Chapter 150 - Did You Know That Truth Should Be Brought Into Light.
Chapter 150 Did You Know That Truth Should Be Brought Into Light.
After keeping silent in the enclosure for a while, Gu E’nuo was going to talk something. But Jiang Qizheng, whose face was livid, pounded the table and stood up, saying, “Miss Xue, please behave yourself! After all, you are the daughter of Prime Minister Xue. Even if you don’t care about your own dignity, you should leave some dignity for your father at least!”
Chunfu Princess was really angry now!
At first, when she saw Qiu Yelan write the poem so quickly, she also thought that the majority of this poem had been written by Ruan Qingyan. However, when she saw the last sentence, “If love between both sides can last for ages, why need they stay together night and day?” Jiang Qizheng suddenly understood, “Isn’t this a portrayal of the relationship between her and Yashuang in the past two years?”
Because she had still been observing the mourning, they couldn’t contact each other openly, let alone building a formal relationship. Even if Jiang Yashuang would climb over the wall secretly at night to have a date with her, he had to do his homework, serve the seniors, and interact with his peers… Even though he had some free time, Qiu Yelan had to avoid the time when somebody else was there… Were there any passionate lovers who didn’t expect to stay together all the time?
But Qiu Yelan and Jiang Yashuang didn’t have such a chance! So far, Qiu Yelan had been bearing the name of Deng Family’s expectant daughter-in-law.
“After all, she and Yashuang love each other so deeply!” Jiang Qizheng felt that she had understood, “Even if ‘The beautiful dating is as short as a dream’, they still firmly believed that their love could last forever!”
So Jiang Qizheng not only firmly believed that this poem was written by Qiu Yelan, but also thought that Shao Yuemei had identified her talent mistakenly over the past two years, “In fact, she is so good at poetry! Obviously, she has been keeping her literary thoughts in mind for a long time, but has rarely written them on the paper. If it hadn’t been for the topic of Double Seventh Festival, which Shou’an happened to choose, I guess I wouldn’t have seen such a good poem! And it must be collected by Yashuang as a treasure so that nobody would know it!”
Jiang Qizheng, who had made up a story in her mind, was eager to go up and slap Xue Fangmi in the face, “This poem was written by my expectant sister-in-law for my younger brother for two years! How could you say such a meaningful poem was written by someone else!”
Xue Fangmi covered her swollen face and said vaguely, “Get that…”
“Although I’ve been living in the capital city for so many years, I didn’t know that such a talented woman has been hidden in Prince’s Mansion of Xihe!” Gu E’nuo motioned to her to withdraw and apply something to her face. But she looked at Qiu Yelan with a meaningful look, “I’m so sorry for my ignorance!”
Qiu Yelan pretended to be virtuous, “For a woman like me, the most important things are morality, appearance, needlework and demeanor. The so-called talent is just a pastime, which is no big deal at all.”
She said these words just to avoid trouble. After all, no matter how many cheating channels she had, they would be used up one day. So they must be used in emergencies like today.
But from the perspective of others, she was more sophisticated than modest.
“She was so clever that she firstly talked about morality, appearance, needlework and demeanor.” Gu E’nuo frowns for some time. This kind of answer was so omnipotent that she was unable to get the goods on her. After all, even if the Empress Dowager Gu and the Empress Jiang, who had violated the doctrines on ancient books about women’s virtues for too many times, would keep saying that women should give priority to ICBC, “I had thought she was highly conceited for defeating Xue Fangmi, the so-called most talented woman in the capital city… But I didn’t expect that she showed no weakness in public. No wonder my aunt insisted on taking her as the daughter-in-law!”
Not to mention Mrs. Gu, she herself began to cherish the talent now. Then she slowed down her tone and said, “I’ve heard from my aunt that you are a talented, beautiful, considerate and courteous person, and it turns out that’s really the case today.”
Qiu Yelan frowned. And Jiang Qizheng also smelt a rat, so she interposed, “If Miss Xue does not continue to write, then this game?”
“Miss Xue is not feeling well now, so she certainly can’t write.” Gu E’nuo said calmly, “You win this game, we’ll go right away!”
“Then I won’t accompany you guys to the door.” Jiang Qizheng went up and took Qiu Yelan’s arm, “Sister Qiu, come on, let’s have a chat over here!”
“Please wait a minute!” Gu E’nuo stood up, looked at Qiu Yelan sharply, and said, “Although you haven’t got married yet, your identity in this family has been decided a long time ago. Since it’s not convenient for you to come out, we haven’t seen each other before. Now that we meet unexpectedly today, why don’t we have a talk?”
Ignoring Jiang Qizheng’s furious glare, she just began to introduce herself, “I am your eldest cousin in Gu Family, canonized as Princess Shou’an, and my maiden name is E’nuo; this is your second cousin, Jing’an Commandery Princess, whose maiden name is Gu Pingting; and this is your second cousin from Tang Family, whose maiden name is Tang Xinyao…”
“Your Grace, I am very grateful to your kindness.” Qiu Yelan didn’t want to be treated as her cousin’s sister-in-law, so she interrupted, “But my family name is still Qiu.”
Of course, Jiang Qizheng could not sit back to watch Gu E’nuo and her followers discuss her sister-in-law about her engagement. So she immediately said, “Since you admit defeat, you’d better leave quickly. Are you not convinced that Sister Qiu has won the external assistance you invited, or are you jealous of her opportunity to visit Jinxiu Slope?”
Zhuang Man also seconded, “I didn’t see you guys so kind just now, but you now claim to be her relatives?”
Gu E’nuo ignored them but still looked at Qiu Yelan, “If you want to visit Jinxiu Slope today, it doesn’t matter if you don’t go with us. Later, I…”
“Ah! Commandery Princess, there’s something bad. Whitey ran out!” Suddenly Su He cried in a low voice, pointing to the corner of the enclosure. And all the people present just saw a snow-white Persian cat flashed for a while. Qiu Yelan took advantage of the opportunity to pretend to act as Xin Fubing, and said solemnly, “You are so careless! Don’t you know it is my sweetheart?”
Then she raised her skirt and chased it out without saying goodbye to others!
Su He and Chen Shui followed closely. When they go out from the enclosure, Su He smiled proudly, “Is your maid well-behaved?”
“Good girl!” Qiu Yelan tweaked her cheek and said with a smile, “But where is Whitey? Don’t really let it get lost! I don’t care too much about it, but you’re going to die of heartache, aren’t you?”
“Whitey is very clever! How could it get lost?” Su He said confidently, “It must go back to our carriage and ask Sister Chunran for some food.”
Hearing her words, Qiu Yelan was relieved and walked behind the enclosure with two maids for a long time. Estimating that Gu E’nuo must have been sent off, she walked on the road at ease.
Jiang Qizheng was ordering her servants to pack up things. When she saw Qiu Yelan had come back, she hurriedly came over and said, “Gu E’nuo and her followers have gone, and I have asked Sister Mi to send your sister, Commandery Princess Ningtai, back to the carriage. You could also go there, and we’ll set off right away.”
Then she asked with a smile, “Is it a pleasure to give Xue Fangmi a hard blow with your own hands?”
“It will be a real pleasure when Prime Minister Xue and Mrs. Sun thank me for this.” Qiu Yelan answered with a smile.
“Don’t worry about this. I have asked Zhuang Man to use the excuse that Miss Nongqing of the Xue Family had joined us, she should have gone to the slope together with us now that we had won. In this way, I forced Miss Nongqing to stay, but sent one of her bodyguards back to deliver a message.” Jiang Qizheng said with a smile, “Riding a horse is faster than taking a carriage. Besides, Xue Fangmi has been disciplined by Mrs. Sun for the past two years. I’m sure Mrs. Sun will be happy to tell Prime Minister Xue what his beloved youngest daughter has done!”
Qiu Yelan understood, “Miss Nongqing of Xue Family is so gentle and kind-hearted that she isn’t like Xue Fangmi’s niece at all.”
“She is a sensible person, but she is so soft-hearted that she is very worried about the wound on Xue Fangmi’s face.” Jiang Qizheng said expressively, “You’ll have to persuade her later.” The girl who is so easy to fool is Mrs. Sun’s own daughter. As long as she coaxes her to her own side, does she need to be afraid that no one in the Xue Family will help her explain to Xue Chang?
“Thank you. I’ll go back to the carriage right now.” Qiu Yelan said with a smile.
Unexpectedly, just as she walked to her carriage, a woman with a veil hat suddenly got out of Qiu Jinzhu’s carriage at the back. From her dress, it was Gu E’nuo who had left before!
“Your Highness?” How could Qiu Yelan not know that she was waiting for herself in Qiu Jinzhu’s carriage? She could not help glaring at Qiu Jinzhu, who followed her out of the carriage.
But now Qiu Jinzhu was also wearing a veil hat, so she could not see her expression. And she just stood behind Gu E’nuo silently with a little uneasiness.
Gu E’nuo smilingly looked at the Persian cat, who poked its head out of the carriage after hearing its owner’s voice. She didn’t say why she was waiting here, but said, “I just heard that its name is Whitey?”
Qiu Yelan said lightly, “Right!”
“I also have a Persian cat, whose whole body is white except the yellow tail. It should be about the same age as yours. I just didn’t take it out of the carriage and had asked my servants to watch it there.” Gu E’nuo curled up the corner of her mouth, “At the beginning, it was really painstaking for me to give it a name. But I do not have any literary talent, so finally I casually came up with a name “silver ingot” for it.
Qiu Yelan was confused about her intention, so she said perfunctorily, “It’s just a pet! It doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as it can relieve your boredom.”
“I’m wondering why you name the Persian cat so casually. After all, you’re able to write, ‘When autumn’s Golden Wind embraces Dew of Jade, all the love scenes on earth, however many, fade.’ and ‘If love between both sides can last for ages, why need they stay together night and day?’ Why?” Gu E’nuo said with a smile, “Whitey… This name is really not like a name called by you!”
“What do you want to say is not that the Persian cat’s name is not like the one called by me, but that the poem ‘The Immortal at the Magpie Bridge’ was not written by me, don’t you?” Qiu Yelan said bluntly, “It doesn’t matter to tell you the truth, this Persian cat was given to me by Young Earl Ling, just shortly after I was asked by Her Majesty that my uncle disobeyed the old Princess’s order and respected Lu as Madame. At that time, many people talked about my grandfather’s unkindness and my mother’s concealment of the truth. Moreover, they suspected that my mother and I had deliberately turned against my uncle. Thus I hoped the truth about the matter could come to light, giving the justice back to my ancestors! Then I gave it this name. Guessing the truth from the perspective of literary talent, you would certainly think it was not elegant enough. But in my opinion, it stood for all kinds of helplessness and sorrow that I had at that time, and I will never forget it in this life!”
“Do you want to find faults with me from the details? Do you think it’s the first day for me to talk nonsense when I’m awake?” Qiu Yelan thought.
Gu E’nuo really had nothing to say, so she forced a smile, “You think too much, I was just a little curious.” After meditating for a moment, she said, “We have a poem meeting in two days, can you…”
“I’m not really interested in poetry.” Qiu Yelan interrupted, “Princess Shou’an should have asked my cousin, right? Usually, I don’t write poems.”
Qiu Jinzhu bowed her head guiltily. It was obvious that she just hadn’t told Gu E’nuo anything about Qiu Yelan.
Gu E’nuo paused for a while and said with a smile, “Well, we seem to have some misunderstanding about each other today because of Xue Fangmi. Anyway, we are all in the capital city now, and you have finished your mourning, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to contact with each other in the future.”
“Not necessarily. I don’t have a good temper, so I don’t have many friends.” Qiu Yelan refused her impolitely.
Gu E’nuo replied, “Why do you say so absolutely? Everything is unpredictable, isn’t it?” She turned around and took a step forward. Seeing that Qiu Yelan had stepped on the shaft of the carriage, she suddenly looked back and said, “I’ve known which Persian cat Ling Zui had given to you. As expected, it didn’t die of illness, but was given to you, right?”
Qiu Yelan was stunned and asked, “What do you mean?”
“The pure white Persian cat with the eyes of mandarin ducks is the rarest of all breeds. And there was only one in the several batches of Persian cats of the Tao Family that year.” Gu E’nuo said with a faint smile, “Originally, my cousin Princess Changping had already ordered this one, but a few days later the Tao Family sent a message into the palace, telling her that it had died young. Therefore, she had to choose another cat, which has a white body, black tail and a black forehead. For the past two years, she has been wanting a pure white one, but this wish has never been realized.”
“No wonder when I casually asked for a white cat at that time, Ling Zui asked further if I wanted a pure white one. I remember that he seemed to hesitate for a moment.” Qiu Yelan thought, “Maybe he thought that I wanted a pure white with the eyes like mandarin ducks. So it seems that my cousin didn’t make friends with him for nothing, he snatched the Persian cat that had been ordered by the princess for my sake, which is out of my expectation.”
“Princess Changping doesn’t have a good temper, so you should be careful.” Leaving these words as half a threat and half a reminder, Gu E’nuo just swaggered off.
As the biological child of the emperor, Princess Changping was the real descendant of the royal family. And her biological mother was the favored concubine surnamed Gu, who was the cousin of Noble Consort. The point is that her biological mother had a difficult labor when she was born, so she was raised by Empress Dowager Gu. Thus she had been the only royal heir in the palace who dared to compete with Princess Yongfu.
“So what?” Qiu Yelan was not worried, “No matter how she dares to compete with Princess Yongfu, she can’t do whatever she wants with Empress Jiang’s presence. As long as she had a good reason, she was not afraid of not being able to deal with her!”
However, she was more worried about Ling Zui now, “I hope he won’t be incriminated by me.” So she beckoned a housekeeper and ordered him to hurry back to the capital city to send a message to the Residence of Earl of Jingchuan.
Unexpectedly, before the housekeeper had gotten on the horse, there had been someone riding towards them in the distance. Although his clothes were bright shining, he wasn’t like a servant of the Gu Family. Perhaps he knew Qiu Yelan was the master from her dress, when he came close to them, he greeted her clenched fist at the chest, exclaiming, “Your Grace, I am a housekeeper of the Mansion of Duke of Huainan. Our Princess, Concubine and Commandery Princess want to visit Jinxiu Slope, but they heard the servants of Gu Family say that this place only belongs to the Jiang Family today. So they want to know if that’s really the case.”