Chapter 300 Can’t Let the Fourth Branch Continue Being Arrogant!

What Tang Xinqiong meant was quite clear. The Jiang Family could have one relation that colluded with the western savages by marriage. Who knew the Jiang Family wouldn’t have another person who sold out the Western Army?

Even though this Princess Yan was speaking to Qiu Yelan, her real target was Madame Dou and her niece next to Madame Tao. After she just finished the sentence, Madame Dou and Madame Dou Junior all turned to her. On their gaunt faces were unconcealable hatred and anger, “Princess Yan, are you trying to teach the Jiang Family’s daughter-in-law a lesson in front of all of us?”

Madame Dou had always been arrogant, but she did learn something from being the eldest daughter-in-law in the Jiang Family for a decade. She immediately accused Tang Xinqiong of overstepping!

Madame Dou Junior immediately followed up, “You are a Princess. If we look at the title, only the second aunt is at your level. Qiu Yelan is just a Commandery Princess, which is half a rank lower than you. You can of course teach her something. It’s just that Her Majesty is here today. Did you come following her order? If it is, Qiu Yelan should go and thank Her Majesty for her lesson. If not, then what? Her Majesty is still here and you can’t wait to admonish the peeresses?”

Admonishing peeresses was not the power that normal royal women could have. The only ones who could do it were Empress Dowager and Empress. Tang Xinqiong naturally didn’t dare to take this charge. But she came here with support, “You only know Her Majesty, yet didn’t you consider Empress Dowager who is above Her Majesty? I’m here by her order to lesson Commandery Princess Ningyi. This is because Empress Dowager thought Ruan Qingyan won the first place at such a young age and she values his talent!”

After saying that, she looked at Qiu Yelan with a faint smile. Clearly, she was waiting for her to thank Empress Dowager on Ruan Qingyan’s behalf.

But Qiu Yelan wouldn’t just give her what she wanted. Qiu Yelan didn’t even look at her. She bent over and said to Madame Tao with a smile, “Grandma, I saw Cousin Xin!”

“I know you think of her. Go. I don’t need you to serve here.” Madame Tao looked loving. She smiled, “You have been busy. Finally, you have a chance to talk to your sisters. I will surely allow it!”

“I know you’re the best!” Qiu Yelan smiled sweetly. She looked at Madame Tao, Madame Dou, and her niece and said, “I’m going to talk to Cousin Xin!”

Tang Xinqiong knew she was hard to deal with. Yet she didn’t think after she mentioned Empress Dowager Gu, Qiu Yelan still treated her like nothing!

This was beyond her being angry. She had to ask Qiu Yelan for an explanation! Otherwise, if this were to be heard by Empress Dowager Gu, even if she was the granddaughter and granddaughter-in-law of Empress Dowager Gu, she would not be happy!

“Ningyi! What do you mean?” Tang Xinqiong held her anger. She raised her voice and said, “Empress Dowager cared for your cousin. Why didn’t you express your gratitude on his behalf?!”

Qiu Yelan turned around and smiled at her, “Are you an idiot? It’s full of the Jiang Family members here. You just come here with a little maid asking for trouble. Aren’t you afraid that we all say the same thing and shame you?”

Her words made Tang Xinqiong blush. She was speechless. Seeing this, Qiu Yelan deepened her smile, “I know. You came here because Princess Zhou provoked you, didn’t you? Even though Changping Princess let your sister marry into Prince of Zhou’s Mansion first, now it seems both of you aren’t as good as Princess Zhou. How can you deal with that? You are fine, but your sister is under Princess Zhou. She really has to be careful!”

“Stop sowing discord!” Tang Xinqiong gritted her teeth.

Qiu Yelan smiled, “You know well whether I’m the one sowing discord. I told grandma that I would go find Cousin Xin because I’m giving you a way out! Otherwise, do you think you can leave in one piece just because you came with Empress Dowager’s order? Princess Changping who was raised by Empress Dowager didn’t come. Honestly, if you can’t win Princess Zhou, maybe just try to speak less. Or at least ask Changping Princess about it. I don’t want you to fool yourself here because I don’t want Princess Zhou to feel too proud of herself. Understood?”

After saying that, she ignored Tang Xinqiong and left!

After she left, Tang Xinqiong was dazed for a while. Then she stomped her feet angrily and left, too!

Madame Tao just quietly watched this fight between the younger ones. When Tang Xinqiong left, she said to Madame Dou who was sitting underneath her, “Qiu Yelan has sharp eyes. She immediately noticed that Princess Yan came out of the blue because Princess Zhou plotted against her. Speaking of which, Princess Zhou is young but she is quite something! Even though Qiu Yelan just pointed out to Princess Yan that Princess Zhou stabbed her in the back, she wouldn’t be able to do anything when she gets back. If they really go to Empress Dowager Gu, she may even give credit to Princess Zhou!”

She paused, “No wonder Empress Dowager Gu still wanted her to be her granddaughter-in-law, even though she offended Changping Princess!”

Madame Tao meant something more. Madame Dou understood. She looked at the teacup next to her without any expression and said quietly, “Rest assured. I understand she came to say that just to provoke! How will I be so dumb that I can’t see through such a crappy plot? Princess Zhou is young. She won’t be able to use me to get credit!”

Even though she said so, her fingers all crawled up underneath her sleeves. The Dou Family didn’t know that it was Jiang Yashuang who did this to them. After all, he did this because the first branch’s ambition was too much of a trouble and he couldn’t bear it. But Madame Dou still couldn’t act like nothing under Tang Xinqiong’s provocation, “We betrayed the Tao Family in secret in exchange of the Duan Family on Empress Dowager’s side. Now, this happened to my family. Clearly, it was Empress Dowager’s payback! But why? The Jiang Family has so many relations by marriage. Why the Dou Family?”

She couldn’t reconcile with this. What Tang Xinqiong mentioned about Qiu Jinglan going to Shazhou also hurt her feelings, “Yue is coming back to Jing City. Originally, he was to rest and heal his wounds in Jing City for half a year. My husband could also teach him something. When Qiu Jinglan finishes the Kuang Family off, Yue could go to the Western Army!”

Now everybody of the Jiang Family could go to the Western Army, but the first branch couldn’t!

Because her maiden family colluded with the western savages!

“Yue is even more talented than his brother. He gave up the imperial examination just to enter the army. Yet Jiang Tianchi tried all he could to suppress him. The Western Army would have been a great chance!” Madame Dou looked down and bit her shaking lips with all her strength, “Now everything is gone! He may not even get the chance to go back to the Northern Army! If he goes to the civil service, he has already abandoned the imperial examination. Even if he starts from the beginning, Jiang Tianchi’s son is already in Hanlin Academy!”

For all these years, the first branch had been used to look down upon their cousins and nephews. The gratitude from Kui Xiannan and the compromises made by their uncles, again and again, all made Madame Dou be competitive in nature!

Now the Dou Family was finished off. Madame Dou was sad and lost, but at the same time, the jealousy and hatred were growing wild in her heart.

Tang Xinqiong’s provocation was simple and rough. Madame Dou did know what she meant and what Madame Tao meant. Madame Tao saw how angry she was and wanted to warn her. But it was too hard to keep calm.

“Madame Zhuang is a b*tch. She relied on how smart Jiang Yadan was when he was young and humiliated me publicly so many times!” Especially because Tang Xinqiong picked Qiu Yelan to start the fight and she was of the fourth branch. Madame Dou suddenly remembered Madame Zhuang, “Now the Dou Family ended up like this. When she comes back, she’ll step me under the ground! And her daughter-in-law is also no good. She’s even more arrogant!”

“Even if I can’t find a silver lining for the Dou Family’s nieces and nephews this time, I cannot let the fourth branch be this arrogant anymore!”

Qiu Yelan didn’t know even though Madame Tao helped her talk some sense into Madame Dou, she still hated her. She was happily describing the first daughter of Sheng Shishui to Xin Fubing, “When she was just born and was taken to grandma, I went to have a look, too. She was all red and crumpled. It really scared me! After some days, she grew and finally became lighter. Now she’s more and more adorable!”

Xin Fubing never saw a newborn before, she was intrigued, “Really? How come crumpled? That’s scary!”

“They later told me that when kids are just born…” Before she could finish, someone laughed from behind, “You guys are hiding here talking about kids on New Year’s Eve. Are you worried that you’re pregnant, Ningyi?”

Hearing that, Qiu Yelan and Xin Fubing all straightened their faces. Turning around, they all frowned. The comer was difficult to deal with.

It was Xue Fangmi.

Thinking about Xue Chang, Qiu Yelan didn’t want to be too hard on her. But she had such a bad impression on her, so she felt like Xue Fangmi was being sarcastic and saying she still hadn’t gotten pregnant since she was married. So she thought for a while and said, “That’s not it. I just thought my niece was very cute so I told Cousin Xin secretly. Who knew you would hear it?!”

This was actually accusing Xue Fangmi of eavesdropping. How couldn’t she understand? Her smile immediately froze. She said coldly, “I came here and just randomly heard this, so I asked. If I knew this would irritate you, I wouldn’t have said it. I guess sorry!”

She then went about saluting.

Qiu Yelan naturally wouldn’t take this. She went a step forward and held her arms. She said with a smile, “Miss Xue, long time no see and you’ve got estranged. I was just kidding!”

Xue Fangmi tried and couldn’t break her. She couldn’t move with Qiu Yelan holding her. Xue Fangmi was scared and was about to scold, yet Xuesun and Xue Nongqing came. They pretended not to see her situation and greeted Qiu Yelan and Xin Fubing first. After some small chat, they said, “Commandery Princess Ningyi, do you want to talk with Fangmi? Bad timing. We have to go over and sit!”

She lowered her voice, “We arranged to talk to Madame Li!”

“Then I shouldn’t bother her!” The Li Family was Xue Fangmi’s fiancé’s family. Hearing that, Qiu Yelan immediately let her go. Xue Fangmi’s arm was hurting. She didn’t have to have a look but she knew Qiu Yelan used some strength. She looked at Xuesun aggrievedly, “Sister! Aren’t you helping the wrong person?!”

Xuesun gave her a sharp look to warn her. After Qiu Yelan and Xin Fubing left and went away, she said coldly, “How many times have I told you? Stop getting father into more trouble! Are you ever going to listen?! Do you understand the situation now?! Father even wants to resign if he could! What did I tell you before we leave? When are you going to grow up?”

“But it wasn’t my fault!” Xue Fangmi was angry. She said quietly with a shaking voice, “I just passed by and overheard them. I asked randomly and that Ningyi suspected me!”

“Isn’t that because of what you did before?!” Xuesun was even angrier seeing her like this. Xue Chang told her to discipline Xue Fangmi like her daughter, so she put on a cold face and scolded harshly in a low voice, “If you didn’t offend her before, would she act like this?! Let me tell you, since December, the Duan Family, the Tao Family, and the Dou Family have all fallen! Even we may not be safe! If you just behave like this and don’t care about all your families’ lives, I’ll send you back right now. Till you’re married, you’re never allowed to leave your room!”

Xue Fangmi was so angry that her body started shaking. Everyone nearby looked over. Even though they didn’t hear what Xuesun said, they could guess it by looking at how Qiu Yelan and Xin Fubing were just talking and they suddenly left when Xue Fangmi came. Many people were discussing and pointing fingers at them, and Xue Fangmi especially looked embarrassed.

Xue Nongqing couldn’t just stand. She grabbed the sleeves of Xuesun and said quietly, “Mother, my aunt knows what to do. Maybe Commandery Princess Ningyi really misunderstood her!”

“What does she know?!” In Xuesun’s eyes, Xue Fangmi was trouble. Now she ignored what her daughter said and just stared at Xue Fangmi coldly, “Don’t you think you can just leave the Xue Family to hang now that you’re about to marry into the Li Family? From now on, during this dinner, you’re not allowed to leave me! Even if you need to change your clothes, my maid has to go with you! Do you understand? If you can’t do it, go home!”

Looking around, she forced a smile, “The kid didn’t behave. Sorry for seeing this.”

No one was stupid and would come to ask why. They all showed their understanding. Xuesun pulled herself together and chatted with them. Then she led Xue Fangmi and Xue Nongqing to their seats.

By then, she and Xue Fangmi both calmed down.

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