Real Empress from a noble family

To the surprise of the Jiang brothers, Empress Dowager Gu didn't even mention the punishment of Jiang Yashuang in the Empress Dowager's decree, and only said that he was summoned to enter the palace.

To the Jiang Family, it was not unusual to speculate Empress Dowager Gu of doing the greatest vicious things. So, after hearing this, they did not refuse to go immediately. Instead, they forcibly detained the eunuch who was coming to read the empress's decree. The people in the side yard entered Madame Tao's yard to deliberate, "Does my aunt know about the Empress Dowager's decree?"

"She definitely doesn't know." For Empress Jiang's character, Madame Tao was the most knowledgeable. She frowned when hearing the news, "She just commanded Yashuang to the palace. Why did she use the Empress Dowager's decree? She could have asked your aunt to send someone over here informing the notice if she wanted."

"So what now?" asked Jiang Yadan.

Madame Tao lifted her chin towards the house where the eunuch was placed, "Let him be in no hurry for now. You quickly go into the palace to meet Empress Jiang. I'll let Yashuang go with the eunuch after we receive your message."

As for whether or not this round trip would make Empress Dowager Gu get tired of waiting… the Jiang Family didn't care.

However, before Jiang Yadan left the house, Empress Jiang got the news and sent someone over, "Is Yashuang going to the palace? Don't worry. Her Majesty has already known, and she is waiting for him in the Hall of Taishi right now!"

Madame Tao then asked, "Do you know what Empress Dowager wants?"

"The Empress Dowager wants to remove Yashuang's title of Xiucai. But neither Chancellor Dou nor Director of Studies Zhuang agreed to do so. This moment they are gathering the relevant people to discuss the matter in the Hall of Taishi." At this moment, a maid came to report, "Her Majesty said that there's no need to worry about it. It will be fine. Just send Jiang Yashuang there to go through the motions."

"Go through the motions? Why did they insist on asking Yashuang to go there?" asked Madame Tao with a frown.

The maid smiled and said, "Madame Tao, I don't know the reason, but this is what Her Majesty commanded."

"Yashuang, go over there and be careful!" After thinking over and over again, Madame Tao felt sure that her daughter wouldn't harm her grandson, so she beckoned Jiang Yashuang to the side and tidied up the jade pendant for him. She instructed, "If you encounter anything, find your aunt and let her fix it for you."

At the same time, in Marquess Zhang's residence, Mr. Leshan was also instructing Kuang Qingwu. He said, "Empress Dowager Gu seemingly tried to seek justice for you, but in fact, she's coming for you!"

Kuang Qingwu asked for advice, "Please, teacher, tell me more!"

"Jiang Yashuang killed your men in the street and tortured you, Young Prince of Marquess. He certainly deserves a serious charge." Mr. Leshan said indifferently. "But he is a son of the Jiang Family. Feng Rugui from the Governor's office is also a follower of the Jiang Family. Therefore, from the very beginning, he had found an excuse for his charge. The excuse was that his men killed your people as bandits mistakenly. Then, he would say that the wounds on your body were done privately by horsemen of the Jiang Family when Jiang Yashuang was not present. The two queens have always been evenly matched. Normally, the end of the accident will be that the Jiang Family will hand over scapegoats and then give you a gift as compensation, which will save Marquess Zhang's and Western Army's faces at the same time. As for you, you should act to be kind and generous and let the past conflict go. Then that's it."

"But now Empress Dowager Gu not only refuses to let it go but also wants to deprive Jiang Yashuang of his title… Do you know that Jiang Yashuang is the grandson whom Marquess Qin paid close attention to. Although his father, Jiang Tianchi, was the second son of Marquess Qin, but he inherited the position of Marquess Qin and Sir Jibei. In terms of the Jiang Family status, it is far above his brother, Jiang Tianqi, the Ministry of War's assistant minister!"

Mr. Leshan continued, "If nothing special happens, Jiang Tianchi will inherit the Marquess Qin's family from now on. Among the three sons of Jiang Tianchi, obviously, the one with high expectations is Jiang Yashuang, who returned to Kui County last year to take part in the county examination and won first place! It was said that he would return to Kui County this year to take the provincial examination! You count the days, now is the end of February. He'll be leaving in June or July due to the distance between the capital and Kui County! Now the Empress Dowager wants to deprive him of his title. Let's not talk about the fact that his repeated summons to the palace has delayed him from studying. The threat that he has to face, of course, will distract him from his study."

Kuang Qingwu definitely understood what the implication of his words was now.

"Empress Dowager Gu makes Jiang Yashuang be saddled with running from pillar to post. On the contrary, the Jiang Family won't let go of me. I also must prepare for the exam, right?" He frowned, "Once I fail the exam, the result will satisfy both Empress Dowager's and XingKang's intention as they wish that I will stay in the capital but also being able to blame the Jiang Family for the result…"

Mr. Leshan said, "Another point is that, recently, I heard that Jiang Qiyun from the Jiang Family would soon marry King Qi, His Highness. Jiang Qiyun is the daughter of the first branch of the Jiang Family. Yet, Jiang Yashuang is the son of the fourth branch. As Empress Dowager Gu is focusing on making trouble for Jiang Yashuang at this time, Empress Jiang is bound to protect Jiang Yashuang, her nephew. In this way, she would definitely neglect her niece's wedding. This will inevitably cause conflicts between the Jiang family's first branch and fourth branch!"

Kuang Qingwu was surprised and said, "Is the Jiang Family's first branch so irrational?" Even if Empress Jiang didn't personally take care of the King Qi's wedding ceremony, the ceremony would not be a shabby one as the bride was the first son of the emperor. In contrast, Jiang Yashuang, who was threatened to be deprived of his title by the Empress Dowager, was in a more critical situation.

"It's not that they're irrational, it's about interest!" Mr. Leshan said, "If the Jiang Family won in the competition for the crown prince, Empress Jiang would be the regent in the future actually. Would Empress Jiang give up this power just because King Qi's wife is her niece?! And now the Queen of Qi has been chosen by herself. This niece is not the only one for Empress Jiang's option. Against this background, the brother she prefers would be more important. In particular, Jiang Tianao is only the Empress's cousin. Although Jiang Tianchi and the Empress have different mothers, they have the same father. A brother with the same father has a much closer relationship than those who are cousins, right?"

It suddenly dawned on Qingwu, "In short, Empress Dowager Gu is determined to take me this time as a disguise or expedient measure for her deception!"

He continued with a frown, "Teacher, do you have any good way out of this? I really don't want to be manipulated like this by the Empress Dowager!"

"Naturally, what we need to do is to seek peace." Mr. Leshan said heedlessly. "The Jiang Family is related to officials of the government by marriages. Your father is far in the west. The Empress Dowager is pushing for it. To fight them in this capital, even if I were God, I couldn't turn the situation around… What we can do is to reconcile with them."

Kuang Qingwu said, "I excused myself from entering the palace today by saying that I was not feeling well. Now that I think the Empress Dowager is definitely not happy. If I don't tell Empress Dowager and reconcile with the Jiang Family… What if the Jiang Family doesn't agree, or if they do agree and then send the news to the Empress Dowager, what should I do?"

Mr. Leshan said, "So, we have to come up with a way." He said after a pause. "I've heard that among the unmarried daughters of the Jiang Family, apart from Jiang Qiyun who has been designated to marry King Qi, there are two or three other young ladies. They're all beautiful."

Kuang Qingwu was surprised, "What do you mean?"

"March is drawing near, and Her Majesty's birthday is on the day of The Shangsi Festival. So, the palace will have a banquet to celebrate it," Mr. Leshan calmly said. "You will go there at that time to express your congratulations. Then you look for an opportunity to meet the unmarried ladies from the Jiang Family and pretend that you fall in love with one of the ladies at first sight… Using this as an excuse to reconcile with the Jiang Family. This is a good reason for what you do."

Kuang Qingwu said slowly, "In that case, the Empress Dowager will definitely think that I'm easily bewitched by beauty and that I am not someone who can take on a great responsibility."

Mr. Leshan said, "You are right! Now, actually, the Empress Dowager is mainly interested in winning over you and your father. In her eyes, you are young and ignorant. She will never do anything to you if you do something foolish as you are young. Instead, she will coax you to change your mind while pointing the finger at the Jiang Family at the same time, so that even if the Jiang Family is still making trouble for you, I am afraid the Empress Dowager will not allow you to keep in touch with the Jiang Family."

Kuang Qingwu cautiously nodded, "Thank you for your guidance, teacher!"

None of these things were known to Qiu Yelan. Instead, she was now receiving a visitor who had startled her, Deng Yi.

Nominally, Deng Yi was coming to visit Qiu Mengmin. Only after the meeting, he said that he wanted to meet with Qiu Yelan in private. After sending someone to ask Qiu Yelan for her approval and she agreed, Qiu Mengmin said nothing but agreed.

The atmosphere at this meeting between the not-yet-married couple was far from the amicable it had once been, Deng Yi asked directly, "Did you send the man to kill my mother and me?!"

"When it comes to breaking promises, you and your mother did it first!" Qiu Yelan said coldly. "So, now, are you feeling wronged?"

Deng Yi growled, "At most, we'll just let you marry me. Instead, the first thing you want to do is to take our lives. How vicious you are!"

Qiu Yelan mocked, "You get used to the days you have, but what makes you think others can get used to it too?!"

"I will participate in the imperial exam in autumn of this year, and if nothing else happens unexpectedly, next year, I will participate in the metropolitan exam… Once I pass the exams, I will request to be stationed abroad and leave the Prince's Mansion of Guangyang." Deng Yi was distraught. "This is what Empress Dowager herself promised me, and I've only had one chance to do this for so many years. Just don't cause any more trouble for me, okay? At most, after you and I get married, we don't live together. We'll divorce peacefully in a few years. By then, you can marry whoever you like. Do you really think I really want to be hard upon you?"

Qiu Yelan was startled, and then she came to her senses, "Did Gu Yan force you to marry me? What's going on here is disturbing you so much that you can't study quietly, right?" She frowned at the thought, "Why are you so silly? There was nowhere to find you before. Why don't you stay in hiding until the fall? You could simply go back to your hometown and take the autumn exam. Then, you come to the capital slowly upon time, and you will arrive in the capital exactly before the day of the spring exams. That would be a perfect plan, right?"

Deng Yi sneered, "What happened to me is just because of you! Originally, what you said was also my plan. In case he made things difficult for my mother, I even persuaded her to leave with me. After only a few days of hiding in Pingshan, the people you sent found our hiding place… If we hadn't returned to the capital, we might have lost our lives, let alone leaving the Prince's Mansion of Guangyang!"

"You blame me for that?" Although Qiu Yelan sent neither group, she didn't care to admit it. "In the first place, I sent someone to ask your idea about our engagement. I wanted to know what you were going to do. You disappeared without an answer. Who knows if you've been ordered by the Gu Family to keep me waiting? Why don't you tell me about this first that you're not hiding from me, but from Gu Yan? How do I know you're not coming for me if you don't tell me!"

Deng Yi gloomily said, "Do you think I were you? Do you think I was able to secretly send out a group of outlaws - though I know you borrowed the power of the next-door Jiang Yashuang? But, no matter what, he's also a force you can use. Other than a book boy, I'm surrounded by people I can't trust, even my mother."

He looked glum and sighed, "Anyway, I originally thought that after learning some martial arts from you, I could go and wander the world. After the attack, I realized that my talent for learning martial arts is really… Right now, my only chance is to pass the examinations as soon as possible. If you must hold me back, don't blame me for following what the Empress Dowager told me."

"Is it useful for you to follow the Empress Dowager?" Qiu Yelan asked. "Do you think she did not know about your situation all these years? But did she help you? You think she'll pay attention to you just because you passed the exams? Think about it. Jinshi is glorious to ordinary people, but it means nothing to the Empress Dowager!"

Deng Yi said dismissively, "So I should just listen to you, get discouraged and then commit a suicide?!"

"…" Qiu Yelan was speechless for a moment and was about to say something. Someone in the inner chamber suddenly interjected, "You want to focus on reviewing your books? What's the difficulty? As soon as you publicly announce that you're breaking off your engagement to Lanlan, I'll arrange for you to live in my side yard. I'll make sure that Gu Yan won't disturb you even he tries all means!"

It was Jiang Yashuang who just happened to come over.