Chapter 270 Suffering a Big Loss
Her husband’s grandmother had said so, and the matter involved the interests of the family.
No matter how reluctant Qiu Yelan was, she had to send Madame Tao into the sedan. After the sedan left, she led people to the Annexe of Prince of Qi.
When she arrived, Empress Jiang and Concubine Tong, who arrived before her, had ordered people to guard the Annexe.
Even if it was Qiu Yelan, the wife of Empress’s nephew, who came here, the gatekeeper still stopped her. He went inside to report. Only when Nijin came out and verified her ident.i.ty, he let her in. Qiu Yelan always went to the Summer Palace without a hitch, so this place was more heavily guarded than the Summer Palace!
“How is Your Highness? Grandma was worried about him, so she sent me here to check on him.” Qiu Yelan asked Nijin softly as they walked in.
“He just took the medicine. Even the imperial doctor was uncertain.” Nijin showed sympathy for Prince of Qi when she gave reports to Qiu Yelan before, and this time she got more sympathetic to him, “His Highness is a n.o.ble prince after all, but this time the Princess… Alas! I just hope that Your Highness will be alright!”
Qiu Yelan narrowed her eyes. When she was about to answer, Nijin said again, “Concubine Tong is with His Highness now, and Her Majesty is questioning her.”
“So Madame Tao sent me here not to investigate the matter, but to observe how Her Majesty works?” Qiu Yelan was slightly startled when she heard her words. Nijin continued, “But the Empress is just asking casually. Those who are really important have been sent to the Empress Dowager.”
Then her voice turned low, “Her Majesty is in a bad mood. Since you are here, you can comfort her!”
Qiu Yelan gave a hollow laugh, “On the understanding of Her Majesty, how can I compare to you since I seldom meet her? I don’t know what I should say when I meet her then.”
Nijin smiled, “There is no comparison. You are her junior, but we are just servants…”
While they were talking, a light cough sounded not far away. They two looked up, only to see Maid Lin standing at the end of the corridor, tipping them the wink.
The Empress’s voice sounded from the room behind Maid Lin, “What’s the matter?”
“Her Majesty, nineteenth young madame is here.” Maid Lin hurriedly turned around and reported softly.
“Come in.” Empress Jiang said in a faint tone. After Qiu Yelan entered the room to greet her, she looked at her quietly and found that her face was sullen and her eyebrows were furrowed. She knew that the Empress was definitely so depressed at this time, but she couldn’t think of any comforting words for a moment. While she was racking her brains, the Empress turned to glance at her, “You’ve come just at the right moment.”
Qiu Yelan didn’t understand what she meant, but she had to put on a solemn expression and get ready to accept what the Empress would say next with her hands down.
However, the Empress did not continue then, but ordered the servants to leave.
When they were alone in the room, the Empress beckoned her to come to her, turned her gaze on her white neck, and whispered, “There is something hidden in the pendant of the gold chain you wear, right?”
Qiu Yelan was stunned. She understood why Madame Tao sent her here suddenly!
She subconsciously grabbed the jade box in her clothes, “Yes…”
“I know they’re what your father left, and you had a hard time getting them.” Empress Jiang sighed, “Your brother loves you so much. Otherwise, how would he give you two of them! They are so precious. I also know that Qiyun treated you badly since the first time you met each other. To be honest, although she is my niece, I don’t like her either! But now, the girl in Jiang Family can’t be charged with murdering the emperor’s heir! Prince of Qi … I just asked the imperial doctor in private, and he said he was in a bad condition!”
“Auntie, I understand what you said.” Qiu Yelan lowered her head, concealing her terrible expression, “But my brother will go west next year in spring…”
If she asked for other things, such as invaluable treasures or ma.n.u.scripts of poems, Qiu Yelan would give them to her without hesitation! But Qiu Jinglan’s journey could be so treacherous this time, so Qiu Yelan would like to leave him with this life-saving pill! Even if he had one in his hands, who could guarantee that he would only be in danger once? n.o.body would hate having too many life-saving pills!
She was willing to save Xue Nongying with one pill before because Xue Chang was kind to Qiu Jinglan. Qiu Yelan believed that she had the obligation to pay back the favor of her elder brother. But she and Qiu Jinglan didn’t owe Prince of Qi anything!
Prince of Qi was really pitiful, but her brother was more important to her!
So even if she knew that Empress Jiang would definitely not dismiss the thoughts easily since she had shown her intention, Qiu Yelan still tactfully expressed her refusal. If Prince of Qi really died, Jiang Family would be in a pa.s.sive state. But that was all that would happen to them! Qiu Yelan didn’t believe that Half Regime Jiang would be unable to resist even such little trouble! After all, they were in the fight for the position of Crown Prince!
“Green Villa is not very far from here.” Empress Jiang looked at her for a while, took a sip of the cold tea, and said lightly, “If I send someone to find Qiu Jinglan, he won’t refuse me as long as he has one in his hand. If he doesn’t have… Do you think he will take the pill from you when he leaves? If so, he wouldn’t have given them to you before. You just knew he would go west in the next spring not long ago, but he himself had planned it for a long time!”
The Empress asked indifferently, “Do you think you can change his mind?”
Qiu Yelan pressed her lips tightly and kept silent. What the Empress said was true. Although Qiu Jinglan pampered her so much, he regarded himself as her elder. Qiu Yelan had to follow everything he determined!
After all, Qiu Yelan was the wife of her most valued nephew, so Empress Jiang softened her tone then, “You took out one to save Xue Nongying before, which made great contributions to our family! But in the situation now, what you did before can be in vain at any time! Xue Family knows to repay your kindness, and we Jiang Family would not be stingy as well! What happened this time is all caused by Qiyun, while you have to take out such a precious thing to cope with the aftermath of it. So, if the first branch doesn’t pay enough to compensate you, both your grandfather and I will definitely not sit back!”
It was true.
Jiang Family was so prominent and everyone in the family was conceited, but they had to rely on the help of Qiu Yelan again and again… No matter how partial Marquess Qin was to the first branch, he wouldn’t make Qiu Yelan suffer such a big loss. After all, Qiu Jinglan gave the life-saving pills to her younger sister not for helping Jiang Family!
At this point, Qiu Yelan knew that she would definitely not be able to keep the pill then. Empress Jiang was determined to get it obviously, and Madame Tao tricked her into coming here. The yard was full of the Empress’s men. If the Empress ordered the bodyguards to rob it, she would not be the opponent of so many people. What was more, she would offend the Empress badly if so.
She really didn’t expect to pay such a big price to accompany Madame Tao into the Palace!
Even if the Empress promised to let the first branch compensate her… How would they compensate her? They would just give her treasures or money or something else. While Qiu Yelan would never be lack of these things since she had such a large dowry!
She would suffer such a big loss!
Seeing her taking off the golden chain expressionlessly, Empress Jiang felt a little guilty and somewhat unhappy, thinking, “Anyway, you don’t have to use it now. Since you could save Xue Nongying before, why you can’t save Prince of Qi this time to help Jiang Family out of trouble? Is your husband’s family less important than your brother’s friend in your heart?”
The Empress thought that she was off-key, and she decided to tell Madame Tao and Jiang Yashuang in the future not to spoil Qiu Yelan so much! Since she married into Jiang Family, she was a member of Jiang Family then. Prince of Qi was dying at this time. In the Empress’s opinion, she should have taken the initiative to offer the pill if she had been really virtuous!
While Qiu Yelan even refused the elder after the elder made the request. She was really ignorant, inconsiderate, and stingy!
“Princess Ruan had been ill for many years and she died early after all. The girl who is not raised by her mother will inevitably be lack of decency!” Empress Jiang thought so. She took the pill, keeping lukewarm.
She was disgruntled, while Qiu Yelan was so aggrieved. She took back the empty jade box and hung it back on the chain, and then asked for leaving on the excuse of worrying about her two sisters-in-law who were sick and pregnant. Since Empress Jiang’s goal was achieved and she was tired of her, she agreed with that immediately.
She came back to Jiang’s residence, and her expression could be imagined!
But no matter how angry she was, she still had to go to Madame Tao to report.
When Madame Tao looked at Qiu Yelan, she knew that she was angry. Madame had a different style of doing things from the Empress. She was always gentle and affable, so she comforted her in a soft way for a long time… Finally, she took out a pair of jade pillows for her, “I saw them when searching for something several days ago. The pattern above is the frost of autumn, and it matches with the names of you and Jiang Yashuang so well. I’d like to give them to you!”
“Thanks, grandmother.” Qiu Yelan didn’t want them at all. But people had to be humble when they were trapped in an inferior situation, so she had to endure the anger and thanked her. After another perfunctory chatting, she found a chance to leave.
After leaving the room, Su He asked cautiously, “Madam, you…” When Qiu Yelan came out of the Annexe of Prince of Qi, the servants all wondered if the Empress had scolded her in private.
But Madame Tao just talked with her with care and found reasons to send her gifts. So it didn’t look as if she had just been scolded.
The other servants didn’t dare to come over when Qiu Yelan was angry except Su He, who tentatively talked to her because of their close relationship.
Qiu Yelan ignored her. She returned to her room, went into the inner chamber, and sat down. Without any words, she picked up a pot of herbal tea prepared on the table and drank half of the pot in one breath. Chunran and the others stopped her then hurriedly, “You just came back from under the big sun. You can’t drink so much!”
“Madam, if you are thirsty, I’ll get a pot of warm water for you! You can’t drink the cold water like this!” Chen Shui then walked out.
“I can’t get through without drinking cold water!” Qiu Yelan said with a sneer. She looked around, sighed, and then waved her hand, “Su He stays. You all go out!”
The origin of the pill in the jade box hanging under the gold chain she wore was clearest from Su He, so it was most appropriate to talk to Su He about this.
After talking about what happened angrily, Qiu Yelan gritted her teeth, “They always knew that Jiang Qiyun bullied Prince of Qi and despised the dignity of the imperial family! But what have they done about this? Her parents never cared about that as if they had been dead, and the Empress… The Empress, her mother-in-law, never really punished her about this either! These people witnessed Jiang Qiyun’s growing up, and they all knew how arrogant and unreasonable she was! No matter how wimpish Prince of Qi was, he had a temper! They connived in everything she did, but this time they fooled me there to pay the price for what she did! I must have done so many evil things in my previous life. Otherwise, I would not have married into such a family! I wouldn’t have married Jiang Yashuang if I had known this earlier…”
Su He was shocked by her words and covered her mouth immediately, “I know you are angry now, but there are some words that you can never say!”
Qiu Yelan pushed her hand away angrily, “I’ve planned to stuff the pill into my brother’s bag quietly when he leaves, but now the Empress is going to save Prince of Qi with that!” Her eyes turned red suddenly, “If anything happens to my brother in his westward journey next year… There will be no point even if I kill Jiang Qiyun!”
“He hasn’t left yet. How can you say something like this?” Su He was also worried about Qiu Jinglan, but she had to comfort Qiu Yelan first, “And, maybe the young master still has some with himself, right?”
Qiu Yelan sighed, “Even if my brother still has some, he can’t have many. Maybe only one or two left! I was too careless. When Grandmother sent me to the Annexe of Prince of Qi, I didn’t even think about it but just went there…”
“Even if you knew the intention of Old Madame, You still had to obey her orders, right?” Su He whispered, “It can never be helped.”
“I shouldn’t have worn this chain.” Qiu Yelan regretted it so much, “I never told people that my brother gave me another pill. How could the Empress have guessed that if I hadn’t worn it?”
Su He smiled bitterly, “If you didn’t wear it, the young master would scold you then!”
Why did Qiu Jinglan give his sister the pills? It was just because he was afraid that something might happen to her! If Qiu Yelan didn’t wear the chain with her, Qiu Jinglan would reprimand her if he knew that. So it was inevitable for the pill to be taken away by the Empress this day!
Unless Prince of Qi had not committed suicide!
“It’s all the first branch’s fault for not bringing up their daughter properly!” Qiu Yelan became more and more furious. She gritted her teeth, “The Empress ignored what Jiang Qiyun did not only because Prince of Qi was not her natural son but also because she was afraid of the first branch… This time I wanna see how they will compensate me!”
But before the first branch came to thank her, an unexpected visitor came first.
“Commandery Princess Ningxin?” Qiu Yelan was very surprised, “Why would she come to me? Is she in trouble?”