Real Empress from a noble family

After proposing the idea of "having amnesia", Qiu Yelan went back to Prince's Mansion of Xihe before Qiu Jinglan could tell her whether the Xue Family accepted it. Mi Yinyin whom she befriended this year was getting married. She needed to prepare the gift and went to her Mansion to congratulate her.

Mi Yinyin was also marrying into the Jiang Family. She was marrying the grandchild of Sir Jibei, Jiang Yalan. Like Jiang Yaheng and He Shuijin, Mi Yinyin and Jiang Yalan were also cousins. They cemented the old ties between their families through their marriage.

However, when Qiu Yelan packed up her things and arrived at Mi's home, she saw that Mi Yinyin was hosting her friends with a reluctant smile. She didn't look like she was happy but rather nervous.

Qiu Yelan felt strange. She pulled He Shuijin outside and asked, "What's wrong? Doesn't she want this marriage?"

"She should want it. She liked tagging along with Jiang Yalan since she was young." He Shuijin frowned and said, "He also treated her differently before, but since Xin Fubing came to Jing City a couple of years ago, Jiang Yalan seemed to have paid some attention to her."

Qiu Yelan was surprised, "Are you saying he no longer likes Mi Yinyin but fell for Xin Fubing? But if so, why did he engage with Mi Yinyin?" One was his maternal cousin and the other was his paternal cousin. Marrying either could cement the family tie. Under this situation, it would be up to Jiang Yalan. Let alone the Mi Family relied on the Jiang Family to prosper. The Mi Family would be a bit less comparing to the Xin Family.

He Shuijin said, "It's quite complicated. Do you remember last time at Jinxiu Slope, how Jiang Qiyun tricked Xin Fubing to leave? She was so nervous because the Persian cat was given to her by Ou Qinglan when Ou Qinglan went back to Beijiang. Honestly, Ou Qinglan didn't treat that Persian cat as seriously as her."

"She likes Ou Qinglan?!" Qiu Yelan was shocked!

"She likes the brother of Ou Qinglan, Ou Bicheng!" He Shuijin said impatiently, "What are you thinking?!"

Qiu Yelan laughed awkwardly, "I see. That's why Mi Yinyin was not happy today."

"She always thinks too much!" He Shuijin pressed her forehead and sighed, "Xin Fubing has no feeling for Jiang Yalan. All her mind is on how to butter Ou Qinglan up and get close to Ou Bicheng. Besides, Jiang Yalan has waited for Xin Fubing for some years, but in the end, he did engage with Yinyin. If she treats him nicely, he will forget about Xin Fubing. But even you who are not familiar with Yinyin saw that she was unhappy today. What will the Jiang Family think when they hear about it?"

Qiu Yelan thought about it and felt she didn't really know how to answer that. So, she just changed the topic, "Speaking of which, I should also congratulate you. Your big day is close too."

Hearing this, He Shuijin smiled, "Mine is close, and yours is also close. Jiang Qisheng will get married by the end of the year. Jiang Yazhu's marriage is also settled. Then after Chunfu's, it will be yours."

"Jiang Qisheng's marriage is by the end of the year. Jiang Yazhu's will be before her. But Chunfu Princess hasn't decided yet." Qiu Yelan smiled but secretly thought, "Chunfu Princess is not like Jiang Yazhu. The Jiang Family can't just pick a random husband for her. There still isn't any news about whom she would marry. She may delay it for one or two years."

But Qiu Yelan was not in a hurry to get married, she didn't think about it too much.

After finishing lunch at the Mi Family, Qiu Yelan was about to leave. But a servant from the Mi Family came up to her and said by her ear, "The lady of Marquess Qin just sent the word. She asked you to go to the tea house that has a green flag on East Street to have a chat on your way back."

Qiu Yelan was surprised, "Do you know why?"

"I don't know. My master also doesn't know." The servant answered honestly, "I'm just passing the word."

"Thank you." Seeing she didn't get an answer, Qiu Yelan nodded and went on the carriage. She kept thinking in her mind. At the age and status of Madame Tao, she just needed to wait for others to go to her place when she needed to see anyone. This time she specifically went to a tea house outside. What did she want to say, and why did she act so mysteriously?

She kept thinking. When she arrived at the tea house, she had a thought, "Was the truth of who saved Jiang Qizheng exposed?"

It was just like that. She entered the box that Madame Tao booked. Besides Madame Tao, there was only Mom Hu who was serving. She closed the door and was suggested by Madame Tao that she didn't need to salute. Madame Tao had a straight face. She asked directly, "Who saved Zheng'er? From where?"

Qiu Yelan didn't know how much Madame Tao knew. She asked tentatively, "Jiang Qizheng…"

"I'm meeting you here, so you should know I kept this secret to her." Madame Tao said calmly, "Besides, you already tried to fool me. Clearly, your secrets are leaked out since I came out to find you specifically. You don't need to pry how much I knew. If I didn't have much certainty, I wouldn't sneak out to see you at my age. Besides, you and your brother take that child back home. Now there's a problem. If you say it now, maybe I can save it. If you don't, when it gets serious, you two couldn't get away, right?"

She showed the carrot and the stick both in this talk. It also made sense. Qiu Yelan frowned and said, "It wasn't my maid who saved Jiang Qizheng, but Qiu Feng. Because he is a man and the place where he saved Jiang Qizheng was far from the Summer Palace, we were afraid that it would damage Jiang Qizheng's reputation, so we took the credit."

Madame Tao was sulkier after hearing this, "Qiu Feng? His family name is Qiu. Is he your family servant?"

"No." Qiu Yelan shook her head, "He is from the Jianghu. And he is a quite famous swordsman in the Jianghu. For some reason, he had a history with my brother. Before the earthquake, he lived in the Green Villa. When the earthquake happened, my brother was worried about me. So, he asked Qiu Feng to find me, but instead, he found Jiang Qizheng."

Qiu Yelan paused and said, "With all due respect, he is of low born, but he is noble. He would never offense Jiang Qizheng!"

Madame Tao gave her a deep look, "Noble? I'm afraid he is easy to impress because he is noble."

Qiu Yelan was dazed.

After a while, she left the tea house. Su He and others who were waiting for her on the carriage saw she was frowning. Su He asked worriedly, "Your Grace, what was that for?"

"I'm not going back to the Prince's Mansion of Xihe. Go to the Ruan Family." Qiu Yelan shook her head, "I need to discuss this with my brother."

Qiu Jinglan who was busy with the Xue Family's matter suddenly heard that Jiang Qizheng may fall in love with Qiu Feng and Madame Tao may have found out. He frowned, "This earthquake is such trouble!"

He thought about it and asked," What's Madame Tao's idea?"

"She didn't say and I couldn't guess." Qiu Yelan supported her chin with her hand, "But she's not Jiang Qizheng's legitimate grandmother. Young Lady He told me that Madame Zhuang was a feisty person. Jiang Qizheng is her only daughter and she is a princess. The difference between their status…"

"More importantly, Qiu Feng may not want to marry Jiang Qizheng." Qiu Jinglan smiled and said, "He's used to being alone. How would he want to settle down? Let alone marrying a princess."

Qiu Yelan asked, "Then what?"

"Just let it be." Qiu Jinglan said, "We still need to take care of the Xue Family's business."

"What are you going to do?" Qiu Yelan asked, "He can't always hide here."

Qiu Jinglan glanced at her, "I'm going with your way. Just say that Xue Nongying fell in the river and was washed off. He was saved by a farmer. But he lost his memory and couldn't remember anything, so he stayed in that farmer's house. The farmer saw Xue Nongying was wearing expensive clothes, so he asked around intentionally. He heard that the Xue Family lost a young master during the earthquake, so he tried to find the Xue Family. Xue Nongying was then finally home."

"Maybe Qiu Shen and Noble Consort Gu will send someone to visit him. He better acts it well." Qiu Yelan warned.

"I know." Qiu Jinglan said calmly, "When he's better, I'll send him to a farmer's house that I picked. I'm not really worried about him. He is taught by Prime Minister Xue after all. I think Xue Nongqing is more unreliable. It's a good thing that the teacher thought about it. He is going to ground her, saying that she is ill. In case she shows her hostility towards the Gu Family and the Qiu Family."

Qiu Yelan rolled her eyes, "Then what's Prime Minister Xue's attitude?"

"Neutral." Qiu Jinglan smiled faintly, "Rest assured. The teacher will repay us."

"Who wants that?" Qiu Yelan smiled, "I heard you say that he treated you well. Otherwise, I wouldn't have given him the pill!"

Speaking of which, Qiu Jinglan asked Dongran immediately, "Go get the pill that Qiu Feng returned!"

"Why is there one left?" Hearing this, Qiu Yelan was shocked.

"It's from before." Qiu Jinglan said calmly, "You take it. There is not much of it. I can't give you more."

He sounded like he had more than one. Qiu Yelan took it from Dongran and put it back in the jade box.

After some days, the news that the Xue Family found their grandchild spread. But not many cared about it, because there was a bigger piece of news that attracted people's attention: Prince of Qi and Prince of Yan both lost their chance to be the Crown Prince!

The reason was that they needed a scapegoat for the cause of the earthquake.

For Empress Dowager Gu and Empress Jiang, it was a bit regretful. After all, they made their entrance on the Emperor's birthday, but their investment started way earlier. Moreover, the Prince of Qi was the eldest son. Prince of Yan was the second son and his mother was more prestigious and he was favored by the officials because of his appearance.

But they were just a bit regretful. It didn't hurt them deeply. It was just the gift on the Emperor's birthday that wasted some money. If they had needed to feel sorry for that, they wouldn't have gotten their position.

But as for Prince of Qi and Prince of Yan and those who put their money on them, such as Jiang Qiyun, Princess of Qi and Tang Xinyao, Princess of Yan, it was a nightmare.

Jiang Yashuang went back home to take the imperial examination. He didn't forget to advise Qiu Yelan when he went to the Ruan Family to say goodbye, "You should just stay at the Ruan Family and don't go back to Prince's Mansion of Xihe. And find some excuses for the parties. Jiang Qiyun is really in a bad mood recently. She took it on us as well. You know because of my granduncle, we're more tolerant of her and her branch. I won't be in Jing City recently. I don't want you to take a beating."

Qiu Yelan nodded, "I'll avoid her."

She asked curiously, "Do you know which prince the Empress will pick next? And who will be his wife?"

"Maybe Prince of Lu." Jiang Yashuang said carelessly, "As for his wife, Jiang Qisheng is promised to the Ou Family. Jiang Qizheng is not likely. Maybe she'll pick from my cousins."

Prince of Lu didn't really have a sense of presence. His personality, birth mother, and ability were all roughly like Prince of Qi. It showed that the Empress's standard was to pick someone she could control.

"Be aware of Princess Shou'an too."

Qiu Yelan was thinking about after Jiang Qiyun, who was most likely to be Princess Lu among the cousins. After hearing Jiang Yashuang, she was surprised, "Gu E'nuo? Why?"

"This time Prince of Qi and Prince of Yan lost the chance to be the Crown Prince. My aunt suspects she did it." Jiang Yashuang said, "Because Prince of Yan picked Tang Xinyao not her."

"So, she will definitely be the Princess of Zhou?" Qiu Yelan thought about it and said, "Can Changping Princess tolerate that?"

Jiang Yashuang smiled faintly, "Changping Princess doesn't just have one daughter. Besides, do you think the Empress Dowager can be relived if Princess Shou'an does this?"

Empress Dowager Gu surely didn't want a grand-daughter-in-law who was good at scheming. Having a daughter-in-law like Empress Jiang was trouble enough for her.

Qiu Yelan stopped asking about who would be Princess Zhou. She started telling him to be careful on the road.

Several days later, Jiang Yashuang went on the trip. he didn't wait for five days to attend Jiang Yalan's wedding. But according to Zhuang Man, it wouldn't be fun even if he had stayed. Because after taking off the veil, Mi Yinyin's sweet and shy look changed into a shocked and nervous look when she saw Xin Fubing was in the crowd.