Chapter 50 - Battle of Wits, or Cruelty?
Chapter 50 Battle of Wits, or Cruelty?
Mrs. Pang smiled and said meaningfully, “Your Grace, the point is not who I am, but do you really believe what in the letter?”
Qiu Yelan glanced coldly at her and then read the letter again. In fact, there was only one sentence on it, “There is a two-inch scar under Pang Lu’s left rib.”
— As in common sense, this kind of private physical features could only be known by close family members!
For Ruan Qingyan, who just finished mourning period for Aunt and had a seriously ill grandfather at home, it would be better to admit that Mrs. Pang as his former official mother than admitting that he was mingling with people like Hua Shenshen for these days!
“She’s utilizing cousin’s prospect to force me to surrender!” Qiu Yelan was anxious and angry, “People in Jing City are not familiar with cousin, so if Mrs. Pang could tell his personal body features but tell some other lies, no one else could be able to make any doubt. If we want to overthrow her so-called official mother identity, how could we make it without going to the south to find evidence? But not to mention the time to make a round trip, will the Empress Dowager sit by? The Empress is now focusing on the letter of the Lian Family, so certainly at this very moment she would not spare any time to care about cousin!”
Qiu Yelan knew the odds are against them at present— Empress Dowager had sent a follower of a Censor-in-chief in her party to their mansion, so definitely she should confidently have had a good enough handle instead of playing tricks. However, she did not directly ruin Ruan Qingyan, but come to them after Ruan Qingyan attending the exam. Surely this was not due to kindness but aiming to utilize their last moment defection to severely attack Empress Jiang!
“It seems that the Empress Dowager failed in obtaining the Lian Family’s letter! So they have to play some other tricks, using my cousin’s matter to incite defection me! What should I do now?” She hurriedly thought, putting the letter back on the table, and looked at the determined Mrs. Pang, “How if I believe it? And how if I not?”
Mrs. Pang had never expected she didn’t panic at all in such a young age, she froze and then said with a smile, “If Your Grace believes, I will surely tell you something about my young son. But if Your Grace don’t believe me, as my humble identity, of course I would not be able to disturb you. I bid you farewell in no time.”
Seeing that Qiu Yelan had no intention of pressing her to stay, Mrs. Pang frowned, “You would believe once you take off Pang Lu’s clothes and check it after he’s back from the exam.”
After saying this, she saluted and walked towards the door. When approaching the threshold, she stopped suddenly, turning back, and smiled slightly, “My elder son and I will temporarily stay in the Mansion of Censor for these days, if Your Grace want another meet, just ask people to there to tell me. I could come and greet Your Grace at any time.”
Qiu Yelan replied indifferently, “Got it, you could leave now!”
Soon after Mrs. Pang went out, Su He and Dongran pushed in the door with a look of surprise, and said before Qiu Yelan opened mouth, “The Juren Li outside just bid us farewell and left.”
Then they asked, “Your Grace, how about Mrs. Pang?”
“Come here, Dongran, I have something to ask you.” Although Qiu Yelan had almost believed it, she still wanted to ask Ruan Qingyan’s personal maid to make sure. Looked like preoccupied and solemn, she asked Dongran to come and put the letter in her hand, “Is this true or false?”
Dongran took a look and her face clouded, “Oops!”
Now she had known the result before being replied, and she sighed, “Since this is the case, just send someone to ask Mrs. Pang to come here in these two days and let’s listen to her bargaining conditions.”
“Wait!” Dongran held the letter in hand, biting her lip, and suddenly said, “The young master enjoined me before that if anyone came to the door claiming as his official mother, he asked me to find a person first.”
Qiu Yelan asked in great surprise, “To find who?”
“I don’t know, the young master merely told me the address.” Dongran requested, “May I go there first tonight? Could Your Grace call back that Mrs. Pang later if someone there couldn’t solve the problem?” Both they know that it would be nice for Mrs. Pang to only blackmail for a great amount without making any other trouble after she had such a big handle of Ruan Qingyan.
But she would definitely force these couple of cousins into the dead-end!
So, of course it would be better to out of the dilemma in other ways.
Qiu Yelan then asked, “Have you got anything to prepare before going?”
“As young master’s instruction, I would prepare for it.” Dongran replied with equivocation.
Realizing that she didn’t want to reveal too much, Qiu Yelan didn’t continue to ask but only said, “Be careful then, if you need, go with a servant in the Mansion as companion. It is not safe for a girl to go alone at night.”
Dongran smiled apologetically and then replied, “Yes, I would.”
Even though she said like this in the daytime, she still went out alone through the back door after nightfall.
Su He knew it, and she doubted when making the bed for Qiu Yelan in the evening as Chunran and Xiaran paid no attention, “Who is sister Dongran meeting on earth? She is going to see this guy at night, and even worse, she insists to go alone?”
“We’ll know after she comes back.” Qiu Yelan thought that Ruan Qingyan obviously had high martial arts, so his personal maid Dongran might have also been trained. The reason she didn’t go out with any servant at night may not be her confidence to walk alone safely but could be avoiding being noticed by others.
“I don’t know who she is meeting with, and what is cousin’s pre-arrangement?” Qiu Yelan guessed, “Dongran didn’t answer directly just now, but it seemed like she was pretty sure that ‘the man’ could solve this matter of Mrs. Pang. Also, it was after she saw the letter! Is it someone bigwig? But how could he be more powerful and influential than Empress Dowager? I guess at present, even Empress may not have the time to protect cousin?”
Suddenly she thought of Xue Chang, “Before cousin came to Jing City, he seemed to plan to be his disciple, even when the chief examiner of the experimental examination in spring had not been decided. But cousin was firmly determined…. Did cousin and Xue Chang keep in touch a long time ago? Is Dongran going to meet with Xue Chang?!”
The leader of the neutral party, who was valued by both Empress Dowager and Empress, was indeed extraordinary in influence…. But how would Xue Chang get Ruan Qingyan out of this conspiracy? It’s impossible to take refuge in Empress Dowager….
Qiu Yelan guessed several bigwigs but only found none of them match, so she quit woolgathering and just simply waited. In the middle of the night, Dongran returned and rushed to Lvqiang Court to see whether her master stayed up or not.
Surely Dongran was heard and was asked to come into the inner chamber to report at once, and she said, “That… ‘that man’ has promised to help us resolve this matter. Your Grace, please don’t worry about it anymore!”
Qiu Yelan thought for a while, then tentatively asking, “What is he going to do?”
“In short, Mrs. Pang and her son will have no chance to claim as the mother and brother of the young master!” Dongran said firmly.
“Can you tell me who this person is?” Qiu Yelan again speculated for a long time, and finally couldn’t hold back her curiosity and asked.
Dongran smiled apologetically again, “The young master and ‘the man’ both urged me to avoid leaking any message of him.”
“… Fine.” Slightly being snubbed, Qiu Yelan was embarrassed to further utilize her identity to compel Dongran to answer, so she thought about coquettishly asking cousin after Ruan Qingyan comes back from exam.
But although she decided not to make a detailed inquiry, Mrs. Pang visited her again on the last day before imperial examination in spring finished. And she implied that if Qiu Yelan kept being unrepentant and persistent, she would invite followers and servants of the Qiu Family to wait outside the examination spot tomorrow, in order to claim Ruan Qingyan as her son in the presence of all scholars!
Qiu Yelan looked at Dongran’s expression and ignored Mrs. Pang, but after Mrs. Pang was politely asked off, she felt a little perturbed, “Are you sure? This matters to my cousin’s whole life!”
“Please rest assured, Your Grace. It would be perfectly solved.” Dongran affirmed, “How dare I crack a joke of the young master’s prospect?”
According to Ruan Qingyan’s shrewdness, Qiu Yelan supposed his personal maid should be also credible.
But she kept tossing and turning in bed until dawn.
Getting up early and calling servant to wash her face with cold water, Qiu Yelan tried best to brace herself up. She then arrived at outside of the examination compound by carriage. Watching the scene of the crowded servants gathering to pick up their masters for a while, the white linen handkerchief was soon squeezed and crumpled by her.
Noticing her nervousness, Dongran can’t help to comfort, “No worries, master! There will be definitely fine!”
As soon as her voice fell, Qiu Yelan’s expression changed slightly, and she looked outside the carriage, “They’re coming!”
Su He and others followed her gaze, with all their hearts sank, “Mrs. Pang! Pang Biao!”
“As well as Li Gui and some others, presumably other followers of the Qiu family?” Su He pressed her chest and whispered, “These?”
Everyone in the carriage now looked at Dongran.
But Dongran was still calm, “It doesn’t matter, just ignore them.”
Qiu Yelan barely enough managed to ignore them, but this group of people obstinately squeezed out of the crowd to their carriage.
Because the examinees were about to come out, and there were so many people around, all people were no longer at ease to wait. Mrs. Pang came up and lifted the curtain of the carriage, saying coldly, “Your Grace, this is the last chance we have before I ignore family affection. Don’t you really not consider talking with us in the tea house over there?”
Finding Qiu Yelan hesitating, Dongran replied before she answered, “You are such a rude woman! Who allows you to lift the curtain of our carriage?! Get off!”
Driving Mrs. Pang away, she apologized humbly to Qiu Yelan, “We really don’t need to care about them….”
“But how to explain it later?” Although Qiu Yelan felt that based on Ruan Qingyan’s sophistication, his trusted subordinate should not be unreliable, but seeing that Mrs. Pang and her fellows gathering forward to the gate of the examination compound, she also felt suspicious of Dongran.
Dongran closed her mouth tightly and have no idea about what to say. At this time, the gate of the examination compound opened. As a large number of examinees of different expressions poured out, the original wide field in front of the examination compound was full of people while the crowd continually surged. The servants who were sent by Qiu Yelan to find Ruan Qingyan were all submerged and disappeared in one second!
Qiu Yelan felt worse and worse in her heart. She suddenly raised her hand and squeezed Dongran’s neck, “Did you mean to intentionally hurt my cousin?!”
Before she finished her words, from the gate of the examination compound several yelps rang out, “Murdering!”
“Someone’s murdering!!!”
“Where is the murderer? How does he disappear in a blink? Yamen runner! Please come over, yamen runner! A candidate is assassinated!”
Qiu Yelan froze, wondering how could a murder take place at the gate of the examination compound in broad daylight, especially at this time just after the test?! Then she saw the swelling crowd was separated, and two yamen runners carried a person who has a bleeding wound under ribs running towards her, “Is this the carriage of General Ruan’s Mansion? We’re really sorry for failing to stop an unknown madman from assassinating young master Ruan! Fortunately, the young master only hurt the left rib, and this will not be life-threatening!”
Qiu Yelan subconsciously lowered her hand, which was squeezing Dongran’s neck. When she jumped off the carriage, she happened to notice the shocked and furious Mrs. Pang in the crowd. As they glanced at each other, such shock and anger in her eyes made Qiu Yelan exhaled heavily!