“The owner of the shop was used to be a guy in Qingfeng Ji.” Mr. Jiang said in a weird tone, “When Qingfeng Ji was sealed up, all the crucial guys were arrested because it was famous all over the country. Those guys who were not important were released after being arrested for some time.”

After all, the subbranches of Qingfeng Ji were all over the country. The families and connections of regular employees added up to tens of thousands. So, it was impossible to kill all those people. Especially since many of them were skilled, it would be a pity not to reuse them.

Therefore, except for important people, those who were not close to the Gus and were quite talented were released after being fined.

The owner of this preserved fruit shop was one of them.

There were a lot of people in the group so the maids couldn’t know everyone. The people Qiu Yelan sent out to buy the preserved fruit had no idea who owned the shop. He just heard that their goods were clean and cheap, which also tasted good, so he bought the preserved fruit from them. After all, he thought the food had to be checked before Qiu Yelan ate. Since the candied fruit he bought before was not poisonous, he kept buying it.

They didn’t expect that they poisoned the stones of the fruit. Qiu Yelan and Jiang Yashuang didn’t have the habit to eat kernels and neither did their maids and servants. They never wanted to eat the kernel after eating the preserved fruit.

But the two wet nurses were born in poor families. Though they became the wet nurses of Jiang Jinglang and would be paid a generous amount of money which would meet their need to support their whole families, their habit of frugalitydidn’t change at all!

However, Qiu Yelan said calmly, “In case that the two wet nurses were framed, when they entered our yard, I never allowed them to go out. Even if they missed their families, I only asked Su He to write letters and give some presents to her families for them. I didn’t even know that they ate the kernel, not to mention the owner!”

Mr. Jiang wanted to say something but he looked longingly at Jiang Yashuang.

“If the owner is from Qingfeng Ji, he must be the remaining members of the Gus!” Jiang Yashuang sighed, “Later I will tell my grandfather. There must be lots of guys in Qingfeng Ji that hate us. We have to investigate once again!”

Mr. Jiang relieved, “Surely we have to!” What Jiang Yashuang meant was that it was obvious that he defined the murderer in this scope of remaining members of the Gus.

“Granduncle’s funeral values the most!” Now Chen Shui came back after seeing Jiang Jinglang. So, she gave a sign to Qiu Yelan, showing her that everything was fine. Seeing that, Qiu Yelan was relieved and her voice became soft, “Now Lang’er is fine. Please tell my grandfather to take care of the funeral! I am afraid to be unfilial if we slight the funeral because of Lang’er.”

And then she looked at her husband, “You can go there. We can take care of Lang’er. Please ask my eighth sister-in-law to help me deal with the business!”

The real killer couldn’t be punished now so they had no choice but to punish the accomplices. Qiu Yelan felt so dull to continue to investigate the case. She was more concerned about the current situation. Although Marquess Qin and Madame Ou had allowed them to come back, the most important thing was the funeral. Now their son got better. If they still stayed with their son, they would be denounced. After all, Sir Ji Bei was really good to the fourth branch.

Jiang Yashuang wanted to stay another half of the day to make sure that his son was fine. But after hearing what her wife said, he could only say yes, “I guess my grandfather will go there. I will go with him!”

… The case that the Jiang Family’s most valued trueborn great-grandson was poisoned and framed by someone ended up with tracing the remaining members of the Gus and reinvestigating Qingfeng Ji. The case never mentioned anyone inside the Jiang family.

Two days later, Jiang Jinglang was completely healed. After that, the funeral of Sif Jibei was on the right track again. So, there was no need that all people in Marquess’s Mansion had to help.

Madame Ou was worried that Marquess’s Mansion would have other troubles so she tried to persuade Marquess Qin to go back, “Things are being arranged here now, and everything is in order. So, we don’t need so many people here. The population of Marquess’s Mansion is more than that of the Mansion of Sir Jibei. So, there must be more things which need you to handle. How can you stay here all the time? Especially Tianchi and his wife are in the north. Even though he cannot come back, his wife is sure to come back. The funeral hall still needs decorating. Are you going to wait here for her to come back?”

Marquess Qin and Madame Tao wanted to go back to the Marquess’sMansion to take care. After all, besides Jiang Jinglang, there was more than one kid in the Marquess’s Mansion who was still too young to condolence. No one could guarantee that there was no more accident.

So, as they made sure that Madame Ou had recovered from the deep sorrow, they farewelled. But they still left several people of the first branch and the third branch there.

After Madame Tao returned to the Marquess’s Mansion, the first thing she did was to let Jiang Yashuang and his wife bring the three children to see her. She touched each one from head to foot and then shed tears, “Luckily they are all right!”

Madame Tao sighed when she saw that Qiu Yelan also turned her head and quietly wiped her tears. She waved back idle people. And then she used warm words to comfort Qiu Yelan, “Do not feel sad. The child is blessed. He is still fine, despite what he has been through. Mind your own business, and as long as he is well with you, you ought to be happy!”

After saying that, Madame Tao felt heartache. She thought of her own son, Jiang Tianjiao. What a good boy he was! He was talented, handsome, considerate, and filial piety, but he didn’t live long!

She was silent for a long time as feelings of sympathy rose up. After a while, she said, “Your grandfather intends to send a decree to the Empress Dowager to make Qiu Qian the Commandery Princess. What do you think?”

This news made Qiu Yelan a little surprised. But on second thought she knew that this was the reward for Qiu Qian not telling the truth. Even though she didn’t say anything, the fourth branch could guess who the suspect was. But if she did, there would be no turning around.

“Grandfather is kind. I will show my appreciation for Qiu Qian.” Qiu Yelan considered for a while, “Just before I tried to persuade Qiu Qian to regain the identity of the daughter of the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe, she was not very willing.”

“I heard your grandfather said that Qiu Nie and Mei Xue were a couple. And they planned to take over ‘Tianya’, right?” Madame Tao was apparently ordered by Marquess Qin to be a lobbyist. She said, “Though ‘Tianya’ is in Jianghu, they can remain till now because of the inextricable contact with the court. Qiu Nie and Mei Xue love freedom so they do not want to be constrained. It is impossible for them to set up such a big business and run it well, even if they have outstanding martial arts. In my opinion, Qiu Qian should have the princess identity and she can marry a high-class kid in the future. If they have a supporter in the court, it will be a lasting business.”

In fact, Qiu Yelan agreed with her. Wealth was a lure. Those small shops on the street not only had to pay taxes, but they had to give some money to treat the patrol police with cups of tea. A prosperous shop had to give the government some bribery on festivals, let alone “Tianya”, the killer organization. Even if it was now run out by Qiu Jinglan only, with former fame and profit, it was also worth a lot of people to fight for!

It was impossible for such an organization to survive if it didn’t have any support in the court. That was the reason why Prince’s Mansion of Xihe could get it away but they couldn’t. Prince’s Mansion of Xihe tried to break the relationship with “Tianya” for so many years. The leader, the Left Dharma Protector, and the Right Dharma Protector were not all flunkeys who didn’t want to attain anything from “Tianya”.

However, Qiu Yelan remembered that Qiu Qian had mentioned that when Qiu Nie was young, even Hanlin Academy was not a lure to him. He determined to return to Jianghu. And then she said, “I think they have been displaced for a long time and are afraid of being used as pawns.”

“What if we let Mom Hu take the lead to ask the subordinates of Empress Dowager and Empress to buy shares of ‘Tianya’? They only ask for dividends every year without managing any other things. We can guarantee it by noting it down, shall we?” Madame Tao sipped her tea, “So, they just give us money every year. And they can do what they want. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether there is such a document written or not. Do you think that Mom hu and others have leisure time to ask for it?”

They let Mom Hu buy shares. But the real people who were the shareholders were Madame Tao, Empress Dowager, and Empress. After all, their identities didn’t allow them to get involved in a killer organization.

Madame Tao made sense. Whether it was Mom Hu or her, they had no need to lower themselves to seize power with Qiu Nie and Mei Xue!

“However, the rules of ‘Tianya’ should be changed. It can’t disturb the order of the court. Otherwise, if we are hard to deal with them, they can also gain nothing!” Madame Tao said. Qiu Yelan thought for a while and then she said tentatively, “Shall I invite Qiu Qian for lunch to talk about that?”

… The next day Qiu Qian heard it from Qiu Yelan. She nodded, “If they don’t make indiscreet remarks on my sisters and brothers, it is fine that we just give them the dividends. It can be regarded as a protection fee.”

Qiu Qian also thought that it was acceptable that Madame Tao wanted them to change some rules, “Even if Madame Tao didn’t mention it, we will never hurt any important officials at will. After all, ‘Tianya’ is well-known because of your brother so we dare not to kill officials in case of getting ourselves into trouble.”

“Tianya” was a killer organization. But killers were not Men of Sacrifice.

Qiu Yelan squinted and smiled, “Mei Xue was good at scheming! She kept you from telling the truth so that you could solve all the problems! You even trapped my brother!”

According to Qiu Qian and Mei Xue, it was Qiu Jinglan who promised that after he finished revenging, he would send the whole “Tianya” to Qiu Nie as a reward. But as Madame Tao pointed out that Qiu Nie was powerless to support this organization alone, he still had to look for a backer in the court. And the one they were most familiar with was Qiu Jinglan. Of course, they could also choose to resolutely not bother Qiu Jinglan. But the power of Qiu Jinglan now was super. He was the proud student of Prime Minister Xue Chang, the relative-in-law of the Jiang Family, the future general of the Western Army, and Sir Jingbo’s son-in-law…

All the officials and generals knew that “Tianya” was his estate. Who else dared to take it over?

The first branch and the third branch dared to do so. But it would be trouble as they used to arrest Qiu Qian and Mei Xue. So, they hurled themselves willingly into the net!

They had no choice but to rely on Qiu Jinglan, which meant that the reward promised by Qiu Jinglan would be withdrawn.

Definitely, he would not withdraw the whole reward. But it would not be too little.

Qiu Qian gave such a big favor to the Jiang family this time. How could Marquess Qin be stingy?

Asking for a Commandery Princess title for Qiu Qian was not a real reward. Madame Tao took the lead personally to find shareholders for “Tianya”, which was the true reward. With the official support, as long as Qiu Nie and others were not very stupid, “Tianya” would have no pressure if it wanted to recover and grow bigger, just like Qingfeng Ji!

With these shareholders, if Qiu Jinglan wanted to buy a share, Qiu Nie and Qiu Qian would not worry about being contained by him! After all, Madame Tao, Empress Dowager, and Empress were enough to counterbalance with him!

Qiu Yelan had been taking care of her son these days so she hadn’t taken this into account. But when she listened to Madame Tao’s persuasion, she also came to her senses. She was not angry with them now, just reminding Qiu Qian not to take herself as a fool.

Qiu Qian was not afraid so she made a face with a smile and said, “You know your brother is cunning, right? We can’t let him set us up all the time, can we? Please be assured. Sister Mei these days is calculating stocks with Deng Yi these days. You and your soon-to-be sister-in-law have shares, which are free of charge. These shares are to make amends to your brother and you!”

Qiu Yelan looked at her weirdly, “Oh! I’ve never seen you being so good before. I thought you would jump up and scold my brother and me for being greedy and dishonest after hearing what I say!”

“A businessman must act like a businessman!” Qiu Qian said honestly, “Besides, I don’t know Madame Tao, and even if I become the Princess, I won’t be able to visit her very often. If I go to her, I cannot please her. If we get in trouble, we’ll have to ask you to pass on the message. So, of course, I want to talk to you.”

She really took “Tianya” as Qingfeng Ji now. Was it because of Mei Xue?

Qiu Yelan was speechless for a while. And then she waved her hand, “If so, come to pick up a title. And then I can tell Empress Dowager.”