Madame Zhuang handled decisively this incident all by herself, and the backyard of Marquess’s Mansion quickly restored calm again under her deterrent influence. The disappearing Ms. Duan and the newcome Ms. Gu both sank into silence as if nothing had ever happened.
The grand wedding of the Emperor and the Empress would begin in just a few days.
June had always been the hottest time of the year. If it had been in the former years, Emperor would have accompanied Empress Dowager to take refuge from the summer heat in Mount Dizi long ago. But the Royal Observatory had picked on a day in June as the most suitable date for the marriage of Emperor and Xin Fubing. For the grand wedding celebration, Emperor chose to give up this year's summer holiday.
The hot sun was baking the whole city day after day, but it couldn't extinguish the festive air across the city.
The road from the Xin’s Mansion to the palace had long been refilled wit
Mi Yinyin acted so inappropriately in the banquet and was ordered to go back home by Madame Ou. But it wasn't over for her punishment. The next morning, the news came over from the Mansion of Sir Jibei that Mi Yinyin was sick because of her exposure to wind on the way back home last night."Such a coincidence?" Madame Zhuang smiled contemptuously when hearing of the news, "Now she knows she made a huge mistake, but it's too late! Didn't she have any idea of how important the day was? If it hadn't been for a long-running feud, how could she had ruined the biggest day of Empress? How dare she do that? Her maiden family still needs to rely on our Jiang Family. And she has married Jiang Yalan for so many years but given birth to no children. And even her husband doesn't like her. But she is still so capricious. Does she really think naively that our family will tolerate her doing anything she is capable of, even before the whole imperial court, and we'v
As Jiang Yalan came here to ask when Madame Zhuang would leave, Qiu Yelan asked about it with concern after he left, "Will you leave in the few days, mother? I don't want to separate with you!"Madame Zhuang smiled, "It is cold there. Your father stays there alone so I am worried about him." And then she said, "Several years later after Yashuang learns how to handle things in the court, your grandfather will ask him to join the Northern Army to harden himself, and then you can come there with him. We will see each other again by that time!"Qiu Yelan smiled and agreed with her. And then she asked whether her mother-in-law needed her to help her pack the luggage.Madame Zhuang looked at her belly and refused her, "Thanks. But I can handle it with my maids."Jiang Yashuang returned home at night. He was disappointed because he heard the news that his mother would leave. He went to ask Madame Zhuang whether she could stay until
Qiu Yelan thought Jiang Qilai was in conflict with the Jiang Family. After Jiang Yashuang came back, she asked him and he said, "She did not come back these days because some days ago her wet nurse was seriously ill. She was brought up by her wet nurse and they were deeply attached to each other. Two days before mother’s return, she had gone with her to the south to seek advice from a retired imperial doctor. After mother came back, her family sent a maid to explain it. I suppose there was a mess in the Jiang Family so no one told you."After listening to his words, Qiu Yelan dispelled her suspicion. After all, when Madame Zhuang just came back, almost everyone in the Jiang family was focused on the internal warfare. So, no one was really in the mood to talk about that the daughter born by a concubine didn't go back to visit her official mother. However, even if there was a reason for this incident that Jiang Qilai didn’t come back, she should keep contact with h
It had already snowed twice in Jing City in early November, neither of which was very heavy. Even though it was freezing cold and the snow was difficult to melt, only the tiles were covered with snow, which was like a few brushstrokes on a scroll.When Chu Yitong, who had recently been the eighth madame of the Jiang Family, saw that her husband Jiang Yadan looked tired, she gently invited him into the inner room to take a nap. But she excused herself from disturbing him and took her wet nurse Zhu to the study to talk, “The fourteenth junior young master is the first trueborn son. While I don’t have to worry about him as he is brought up by my nineteenth brother-in-law and his wife, I can’t forget to send him presents in the holidays. If there is something good here, we should leave one for him. Please remember this for me.”Zhu nodded, “Your Grace, please set assured. I will...”“Just call me madame!” Chu Yitong said calmly, “See, my nin
Qiu Yelan looked at her husband. And when she saw Jiang Yashuang nod slightly, she bowed and said, “I will go and see my grandmother and my youngest grand aunt.”When a husband died, it was the rule that the wife had to keep staying in the funeral hall.But since Madame Ou was so old and grieving for the death of her companion, no one dared to let her go and kneel there for a few days. So, Marquess Qin personally stepped in and persuaded her to rest in the back room where Madame Tao would accompany her.When Qiu Yelan reached the door, she was greeted with a silent gesture from Mom Hu, who was on guard here. Mom Hu gestured that she should not go in yet.After waiting for a while, Madame Tao came out alone. She saw her with a slight nod and pointed to the compartment not far away.Qiu Yelan saw that her back was slightly hunched. So, she went forward to support her. After they entered the room together, Madame T
Madame Tao, who was still in the room, saw Qiu Yelan coming back and got slightly surprised, "Anything wrong?""Before I arrived, I met two people one after another on the road. They each told me something so I came here for advice!" Qiu Yelan explained, "I first met Huizhi in a narrow alley. She mentioned what happened in the imperial garden and said that it was definitely not done by her or the first branch. She felt wronged and even wanted to die! And then I met Aunt Tianhe. She said that Huizhi told her the same thing. Since Huizhi will enter the palace and the youngest grand uncle asked Empress to take care of her before his death, why did she say this? Aunt Tianhe didn't understand so she hoped that I could let you ask my grandfather!"Madame Tao snorted and said, "I know what she is thinking! Why is she so impatient when your youngest grand uncle just passed away? Huizhi should keep filial piety to her grandmother before she enters the palace.
Fortunately, they arrived just in time. When they arrived at the lake in a hurry, they saw two maids tugging at Jiang Huizhi's sleeves and trying their best to stop her.Seeing this, Madame Zhuang Junior and Qiu Yelan rushed up to pull Jiang Huizhi and scolded, "It's such a cold day. You said you wanted to get some fresh air. Why are you coming to the lake?"Qiu Yelan took out her own handkerchief and wiped her niece's face, saying warmly, ''You've been blowing the cold wind for a while. If you don't go back inside, you'll be sick! There are many things going on at home nowadays. And we are already busy. We're still counting on you to help out. Don't you dare duck out of it!"The two aunts had an unspoken message in their minds so they never mentioned that Jiang Huizhi tried to suicide. They pretended that she had come for fun. They said so while dragging her away. Jiang Huizhi was a weak girl, and now she was as thin as a stick because
Qiu Yelan didn't show mercy on Jiang Huizhi when knocking her out. Jiang Huizhi was in a coma and completely woke up two days later. At this time, praises for her pure filial piety had existed everywhere. Jiang Jingzhi, her eldest younger brother of a concubine, came to tell her the messages and advised her, "After the second great grand uncle knew it, he praised you a lot. The bird's nest you just ate was specially sent by my third great grand aunt. Now the elders all believe the rumors. It's not worth it to tell the truth instead!"After weighing carefully, Jiang Huizhi understood that Jiang Jingzhi's words were right. She gnashed her teeth for a while and sneered, "At least I have earned a reputation of filial piety! I didn't harm the Empress this time, but I can do it again next time... There will be ample time. We'll see!"However, the sister and the brother didn't know some other things. These two days Qiu Yelan finally found Jiang Tianhe and met her