Real Empress from a noble family

Chapter 53 Another Debate on Imperial Court!

The next day when assembled on the Imperial Court, the Empress party showed the handwritten letter of old Princess of Xihe, which was preserved by Lian Family. After comparing it with Ruan Qingyan's letter and found both exactly consistent with each other, all people of their party then were full of momentum!

However, Empress Dowager Gu's party failed to obtain Lian Family's preserved letter first, and then they again failed to put pressure on Qiu Yelan with the accuse of Ruan Qingyan's origins. So, they were also well prepared to counterattack on the battlefield.

Once after old Princess's personal letters were checked and confirmed, Qiu Mengmin was "frightenedly and angrily" but still firmly claimed that although he was not allowed to accompany the dying old Princess of Xihe, he was still allowed by the old Princess to take Madame Lu back to fulfill his filial duty, and these words were personally conveyed by Mrs. Guan and Dongyao!

Although this matter hadn't been mentioned by Princess Ruan, she had neither raised any objection. So, without a second thought, he supposed she tacitly approved.

Someone in Empress's party sneered, "You inherited the title and took charge of the Prince's Mansion of Xihe. Your sister-in-law did not have a son, and these poor orphan-daughter and widow were depending on you for living. So, thinking about her helpless only daughter, how dare Princess Ruan express any discontent after you said you want to pick your own mother back to the Prince's Mansion? How dare they offend you?

"Director of Studies Zhuang, you went too far." Among the Empress Dowager party, a dignitary who wore a purple robe with a large group of flower patterns on it, as well as a jade belt and a judge's hat, stood up and said lightly, "How do you know it was not a story that was told by those two elderly servants who supposed old Princess of Xihe would die soon and deliberately fabricated lies in order to please the new master?"

"If so, why hasn't Princess Ruan ever mentioned such a thing?" Zhuang Mo, the Director of Studies of the Imperial College immediately asked him back, "When the old Princess of Xihe died, how could Princess Ruan, the lawful daughter-in-law, be absent?"

But his words just happened to fall into that dignitary's trap, who immediately said, "That was Princess Ruan's unfilial behavior! How could she conceal such a big matter! She was intentionally making Duke of Xihe be unfilial to the official mother because of his unawareness!" He then calmly continued, "Now it is Princess Ruan's daughter who unveiled the conspiracy!"

He saluted to the throne above and said, "I don't know whether should I admire Princess Ruan's sophistication, or…?" He didn't finish the following words, but glanced at Lian Chen and the others around. Thus, everyone on the Imperial Court understood what he meant, "This might even be schemed by the old Princess of Xihe?!"

Qiu Yelan frowned slightly. After all, Empress Dowager and Empress, the two sides had been so well-matched that neither could gain the upper hand for many years. Even though the Empress party had the advantage of physical evidence at present, It was still not easy to overpower the Empress Dowager.

Further, Empress Dowager Gu's adherents were really insidious that they mixed up black and white and interpreted Qiu Mengmin's fabrication of official mother's testament as he was trapped by his official mother and sister-in-law!

"This official is such a literary giant with his superb rhetoric!" Qiu Yelan took a deep breath and asked sharply before Zhuang Mo's refutation, "But I want to ask Your Excellency, do you have any evidence for your words? To maliciously slander my deceased grandmother and mother without any evidence! Even though my brother passed away so early and I am young and weak, I can't bear my mother and grandmother's reputation being trampled on by you like this!"

She abruptly took a step closer to Yang Tao, squeezing fists, with her eyes almost blazing, and spoke up, "Unless you show us evidence today! Otherwise, I would never ever let you and your whole family go until you visit my mother's grave to admit your mistake and ask for her forgiveness!"

She said these words categorically with grim determination and each word was so powerful as it hit the floor!

The officer seemed awed by her momentum, and almost forgot to answer for a while.

Zhuang Mo's eyes flashed, and his originally prepared speech turned to loud applause, "Fabulous! What a filial Commandery Princess!"

"Maliciously conjecture about Princess Ruan without any reliable evidence!" Behind Zhuang Mo, another dignitary who also wore a purple robe, which represented the most noble official rank, stood out and sneered, "Qiu Dian, we all know that you instructed your followers to pretend to be some relatives of Ruan Qingyan, the successor grandson of General Ruan, in order to thwart him in passing the imperial examination in spring! What's more, Ruan Qingyan was assassinated once upon he was walking out of the examination compound, and the only criminal suspect that was found after Governor interrogated and examined was also one of your followers!"

This official also saluted towards the throne, "I suppose what Qiu Dian did out of the court plus his slander on Princess Ruan just now, he must have personal enmity towards Ruan Family! Considering this, Qiu Dian should be avoided attending the discussion! Otherwise, what he will say would be unjust!"

"Chancellor Dou's words do make sense," Empress Jiang said immediately.

"What Qiu Dian did out of the Imperial Court was just his negligence for mistakenly taking some other people as Ruan Family's relative. He is a common human being who can't avoid making mistakes. So, why keep your eyes on such a trivial matter?" Empress Dowager Gu slightly rolled her eyes and said coldly, "As for the assassin, Feng Rugui is stupid! Why did he think those followers chose to meet with Commandery Princess Ningyi before their action if they were the assassins? Speaking of Qiu Dian's doubt about Princess Ruan, Qiu Dian is a Censor-in-chief, on which position who could always be able to make any proposal freely. Further, his words are somewhat reasonable!"

Empress Jiang sneered, "Oh, I don't think so. Why his words make any sense? Now, it is Qiu Mengmin who was unfilial to his official mother under irrefutable evidence. Qiu Dian, as the Censor-in-chief whose duty is to make suggestions and impeach officials, said nothing about Qiu Mengmin's guilty! By contrast, he was continually defaming the deceased Princess Ruan. If it was not for private grudge, then what he did this for?!"

Empress Dowager Gu glanced at her with cold eyes, "After Qiu Zhongyan died for the country on the battlefield, when Qiu Mengmin inherited the title, he actually moved back to Prince's Mansion of Xihe instead of living there formerly. So we could learn that the old Princess of Xihe should haven't treated him well as the official mother! In that case, was it strange for her and her daughter-in-law to scheme against a son born from a concubine?!"

Qiu Yelan, who was standing under the throne almost can't help to concealing her fury. As Empress Dowager's evaluation, the deceased old Princess was nailed to the pillory with stigma even after death!

But the Lian Family was more anxious and furious than her!

Lian Chen didn't say any word, but tucking up his robe and kneeled, "bang, bang, bang," continuously kowtowing. At the same time, he also loudly spoke out, "My sister received good education when she was young in our family, and it is absolutely impossible for her to maltreat any stepchild! Although my family is not as noble as the most well-established families, all female members in our family can still be regarded as 'kind and quiet'!"

"That's right!" Giving strong backing to Lian Chen, Empress Jiang turning head, her gaze passed through the emperor and greeted Empress Dowager Gu's eyes, and then she coldly said, "Mother, your words are funny! The emperor Gaozong appointed Prince Gonghuai as crown prince formerly, and later Prince Gonghuai passed away because of illness. So, the former emperor was recalled back to the East Palace even after he had already left the palace! So, do you also mean Empress Dowager Xiaoding was not virtuous?!"

"How could you compare an official's family affairs with the royal family?!" Empress Dowager Gu blew a fuse, "The royal principle is that all grown-up princes have to get married and leave the palace! This is stipulated to keep the palace safe and harmonious! But as to officials, which of them would be excluded from the mundane rule that the young must respect for seniority and serve the elderly without leaving home!"

Empress Jiang still replied coldly, "If as you said, Qiu Mengmin was indeed even more sinful! When the old Princess of Xihe was still alive, he actually had moved out of Prince's Mansion of Xihe! Even if there was a contradiction between mother and child, as a filial child, he should endure all things and continue to accompany the official mother! But he just left like that, wouldn't he entrap old Princess of Xihe into embarrassment?! It was obvious that he misbehaved for conspiracy!"

Empress then raised the voice, "What's more, after Qiu Zhongyan died on the battlefield, his eldest son and legitimate inheritor, Qiu Jinglan, suddenly drowned in the pool and died, which caused the old Princess of Xihe died soon for heartbroken after hearing so many continuous bad news in few days! How could it be such a coincidence? Probably, Qiu Jinglan was murdered by Qiu Mengmin at all, because of the title of Duke of Xihe!"

Qiu Mengmin thumped kneeling down as Lian Chen just did, and "bang, bang, bang" desperately kowtowed, "I dare not do such a monstrous crime! You Grace, please investigate and make the right judgment!"

"Nonsense!" Empress Dowager Gu yelled, "It was obviously because of Princess Ruan's poor care for her children! And Qiu Mengmin hadn't inherited the title yet at that time, how could he be able to kill Qiu Jinglan?!"

"How do you explain the matter about Guan and Dongyao?!" Empress Jiang sneered, "These two servants were clearly loyal to Qiu Mengmin and murdered Qiu Zhongyan's only son who was born of his legal wife. They were following Qiu Mengmin's order, so was it strange for them to do that, aiming to steal the royal title which should belong to his nephew? Poor Qiu Jinglan, how old was he then? Seven or eight years old? What an innocent child!"

Empress Dowager Gu frowned, and her face suddenly became gloomy!

Qiu Yelan bit her lip and secretly admired Empress Jiang: when Empress Jiang mentioned Qiu Jinglan, Qiu Yelan thought she was merely imitating Empress Dowager Gu to slander. But when Empress Jiang talked about Mrs. Guan and Dongyao obeying Qiu Mengmin's order, she suddenly realized the real reason why she mentioned Qiu Jinglan!

The two letters from the old Princess of Xihe obviously proved that the old Princess had never allowed Madame Lu to return to Prince's Mansion.

And Qiu Mengmin insisted that he was also deceived by the servants.

So, all people would regard Mrs. Guan and Dongyao, who asserted emphatically that the old Princess positively offered Qiu Mengmin a chance to serve his birth mother, as deliberate fabricated the old Princess's last words to please the new master!

As capricious as Mrs. Guan and Dongyao, it was very likely for them to please Qiu Mengmin when the whole Prince's Mansion was in chaos. To murder Qiu Jinglan, it was not impossible!

— After all, Qiu Jinglan should have inherited the title. But it would be impossible for him to thank Mrs. Guan and Dongyao if he turned to be the new Duke. Also, as the former successor, there had been too many people serving around Qiu Jinglan, and even if he lacked servants, he may not want Mrs. Guan and Dongyao as his private maids!

So, Qiu Mengmin seized this point and seduced them to murder his young nephew, how logical is it?!

"Empress Dowager Gu would definitely deny Mrs. Guan and Dongyao murdered Qiu Jinglan…." Qiu Yelan thought so while Empress Dowager Gu said coldly, "Even if Qiu Jinglan might be murdered, the reason should be Princess Ruan's carelessness! Additionally, the murderer may not necessarily be Mrs. Guan and Dongyao, who were close servants of the old Princess of Xihe. Since the old Princess felt uncomfortable and became worse and worse, how did they have free time to leave?"

Empress Dowager sneered, "What's more, the hand-written letter from the old Princess of Xihe could already prove that these two maids were not good at all. So, maybe the old Princess was lack of the ability to discover the reliable people and put them at a suitable position! In this case, all other servants in Prince's Mansion of Xihe may not be reliable, either. Is it strange for someone to murder Qiu Jinglan for piled-up grievances or merely by accident?

Empress Jiang replied in no hurry and calmly, "Since you also agree that Qiu Jinglan's death is odd, I suggest to thoroughly investigate the cause of Qiu Jinglan's death!"

Empress sneered and looked down at all officials on the court, "After all, Qiu Zhongyan died for the country. Since the death of his only son was so doubtful, how could we ignore it?! Otherwise, would it chill hundreds of thousands of soldiers' hearts who are defending the border for Darui!"

Empress Dowager Gu's heart suddenly sank!

Actually, since Qiu Jinglan had been dead for more than ten years. Regardless of whether he was killed or not, it was almost impossible to find something new even though it was easy to speculate.

But this thorough investigation request was made by Empress Jiang, so, Empress Dowager Gu naturally doubted that whether the Jiang Family had already known the truth that Qiu Jinglan was murdered, and was waiting here with some traps?

If the Jiang Family could prove that Qiu Mengmin murdered his nephew to usurp the Duke position—the problem would be much more serious than his unfilial behavior to official mother!

At least, the reason why Qiu Mengmin was disobedient to his official mother was to show compassion to the birth mother.

Even though the position of official mother was higher than the mother who gave birth and Qiu Mengmin's behavior was wrong from the mainstream perspective, however, it may still not be hard for him to gain sympathy based on bonds of kinship!

"But…"

"Empress Jiang may just make some tricks!" Empress Dowager Gu was a little uncertain, and she couldn't help but looked at Qiu Yelan who was standing below the steps, "The matter was suddenly brought out by Qiu Yelan, who is the sister of Qiu Jinglan, and her grandfather recently had a new heir…. Does she really have evidence, intentionally planning all these with Empress Jiang's help to disclose it?"

Qiu Yelan noticed Empress Dowager Gu's gaze and thought a lot in this very moment in her heart. She knelt down and said, "I hope Empress Dowager will allow to thoroughly investigate the death of my brother and prove the innocence of my grandmother and mother!"

The entire palace was so quiet that even a sound of a needle falling would be heard, and everyone on the Imperial Court was holding breath, waiting for an answer from Empress Dowager Gu!