Reborn: Femme Fatale First Daughter

“Do you mean Miss Lan? Tong’er have no aunt with close relations, and the only aunt was Duchess Xiangyang, who asked me to come by the other day. She’ll come to visit you in a few days and show her gratitude to you for taking care of me and my father all these years. Grandma, could you please invite Miss Lan to join us when aunt comes?” Mo Xuetong looked at Lan Xinru pretending to be confused. Then she wore a happy smile and turned to Old Madam sweetly.

She had a small figure which looked childish and her pure eyes were so pretty and bright. She knew that Old Madam didn’t like her dressed in normal clothes, so she wore a white dress with the design of butterflies. The color made her look cute and charming like a little granddaughter acting in pettish towards her grandmother.

Besides, these words were quite reasonable so that Old Madam couldn’t let her anger out. Especially when Mo Xuetong said Duchess Xiangyang would visit her in a few days, Old Madam couldn’t insist on Mo Xuetong calling Lan Xinru her aunt.

If talking seriously, Old Madam was Mo Huawen’s father’s concubine and had her own son. Besides, she lived in her own son’s residence. Therefore, though she had a connection with Mo Huawen, it couldn’t be compared to that of her own son. That was also the reason why she couldn’t make a decision on Mo Huawen’s marriage. Old Madam’s relatives from her home were not relatives of the Mo’s. There was no rule for a legitimate child to call a concubine’s niece aunt, not in Great Qin.

So, although Old Madam held a cup of tea with anger and coldly glared at Mo Xuetong, she couldn’t say anything about it. She just glared at her with hatred with her cold old eyes.

Mo Xuetong’s words sounded polite but were, in fact, direct and disgraceful, which made Lan Xinru extremely awkward. Lan Xinru just stood there in blank and wondered when this stupid girl became so strong.

If it’s not Xiaolian, who held Lan Xinru’s hands and got her seated, Lan Xinru would be caught in a dilemma. She held Xianlian’s hand and shyly sat down, and there was grimness in her eyes. Lan Xinru thought Mo Xuetong was such a bitch, and when she became the main wife in Mo Manor, Mo Xuetong would have a lot to suffer.

“Are you all right these days? Is the food to your taste? If you want to eat something, just tell Auntie Qing. She is in charge of this, and you don’t have to be too polite with her.” There came Mo Huawen’s voice by the door, and the nanny replied with a smile.

“Old sir, Old Madam lived pretty well. This morning, she was so happy that she ate a half bowl of porridge more with Miss Lan’s help. And now she is chatting with Miss Lan, second miss and third miss in the room!”

“Oh, you should spare more effort to take care of Old Madam.” The voice was getting closer and they heard the steady steps.

“It’s father coming!” Mo Xuetong wanted to came forward to greet him, but her hand was caught by Old Madam. Old Madam showed kind expression which didn’t seem to be real, and smiled so brightly, “Tong’er should sit here. Old Madam doesn’t feel so well and hasn’t seen you for a few days, you’re supposed to bring some happiness to me.”

“That’s right, third miss. Early in the morning, Old Madam was talking about you all the time and asked me to invite you here. I told her it’s not fine weather today and you were weak that you might get hurt. Then she stopped asking me to invite you. Now you’re here, you should stay with us to have lunch, and we can chat here.” Mo Xueyan leaned over on the bed and looked at Mo Xuetong smilingly. But the smile was not kind at all.

Mo Xuetong didn’t know whether she had done something wrong to Mo Xueyan in the last life so that Mo Xueyan had to treat her like this. Mo Xuetong understood what Mo Xueyan meant. She meant Mo Xuetong was not obedient and didn’t greet Old Madam on time. She said that to dad on purpose, though it was Old Madam who said Mo Xuetong didn’t have to make greetings.

“Did second sister come here every day?” Mo Xuetong smiled and asked lightly. Then she murmured to herself, “Maybe I heard it wrong. Dad said I didn’t have to greet grandma every day. Grandma is pretty weak and can’t get up so early. We shouldn’t come to disturb her. Second sister doesn’t know that?”

Mo Xueyan’s face darkened at these words, and Old Madam’s smile also disappeared. Lan Xinru had intended to continue Mo Xueyan’s words, but now she just kept silent.

“Did Tong’er disturb grandma again? Grandma is in poor health and can’t stand your disturbance.” Hearing his daughter’s whisper, Mo Huawen laughed aloud and explained for Mo Xuetong. Xiaolian was already standing by the door and lifted the curtains to let Mo Huawen in.

Mo Huawen was the legitimate son, so even though he was grateful for Old Madam, he couldn’t call her mother. After all, she was only a concubine of Mo Huawen’s father. It was already against the rule to let Mo Xuemin and the other children call her grandma, which could be forgiven for their young age.

Mo Huawen was in good shape and handsome. So even though he was more than 30, he looked quite attractive with his appearance and behaviors. If not for this, Lan Xinru would not have fallen into his arms and seduced him on purpose. Now, she looked at him again with all her heart and fell in love already when she saw him so handsome as before.

“Is Old Madam alright?” Mo Huawen didn’t notice the maid’s coquettish greetings and went in directly. He glanced at everyone in the room and fixed his eyes on Mo Xuetong with a smile for a while. At last, he looked directly at Old Madam, who was sitting in the middle. Then he walked forward and greeted her.

He just came back from the imperial palace and went through a few files in the study. Then he thought it was time to greet Old Madam, so he came there.

A few days ago, Old Madam didn’t feel comfortable and told them not to greet her for that she couldn’t get up early and might pass the illness to the children. Mo Huawen asked someone to spread the message, in case that they might forget and disturb Old Madam. Yesterday, it was said from the inner yard that Old Madam was getting much better and wanted to see the children.

Mo Huawen had to come now that his sons and daughters all went to greet her. This was the usual time Mo Huawen came to greet.

After Mo Huawen’s greetings to Old Madam, he sat by the side. Then, Mo Xuetong and Mo Xueyan also went up to greet him.

After Lan Xinru greeted to Mo Huawen, she held Xiaolian’s hand and stepped forward, saying coquettishly, “Brother Huawen, it’s been a while. Do you still remember me?” Then she lowered her body and greeted him.

“You’re Miss Lan? It’s been a while and you got even more beautiful. I’m ashamed to trouble you to take care of Old Madam.” Mo Huawen sounded pretty flat, and there was detestation in his eyes. Although he didn’t know much about the inner yard as an official, he had already felt something different from Lan Xinru’s coquettish expression.

He remembered when Luo Xia was ill, Lan Xinru showed up in front of him dressing gorgeously. At that time, he had trouble inside and had to worry about Luo Xia’s health, so he had no time to deal with her and tried to avoid her. But once he walked into Luo Xia’s yard, she would follow behind and left him no chance to go.

She followed him around and asked all kinds of questions coquettishly while his beloved wife was ill in bed. No one would want to discuss anything with such a woman!

Therefore, Mo Huawen had an extremely bad impression of Lan Xinru.

“It’s great that you still remember me! “I just thought you might have forgotten me after these years.” Lan Xinru stood up and looked at Mo Huawen coquettishly, completely ignoring the others in the room. She pinched the handkerchief and said gently with shyness, “Xinru came to take care of my aunt. And Brother Huawen is no stranger to me, so you don’t have to be guilty. If you really feel guilty, could you please teach me how to draw? I heard you had perfect skills in painting.”

Mo Xuetong was shocked and couldn’t help shivering at these words. “How could she be coquettish like that at such an age? She behaved like that in front of all the nannies, maids, and even Old Madam, which is really disgraceful for Old Madam. An unmarried girl shouldn’t talk like that.”

Old Madam, who was sitting there lifted her eyebrows and pretended to have heard nothing. She just lifted the cup and had a taste of the tea. Mo Xueyan knew her idea and pretended as if nothing had happened too.

“Thanks for your compliment, but my painting skills are quite limited and don’t deserve your praise. If you really want to learn how to paint, I can hire someone to teach you.” Mo Huawen smiled at Lan Xinru and then turned to Mo Xuetong and said, “Tong’er, you have great painting skills too. If Miss Lan wants to learn from you, you can also help her.”

Everyone understood what he meant.

But someone just pretended to have not understood. Lan Xinru looked at Mo Huawen’s expression and shyly explained, “Brother Huawen, I know it may sound abrupt, but I have had an affection for you since a young age. If I can’t learn to paint from you, I’ll be regretful for my whole life. Please forgive me.”

The words from her were getting cruder and Old Madam couldn’t help coughing a bit. Though Mo Huawen was well-bred, he was very embarrassed. Mo Xuetong couldn’t stand these words anymore. She walked directly to Lan Xinru and smiled, “Miss Lan, though my father has great painting skills, he has never taught a lady. Besides, my father’s study is in the outer yards, where we hardly got in. So I and my sisters have never received a painting from my father.”

She meant that Mo Huawen hadn’t even taught his own daughters, not to mention an outsider who had no good intention. It must have taken Lan Xinru much courage to ask Mo Huawen to teach her to paint alone.

“Xinru, Huawen has many things to deal with every day and has no time to teach you to paint. If you really want his advice, you can paint a few by yourself and then ask for his advice. He can’t teach you in person.” Old Madam put the cup down and laughed.

Seeing Lan Xinru seducing Mo Huawen in front of so many people, Old Madam couldn’t stand it anymore and explained for her, and her words left Mo Huawen no chance to refuse. It was no big deal for him to give Lan Xinru some advice and say something more in Old Madam’s room, as Lan Xinru couldn’t do anything abruptly with so many people watching.

Although Mo Huawen was not happy with these words, he had to agree to it. “It can’t be called as advice, just some comments.”

Hearing his answer, Lan Xinru was so happy and thought that she could go into Mo Huawen’s study with this excuse. She almost showed her happiness and shyly looked at Mo Huawen and went towards Old Madam. This time, she didn’t say anything out of line.

However, when she glanced at Mo Xuetong, she lifted her chin with disdain as if she was already the main wife!