Mother Xu steeled herself as she spread the news to Mo Xueqiong's courtyard. It was no secret in the manor that Fourth Miss had always been interested in the duke's son. Now she seemed to be trying to drag her sister into trouble. Mother Xu would not forget how Fourth Miss and First Miss had joined hands to make her mistress unhappy.

Mo Xuetong smiled at Mother Xu.

"Mother Xu, come find me after a while."

Mother Xu smiled. Even with Fourth Miss around, her mistress would come out clean. The gracious First Miss was about to get herself in trouble.

Mo Xuetong brought her servants to Mo Huawen's study. The study wasn't far, only two doors. The servant outside saw her approaching and had already informed Mo Huawen. When she reached the doors, she was immediately welcomed into the study.

Mo Huawen put down the documents in his hands and smiled.

"Tong'er, you don't need to be so polite. Come and sit. How's your grandmother?"

Mo Xuetong greeted her father politely, then found a seat.

"Grandmother is well. She was feeling a little poorly a while ago, so Cousin invited Sir Bai to come and take a look at her."

"Sir Bai? Sir Bai Yihao?" Mo Huawen asked, taking a sip of tea.

"Yes. I heard that Sir Bai is the Crown Prince of Yan Kingdom. Father, why did he come to Qin? I heard that the Yan Kingdom is a strong nation, no weaker than Qin!" Mo Xuetong looked up with innocent eyes.

Unlike her previous life, she could see the fondness in her face.

"The Yan Kingdom and Qin are both strong and the royal families are related, so he's not truly a hostage. If we were to really discuss it, the emperor hopes that he will be the future ruler of theYan Kingdom. Of course, he couldn't really lock him up. The hostages of both countries are hostages in name only."

Mo Huawen was delighted to see his serious daughter taking a sincere interest in politics.

"Hostages? Father, did Qin also send a prince to the Yan Kingdom?" Mo Xuetong's smile grew sweeter.

"The Qin Kingdom did not send a prince. We sent the King of Ning Feng Yuzhen." Mo Huawen saw the puzzled look in Mo Xuetong's eyes. His daughter had been living in the country and did not know who the King of Ning was. "The King of Ning is the Emperor's oldest brother's son. He is the true grandson of the Empress Dowager. He's of noble status and is the nephew of the Yan's Empress, so he is the most suitable to be hostage."

The King of Ning might be of noble status, but wasn't the son of Emperor Zongwen more noble? Mo Xuetong knew better than to ask. In her past life, the King of Ning, Wang Fengyu, had died in the Yan Kingdom. Her father was wrong. Being the nephew of the Yan's Empress did not guarantee his safety.

"All these things are so complicated. I don't understand. Father, you have to explain it more simply next time."Mo Xuetong said. She reached out and took the box that Mo He was holding and opened it, handing it to him. "Father, cousin told me to give you this inkstone. I wanted to give you this, so I came here straightaway upon returning. You aren't mad, are you?"

Luo Wenyou had given him the right gift. Mo Huawen loved to collect ancient inkstones. The relationship between the Mo's and the Luo's had never been good. Since Mo Xuetong had returned, the Old Madam was taking steps to improve things between the families, so Luo Wenyou had given the inkstone to her after she got on the carriage as a show of goodwill.

Mo Huawen had been in politics for a long time, so he knew what motivated the gift, but his daughters sincere desire to make him happy softened his heart.

"Good, good. How will I blame you? You don't need to ask if you can come here. Come whenever you want to."

The two were chatting when a male servant ran in, gasping for breath.

"Old Sir, there's trouble. First Miss and Fourth Miss are fighting."

Mo Huawen's face darkened.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't know, but I heard a servant in the inner courtyard say that they seemed to be fighting over the duke's son. They were..." The servant did not dare to continue. Instead, he cowered on the ground.

The veins on Mo Huawen's face bulged in anger. This was not the first time Mo Xuemin had done something like this. She would do whatever it took Sima Lingyun every time he came over, but he hadn't expected something like this to happen today.

"Where are they now?"

"They're at Third Miss's courtyard," the servant said fearfully.

"My courtyard?" Mo Xuetong stood up in shock. She turned around to look at Mo Huawen. "Father..."

"Tong'er, let's go and take a look together." Mo Huawen did not understand why they would be in Mo Xuetong's courtyard either. He took a deep breath, trying to get his anger in check, and left.

When they arrived at Qingwei Garden, the place was in a mess.

The two young women were surrounded by worried servants, divided by who they worked for. Mo Xuemin and Mo Xueqiong had messy clothing and their hairpins were falling out. One glance at them and one could tell that the two had fought. Sima Lingyun stood to the side awkwardly. He could not leave, but neither could he stay. Mo Lan and Mother Xu stood at the entrance of the courtyard, looking down, their hands placed together. They looked as if they dared not to even breath too heavily.

Mo Huawen brought Mo Xuetong through the door and swept his eyes across the scene.

"Who's going to tell me what happened?"

"Father, Eldest sister brought His Excellency to the courtyard and kept him company the entire afternoon. They were alone together. Father, as a noble young woman, how could she behave like this? I was just here to advise eldest sister."

Mo Xueqiong tried to look helpful, but it was easy to see the jealousy and hate in her eyes.

"Why has His Excellency come to our manor?" Mo Huawen ignored her and turned to look at Sima Lingyun. His question was polite, but his eyes were cold.

Sima Lingyun frequented the Mo manor often, but he'd never entered the other courtyards so brazenly.

"Sir Mo, this is a misunderstanding. First Miss said that Third Miss had a music manuscript. I was curious and asked First Miss to come and help me ask Third Miss if I could see it, but Third Miss wasn't around, so we waited in the courtyard. I didn't mean to be impolite."

Sima Lingyun wanted to dig himself a hole to crawl into, but he spoke humbly.

"Tong'er, if you still have the music manuscript, then take it out and let His Excellency have a look," Mo Huawen said, frowning, but he kept his eyes on Mo Xuemin.

Mo Xuetong walked up quickly and greeted Sima Lingyun with a curtsy.

"I've never had such a manuscript. Where did Your Excellency hear about that? And when have matters of the inner courtyard spread so quickly to the outside?"

Mo Huawen's expression grew even darker when he heard that.

"It is possible that I was mistaken. My apologies, ladies." Sweat could be seen glistening on Sima Lingyun's head. He stuttered slightly as well. He didn't dare say that it was Mo Xuemin who had told him to come here.

"If Your Excellency has nothing else to do, then please go back. I won't walk you out," Mo Huawen said irritably.

"Then I shall take my leave." Sima Lingyun looked pathetic. He didn't dare to say anything else.

A servant came forward to lead him out.

"Your Excellency, this way, please."

Sima Lingyun hurried after her.

With outsiders gone, Mo Huawen finally unleashed his wrath. He looked at his daughters and their messy clothes and gestured to Mo Xuetong's room.

"Come in, all of you!"

Mo Xueqiong followed him immediately. Mo Xuemin adjusted her clothes before following them.

"Help me understand, what's the matter with you two?" Mo Huawen asked sharply. He sat down on the couch and slapped the table.

"Father, it's really nothing. It's all my fault. I saw that His Excellency had close ties with the family, and he really wanted to see the manuscript. But Fourth Sister misunderstood." Mo Xuemin jumped in to speak before Mo Xueqiong. She knelt down and and accepted responsibility, knowing Mo Xueqiong would try to blame others.

This appeased Mo Huawen slightly.

"Father, don't be angry. Eldest sister has always been gracious and knows her etiquette well. How would she do something so rude?" Mo Xuetong said comfortingly. She turned to Mo Xueqiong. "Fourth Sister, could it be you've misunderstood eldest sister?"

Mo Xueqiong flushed. She took two steps forward and knelt down before Mo Huawen, sobbing into her sleeves.

"Father, I didn't misunderstand eldest sister. When I arrived, they were behaving far too intimately! Eldest Sister was making tea for His Excellency, and the two were so close to each other. Furthermore, the inner courtyards shouldn't be a place to entertain male guests, regardless of the reason. His Excellency is close with father, but Eldest Sister shouldn't have done something like that. I went up to ask Eldest Sister about it, but she pushed me..."

Mo Xuemin gritted her teeth. She had tried to let Mo Xueqiong off easy earlier, saying that it was a misunderstanding. They could be done with the matter, but Mo Xueqiong was too stupid to let the matter go.

"Fourth Sister, don't speak nonsense. We waited for Third Sister for a long while. I was afraid that His Excellency would be bored, so I treated him as I would any guest. We didn't do anything inappropriate."

"Then why did you push me away?" Mo Xueqiong asked.

"I did not..."Mo Xuemin tried to defend herself, especially when she saw Mo Huawen's expression growing darker and darker. No matter how glib her tongue was, she could not say anything against Mo Xueqiong's pressing questions.

Mo Jin, who was standing behind Mo Xuemin, suddenly knelt down in tears.

"Fourth Miss, it is I who pushed you, not First Miss... I saw you walking over fiercely and thought that you were about to hit First Miss, so I pushed you away..."

"Nonsense! You were standing off to the side! How could you have pushed me?" Mo Xueqiong was enraged. She stopped crying and tried to stand up to hit Mo Jin. Only her maid, Mo Yan, held her back.

Mo Huawen stood up and smashed the cup in his hand against the floor. The porcelain breaking made a crisp sound, and everyone fell silent.

"So who made the first move?"

Mo Xueqiong was flustered when she saw Mo Huawen's sharp eyes. She'd always been afraid of Mo Huawen, and had mustered up all her courage to place all the blame on Mo Xuemin. Now that she had calmed down, she remembered how many witnesses had seen her. Her face paled and her lips trembled, but she didn't speak.

Now, it seemed that the truth was out.

"Mo Xueqiong!"