Real Empress from a noble family

Qiu Yelan relieved after seeing Jiang Yashuang off, "Jiang Yashuang will keep an eye on Kuang Qingwu. I don't think he will make big trouble then!" After all, Kuang Qingwu was new in the capital. He needed time to get used to the environment despite the support of his father, Kuang Shihan. What's more, the Jiang Family, in effect, was more influential in the capital than his.

Her concern about Deng Yi was not urgent as she thought that Jiang Yashuang could cover for her and her brother.

After arranging everything, she began to ask about the preparedness of the picnic.

After getting what she wanted to know, it dawned on her that Mrs. Li and Mrs. Zhou were considerable maids indeed. Qiu Yelan asked them to prepare the stuff and food so that she could have a big meal during the picnic. Unexpectedly, they prepared much more than she required in the carriage.

The reason they prepared much was: "You were invited to be there. Didn't you share your food with others?"

That made sense. But Qiu Yelan knew that this reason was not from "We are good friends". It must stem from "If I lose face, so do you"!

Anyway, as she did not need to worry about those trivial things and she was rich at the same time, she was pleased to leave them to maids.

When the day came, she woke up earlier than usual for dressing up. They had discussed and concluded what hair type should be today. For this, Chunran even went to the Ruan Family for Ruan Ciyi's advice as she had been to many big occasions for entertaining bigwigs. After thinking carefully, Ruan Ciyi said, "Yelan is pretty with beautiful eyes and elegancy… She is only fifteen years old and she will go out with ladies who may not like her to be over-dressed. I recommend she dresses like a girl at her age, being cute."

Qiu Yelan summarized her words, "That means to be lovely and cute!"

For this reason, she combed an old fashion hair type with two buns and wore a stylish hairpin brought from the He Shuijin jewelry shop. She wore a narrow-sleeved short jacket of cherry-grass ground darkly embroidered begonia leaves, a lotus-breasted skirt aligning with her chest, which was cut in twelve rags. The dress was relatively wide which could be fluttered easily in the wind, making her extraordinarily petite. Together with the pomegranate crepe in her arms, Mrs. Zhou and Chunran both thought it was perfect in the chorus.

"That's because I am pretty in nature!" said Qiu Yelan, holding a mirror. "I am pretty no matter what I am wearing!"

"Your Grace, you are the prettiest girl in the world." said Mrs. Zhou, looking at her vigorous master. All of a sudden, she felt sad with tears in her eyes. She secretly wiped her eyes and said in a low voice, "What a pity your mother is not here!"

Qiu Yelan did not hear what she said. She held up a hairpin and asked, "You mean this one?"

"Yes, this one!" Su He and Chen Shui passed her the same hairpin and said to her in the chorus.

"Good!" Mrs. Zhou said, glancing at the hairpin. No time to think more about Princess Ruan, she came forward, "In this season, green is not showy. Yelan is young. Golden hairpins are not suitable for her age! The best should be glaze and coral hairpins!"

After a friendly discussion, the dress-up was over. She had a good dinner and left Mrs. Zhou as the gatekeeper, and then she, together with Qiu Jinzhu who had been waiting for her long ago, got on the carriage with Chunran, Xiaran, Su He and Chen Shui standing beside the carriage. She also took some old maidservants and guards with her.

By then, in Jiang's residence next to hers, there was a line of carriages parked one by one. An old maidservant, looking at the Prince's Mansion of Xihe expectantly, was waiting for their coming.

Seeing a carriage escorted by many maids and old maidservants coming from the Prince's Mansion, she walked forward and said, "Excuse me, is this Commandery Princess Ningyi? Our ladies will be here soon. Please wait here for a while!"

"That's okay." replied Qiu Yelan. She did not know this old maidservant. She guessed it must be Jiang Qizheng who sent her waiting here. Then she raised the curtain and asked, "My sister Qiu Jinzhu also wants to join us, but I hadn't had time to tell your lady… Is it okay?"

The old maidservant fully knew that Qiu Yelan was the lover of Jiang Yashuang. Thus, Jiang Qizheng mustn't mind her decision. However, as a servant, she certainly could not decide on behalf of her lady. So, she replied, "I will go and tell my lady about this. Please wait for a moment."

In a second, He Shuijin, wearing a veil hat, walked toward Qiu Yelan with two maids. She said with a smile, "It's totally okay to bring one. You are welcome… Do you just take one? I thought that you would take all girls learning in the school?"

"My Aunt Yang required me to take her." said Qiu Yelan. Seeing the carriages parking outside the house, she realized that the ladies from the Jiang Family would not leave soon. She invited He Shuijin to get on the carriage, sitting beside her, "It's my first time to join such an occasion. I am even afraid that I will do something rude. How can I take care of others?"

After getting on the carriage, He Shuijin took off the veil hat. She had a falling-off-the-horse bun with a jeweled hairpin looked like a peacock. It's shining over her head, making her beautiful and vibrant. "You are right…" said she after hearing Qiu Yelan's words. "But you should be relaxed. We will go to a big place. Jiang Qizheng planned to separate us into several groups. Girls who can get along with each other will walk together, or they can play by themselves. It will make all of us comfortable. The Spring Festival just passed and this is the first time of this year we go out. We should be happy."

"I can't agree with you more." said Qiu Yelan. What He Shuijin said was just like Su He advised her. "You know what. I never had a picnic before. Jinxiu Slope, good name. It must be a good place too. I can't wait to go there."

"There are many flowers and trees in the Jinxiu Slope. In particular, in these days." said He Shuijin. As having been there at least twice, she was familiar with the place. "But now is not a full blossom period. It should be in March. The words from poems like 'The peach and apricot trees are in full blossom' were written especially for March!"

Although Qiu Yelan focused on picnics, she was looking forward to the place now after hearing her description, "I surely will go there again in March."

"When the time comes, you treat us. Okay?" smiled He Shuijin. "As usual, we have several picnics in one year. We take turns to treat others from February. This time is Qizheng. How about you take the March turn?"

"That's wonderful." said Qiu Yelan. She knew that He Shuijin did not intend to make trouble for her. She thought that she could make friends with the ladies at the party. She said yes promptly.

They realized that they were still waiting for somebody while they were talking. Out of curiosity, Qiu Yelan asked, "Which lady are we waiting for now?"

"Everybody is here when I am out talking with you. It is Jiang Qiyun's Persian cat who ran away." said He Shuijin in a low voice, looking outside. "They are looking for it. Nobody knows when they can find that cat!"

"A Persian cat?" asked Qiu Yelan in a shock. "Take a cat for a picnic?"

"You did not take yours?" asked He Shuijin in shock too. "We all take our pets. To have a Persian cat prevails among girls in the capital. The cats also need a break. Qizheng planned to hold a Painting Competition by then. One of the topics is to draw a picture of Persian cats!"

Hearing they would hold a painting competition, Qiu Yelan got a headache immediately. She said promptly, "I am not good at painting. I think it's not suitable for me."

"You also can take your cat with you!" said He Shuijin. "You know what, as we all have a cat in our hands but you hold nothing. Do you think it's appropriate?"

"Su He, you go home and get our Whitey." said Qiu Yelan after thinking her words. "Go and come back quickly. We should not let them wait for us after the Persian cat is found."

He Shuijin smiled, "No need to hurry. If you were late, I could go with you. My carriage driver knows that place. It doesn't matter whether we can catch up with them."

"Whitey is cute, but the name… is funny." said she with a smile.

"Oh, I didn't take it seriously when I gave a name." said Qiu Yelan. She understood that the cats those ladies had had elegant names. Some of them might have a cute name such as "Litchi" or "Pinky". The name of "Whitey" was a unique one at that time.

Obviously, He Shuijin was a champion of the mainstream line. So, she commented on the cat's names. In a second, Su He came back with Whitey. At the same time, a message passed to them that Jiang Qiyun's cat had been found. They could leave soon.

"Then I will go to my carriage." said He Shuijin after getting the message.

Qiu Yelan nodded with a smile, getting off the carriage and seeing her off.

When she turned back to get on her carriage, she saw Qiu Jinzhu's maid, Tinlan, running out of her breath from the house with a Persian cat that looked like a Linqing Lion Cat in her arms. They glanced at each other for a moment. Tinlan obviously was a little awkward.

Qiu Yelan thought for a while after meeting her. She asked while she was getting on her carriage, "I think they are watching on us."

"I was even stopped by them. They asked me where you are going. I told them about the picnic as I afraid of making you wait." said Su He. She also ran back and forth to get the cat. Thus, she was also out of health when she said so.

"If she wants to follow my suit, go ahead!" said Qiu Yelan, covering her mouth after a pause.

Moving slowly after the carriages of the Jiang Family, she also saw many other carriages on the road. As usual, the road looked like a wide one, but now it was crowded.

"Many people are going out today," said Qiu Yelan in a shock.

"Today is not a weekend. I thought there should be not many people outside," said Su He, looking outside. Many carriages and horses were moving forward. "There must be more people at the weekend."

They were talking about the crowd of people while an argument occurred ahead. As they were far from the argument and noise around their carriage, they had no idea what's going on ahead except to wait for a long time before they could continue moving.

An old maidservant got the reason for the argument until they were out of the town. She came forward to the carriage and said to Qiu Yelan, "At the street corner, our carriages met the Princess Shou'an's ones, the Prince's Mansion of Guangyang. Both parties wanted to go first. So, they had an argument and the road was blocked."

Hearing she said the Prince's Mansion of Guangyang when she mentioned Princess Shou'an, Qiu Yelan realized that this princess must have a similar status with the Chunfu Princess, Jiang Qizheng. She must be not of royal blood. She got the title because she was favored.

"So, who won?" asked she. In the Jiang Family, Qiu Yelan only knew Jiang Qizheng and He Shuijin. She just followed their carriage through the corner. As of it, she did not know who won finally.

The old maidservant smiled, "Of course, it is Chunfu Princess. Chunfu Princess's carriage driver is more skilled than Princess Shou'an's. He ushered his horse to Princess Shou'an's lane. So, Princess Shou'an's carriage has to follow us. The carriages in the back must be them."

"Oh." said Qiu Yelan. Then she got a small mirror from Chunran. She reached out of the carriage and looked at the carriage behind from the mirror. Surely enough, there were many carriages behind. "I guess after we arrived at the Jinxiu Slope, we will have things to address!" said she with a frown.

In the past, Princess Shou'an and Chunfu Princess only focused on the business of their houses respectively. But Chunfu Princess's driver took advantage of his driving skill and shadowed Princess Shou'an's. Princess Shou'an must revenge.

Princess Shou'an was right after Qiu Yelan's carriage. She must be planning how to make trouble for them after arriving at the Jinxiu Slope!

Qiu Yelan couldn't help rubbing her forehead, and said with a sigh, "It will not be a peaceful day for this picnic. What…?"