Real Empress from a noble family

In the room of "Binghu Xianyu", both Jiang Yashuang and Qiu Yelan were not suspicious of Jiang Yadan. They focused on how to get out of there. "How about this, you go and break the door while I am hiding here? And then you go first and I will catch you later?"

Jiang Yashuang shook her head immediately, "There is no more stuff in this room. Where can you hide? And the sound will be loud to break the door — the person who locked the door probably is out there. Once he finds out our action, he must call on people to embarrass us…"

Speaking of this, a good idea flashed in her mind, "I have a good idea, which needs your cooperation."

"How?" asked Qiu Yelan, worried.

"The aim of the person who locked the door must be eighth young master Jiang. The man certainly will bring some people over here to embarrass us." murmured Jiang Yashuang. "But eighth young master Jiang is not here. When they come in, they will realize that they locked somebody else in the room. I don't think they knew you before. So, you have to pretend to be my maid, Okay?"

"Good idea!" relieved Qiu Yelan. "Not long, right? It's not a big deal." "It's much better than be gossiped!"

If the rumblings were passed to Cousin Ruan on the opposite side of the lake in the "Jinpa Pavilion", he might be angry at her! Qiu Yelan felt lucky from her deep heart if their plan succeeded.

"As nobody is coming, Your Grace, please be yourself." said Jiang Yashuang. They felt relieved as they figured out the way out. Jiang Yashuang walked back to her seat. He realized that Qiu Yelan wanted to stand behind her as a maid. "Don't be like this. They are not coming. When they are coming, we can be a host and a maid."

Realizing it was not the time, Qiu Yelan sat on the seat where Jiang Yadan used to sit — They sat quietly for a while, nothing to say — After a while, Jiang Yashuang broke the ice, asking, "Your Grace, you come out for a break today?"

"There is a bonsai shown in the Begonia poem party, I heard, which was a gift sent by my father to your grandmother." said Qiu Yelan. "Chunfu Princess told me this message, so I came here for worshiping it."

Jiang Yashuang did not anticipate that her question was related to Qiu Yelan's dead father. He immediately gave a dry cough and altered the topic, "Was young master Ruan looking for you downstairs a moment ago?"

"Not him." Qiu Yelan replied in surprise. "It was your sister's maid. She did not tell me more, Well… So, I went downstairs. But in a moment, Su He was packed away by the crowd. I neither found Su He nor the maid. So, I went up here."

Speaking of this, she frowned. She proceeded seeming like talking to herself, "My brother did not know I am here. I am wondering who is there looking for me?"

Jiang Yashuang proceeded to ask in surprise, "My sister asked you to come. Why did you go downstairs alone?"

"They were busy at that time. And it's not far away from here and I know the maid too." said Qiu Yelan. Jiang Yashuang realized there must have stories Qiu Yelan did not want to say.

He kept quiet for a while and proceeded, "About the poem party, I only knew that it was held by my sister Jiang Qizheng and He Shuijin. I did not know who else will attend the party."

"In effect, I did not know all of them either — Jiang Qisheng and Tao Peibin are there too. And Miss Zhuang or somebody else… I did not get more because I hurried to go downstairs."

"They are nice girls." thought Jiang Yashuang, "Jiang Qizheng has been considerable and Miss He is a smart girl… In principle, they wouldn't let Commandery Princess Ningyi go downstairs alone when they were there? Commandery Princess Ningyi is a girl who won't start a fight although she is bold. Hence, why did they fight against each other in such a short time after they came into the room?"

He didn't realize what Tao Peibin was thinking. He could not guess out what's wrong with them.

In effect, Qiu Yelan also had no idea what's going on: I just complimented Miss Tao for her hairpin, and she replied 'Thank you. I just like it. In fact, it doesn't match me'. Who knew what's the problem with Jiang Qizheng. She said right away that 'We know you are beautiful. But how dare you to start a fight like this? Huh!"

Actually, Qiu Yelan did not care who asked her to go downstairs. She just pretended to be confused in front of Jiang Yashuang. "Apparently, Jiang Qisheng made trouble out of nothing. Chunfu Princess and Young Lady He might think that it would be awkward. They commanded a maid to look for me. They thought I would… But unexpectedly, I entered a wrong room when I was back. That's the reason why I am trapped with you. They might think that I was angry because I did not go back…"

To be honest, after Jiang Qisheng said those words, Chunfu Princess and He Shuijin stood up and stopped her immediately at the same time, and they apologized to Qiu Yelan on behalf of Jiang Qisheng — But in minutes, they commanded a maid to ask me to get out of the room rather than Jiang Qisheng, and what's more, when the maid asked her to go out, Jiang Qisheng and Tao Peibin hold Chunfu Princess and He Shuijin respectively, letting her go outside alone. It looked like that she was kicked out of the room by them….

Although Jiang Qisheng was Jiang Qizheng's elder sister and it was reasonable for Jiang Qizheng to tend to her family member, Qiu Yelan was still furious at what they did. "I would not have played with you girls if it weren't the fact that Chunfu Princess would be my sister-in-law one day. Hmm!"

They kept silent for a while and the atmosphere was gradually embarrassed. Fortunately, drumbeats passed into their ears from the lakeside — Courtesan Competition started finally!

The two had nothing more to say turned to the lake and began to watch the activity.

With the drumbeats, plenty of boats decorated beautifully emerged on the Mirror Lake. The sound of drums, fireworks and people became louder and louder.

"It is held every three years. It is really bustling." said Qiu Yelan, looking down the street which was crowded with people.

Jiang Yashuang did not realize that Qiu Yelan likened the people downstairs to dead bodies on the street. She was not surprised to watch this event despite this was her first time. "Your Grace, you did not watch Courtesan Competition before, didn't you?" said Jiang Yashuang.

"Sure." said Qiu Yelan. "My mother was here last time!"

… Jiang Yashuang's smile froze. He thought, "What a day today is. Why did I always remind her of her dead father or mother?"

He gave a dry cough again, "I heard that young master Ruan is right across the lake?"

"He is here because of Young Earl Ling." said Qiu Yelan. The fact that she went downstairs alone made Qiu Yelan dislike the girls of Jiang Family more.

In addition, Ruan Qingyan once told her that Xue Chang also wanted him to be his son-in-law. Although she still wanted to add the odds for her brother, the feeling was not strong now when the girl was not her future sister-in-law. So, she said lightly, "My brother is not a horny boy. Or how can he become a Jinshi recently?"

Hearing her words, Jiang Yashuang replied immediately, "You have met my sisters already?"

"Yes, I have. Problem?" asked Qiu Yelan.

"Do you know which sister I told you last time?" smiled Jiang Yashuang.

"Not Chunfu Princess?" said Qiu Yelan in surprise.

Ruan Qingyan once cast doubt on this, but Qiu Yelan thought it must be Chunfu Princess. Among all girls of Jiang Family, only Chunfu Princess tended to talk with her.

"Is it Jiang Qisheng?" In the first place, Qiu Yelan couldn't understand why Jiang Qisheng was hostile for her. Now she understood after hearing Jiang Yashuang's words. "I must misconstrue Chunfu Princess with my future sister-in-law… That's what pissed her off?"

Thinking of this, Qiu Yelan was not that mad anymore. She really wanted to get along with Ruan Qingyan's future wife. At this point, she would be more tolerant of the future sister-in-law.

"If that's the case, I'm in trouble." thought Qiu Yelan. "Jiang Qisheng must misunderstand that I don't want her to be my sister-in-law?"

Qiu Yelan was thinking about how to solve the misunderstanding while Jiang Yashuang said with a smile, "How can it be my sister Jiang Qizheng? My sisters Jiang Qisheng even not get married yet!"

Qiu Yelan felt nervous. "So, who on earth is she?" asked Qiu Yelan. She immediately regretted saying so because once Jiang Yashuang told her his sister's name, Ruan Qingyan must propose marriage to Jiang Family.

It would be fine if the girl were Jiang Qizheng. But Qiu Yelan did not know well about the rest of the girls in Jiang Family. In case she was not a nice girl, it must be a big trouble for Ruan Qingyan.

Before Jiang Yashuang answered her question, Qiu Yelan diverted the topic promptly, "By the way, who do you think want to lock us inside the most?"

After saying this, Qiu Yelan realized that it was necessary to talk more about it. "In honest, your family is powerful in the capital. Even your brother had an appointment with somebody here. I don't think somebody dared to lock him, right?"

Jiang Yadan even disrespected the emperor's favorite concubine, not mention the other womenfolk. Even if the traitor is not afraid to be ridiculed by people, he should think twice the revenge of angry Jiang Yadan.

"…" Jiang Yashuang paused for a while and proceeded, "I'm not clear about it."

It seemed that he surely knew it but he did not want to explain — Qiu Yelan thought, "Must it the feud between powerful families?"

If Jiang Yadan and the other female were caught in the room today, the scandal must be spread to every corner! And then Marquess Qin must be furious and blame the fourth branch of Jiang Family…

During their conversation, the boats on the lake began to cluster at the center of the lake. As the majority of boats were embellished in red, it looked like a big Mandala at the center of the lake viewed from the Yunyi Restaurant.

The boats gathered together at the center not long, they began to disperse to all directions — This was the first activity of the Courtesan Competition. All boats lined up one by one according to the last ranking we obtained, going around the lake for one circle to demonstrate the training achievements in the past times. Some virgins from the brothels were standing on the bow seducing the audience. In the process of the going around the lake, the audience would throw coins or valuable stuff to the boats.

The winner of the first activities was the one who got the most money or stuff.

Some rich men rushed out of restaurants or hotels near the Yunyi Restaurant, carrying or holding coins or valuable stuff. They flooded into the crowd, pushing them away and heading off to the lake. Seeing this scene, Qiu Yelan asked Jiang Yashuang, "Where is yours? Can't sent them out?"

Jiang Yashuang replied to her disdainfully, "I'm here because I'm afraid my sisters might be crowded." The implication of his words was that he did not prepare anything at all for the boats.

"Well, Ling Zui must have asked my brother to throw a big sum of money…" Ruan Qingyan was a frugal boy. Qiu Yelan even felt terrible for Ruan Qingyan when she heard that he would spend so much on this event. Suddenly, a bout of lake wind blew, uncovered the boxes carried heavily by two rich men. It was full of silver which would shock anyone seeing it. Qiu Yelan turned pale and thought, "How can they be so rich and why they spend their money on this occasion?"

If everyone spent so much on this, Ruan Qingyan must become a poor man immediately!