But no matter how empty the national treasury was, it was not possible to keep highborn ladies from marriage. It was basically impossible to save on these expenses. It was no wonder that Marquess Qin treated Xue Chang so favourably. Faced with the amount of money the court needed to spend, if there hadn’t been a prime minister who was good at filling the national treasury without harassing the people, he would have exploited their people!
Qiu Yelan sighed for a while about the pressure on the national treasury. And then she suddenly thought of Chu Chunxiao, “Chunxiao is about the same age as Yongfu. She is 20 years old this year. Even though Yongfu doesn’t marry, she has gotten engaged. It has been three or five years now, hasn’t it? They can’t continue to force her to marry the Duke of Puyang, can they?”
Jiang Yashuang was reminded of this. He pondered for a moment and said, “All right, you should go to the palace in a couple of days and put the fee
The furor at Qiu Yejiao’s one-year-old banquet was not mentioned by any of the parties involved after they returned to the Marquess’s Mansion. So, it passed.Three days after that, it was Wang Qingqian’s birthday.Qiu Yelan brought Jiang Jingkun and Jiang Jinglang to visit her as promised. And the Lian Family received them with great enthusiasm. At the birthday banquet, Madame Lian sought an opportunity to ask quietly, “I heard that Princess Royal Lexin is going to get married in the same month of Emperor’s birthday, right?”“Yes.” Qiu Yelan knew what she meant, “After the marriage of Princess Royal, it was the turn of Prince of Wei.”Madame Lian was relieved. Back then, Wang Qingqian was unexpectedly chosen as the princess. But first, she couldn’t get the dowry together, which was finally solved after the raid on the Duan Family. And then Empress Dowager Gu and the former emperor died. On the advice of important officials,
He Shuijin went ahead and did it. Two days later, there was news that she got so mad that she imposed heavy punishment on a dozen stewards. Of course, the reason was that they made major mistakes that had resulted in huge losses.“It is no exaggeration to say that our family is now rolling in money every day. You and the stewards have earned so much for the family over the years, haven’t you? But we all make mistakes. You can punish them for their occasional mistakes. Why be so angry?” When Madame Tao found out about this, she called He Shuijin over and advised her, “Don’t make them feel chilled in their hearts. It is okay to make up for the mistakes in other ways. You need to take care of such a big family. Even though you are young, it’s no good for your health if you always get angry!”“My grandmother, the thing you don’t know is that I have got a plan to make a good deal of money. They didn’t get things wrong before while at this point, they made
The servants carried Qiu Yelan into the inner room and laid her down. A few moments later, the doctor was brought in. Once he checked Qiu Yelan’s pulse, he smiled happily and congratulated her, “Young madame, you are pregnant!”After all, Qiu Yelan had given birth to Jiang Jinglang. She was kind of an experienced woman. She had already felt something when she vomited. But only when the doctor had confirmed it, she felt at ease. At this moment, her mouth curled into a smile, “Reward!”Not only was the doctor rewarded, but everyone in this yard received an extra month’s earning. It was as joyful as the beginning of a new year. With all the excitement, there were people asking around. So, in no time, the news that the nineteenth madame was pregnant again spread throughout the entire Marquess’s Mansion.When Madame Tao learned of this, she was so pleased that she had someone open her private treasury and fetch a lot of appropriate things. An
After meeting Madame Tao, Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan went to Sir Jibei’s Mansion to visit Madame Ou with their cousins. At the same time, they also paid a visit to Jiang Tiancan and his wife and met with Jiang Yabi and his wife.Because Jiang Tiancan was still observing his mourning, many treasures and other furnishings were removed. The whole mansion looked empty. But the vastness and the grandeur of the mansion still amazed the younger generation who came from afar.“In a twinkling of an eye, so many years have passed. I remember when you two were born, I held you and you were so small.” Madame Ou didn’t feel well since her husband died. At the moment, looking at Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan, she kept herself awake and recalled, “Now your children have grown taller!”“My youngest grand aunt, please forgive us that we couldn’t come to pay final respect to our youngest grand uncle when he passed away!” The last time Jiang Yazhao and Ji
It was easy for Jiang Yashuang to arrange for Jiang Jingmu and Jiang Jingman to enter the clan school. He did not even need to go there in person. But in the end, he was their uncle rather than their father. He had to talk to Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan.However, after three or two more days, there was still no sign of the two cousins. Jiang Yashuang sent someone to “Spring House” to poke around, only to learn that Jiang Yadan and the other two brothers went on a journey together with prostitutes. They went to a village near Jing City and did not give the date of returning to Jing City when leaving.Jiang Yashuang was speechless. So, he had to personally go and find his two sisters-in-law, Madame Ho and Madame Jin, to discuss.Madame Ho had no problem with it, “My nineteenth brother, thank you very much indeed for your trouble! You think about Jingmu like this in the midst of your busy schedule. It really makes my heart uneasy...” After
When Jiang Yadan learned his brother and sister-in-law’s concerns, he said dismissively, “The thing between them and Qiu Jinglan? I have told my fourth brother and fifth brother long ago!”“Do our fourth brother and fifth brother still want to take them as mistresses?” Qiu Yelan was surprised.“What does it matter? They are courtesans from the brothel. Who expects them to be chaste?” Jiang Yadan snickered, “As my fourth brother and fifth brother like their talents and appearances, they intend to take them as mistresses. Back then they were well-known in the court and had many friends of high status. And among their guests, there were no common people. But everything changed. Now they are being no longer pretty. If they do not find a good husband, they would probably be miserable in the future. They may not have hostility towards you, my nineteenth sister-in-law.”Qiu Yelan said, “I’m not afraid that they have any animosity towards me...”
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 identity 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 p
Her morning sickness was constant and tormenting, but days quickly went by. Soon, it was November.The sky cleared up after the snow. With a handkerchief tied to her forehead, Qiu Yelan leaned against the head of the bed, looked at her daughter in swaddling clothes, and asked her husband with a smirk, "You mean you want to teach her a lesson since she is not well behaved?""She is forbidden to wear beads before the age of three. What do you think?" Jiang Yashuang poked his daughter's glowing cheeks with his fingertip and asked flatteringly.Greed was human nature. When he thought that his wife was infertile, he was content to raise his nephew. Later, his wife got pregnant, and he got jittery, hoping that both the mother and the child would be safe. After Jiang Jinglang was smoothly delivered, he secretly wished that they could safely have another child!And then Qiu Yelan got pregnant again. Now that he had got a son and a n