real empress from a noble family
Su He said tremblingly, “I came up with it myself!”
“Why?” Qiu Yelan frowned.
“…because Young Master Ruan is focusing on his career now,” Su He bit her lips and said timidly, “I’m afraid that he is nice to you only because of your engagement. So… I want to test him.”
“Should I be the one doing something like this?” Qiu Yelan realized that no wonder Madame Lu said that Ruan Qingyan might be up to no good. “See? Even Su He suspects him!”
Su He cried, “How can you do that? When I say something wrong, you can apologize to Young Master Ruan by hitting me or scolding me. But if you and Young Master Ruan are in a stalemate, we are in his place now!”
“Don’t worry about this kind of thing anymore!” Qiu Yelan looked at the little girl who was shorter than her and sighed, “I know what I’m doing!” Seeing Su He was about to say something, she pounded the table, “You don’t want to listen to me anymore, do you?”
Su He then said, “I don’t dare. I will listen to you from now on!”
“Go fetch some water.” Qiu Yelan sent her out. And her face went dark.
Now there were two threats in front of her. One was from the people of Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. After seeing the look of General Ruan, she decided that after she went back, she would kill Madame Lu no matter what. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to sleep. The other was her engagement that seemed could be delayed for two or three years.
The latter was trickier than the former.
According to her memory, she and Deng Yi’s engagement was proposed by Duke of Guangyang instead of Deng Yi. Then Duke of Xihe, Qiu Mengmin, agreed to it.
When Princess Ruan knew about it, the two families had already exchanged their dates of birth to see if they were well matched.
Empress Dowager Gu was behind Duke of Guangyang. So, it was nearly impossible for her to break off this engagement. The only hope was that Deng Yi didn’t want to marry her and went to talk to his family. But they had been engaged for two years. If Deng Yi had wanted to break off it, he wouldn’t have waited until now.
“Planned to ask him to repay his debt later. Now, it looks like I need to break off the engagement first in case anything bad happens. What if he forgets about me after a while?” Qiu Yelan thought. Although Ruan Qingyan helped her with all he got, he was new in town and didn’t know anyone. He was still taking root.
Even if he got the first place in the spring tryouts and got the Number One Scholar title, he was no match against Duke of Guangyang.
Everyone knew that the only one who could stand against Empress Dowager Gu was Empress Jiang.
“General Jiang is just one of Empress’s nephews. Even he is Empress’s favorite, he may not be able to get Empress to listen to whatever he says. Even he can, he may not want to,” Qiu Yelan thought about how to make sure that Jiang Yashuang would do it, “But he led me into the fight between the two empresses last time… Maybe I can work my way in through here?”
Ruan Qingyan came to visit her the next day, she asked him, “Did anything happen between two queens recently?”
Ruan Qingyan didn’t know why she suddenly cared about this and said, “Nothing. Why?”
“Last time you said that Empress Dowager gave four of her close maids the death penalty. What was that?” Qiu Yelan thought for a while and asked.
Ruan Qingyan gave her a strange look. But he still answered, “This thing is really strange. That four maids served Empress Dowager many years. Empress Dowager liked them a lot. I heard from Shenshen…I heard from Hua that in the palace even princes and princesses wouldn’t dare to treat those four slightly. However, Empress Dowager gave them the death penalty without any warning. And their accusations were stealing properties in Empress Dowager’s palace!”
“Prime minister’s hanger-on can be considered as level seven officer, not to mention their master is the Empress Dowager. How can they lack money?” Qiu Yelan shook her head and said, “Even if they were short-sighted, but after served Empress Dowager this many years, they should know better. Their accusations must be made up.”
“Why did you suddenly ask this?” Ruan Qingyan asked.
“I thought about Cousin Kang going to dinner in the palace out of the blue yesterday,” Qiu Yelan answered calmly, “As a civilian girl, she just gave back a cat and was invited to the New Year’s Eve dinner that only officers above level five and their families are allowed to go. Empress Dowager and Empress don’t get along. Empress did this. Isn’t she afraid that Empress Dowager will accuse her of not knowing the rules?”
Ruan Qingyan muttered to himself, “Indeed suspicious…however, Princess Yongfu sent out the invitation. It’s said that this princess is young and naive. She might do this on the spur of the moment.”
Qiu Yelan planned to distract him. She got what she wanted and kept on saying, “You are right. I forgot that Princess Yongfu was young.”
Then she chatted with Ruan Qingyan. Because New Year was about to come. There were a lot of things to do. Ruan Qingyan didn’t stay long in Lvqiang Court and got taken away by Ruan An.
The moment he left, Qiu Yelan asked Su He to come alone and whispered in her ears.
Su He didn’t hear much and said happily, “Go tell General Jiang the truth?” Then doubtfully, “Why do you want to meet him privately? If he doesn’t believe, he can come to visit in the morning. You can ask Young Master Ruan to explain the situation to you.”
“I heard that grandfather didn’t get along with Marquess Qin back then. Who knows Marquess Qin will be happy or not if General Jiang comes here openly?” Qiu Yelan frowned, “Besides we will only say a few words at the back door of General’s Mansion. Are you afraid that I may suffer losses? He has a good reputation. Besides, judging from his family, he gave Cousin Kang a big reward because of a Persian cat. How can he treat me poorly?”
Su He said with worry, “What if he believes people in the Prince’s Mansion and thinks that you have another…lie to him?”
“No if. Do you mean that we should let Cousin Kang take the credit?” Qiu Yelan pushed her, “Don’t dally! Do as what I say!”