Real Empress from a noble family

After a while, Jiang Yashuang, who had changed into a blue summer dress, returned to the Marquess Qin's Mansion. He fixed his robes outside the study, bowed respectfully after entering, and greeted respectfully, "Grandfather!"

Marquess Qin caressed his long beard and lazily commanded, "Get up, come and talk to me. What were you doing at the Prince's Mansion of Xihe the other day? All of your brothers were scolded because of you. Even your aunt and I were said to have not disciplined you well."

The old Marquess was over 60 years old, but his face was ruddy and he was hale and hearty. Now, he could still practice the long halberd that weighed dozens of pounds really quickly that even water couldn't be poured onto him. When he was wearing a half-old Confucian shirt and sitting behind his desk, he looked gentle, not like a military general but like a civil servant. In fact, Jiang Qianchuan was more talented than ordinary civil servants. Otherwise, he couldn't teach his grandson by himself.

Jiang Yashuang had begun to report his studies to this grandfather face-to-face as soon as he started to trace Chinese characters. There was no gap between the grandfather and grandson. At this moment, Jiang Yashuang didn't feel nervous after being accused. He walked up to him and said seriously, "I'm about to apologize to you, grandfather!"

"So, after it's done here, you plan to go into the palace to apologize to your aunt and then apologize to your brothers. And this matter would be over?" Marquess Qin squinted at him, "Would it be so easy to get over it?"

Jiang Yashuang got an innocent face, "I didn't say anything about my brothers when they got me into trouble in the past."

"What about your aunt and me?" Marquess Qin snorted.

"Grandfather and my aunt have always loved me…" He was interrupted by Marquess Qin before he finished speaking. "Knowing that we love you, you still got us into trouble? What did I say before? We had taken care of the big stuff for you, and you could practice your ability by finishing the rest! How about the result? You still left it to us, didn't you? It was easy to bully the ones who love you, wasn't it? You didn't want your beloved to be scolded, so you pushed your grandfather and aunt out to be scolded. You unfilial grandson, you don't worth my love!"

After being nagged at by his grandfather, Jiang Yashuang laughed instead, "You said back then that you let me finish the rest and you wouldn't care the result."

"You shameless boy!" Marquess Qin scolded, "Is there anyone who schemes against the elders in this way?"

Having said that, Marquess Qin didn't take it seriously, and said, "Let's leave it at that. If you're unfilial like this in the future, I will deal with you!"

Jiang Yashuang smiled and asked, "Grandfather, you didn't call me here today just for this, did you?"

"Of course not." Marquess Qin said carelessly, "Those disappointing ones in our family… If everyone needs to be called here and scolded by me for causing trouble, I won't have time to deal with other things." He took a letter out of his sleeve, "There is a letter from Beijiang. Read it."

Jiang Yashuang was delighted at the news, "Is it from my father?" He took a look at it but froze, "It is from granduncle."

Sir Jibei was the younger brother of the District Baron of Kui County and Marquess Qin. It was not uncommon for him to have correspondence with Marquess Qin. However, the correspondence between their elder brothers was rarely shown to the younger generation.

Jiang Yashuang was Marquess Qin's closest grandson, but it was the first time he saw the letter from his granduncle directly. After reading the letter, he returned it to Marquess Qin with both of his hands and then he asked surprisingly, "Does granduncle want to retire?"

"When he suffered an old injury three years ago, I wanted to call him back to Jing City to take care of him!" Marquess Qin sighed as he stroked his thigh, "He was cut here by a Hu Nu (someone from a nation to the west or north of ancient China) and the entire leg was almost… Although it was said that he was brought back by the Chinese soldiers to the main army and saved, he was left with problems. His leg would be incredibly painful in the rainy days! It was hard to see the sun on the north side all year round! However, he was worried that your father could not control the troublemakers in the Northern Army, so he insisted to stay there for a few more years!"

Speaking of which, the old man sighed, "Now that your father has got stable there and your granduncle can't endure the pain anymore… He is finally willing to come to Jing City!" It rained in the Jiang Family's hometown Kui County all year round, so it was not suitable for Sir Jibei to live in his old age. Therefore, after this Earl resigned from his official duties, the most suitable place to live was still in Jing City where the sun always shone.

Jiang Yashuang said in a deep voice, "My granduncle battled on horses all his life and resigned for now due to his injury. The court has to reward him. However, my granduncle is already an Earl. Our Jiang Family has three Earls, and this has been a serious threat to many people. Empress Dowager Gu will never agree to give him a rise in rank again! Prime Minister Xue will not agree either because of the balance, but the money reward alone is not enough to show the granduncle's credit. This…"

Marquess Qin nodded, "This is a problem. If the reward is too much, neither the Empress Dowager nor Xue Chang will agree! Although our family is known as 'Jiang Banchao' (half the court), we won't be able to contend with both of the parties! However, if the reward is not enough, we can't allow it for the sake of our family's face even if your granduncle doesn't care."

This wasn't just a battle of will, but more importantly, it meant how powerful the Jiang family was. If the retirement of the Duke of Qin's own brother and the Empress's own uncle was low key, where would the future of the Empress's Party lie?

In order to keep the Empress's Party united, the Jiang Family had to force the court to give Sir Jibei a decent reward!

"And Jiang Qiyun has just been betrothed to Prince of Qi by my aunt." Jiang Yashuang frowned, "If my granduncle returns to Jing City at this time, the Empress Dowager will doubt that this move is deliberately made by our family so as to use the power of the Northern Army to help Prince of Qi become Crown Prince!"

Marquess Qin said, "Of course. But this is not bad. Prince of Qi is really not as good as Prince of Yan and Prince of Zhou. He has only two advantages for us, one is the humble birth of his mother and the other one is being the eldest son. How can we help him get into the East Palace if we don't make good plans?"

Obviously, Marquess Qin intended to take advantage of Sir Jibei's retirement this time to help Prince of Qi, whom his daughter supported to become Crown Prince.

"The wedding of Prince of Qi and Jiang Qiyun will be held after the summer vacation." Jiang Yashuang counted the days, "My granduncle also plans to return at that time. I heard my aunt say that the Empress Dowager plans to marry Princess Changping to Kuang Qingwu. In this way, the Northern Army and the Western Army each chooses a side and who can be Crown Prince will still depend on the competition between the two parties in the court!"

"I'm afraid that the old fox, Xue Chang, is going to stand by again!" Marquess Qin shook his head slightly and said, "He doesn't intervene. Our family fights with the Empress Dowager. If there is no accident, it's hard to say how it will end."

Jiang Yashuang pondered for a while and said, "It's different now. In the past, he did not take sides not only because he was former emperor's trusted minister, who is also clever and powerful, but also because he had His Majesty as an excuse and could refuse entreaties from my aunt and the Empress Dowager. But now… Forgive me for being direct, grandfather. If Crown Prince is chosen, no matter which side wins, I am afraid His Majesty… Even Prime Minister Xue doesn't care about being criticized by the history book. The so-called loyal minister sits back and watches His Majesty in peril, he also has to consider that without His Majesty as an excuse, how he can continue to maintain his neutrality."

If the Jiang Family won in the competition for Crown Prince, Emperor's life would definitely be in danger. After all, Empress Dowager Gu was able to regent because her son was the Emperor. The Jiang Family, who had resented Empress Dowager Gu for a long time, would definitely make Prince of Qi ascend to the throne as soon as possible and took advantage of the credit for supporting him to get rid of the Gu Family in the name of the new ruler.

Even if Empress Dowager Gu's candidate became Crown Prince, the Emperor would not be any better! Though Empress Dowager Gu would not kill her own son, she would not mind letting her son abdicate as Emperor Emeritus or even abolishing him. As the husband's and the wife's fates were connected, Empress Jiang would surely not end well!

In short, Empress Dowager Gu and Empress Jiang, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, had based their power on the Emperor being their son or husband. Once the current Emperor was no longer the Emperor and the new ruler was not chosen by them, there was no chance for them to continue holding the rein of power.

Under such circumstances, the Neutral Party, which had been relying on the excuse of being loyal to the Emperor to keep away from the other two parties, would have to wait for the punishment by the winning party if it still didn't get involved in the competition for Crown Prince.

Marquess Qin didn't comment, "According to you, Xue Chang is more likely to choose the Empress Dowager's side. At least the Empress Dowager would not kill His Majesty."

Jiang Yashuang shook his head and said, "Not necessarily! After all, Prince of Qi chosen by my aunt is the eldest son! When Prime Minister Xue used His Majesty as an excuse to refuse my aunt and the Empress Dowager's entreaties, he referred to the ancient system, which claims that Crown Prince should be the legitimate son or the eldest son."

In fact, Xue Chang was also forced too much by the lobbyists sent by two parties in turn, so he made up his mind and said, "I'm a supporter of the ancient system since ancient times. As courtiers in the court, we should be loyal to the Emperor, not the Empress Dowager or Empress. That's right. I, Xue Chang, am a member of the Emperor's Party! So, don't try to recruit me. If I'm alive, I'll serve the Emperor. If I die, I'll still serve him as a ghost!"

If it were a different Emperor, he would probably have been killed by the Empress Dowager or the Empress Party. But His Majesty was so cowardly that he was a threat to nobody. So both the Empress Dowager and Empress Jiang laughed off the Emperor's party and considered them all as neutral. Since the Emperor was useless, what could Emperor Party do?

Back to the main topic, although Xue Chang's words were said under duress, there were quite a few people who knew about it. The problem then arose. If he wanted to take the side of the Empress Dowager in the competition for Crown Prince, it would mean that he denied his previous claim to "conform to the ancient system".

Although it was common that the politicians made irresponsible remarks, Xue Chang's claim to "conform to the ancient system" defined himself as a supporter of the Emperor Party. If he denied this claim, it would mean indirectly denying his loyalty to the Emperor.

Xue Chang had fame and fortune, as well as fine offspring. What he would consider now was no longer power and status, but the way forward and the evaluation of history.

"With Xue Chang's personality, it is indeed not easy to get over this hurdle." Marquess Qin pondered for a moment and nodded, "But he is not a pedantic person, so it's not easy to say what will happen until then." After hesitating for a while, he said, "This matter can't be rushed now, so let's leave it at that. Have you brought your homework today? Let me take a look."

Jiang Yashuang had already prepared for it, took out a large roll of rice paper from his sleeve, and presented it.

Marquess Qin took it, spread it on the desk, and read it carefully. He showed a trace of satisfaction and called him to the side, pointing out a few places that could be modified. But in the end, he sighed, "In your generation, in terms of talent, Yadan is actually not inferior to you. When I taught him how to trace Chinese characters, he learned much faster than you did."

Jiang Yashuang smiled helplessly, "My brother just got a short temper and can't sit still."

"He's just spoiled!" Sure enough, Marquess Qin's face soon turned cold, "I blame your mother for that! She was not the only one who was separated from her husband for years, but she was the only one who refused to suffer. She went to reunite with your father in Beijiang! Not only did she go there, she also spoiled Yadan and couldn't bear to see him go to that bitter cold place. I said at the time that he should be raised by your grandmother. First, it was taken for granted for your grandmother to take care of her grandchildren. Second, although she was not the biological grandmother, she was the legitimate granddaughter of the late Prime Minister Tao!

"Even though the Tao Family has unfilial sons and grandsons, they have the honor of being 'a family of seven successful candidates of Metropolitan Exam and three prime ministers among the father and sons'. Not to mention the present and former dynasties, how many families can be compared to the Tao Family throughout our history? So, their family's tutelage, no matter how bad it is, is better than the full court!"

"However, your mother is so muddleheaded! After listening to Aunt Yang's instigation, she thought your grandmother was a very strict person, so she entrusted Yadan to the first branch! It turned out that the first house really wasn't strict at all, and spoiled a potential scholar into a loser who is sexually promiscuous!"

Jiang Yashuang listened quietly to his grandfather's complaints and then whispered, "Actually, Uncle Mengmin has been overthinking. Grandpa, you love him much more than Third Uncle, my father, Seventh Uncle, and Eighth Uncle."

Marquess Qin was stunned and smiled bitterly for a while before he waved his hands weakly, "I'm tired. Go, remember not to slack off."

The grandfather and grandson knew clearly that although Marquess Qin accused Madame Zhuang, what he really wanted to scold was his nephew, Jiang Tianao. But remembering the kindness of Jiang Qianshan, the District Baron of Kui County, who was the father of Jiang Tianao, Marquess Qin could not scold this nephew. So, he could only blame his daughter-in-law, who was bewitched by the Jiang Tianao couple.

When Jiang Yashuang walked to the door, Marquess Qin shouted at him again, "Talk to your grandmother about going to the Qiu Family to bring up the proposal formally. Let her arrange it for you. When this matter is settled, you can concentrate on your study. Stop being distracted!"

"OK!" Jiang Yashuang busily promised, "I'll study hard to prepare for the exam and will not let you down, grandfather!"

"Go!" Looking at his face, which still contained childishness in its handsomeness, Marquess Qin sighed in a lonely way.