Chapter 28 You Do It Wrong, Watching Me!

They walked into the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. They found it was not a chaos like they thought it would be.

Things were organized. Servants were doing their jobs. It seemed to be in perfect order. If it were not for the terror and hatred in the servants’ eyes when they looked at Qiu Yelan which proved the impact of Empress’s proclamation, Qiu Yelan would think nothing had happened.

However, when they arrived at the drawing-room and saw Qiu Mengmin’s gloomy face, Qiu Yelan’s mood was lightened at once.

Qiu Mengmin asked Ruan Qingyan to avoid and wait outside bluntly. After the door was closed, he didn’t even have time for formality. He asked without preamble, “Are you insane? How dare you instigate Empress Jiang to ruin us!”

“Are you hearing yourself? Empress is such a brilliant lady. How could she listen to a kid like me?” Qiu Yelan smiled immediately, “How could you believe this kind of rumor? If the words get out, people will assume you are muddled because of your old age.”

Qiu Mengmin ground his teeth and said, “Just after you got summoned to Beijue Hall by the Empress, the Empress’s proclamation of me being deposed was sent to me. You dare say you have nothing to do with it?”

Qiu Yelan said lazily, “Empress is perspicacious. She must have her reason to depose you. You don’t think that the Empress is the muddleheaded and credulous type, do you? You are being disrespectful to the Empress. You are doing wrong, right?”

Hearing her kept bringing up the Empress, Qiu Mengmin stared at her hatefully for a while and then smiled wickedly, “But I have to thank you for this time.”

He had prepared a strong counterattack against Qiu Yelan’s subconscious query. However, Qiu Yelan said naturally, “Since then, uncle, will you give me thousands of taels of silver as the gift money?” When asking for awards, she not just called him uncle, but also said it with love.

Qiu Mengmin choked. He really didn’t expect his niece who just turned 13 on that day was so glib and so shameless. He said after a while, “If it was not you who had evil agenda, how could we get Empress Dowager’s favor? Although Empress is distinguished, Empress Dowager is more distinguished. And her level is also higher.”

He planned to use this information to laugh at Qiu Yelan and damage her morale. But Qiu Yelan agreed with him earlier. Now Qiu Mengmin brought it up. It couldn’t have the same impact as he wanted. Instead, it made him look weak.

And Qiu Yelan still said with a smile, “Oh, you really should thank me! Otherwise, how can we reach out to the Empress Dowager? It will break my heart if you only reward me with thousands of taels of silver. Uncle, please add a few acres of land or something like that. We are family. You don’t need to reward me too much.”

She knew clearly that Empress Jiang wanted to use the fact that Qiu Mengmin didn’t respect his official mother to allude to Empress Dowager Gu. Of course, Empress Dowager Gu couldn’t sit still waiting for death. If taking down Empress Dowager Gu was that easy, why was it still a tie since two empresses had been fighting for all these years? When Empress Jiang asked someone to send out her proclamation, Qiu Yelan knew just a proclamation couldn’t solve the problem.

It was just an opening for another fight between the most distinguished mother and daughter-in-law of Darui!

So Qiu Yelan predicted that Empress Dowager Gu would annul Empress Jiang’s proclamation of deposing and exiling Duke of Xihe. The only surprise was how fast Empress Dowager Gu acted. She thought since Empress sent people to announce her proclamation so efficiently. She thought the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe would at least get mopped up by yamen runners, when Empress Dowager heard about it and reacted.

However, it didn’t matter that Empress Dowager Gu kept Prince’s Mansion of Xihe safe for now. Madame Lu was kicked out by the old Princess of Xihe officially.

According to time-old tradition, she could never go back to Prince’s Mansion. Let alone get served by Duke of Xihe and be Madame Lu in the mansion.

It was fine if nobody mentioned it. Once it was out there, it would be a serious and big issue involving filial piety and ranking polygamy system. Prince’s Mansion of Xihe could never escape unscathed in the current situation.

So, Qiu Yelan didn’t care about Qiu Mengmin’s sarcasm and threat at all. She had already offended Empress Dowager Gu big time in Hall of Taishi yesterday anyway. Would it matter that she offended her further?

She wasn’t Jiang Yashuang. Empress wasn’t obliged to defend her for no reason. Empress Dowager could end her life at any time if she wasn’t protected by Empress. Not just her, let alone Mrs. Zhou and Su He, even Ruan Qingyan would be implicated.

When Qiu Yelan said my uncle’s biological mother, she had made up her mind. She needed to seize the opportunity of meeting the Empress to project herself fully.

At this kind of crucial moment, Qiu Yelan who sharpened herself into an iron-hearted woman in the last phase surly wouldn’t pity any enemy.

She enjoyed Qiu Mengmin’s look which showed he wanted to walk down and kill her. She laughed and said, throwing up her hands, “My servant told me that I should care for Qiu Family since it was New Year. I thought he said that because you guys were all about to die. Who knows when I come back, you guys are all fine. Are you guys playing me? That’s it. I need to go back to the General’s Mansion and attend to my poor grandfather.”

After said that, she turned around and planned to walk towards outside. She stopped after two steps and looked back with a faint smile on her face, “Uncle, you are really stingy. You asked me to come back during the New Year. But you didn’t give me gift money at all. People like you are not meant to be doing great things. In my opinion, you can’t get through the current crisis even with Empress Dowager’s protection. I suggest you admit your guilt and resign your title. Lest you go through all the trouble and still end badly.”

Qiu Mengmin’s face twitched. He took a deep breath. He was able to calm down and said, “When old Princess died, you just turned one. You couldn’t have remembered her. I think your feeling towards her is just so so. You did this kind of thing this time because you hold a grudge against our family for mistreating you these years. For that, I can guarantee it won’t happen again. Anyhow, we have the same last name. If something happened to Prince’s Mansion of Xihe, even you were a Commandery Princess, would you have a good life as a lonely little girl?”

And then said, “It was said that Ruan Qingyan outside treated you very well. But you may not know. Although he hasn’t been in the city for a very long time, he has already become the guest of two famous prostitutes in the city. Countless playboys envy him. Although you aren’t old enough to get married, as to appearance, girls in our family can’t compare to you. So, think about it, why Ruan Qingyan treats you well!”

Qiu Yelan said with a smile, “Even I don’t have my cousin to back me up, I still have my husband’s family. What am I afraid of? Worst case scenario, I can just go to Deng Yi. You were the one who engaged me with him. Oh, right. I met Young Prince of Duke of Guangyang this time I went to the palace. He also thought I was beautiful. And he asked if I had any sister looking like me. Since you were my matchmaker, how could I not repay you? I told him that my sixth sister was much more beautiful than me. Young Prince was very happy. He said he would come and take a look himself later. You have to thank me for this.”

Hearing this, Qiu Mengmin was about to cough blood. He stared at Qiu Yelan firmly. After got stared by him for a while, her smile was even bigger, “Uncle, why are you so moved? Sixth sister is my sister. Praising her is what I should do. However, if the sixth sister really marries Young Prince of Duke of Guangyang, you and she must not forget about me.”

If he could marry Qiu Jinzhu to Gu Yan as the wife, even Gu Yan liked both men and women and was a playboy, to be honest, Qiu Mengmin wouldn’t hesitate. Gu Yan was the biological grandnephew of Regent Empress Dowager, and he was Empress Dowager’s beloved.

However, Gu Yan got married when he was 17. His wife Tang was from a powerful family. Her father was one of the prime ministers of Darui. Their eldest son was already 10.

Gu Yan had countless beautiful women and catamites in his backyard and countless lovers in the brothels, and also unknown illegal love affairs. He also fornicated with others’ wives, widows, others’ unmarried daughters… He might not be able to remember them all. But Tang’s position was so secure that nobody would doubt it.

Besides according to Qiu Yelan, Gu Yan wanted to take a look at Qiu Jinzhu privately. Considering his disposition, what good would come out of his private visit?

Qiu Mengmin couldn’t withhold himself anymore. He pounded on the table angrily and rebuked loudly, “Jinzhu is only 10. She is one-month younger than Young Prince Gu’s eldest son. How dare you frame her like this! How could our Qiu Family have a vicious and shameless thing like you?”

“When you engaged me with Deng Yi, I was also 10!” The expression in Qiu Yelan’s eyes was innocent, “I have a vicious and shameless elder like you who blame the victim. I just learn from you. What’s so rare about it?”

“You!” Qiu Mengmin was furious. He grabbed a peach pattern white glazed porcelain bottle beside his hand and threw it at her head.

Qiu Yelan’s face went dark. She was about to teach him a lesson. Suddenly, with a cracking sound of the window behind her, a thing flew in and knocked the bottle down a few meters in front of Qiu Yelan.

And then the padauk ornamental engraving window was smashed. Ruan Qingyan rushed in like wind. He paid no attention to Prince’s Mansion’s servants who uproariously called for help. He checked Qiu Yelan to see if she was hurt and then rushed to the front. He picked up Qiu Mengmin who was distracted at his chest.

And then he punched Qiu Mengmin in the face violently.

After the blow, there were tears and blood. Qiu Mengmin howled in pain.

“Cousin, you can’t do this!” Seeing this, Qiu Yelan knew it was bad. She lifted her dress and run to them in a hurry. She pulled Ruan Qingyan’s sleeve and said anxiously, “Empress Dowager repealed Empress’s proclamation of deposing his title. He is still Duke of Xihe! You are just a Juren. If Empress Dowager knows you hit him, she will definitely sabotage your rank! If so, what about the imperial examination in spring?”

Ruan Qingyan said coldly, “Forget about the imperial examination in spring!” After he said this, he punched Qiu Mengmin in his left jaw. And Qiu Mengmin spit out two teeth while howling.

“Imperial…Imperial examination in spring? You can forget about it…” Qiu Mengmin had lost his demeanor as the Duke of Xihe at this moment. His whole face was blue due to the blows. He was crying and snoring. His blood splashed. His whole face was twisted because of the pain and humiliation. He laughed desolately with a super vicious look.

Qiu Yelan had lifted up her sleeves as they spoke. She pushed Ruan Qingyan violently at this moment and shouted, “I’m not saying that you can’t beat him. It’s that you are doing it wrong. Watch me!” After said this, she grabbed Qiu Mengmin from Ruan Qingyan’s hand. The next moment, Ruan Qingyan whose heart was full of pity against his sister and hatred against Qiu Mengmin gaped at Qiu Yelan. He saw her grabbing Qiu Mengmin’s hair and knocking his head against 1.31 inches thick lignumvitae table beside her without a blink.

One, two…blood splashed on Qiu Yelan’s clothes. She was still calm. Her hand was steady like she was smashing walnuts. Seeing this scene, even Ruan Qingyan got a chilly feeling in his heart.

After a while, hearing a lot of promiscuous footsteps coming close, Qiu Yelan threw unconscious Qiu Mengmin under the table. She took two steps back and knelt. She cried loudly, “Uncle, why did you do this to yourself….”

Outside the door, Madame Lu, Princess Yang, Qiu Yuqing and others who rushed here heard the heart-stricken crying. They all felt dizzy.

Madame Lu trembled and almost fainted.

Thanks to Ruan Qingyan who was inside. He said dully, “Cou…sin, he…he seems to be alive.”

“Of course he can’t die!” Qiu Yelan was sobbing. Cold looks appeared in Madame Lu and others’ eyes at the same time. They were slowing down and trying to have something on them. So they could scold them badly. However, what Qiu Yelan said next almost killed them, “He needs to be alive for Empress to punish him for disrespect of his official mother! How can we let him die so easily? Whoever started the trouble should end it. He invited Lu back. Of course he should send her out!”

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