Chapter 361 You Need to Learn That from Jiang Yashuang!
Although Madame Han was Jiang Tianao’s stepmother, he and his branch all needed to resign and return to Kui County to mourn her for three years if she died.
In fact, they just needed to mourn for twenty-seven months. But judging by the current situation, let alone twenty-seven months, the first branch might lose the fight over the Western Army in seven months. Besides the Western Army, how much influence they would have over the government was unclear.
So, everyone in the first branch was worried when they got the message from Kui County.
On the contrary, the third branch felt it was a heaven-sent fortune! They were ready to put up a desperate fight with the first branch. However, the first branch was about to be forced out. Jiang Tianqi was so happy that he didn’t know how to celebrate.
However, the fourth branch wasn’t as optimistic as the third branch.
“Madame Han was born a peasant woman. She is always healthy. And she is younger than Granduncle Qianshan. Even if she is sick, she is unlikely to die.” Jiang Yashuang urged his wife after returning from Marquess Qin’s study, “Even if she is dying and thus the first branch is forced out, the third branch is still in running for power over the Western Army. So, you mustn’t look happy. In case someone tells our grandfather on you, which will cause trouble.”
Qiu Yelan rolled her eyes at him, “Do you think of me as a fool?” The first branch was in the most frightening state of all, okay? Since they wouldn’t be able to fight for power because they needed to return to their hometown to observe mourning, they might drag others down with them. Didn’t they learn enough from what happened to Madame Dou and Madame He who offended Madame Tao and Empress Dowager Jiang?
Jiang Yashuang said after pondering, “Actually, I have some guesses about why Madame Han is ill. I just don’t know if my guesses are right.”
He lowered his voice, “If my guesses are right, it’ll cause us trouble.”
“Um?”
“You know that Madame Han is Granduncle Qianshan’s second wife.” Jiang Yashuang said, frowning, “I can tell you this since you’re my wife now. Granduncle Qianshan’s first wife, Madame Lin, died not long after she gave birth to our eldest aunt. So, Granduncle Qianshan married Madame Han so that she could look after our eldest uncle and aunt. It’s said that Madame Han doesn’t treat them well…”
“But she treats her biological kids who are our second aunt, second uncle, and fifth uncle well. Granduncle Qianshan didn’t allow our second uncle and fifth uncle to work in the government. Partly because he didn’t want to trouble our grandfather and youngest grand uncle. It was also because he wanted to comfort our eldest uncle and aunt. And our second aunt married into the Dou Family for a reason. Our eldest uncle already married our eldest aunt back then. It would bring our two families too close together if our second aunt married into the Dou Family. Even though our family wasn’t as powerful as now, we didn’t want to do that.”
“However, when our eldest uncle got married, Madame Han saw the Dou Family was quite rich. They were richer than us back then. So, she made the Dou Family have to accept our second aunt as their daughter-in-law. Gu wasn’t executed when the Dou Family’s crime was exposed. So, to save our eldest uncle, our grandfather chose to sacrifice the Dou Family which also meant sacrificing our second aunt and her kids. How could Madame Han be patient since they’re still in trouble?”
Qiu Yelan was frustrated, “Marquess Qin treats Jiang Tianao so well. As Marquess Qin’s favorite nephew, instead of saving Marquess Qin from worries, he always plots against Marquess Qin’s sons. Besides, Madame Han doesn’t treat him well. It looks like that if Madame Han is not very capable, she should be protected by Kui Xiannan since she is still alive.”
She couldn’t say that to Jiang Yashuang. Instead, she said, “No wonder our eldest uncle only felt sorry for the men in the Dou Family who were able to work for him after the Dou Family fell from power. He didn’t care about the womenfolk of the Dou Family at all. Our eldest aunt cared about them more than him. It turns out there is a reason for that.”
Jiang Yashuang sighed, “So, I think Madame Han may not be sick. I’m afraid that she is pretending to be sick to save our second aunt and her kids!”
“And then who is to blame for digging up my grandfather’s grave?” Qiu Yelan’s face went dark after hearing that. Honestly, she was frustrated at that moment. She knew it better than the Jiang Family that Empress Dowager Ye sent people to dig up General Ruan’s grave. But she could never tell the truth. So, she had to believe what Jiang Yashuang said that the Dou Family dug up the grave.
Now the people who dug up her grandfather’s grave were about to be released. How couldn’t she respond accordingly?
“I don’t think our grandfather will do anything about it. The best he could do is to send someone to Kui County to explain it to Granduncle Qianshan.” Jiang Yashuang shook his head after hearing that, “Although Madame Han is our grandfather’s older brother’s wife and Madame Ou is our grandfather’s younger brother’s wife, our grandfather takes Madame Ou’s words more seriously than Madame Han’s.”
It was partly because Madame Han was Jiang Qianshan’s second wife and was born a peasant woman who was less admirable than Sir Jibei’s talented wife, Madame Ou.
The most important reason was that she treated Jiang Tianao and Jiang Tianyuan poorly when they were kids. And Marquess Qin valued trueborn. He wasn’t the kind of person who neglected his trueborn after remarrying. For example, Madame Tao married him for years whose daughter was first the Empress and then the Empress Dowager. But she mainly played nice with the third and the fourth branch and didn’t dare to offend them easily. So, he could never take his brother’s second wife seriously!
Qiu Yelan asked after pondering, “What kind of trouble are we going to have? Are you afraid that the first branch will come to talk to us about it? What are they going to do to me if I refuse?”
Without Marquess Qin’s help, Qiu Yelan didn’t know what she should be afraid of if the first branch came.
“Madame Han is said to be ill. They won’t all go back. I think they’ll send Jiang Yayun or Jiang Yahong to go back and visit her.” Jiang Yashuang said calmly, “But I don’t think Madame Han will get better as long as our second aunt and her kids are still in trouble. She is our eldest uncle’s stepmother after all. It’s inappropriate for our eldest uncle not to go back and take care of her if she is ill abed for a few months. Don’t you think our eldest uncle will compromise?”
Madame Han wasn’t scared of anything since she had nothing to lose. Her biological kids were with her anyway. They could take care of her when she was ill or mourn her when she died. Since she didn’t have the power to make Marquess Qin back down, she had to force Jiang Tianao. She could pretend to be ill forever if Jiang Tianao refused to obey.
The result of that stalemate was easy to predict. Jiang Tianao would back down eventually.
What happened next would be that, “The Dou Family is in the wrong on that matter. So, our grandfather won’t speak for them. And our eldest uncle surely knows that he is unlikely to achieve his purpose if he talks to you and your brother. There is only one way left for him if he wants to give Madame Han what she wants and make you and your brother compromise.”
“Reverse the verdict. He needs to reinvestigate the Dou Family’s treason and the case of digging up your grandfather’s grave.”
“Of course, we know exactly what they did to your grandfather’s grave. He could never deny it.” Jiang Yashuang sighed, “But about the Dou Family’s treason… You know that I framed them.”
Qiu Yelan thought, “Speaking of digging up my grandfather’s grave… You don’t know that I caused it.”
“Our eldest uncle may not be sure that I was behind it. But he may target our branch to make you and your brother compromise.”
Qiu Yelan thought, “I knew that what Empress Dowager Ye did was a recipe for disaster.”
Qiu Yelan asked listlessly, “What can we do now?”
“Deny it anyway,” Jiang Yashuang couldn’t think of anything at that moment. Mainly because the first branch hadn’t made their move yet. He tried his best to deal with the aftermath back then. Now he just had to wait and see what the first branch would do and then react accordingly. He said with frustration, “I’m only warning you because I’m afraid that is what the first branch may do. In case they catch you off guard.”
“Okay!” Qiu Yelan couldn’t think of any better idea either. She could only be on her guard.
However, they needn’t have had that discussion at all.
Because as Jiang Tianao sent his eldest son, Jiang Yayun, and his eldest grandson, Jiang Jingxu back to his hometown to visit his stepmother on behalf of him and his wife, he began to prepare himself just in case that Madame Han was really dying instead of pretending.
After all, Jiang Tianao would face a career crisis if she died. He wasn’t as sure as Jiang Yashuang that Madame Han was faking it. After all, for Jiang Yashuang and others like him, it would be such great news if Madame Han wasn’t faking it. They could just wait for the good news without doing anything.
Jiang Tianao had to consider what he should do to secure his position and power in the government and the army if he truly needed to spend twenty-seven months mourning his stepmother.
The fourth branch was lucky that time. Because after some serious thought, Jiang Tianao chose the third branch to be his first target.
The reason was simple. Marquess Qin supported the first branch and the third branch in governing the Western Army together. He didn’t support the fourth branch.
“Father, but Qiu Jinglan hasn’t come back yet. Moreover, the fourth branch has sent Ou Qinglan there.” Jiang Yayun who was about to depart reminded, frowning, “My second grand uncle stopped criticizing the fourth branch after Madame Ou pleaded for them. If we suppress the third branch and Madame Han really… What if the fourth branch takes the opportunity to prevail over the third branch and then takes over the Western Army all by themselves?”
Jiang Tianao shook his head and said, “It is impossible! Although Qiu Jinglan is Jiang Yashuang’s brother-in-law, he is not one of us! Your second grand uncle knows what he is doing. He won’t let him take over the Western Army for real.” He paused, “The third branch has your second grand uncle’s support. But Qiu Jinglan only has the fourth branch’s support. And he is young. I’m afraid he won’t stand a chance against the third branch. The third branch may win over the Western Army in a short time. So, we have to go after the third branch to prevent the fourth branch from losing the fight before we come back.”
Jiang Yayun still thought it wasn’t a good idea. He said after some thought, “My brother is already on his way to Shazhou anyway. How about this? We don’t tell him about it just yet. When he arrives at Shazhou, we can deliver the message to him if Madame Han really is dying, and in the meantime…”
He lowered his voice, “We can ask him to pretend to be sick. My grandfather, second grand uncle, and youngest grand uncle all adore him. They surely will ask him to stay put. In that case, even if it is inconvenient for him to go out as he is recuperating, it is better to have someone there to take charge.”
Jiang Tianao sighed, “You’re unwise! He can pretend to be sick for a few months. But how could he pretend to be sick for a few years? Besides, what does he want to take over? The military power! And it is the military power of the strongest army of our country. Those fierce soldiers believe in force. If your brother takes your advice, he doesn’t need to pretend to be sick for a few years. The third branch will make him famous for being weak after he pretends to be sick for a few months. Do you think of any strong army will be willing to accept a weak commander?”
And then he sneered, “Besides, when the mourning period is over, he magically recovers after being sick for a few years. Do you think of others as fools?”
Jiang Yayun blushed scarlet.
“Go to Kui County with Xu’er and see what is going on.” Since Jiang Yayun was Jiang Tianao’s eldest son, he didn’t bear to humiliate him. He changed to a gentle tone after seeing that, “Madame Han isn’t nice. Watch out for your second uncle and fifth uncle when you get there. Spend more time with your grandfather. You’re his eldest grandson who he values the most among all his grandsons. That is why I send you. If Madame Han is pretending, you can go cry to your grandfather. Don’t feel embarra.s.sed. You need to learn that from Jiang Yashuang. He looks so dignified in front of people. But when he badgers your second grand uncle, he is extremely good at acting like a child. Even a smart man like your second grand uncle falls for that, let alone your honest grandfather.”
Jiang Tianao didn’t have time to take a sip of water after sending his eldest son away. He called up his staff at once and began to discuss how to blame the third branch for the Dou Family’s downfall.