Her words reminded Qu Qiuyan. She remembered one of her close friends once told her that Noble Consort He was fond of Liu Jingyu.

Her friend mentioned it when she was insulted by Liu Jingyu in that argument.

Was it true?

Qu Qiuyan started to feel panic as she ground her teeth and cursed inwardly. Lord Jing could only belong to her. Even though Liu Jingyu had a better family background than her, she was still prettier. She was not any worse than Liu Jingyu.

Even that blind girl Qu Moying’s cousin could become the Crown Princess. Why could she not become Madam Jing?

She still wanted to say something, but suddenly, she saw someone waving at her from a distance – it was Second Young Master Yan. The look on Qu Qiuyan’s face became hesitant.

Her mother told her not to communicate with Second Young Master Yan, but he took the initiative to talk to her this time. So, it shouldn’t count as she disobeyed her mother.

“You go take a walk. Give me some time alone,” said Qu Qiuyan.

“Qiuyan, I’m here with you. I will be worried if you walk alone,” Qu Caiyue flattered her.

“You don’t need to be so hypocritical,” Qu Qiuyan said to Qu Caiyue disdainfully. Then she ignored her and walked toward a narrow path aside with her maid.

Qu Caiyue froze there in embarrassment, but she dared to do nothing except for forcing a smile. “Then be careful, Qiuyan. If anything happens, you can come back and tell me…and First Sister.”

“I want to take a walk alone, too,” said Qu Xuexin, who frowned, watching Qu Qiuyan leaving.

“It’s okay. I heard there were purple peach flowers in the temple, but people never found them. I might as well go look for them, and maybe I’ll be the lucky one to see the rare flowers first,” Qu Caiyue put on a bitter smile. Qu Xuexin was not someone she dared to offend either.

It took Qu Xuexin a few seconds to stare at where Qu Qiuyan left, and then she walked toward another path.

Now, Qu Caiyue was standing alone with a sullen face.

“My lady, are we going to look for the purple peach flowers?” her maid asked discreetly since her master lowered her head in silence for a while.

“Purple flowers…? Are you dumb? If the purple flowers really exist, why haven’t other people found them? Obviously, they don’t exist,” Qu Caiyue glared at her maid and scolded. She pinched the maid’s arm hard to vent her anger and walked straightforwardly without noticing the direction. After she married into a good family and climbed up someday, she would make those wives’ daughters pay for all the insult she had taken from them.

Tears formed in the maid’s eyes, feeling the pain from her arm, but she didn’t even dare to make a sound, only trotting behind her master.

After a little bit of walk, Qu Qiuyan saw Yan Yu at a crossing.

“Third Lady Qu.” Yan Yu cupped his hands in front of his chest and bowed to her. As Xu Lipeng’s close friend, he had visited the Qu’s Mansion with Xu Lipeng several times and was pretty acquainted with Qu Qiuyan.

“Second Young Master Yan.” Qu Qiuyan had entirely calmed down and put on her usual polite look. She curtsied to Yan Yu and looked at him blankly, “How can I help you?”

“About what happened yesterday…” said Yan Yu.

“Yesterday? Do you mean the thing about you and Second Sister? My grandmother is furious about it. Second Young Master Yan, please don’t do it again. If you are really interested in Second Sister, you can visit my family and make an official proposal. Doing it in private will only ruin both families’ names,” Qu Qiuyan chimed in quickly.

She talked as if she was innocent and knew nothing about it.

Her attitude was not expected by Yan Yu. He raised his eyes and stared at Qu Qiuyan in astonishment. His initial plan was to ask Qu Qiuyan about the details and discuss the next step with her. Now, it didn’t seem necessary to him!

He was willing to ruin his own name to help them because he genuinely cared about Xu Lipeng as a friend. Now he felt like he was treated like a fool.

He never thought about suspecting them since he fully trusted Xu Lipeng, but Qu Qiuyan’s words pulled him back to reality!

Yu Qingmeng was close to her aunt Yu, so it was not strange that she could bribe some servants in the Qu’s Mansion to make them work for her. But right now, they were in the Dabei Temple, and everyone only brought their trusted servants here. No matter how close Yu Qingmeng to the Qu Family and how competent she was, her power couldn’t possibly reach the East Mansion, let alone the Old Lady Qu. Therefore, instead of Yu Qingmeng, the most suspicious one was Third Lady Qu, who looked determined to disassociate herself from the current situation.

He was told someone from the Qu Family would help him, which should mean Qu Qiuyan.

Now their plan went wrong just a little bit. However, Qu Qiuyan immediately faked this innocent look and pushed all the responsibility on him without hesitation.

“If this is your real opinion, Third Lady Qu, I have nothing else to say. Excuse me, I’ll leave first.” Yan Yu pulled a long face, bowed to Qu Qiuyan again, and left at once.

Seeing Qu Qiuyan’s true colors made him start to suspect Yu Qingmeng and even his close friend, who he always trusted. This situation reminded him of an old saying – birds of a feather flock together.

Qu Qiuyan was stunned by his determined attitude and then said hurriedly, “Second Young Master Yan, please wait.”

She didn’t intend to make Yan Yu leave, only wanting to put pressure on him and make him more obedient to her.

“Third Lady Qu, you don’t know anything about it. What do you want to talk about?” Yan Yu stopped and asked her coldly.

Qu Qiuyan started to hesitate. Saying nothing right now surely could help her stay out of trouble, but she still wanted to make use of Yan Yu. If she chose to be in silence, she would lose the opportunity forever.

The more she dealt with Qu Moying, the more annoyed she felt. She had to find a way to get rid of her as soon as possible. Qu Qiuyan heard that Madam Yan was a tough woman. If she could make Qu Moying shamefully marry into the Yan Family, Madam Yan alone could make Qu Moying suffer enough for the rest of her life.

Qu Qiuyan once tried to end it quickly by asking her private maid Qing He to execute her plan. She didn’t expect Qu Moying could get around with it, and even Qing He was involved, making her dare not to act rashly again. She could only use other people’s hands now.

“Actually, I know a bit of your situation. But now, I’m more than bewildered. Second Young Master Yan, are you interested in my Second Sister or my youngest sister?” Qu Qiuyan put on a cautious smile and fiddled with her hanky as if she was really in confusion.

“Who do you think I’m interested in, Third Lady Qu?” Yan Yu asked meaningfully.

Qu Qiuyan hesitated for a second and said, “I think it’s my youngest sister. After all, she is my father’s first daughter, given birth by his ex-wife, who passed away. But my Second Sister is my uncle’s daughter, given birth by a concubine. Although my youngest sister grew up in a village, she’s no worse than my Second Sister except for having an eye problem.”

After all the times she had seen Qu Moying, Qu Qiuyan gradually figured out Qu Moying’s appearance was not ugly, even though her face was always covered by the veil, which made Qu Qiuyan feel even more jealous. But right now, in order to fulfill her evil wish, she had to hold back her annoyance and put in a good word for Qu Moying.

“If Fourth Lady Qu is as good as you describe, why did Young Master Yongning break off their engagement?” Yan Yu patted his paper fan on his palm, glanced at Qu Qiuyan, and asked with a playful smile.

Although he was notorious for being a playboy, he still had an outstanding appearance, especially those upturned eyes that showed affection as if he always wore a flirty smile. Qu Qiuyan already had someone she liked, but she still blushed under the gaze of this handsome young master.

“It’s Young Master Xu’s own fault not to notice it. I’m sure he will regret it,” Qu Qiuyan let out a sigh and looked away.

That pretty face could easily fool those naive noble ladies, but not her. She chose Lord Jing because marrying him could give her everything she wanted. Any woman who married Second Young Master Yan would have a pathetic life without power and could only depend on his brother to make a living.

For Qu Qiuyan, a man only having a pretty face was useless.

She didn’t think there was anything good about a playboy who could only rely on his family.

Of course, she’d love to see Qu Moying marry this playboy, better without any legit title.

As long as Qu Moying led a miserable life, no one would ever mention Qu Qiuyan was originally a concubine’s daughter, nothing better than Qu Moying, who grew up in a village.

“Maybe Young Master Xu had already regretted it.” Yan Yu’s words sounded meaningful, but Qu Qiuyan couldn’t understand his intention. She stared at him in suspicion and decided to leek more information to him, “My grandmother loves my youngest sister the most, more than all the other ladies in my family. As for Young Master Xu…”

“What’s about him?” Yan Yu raised his brow and asked.

“It was such a coincidence that day! The timing was too good that I even felt strange about it! My youngest sister was there as well.” Qu Qiuyan hoped he could understand her implication.

“Third Lady, do you mean Fourth Lady Qu designed everything? But what’s her intention?” Yan Yu asked. Now, Qu Qiuyan’s words sounded similar to what Xu Lipeng said before. Xu Lipeng once indicated that he was unwilling to marry Second Lady Duan, but he was forced.

Meanwhile, Yu Qingmeng claimed that she married into the Marquis Yongning’s Family in such a shameful way because Qu Moying set her up.

“I…can’t figure it out either. Maybe my youngest sister thinks Young Master Xu is not worthy of her! I don’t know. However, Second Young Master Yan, you have to win her heart first if you are interested in her. After all the years Young Master Xu kept the two families’ promise, he still ended up marrying someone else. Other people all think my youngest sister is a poor girl, but obviously, she doesn’t care about those formalities.”

Qu Qiuyan let out a deep sigh as if she really cared about Yan Yu and Qu Moying. Then she said goodbye to Yan Yu and left elegantly with her maid, leaving Yan Yu standing alone while he was still fiddling with his paper fan with a meaningful look on his face…

When Qu Moying returned, other ladies were still outside, so she visited the Old Lady first. After hearing the ladies were separated again, the Old Lady couldn’t be more worried and sent people to look for them. The other three didn’t come back until a while later.

When Qu Xuexin, Qu Caiyue, and Qu Qiuyan all returned, the Old Lady had to give them an angry lecture again before dismissing them.

When the four of them walked to the Old Lady’s yard door, Qu Caiyue suddenly turned around and said to Qu Moying in disdain, “Moying, where did you get those purple peach flowers? How come you didn’t tell us and invite us to see them together? You walked away by yourself again! Did you already forget what Grandmother said to us?”

After seeing the beautiful purple peach flowers in the Old Lady’s vase, Qu Caiyue couldn’t hold back her envy and vented it out on Qu Moying immediately.

If the same thing happened to Qu Xuexin or Qu Qiuyan, she would do nothing but flatter them. But she naturally took the blaming gesture facing Qu Moying, who she looked down upon the most.

“Second Sister, do you like it?” Qu Moying looked at Qu Caiyue and said indifferently.

“We all like it, but we couldn’t find it after spending all the effort walking around. Moying, it’s so lucky of you to see the purple flowers. However, how come you never thought about us but only picked one branch for Grandmother?” Qu Caiyue snorted.

“Second Sister, you can go pick some if you like. I hear the purple flowers only grow in Lord Yun’s place, and they are watered by human blood,” Qu Moying said as if she was talking about something that couldn’t be more common while her three sisters looked astonished. She raised her brow coldly and left.

Now Qu Caiyue tried to use the name of sister love to manipulate her? Why did she need to keep it up when the other three didn’t even care…?

Mentioning they were sisters made Qu Moying feel really disgusted while they used every means to ruin her life!