"Dare to swear? Swear that you’re sure I have an inappropriate relationship with Jian Yan?"
"Do we have to be so childish? Aren’t you clear in your heart whether you’ve done it or not?" Jing Qing scoffed, but her expression was very ugly.
"I am very clear, it’s just that some people seem to pretend to be confused despite being clear, right?"
Qin Mu looked at her coldly, with a sharp gaze that seemed ready to devour her.
"Auntie, I have something else to do today, so I’ll leave first. We’ll come to see you another day."
Jing Qing suddenly fell silent towards Qin Mu, then turned to Feng Fanghua and said.
"Yes, auntie, you’ve been entertained with a farce today. We’ll come to visit you again when this girl is not around, goodbye."
"You both take care, no need to see you out. I hope you won’t encounter me again when you come next time."
Qin Mu, with her hands in her pockets, suddenly let out a laugh after they had walked a few steps, unable to hold back.
"You can still laugh?"
Feng Fanghua looked anxious on her behalf.
"What else can I do?"
Qin Mu said helplessly, then sat down beside her. Suddenly calming down, she looked at Feng Fanghua cautiously, and Feng Fanghua looked back at her.
"Mom, my relationship with my master is purely that of discipleship. It was I who pestered him to take me as a disciple, and he really agreed to teach me because he had no choice. But I feel that this is fate, and that’s all."
"Didn’t you say you were coming back to get your notebook? Why don’t you hurry up and go?"
Feng Fanghua reminded her, and Qin Mu then remembered her business. Realizing that Feng Fanghua still held some trust in her, she nodded, fetched her notebook, and left.
After she had gone, Feng Fanghua sighed, feeling helpless. The maid quietly asked her, "Madam, do you also suspect the young madam?"
"I just recalled that the silly boy doesn’t like Jian Yan."
Others might not understand the meaning of these words, but the maid who had been with her for many years did.
Feng Fanghua did not blindly believe or disbelieve; she had her own scale in her heart. Shortly after Qin Mu left, she took her granddaughter’s coat and went to the grandson and granddaughter-in-law.
After returning to the private apartment, Jing Qing and Qin Mingzhu were still fuming: "You will never amount to anything in front of Qin Mu, do you know why?"
Qin Mingzhu weakly asked.
Jing Qing tossed her expensive bag carelessly and then turned with some anger in her eyes to look at her: "Because she has always been high and mighty in front of you, and in front of her, no matter how you raise your head, you will never be taller."
"Are you saying my height can’t compare to hers? I feel like it’s about the same."
"Height? Ha! Qin Mingzhu, what do I even say about you? Is it that all the children born from mistresses are foolishly sweet?"
Jing Qing looked up to the sky and after a long while, she scoffed with mockery.
Qin Mingzhu turned pale when she heard the words ’mistress’: "Jing Qing, what do you mean by that? What mistress? What foolishly sweet?"
"Haven’t you noticed that ever since she returned, even before she set foot in the Qin Family, she has already eclipsed all your glory there?"
Jing Qing continued, but Qin Mingzhu, being naive, didn’t understand a word and just felt utterly wronged.
"Why do you think the Mu Family matriarch agreed to let her stay in the Mu Family? Is it really because Mu Yichen likes her? You’re so wrong. It’s merely because you both have the same father who is the mayor."
With Jing Qing repeatedly hitting her where it hurt, Qin Mingzhu felt a tickle in her throat as if she was inflamed, and it was a raging fire.
"If she were just any commoner’s daughter, do you think she’d have set foot in the Mu Family’s doorstep? No way."
Jing Qing was indeed desperate; she had never won when facing Qin Mu directly, and every time, Qin Mu left her breathless, flushed, and embarrassed. Especially today, in front of Mu Yichen’s mother, she couldn’t bear the thought of losing face like that again in front of a senior. She hoped to forever maintain a pure and beautiful image in front of the elders of the Mu Family.
"—, just talking about this makes me angry. What gives her the right to outshine me the moment she returns? Jing Qing, you have no idea. Nowadays so many classmates are asking about her, and some even taunt me, saying I’m the daughter of a mistress. My mother was legitimately married to my dad, how did she become a mistress?"
After hearing this, Qin Mingzhu was staggered, recalling her recent life being bombarded with questions about Qin Mu, and she felt like her hair was on end.
"Are you really clueless about how your mother married the mayor of Qin City? Why did Qin Mu’s mother die in a car accident? If it weren’t for your mother bringing you out to expose her affair with the mayor of Qin City... You better think about it yourself."