s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't argue with Xia Mang but returned to her room and wrote a letter. She gave it to Xia Mang. “Send this letter to King Rui's mansion now. Be sure to hand it to Mo Junyang.”

After thinking for a while, she was still worried and added, “Hmm, Qu Yuebai or Wei Zichao is okay. Anyway, ask Mo Junyang to give me a reply as soon as possible.”

Xia Mang was not surprised that s.h.i.+ Qingxue called Mo Junyang by his name. She just said worriedly, “Madam has said that you can't contact His Excellency. You…”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue raised her eyebrows. “Little Xia Mang, do you listen to me or my mother?”

Little Xia Mang, who was several years older than s.h.i.+ Qingxue, kept silent and admitted her destiny to send the letter to King Rui's mansion.

After asking, she learned that Mo Junyang went out just now and n.o.body knew when he would come back. Qu Yuebai received the maid from the s.h.i.+ Family.

Qu Yuebai glanced at Xia Mang and asked leisurely, “Did your lady tell you to come here?”

Xia Mang thought, “Of course. Otherwise, why would a servant come to see His Excellency?”

She handed in the letter respectfully. “Lady Qingxue asked His Excellency to reply as soon as he reads the letter.”

Qu Yuebai received the letter and fumbled on the envelope with his finger. Then he took out another letter from his pocket and gave it to Xia Mang. “Give this to your lady.”

Xia Mang goggled. “She asked to reply as soon as possible, but not so soon!”

It seemed that they had planned everything in advance.

Qu Yuebai guessed what Xia Mang was thinking and laughed humbly. “His Excellency guessed that your lady would come, but he is not in the capital city these days, so he had to reply her with a letter. And he asked me to tell her not to worry and that he would handle everything.”

He was like a fortuneteller.

Xia Mang sighed with emotion and knew more about Mo Junyang who showed up in front of her lady frequently nowadays. She replied in a hurry, “I see. I am going back to tell my lady.”

However, before Xia Mang sent the letter back to the Luotong Boudoir, she was stopped by Dong Hui and Mammy Zheng at the gate. It appeared that they had known that Xia Mang went out to send a letter to King Rui's mansion.

They didn't stop her earlier just to wait for the reply.

Dong Hui grabbed the letter in her hand and didn't read it but asked, “Didn't His Excellency come?”

Xia Mang's heart beat fast and she thought they had guessed right, but she couldn't betray her lady. She had to lower her head more.

Dong Hui leered at her with a forced smile and snorted. “What? Qingxue is stubborn in front of me. Do you want to get the same treatment as her?”

The warning made Xia Mang's heart bitter. She answered in a low voice, “I don't dare to. I didn't see His Excellency this time. I just brought this letter back.”

Dong Hui finally got satisfied and winked at Mammy Zheng, who then brought a fire basin immediately.

In front of Xia Mang, Dong Hui threw the sealed envelope into the fire basin.

“Madam…” Xia Mang wanted to pick it up but under Dong Hui's glare, she had to lower her head and watch the letter being swallowed by the fire.

“From now on, Xia Mang is reduced to a Rank-2 maid. Go to the garden house now, and you can't go back to the Luotong Boudoir,” Dong Hui ordered coldly and just kicked Xia Mang out, even without giving her a chance to report to Qingxue.

Mammy Zheng couldn't bear to see Xia Mang's dejected back and comforted Dong Hui softly, “Madam, you know that Lady Qingxue is close to Xia Mang. You drive her maid away without asking her. If she gets angry with you for it, it would be not worthwhile.”

Dong Hui showed a gloomy expression and said helplessly, “I know it, but there are so many eyes watching Qingxue. They are waiting to find fault with her. Even if she will hate me, I can't just stand by and watch her being ruined by the gossip.”

Mammy Zheng looked around and confirmed there was n.o.body else before whispering, “Don't worry too much. Lady Qingxue is under the protection of the token granted by His Majesty, and n.o.body dares to do anything.”

Dong Hui sneered. “If it's in the past, with Mother's concern about Qingxue, I believe that she can be safe even after she makes any trouble, but recently, can't you understand after noticing Mother's att.i.tude toward her?”

“Uh…”

“Don't need to falter. I have seen through everything earlier.”

With hatred in her eyes, Dong Hui gritted her teeth. “It's not that Mother concerned about Qingxue, but she knew that Third Master's Family had crossed over to Fourth Prince. She wanted to pair Qingxue off with His Highness and draw my husband over to his side, so she favored Qingxue.

But recently, Qingxue has got more distant to His Highness but gets close to His Excellency, so Mother changes her att.i.tude.”

Mammy Zheng pulled Dong Hui's coat in panic and stopped her from saying more. “Madam, you can't say something like this. It's better to keep it in mind than to speak out to give others some evidence.”

“Fine, I know!” Dong Hui took a deep breath tiredly and concealed her hatred, saying indifferently, “I have no other expectations now. I just hope my family would be safe and peaceful for a lifetime. I won't think about anything else.”

Mammy Zheng responded, “You will. And Lady Qingxue will understand your effort.”

“I hope so.”

Dong Hui sighed deeply. “Well, I will talk with Qingxue in case that she worries too much.”

After Dong Hui told s.h.i.+ Qingxue, the latter exploded at once.

“Mother, how can you burn my letter?” s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't know what to say. She finally got in touch with Mo Junyang, but her mother cut their connection without demur. Would she carry out her plan?

Qingxue took deep breaths and finally calmed down, asking, “How about Xia Mang? Where is she?”

Dong Hui responded coldly, “Xia Mang didn't obey my order and I have reduced her to a Rank-2 maid. If you think you haven't enough maids to serve you, you can choose one from the Rank-2 maids to replace her.”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue refused and said recklessly, “No, I won't. Xia Mang has served me for many years, and I am used to her looking after me. I don't want anybody else. Mother, you love me so much. You don't want to see me have no appet.i.te or good sleep, right?”

Dong Hui got really cold-hearted. “No need to say more. If you think a Rank-2 maid is not good, I will tell Fen to look after you. Anyway, before your father comes back, you just need to stay at the Luotong Boudoir. You can't go anywhere.”

She even arranged somebody to spy on Qingxue and obviously intended to make her have no way back.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue grabbed Dong Hui's arm and said anxiously, “Mother, I am not going to see Mo Junyang just for fun. Please believe me. If there is somebody who can make Father retreat from the Qingluo Mountain, it is him only.”

She said that in order to make Dong Hui realize how serious the problem was, but her mother didn't believe her words. “They are just suppressing bandits. It's not terrible as you said. Don't lie to me in order to see His Excellency. I won't believe you.”

Qingxue was unable to reply. She was nervous and blurted out, “Someone wants to do something to harm Father this time!”

Dong Hui's expression changed. “Don't talk nonsense.”

“I didn't talk nonsense. If not so, why would I want to see Mo Junyang so urgently? I just want to ask who wants to do something. Only after we eliminate the hidden trouble can we make sure that Father will focus on killing the enemies.”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue regretted so much. It was her fault that she loafed around and did nothing in the past few days. If she had eliminated the hidden trouble earlier, she wouldn't be in a dilemma.

“Is that true?” Dong Hui was astonished, but she couldn't doubt Qingxue judging from her solemn expression.

“Yes! So, Mother, please let me out. Allow me to go to see Mo Junyang!” s.h.i.+ Qingxue pleaded.

Dong Hui stayed silent for a while and then suddenly asked, “Why is it him?”

“As I said just now, only he can…”s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't trust anybody else. If Dong Hui didn't make it difficult for her, she wouldn't have spoken out her guess.

“Then why wouldn't it be him?”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue was surprised at this question and got puzzled.

Dong Hui sneered. “You have said that somebody wants to harm your father. Why wouldn't it be His Excellency?”

Qingxue replied firmly, “It's impossible.”

She had never thought of this possibility.

“Yes? Qingxue, you don't even believe the ones in our family. But you trust an outsider?” Dong Hui gazed at her and seemed to see through her.

“That's because…” The s.h.i.+ Family was plagued by crises and n.o.body knew how many spies were even around this Luotong Boudoir.

Qingxue was speechless for a while and didn't know how to explain to Dong Hui.

But Dong Hui made a decision at this time. “Qingxue, I can understand if you are worried about your father. I am going to write a letter now to remind him. But no matter what you would say, I won't let you go out to see His Excellency.

You shouldn't be in touch with him. You just stay at the Luotong Boudoir till your father comes back home.”

Then she told Mammy Zheng, “In the next few days, any servant in the Luotong Boudoir can't get close to Lady Qingxue alone. Fen will take care of her food and clothes. You supervise them.”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't expect Dong Hui to be so unreasonable and asked furiously, “Mother, are you going to regret when Father is in trouble?”

Dong Hui stopped in her tracks for a while and still left without looking back.

The room door was closed, and Mammy Zheng said, “My Lady, Just tell me if you want anything. I can do everything for you.”

She indicated that s.h.i.+ Qingxue was not allowed to leave here.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue was so indignant that she kept quiet. She strode to her bed and threw herself on the soft pillow, but she didn't feel the pain. She just couldn't vent her anger. If a bow and arrows were given to her, she would shoot the wall down in front of her.

“What should I do?”

If she ignored it, the tragedy of the previous life would come again, which was what she could never endure.

She was mad at Dong Hui's stubbornness and meanwhile thought she was so incapable that she couldn't figure out a way.

She was still angry when the maid Fen brought the dinner for her. “I am not hungry. Take it out.”

Fen knelt on the floor. “Madam said, I can only get up when you have dinner, My Lady.”

s.h.i.+ Qingxue was unable to speak a word.

Dong Hui knew well about s.h.i.+ Qingxue's weakness.

“Fine. I'll eat. Okay?” No matter how furious she was, she couldn't vent her anger on an innocent maid. So she could do nothing but pick up the food.

After she took a few bites, she stopped and looked at Fen suddenly. Fen was putting the dishes on the table with her head lowered, without any unusual expression.

Qingxue tried to look calm and put down her tableware, saying indifferently, “I don't need anybody to serve me when I have dinner. Go out now.”

Fen left obediently and closed the door.