Real Empress from a noble family

At the time, it didn't dawn yet, but everyone was awake. They walked to the Flower Hall, sitting down for a cup of tea served by maids. Jiang Qizheng drank her tea and intended to say something before something else occurred to her. She asked Qiu Yelan, "Mistress Kang just said she wanted to meet you."

"Let her alone." said Qiu Yelan with a frown. "Commandery Princess Lihui just said that she and I conspired to hurt Duchess of Huainan and Concubine Mo. Although I understood Lihui is very sad now, and she might not realize what she was talking about. But my uncle told me he had no relationship with Kang Lizhang. If I met her now, I wouldn't know how to explain our meeting to my uncle later. What's more, at this critical time, if I met her, Commandery Princess Lihui might be suspicious of my intention. I don't want to trap myself in more trouble."

In the first place, it was Kang Lizhang who wanted to meet Qiu Yelan. On the contrary, Qiu Yelan did not intend to meet her. So, Qiu Yelan did not hurry to meet her. Maybe something would occur itself because Qiu Yelan did not meet her now.

The most significant trouble was that Commandery Princess Lihui wouldn't let go of the accident quickly.

"Yes, you are right." said Jiang Qizheng. She also did not want Qiu Yelan to meet Kang Lizhang at this critical time. Qiu Yelan actually was the girlfriend of her younger brother. It was degrading to meet a concubine frequently.

Seeing Qiu Yelan refuse to meet her, Jiang Qizheng felt relieved. She calmed herself down and said, "We must send a man to inform Mansion of Duke of Huainan after dawn. As the road is blocked, we can't transport Princess's body to her house soon. That means we all have to stay here with the body."

Hearing they had to stay here with a dead body, Qiu Yelan felt nothing, but He Shuijin and Zhuang Man felt nervous. They were scared although it was Duchess of Huainan whom they knew before.

"The west room is empty. Let's put the body over there." said Jiang Qizheng, feeling tired. This farm, as it was not far away from the Jinxiu Slope, was used as a hotel for them during their vocation frequently. Even the Jiang Family did not hold a funeral in the farm, but now they had to hold one for an outsider. Although the relationship between the Mansion of Duke of Huainan and the Jiang Family was not good, they were on the same level. It's inappropriate to put her body outside in the rain.

He Shuijin rubbed her forehead and said, "We planned to get a doctor tomorrow in the town. We should do two things at the same time. If you are scared, ask your maids to sleep beside you or two of you live in the same room, Okay?"

Just as she finished her suggestion, Zhuang Man and Xue Nongqing said in the chorus, "We want to live with Yelan."

Qiu Yelan said promptly, "I am not scared."

"But we are!" said Zhuang Man promptly.

Jiang Qizheng smiled after hearing her prompt answer despite facing a lot of trouble. "She is younger than you. She is not scared, but you are?"

"She is younger but she has more guts than us." said Xue Nongqing. "You remember that when we were in the Liuhua Waterfall, she even dared kill fish…"

The mention of fish reminded Jiang Qizheng of the fish soup, "She did surprise us. She can cook and the dishes she cooked tasted so good. I even had no time to say thanks to you because of the rain."

"You are welcome." said Qiu Yelan. In honest, she was reluctant to live with others. She got used to living alone. Even her maids slept out of her room. What's more, she guessed that Kang Lizhang might come and see her. It would be inconvenient to have outsiders around. Finally, she had to accept their suggestion as Zhuang Man and Xue Nongqing had mentioned it. "So, you two will live in my room or I go to yours?"

"We go to your room." said Xue Nongqing thankfully. "It's inappropriate to ask you to move because of us."

Jiang Qizheng and He Shuijin discussed something in a low voice, saying, "As there are no important things here, let's call it a day."

All girls and maids stood up, going back to their own rooms.

Qiu Yelan began to walk back to her room. When she arrived at her door, she saw Qiu Jinzhu in her next room leaning on the window. She asked timidly, "Yelan, where have you been?"

"They found Duchess of Huainan and Commandery Princess Lihui." said Qiu Yelan lightly. "In order to save Commandery Princess Lihui's life, Duchess of Huainan died. I just went there to comfort Commandery Princess Lihui… As you are the youngest one, we did not wake you up."

"Duchess of Huainan?" asked Qiu Jinzhu. "Is Lihui okay now?"

"Certainly not." said Qiu Yelan. "She said a lot and then I knocked her out before she calmed down."

Hearing her words, Qiu Jinzhu bit her lips.

"Mistress Kang is fine. But now, Commandery Princess Lihui thought Kang Lizhang killed her mother. So, it's up to you to meet her or not." said Qiu Yelan with a sigh. "I'm exhausted. Don't bother me then."

Shortly after entering the house, Zhuang Man and Xue Nongqing came over with a group of maids. Because it was raining, it didn't dawn yet. There were lanterns under the porch every few steps, but the two of them still asked their maids to carry several lanterns to shine everything.

After welcoming them in and said some empty words, Qiu Yelan let them sleep on the bed that she slept. She cleaned the low bed near the window for herself.

Certainly, Zhuang Man and Xue Nongqing would say words like it's inappropriate. However, Qiu Yelan said she wasn't used to sharing the bed with others, so they had no choice but to agree.

Because everyone was tired the day before and had just dealt with Lihui for a few hours, the three of them undressed and slept again without more words.

Qiu Yelan slept until noon the next day, and no one disturbed her. When she woke up, she found the embroidery tent hanging low outside of her window. Zhuang Man and Xue Nongqing were not awake, so she tiptoed outside and whispered to Su He to freshen herself up.

Seeing that Zhuang Man's maid was about to enter the room, she said, "They were all exhausted yesterday. If there's nothing important, leave them to sleep a little longer."

The maid hesitated and said, "Your Grace, yes." And she stood back again.

After Qiu Yelan finished washing up, she asked, "Are the people of the Mansion of Duke of Huainan arriving?"

"Not yet." said Su He, shaking her head.

"I guess the road is not good." Qiu Yelan said. "They might not be here until afternoon."

After a while, Chunran brought some food from the kitchen. After lunch, a Jiang Qizheng's maid came over, "Your Grace, my lady invites you to her room discussing something important in private."

"Oh?" Qiu Yelan surprised. She wondered if Jiang Qizheng suspected that she really had something to do with the death of Duchess of Huainan. Or there might not be anything worthy of discussing in private? With a clear conscience, she said, "Wait here, I'll come over."

When she arrived at Jiang Qizheng's room, she saw that the maids had been dismissed.

Looking around her room, Qiu Yelan felt that she had guessed correctly.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Qizheng said, "About one hour ago, a man behind our farm said he wanted to meet you. After he heard that you were tired and sleeping. He said he could wait until you got up. So, I did not bother you… Now you are up. He said he wanted to talk with you in private."

Qiu Yelan was confused and was about to ask, but Jiang Qizheng continued, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. That person is the one you introduced to me yesterday in the Jinxiu Slope. It's young master He."

"Him?" Qiu Yelan surprised. "My cousin?" Otherwise did Qiu Feng have anything else to talk with her?

Jiang Qizheng looked at her, "I am not sure if it related to your brother. But…" she stopped. "Although he is your brother's sworn brother, but a man is a man. He is going to meet you at my farm. In case somebody knows that you meet a man over here, it's not good for you. So, I think I should send a man going there with you? What do you think?"

Qiu Yelan was thinking the intention Qiu Feng was here, meeting her, "So, who will you send?" asked she.

"It must be Yashuang." said Jiang Qizheng lightly. "It should be me, but Young master He has nothing to do with my family. And to me, he is a man I don't know. It was fine for me to bump into him by chance, but this was a bit inappropriate to meet him specifically… So, I recommend Yashuang."

Qiu Yelan glanced at her and knew that she didn't trust her to meet with Qiu Feng alone. Thus, she recommended Jiang Yashuang to spy on her. But now, she could only rest assured if she saw Qiu Feng and asked him his intention here, so she didn't have the time to care about Jiang Qizheng's real intention. She got up and said, "Where is he now?"

"I have asked him to wait for you outside. He will go with you to meet Young master He." said Jiang Qizheng, pointing to the east.

She walked out of the room toward the direction she pointed. Plainly enough, she saw Jiang Yashuang waiting there with a silk umbrella. When he saw Qiu Yelan came out, he came over to cover her up, "Don't worry, I've just gone to meet Qiu Feng, he said it had nothing to do with your brother."

Qiu Yelan was relieved and looked at him approvingly, "That's good, good. So, what is it?"

"He said he'd only speak to you privately." Jiang Yashuang said with a bit embarrassment, "Yesterday Qizheng told me that you had met Qiu Feng at the Jinxiu Slope. I have explained to her, but she's still a little worried about you meeting a man alone. So, she asked me to accompany you."

Qiu Yelan looked askance at him, "Only she suspected me? Okay, you tell me where Qiu Feng is, and I'll go by myself. You go back."

Jiang Yashuang smiled, "I don't suspect you. I just want to be your side."

"You're ridiculous!" Qiu Yelan said. "After your two sisters got home yesterday, they didn't stop complaining about me, did they?

Jiang Yashuang said absently, "I was planning to go back and discuss this with my grandmother about the thing you mentioned."

"Oh?"

"You know nothing, Jiang Qiyun and Jiang Qisheng have reached an age of marriage. They must get married as soon as possible." said Jiang Yashuang, lowering his voice. "Even if Aunt Yang and Third aunt love their daughters much, they are girls who are deemed to get married and be a family member of her husband."

Qiu Yelan grunted, "Then Aunt Yang and Third aunt will hate me more, I guess."

"Look at what they did. Put Jiang Qizheng on the spot in front of the Gu Family. Jiang Qiyun might avoid punishment, but Jiang Qisheng, I am sure, she will be…" said Jiang Yashuang coldly. "She will be punished as per our Family Rules! Even I say nothing. I think my grandfather has planned to marry her far away!"

"As you mentioned it, I have a question: Your sisters are not stupid girls." said Qiu Yelan in doubt. "As we usually say, 'Family troubles are not a thing to be talked about in public'. But look at them. They pointed the finger at each other. I don't think any parents would be tolerant of it in a family."

Jiang Yashuang sighed, "They have been spoiled. They will do whatever they want when they are impulsive. My grandmother has forecasted that they would make trouble for the family. You see, her prediction came true."

Qiu Yelan narrowed her eyes. She thought to herself: Over the past years, many people told her that the relationship between the girls Jiang Qiyun and Jiang Qisheng and Madame Tao was not okay.

Jiang Qiyun had an influential grandfather named Kui Xiannan, who lived in Jiang's hometown. Even Marquess Qin treated and respected him as his own father. Although Madame Tao was Jiang Qiyun's aunt, she could do nothing to her except let her go. On the other side, Jiang Qisheng was not lucky to have an influential grandfather. Over the past two years, Madame Tao always warned her about what she did. Now, Madame Tao knew what she did something wrong. She would punish her severely.

For a family like the Jiang Family, the elders got used to dealing with trouble made by their offspring. But hurting each other and pointing a finger at each other was a big taboo!

"I even don't want to comment on them." said Qiu Yelan, fueling the conflict. "I have a sister who fought with me years ago. We punched each other. But we never put the other on the spot in front of outsiders."

"You have a sister who hit you before?" asked Jiang Yashuang with a frown.

"I did beat her!" said Qiu Yelan, pursing. "You think she could beat me?"

"I love your no-lose personality!" said Jiang Yashuang with a happy smile, reaching out his hand to pinch her face.

Before Qiu Yelan stopped his hand, they heard a cough behind the artificial hill. Qiu Feng walked toward them slowly with a frown. He did not comment on their flirtation. Instead, he got to the point, "Last night, I saw the person who killed Concubine Mo!"