That evening, after Jiang Yashuang returned, Qiu Yelan told him what had happened at Jiang Yawan’s yard. “… In a big festival like this, they made such a scene that our grandmother got mad. And she also had to instruct others not to tell our grandfather.”

With that, Jiang Yashuang frowned, “Why did this always happen?”

“Jingman was kind of weird!” And Qiu Yelan thought to herself, “The rules of the family are not in place. And the sons of the Jiang Family are all fond of playing the field. When there are many people in the yard without any rules, how can there not be fights? Moreover, when there is a fight, there will be a lot of miscarriages, murders, and so on, won’t it?” She didn’t bother to talk with Jiang Yashuang about that. So, she said, “I don’t think he was worried about being severely punished by your fifth brother. It was as if he had been expecting your first brother to come to his rescue!”

“Jingman?” Jiang Yashuang mused, “Did that happen?” He thought for a while and nodded, “I’ll have someone look into it later and see if there’s anything inside!”

They stopped at that point. And after asking about his nephews and children and learning that everything was fine, Jiang Yashuang said, “I think Lu He is talented and has been working very hard these days. So, I plan to formally take him as my student. Anyway, he’ll turn 15 after the new year. Apart from studying, it’s time for him to go out and make some friends so that he can prepare for his being an official in the future. It will also be easier for him to act if he is formally recognized as my student.”

Lu He was one of the typical descendants of the Northern Army. His father, mother, and the former generations of his family had everything to do with the Northern Army. And all of his uncles served for the Northern Army. His origins made him part of the army side and so he was inevitably left out by the scholars, which was not good for building some relationships.

So, Jiang Yashuang intended to let him use the identity of being his student to enter the circle of scholars. After all, Jiang Yashuang was Tanhua, the Number Three Scholar, and had grown up in Jing City. Also, he had been in the imperial court for so many years. It would be better for Lu He if he introduced to people that he was Jiang Yashuang’s student rather than he was the son of a late guard of Sir Jibei.

After all, Jiang Yashuang had long wanted to take him as his student. So, it was natural for Jiang Yashuang to plan for Lu He.

Qiu Yelan asked, “Should I prepare something?”

“No need. Just have him give me a bowl of tea at that time.” Jiang Yashuang said, “I will invite a few people to be there as witnesses… A table in our yard will be enough.”

Qiu Yelan answered. She asked about the date and wrote it down on the apricot blossom note, and then pressed it into a corner of the desk so as not to forget it.

The matter of Lu He was not finished here. Jiang Yashuang continued, “He’ll be 15 next year. And it is time to think about his marriage. I have asked Mu Zixuan. The girls that he can introduce to Lu He are all descendants of the Northern Army, which is not very appropriate. After all, although Lu He is endowed with literary talent, he has little talent in horse riding and archery. And he is not very good at military strategies either. It will be much better for him to make his official career. Considering that, his wife should better be a lady from the official family.”

Even though there were desk jobs in the army, those who did those jobs were also not bad at horse riding and archery. Otherwise, when the army was about to move, did it make sense that they were in the sedan chair or wagon while the General, fully equipped, were riding horses?

Lu He was not good at military strategy. And it was clear that he wasn’t likely to be a wingman. So, Jiang Yashuang thought that Lu He would just look for trouble if he went to the army. Back then, Mu Zixuan probably thought of this when he took Lu He back to Jing City.

“So, whose daughter are you going to pick for him?” Qiu Yelan, as Jiang Yashuang’s wife, had seen Lu He several times. Lu He was a typical Northern hard man. Even though his nominal age was fourteen, he was already huge, dark, and good-looking.

Although Jiang Yashuang said that Lu He was not good at horse riding and archery and could not do well in the Northern army. But that was when he was compared to the elite border army. When compared to those unarmed scholars, Lu He could be barely considered a master of pen and sword.

So, Qiu Yelan thought it would not be difficult for him to find someone willing to marry his daughter to him. Particularly, Jiang Yashuang would arrange for Lu He in person.

“When my ninth brother-in-law saw Lu He last time, he was somewhat moved. And afterward, intentionally or unintentionally, he asked about whether Lu He was engaged to be married.” Jiang Yashuang mused, “But my ninth sister rarely comes back. I haven’t seen my nephews and nieces for a long time and so I don’t know what they are like now. After all, I intend to groom Lu He. I don’t want to hastily arrange for him to marry someone just for the sake of kinship!”

The bond between the teacher and his students caused the situation that in many cases, for the master, their students were more reliable than sons, let alone nieces. Jiang Yashuang had waited so long to find a student he liked. He didn’t want to give his student in marriage to a daughter of his relatives. It would be a great loss if Lu He became estranged from his master just because his master got him into an unhappy marriage. Jiang Yashuang’s nephew Jiang Jingkun and eldest son Jiang Jinglang were still young. They could not be counted on for more than a decade.

Before the male heirs he raised grew up, the resources of Jiang Yashuang would be tilted mainly towards Lu He. If his male heirs appeared to be not worthy of the resources, Lu He might even become the heir to all of Jiang Yashuang’s political resources in the future. It was just like why Xue Chang chose to increase his support for Qiu Jinglan immediately after Xue Nongying was seriously injured. With such high hopes for Lu He, Jiang Yashuang naturally would not let Lu He become resentful over the matter of marriage. For this reason, he did not mind refusing his relatives.

However, if there was someone good among his relatives’ daughters, he didn’t mind marrying his student off.

“Your ninth sister?” Qiu Yelan narrowed her eyes and thought to herself, “Isn’t it true that Jiang Qilai rarely comes back? I’ve been married into this family for a few years now. But apart from the day I got married, I’ve never seen her again, okay?”

So, she said, “I only met her once when I entered this family. At that time, she didn’t have her son or daughter with her! You don’t even know how her children are doing, let alone me. Now that it’s almost the lunar new year, why don’t I send someone to ask her to bring the children back this year? But she hasn’t come back in previous years. I don’t know if she’ll agree this year.”

Jiang Yashuang mused, “You should first ask someone to invite her. If she says she won’t come back, then I will go and invite her myself.” After thinking about it, he added, “It is different this year. After all, since my ninth brother-in-law has that intention, he will also find an opportunity to let us see what our nieces look like now. I think my ninth brother-in-law will not let go of this opportunity.”

Qiu Yelan looked at him and gave a half-laugh, saying nothing.

After a long time of silence, Jiang Yashuang said with resignation, “Well, there is no harm in telling you. But it’s somewhat awkward. My ninth sister may not be my father’s blood. So, she seldom comes back after she got married. And she usually does not like to hang out with us.”

“…” Qiu Yelan said, thunderstruck, “Who is her father?”

She had long felt that there was something odd about this elder sister-in-law Jiang Qilai. Setting the past aside, just from what Qiu Yelan had seen since she married, Jiang Qilai didn’t even show up at the lunar new year and festivals. And when Jiang Tianchi and his wife returned one after another after Sir Jibei passed away two years ago, they didn’t even see her come back to pay her respects. Qiu Yelan had thought that it was the same as what happened to Qiu Baozhu, who was treated badly by her first mother when she was an unmarried girl. So, after she got married, she refused to go back to her maiden family as if she finally escaped from the depths of hell!

But when Madame Zhuang came back, she seemed to care little about this baseborn daughter Jiang Qilai, unlike Old Princess Yang, who was full of hatred for Qiu Baozhu. Madame Zhuang bore Jiang Qilai no ill will or goodwill. It seemed that Jiang Qilai was just a stranger to her.

Anyway, it was hard to figure out the relationship between Jiang Qilai and the fourth branch of the Jiang Family.

But Qiu Yelan didn’t expect that Jiang Yashuang would give such an answer, which was quite astonishing!

“… Well, it’s not appropriate for us to talk about the elders’ previous affairs.” Jiang Yashuang hesitated for a moment and shook her head, “In short, my ninth sister may or may not be my father’s blood. But when we knew that, her name was already written in the genealogy book. So, if we didn’t admit her identity, we might not only drive the blood of the Jiang Family out of the family by mistake but also make my father disgraced. As such, my grandparents implied that the whole family should pretend to be confused together and treat her as if she was the real daughter of the Jiang Family. Since she was a girl anyway, there wouldn’t be any problems.”

Although he refused to go into detail, Qiu Yelan thought a little about it and could guess that Jiang Tianchi was cuckolded back then. And it was only after a relatively long period of time that the affair was discovered. That was why Jiang Qilai was born and recorded in the genealogy book.

She was speechless, “When it was around the day Jiang Qilai was born, Marquess Qin had come back to the court, joined forces with Empress Dowager Gu to suppress the court and become a powerful minister, hadn’t he? At that time, someone dared to covet his trueborn son’s mistress… I wonder what kind of person was so brave!”

It was no wonder that Jiang Qilai had dropped the Jiang Family after she got married. After all, although Qiu Yelan only found out about this until today, even Jiang Yashuang, the youngest grandson, knew about it. It was clear that most of the Jiang Family’s juniors knew about it. Even though they wouldn’t embarrass her with words, even just thinking about it, it kind of gave her embarrassment. So, she might as well not meet the Jiang Family!

Qiu Yelan was curious about this, “If that’s the case, how come your ninth sister married someone in Jing City and stayed here?” Girls of such unknown origins were supposed to be sent far away and never seen again, weren’t they? For example, before Sheng Shishui was old enough to marry, she couldn’t stay in the mansion of her nominal ‘father’ and had to be cultivated by her grandmother.

Jiang Yashuang replied with a dry smile, “Our family had originally planned to do the same. But I heard that my ninth sister had been liked by my ninth brother-in-law when she reached marriageable age… My ninth brother-in-law is the only son of his family. His parents did not want to let him down. So, they begged my grandfather to marry off my ninth sister to their son. My grandfather agreed. That was it.”

Qiu Yelan remembered that Jiang Qilai’s husband served in the Ministry of Revenue and her father-in-law had been serving as Minister of the Ministry of War. It was known to all that Jiang Tianqi was just Assistant Minister of War before. That was to say, Jiang Qilai’s father-in-law had been Jiang Tianqi’s immediate superior!

The Jiang Family, who started in the military, definitely wanted to hold the Ministry of War in their hands. However, in this case, Jiang Tianqi, the first trueborn son of Marquess Qin, was still unable to be the head of the Ministry of War, which showed the ability of this Minister.

“No wonder… Anyway, no matter whether Jiang Qilai is the blood of the Jiang Family, the Jiang Family is the one who raised her and gave her the status of the ninth young lady of the Jiang Family. Plus, the family of Minister of the Ministry of War is noble. When Marquess Qin wanted to win the alliance through her marriage for the sake of the Jiang Family, she would be in no position to refuse it!”

Qiu Yelan thought in her heart and then she nodded, “I’ll send someone tomorrow!”

The next day as she got up and she ordered someone to do this, Mujin reminded, “My young madame, you said that you would invite Miss Mei and Commandery Princess Yishu to come over for a visit after the postpartum confinement. I’m wondering if it’s this year or next year.”

“I almost forgot about this!” Qiu Yelan clapped her hands, “Hurry up and send them the invitation post as I’ll still have time in the next several days!”