Chapter 466 You Think I Don’t Know What You Are Thinking
Since then, Qiu Qian stayed at Marquess’s Mansion. Qiu Yelan had her well fed and occasionally took her to pay respects to Madame Tao. After a few days, the subordinate who had been sent out to snoop came back with a shameful face, “I am incompetent. I spent the first two days in the vicinity of the residence where young master Qiu and Miss Mei live. But I could not find out what was going on in the residence. Today, when I got closer, I was discovered by the people of young master Qiu’s mansion. And then I was caught to see Miss Mei. Only after revealing my ident.i.ty did I get away!”
“…” Qiu Yelan was a bit speechless. The bodyguard she sent there was agile and, in her impression, clever. She had never imagined that he would be exposed. After a pause, she said, “It is not all your fault. Qiu Nie and Mei Xue are both skilled in snooping around. Mei Xue… Did she say anything when she knew you were sent by me?”
“Miss Mei said that someone was indeed proposing marriage to Commandery Princess Yishu. But young master Qiu thought it was inappropriate and already rejected it.” The subordinate answered, with his hands crossed.
Qiu Yelan mused, “What kind of person is it?”
“It is last year’s Number One Scholar Cheng Xide. His uncle is Hanlin Academy’s Grand Master Cheng Huijin, whose daughter is married to Prime Minister Xue’s grandson!”
“Cheng Guoxi’s cousin?” Qiu Yelan looked startled, “Last imperial examination’s Number One Scholar? He’s quite a big deal!”
Qiu Qian was Commandery Princess now. In terms of her ident.i.ty, she was n.o.ble. Yet in terms of power, this t.i.tle was not as worthy as her relationship with Qiu Yelan. After all, the thing that Qiu Qian was the blood of Prince’s Mansion of Xihe was not officially recognized. Even if it was recognized, Qiu Qian and Qiu Nie’s father was the son of a concubine. And their father, who pa.s.sed away, had never been Duke of Xihe. Since that, she was not quite n.o.ble.
However, the Cheng Family was Xue Chang’s hard-core henchman. And Cheng Xide was the Number One Scholar of imperial examination and had a bright future. According to his condition, he would be qualified to marry a real Commandery Princess from the royal clan. Cheng Xide, yet, promised marriage to Qiu Qian, who had been born humble. Qiu Yelan naturally found it a bit unbelievable, “Is it Cheng Xide’s own doing? Or is there something else?”
“According to the person who delivered the message, it was Cheng Xide who took a fancy to Commandery Princess Yishu. So, he asked Cheng Hanlin to propose marriage on his behalf.” The servant said, “But young master Qiu thought that Commandery Princess Yishu and Cheng Xide might not be a perfect match in their personalities and so he politely declined.”
“What about Qiu Qian? What did she think of this?”
“Commandery Princess Yishu had never noticed Cheng Xide. So, she didn’t have any argument for that.”
Qiu Yelan was a bit confused, “So, did she come to our house just for a short stay?” It sounded that Qiu Qian was not there to avoid trouble. To be honest, Qiu Yelan didn’t think that the Cheng Family was the kind of being relentlessly annoying. According to their family’s typical principles, it was somewhat reluctant for the family to allow its son to marry a lady like Qiu Qian. They would not mention the same thing again after being rejected.
“That’s not entirely true. Miss Mei said you were pregnant again. But the senior maids that you were used to using have just been changed. And at the same time, the first branch took the second branch and the fifth branch back to Jing City. She was afraid that something like the seventeenth junior young master’s poisoning would happen again. Anyway, Commandery Princess had nothing to do. So, she sent her over to help you keep an eye… Miss Mei said your well-being was also good for them!”
That was more like it! Qiu Yelan had been wondering why Qiu Qian would come over for a short visit. This blood cousin was not the kind of person who liked to hang around!
Qiu Yelan breathed a sigh of relief, “Well, I will appreciate that.” As Qiu Qian, who was from “Tianya”, stayed in the yard, Qiu Yelan found it really helpful. When Jiang Yashuang was out, Qiu Yelan could have Qiu Qian accompany her.
In the middle of June, when there was half a month left before Emperor’s birthday and the marriage of Princess Royal Lexin, all in Mount Dizi had their hands full!
The royal family originally intended to cancel this year’s journey for summer and stay in Jing City to organize the wedding ceremony for Princess Royal.
But when considering that Empress Dowager Jiang who was already old and Prince Chu Shao who was too young couldn’t stand the heat, Princess Royal Lexin offered to hold her wedding in Summer Palace. Anyway, “Everywhere under the sky is His Majesty’s dominion. Imperial city and Summer Palace both belong to the imperial family. And it’s still the imperial family who are marrying off a daughter. It’s all the same.”
Empress Dowager Jiang was fine with that. She had always been in good health. When she was young, she was as good as the man at horse riding and archery. Even if she didn’t go for the summer heat, for her, it was just stuffy in the cool room. But Emperor and Empress worried about the young prince who was not yet one year old because of the high infant mortality rate nowadays. So, as Princess Lexin insisted, Emperor and Empress praised her and allowed it.
Since that, people in Mount Dizi were really busy. Both Emperor’s birthday and the wedding ceremony of Princess Royal were great things. Many things, after being used on Emperor’s birthday, could be kept for Princess Royal’s wedding ceremony. However, they couldn’t make everything remain the same, which would make Princess Royal Lexin too shameless!
Anyway, when Mount Dizi was hectic, an Empress’s decree was quietly sent to Marquess’s Mansion that Jiang Huizhi would be officially welcomed into the palace after the Mid-Autumn Festival and ranked as a n.o.ble Consort!
“My mother, have you seen that?” After receiving the decree and sending the servants away, Jiang Huizhi returned to her room. She pointed at the brilliantly embroidered Empress’s decree, sneering, and said through clenched teeth, “After the Mid-Autumn Festival, what a bad day it is. It’s June now. The whole court is focused on Emperor’s birthday and the wedding ceremony of Princess Royal Lexin. Who will care that the date of my entry into the palace has finally been set? When July pa.s.ses into August, I’m sure that the b*tch Xin will definitely hold a big Mid-Autumn Festival so that people will forget that after the Mid-Autumn Festival, there will be a new n.o.ble Consort in the palace!”
What made her most angry was not this thing, but another one. “I’ll enter the palace as a n.o.ble Consort on the 16th day of the eighth lunar month. But soon on the 24th day of the same lunar month, Prince of Wei is going to marry the daughter of the w.a.n.g Family! And w.a.n.g is going to be Princess of Wei! They are letting me be caught in the middle and ignored! What is the n.o.ble Consort! I’m afraid that my wedding will even be less remarkable than my fourth brother’s and fifth brother’s concubinage!”
Madame Dou Junior said bitterly, “Now our branch is down. And Empress Dowager is also on Empress’s side. The words in the Empress’s decree seemed to be considerate. Considering that you just came back from Kui County and you should spend the Mid-Autumn Festival with your family one more time, Empress specially asked Royal Observatory to choose the date, the sixteenth day of the eighth lunar month… Do you think we can say no?”
“… One day!” Jiang Huizhi was silent for a long time and gritted her teeth, “There will come a day!”
The news was full of malice for them. But others were underwhelmed. Qiu Yelan casually ordered someone to send a congratulatory gift to the first branch and left it alone.
Jiang Tianhe sent her daughter-in-law Madame Zhao to personally congratulate her with gifts. She said to Madame Dou Junior, “The imperial family has many happy events this year. After all, princes and princesses have just completed their mourning of the previous emperor. Many of them are not young. Their marriage should not be put off! That’s why Empress has been so busy. But the position of the n.o.ble Consort is reserved for Huizhi. And she is not young as well. If she still wasn’t taken into the palace, there might be rumors! Empress has racked her brains to schedule Huizhi’s wedding this year. So, it is short in time. Madame, I hope you won’t take offense!”
Madame Dou Junior mentally abused Jiang Tianhe for her taking the advantages for granted. But in fact, she had to call out her daughter and thank Empress Xin for her thoughtfulness and concerns.
And after that, Jiang Tianhe went to tell Madame Tao and Madame Ou in person, “Empress’s son is younger than one year old. Even if there are maids to help, the prince still needs some attention from Empress! But in this situation, Empress still needs to worry about lots of things. How hard she is! If Huizhi is picking on Empress when she enters the palace, it will be too cold of her!”
Madame Tao had never liked the first branch. But for one thing, she didn’t want to argue with her great grandniece. And for another thing, she didn’t want to give others a handle. So, she smiled and said, “We are a family. How can we be so critical? I’m afraid that someone is deliberately provoking, right? Tianhe, you must be careful. Do not let that villain take advantage of the situation!”
Madame Ou said, without much enthusiasm, “As you know she’s busy, why don’t you stay at Mount Dizi and give her a hand? Why are you doing back here?”
The Mansion of Sir Jibei also did not go to Mount Dizi for the summer in the past two years. Because they wanted to give a hand in case something happened to Marquess Qin. It was Madame Ou who said so, “How can nephews and grandnephews happily go for the summer when their uncle or granduncle is bed-ridden?”
So, on such hot days, the whole Mansion of Sir Jibei stayed home to spend the summer.
But the Xin Family all went there to get out of this heat.
Jiang Tianhe heard that Empress’s decree that Jiang Huizhi was going to be taken into the palace had been issued. So, she brought Madame Zhao back to Jing City to collude with her family. However, she didn’t get expected answers from her aunt and mother. She was quite depressed and said, “It has been a fiercely hot summer this year. And I feel worried about you. So, I come back to see you.”
“Now you have seen us. Go do your bit!” Madame Ou said grumpily, “Empress has her own ideas. Does she need you to work tirelessly to help? I’m afraid that if you do too much, you will mess up Empress’s plan!”
Anyone with a discerning eye could easily see why Xin Fubing picked such a date for Jiang Huizhi to enter the palace!
The reasons in Empress’s decree seemed to be reasonable. So, even the first branch felt angry inside, they couldn’t say anything. But what Jiang Tianhe did just made things go opposite. Others would think that those words were just excuses and Empress was holding Jiang Huizhi back on purpose!
Madame Ou was not happy, “Empress is Emperor’s first wife. And she has given birth to the first true-born prince. She is safe as being Empress. Who can unseat her? Why are you doing fooling?”
Jiang Tianhe was aggrieved, “I’m afraid that Jiang Huizhi will be too proud to respect Empress when she enters the palace, won’t she? So, I intend to give her a warning in advance, in case…”
“In case that she will not be angry and disrespect Empress? In case we cannot get her father and brother for their not teaching her well and make room for your Xin Family?” Before Jiang Tianhe could finish her sentences, Madame Ou snapped, in a sarcastic way, “I’m old. But I’m not senile! You think I don’t know what you’re thinking?”
“…” As what Jiang Tianhe was thinking about was revealed, she said, embarra.s.sed, “How could I think this way? My second uncle is still alive. Who dares to fight with the first branch?”
Madame Ou sneered, “You may not listen to what I say nowadays. I’m sick of talk! In a word, stop jumping up and down! Don’t be too greedy and get Empress involved!”
Without caring about her daughter’s embarra.s.sment, Madame Ou simply told someone to send her out!
After Jiang Tianhe was asked to leave, Madame Ou let out a long sigh, “The life!”
She was done with life!
Qiu Yelan also thought so at the same time. As she had been getting morning sickness all the time, she touched her swollen belly and sighed, “I’ll have the baby in November. There is half a year… How I’m going to make it through?”
It made Jiang Yashuang heartbroken. But he could not be much help. As he didn’t know what to do, he asked, “Maybe I can talk with the elders and send you to Mount Dizi?” His wife had been suffering terribly, which did not happen when she had her first baby. Jiang Yashuang thought perhaps the reason was that it was too hot in Jing City and perhaps his wife would feel better when she was in Mount Dizi.
“Am I going alone?” Qiu Yelan pointed to the adjoining room, weakly, “What about An and Jinglang?”
“…” Jiang Yashuang wanted to say that he could take care of them himself. But when he thought about a huge backlog of official doc.u.ments in his hands, he felt it hard to deal with them even with the help of his staff. How could he have the time to take care of the two children. But Jiang Jinglang’s poisoning was a warning to them. As parents, how could they rest a.s.sured if they had servants or somebody else to babysit?
“Why not take them with you?”
“Do not look for trouble. Suck it up!” Qiu Yelan shook her head, “There is much room in the mount. I’ll feel more worried if they run around there!”
“… When the baby is born, I’ll kick its a.s.s for you!” Jiang Yashuang had no choice but to coax his wife. He said fiercely, “The baby doesn’t learn from its eldest brother Jinglang’s understanding and thoughtfulness at all! It really deserves a good beating!”