Real Empress from a noble family

"Mas…" before Qiu Yelan could say the word "master", she saw Qiu Feng shaking his head towards her. She corrected herself knowingly, "Why are you here?"

Qiu Feng said vaguely, "We are having an outing today. However, the mastiff we borrowed from Young Earl Ling ran wild accidentally. The mastiff got here and startled the lady's Persian cat. Then…"

If Jiang Qizheng or He Shuijin were here, they would forgive them after they apologized. However, these two who had a good temper went to visit Duchess of Huainan. Zhuang Man who didn't even take Jiang Qiyun and Jiang Qisheng seriously was left here to be in charge. How could she forgive them so easily?

However, although Zhuang Man was peremptory, she was nice to her own gang. Without Qiu Yelan asking, she approached and said, "Yelan, you know them? Then never mind. Qizheng, Moxue was so scared of their mastiff that it went up a tree and refused to come down no matter what. The maids are trying to calm it down now."

Jiang Qizheng was stunned and then said, "Just a cat. It will get better soon."

She didn't have time to care about her pet. She was more interested in Qiu Feng who was in front of her. He was neither refined nor elegant like Ruan Qingyan nor was he handsome or flawless like Jiang Yashuang. But he was kind of good-looking. Especially as a famous master, he had this bold and uninhibited attitude. He couldn't hide it even he was dressed like a scholar.

"We are all wearing veil hats right now. But he identified Qiu Yelan immediately. What's their connection?" Jiang Qizheng felt that Qiu Feng could be considered as a threat to her brother judging by his look and bearing. She asked with composure, "Yelan, they are?"

Qiu Yelan sensed the suspicion in Jiang Qizheng's tone and then said, "This is my cousin's close friend. As for the rest…" she remembered the handsome man with a mountain spring like clear voice was Xun Yuxi who Ruan Qingyan once selected to be her husband.

However, she had met Xun Yuxi. But Xun Yuxi never met her. Of course, she couldn't admit that she knew him.

Qiu Feng answered instead, "I'm He Feng. Ruan Qingyan and I are sworn brothers. This is Xun Yuxi and that is Li Xuan. We are having an outing today. However, our mastiff startled your pet because of our negligence…" he made a few apologies, Jiang Qizheng kept saying it was okay. Meanwhile, she blamed Zhuang Man for making a fuss. And then she let them go.

Seeing this, Xun Yuxi who was negotiating nicely and Li Xuan who was silent were both relieved. No one wanted to offend Jiang Family for this kind of trivial matter.

After Qiu Feng and the others left, Jiang Qizheng asked everyone to sit inside the enclosure. Meanwhile, she tipped He Shuijin with a wink. They grew up together. They could understand each other without talking.

After a while, Jiang Qizheng was talking and laughing with Zhuang Man and others. He Shuijin sat in front of Qiu Yelan quietly. She talked about something else for a while and then asked with a smile, "Will He Feng take the imperial examination in spring next year? Judging by his look, he is a scholar?"

Qiu Yelan knew He Shuijin's purpose clearly. So, she said flatly, "I don't know his title or if he is interested in taking the exam."

He Shuijin didn't believe that she wasn't familiar with Qiu Feng. The veil of Qiu Yelan's veil hat was down to her chest. And her clothes were obviously new. No one could identify her through her clothes. If they weren't familiar with each other, how could he identify her immediately?

Of course, he could identify her through the maids who didn't wear veil hats. However, Qiu Feng looked at Qiu Yelan directly. He didn't even look at Su He and Chen Shui!

After some thoughts, He Shuijin said again, "Really? I have a distant cousin. She is like your age. Her mother is too unwell to go out. So, she entrusted her daughter's marriage to me… He Feng is quite good-looking."

Qiu Yelan knew that He Shuijin's real purpose was to learn more about Qiu Feng. So, she said flatly, "Oh."

He Shuijin frowned a bit and was about to say something. Zhuang Man and Xue Nongqing approached holding arms, "Yelan, it's your first time at Jinxiu Slope. You haven't seen the Liuhua Waterfall at the back, right? Come on. We'll take you!"

Qiu Yelan and He Shuijin were in a stalemate. Hearing that, she was happy that she could be off the hook, "Really? That's so wonderful."

After Qiu Yelan, Zhuang Man and Xue Nongqing putting on their veil hats and going out, Jiang Qizheng approached and explained to He Shuijin, "I just found it suspicious. They may not know each other that well. Since she doesn't want to say anything, if we kept pushing her and it turns out there was nothing going on, it would be awkward."

He Shuijin glanced at her, "She has already got my implication. And she was not happy. I suppose there is nothing going on. Otherwise, she won't be so confident."

"Eh. Let's tell Yashuang about it when we go back." Jiang Qizheng was a little worried, "It really is that birds of a feather flock together. My brothers always have something for me to worry about. Although the one Yashuang likes is a girl, she still makes me worry."

While they were worried, Zhuang Man, Xue Nongqing and Qiu Yelan were enjoying the view.

Zhuang Man and Xue Nongqing knew Jinxiu Slope very well. They took Qiu Yelan to all the beautiful sites. After enjoying the views along the way, it was almost past lunchtime when they arrived at the waterfall with flowers floating on it which fell down from the hillock like a silver chain at the back of the slope.

Zhuang Man asked her maids to take out the lunch box, "The hot-water bottle is keeping it warm. Let me see if it's still warm. I hope so. Otherwise, it won't taste good."

She instructed her maids to put the dishes on the felt. When she turned around, she saw Qiu Yelan standing near the waterfall. Qiu Yelan was staring at the fishes in the water as if deep in thought.

"What do you think? The view is nice, right?" Zhuang Man asked with a smile, "There aren't so many flowers at this moment. So, there aren't so many flowers floating on the waterfall. The water will be covered by floating flowers in March. If someone didn't know this, he might mistake it for flower bed and step in it. Of course, it will hardly happen. Because it will be crowded with people here by then."

Before her voice had died away, Qiu Yelan raised her hand. Zhuang Man saw her holding two cobblestones which she picked up near the waterfall. Zhuang Man was wondering why she picked the cobblestones up. Then she saw Qiu Yelan throwing them out. After splashing sounds, two unlucky fishes floated up with their bellies turning upside down. Other fishes scattered at once!

Zhuang Man gawked at her and saw her bending over to pick up the fishes casually. She weighed the fishes in her hands expertly and then smiled at Zhuang Man, "Sister Zhuang, Sister Xue, you guys have accompanied me for a while. How about I treat you guys to some fishes?"

Xue Nongqing covered her mouth in surprise, "Yelan… you are so awesome!"

"You are going to do it yourself?" Zhuang Man was about to marvel at Qiu Yelan's fishing skill. However, seeing that Qiu Yelan was asking her servants for a knife, it seemed that she wanted to kill the fishes herself. Zhuang Man couldn't help startling. She asked doubtfully.

Zhuang Man had already begun to learn how to cook at her age. But all the ingredients were prepared by her maids when she was cooking. She just needed to cook them. Even so, she still found cooking very hard. Now seeing that Qiu Yelan wanted to do it all by herself, she was scared, "We are here to have fun. Let the servants do it, okay?"

"Relax. I'm good at this." Qiu Yelan knew that Zhuang Man thought she couldn't cook. She didn't want to explain. She asked Su He to bring her the stuff, "Pot, seasonings, firewood… everything that I asked you to bring."

After a while, Zhuang Man and Xue Nongqing both wiped their mouths with satisfaction. They kept gasping in admiration, "Yelan, to be honest, your cooking skill is better than our chef!"

Qiu Yelan kept a pot of fish soup and asked her servants to take it to Jiang Qizheng and others. She said with a smile, "That's because you guys are used to your home food. It's the first time that you guys eat things I make. So, you guys find it especially delicious."

"I'm also learning how to cook. But no one is willing to eat." Zhuang Man sighed disconsolately, "Even my dog doesn't eat the dishes I cook!"

Xue Nongqing couldn't help laughing out loud, "Really?"

Zhuang Man said, "Do I look like someone who would improperly belittle myself like that? Yelan, how long have you learned?"

So, you tried to stop me from cooking because you were bad at it? Qiu Yelan complained inwardly. But she said, "Not long… maybe because I like cooking. It's quite easy for me." luckily Zhuang Man wasn't good at observing. She didn't notice that Su He and Chen Shui had expressed their surprise a few times. Chen Shui might not know her that well. But Su He knew exactly how she was!

She never cooked…

"Alas, I think I'm just stupid." Zhuang Man wasn't suspicious, "You are good at composing poems. No wonder you are also good at cooking."

Qiu Yelan wondered what the connection between these two things is? For example, Ruan Qingyan got the Jinshi title at 18. But he didn't know how to cook at all, okay?

She was also pleased with this meal. She decided to drag these two into changing this outing to a food journey. She couldn't let the cookout materials which Mrs. Li and Mrs. Zhou prepared go to waste!

So, she said with a smile, "Actually, there are a lot of delicious ingredients in this season. Fishes are just one of them. For example, wild vegetables, pheasants, hare and so on."

They were discussing in full swing. However, it became cloudy all the sudden!

"Oh, no. It's going to rain. Let's go back!" seeing this, Zhuang Man complained constantly, "Judging by the weather in the morning, it should be a sunny day. Why is it going to rain all the sudden?" her complain wouldn't change the fact that it was going to rain. They put on their veil hats in a hurry and instructed their servants to pack up and leave.

When they went back to the top of the slope and joined Jiang Qizheng and others who had already sent people to look for them, it began to rain!

"Hurry up. Get in the carriage!" when it was getting cloudy, the carriages which were parked at the back of the slope were relocated beside the enclosure. Now all the masters had already got in the carriage. They were waiting for their servants to pack up and leave together.

They were familiar with each other because of the meal by the waterfall. Zhuang Man took Xue Nongqing with her and got in Qiu Yelan's carriage. She wanted Qiu Yelan to keep describing the wild food.

"It turns out that you do not just love sarcasm, you also love delicious food!" while Qiu Yelan was judging Zhuang Man inwardly, she talked to them every now and then. People who survived in the last phase were all wilderness survival experts. Any common sense back then would amaze Zhuang Man.

However, to Qiu Yelan's surprise, after talking to these two for so long, even Su He couldn't stay calm, they didn't even ask how she knew all those.

"Does it mean that they are both too naïve?" Qiu Yelan didn't know whether she should laugh or cry.

The carriages had already gone down Jinxiu Slope. Without the shielding of the trees, the rain became heavier. Lifting the curtain up a little and looking outside, it was a vast expanse of whiteness. Nothing could be seen.

"We can't keep going like this. We have to take shelter from the rain by the road." after a while, a bodyguard in coir raincoat passed on Jiang Qizheng's words carriage by carriage. Because one of their carriages was stuck in the mud and they couldn't get it out. "There is a bower not far away. Her Highness wants to stay there and wait for the rain to slow down."

There was a distance between the bower and the road. The carriages couldn't go there. And there were no sedans. So, all the ladies had to wear clogs and walk there by themselves.

The rain was so heavy at that moment. Although they all had a few servants holding umbrellas for them, when they got to the bower, their clothes were all wet and they were all like drowned rats.

"I should not have put on makeup. I'm like a drowned rat right now." He Shuijin wiped her face with a handkerchief. Seeing the rouge on the handkerchief, she said embarrassedly.

Jiang Qizheng said with a smile, "We are all the same. Nobody else is here anyway." they were used to be leaders. After tidying up, they instructed the maids to surround the bower with enclosure and hang curtains in the middle, "You all brought fresh change of clothes here, right? If you didn't, send someone to get it. Go inside and change one by one to avoid catching a cold."

Qiu Yelan remembered that she brought firewood at that moment. She instructed her servants to bring it here to start a fire in a hurry.

So, although they couldn't go back to the city because of the rain, they were not panic. However, after they waited in the bower for more than 2 hours, it was still a heavy rain. They all got impatient, "It won't keep raining until the evening, right?"

While they were worried, they seemed to see people approaching. But it was so blurry that they couldn't see clearly. When those people were on the steps of the bower, Jiang Qizheng asked in surprise, "Yadan, Yaheng, Yashuang, why are you guys here?"