Real Empress from a Noble Family

Qiu Yelan looked at Ou Qinglan surprisingly for a moment and tried to ask, “Zombie?”

Ou Qinglan lowered her voice, “I know that the funeral (sounds like “zombie” in Chinese) of Ruan Family is not over. That’s why I’m asking you in secret. Please don’t tell young master Ruan! I’ll return the favor, OK?”

“Color TV?” Qiu Yelan thought that this girl couldn’t have transmigrated during the same period as she had. Would it be possible that she had got here earlier? Ou Qinglan lowered her voice even more, “It… it’s not like we’re here to case (sounds like “color TV” in Chinese) it, right? I don’t have any wicked plans.”

She couldn’t have transmigrated. Even if she was, she couldn’t have been from modern society. Well, who said that ancient girls couldn’t be open? The elopement of lady Hongfu even became a well-known story.

Qiu Yelan twitched her lips and said, “My cousin hasn’t married yet.”

“Well, don’t you think you need a sister-in-law?” Ou Qinglan heard it with her rounded eyes, pulling her sleeves and asked in a low voice, “Considering his age, he is supposed to get married!”

“But my cousin is still in the mourning period.” Qiu Yelan had no choice but to remind her. “You just said that you know the Ruan Family’s funeral hasn’t finished.” Yelan thought.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m willing to wait for him.” As Ou Qinglan’s words came out, it was hard for Qiu Yelan to feign ignorance. She just felt that an invisible thunder from the clear sky suddenly hit her. Then she could only fake her laugh, “Hahah…” She thought, “What else could I say? Thank you for your patience or wish you a happy life in the future?”

After saying it, Ou Qinglan also felt that she went too far and was slightly embarrassed. But when she saw Qiu Jinglan’s tall figure not far away, and recalled his extraordinarily handsome face, she simply couldn’t care that much and whispered, “Right. I’m just into your cousin and I want to marry him. You wouldn’t object it, right?”

Such a straightforward girl. What could Qiu Yelan do other than continue to fake laughing? Living in this era, Qiu Jinglan could decide her marriage whereas she couldn’t decide Qiu Jinglan’s marriage.

Just as she was still thinking hard about how to end this topic, Ou Qinglan had begun to seriously introduce her ancestors for several generations, “My great great grandfather was born as a horse thief, and later became an official after being recruited by the court. My great grandfather has conferred the title, Marquis Jing, because of his outstanding military service. My grandfather also made great achievements, so now my father’s title is still Earl Jing. He has only two children, my brother, Ou Bicheng and I, who are both legitimately born. I’m sixteen years old, and was born in July. My dowry is probably…”

Qiu Yelan was horrified and said, “Miss Ou!” She thought, “Stop dreaming! You have a long way to go to be my sister-in-law.”

“Call me Sister Lan!” Ou Qinglan corrected immediately, “My dowry is probably…”

“My surname is Qiu!” Qiu Yelan was almost driven crazy by her, thus, she reminded her that the person she fell in love with at first sight was nominally from a different family.

But Ou Qinglan started shaking Qiu Yelan’s arm and begged her, “Help me tell him. Do you want me to go tell him by myself? How can I still be a lady?”

“So, you still know how to be a lady.” Qiu Yelan thought.

Qiu Yelan was too embarrassed to tell Ou Qinglan. She thought, “With my cousin’s good eyesight and hearing, he can hear it clearly even if you whisper, since we are just a few steps away. Didn’t you see that he almost tripped himself over because of what you said just now?”

Qiu Jinglan, who obviously had rich experience with women, was also shocked this time.

Seeing Qiu Yelan remaining silent, Ou Qinglan thought for a while, and suddenly became alert, “Is it that you actually like your cousin, but pretend to like Jiang Yashuang?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Qiu Yelan said angrily, “Why are you all so suspicious? Do you want me to stop contacting him in the future?”

Ou Qinglan said immediately, “Hey, hey, don’t be like this. You have a special taste of men. I like the fact that you are not into your cousin!”

Qiu Yelan wanted to beat her up, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m wrong. I mean, since the first time I saw you, I thought you were a perfect match with Jiang Yashuang!” Ou Qinglan said sincerely, “You see how much he loves you. It’s Her Majesty’s birthday today, but he still accompanied you on this trip!”

“…” Qiu Yelan resisted the urge to beat her. She said without emotion, “We’re here!”

“Huh?” Ou Qinglan was stunned. She didn’t realize that they were already at the mourning hall until she raised her head, so she had to stop speaking. Putting on a docile air, she entered the hall to mourn.

After finishing it, she went out and continued to persuade Qiu Yelan, “You don’t like your cousin anyway, but your cousin will eventually get married. Your cousin and I can make a perfect couple as I’m good looking, talented and rich, not to mention that I really like him. So why won’t you help me?”

Qiu Yelan couldn’t get rid of her, so she slowed her down a little and said, “I need to tell you something first. Two years ago, Prime Minister Xue wanted my cousin to be his son-in-law.”

Ou Qinglan’s complexion suddenly became bad, “The Xue Family’s daughter, who can fall down as soon as the wind blows, is so weak and fragile. How can she be a match to a strong and handsome man like your cousin?”

Qiu Yelan was too lazy to answer her or tell her that Qiu Jinglan had nothing to do with brilliance and grandeur. She said, “And there were disagreements within Xue Family. Xue Fangmi publicly said that she would marry anyone but Qiu Jinglan. So, Miss Nongqing couldn’t marry my cousin, either. As a result, those who intended to marry to my cousin had to back off as he was the one that Xue Fangmi disliked.”

“That’s them, not me!” Ou Qinglan turned amused, “Who dares to say this to me? Xue Fangmi? Do you mean Xue Fangmi? She wouldn’t dare to say this to me or I’ll slap her in the face.”

“For this kind of important thing, I think you should discuss it with your parents before you talk about it.” Qiu Yelan shook her head and sighed, “Don’t beg me. It’s useless. You’ve seen brothers have their sisters married. But have you ever seen a sister who has her brother married?”

Ou Qinglan was about to speak, but Qiu Jinglan and Jiang Yashuang were stopped by their servants who hurriedly announced, “Princess Yongfu is here! Now the Princess’s carriage is outside the door!”

Qiu Jinglan glanced at Qiu Yelan sullenly and said confusedly, “Outside our door?”

The servant said “yes” with cold sweat. How could they not be nervous? Everyone knew that it was Her Majesty’s birthday today. Empress’s only biological daughter did not stay in the palace to honor her mother, but went to the Ruan Family who was in the mourning period. Empress Jiang wouldn’t want to punish her own daughter, so Ruan Family would probably have to accept the punishment for the princess.

Qiu Jinglan also felt tricky, but now he could only go welcome the princess first. However, Princess Yongfu had no patience to wait. Just as he was about to walk to the door, the princess had already asked a servant to lead the way and came in.

She didn’t pay much attention to Qiu Jinglan, but looked at Jiang Yashuang and Qiu Yelan first. Then she walked towards Ou Qinglan and stomped in front of her, “What do you want? You all left so soon and no one waited for me!”

Ou Qinglan thought, “Thank God we didn’t wait for you. If I knew Ruan Qingyan was like this, who would have time to go to the palace?” But she still coaxed up Princess Yongfu, “Well, we are already here today, but you are Her Majesty’s daughter! And you also came here in spite of her birthday party. Won’t she feel sad? The Ruan Family is also embarrassed. So, you shouldn’t be here.”

The Princess Yongfu was not very unreasonable. She felt a bit embarrassed after hearing it. So, she coughed a few times and said, “Well, it’s Her Majesty’s birthday today, but you slipped out of the palace. It’s ridiculous. I’m here to get you back.”

Ou Qinglan could only see Qiu Jinglan now, and she refused to leave immediately, so she soon changed her tone, “Well, Sister Lan, you suddenly wanted to visit young master Ruan just now. Is anyone going to hurt young master Ruan?”

She somehow made the right guess. Qiu Yelan’s face turned pale. Qiu Jinglan and Jiang Yashuang both saw it, and asked together, “Who is going to hurt me?”

“Who is going to hurt Brother Ruan?”

Ou Qinglan looked at Qiu Yelan innocently.

At this time, Qiu Yelan had actually guessed that she had made a mistake. If Empress Jiang knew Qiu Jinglan’s real identity, Princess Yongfu would never be allowed to go to the Ruan Family and be together with Qiu Jinglan. Empress loved her only daughter too much. How would she allow her to be in such a dangerous place?

So, she was very embarrassed, “It’s a long story. It’s Her Majesty’s birthday today. Let’s talk about it another day.”

Qiu Jinglan frowned and stared at her for a while. He didn’t ask more about it because there were so many people. He nodded, “Go back now. Don’t forget to change your clothes before entering the palace!” After all, they just went to mourn General Ruan. If they went to the birthday feast dressing like that, they would make Empress Jiang lose her face.

Only Ou Qinglan wanted to stay here for a little longer. She turned her eyes, and said, “So, Yelan, do you mean that although it’s a long story, there are people who really want to hurt young master Ruan? In that case, why don’t you say it so as to let Young master Ruan take measures to protect himself?”

Jiang Yashuang also felt very surprised. Compared to Ou Qinglan who didn’t know the causes and consequences and was simply stalling, he certainly had more clues. He asked, “Is it Kuang Qingwu? He lost last time. Does he want to revenge Brother Ruan now?”

Qiu Yelan rubbed her forehead annoyedly. As soon as she proposed to leave, she realized she had made another mistake. She blatantly led Jiang Yashuang, Ou Qinglan, and Princess Yongfu here today. Even if Empress Jiang didn’t know Qiu Jinglan’s birth, or she didn’t do anything about it after knowing, how would the Empress Dowager’s Party believe that Qiu Jinglan was not supported by the Empress party after this?

Maybe the Empress Dowager’s Party would think that the Empress party was using this visit to show that they would have Qiu Jinglan’s protection in the future.

“Anyway, I’ve just endangered my cousin!” Qiu Yelan was so annoyed that she just wanted to hit the wall. Seeing those onlookers’ eyes full of doubts and keen for knowledge, she gritted her teeth and said to Qiu Jinglan, “Let’s talk in private!”

After today, Qiu Jinglan would have little hope of surviving unless he had protection from the Jiang Family.

However, Qiu Jinglan had made threats like “if you dare to talk to the Jiang Family, I’d rather die”. Qiu Yelan had to explain the ins and outs of this matter to him first. If she did it without his consent, with his usual “parent” style, she didn’t know what he would do to maintain his “elder brother as a father” dignity.

The problem was that Jiang Yashuang was also here.

He asked indifferently, “Can I listen to it?”

He alone was not a big problem, but Qiu Yelan and Qiu Jinglan still refused as usual, “No!”

However, Jiang Yashuang also had his sister here. Princess Yongfu was annoyed, “What do you mean? Ning Yi, aren’t you with my cousin Yashuang? Why are you following the Ruan guy now? Aren’t you serious about my cousin? I have to warn you. If you dared to do this, I would tell it to my mother so as to punish you!”

Ou Qinglan, the new admirer of Qiu Jinglan helped on purpose, “How would young master Ruan like Sister Lan? This must be a misunderstanding!”

Qiu Yelan, who was innocent, was almost driven crazy, “It’s not what it looks like!” She looked at Jiang Yashuang and sighed, “I just need to say something to my cousin, and then I’ll come out and explain it to you all, OK?”

Jiang Yashuang looked steadily at her for a moment, and his face was full of reluctance. But in the end, he lowered his head and said, “Okay.”

Since he compromised, Princess Yongfu didn’t continue to say anything despite that she pouted and was unhappy. Meanwhile, Ou Qinglan couldn’t find a chance to speak. She felt very depressed, watching them walk away.