Chapter 182 - The Leftover Value of Aunt Qiu
Chapter 182 The Leftover Value of Aunt Qiu
A few days later, Qiu Hongzhi, the eldest son of Qiu Mengmin, was instructed by his father to invite Deng Yi to the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe, “I heard that you are going to take part in the provincial examination this fall as I am, so I took the liberty to invite you here to help each other with the study. We can be more confident later.”
Deng Yi was actually willing to leave the Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang, so he was not displeased with his invitation. He nodded, “I agree. But I’m not good at it. I hope you won’t laugh at me.”
“You’re being too humble. Who doesn’t know that you’re talented? If it’s not for the first place, I’m afraid you might have passed the examination two years ago.” Qiu Hongzhi thought his father wanted him to get close to his future brother-in-law, so he was very relaxed and invited him to enter his study with a big smile.
The two were all Xiucais who were preparing for the examination. Although they would be tested at different locations and by different chief examiners whose preferences were not necessarily the same, they still shared some common interest.
In particular, Deng Yi’s talent was obviously above Qiu Hongzhi. At first, Qiu Hongzhi still had the thought of making a good relationship. After some deep discussions, he began to respect him and seriously asked for advice.
So, they kept on talking with each other until the evening. Deng Yi left after Qiu Hongzhi’s repeated requests for him to stay.
Later, Qiu Hongzhi often invited Deng Yi to come to the Mansion. At this time, the Jiang Family almost turned Jing City over in order to track down the assassins who attacked Qiu Jinglan, but the assassins had prepared for it, so no clues could be found. The Dowager Party surely refused to admit it.
The Empress Party couldn’t find any evidence but they wouldn’t give up, so they started to look into matters in the past.
But the Empress Dowager party could also do that. So, they were fighting against each other again, and the chaos followed. The Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang, as Empress Dowager’s maternal side, was surely very busy. Knowing that Deng Yi went to the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe, they inquired about it a few times and found that the two really didn’t discuss anything besides the autumn test, so they put it aside.
After three or five times, Deng Yi was already familiar with the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe.
One day, he wrote an article and brought it to analyze it with Qiu Hongzhi specifically. Unexpectedly, in the middle of the analysis, a maid hurried in and reported, “Young Master Qiu Hongzhi, it seems that the young lady is about to give birth!”
“What?” Qiu Hongzhi stood up suddenly and didn’t even have time to wear his shoes. After running for a few steps, he remembered to explain to Deng Yi, “I…”
“Just go! I hope that the mother and the baby are both safe!” Deng Yi had been here a few times. He knew that Qiu Hongzhi’s wife was about to give birth, but didn’t expect it to happen while he was here. He also knew that Qiu Hongzhi was about to be a father for the first time, so he certainly wouldn’t blame him for neglecting himself now. He was about to quit and wanted to pack up a gift when he went back, but Qiu Hongzhi turned his head away after saying a sentence and didn’t give him a chance to speak!
Deng Yi, who was left alone, was a little embarrassed to see this. Just as he was wondering if he was going to stay or leave, an old maid came in and smiled apologetically, “Our lady has already entered the delivery room. It’s not far away from here and I’m afraid the noise might disturb you.”
Deng Yi said instantly, “I’m planning to say goodbye and go back to prepare a gift for the lady.”
The old maid hurried to say with another salute, “Young master, please don’t get me wrong. The Princess just wants to invite you to have tea in the study in the front yard.”
“No need.” Deng Yi thought Qiu Hongzhi just became a father for the first time. How could he have time to greet him today? He wouldn’t have time to discuss it later. There was no point for him to stay, so he was about to leave.
Seeing it, the old maid said that Qiu Mengmin and Qiu Yinzhi were not in the Mansion. “The Eighth young master is young, and he is coughing again these days. He can’t see you off. I hope you won’t be offended!” said the maid.
Deng Yi replied indifferently, “You’re being too polite. Just ask a servant to send me out.”
The old maid summoned a young servant to come in and told him to send Deng Yi to the door.
The young servant led Deng Yi out of the study room obediently, and then they heard loud noises not far away. After they went out of the courtyard of Qiu Hongzhi, the young servant turned around, and took Deng Yi to walk on an unfamiliar path.
Deng Yi couldn’t help but wonder, “I remember we need to go that way to leave the Mansion.”
The young servant explained, “Because the young lady is giving birth today, the Princess made servants set up a sacrificial stage on the road over there. It was not convenient to go there. So, please walk a few more steps to go around the garden.”
“Oh!” Deng Yi nodded inexplicably. He only knew that it was a dangerous thing for women to give birth, especially the first child. That was why he didn’t feel anything wrong about the sacrifice ceremony planned by the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. He followed the young servant to walk through the trees and grasses.
After he took a few steps, he suddenly felt a wind behind his head. With the little kung fu he learned from Qiu Jinglan, he surely felt an alert in his heart, but he was already hit by someone and got unconscious on the spot.
Nobody knew how long it took Deng Yi to wake up dizzily. He didn’t remember what happened. Not far away, there were hysterical screams coming again and again!
A few moments later, the swarming servants were stunned to see Deng Yi holding a dagger blankly, and at the foot of him was Lady Yuqing of the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. She was in the pool of blood.
The latter’s chest was pierced by a dagger. There was still blood gurgling, and it was clear that she was stabbed to death at a glance!
The news that Deng Yi had stabbed his aunt-in-law spread throughout Jing City in the shortest time!
“What an asshole!” Empress Dowager Gu shivered with rage after hearing the news, and immediately called Qiu Mengmin and his wife into the palace to swear, “How dare you to smear my nephew?”
Qiu Mengmin and his wife were terrified. Before the Empress Dowager finished speaking, they fell to their knees and cried innocently, “We would never dare to do that! We have no idea what actually happened to young master Deng.”
“Don’t you understand what happened in your Mansion?” Empress Dowager Gu sneered angrily.
Princess Yang cried, “There’s something you don’t know. Our eldest daughter-in-law is about to give birth today, and the people in the Mansion were alarmed and all gathered in her yard to wait for news. At that time, someone was asked to send Deng young master out of the Mansion. The news that Yuqing died because of young master Deng was delivered by the servant later. Before that, we didn’t know anything. I immediately told the servants to shut up. We didn’t know the news was already out. We are really wronged.”
Empress Dowager Gu sneered, “Are you treating me as a three-year-old child? Would I believe in your nonsense? Did you forget why Yi went to your Mansion? Because Qiu Hongzhi often asks him to go. He is so simple and naive. Do you really think I don’t know what you are planning, you wolfish and ambitious people? The Jiang Family or Qiu Jinglan must have promised you benefits, right?”
“My Empress Dowager, let alone our family has never thought of betraying you, our eldest son invited young master Deng only for the fall examination!” Qiu Mengmin slammed his head, and the blood soon rushed to his forehead. He kept talking and explained earnestly, “What’s more, I’m not a fool. If I wanted to hurt young master Deng, why would I let my eldest son invite him? My Empress Dowager is so wise and must know I have three sons, of whom my eldest son has been placed great hopes! I would never do anything to endanger him, my Empress Dowager!”
“That’s a nice way of putting it. Who knows if you did it on purpose, and now come to mourn and pretend to be pitiful?” Empress Dowager Gu rebuked angrily.
However, Qiu Mengmin and his wife made sure that they didn’t know anything. It was definitely someone who snuck into the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe and deliberately tried to put them in danger!
And they even proposed a very reasonable suspect, Qiu Jinglan!
“That man has been dissatisfied with his niece’s marriage for a long time. He must have done it!”
Empress Dowager Gu suppressed her anger and asked, “What about the evidence?”
Qiu Mengmin couple was mumbling and couldn’t answer. The maid near the Empress Dowager coughed to remind them, “Young master Deng has no grudge against Lady Yuqing in the Mansion. Why would he kill her? The killer must be someone else and he framed young master Deng. Since this happened in the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe, how can you not seek justice for young master Deng?”
This was to imply that Qiu Mengmin and his wife should quickly find some evidence and get Deng Yi out of this! Otherwise, according to the law at that time: as for husband and wife, including unmarried couples, if one of them kills the other’s elders, they will be judged by the official Mansion to get a divorce without their consent.
Based on how Deng Yi was framed this time, it was easy to find out that the person who planned this were targeting at the engagement. Otherwise, there were so many people in the Qiu Family. Why Qiu Yuqing was the one “killed” by Deng Yi? Let alone that the engagement was one of the most useful means to control Qiu Jinglan, when had the Empress Dowager suffered such a loss? Now that she found this couple were not too foolish and also suspected Qiu Jinglan, she surely wanted these two, whose side were on where was known by no one, to give her an explanation.
“We do have the evidence. The knife that was inserted on the pillow, the willow leaves, and the broken robe of the previous days… are all physical evidence.” Qiu Mengmin and his wife bowed their heads, smiled bitterly in their hearts, and thought, “But, if we take them out, we will be dead before the Empress Dowager kills Qiu Jinglan!”
They thought about today when they took Qiu Yuqing home. There weren’t many people in the Qiu Family, and Qiu Yelan’s elders were only three. Qiu Mengmin and Princess Yang were definitely not willing to sacrifice themselves. Fortunately, there was Qiu Yuqing.
A married aunt was not as close as an uncle. After all, strictly speaking, a married aunt was from another family, but she was still her elder by blood.
What was more, Jiang Yashuang had an aunt Empress who could reason without any reason. Would she let this opportunity go? So, the two only kept kowtowing at the moment, saying, “My incompetence!”
Empress Dowager Gu saw that these two were playing hard to get. She surely knew they were either threatened by Qiu Jinglan or made a deal with Qiu Jinglan. She was furious, patted on the table hard, and was about to lose her temper. A report came from outside, “Her Majesty is here!”
“What is she doing here? Let her go back!” Empress Dowager Gu was angrier.
It was just that before the report was finished, Empress Jiang came in by herself. She stepped into the Hall over the threshold with her head held high, heard the words, smiled and said, “What are you talking about? The Duke of Xihe was a hero of Darui. The former Duke of Xihe died for the national war! Now that his only sister has been killed by your nephew, how can you not give the Qiu Family an account? I think that the Qiu family and the Deng family not only have to cancel the engagement, but Deng Yi must also be severely punished. I’m worried that you might be too mad at your unworthy nephew. As your daughter-in-law, I’m here to comfort you especially.”
Now there was chaos again in the Hall of Taishi. Meanwhile, the Ruan Family’s atmosphere was also intense.
Because Qiu Jinglan’s condition was finally stabilized.
That was right. This was good news.
So, after Jiang Yashuang heard the news, he hurried over to apologize to his future brother-in-law, in spite of the big “nephew-in-law killing the aunt case”.
He bowed with hands held in front of him, served tea, said lots of sweet words, all of which came from his heart. However, Qiu Jinglan, who was leaning on the bed, closed his eyes to relax, as if he hadn’t seen or heard anything.
Seeing this, Jiang Yashuang got a bitter look and cast a help-seeking look towards Qiu Yelan, who was standing in front of the bed.
Qiu Yelan discreetly persuaded, “He helped you come out that day, and later helped you get back here. Then he invited Dr. Qi to come and stayed up all night on the first day to look after you in spite of his own injuries.”
“All right!” After his dear sister helped Jiang Yashuang, Qiu Jinglan no longer pretended to sleep. He opened his eyes, and impatiently shouted at Yelan, “You are not married yet. Do you have to be so partial?”
“It’s all my fault!” Jiang Yashuang hurriedly apologized again.
Qiu Jinglan looked at him and said, “I’m not a narrow-minded person. You did what you did before because you didn’t know that we’re siblings. There’s nothing to blame. Now Yelan and I are in a bad situation, but your family is prosperous. To be honest, I’m kind of upset to let her marry you.”
Jiang Yashuang was surely busy making promises to ensure that Qiu Yelan would never feel wronged.
Qiu Jinglan said lightly, “Based on your words, which I heard these years, I can see that you are somewhat sincere to my sister. But what about your family?”
Thinking of the relatives at home, Jiang Yashuang felt annoyed, so he had to say, “Brother, please be assured that although I have never argued with my family, I would never sit back and watch Lanlan being bullied.”
Jiang Yashuang took the advantage and started to call Qiu Jinglan “brother”. But Qiu Jinglan didn’t care much about it. He said lightly, “Let’s finish the Deng Family’s affairs first and then talk about yours.”
In this way, Jiang Yashuang was sent away. Qiu Jinglan thought for a while, and ordered someone to get him a jade box, “From now on, take this with you all the time!”
Qiu Yelan took a look at the jade box and was surprised, “Isn’t this the one that Kuang Qingwu brought here that day?”