Real Empress from a noble family

Chapter 238 The Tao Family's Great Regret

Her own brother was, after all, more important than her sister-in-law in Qiu Yelan's heart. So, she left aside the matter of Madame Tao Junior to send someone to ask Qiu Jinglan. After her servant came back, she was informed that Qiu Jinglan was not among the Emperor's summer-tour procession. But a servant from Earl of Jingchuan's Mansion came to report, "Due to lack of official position, Young Master Ruan and my young master have gone to Mount Dizi's residence in advance before the barricade of the main road."

Qiu Yelan tried to inquire of the person whether there was any trouble Qiu Jinglan had recently.

But the servant looked confused, "Everything is OK with Young Master Ruan and Lady Ruan. I didn't hear they did anything wrong." And he added, "Our young master is with Young Master Ruan all day. If there is any trouble, he will absolutely report it to Your Highness and the Earl. Since he didn't mention anything, I guess everything goes smoothly. Please rest assured!"

"Thank you very much." Qiu Yelan let someone give him a reward before he left. Wearing a frown, she then began consulting with her people, "Since everything goes well, why does my brother send someone to make an appointment with me? I once said to him that I didn't care about the mourning period but he wouldn't listen to me!"

Su He said in jest, "Perhaps young master misses you?"

"If so, he should have waited for me and set off together, instead of going over first!" Qiu Yelan said with annoyance, "I'm serious!"

"Since young master set off to Green Villa with Young Earl Ling without waiting for you, it meant the situation wasn't either urgent or bad," Xiaran was prudent, "so the servant from Earl of Jingchuan's Mansion is right. You don't have to panic. When you get there, you will know what happened."

It sounded plausible but Qiu Yelan couldn't rest assured when she had no way to know the exact news.

Since she was moving with the Jiang Family's procession, she had no way of leaving alone to head for Mount Dizi. So, she had to subdue her anxiety. When they camped in the evening, Jiang Yashuang who accompanied the Seventh Prince in the day came back and got to know what she was worrying. He was amused, "You can send someone to Jiang Yadan, asking him to make his men leave the procession first with the excuse of patrolling. Then you can inquire about them."

"Why don't you do that!" Qiu Yelan gave him a stare, "I won't go for him!"

"Jiang Tan, you get it done." Jiang Yashuang entrusted the young servant and then came to hug her, "I know you sympathize Madame Tao Junior so you don't like Jiang Yadan… But he's family after all. Why should you be willful when you need his help? If you had asked for his help earlier when you got the news, you might have got the information!"

Qiu Yelan snorted, "What if he ignored my request? Wouldn't he know I was on Madame Tao Junior's side?"

"No one would pay attention to such trifles. You think little of Jiang Yadan!" Jiang Yashuang rubbed his face against her neck and laughed, "If he indeed ignores you, you can ask someone to tell me and I'll give him a lecture!"

"Stop mentioning him! It disturbs my mind! I saw Madame Tao Junior today. She looked…" Qiu Yelan leaned against his chest and sighed with fatigue, "I'm worried about how Madame Tao Junior will get it through later."

Jiang Yashuang heaved a sigh, too, "Anyway, we should try our best. If Madame Tao Junior is… I will arrange for her, not to let her go back to the Tao Family to suffer gossips, neither to let her become homeless!"

"Madame Tao Junior is the Tao Family's trueborn daughter, after all. She can live a wealthy life depending on her own dowry!" Qiu Yelan sneered, "Does she need to be given a place?"

Seeing Jiang Yashuang frown, she knew he was in a dilemma because Jiang Yadan was his brother after all. He couldn't force his brother to his will. After thinking for a while, Qiu Yelan said with frustration, "What a pity! Madame Tao Junior doesn't have a child. Otherwise, she won't feel so heart-broken!"

"Later, let's see whether there is any possibility to let her adopt a child…" Jiang Yashuang sighed, "Last time, I talked with grandfather and he said that though he had no time to persuade Jiang Yadan, he promised me that he might regard Madame Tao Junior as our family's foster daughter if she couldn't be our big sister-in-law… Anyway, he wouldn't let her be deserted."

Qiu Yelan thought it over and appreciated that it was the best way to keep Madame Tao Junior's decency in case Jiang Yadan wouldn't change his mind.

"If that day is due to come, then An Zhenshang will marry into… Hah!" Qiu Yelan sneered in her heart, "Wish she could get by Madame's tactics!" Whether it was out of their affection for Madame Tao Junior or maintaining the affinity between the Jiang Family and the Tao Family, Madame Tao would definitely use all means to corner her if An was to marry into the Jiang Family.

Perhaps, her death would be explained as infidelity!

"Let's stop talking about Madame Tao Junior. Why does the brother want to see you?" Jiang Yashuang changed the topic, "Have you ever met him since you married into this family?"

"He said that he is in the mourning period and asked me not to bother him if there is nothing urgent until the period is over." Qiu Yelan heaved a sigh and said melancholy, "Now he takes the initiative in contacting me, which makes me feel worried!"

Jiang Yashuang leaned his head to kiss her cheek and comforted, "Brother can always come up with a solution. Hardly can he have any trouble. Perhaps, it is he who misses you after your long departure."

Qiu Yelan lifted the corner of her mouth with some doubt.

Fortunately, the next day Jiang Yadan's man came over to report to her that Qiu Jinglan was fine and she didn't have to worry about him, "When I entered the villa, I saw Young Master Ruan and Young Earl Ling fishing near the pond and they looked vigorous. Young Master Ruan even sent his fish to the kitchen to award us a cuisine."

"Then why did he want to see me?" Qiu Yelan felt relieved and asked.

That man replied respectably, "Young Master Ruan said it was not urgent. He will tell you after you get to Mount Dizi."

"Oh, I see. Thank you very much." Qiu Yelan let Su He award him.

After that man saw himself out with the award, Su He smiled while pursing her lips, "As I said, young master is missing you!"

"Jiang Yadan's man is only trust-worthy to himself," Qiu Yelan released a bit her knitted eyebrows but not completely, "if there is something which is hard for them to convey…"

"However, Jing City was peaceful earlier. What might the young master come across?" Su He asked.

Qiu Yelan smiled, "Peaceful?" It might be true for the grassroots but for the officials. The Empress Dowager party and the Empress party were in a fight in the past months!

Qiu Jinglan's birth identity was related to the stability of the Western Army.

During the vie for the position of Crown Prince, wouldn't Empress Dowager Gu take that into consideration? Especially when she, the person Qiu Jinglan cared about most, married into the Jiang Family!

With these worries, in the following days, she felt like she wanted to fly to Mount Dizi!

When she got by those days and arrived at that place, she skipped the part of checking the yard for her and Jiang Yashuang and went to Madame Tao for a quick greeting ritual before heading for Green Villa. Her sudden arrival was unexpected to the servants there. She rushed in and came across Qiu Jinglan who was chatting happily with Ling Zui and Qiu Feng. They all looked light-hearted, which made Qiu Yelan finally feel relieved. She put her clothes in order and came up to greet them.

"You are supposed to just arrive at the mountain. How surprisingly you come here!" Qiu Jinglan smiled when seeing her and then frowned, "And I said it was not urgent and we could select a place to meet. Why should you come here? Don't you see the decorations for the funeral are still on the gate? You, a newly-married woman, come here…"

"Enough!" Ling Zui saw Qiu Yelan's wronged looking, so he dispelled the embarrassment in jest, "I've lived here with you many times in the past two or three years. And Qiu Feng can also be regarded as newly-married like Sister Qiu. Why don't you have any opinion on him? Why do you mind taboos only in front of your sister? Do you look down upon us or you dislike your sister? So, you want to vent your anger?"

Qiu Feng teased, too, "I'm surprised today to know that you like nagging!"

"That's because you don't meet him frequently enough. I know long ago that when this guy meets his sister, he will become unbearably nagging!" Ling Zui teased, "Even a worldly old woman is not as capable as him… Sister Qiu, don't mind. Let me tell you. Sister Ruan is in the back. Go and find her. She will probably give you a big, warm hug. You have such a nice sister so you don't need this grumpy brother, right?"

"Enough, you two!" Qiu Jinglan retorted with a smile, "I just gave my sister some kind advice. Why do you keep nagging?" He added, "You stay here. I'll have a word with my sister."

Qiu Feng didn't say anything but Ling Zui curled his lips and said, "Have a word alone? What for? I've known it… That Jiang Yadan of the Jiang Family wants to turn an outsider as his wife?"

Before Qiu Jinglan could answer him, Qiu Yelan said with surprise, "You all know that!"

"Why can't I know?" Ling Zui looked gleeful, "The Tao Family must have regretted it deeply! Their fifth branch made great efforts to persuade the first branch to let their daughter take the place of the first branch's daughter's, namely the position of your sister-in-law, which annoyed Madame Tao. Literally, if the plan came true, Madame Tao would accept it since they were all daughters of the Tao Family. However, now Tao Yibin has been completely marginalized and Madame Tao Junior is going to lose her position! I couldn't understand why the venerable "pillar of the country" has such a foolish descendant?"

Qiu Yelan was astonished, "You even know the Tao Family. Has it been spread all over the city?" But on the way to Mount Dizi… It couldn't be true?

"He's exaggerating. Don't listen to him!" Qiu Jinglan snorted, "The Tao Family sent someone to ask me for help. So, I let someone make an investigation and get to know that!"

After hearing this, Qiu Feng said indifferently, "Make an investigation? You were coaxing words from me!"

Qiu Feng was coaxed by Qiu Jinglan, which was not a surprise. Qiu Yelan was not in the mood to care about this but to keep heckling, "What did they ask you to do?"

"What a silly girl!" Ling Zui laughed. Even Qiu Feng jeered, "Certainly they are satisfied with Chunjun's specialty and want to murder the outsider! But in fact, we think it is also possible for Chunjun to seduce that outsider!"

Qiu Jinglan didn't pay attention to their sarcasm. He slightly jeered, "They were looking for 'Tianya'."

"…" Qiu Yelan was speechless. Therefore, what He Shuijin plotted unexpectedly made my brother get involved?

She rubbed her forehead, "Then, what are you planning to do?"

"A true knight won't deign to inquire about the domestic affairs of a family." Qiu Jinglan cast a look at Qiu Feng and jeered back, "If Chunfu Princess hadn't complained to him because she felt disturbed, I wouldn't have had a chance to coax words, I guess… I don't know all the details. What if you relate the whole story to us?"

Qiu Feng sneered, "You really think that I didn't know you were coaxing words from me? I just thought that Jiang Yadan is callous while his wife is renowned for her virtue. So, I thought it might be better to leave such a person at your disposal. That's why I pretended to know nothing about it…"

"Then, why wouldn't you listen to me when I advised you to go back and ask Chunfu Princess for the whole details?" Qiu Jinglan asked with disdain, "Aren't you sympathized with Madame Tao Junior? Isn't it true that you don't like your brother-in-law? So, why not give him a lesson by yourself? Or at least do me some favor? Now considering Jiang Yadan is your brother-in-law, you want to shelter him secretly?"

"…" Qiu Feng felt a little embarrassed. When he was about to say something, Qiu Jinglan sneered, "Don't think of excuses! You have been evading Chunfu Princess since your wedding. You have no right to judge Jiang Yadan. As a husband, don't you feel sorry for her?"

Qiu Feng felt annoyed, "I just feel I have no topic to talk with the princess so I go out for a walk. I'm not flirting with other women!"

"You usually dislike people of my sort. Now you would rather eat lunch here than go back to the princess. Do you think she will be happy?" Qiu Jinglan kept sneering, "What's more, Princess is how we address her. Don't tell me that you still address her as Princess instead of 'my wife'!"

Ling Zui subdued his waves of laughter and reminded Qiu Feng, "You'd better go back. This time you come here alone but your princess is with the procession of Madame Tao… If you should stay here to have lunch, not only your princess but also Madame Tao and Her Majesty will inquire you. At that time, you will suffer a lot!"

"…" Seeing Qiu Feng leaving with guilt, Qiu Yelan asked with a disturbing mind, "How's it going on, he and Chunfu Princess?"

"Let's talk about Jiang Yadan first!" Qiu Jinglan waved his hand to interrupt Ling Zui's explanation which meant he was going to deal with the matters according to the degree of relativity to his sister.