In the current age, if a woman wanted to be respected in her husband’s family, what she needed was not a good look or ability, but prestigious family background and dowry. Especially when she lacked the former, then she had to have a large number of dowries. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to hold her head up when she got married.

As for the other wives of the Princes, the ones that were chosen were a legitimate young lady and a legitimate granddaughter from the prestigious Jiang Family; the granddaughter of Deputy Premier Tang, who was also Empress Dowager’s granddaughter; the legitimate daughter of Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang who was titled as a Princess; a young lady from the most famous family, Tao Family; and the niece of the assistant minister of Ministry of Justice.

With all these women coming from prestigious families, compared to them, Wang Qingqian was nothing. If she didn’t have enough dowries, how could she live from then on?

Therefore, when Qiu Yelan prepared a heavy gift and went to congratulate, after chatting with Lian Jianhai and his wife, Madame Lian asked Qiu Yelan to come to her residence. Before they sat down, Madame Lian asked anxiously, “Yelan, do you think Qianqian can refuse to be the Princess?”

Seeing how surprised Qiu Yelan was, Madame Lian smiled bitterly and explained, “The Wang Family only had some low-rank officials in the past. Technically they were just some country gentlemen. We don’t have much property. How can we prepare enough dowries to marry her to a Prince? Even the Lian Family, after my grandfather died, has declined. We don’t have much left after all these years. With Prince of Wei’s status, even if we sell everything we have, we won’t be able to get a decent dowry. And if we do so, what will the people in the Wang Family and the Lian Family live on? The Wang Family never mistreated us and the Lian Family treated us even better. How can I just lead them to a dead end just for Qianqian’s future?”

Hearing this, Qiu Yelan also felt like this marriage was just looking glorious for the Lian Family and the Wang Family, but actually, it was a disaster. However, not only was Wang Qingqian chosen by Zhaoyi Miao personally, but the Empress’s decree also came. How could Wang Qingqian not marry? Qiu Yelan sighed, “OK. I’ll prepare her dowry. Half of my dowries are grandmother’s dowries, so technically they came from the Lian Family. Now it’s just right.”

“No, you shouldn’t!” Madame Lian immediately shook her head, “The dowry always passes on to people’s kids. Those are your children’s things. How can Qianqian take it? Even her surname is not Lian! Even though you are in charge of your dowry, you and Qianqian are really distant cousins. If you prepare the dowry for her, how will your husband’s family not have a problem with that? What will other relatives think?”

Qiu Yelan didn’t socialize with her aunt much these past few years, but she never stopped contacting them. She knew how stubborn her aunt was. If she said she didn’t want it, she wouldn’t take it. Just relying on the Wang Family and the Lian Family to get Wang Qingqian a decent dowry was basically impossible. She rolled her eyes, “Then I’ll go to the Palace to talk to Zhaoyi Miao. Qingqian is the wife she wanted. She wouldn’t just watch her get in trouble. This is also about Prince of Wei, isn’t it?”

“Um…” Madame Lian was hesitating. Even though Zhaoyi Miao had chosen Wang Qingqian and Zhaoyi Miao should have known that the Lian Family and the Wang Family wouldn’t have enough dowries. But if she asked the future mother-in-law of her daughter directly, even if Zhaoyi Miao helped and Wang Qingqian got to marry in grace, she wouldn’t be able to look up in front of her mother-in-law from then on.

But Madame Lian then laughed, “Even if Qianqian could get a large number of dowries without Zhaoyi Miao’s help, she still can’t just ignore Zhaoyi Miao.”

She even suspected that the awkwardness of the Lian Family and the Wang Family was something that Zhaoyi Miao wanted to see. If Wang Qingqian married with her help, she would never be disrespectful to her and the Prince of Wei.

“That would be great. Thank you!” Madame Lian who thought this through exhaled a long breath and trusted all these to Qiu Yelan, holding complicated feelings.

Yet she didn’t know Qiu Yelan was just finding an excuse. When she left the Lian Family, she directly went to Ruan’s Mansion to ask Ruan Ciyi which of her dowry was suitable for Wang Qingqian and could be prepared in the name of Zhaoyi Miao.

Yet when Ruan Ciyi came out, she swallowed her original question. She was surprised, “Are you not feeling well?”

“A little.” Ruan Ciyi knew that Qiu Jinglan had left and was forced to leave. She was preparing for her own marriage and worrying about this brother. She couldn’t feel well even if she wanted to. However, Qiu Jinglan asked her to keep this a secret from Qiu Yelan as long as possible, so she didn’t tell the truth, “A couple of days ago, I forgot to close the window when sleeping. I slept with the cold wind blowing for half of the night. And then I had a headache!”

Qiu Yelan told her she was not being careful and then asked why the servants didn’t notice.

“They thought I wanted to open it!” Ruan Ciyi didn’t want to talk more about herself in case Qiu Yelan noticed, so she asked, “Why are you here? Didn’t I say that you’re married now and if you go out too often, the elders won’t like it?”

“Zhaoyi Miao picked Qingqian to be the Princess of Wei. But you know, with what the Lian Family and the Wang Family have, they couldn’t prepare a decent dowry.” Qiu Yelan didn’t suspect anything and said what she was here for, “Aunt Lian was so anxious. When I went to congratulate her just now, she asked me could Qingqian not marry Prince of Wei!”

Ruan Ciyi frowned. She had a very distant relationship with the Lian Family. So she only heard about Wang Qingqian being chosen as Princess of Wei. But thinking about Qiu Yelan and her brother, she did ask the servants to bring a gift. Now Qiu Yelan came to talk about this specifically, so she asked, “Do you want to prepare the dowry for her yourself?”

Seeing Qiu Yelan nodding, Ruan Ciyi squinted her eyes. She thought for a while and then said, “With Prince of Wei’s status, his wife needs at least a dowry of a million taels. It’s even not so decent. You only have three million taels of dowries. If you give half to her, what will your husband’s family think about it? If your children learn about this in the future, will they be okay with it? Besides, if I’m being honest, she is your cousin, but quite distant, not so close. When your niece and nephew get married in the future, what will you do then?”

After hearing that, Qiu Yelan remembered that Ruan Ciyi was about to get remarried soon. She said she was going to give half of her money to Wang Qingqian in front of Ruan Ciyi, yet she didn’t say she was going to give her anything. Qiu Yelan felt awkward. When she was about to talk, Ruan Ciyi said, “Don’t think I’m being jealous of her. We have a relationship that she can’t compare. And I know you’re doing this because you think you have a lot of dowries and you have nowhere to spend it. It’s fine to help her out. But you’re being naive. You think it’s nothing, but will other people think so? Inequality rather than want is the cause of troubles. You can’t do this! Otherwise, you’ll offend a lot of people that you can’t imagine!”

“But Qingqian’s marriage…” After hearing that, Qiu Yelan calmed down and thought this was difficult, too. She asked awkwardly, “Should I really go to find Zhaoyi Miao? If so, Qingqian really can’t hold her head up after she’s married.”

Ruan Ciyi laughed coldly and said, “If I am being bald, her father was barely a Juren, not even a Jinshi. Even if she could have a golden mountain as her dowry, do you really think she can hold her head up in front of the Zhaoyi who is ranked the first of all nine and the Empress?!”

Qiu Yelan awkwardly stayed silent.

“Let your brother prepare her dowry. You know, he really doesn’t care about this much money. Just consider it as the payment that the Lian Family stood up for you before… Don’t fight with me. I’m not paying it! And you should know that even I’m not agreeing with you paying. If you really do, your brother won’t let it go! He has a lot to worry about! If you really want to ease his burden, don’t do it!” Ruan Ciyi sneered, “Oh, he went to the capital a couple of days ago to see something. He’ll come back soon. Anyway, Prince of Wei is ranked below Prince of Lu, Prince of Cai, and Princess Changping. His wedding will be in the next year. We can delay for a couple of days.”

When Qiu Yelan came and heard that Qiu Jinglan was not here, she thought Ling Zui asked him out. Hearing this, she asked surprisingly, “To see what?”

“When you were married, he went to every corner of the world to find you something precious. Now I’m getting remarried, can’t he go to the capital to find me some good things?” Ruan Ciyi glared at Qiu Yelan. Qiu Yelan smiled, “No, I just didn’t know…”

Ruan Ciyi acted for a while. She was scared and thought she finally fooled Qiu Yelan. She acted well, but other people didn’t. Speaking of which, Xin Fubing was wronged. She actually meant well. Empress Jiang lived with her for two months during the summer and she got more into the role of Crown Princess.

It was just that Empress Jiang decided to marry Princess Yongfu to Ou Bicheng not so long ago. People were worried that she might get upset again. Qiu Yelan who was already married didn’t have time, so Zhuang Man and Ou Qinglan went to comfort her. However, Xin Fubing knew Ou Bicheng only ever considered her as his sister. The Empress didn’t take the one she liked for her daughter, so she accepted it.

Not only that, but she also had time to ask about Zhuang Man and Ou Qinglan’s marriage. Zhuang Man said that after she missed the chance of being a Princess, her family didn’t find anyone suitable. She could stay at home for a while. Ou Qinglan was not happy. Xin Fubing and Zhuang Man asked and it turned out that the one Ou Qinglan liked just finished mourning, yet he immediately left Jing City!

“He left and I don’t know when he’ll be back. I’m willing to wait for him, but will he do the same for me? Others are not blind or dumb. With his talent, every family with a daughter or granddaughter will fight over him.” Ou Qinglan poured her mind while crying, “I really want to follow him to Shazhou!”

“If you elope, all you can get is to be his concubine!” Hearing that, Xin Fubing and Zhuang Man immediately persuaded her, “You can throw a tantrum or whatever. But you can never elope!”

“Then tell me, what can I count on since he left?” Ou Qinglan said sadly, “I don’t even know what he thinks about me. I’ve only met this one person I like. Am I going to miss him?”

Seeing her like this, Xin Fubing and Zhuang Man decided to help her. Since Qiu Jinglan already left and they didn’t know Ruan Ciyi very well, they went to find Qiu Yelan.

Qiu Yelan who didn’t know anything was then surprised by what Xin Fubing said, “You know Xing likes your Cousin Ruan. Since he was still mourning, she decided to wait for him. Now he went to Shazhou and didn’t say anything. Xing is…”

Qiu Yelan’s smile froze. She was shocked and almost jumped off her chair, “Shazhou? He isn’t supposed to leave till next spring! Why is he leaving now?”

Hearing that, Xin Fubing was dazed. She was the one chosen by the Empress to be Crown Princess and was taught by the Empress herself. Seeing Qiu Yelan, she knew she made a mistake. She immediately changed her sentence, “He didn’t go? That’s what I thought! He must be hiding from Xing and lied!”

But Qiu Yelan was not a child. She wouldn’t believe it. She slighted over Xin Fubing and changed into the clothes for going out. Qiu Yelan decided to ask what was going on in Ruan’s Mansion!

When she just walked out the door, she bumped into Jiang Yashuang who just got off work. He thought his wife came out to welcome him. He greeted her with a big smile, yet only to see that she was not looking happy. He held his arm out and stopped her, “What’s going on?”

“My brother left and you didn’t tell me?!” Seeing him, Qiu Yelan changed her mind and tricked him, “Ciyi is getting married in November. Now my brother left. No one is here to plan it for her. Whose idea it was?”

“We didn’t want you to worry…” Jiang Yashuang indeed fell for her trick. He immediately explained, “Rest assured with Sister Ruan. Grandfather and grandmother talked it through. They will get my third aunt to help out. They will make sure that Sister Ruan will be married gracefully!”

Then Qiu Yelan angrily grabbed him by his ear. She gritted her teeth and said, “He did leave?! For quite some time, isn’t it? The last time I went to see sister, she got thinner. I bet it was because of this! Don’t want me to worry? Did you think you can lie to me forever? If you can’t, I will worry about it anyway! If I knew earlier, I could say goodbye!”

Jiang Yashuang was used to her being spicy. He was about to say something nice to comfort her, yet Su He and others were about to go crazy. They thought, “You are in the residence! Didn’t you see Caiqi and others’ jaws are dropping?! If they tell Marquess Qin and his wife, do you think they will still have a good impression on you?”

Luckily, after yelling all these while grabbing her husband’s ear, Qiu Yelan realized that, too. She let go of him awkwardly and tidied up his hair and collar. She coughed, “It’s getting cold. Look at you. Your ears are cold. I had to hold it for so long to warm it up… You need to wear more clothes tomorrow!”

Jiang Yashuang tried his best to hold the laughter, “Sure. Tomorrow I will!”