Hearing this, Madame Zhuang smiled and looked at her daughter-in-law in confusion, “What’s going on?” As she knew that Jiang Yashuang was a decent person and loved his wife very much, Madame Zhuang did not think that her youngest son would be the kind of person to mess with the prostitutes, so she thought, “Did you hear that clearly, Mrs. Chang? They are looking for Yashuang’s wife rather than Yadan’s wife, aren’t they?”

When the grandchildren of the Jiang Family had just finished their mourning for their youngest grand uncle, a woman who was suspected of not being from a good family came to the door. Could it be that Jiang Yadan had relapsed into his old illness?

Madame Zhuang was still thinking. But she saw that Qiu Yelan, who froze for an instant, stood and said with embarrassment, “These two… Perhaps they come here for me. But it has nothing to do with our family. I’m afraid it…”

That was not a secret. If Madame Zhuang had wanted to know, she would have known it sooner or later. So, Qiu Yelan hesitated and then confessed, “It may have something to do with my brother of my maiden family.”

“The flings that Qiu Jinglan caused in the past?” Madame Zhuang was stunned, showing an unpleasant expression, “He’ll be married in four months. Why should he haven’t gotten rid of these people?” It was not because Madame Zhuang was a big supporter of the wife. Instead, it was a convention.

To show respect for the woman, a suitable family often settled all affairs down before the marriage. Of course, after the marriage, it was a different matter if the man’s family took in someone else or took back the past mistresses.

The key was that the man must show his attitude.

When Madame Zhuang heard that the prostitutes came to Qiu Yelan to find her brother Qiu Jinglan, she naturally thought that Qiu Jinglan had not done as the convention. And that was clearly a disgrace for the Ou Family. The fourth branch had been friends with the Ou Family for several generations. And the siblings, Ou Bicheng and Ou Qinglan, had been watched growing up by Jiang Tianchi and Madame Zhuang and loved as their own children. How could Madame Zhuang not feel aggrieved for Ou Qinglan?

So, at that moment she looked unpleasant, “Does Qiu Jinglan look down on Xing?” It was no wonder she thought so. Ou Qinglan’s running after her husband was indeed shocking at this time. Those who were pedantic, not to mention accepting it, would have shouted at her to kill herself if they hadn’t been deterred by the Ou Family’s power!

Qiu Yelan said awkwardly, “Mother, I think there must be some kind of misunderstanding. If my brother were such a person, how could he promise to get married?”

“And then why do the riff-raff come to him?” Madame Zhuang sneered, “They can’t go to Shazhou so they come to you. How dare they find their way to a family like ours! Are you familiar with the two?”

Seeing that Madame Zhuang was really unhappy, Mrs. Chang was busy rounding up the situation, “Madame, General Qiu has been in Shazhou for a year or two. He perhaps has forgotten about these people, right? It’s these people who are still delusional when they hear that General Qiu is going to get married.”

Madame Zhuang thought that was true. If Qiu Jinglan had really promised these people something, why would they come to Qiu Yelan? With that, she eased her expression and said, “And then just send someone to talk to them clearly! They know to ask to see you at the back door. But, don’t they know that they are not qualified to ask my nineteenth daughter-in-law to meet them?”

As she said so, Qiu Yelan had to obey her orders. In fact, she was a bit uncomfortable in the heart, “Hua Shenshen and Penglai Yue… They were in deep love with my brother… Since my brother went to Shazhou, they never stopped sending things there… Now…”

She shook her head, thinking that she did not have the ability of Qiu Jinglan. He could have several women at the same time and make them all compete to please him… Even if Madame Zhuang did not stop her to see them, she would not be able to deal with it well. It would relieve her of the bother of how to say to them.

However, the next day, Commandery Princess Yishu Qiu Qian came to the door. Of course, given her identity, no one stopped her. The servants invited her directly to Qiu Yelan’s courtyard.

“Has anything happened?” Qiu Yelan hadn’t seen her for months. So, when she saw her now, she naturally thought that Qiu Nie and Mei Xue met some difficulties.

But Qiu Qian shook his head, “I’m asked to take a message for you. You know about Penglai Yue, don’t you?”

“Yesterday, my mother-in-law prevented me from seeing her. I didn’t expect that they would come to you.” Qiu Yelan smiled bitterly at her words.

“She is indeed the courtesan of Jinpa Pavilion. How generous she is!” Qiu Qian was in a good mood. She hid her lips and smiled, saying sweetly, “She gave a thousand taels of gold to me to take a message. I didn’t even think about it and took it. You wouldn’t blame me, would you?”

Qiu Yelan said thoughtfully, “I would like to share half…”

“No way!” Qiu Qian said in a crisp, “Let me have it! I promise I won’t answer you back and scold you!”

“…” Qiu Yelan was speechless, “Well. What has she said? Go ahead!”

Qiu Yelan found it difficult when she said so. Sure enough, Qiu Qian said, “I can’t remember or bother to remember her long words. Sister Mei concluded for me. Generally, she was asking that for old time’s sake, if there was a position for Hua Shenshen and her in Qiu Jinglan’s yard after his marriage. They were willing to bring a large dowry without being acknowledged and serve Qiu Jinglan and his wife as maids… Anyway, they could have any arrangement as long as they could be taken into Qiu Jinglan’s yard!”

With that, Qiu Qian exclaimed, “When it comes to pleasing the girls, your brother is really better than my brother! My brother is not very good at pleasing Sister Mei! Your brother should be able to make a courtesan, who is used to seeing the world, so obedient!”

“Stop it when you’ve had enough of your sarcasm!” Qiu Yelan’s face darkened, “Tell her that my brother is the only one who can make decisions in his backyard and that I have no say in this matter.” And she turned her head again and told Su He, “Fetch a bank note for a thousand taels of gold!”

“I’ll pay you what Penglai Yue promised. Give her money back. If she asks you to do something again, do not promise her.” Qiu Yelan rubbed her forehead and swallowed, “Oh, my god. Perhaps the western savages may start a fight this year. It is not sure whether my brother and Xing can get married on time! The courtesan is already thinking of entering the family… After the mourning, there is a lot of things at once!”

Qiu Qian took the bank note and looked at it for a few moments, “I’ll have two thousand taels of gold if I don’t give her money back!”

“That’s enough!” Qiu Yelan warned, “After all, you are crowned as Commandery Princess. How can you do something like that?”

“You have said you will treat me like your own sister. Are you going to flip out over a thousand taels of gold?” Qiu Qian gave her a blank look, put the bank note away, and got up to leave, “Alright! I’ll go back and send a message! Maybe I can even catch Hua Shenshen waiting for me! Speaking of which, it would be good for your brother to attract a few more of these moneyed and foolish people. If each of them asked to take a message, it might be nearly ten thousand tales of gold in a day!”

Qiu Yelan sneered, “If you are going to get married, I will share with you half of my dowry. You can do the math yourself! Eight thousand, you’ve got to be the Sheriff! Ten thousand or so? Just be like a Commandery Princess!”

“Really?” said Qiu Qian, her eyes gleaming!

“Really!” Qiu Yelan waved her hands, “I have to congratulate Xue Nongqing and Zhuang Man this month. Zhuang Man is getting married in the middle of the month. I don’t think I’ll be free until next month. By then, I’ll personally choose a husband for you. Now you can think about who you want to marry!”

Qiu Qian promised, “If you do share half of your dowry, you are in charge of my marriage! I won’t hesitate even if you have me marry a beggar!”

“Spare me the charm!” After her cutting up, Qiu Yelan was in a better mood. She scolded jokingly, “Go back and ask Mei Xue! She is more thoughtful than you!”

After sending Qiu Qian away, Qiu Yelan was leading someone to check the gifts for tomorrow’s visit to the Xue Family when Chen Shui came in and said, “Madame, the eighth madame is pregnant!”

“Oh?” With that, Qiu Yelan was not happy but stunned, “How many months?”

“Two months.” Chen Shui also knew why she did not look happy. The grandchildren had just finished their mourning for Sir Jibei just two days ago. That she was two months pregnant also meant that Jiang Yadan and his wife didn’t obey the rules during mourning. In fact, as long as the couple’s sleeping together was not known during mourning, everyone would turn a blind eye to it. After all, the mourning period was at least three months. In traditional mourning periods, the period was nominally 3 years, but it was usually 25 months in practice. It was acceptable for the energetic couples and those who were not married. Were there any couples who did not violate the rules during the mourning period?

But having a baby would make the folly well known…

Especially, the fourth branch had a special relationship with Sir Jibei. As the first trueborn son of the fourth branch and the Young Prince who was crowned the next day of Jiang Tianchi’s being crowned, Jiang Yadan didn’t observe his youngest grand uncle’s mourning. That was… What would people think of the fourth branch if the folly went out?

“What a dork! Efforts of both my father-in-law and Yashuang cannot offset what he did!” Qiu Yelan asked, inwardly cursing Jiang Yadan for his being a jackass, “Two months… Why would it be announced now?”

Even though Jiang Yadan was a jackass, Chu Yitong was not a fool. Wouldn’t it give a hard time for themselves to spill the beans at this juncture? Anyway, women didn’t show at two months. They could just stall over the thing. And during childbirth, they could explain it as premature labor. As there was a saying, the thing could be covered on the table. Even if Marquess Qin didn’t like it, he would not force his granddaughter-in-law to have an abortion, right?

“They planned to announce it in a few days and leave the month vague. But when the eighth madame was descending the steps, she tripped over for her skirt being too long and had a bad fell. It was said that there was bleeding. That’s why they…”

Qiu Yelan took a deep breath, “I see… Mrs. Qu and Mrs. Zhou, you stay here and watch them. I’ll visit my eighth sister-in-law!”

When she rushed to Jiang Yadan and Chu Yitong’s courtyard, Madame Zhuang was already there, frowning and sitting by the couch.

On the couch, Chu Yitong looked pale and sickly, with a handkerchief strapped to her forehead. Her eyes were veiled. She should have taken the medicine just now as the air in the room smelled like medicine for fetus protection. Qiu Yelan had taken a lot of such medicine before and so she could recognize it as soon as she smelled it.

As she entered, Madame Zhuang stood up, “Stay here with your eighth sister-in-law for a while. I’ll go and report to your grandmother!”

Qiu Yelan replied. Madame Zhuang’s words showed that she wanted to keep Chu Yitong’s baby. So, after a while, as she saw Chu Yitong’s long eyelashes blinking slightly with tears falling upon it, she counseled, “My sister-in-law, don’t be afraid. With our mother here, you will definitely be fine!”

However, Chu Yitong opened her eyes suddenly and her beautiful face trembled. She muttered, “My… My tummy hurts! It hurts!”

Qiu Yelan rushed out to call for help. But it was not clear whether Chu Yitong’s body was delicate or she had fallen too hard. Even though the doctor came quickly, Chu Yitong could not keep it before Madame Zhuang returned from Madame Tao’s yard!

“My nineteenth sister-in-law!” When the doctor announced that Chu Yitong was going to lose her baby, her face turned white. She suddenly looked at Qiu Yelan, who frowned and looked at her, worried. “I beg you. I heard that the medicine descended from your maiden family can raise the dead. It must be able to save my baby, right? Please give me one. I’ll give you everything in exchange, OK? Okay?”

Looking at hysterical Chu Yitong, Qiu Yelan was stunned and then speechless, “Calm down, my eighth sister-in-law! Listen to me. That medicine is only for hanging on to life. It has nothing to do with bringing back the dead! I really don’t have any more in my hand. Otherwise, I would have taken it out when my youngest grand uncle was not well.”

“No! You must be lying to me! You must be lying! Just say what you want. I’ll trade with you. I’ll trade with you!” Perhaps Chu Yitong was so extremely stimulated that she could not believe it. She went for Qiu Yelan wildly. The young noblewoman’s well-kept nails dug into Qiu Yelan’s skin through her silk dress. Chu Yitong screamed, “Help me! Help my child!”

The old maids in the room were so frightened that they rushed up and held Chu Yitong down with all hands, “The eighth madame, please calm down!”

She was about to have a miscarriage but she still behaved like this. She might even lose her life!

… When Madame Zhuang was invited back from Madame Tao’s yard, Chu Yitong had lost her baby. And the room was cleaned up. Qiu Yelan stood at the door of the inner room with blood-stained sleeves, looking down in silence.

Mrs. Chang, who went to get Madame Zhuang back, whispered, “That was made by the eighth madame when she had a miscarriage!”

“… It was your eighth sister-in-law’s first baby but finally, she lost it. No wonder why she behaved so hysterically.” Madame Zhuang frowned and paused in front of Qiu Yelan, saying warmly, “Don’t bother with her… Go back and get some medicine. I’ll take care of it here!”

Qiu Yelan said lightly, “Mother, I do not have any more of the kind of medicine as my eighth sister-in-law said. Please explain it to her lest she misunderstands me!”

“I know. Go ahead!” said Madame Zhuang. But in her mind, she knew that even though Chu Yitong, who was young, knew that it wasn’t because Qiu Yelan didn’t give her the medicine, she would instinctively take it out on Qiu Yelan to get her psychological balance. She couldn’t bear the thought that she had accidentally lost her baby because of a fall. Madame Zhuang had only two daughters-in-law. So, of course, she wanted they could get along with each other. But now that this had happened, it would take a lot to bridge the gap between them…