Gu E’nuo encouraged Jiang Huizhu to marry Lu He, of which Qiu Yelan had no idea yet. After sending Jiang Huizhu away, she played with Jiang Jingkun and Jiang Jinglang while waiting for Jiang Yashuang to return from the palace.
She waited until midnight. Jiang Yashuang didn’t bring back any bad news, “Our fourth aunt fainted the first time because she heard about the matter about Yan Linxue and Old Concubine Fan. The reason why she fainted the second time was that she heard that they had been in contact since the former emperor was still around… Fortunately, our fourth aunt has calmed down and won’t be angry anymore!”
Qiu Yelan hurriedly asked, “How is our fourth aunt doing now?”
“I’m afraid she’ll have to lie down for a while. She’s getting older after all.” Jiang Yashuang sighed, “If we’re free these two days, let’s go to talk to Grandma with An so that Grandma won’t worry too much.”
And then there was another news, “Our fourth aunt is sick, so Maid Lin and other confidants have to concentrate on taking care of her. They’re unable to hold any palace power… Since Empress is punished, Noble Consort will manage the palace affairs!”
“Although Noble Consort has been in the palace for only a few months, the first branch has a lot of dirty things in the palace.” Qiu Yelan frowned slightly and said, “Especially she entered the palace in the early years, and the thing between Yan Linxue and Old Concubine Fan happened this time. By the way, what have you found out in this incident? Does it have anything to do with the first branch?”
Jiang Yashuang shook his head, “Yan Linxue confessed that when the former emperor was staying in Fu Ning Palace before dying, Old Concubine Fan was not allowed to visit the former emperor and was afraid of falling out of favor, so she bribed the palace servants with money and silks to inquire about the news in Fu Ning Palace. He was one of the people who was bribed. He passed the news to Old Concubine Fan several times and the former emperor never summoned Old Concubine Fan, so Old Concubine Fan was so lonely and resentful that she took the initiative to seduce him.”
“But since the death of the former emperor, Old Concubine Fan and the former emperor’s other concubines retreated to Zhenyu Palace, and the two were disconnected. At the banquet of this Lunar New Year’s Eve, our fourth aunt felt sorry for these old concubines who were lonely and invited them to come to celebrate it together, but they took the opportunity to…”
Qiu Yelan was quite disgusted with Yan Linxue, “They were caught in the act, and he still tried to pass the buck to Old Concubine Fan! If he were a good person, how could Old Concubine Fan have forced him to see her?”
But now was not the time to complain about the two. She frowned and asked, “Yan Linxue happened to be in charge of the guard for the banquet of this Lunar New Year’s Eve, and there was no shortage of pavilions, side halls, or Jing rooms for the guests to rest and change clothes. There were also plants and flower beds that could cover them. But he should do such a thing with Old Concubine Fan in the corner of the corridor. Even if the leopard cat didn’t happen to pass by, Huiyan and Huili accidentally saw them! Weren’t they deliberately dragging down Empress? He could deny it, but did he have any explanation for this?”
“He said it was because he hadn’t seen Old Concubine Fan for a long time, and he couldn’t hold back his passion!” Jiang Yashuang’s eyes were a little cold, “Originally, the court in charge of the Imperial Harem was going to continue the interrogation, but… Just when I was going to leave the palace and return to the mansion, He died suddenly! According to the imperial doctor’s judgment, he had already taken chronic poison, and it was time for the poison to kick in!”
Qiu Yelan’s face was extremely upset, “How about Old Concubine Fan?”
“She said that when the former emperor was sick, she was very worried. She couldn’t enter the Fu Ning Palace to visit him, so she asked the palace servants to inquire about some news, but Yan Linxue took this opportunity to molest her, and she fought back and escaped. Yan Linxue had been holding grudges against her since then! Fortunately, she moved to Zhenyu Palace to get rid of Yan Linxue’s harassment.” Jiang Yashuang’s face showed a look of disgust, “This time she left the banquet to change clothes, but she was pulled into a corner by Yan Linxue… She was afraid of being discovered and ruining her reputation, so she didn’t dare to make a sound, but when she resisted, Huiyan and Huili caught them!”
“They’re really a couple of…” Qiu Yelan didn’t expect that Old Concubine Fan and Yan Linxue were so close together, and they both tried to put the blame on each other. Speaking of which, Old Concubine Fan tired even harder, and she even didn’t admit that she and Yan Linxue were related at all. Qiu Yelan couldn’t help feeling speechless.
After a while, she asked, “And then Old Concubine Fan is still alive?”
“She’s still alive. The court has promised to take good care of her!” Jiang Yashuang rubbed his eyebrows, “Our fourth aunt is ill now, so she shouldn’t worry about it. But the thing that happened between Yan Linxue and Old Concubine Fan can’t be delayed. Our fourth aunt asked our family to come up with a solution as soon as possible so that she can issue an edict to deal with it!”
“When I left the palace, I cross-examined the eldest uncle with the third uncle for a while. The eldest uncle insisted that it had nothing to do with him! He also said that if we didn’t believe it, he could ask Noble Consort to decline to manage the palace affairs to prove his innocence!”
Qiu Yelan snorted, ” Empress Dowager is ill, and the people of the Palace of Ganquan are all busy. Emperor now has only one empress and one concubine. If Empress is stripped of her power in the palace, Noble Consort will certainly take the task. She can’t decline it even if she wants.”
“Let’s talk about it tomorrow. Well, the first month of this year is definitely not going well!” Jiang Yashuang glanced at the east and west rooms and asked his wife in a low voice, “How are the children today? When I wasn’t here, did they bother you?”
“An made some noise, but Lang’er never thought of you. He was having a lot of fun chasing Nianxue and Whitey! He was called several times during meals but he ignored us. If it had not been for Mrs. Zhou’s persuasion, I would have just wanted to tell him not to eat so that he could learn his lesson!”
“It is too cruel, isn’t it? How old is Lang’er? How can a child not be naughty?” Jiang Yashuang became anxious when he heard it. There was no one in the Jiang Family who was strict with children. Jiang Yashuang was no exception. Especially Jiang Jinglang was so young now, and he loved him too much to starve him.
“Just saying… If I had really wanted to punish him like this, how could I have given up easily when Mrs. Zhou said that?” Qiu Yelan said angrily, “You have no idea how naughty the boy is. The wet nurse told me that during the day, Nianxue and Whitey’s screams never stopped. He either pulled their tails or their beard. Thanks to these two good-tempered cats, they didn’t care about it with him. If they had been less tame cats, they would have scratched him! I feel tired when I think about how naughty he will be when he grows up!”
Jiang Yashuang changed his face slightly, “Why didn’t anyone separate Nianxue and Whitey from him? Although we have raised these two cats, they won’t hurt anyone easily. But just in case, Lang’er is still so young after all… Tomorrow, ask someone to take them somewhere else so that Langer won’t see them!”
Well, when he had his son, he didn’t hesitate to throw his pets away!
Qiu Yelan was quite speechless, “Are you afraid that Nianxue and Whitey will hurt him? They even tremble when they see your son!” Therefore, the biggest natural enemy of small animals was naughty children because they were so curious, bold, and clumsy. The most frightening thing was, no matter who started first, as long as the naughty child was injured, it would be the animals’ fault…
Jiang Yashuang was obviously a typical naughty parent of a naughty child!
“They are afraid, but maybe they will be forced to use their claws.” He insisted, “Lang’er is so young and fragile now. How can he stand it?”
“I know that you spoil him. Just now I asked someone to send Nianxue and Whitey to the corridor outside the study.” Qiu Yelan rolled her eyes at him, “I had someone make a wooden box for them to live in. They’re so pitiful!”
“Aren’t you worried too?” Jiang Yashuang breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, “It’s inevitable for boys to be a little naughty when they are young, and it will be fine when they grow up and go to school. We can hire a strict teacher…” With that, he sighed with emotion, “Fortunately, Ying’er is a girl, so she shouldn’t be as naughty as her brothers in the future!”
“You should teach her to obey the rules too!” Qiu Yelan disagreed, “I don’t want to talk behind their back, but the Jiang Family has more than one girl who makes people worry… So, we’d better be stricter with our children, otherwise, they will grow up and learn their lesson the hard way!”
Among the daughters of the Jiang Family, apart from the previous generation, there were some of their peers, Princess Qi Jiang Qiyun and Jiang Qizheng who had married far away in Beijiang, and both of them had been naughty when they were children. Even Jiang Qizheng, who had left Qiu Yelan the impression of “a typical lady of a decent family”, was intimidating when she was mad!
Jiang Huiying’s aunts were all bad examples, and Qiu Yelan didn’t believe that if she kept her daughter free, she would grow into the ideal well-behaved and considerate daughter in Jiang Yashuang’s mind!
In short, in view of the current situation of most of the Jiang Family’s children, she felt that her three children must not be spoiled!
The two talked about raising their children, which somehow offset a lot of anxiety and distress brought about by the incident, “I don’t know what they will be like when they grow up. What will we look like at that time?”
This evening, they revived their spirits by imagining the future of their three children. At dawn, Madame Tao called them over. Since they stopped thinking about the future, they began to discuss the business with full energy, “Tianluan, as Empress Dowager, should make the decision, but she is sick now and has asked our family to discuss it… You have to reply quickly because this kind of thing can’t be delayed! It happened on Lunar New Year’s Eve, and it’s now the third day of the first month in a blink of an eye. We have to come up with a solution quickly.”
“This kind of thing happened at such a big festival. Of course, we can’t let Yan Linxue and Old Concubine Fan go!” The people of the Jiang Family looked at each other and Jiang Tianqi glanced at Jiang Yayun before he said lightly, “Fortunately, Yan Linxue suddenly died during the interrogation. If something were found out, I am afraid that it would not only be the royal family who would be embarrassed then!”
“That’s right. After all, people with the right mind wouldn’t cheat in the palace. Even if they cheat, they won’t be so stupid to be unable to look for a hidden place!” Jiang Yayun could naturally take the hint. He did not show his uncle any respect at all and said lukewarmly, “It was such an obvious mistake. I wonder if it was a trap.”
“Speaking of which, if Huiyan and Huili hadn’t caught them, I’m afraid we would still have been kept in the dark until now.” Jiang Tianqi’s face darkened. The Imperial Guard commander and the former emperor’s concubine were caught in the act. Now Empress was punished, and Noble Consort profited from it. The whole thing started with Jiang Huiyan and Jiang Huili who were brought to Jing City by the first branch. The first branch was certainly suspicious.
Jiang Yayun sneered, “Our nieces are so pitiful. They entered the palace for the first time happily. Who would have thought that someone had set a trap and waited for them?” The girls hadn’t seen the world and they were probably used!
Jiang Tianqi wanted to speak again, but Madame Tao scolded angrily, “Enough! If you want to quarrel, get out of here and quarrel however you want. What we need to discuss now is how Tianluan will end this game!”
She didn’t look at the embarrassed faces of Jiang Yayun and Jiang Tianqi, and said to Jiang Yashuang, “Yashuang, what do you think?”
