprised, turned around and pointed to the two madams who had been taunting since she showed up, “This is Mrs. Xie, wife of the Imperial Mentor, and this is Mrs. An, wife of the Prime Minister…”
Mrs. Jia was a little angry at their attitude towards Mo Qianxue, so now when introducing, she was less passionate and even a little perfunctory.
Since mon had expressed her attitude, then Mo Qianxue just followed suit and greeted quickly, “Nice to meet you.”
She didn’t look at them while saying it and then, following mom, sat into the chair next to Mrs. Jia. She wasn’t afraid of them picking fault since she had done what she should.
Mrs. Xie and An were master hands in this regard. They certainly could tell the overtone of the relations. Yet, they simply shouldn’t make a fuss over it.
Could they blame Mrs. Jia for ignoring them? Mrs. Jia was wife of Mr. Jia, the first academician of the Imperial Academy. Her rank was akin to the wives of the Elders.
The introduction session should have been done by juniors, but now she helped with it after getting an acquired daughter. Hence, they couldn’t find a fault in it.
Mrs. Xie snorted, and Mrs. An put down the teacup, “Alright. Now we’re all here and know each other. I’m afraid the Emperor and officials are waiting impatiently for the result. Let’s get down to business.”
It was she who was impatient. She wanted to tear up Mo Qianxue’s face right now to show her who was cheap, and then to enjoy Mrs. Jia’s colorful old face!
The Imperial Coach and Imperial Mentor didn’t get along all the time, so it wasn’t surprising that Mrs. Jia decided to stay neutral. Mr. Jia hadn’t cared about political affairs for years, so Mrs. Jia had been believed to just join in the fun. Unexpectedly, she got a daughter.
Mrs. Qin could have been won over. However, she came with Princess Jing who would protect Mo Qianxue. Hence, Mrs. Qin wouldn’t disregard Princess Jing’s face.
Originally, she believed Mo Qianxue would play a lone hand and she could humiliate her as much as she wanted. But now it turned out they were neck and neck.
Mrs. Xie pondered and then quickly echoed with Mrs. An, “We have plenty of time for kinship and chatting. Don’t forget we come on Princess Yuhe’s invitation to help Miss. Mo prove her chastity. Of course we should get down to business first.”
Mrs. Jia was kind but not a pushover. At the moment, she was tough too as her face darkened and voice lowered, “Alright. Then, please, Mrs. Xie and Mrs. An, come here and help prove my daughter’s innocence.”
It was early summer when the weather got warmer, so Mo Qianxue only wore three layers of thin clothes. At this point, she didn’t talk much, rolled up her sleeve on her own, and revealed the touch of red cinnabar in the middle of her arm.
Mrs. Jia was naturally the first to see it, nodding, sitting back and taking up her tea leisurely.
Princess Jing also saw it. With a smile, she took another sip of tea. Mrs. Qin and Chang coughed and quickly sat back.
Mrs. Xie and An also saw it. However, there wasn’t surprise on their faces. Instead, there was looming gloating and disdain.
As the Empress had told them, there was truly a cinnabar in Mo Qianxue’s arm. Unluckily, this cinnabar was fake, but she was too stupid to know. Poor girl!
Losing chastity and making a fake cinnabar to deceive the Emperor and the world… If so, she would face severer punishment and at the same time be criticized of misbehavior, dishonesty… Mrs. An already couldn’t fight back her contempt and ordered to the maid, “Fetch some clear water…”
“Yes.” The maid took the order and soon brought over the clear water prepared in advance.
Taking over water certainly meant disbelief and suspicion.
Mrs. Jia looked indignant but didn’t stop it. Someone just wouldn’t stop until the last of the last! She wouldn’t easily let go until she was convinced with the truth.
Mrs. Jia wasn’t stupid and had smelt a rat from the expression of Mrs. An and Xie. But when she looked back at Mo Qianxue, she was confident and gave her a comforting smile.
With a little analysis, she knew something was wrong. Yet, everything had been solved by her acquired daughter.
The maid held the basin and stood on the side. Mrs. Xie took out a handkerchief and dipped some water, when a smile loomed on her lips. Her movement was slow and strange, as if she was enjoying something and as if she was waiting for a good drama. Mrs. An was all smiles, which, in the eye of Mo Qianxue, was malicious.
Mrs. Xie gently wiped on the cinnabar and took a second look. There wasn’t the slightest changed in it. The smile froze on her face. She couldn’t believe her eyes and gave a glance to Mrs. An, rubbing harder on it.
When she carefully moved away the handkerchief again, the red cinnabar was still there. Only the skin got reddish from rubbing, making the cinnabar more vividly and dazzlingly red. Mrs. Xie’s eyes hung big. The confidence in her mind vanished out. She, a little forgetting herself, shouted, “Impossible!”
Mrs. Jia thumped the cup on the table, glimpsing at Mrs. Xie and scolding, “How is it impossible?”
Mrs. Xie no longer had the energy to argue with Mrs. Jia. She hurriedly dipped more water and wiped again and again on Mo Qianxue’s arm.
Mo Qianxue’s fair-skinned tender arm instantly turned red, the skin almost peeled off.
However, Mo Qianxue didn’t move but smirked, “Are you going to skin me, Mrs. Xie?”
On hearing the irony, Mrs. Xie stopped in astonishment.
Obviously, Mrs. An didn’t believe this result, dipping her handkerchief with water and wiping again. Mo Qianxue drew back her arm, rolled down the sleeve and scolded, “Do you get enough, madams?”
Mrs. Xie’s face already began to distort. She yelled at the several maids, “You come here and change clothes for Miss. Mo.”
Change clothes? She wanted to strip her?
Before Mo Qianxue said anything, Mrs. Jia already pissed off and stood up to scold the two nannies, then turned back to gaze at Mrs. Xie, asking in a harsh voice, “What do you mean, Mrs. Xie?”
Mrs. Xie was flustered by her gaze, while Mrs. An replied, “I think Mrs. Xie’s method is right. Since Princess Yuhe has asked us to prove Miss. Mo’s innocence, then certainly we should perform our due diligence, in case some unchaste person get away through tricks.”
Tricks? Evidently, these two were after another scheme when their original dirt-throwing failed!
Mrs. Jia was almost speechless from anger, and Princess Jing also found it inappropriate. She stepped forward for justice and reprimanded them in a cold voice, “Mrs. Xie and Mrs. An, you’re going too far! Mo Qianxue is a lady. How could you do that to her?!”
The raw material of virgin cinnabar was rare. It was made from geckos, fed with cinnabars, that turned entirely red. After seven kilograms of cinnabars were eaten, the geckos were smashed into grains which then mixed with other special medicines. Finally, it was spotted on the arm of a virgin and it wouldn’t disappear for a long time.
If the virgin got married or lost her chastity, her cinnabar would no longer appear. Hence, it was called ‘virgin cinnabar’.
On the birth of a noble lady, her mother personally painted the cinnabar for her. It was so rare and hard to gain that not ordinary folks could have this.
A folk girl didn’t have a virgin cinnabar, so the way the check whether she was a virgin was to take off her clothes and check there. But to check a lady, taking a look at the cinnabar was enough.
Stripping a lady to check her chastity would be an insult.
The calmness on Mo Qianxue’s face suddenly turned into a look beyond description. These people really took things to an extreme.
Was it their plan that if there hadn’t been people supporting her, even if she was a virgin, they would use the most disgusting way to ruin her? Mrs. Jia also realized this and snorted heavily, “Princess Jing is right. A lady’s body shouldn’t be seen by others.”
She stared at the two nannies who were coming on order. She didn’t talk but the gaze was fierce.
The two nannies had served in the imperial palace for a long time. They understood that anything bad happened if they really did what they were told, they would definitely be the final victim of the scheme in the name of offending a lady. They two didn’t look up and stepped back at the same time out of certain tactic understanding.
Seeing the nannies stepping back, the maids stepped away too.
This was a matter between those madams. If they are at odds, then the servants also had an excuse for not obey…
In view that these servants were meek, Mrs. Jia, less angry, took a glance back at Mrs. Xie and An, saying seriously, “If you dare to act unruly, I’ll report it to the Empress and let her uphold justice.”
Despite which side the Empress took, when such a thing was made public, the Empress had only handle it with justice. Mrs. Xie’s expression was spectacular. She looked down, the coldness suppressed deep down to the thousand-aged well in her eyes which was full of hatred.
This thing mattered a lot. If she made a mistake, a huge trouble would be dropped on the Empress, Princess Yuhe and even the Xie family.
Mrs. An’s face was equally complicated. If the Xie family was in trouble, the Prime Minister wouldn’t have a good time either.
The two looked at each other, eyes turning cruel suddenly. Giving each other a look, they planned to do it personally.