Real Empress from a noble family

"Chu Xiao, the Duke of Huainan?" asked Qiu Yelan in surprise. "Why him?" Long ago, when she was commanded to the palace, Ruan Qingyan coached her about the loyal members. The Duke of Huainan was the one among his introduction. He was the half-brother of the Emperor, but he was adopted by the former emperor's brother, Prince Gonghuai when he was a baby.

At that time, Gaozong emperor established the eldest son as Crown Prince. But unfortunately for the prince, he died before becoming an emperor. Gaozong had no more children, so he established Prince Gonghuai as Crown Prince. Gaozong made the former emperor become the Crown Prince. Then the former emperor selected his fourth son Chu Xiao to be adopted for the continuation of Prince Gonghuai 's family.

No matter in the regime periods of the former emperor or the current emperor, Chu Xiao always enjoyed privileges because he was not only the son of the previous emperor, but an heir of Prince Gonghuai. Now, the Prince must be under 50. He held the title of the Duke of Huainan and the status of the royal clan. He was the man Empress Dowager Gu and Empress Jiang dared not to contradict.

Qiu Yelan never heard that the man had anything to do with the Prince's Mansion of Xihe. After all, Zongzhengshi (an institution in charge of the royal affairs) was in charge of the royal clans. Nevertheless, Prince's Mansion of Xihe was a Prince with a different family name of the royal family. Qiu Yelan was curious and asked, "Is it Qiu Hongzhi who gave you this advice?"

Kang Lizhang said immediately, "Don't overthink. I even did not tell my mother except you about my thought."

"Aunt Qiu is such a fool. She can't get anything done smoothly. You needn't tell her anything," said Qiu Yelan with a frown. "So, how can he be your target? Did you meet before?"

"… Because he wanted me long ago." said Kang Lizhang with dim eyes. "Two years ago, Qiu Jinzhu and I went to her daughter, Lihui's birthday party. My status was known by others when we were having dinner. I was disdained and I ran to the garden crying for my poor fate… He showed up in the garden and comforted me. The next day, he sent a man to my house, implying he wanted me to be his concubine. My grandma and my First Uncle had a big quarrel after knowing this later. Anyway, we rejected him."

At that time, Kang Lizhang was an arrogant girl. It was impossible to be a concubine. Even it was Prince's concubine. A concubine would be a concubine forever.

Qiu Yelan did not see this coming, she said, "At that time, he wanted you, but you rejected him. I did not hear him re-mention this in the past two years. Do you really want to give yourself to a man like him?"

"Yes, and then I will be a shameless girl and he may reject me too." said Kang Lizhang with a sigh. "So, I need your help."

"How? I don't know this man. Even if I knew him, how could I go there and tell him you wanted to be his concubine？This will make you feel better?" said Qiu Yelan angrily.

"Can you help me to get his schedule? That year, he just saw me and wanted me… I think if he saw me again, he would want me again? My grandma has been dead. And my First Uncle will agree with me because he did not hear what's going on that night." said Kang Lizhang, biting her lip.

"If I helped you, what could I get?" said Qiu Yelan, nodding to her.

"If I became a concubine of the Duke of Huainan…" said Kang Lizhang. She was interrupted in the middle of her speaking. "Then you would be free from me. I, of course, won't go to the house of the Duke of Huainan to criticize you? Huh?" said Qiu Yelan.

"I don't have much money now — and if I take much stuff out of my family, my First Aunt must entertain a suspicion of me. She has got her eye on me right now."

"So, why do you hurry?" said Qiu Yelan, shaking her hand. "Even though Chu Xiao still wants you after two years later, You must remember, Lu just died a few days ago and you are still in your mourning period! I believe that even if he said so and Qiu Mengmin stands out of your way, you still need to wait until your mourning period is over. In case he forgets you again and not pick you, what will you do?"

"…" Kang Lizhang had no clue what to say.

"So, you have to wait until Qiu Hongzhi gets married and your mourning period is over." continued Qiu Yelan.

Then she said with a cunning smile, "If you can behave yourself recently, I may help you get a position of a senior concubine (whose rank was higher than concubine), which is much better than being a concubine!"

Kang Lizhang felt happy to hear what she said, but in a second, she said with doubt, "I heard that there is no more room for another senior concubine for the Duke of Huainan."

"It's up to you." said Qiu Yelan firmly. "I said what I said. Believe it or not, it's up to you."

… After Kang Lizhang left, Su He asked in curiosity, "Your Grace, are you planning to deal with one of the senior concubines of the Duke of Huainan?"

"How is that coming?" said Qiu Yelan carelessly. "If I have the power you said, the first ones I will deal with are Jiang Qisheng and Tao Peibin. I don't have time to deal with those I don't know."

"So, well… But you just promised Kang Lizhang to help her get a senior concubine position."

"I'm not serious, I lied to her," said Qiu Yelan to her confidant who was in complete shock. "You still remember that we are planning to get our dowry back from Qiu Mengmin, right? I think that Kang Lizhang may be able to do us a favor? I just wanted to comfort her, so I promised her. What I want is that she can assist us with some stuff in the future!"

"But, if she asked you to keep your promise…" asked Su He.

"Does she have the guts to force me to do anything?" said Qiu Yelan, shamelessly. "And nobody heard what we were talking about except you girls. Do you want to sell me out?"

Su He and others immediately said no.

"Fine. She has no evidence. How can she prove I promised her?" said Qiu Yelan. "If she said that I promised her, I would rebut her that she wants to the senior concubine fairly, which drives her crazy!"

"…" The listeners were shocked by her words. They realized that to continue this topic might lead to an end road. So, they changed the topic, "Your Grace, it's noon now. What do you want to eat?"

After noon, a servant working in the General's Mansion came over and reported an issue. There was something wrong with the account books of the "Renqing Pharmacy." He Zifu, the shopkeeper, was not sure what to do with it. So, he reported the issue to Ruan Qingyan but he had no time to take care of it because he was busy in his own business. He assigned Qiu Yelan to go there and solve it.

Of course, Qiu Yelan would not reject it. She went there happily. After she went into the back yard of the "Renqing Pharmacy," she immediately turned into upset because she saw angry Ruan Qingyan sitting in the room.

"Qingyan, you didn't go to the Mirror Lake today?" asked Qiu Yelan discreetly, giving her sweet smile to him.

"You must explain to me what's going on in the Yunyi Restaurant." asked Ruan Qingyan coldly.

"Chunfu Princess wore man's clothes and others misunderstood her." grunted Qiu Yelan. "But we have explained the whole thing…."

"Don't fool me with the words the Jiang Family used to fool others!" said Ruan Qingyan coldly. "Do you think that I donated the Jinpa Pavilion' because of Young Earl Ling and I have nothing to do with the 'Spring House'? Tell you the truth, the boss of the 'Yunyi Restaurant' is the same as the one of the 'Spring House.' I have been to the 'Yunyi Restaurant' many times before. I know everyone there, including the boss and the servants! Tell me what's going on there yesterday? Tell me everything now!"

Qiu Yelan said sadly, "You have known everything. Why did you still ask me? Are you torturing me?"

What kind of brother he was? Why did he know everything occurring?

It seemed nobody could lie to him!

"Nobody asked you to go there! The Courtesan Competition is not a place for girls!" said Ruan Qingyan. He outraged, "And you went there without noticing me? Did you respect me or not?"

Hearing his words, Qiu Yelan was in shock: My dear brother, how could you become so autocratic! You used to be a nice and kind brother!

"… I thought that the Jiang Family was concerned about your involvement in the Courtesan Competition. So, they made a point of calling me over to explain." explained Qiu Yelan, frightening. "I did not expect that would happen? Eighth young master Jiang is an unreliable man!"

"You mean Jiang Yadan? Do you think that your reputation is tarnished because of Jiang Yadan's fault?" said Ruan Qingyan coldly.

"You know it?" said Qiu Yelan in shock. You were my God! You even knew what's going on and the truth the Jiang Family attempted to cover overnight? In a second, she realized that Ruan Qingyan said he knew everyone in the "Yunyi Restaurant"… So, it was natural he knew what's going on there.

As expected, Ruan Qingyan said coldly, "You were led downstairs and separated from Su He, and then you entered a wrong room whose name was replaced as 'Binghu Xianyu'. Jiang Yadan did these things. But, when you left the 'Baihe Woxue', you must remember that no one accompanied you. It was Jiang Qisheng and Madame Tao who did this on purpose!"

His eyes flashed fierce lights while he spoke of them, "Do you know why they did this?"

"How could they be sure that I would enter into the 'Binghu Xianyu'?" asked Qiu Yelan. "If they have known it, why did they fuel the flame? Tao Peibin had been crazy about Jiang Yashuang for a long time!" In a second, she seemed to understand something else. "Something is wrong! I guessed they did not realize that Jiang Yadan lied and got me out of the room just for locking me with Jiang Yashuang in the room? They must guess out that Jiang Yadan wanted to flirt with me or something!"

After understanding the whole story, Qiu Yelan felt like plenty of buckets of water pouring on her head!

If the truth were that Jiang Yadan wanted to kill her, she would have a remote chance to escape from his grip, allowing for the power she had at present. In the first place, she thought that Jiang Qisheng and Tao Peibin gossiped her and tarnished her reputation because they lost the case judged by Madame Tao — From the current situation, they wanted to kill her!

She was angry and shocked. Looking at his poor sister, Ruan Qingyan was getting less angry. He softened his tone to comfort her, "Fortunately, you are still here safely. The Jiang Family also attempted to cover the whole thing… About your sufferings, I will help you when I am free!" said Ruan Qingyan with anger in his eyes.

Yesterday, Qiu Yelan still felt relieved for Jiang Yashuang dismissed Tao Peibin decisively. But now, it turned out that Tao Peibin was a tough girl. She realized that Jiang Yashuang, actually, was partial to his own family members. "This malicious bastard, I couldn't believe she was just only dismissed!" thought Qiu Yelan.

She did not respond to Ruan Qingyan, only giving him a gloomy face. "Two malicious women, I will kill them both!" said she, angrily.

Looking at her, Ruan Qingyan felt upset. He immediately turned to be a nice and kind brother he used to be. He comforted her with a soft tone. After a long time, Qiu Yelan gradually became less angry. Seeing she was not mad, one of Ruan Qingyan's young servant Ruan Yi came toward him, reminding him, "The time for the private dinner in the 'Jinpa Pavilion', my lord, has been past half an hour. We need to leave as soon as possible. If not, I don't think Young Earl Ling can cover you anymore. If we were discovered we are here, they would doubt you."

Rubbing her temples, Qiu Yelan said, "You go, do your business. I'm fine." Now she understood why his brother Ruan Qingyan asked her to the "Renqing Pharmacy". Meeting over here might avoid aggravating to tarnish her reputation as it was bad enough now in the capital.

Sighing for a relief, Ruan Qingyan stood up and said, "You take care of yourself…" He remembered something after walking a few steps. "For your record, I met a man in my grade. His family is just like yours. His sister is one year younger than yours. He also planned to get a female teacher teaching his sister recently. It reminded me that you have a good teacher, Madam Shao has a good reputation in the capital. So, I recommend your place to him. She will stay here with you, learning stuff."

Qiu Yelan felt shocked, "My family Qiu is not common in the world. Are they the man and girl we wet in the examination compound last time?"

"Yes, exactly." said Ruan Qingyan. "The highest rank they got in the past was Juren before Qiu Nie got the Jinshi. His elder sister had managed to conduct family chores for her brother, focusing on his study. His younger sister is still young. He wants her to learn something in case she can help her family in the future."

"But there already have many girls in the school in the Prince's Mansion of Xihe. The personal relationships among us are so complicated, making the place a not good one for another girl now!" said Qiu Yelan with doubt.

"I have told him everything. He said that if his sister could not survive in the girl's school, it proves that she is not a girl for a powerful family. If so, they would consider letting her marry a common man in a common family." said Ruan Qingyan. "So, you don't need to take care of her… I must be leaving now, you take care."

Qiu Yelan grunted carelessly. She looked at his back, thinking, "When did he start to concern about this kind of stuff? Or he thought that Qiu Nie is a helper one day? Long ago, he even rejected Wang Qingqian. What brought him to introduce someone else to the girl's school?"