Real Empress from a noble family

Fortunately, Jiang Yashuang came very soon. Qiu Yelan had no time to flirt with him but said immediately, "My aunt Madame Lian seems to have been kidnapped by your cousin Jiang Yahong!"

Jiang Yashuang was stunned. He knew his cousin very well. If he had really done it, it might be too late now. But it would be better if he went over sooner so that it could be settled sooner, so he said immediately, "I'll go to the old residence now!"

After he left, Qiu Yelan began to think about how it could be settled. Madame Lian was still young and was favored in the Lian family. She had been refusing to remarry since widowed, which showed she loved her husband so much. Qiu Yelan had met her several times these years and knew that she was staunch with moral integrity.

Wang Qingqian also said just now that she hated being gossiped about. If she were insulted by Jiang Yahong, she would definitely die for her reputation!

After all, the Lians were kind to her and her daughter. She would not have to worry about her daughter when she died.

"How do the Jiang Family discipline their children?" Qiu Yelan got angrier as she thought about the matter. The Jiang Family should have known her relation with Jiang Yashuang. Why should Jiang Yahong kidnap Madame Lian? This was intended to make her, no, the fourth branch of the Jiang Family awkward!

"It must be so." Qiu Yelan thought, "Aunt Lian does not deserve to be kidnapped, and she doesn't go out very often. How could she get into such trouble if she were not spotted by someone?"

Although she met with Jiang Yashuang frequently, she seldom asked about the internal affairs of his family. On the one hand, it would spoil the atmosphere; on the other hand, she didn't want to bother to worry about the Jiang Family' internal affairs before she was formally married into their family. Now she seemed to have got involved in the Jiang Family' internal affairs and could only guess everything.

She did not know whether it was right or wrong, but it was not important for her. What was important was that Jiang Yahong had offended her. "I'll find a chance to drive a wedge between the first and fourth branches! None of the Jiang Family are good except Jiang Yashuang!"

She sat in the room with a gloomy face for more than an hour, figuring out how to be a bad daughter-in-law in the future. Chen Shui entered and told her that County Princess Duanrou came to visit.

Qiu Yelan was thinking about the matter now, but County Princess Duanrou was from the royal family and it was impossible for her to avoid seeing her, so she had to welcome her inside in person. She was about to talk to her when County Princess Duanrou asked, "I heard Miss Wang is here. How come I don't see her?"

"You came to see Cousin Wang?" said Qiu Yelan in surprise. "She was here just now, but she is gone now."

"Did she come for Madame Lian?" Qiu Yelan was dazed at County Princess Duanrou's question for a while. "What do you mean?"

County Princess Duanrou said with a smile, "You must all be scared and thinking there's something wrong with Madame Lian? Just now I sent Madame Lian back home on behalf of my mother and knew the whole family was in a mess! It was all because of the carelessness of my mother's maids. They forgot to go and tell them about it."

Qiu Yelan was stupefied for a moment, thinking that Jiang Yashuang worked really fast and had invited County Princess Duanrou to cover it up. The relationship between County Princess Duanrou and the Jiang Family was a long story. Her mother, Princess Qiyang, was Jiang Yashuang's cousin Jiang Qizhuan, the third child of the Jiang Family, and also the half-sister of Jiang Yahong, the trouble maker. Her father, Prince Qiyang, was the only blood of the abolished crown prince of the former emperor's reign.

Yes, it was the one born with mental retardation.

It was against the common sense that the daughter of the Jiang Family should marry a mentally-retarded man, even if he were a prince. There must be a story behind that.

Although no one had ever talked to Qiu Yelan about it, she could guess it. Most probably it had something to do with Empress Dowager Ye.

When Qiu Yelan went to the palace for the first time and was arranged to stay at Ganli Palace, the maid Nijin said that her room was the one where County Princess Duanrou used to live. Empress Dowager Ye had been squeezed into seclusion by the Empress Dowager Gu for a long time, yet she was still willing to arrange a special courtyard in her own palace for County Princess Duanrou. It could be seen that the relationship between them was unusually special.

Qiu Yelan speculated that Empress Dowager Ye had made a deal with Empress Jiang. In addition to asking the Jiang Family to protect her, she also asked Prince Qiyang to unite the Jiang Family by marriage. Although Prince Qiyang was not Empress Dowager Ye's own grandson, he was related to her in blood. After all, the mother of the abolished crown prince was also from the Yes and she was empress of the former Emperor, and the first empress!

Empress Dowager Ye was the one who, after the death of the empress, was chosen by the emperor as her successor from the Yes' family for his gratitude to her.

Jiang Qizhuan was the victim of the deal.

With such a relationship, it was not surprising that County Princess Duanrou stepped in now.

The words of the princess seemed to confirm her conjecture. "My mother went to some shops in the west of the city this morning. She didn't like to make it known, so she brought just a few people. On the way back, the horse stumbled and threw her out of the cart. Madame Lian helped mom and accompanied her to a nearby hospital and sent her back home afterwards. But it took her so long as to cause a misunderstanding."

She also explained why she came here. "I just sent Madame Lian back home. I heard Miss Wang had been out looking for her mother and not returned yet. I was afraid that Madame Lian would be worried, so I went out for her. I heard Miss Wang had come all the way here. I thought she must have come over to talk to you?"

"That's true, but she was so worried that she left without saying much." Qiu Yelan believed she was trying to vanish over the facts, so she said casually, "I guess you crossed each other on the way."

"I am relieved now that Miss Wang is OK." County Princess Duanrou said with a smile. Then she said goodbye. Qiu Yelan requested her to stay and then got up to see her off. She did not really want her to stay, for she was eager to know about the current situation of Aunt Lian!

Unexpectedly, when County Princess Duanrou was getting on the carriage, she suddenly stopped and said to her in a very low voice, "That uncle of mine is not a fool!"

Qiu Yelan was dazed, trying to figure out the meaning of her words. She was about to ask when County Princess Duanrou gathered up her skirt and got on the cart.

"Jiang Yahong is not stupid?" Coming back to her room, Qiu Yelan was still pondering over County Princess Duanrou's words. "Does it mean it was not he who took Aunt Lian away? Was he framed?"

"But it can also be inferred that Jiang Yahong almost kidnapped Aunt Lian before, and he was also trapped!" Qiu Yelan rubbed her forehead. "Who could have trapped him? County Princess Duanrou only gave her a hint and she was unwilling to explain in detail. It must be an internal strife of the Jiang Family!" If it was outsiders who were entrapping Jiang Yahong, why didn't County Princess Duanrou say it directly?

After all, she was a member of the royal clan and also a granddaughter of the Jiang Family.

Qiu Yelan just couldn't make it out!

Fortunately, Jiang Yashuang came to explain to her that night. "Aunt Lian was not taken away by my cousin, but recently someone instigated him to harm her. Luckily, he was alert and sent someone to check it out before taking action. So I asked my third cousin to find an excuse to call Aunt Lian out and ask her privately if their family had conflicts with others."

Qiu Yelan asked hastily, "With whom?"

Jiang Yashuang shook his head, "Aunt Lian didn't know anything. In fact, neither of the uncles of the Lians could remember who they had offended recently."

"I say, is it a fight between your family members?" Qiu Yelan frowned for a while and finally uttered the words, " County Princess Duanrou came to find Cousin Wang today and gave me a hint when she left. She said Jiang Yahong was not an idiot. She seemed to know who was framing him but felt embarrassed to say it."

Jiang Yashuang was stunned and murmured, "My eldest uncle's…" He obviously thought of something, but didn't want to say it. "I'll go back and ask." he said vaguely.

Qiu Yelan wondered, "Tell me the truth. Is your cousin Tao involved again?"

Jiang Yashuang was awkward. "What are you thinking about? She just came over to visit my grandma during the Spring Festival and left after lunch. I ate lunch in my own room that day. Besides, she is a girl. How could she reach out to Jiang Yahong? She is not very familiar with my uncle's children."

In fact, Qiu Yelan did not think that Tao Peibin was capable of that, but she mentioned Tao Peibin with a purpose. "How could Aunt Lian have been plotted against? Why do I feel it was because of me?"

"You think too much." Jiang Yashuang reached out to touch her hair but was avoided by her with a heavy blow. He had to give up and said, "I guess it was because of Aunt Lian's moral integrity that Jiang Yahong… If he really… she would commit suicide. In that case, he would inevitably get into trouble."

Qiu Yelan was not easy to fool. She sneered, "Yes, I wonder whether he would be scolded or punished symbolically in your family? That would be a big trouble and a great wrong done to him!"

Jiang Yashuang said awkwardly, "Although it's the case most of the time, the elders feel it is too noisy in the family these years, and now the rules are tighter…"

"How?" Qiu Yelan asked.

Jiang Yashuang said with no confidence, "If you had done do such a thing, at least you would have been scolded for two days."

"But that unlucky woman is dead!" Qiu Yelan sneered.

Seeing that Jiang Yashuang was speechless with an ugly smile, she calmed herself down and said, "Even if Aunt Lian committed suicide for this, your cousin would only be scolded for two days. I'm sure he wouldn't mind being scolded for two days. So what kind of trouble is that?"

Madame Lian's life was only worth two days' scolding. Even if you didn't care about Madame Lian's life at all, there were no dirtier deals in the world.

Jiang Yashuang said awkwardly, "Well, the men who framed Jiang Yahong were probably my eldest and the second cousins."

Qiu Yelan asked doubtfully, "I remember they are also the sons of your eldest uncle, and they were both born of the legal mother? Why should they frame their half-brother?"