Chapter 56 - Asked Her to See Me
Chapter 56 Asked Her to See Me
Qiu Yelan said with a smile, “Uncle Mengmin, if I really have a good idea, won’t you listen? What a shame. Even if big brother inherits your title, half of his thought is on study and the other half is on women for all these years, talking about how to manage a family, in my opinion he may not be better than me, does he? After you and aunt left, I wonder who will benefit from your assets?”
Princess Yang snarled, “How dare you despoil our assets?”
“Uncle, Yang Family can’t be trusted. Ding Family is not better,” Qiu Yelan blinked and yelled towards inside, “Has Ding Family ever helped you this time? They follow Prime Minister Xue wholeheartedly. They were willing to marry their official daughter to big brother before. Because they felt satisfied that you had no connection with the two Empresses. Otherwise, Miss Ding is said to be excellent. And their family values the close descent system. How could they marry her to big brother? I’m sure that Ding Family must feel so remorseful and angry right now. Even Miss Ding marries big brother, I’m afraid that her family won’t be acquainted with you.”
Qiu Mengmin and his wife knew that she was up to no good. However, what she said was the truth which they both could think of. It was hard for them not to listen.
She vowed solemnly, “So, the safest way is that you keep on being the Duke of Xihe, isn’t it?”
Princess Yang slammed the door and whispered with Qiu Mengmin inside the room for a while. Finally, they asked her to go in. If Qiu Mengmin had any other choice, he definitely wouldn’t abdicate in his son’s favor in advance. Besides, Princess Yang would never agree to let the concubine’s eldest son inherit the Duke title.
They couldn’t agree with each other. Although they knew that Qiu Yelan wouldn’t help them unconditionally, they chose to listen to her with a flicker of hope.
Just like what they thought, after Qiu Yelan went in, she said directly, “Lu caused all the trouble. If she were gone, you wouldn’t be in a pickle, would you?”
“… You bastard! Are you trying to encourage me to kill my mother?” Qiu Mengmin and his wife were stunned for a moment. Then Qiu Mengmin regained his sense. His forehead veins twitched. He was about to stand up and hit her. However, his wound caused by the flogging ached right when he made a move. Princess Yang took care of him in a hurry. However, her heart was pounding rapidly.
For Qiu Mengmin, this suggestion made him furious!
But for Princess Yang, this suggestion was so adorable!
Thinking about how much she had suffered from Madame Lu in public and in private for all these years, Princess Yang nearly applauded for this idea on the spot.
As an abandoned concubine, Madame Lu should consider herself lucky that her son and daughter-in-law were willing to take her back and support her as the old Princess. However, she couldn’t behave herself. She used to instigate her daughter and granddaughter to trick her daughter-in-law and the other granddaughter. And now she and her husband were about to lose their titles because of her. Every daughter-in-law would hate this kind of mother-in-law who had an awkward position and caused troubles.
“But Prince definitely won’t agree! This evil little girl… what is her backup plan?” Princess Yang withheld her anticipated look and sneaked a peek at Qiu Yelan. She sincerely prayed that her niece could have an incredible explosion of ideas and convinced Qiu Mengmin at once.
Luckily, Qiu Yelan didn’t let her down. She said with a smile, “Uncle, you went too far. I was just telling the truth. Just be honest, if Lu were gone now, who wouldn’t say that you guys were loving and caring mother and son who had mutual understanding? All the officials who wouldn’t pity you at that time? Empress Dowager will definitely speak for you. She will call off the officials who are about to come and do the verification in three days and let you continue being the Duke of Xihe. This should be considered as sacrificing one person to make your whole family happy!”
Qiu Mengmin sneered with a pale face, “How could you have such a lunatic idea at this young age….”
“No one else is here now except aunt. Don’t say these grand words,” Qiu Yelan turned hostile so quickly. Her face went dark at once. She said coldly, “If Lu hadn’t murdered my mother with poison and harmed my grandfather, and she had also tried to kill me which drove me into a corner, how could I have been so ruthless? You guys don’t give me a way out. How can you expect me to serve you guys respectfully? Wake up! My father and brother had a short life. If one of them were still alive, even my grandmother was gone, you guys would lower yourselves to please me in a hurry. And it would be depended on my mood whether I paid attention to you guys or not!”
She sneered and squinted at Princess Yang, “I used my mother’s money to pay for my living when I lived in the Prince’s Mansion for all these years. And you guys have the reputation of raising me! So does the Prince’s Mansion! I can let that go. Just think about how you guys treated me for all these years. Even my grandmother treated you guys badly back then, how did it concern me and my mother? Considering the way you guys treated me and how badly you guys treated me for all these years, it’s reasonable that I ruin you guys.”
Biting her lips, Princess Yang couldn’t help saying, “Then why are you presenting ideas to my husband now?” before her voice had died away, Qiu Mengmin raised his hand and slapped her. She got slapped onto the ground, “Vicious woman! Are you really considering it?”
“I just wanted to know what she was up to!” Princess Yang couldn’t win the fight between her, Madame Lu and Qiu Yuqing for all these years. Because her husband was so bias. She got used to be shamed by Qiu Mengmin. But it was the first time that she was slapped in front of her niece. She felt sad and wronged. She couldn’t help yelling, “When did I say that I would follow her plan?”
Seeing them turning against each other, a meaningful look flashed through Qiu Yelan’s eyes, “If Qiu Mengmin really determined not to exchange Lu for his title, why did he react so strongly? How angry he was at Princess Yang proved how wavered he was!”
This was not strange. Qiu Hongzhi and Qiu Yinzhi both were not able to manage the property of Prince Mansion of Xihe. Qiu Yelan was tricking them step by step inside the family. Empress and her clique were eyeing up them outside the family. Qiu Mengmin was forced by the situation to resign his title. If he did resign, it might be the beginning of his family being ripped apart and his property being passed into others’ hands.
Even if he didn’t think of himself, he should at least think of his kids, right?
However, Qiu Yelan didn’t expose Qiu Mengmin’s thought. She said slowly, “I have presented you with the idea. You guys can discuss whether to accept it or not. I’m going to leave now.”
Just when she was out of the room, a blue vase was smashed against the doorsill.
“Your Grace!” Su He who was waiting outside was surprised. She asked if she was hurt in a hurry.
Qiu Yelan said casually, “It’s okay. I wear a lot of clothes in the winter.”
She turned to Kang Lizhang, “You are still here?”
“You didn’t instruct me what to do before you went in. How can I leave without talking to you?” Kang Lizhang smiled in a hurry.
Qiu Yelan looked at her cousin who was resilient with interest. She tucked her hair behind her ear and moved close to her ear. She chuckled and said, “It’s the best that you are here. I have an errand for you to run.”
After a while, in the main hall at the backyard, Madame Lu was livid, “She asked me to see her?”
“That damned little b*tch…” just when Qiu Yuqing began to speak, Madame Lu glared at her. She snarled, “Shut up!”
“Grandmother don’t be mad!” Kang Lizhang who came to deliver the message poured some tea and handed it to her in a hurry. She also patted on her back and rubbed her chest. She comforted her in a soft voice, “My mother is always straight forward. If we aren’t protected by you, I don’t know how we could survive for all these years….” She was already sobbing at this point.
There was a reason that Madame Lu was bias toward her daughter’s family. Although Qiu Yuqing was vulgar and ignorant, she followed Madame Lu’s every instruction. Just like Madame Lu was, her granddaughter Kang Lizhang was talented, beautiful and resourceful. She was also honeymouthed and ingenious. She knew how to make people happy. Madame Lu liked her from the bottom of her heart.
For her granddaughter’s sake, Madame Lu wanted to keep scolding her daughter, but she withheld herself at last. She took over the tea and sighed, “Although you guys will still be with me in the future, I don’t know how our lives will be.”
“As long as we are with you, it’s a good life no matter what,” Kang Lizhang said softly.
Madame Lu felt warm at heart. She was about to say something. But she got a glimpse of her daughter’s unhappy face. She couldn’t help getting angry. She kicked her with a mild-to-medium force and snarled, “Do you know why I didn’t just ask you to come here, but also asked Hongzhi and others not to go there the moment I heard that little thing was coming? You imbecile. Now your brother is about to lose his title. And we don’t even have a title of nobility. And you want to go and pick a fight with a Commandery Princess. Do you want to give her something to hold against us?”
Qiu Yuqing said indignantly, “So what she is a Commandery Princess? She is still my niece!”
“You are such a blockhead!” Madame Lu was so furious that she didn’t know what to say to her. She said hatefully, “That’s true that she ranks as your junior. But do you forget Lian Family? Lian Family happens to have an old bastard left! I assure you that once you take advantage of your seniority in the family, she will go back to Lian Family to cry for help immediately. Then they will come to seek justice using their seniority in the family right away.”
“Lian Chen just has a Xiucai title. He is nothing…” before Qiu Yuqing could finish her sentence, Madame Lu couldn’t withhold herself anymore. She had already kicked her for a few times. She said with a sneer, “Even if he was a beggar, you guys should respect him in front of others because he was Lian’s official brother.”
Her daughter was so stupid. Lian Chen and the other two were taken to the city by Jiang Family. Although Lian Chen didn’t have an official rank, he had the Empress and her clique to back him up. Even if he had no one, this kind of obvious flaw would cause Prince’s Mansion trouble sooner or later.
Madame Lu couldn’t help regretting that she only focused on cultivating Qiu Mengmin and Qiu Hongzhi and neglected to teach her daughter. Because she didn’t expect that they could go back to the Prince’s Mansion. She thought they would be down and out forever. So, her daughter grew up to be a total short-sighted woman in the marketplace.
But it was too late to train Qiu Yuqing. So, after kicking her Madame Lu drew a deep sigh, “Lizhang, come in and help me get dressed. Isn’t she just a 13 years old Commandery Princess? It’s not like I haven’t seen her before. Since Empress Dowager has agreed that my son can support me outside the Mansion, what can she do to me?”
Kang Lizhang held Madame Lu carefully and accompanied her to the inner chamber. She felt perturbed and confused, “What exactly did Qiu Yelan say to First Uncle and First Aunt after she went into the inner chamber? She asked me to tell grandmother to go to her yard after she went out… what exactly does she want?”
“Your Grace, what do you want to do?” when it was about time, Su He asked curiously in the courtyard which was roughly cleaned, “Madame Lu is the most insidious and vicious person. You asked her to come here. What shall we do if she brings a lot of people with her to bully us? Or she accuses us of doing something to her?”
“That’s why I whispered in Cousin Kang’s ear and asked her to invite Madame Lu here just now instead of me going to her,” Qiu Yelan said contentedly, “Do you think I will admit that it’s me who invited Madame Lu here? It could be her who brought people here to mess with us after she knew that I was back to the Prince’s Mansion.”
“…” all the servants went silent for a while because of her low moral principle. Su He continued, “Then what do you want asking her to come here? Is it for old Princess and Princess’s stuff which they took from us?”
Speaking of which, Su He’s eyes were full of hope.
Qiu Yelan frowned unexpectedly. She instructed in a low voice, “None of you shall mention anything about the stuff later! Not even a word or a look!”
“Why?” not just Su He was surprised, Mrs. Zhou, Chunran and Xiaran who came back with her also felt unbelievable, “If we don’t take back our stuff while the condition is good for us, afterwards…”
“Just listen to me!” Qiu Yelan was about to say something. She heard voices outside her courtyard suddenly. She instructed forcefully at once, “Who dares to disobey me. Don’t resent me for being ruthless.”
Su He and others looked at each other and then said, “Okay!”
Before their voices had died away, someone knocked on the door.