Real Empress from a Noble Family

It was not the moment for a long talk, so they exhorted each other to be careful and took different roads.

Qiu Yelan found some falling stones blocking the road after she walked a few steps. The road was clogged completely.

“Is there a shortcut nearby?” She asked urgently to the bodyguard sent by Jiang Yashuang.

The bodyguard thought for a while and said, “Your Grace, there’s no other way, unless we dribble up the stream from below and take a short detour after we get to the other side,” He was a little worried. “Usually the stream isn’t as deep as up to our knees, but now…”

Qiu Yelan was not in the mood to listen more. She interrupted, “Let’s go and check!”

The bodyguard said immediately, “Your Grace, please follow me!”

After following him for some distance from the almost completely collapsed mountain, she did see a muddy stream with yellow water that overflowed its banks. The bodyguard turned pale at the sight, “My God, I’m afraid this water is as deep as up to our waist!”

“Even if the water floods over my head, I will go anyway!” Qiu Yelan said determinedly, “I can swim… What about you?”

“I can’t, but I can ask someone to help me.” Originally, Su He was so scared that her face turned pale. After hearing that Qiu Yelan would cross it anyway, she said promptly.

The guiding bodyguard was a little hesitant: “This water is too fast…” He was Jiang Yadan’s confidant. He was responsible for the safety of Jiang Yashuang and Qiu Yelan. He must be in big trouble in case that the Jiang Family’s prospective daughter-in-law was swept away by the water.

“Stop chattering and get in the water if you can and are willing to!” Qiu Yelan was not in the mood to hesitant. Without saying a word, she grabbed her skirt and headed for the stream!

“Your Grace, please hold on!” The bodyguard had no choice but to follow her. But when Qiu Yelan was about to jump into the stream, the bodyguard caught a glimpse of a piece of driftwood floating upstream and hurriedly called out to her, “Wait until the floating log passes before you wade into the water! Otherwise, it’s not good if you get hit!”

Although Qiu Yelan couldn’t wait to be able to grow wings and fly back to the Green Villa, she knew he had a point. She had to stop and wait for the driftwood to float by.

But when the driftwood got closer, there was a man lying on top, not moving. Was he alive or dead? Nobody knew!

“Get him out of the water!” Qiu Yelan commanded. “He might be alive!”

The bodyguards said yes. The lead one asked his two companions to jump into the water. When the driftwood reached them, they stopped it together and pushed it to the shore. The people on the shore took a hand to drag the driftwood and the man to the ground. Only then did they find that the man was tied to the driftwood by his own waist belt. One of them grabbed him by the hair to check who he is. Qiu Yelan glimpsed the face. She screamed when she saw his face. “Isn’t it Xue Nongying?”

“He is the fourth grandson of the Xue Family!” Because Xue Nongying was valued by Xue Chang, he was often brought in and out of various occasions by his grandfather. Hence, most of the people standing on the shore knew him. At this moment, they hurriedly cut his waist belt and dragged him to the grass for rescuing.

In the process of dragging him, they discovered that he clearly had a piece of green bamboo in his chest!

“How did he get so unlucky? he was pierced through the chest with bamboo during the earthquake. What’s worse, he fell into the water!” Su He and the other maids were so frightened by this scene that their hands and feet went cold, “Is he… Is he dead?!”

Qiu Yelan wasn’t afraid of this kind of scene. She took a closer look and immediately noticed the green bamboo. It had clearly been cut off at the front and back. She couldn’t help but turn pale, “Stop talking… See if he’s still alive?”

A bodyguard stepped forward, pressed his pulse and leaned over to listen to his heart. He got up and reported, “Still breathing! But… I’m afraid he may be dead when we arrive at the Green Villa or the Summer Palace!”

“….” Qiu Yelan stared at Xue Nongying’s bloodless face. Her mind was filled with mixed emotions. In the end, she gritted her teeth and thought to herself, “After all, your grandfather was good to my brother!” She quickly pulled out the jade box hidden inside her clothes and opened it. Then she took out a grey pill and said in a deep voice, “Su He, go and bring some water and feed this to him!”

The others didn’t know how precious and rare this pill was, but Su He had asked when Qiu Yelan hung up this jade box. She hurriedly said, “Your Grace!” This pill was worth a life!

Su He also wanted to save Xue Nongying. But the problem was, “We haven’t returned to the Green Villa yet!” What if your brother needs it too? Last time Kuang Qingwu only gave two pills! Qiu Jinglan had already used one. As Qiu Jinglan loved his sister very much, he didn’t hesitate to give Qiu Yelan the other one for any emergency. Now she wanted to give the last pill to Xue Nongying. If there was a need for this pill in the future, what could she do!

Qiu Yelan held the pill and hesitated for a moment. She finally leaned down and put the pill into Xue Nongying’s cold mouth. She whispered, “We’re going to take a detour anyway… Maybe one good turn deserves another and my brother will be safe because of what I did. The Green Villa is full of medicinal herbs. Even if something happens to my brother, I think they would have plenty of methods to save him… This man… He’s dead without using this pill!”

Hearing the dialogue between Qiu Yelan and her maid, everyone knew that the pill that Qiu Yelan took out was very important. Everyone remained silent–no one knew what would happen based on the decision made by Qiu Yelan. So, it was early to take sides. This involved the lives of Qiu Jinglan and Xue Nongying and they wouldn’t dare get involved.

Qiu Yelan actually didn’t know whether it was right or wrong for her to do so. Xue Chang was kind and righteous to Qiu Jinglan, and even more so in the “compulsory divorce” between the Qiu and Deng families. If not, Empress Jiang may not be able to make Empress Dowager Gu agree with it readily. But to trade Qiu Jinglan’s life for Xue Nongying’s life because of this, Qiu Yelan would definitely not agree!

What made her save Xue Nongying now was that she realized they wouldn’t go back to the Green Villa in a moment.

Even if she had a pill that could save a life and Qiu Jinglan had been injured in the earthquake and needed this medicine, she wouldn’t be able to make it right now, so she might as well save Xue Nongying’s life!

“Hope my brother is safe. Otherwise, even if the Xue Family owes me this favor, it’s of no use to me.” Qiu Yelan had already thought about it before. But after Xue Nongying took the pill, she was worried. She squeezed the handkerchief to chill herself out. She said, “You guys go and cut a bit of the branch over there and pull some vines to build a stretcher to carry him… This place is not safe either. Bring him with us.”

There were plenty of trees and vines around here, especially after the earthquake. Many of the smashed trees fell to the ground. The bodyguards quickly got a simple stretcher over. They lifted Xue Nongying on the stretcher. A bodyguard took off his coat to cover him. The crowd hurried down to drip across the stream. After arriving on the opposite side, they couldn’t care about their appearance. They just wrung out their dress and headed towards the Green Villa!

Along the way, Qiu Yelan was anxious. She was afraid that something bad had happened to Qiu Jinglan. And she was more afraid that his brother might need that pill which had been taking by Xue Nongying. Luckily, when they finally saw the Green Villa, the damage to the Green Villa didn’t seem to be too severe judging from the appearance. Only a few trees fell.

After reaching closer, they found the door was wide open. Two gatekeepers outside the door were overjoyed to see them coming. One said to the other, “Go quickly! Go and report to the young master!” And then he walked forward and welcomed them, “Your Grace, are you okay? The young master worried about you so much!”

“I’m fine! How about my brother?” Qiu Yelan was just relieved when she heard “Report to the young prince”–apparently even if Qiu Jinglan was injured, he shouldn’t be in a severe condition as he could still deal with family matters. But she just didn’t feel relieved before she could personally hear the gatekeeper tell her that he was fine. So, she asked promptly, “The space of the villa is not big. How is my brother now?”

“Young Earl Ling happened to come to visit. He saved the young master during the earthquake.” The gatekeeper knew she was worried about his brother. He continued to say, “The young lady was knocked unconscious by the cabinet, but the young master had felt her pulse and he said she is fine… Because he is worrying that there will be another earthquake, the young master has headed to an empty space behind the villa with the others. He is waiting for Young Earl Ling and Master Qiu to bring back your news!”

Only then did Qiu Yelan realize that the gatekeeper who was going to report to Qiu Jinglan before did not run into the villa, he ran towards outside the wall. She breathed a sigh of relief, “My brother is fine. I’m relieved! In order to prevent damages from aftershocks, it is the right thing to do it. Now take me to see my brother and my sister!”

A few moments later, she arrived at the empty space behind the villa. They asked about each other and found out that they both were fine. They felt relieved finally.

Only then did Qiu Yelan remember Xue Nongying. She immediately asked the servants to bring him over here. She said, “We got him out of the stream when we were coming back. And as for the pill you gave to me, I gave it to him… ” Speaking of this, she glances at Qiu Jinglan, feeling guilty.

After seeing Xue Nongying, Qiu Jinglan’s face turned pale. He leaned down before she finished her sentence, grasping Xue Nongying wrist to feel his pulse. He felt nervous and commanded Dongran, “Go and get a bowl of my ginseng soup over here.”

Looking at the green bamboo in Xue Nongying’s chest, Qiuran felt scared, “The young master, why not get the bamboo out of his chest quickly?

“No, we can’t do it now!” Qiu Yelan and Qiu Jinglan stopped her in unison. Qiu Jinglan glanced at his sister and continued to say, “Feed him the ginseng soup to save his life. And then we will try to get the bamboo out of his chest. If we get it out now, he will be a dead man definitely!”

Fortunately, because of Qiu Jinglan’s injury, the Green Villa had a lot of medicinal herbs and utensils to boil medicine. Although the exquisite layout of the estate was not suitable for escaping during an earthquake, it did not have many large span rooms. As a result, the rooms were basically intact. So, after the earthquake stopped, Qiu Jinglan commanded the people to evacuate the Green Villa to take shelter outside with all medicinal materials and stoves…

While waiting for Qiu Yelan’s arrival, Qiu Jinglan had ordered the servant to cook the ginseng soup. He also had himself changed the medicine and re-bandaged the open wound on his body. He then changed into clean clothes, which made Qiu Yelan think that he was fine.

Dongran went over to fetch the ginseng soup. A moment later, she served a bowl of ginseng soup over. She fed it bit by bit to Xue Nongying to finish it. Xue Nongying, who was just barely died, was obviously better then!

Qiu Jinglan knew that his improving condition didn’t mean that he would survive. He ordered with a serious voice, “Is there any hot water? You two, carry him carefully to lie down behind the screen. Wipe him, get dry clothes for him, and then wrap him up in a blanket… And more!”

He lifted his head and looked at the people who had returned with Qiu Yelan, “Now that the earthquake has ended recently, people are in a state of panic. I don’t know if Prime Minister Xue and the rest of the Xue Family are okay or not. If the news of the Xue Family’s fourth grandson being seriously injured is spread, I’m afraid that it will be used by the people who hold ulterior motives… So please keep the news to yourselves for now. I suggest that after we find out where the Xue Family is, we send someone secretly to the Xue Family, telling them the news. Okay?”

The crowd, who were still immersed in the joy of saving Xue Chang’s grandson, all looked solemn after hearing what he said, “The young master, what you said is totally reasonable. We will follow!”

Hearing Qiu Jinglan’s words reminded the people a fact–Xue Chang was old. It was not clear whether he was injured or not during the earthquake. It was lucky if he was fine. But if he heard the news that his most valued junior was on the verge of death, nobody could expect what would happen to him. Just like what Qiu Jinglan said, if someone who held ulterior motives used this accident and intimate the Xue Family, things would go worse…

Therefore, even if Xue Nongying was saved, how much would Qiu Jinglan get in return? The news has to be kept hidden. It was necessary to let Xue Chang prepare himself mentally before telling him the news!

After sending Su He to take care of the still unconscious Ruan Ciyi and the most competent Dongran to take care of Xue Nongying, Qiu Jinglan called her sister aside and asked in a low voice, “How exactly did you find him?”