Real Empress from a Noble Family

Jiang Qizheng chatted with Princess Yang for a long time. But she still didn’t see Qiu Yelan coming out. So, she suspected that Mrs. Gu and Tang who arrived early had done something to Commandery Princess Ningyi. She was about to make Princess Yang tell the truth by virtue of her Princess title. Finally, the sound of footsteps came from outside. And then a maid came in and reported, “Mrs. Gu and Commandery Princess Ningyi are here.”

Princess Yang smiled reluctantly and looked at Chunfu Princess. Although they were in the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe, Chunfu Princess and Princess Yang were the same level, besides Chunfu Princess was a guest. After Chunfu Princess nodded, Princess Yang then said, “Invite them in!”

After a while, Qiu Yelan came in leisurely. Mrs. Gu who dressed up followed her.

“Your Grace, do you have something to instruct us coming here today?” after some chitchats, Princess Yang finally asked the real question which everyone was thinking about.

Just like they thought, Jiang Qizheng said apologetically, “I’m here to explain the misinformation sent by our servant yesterday which damaged Commandery Princess Ningyi’s reputation.”

Princess Yang felt so bitter, “It’s hard enough to deal with just this little b*tch. And now Jiang Family is on her side! Can I live a peaceful life from now on?”

But she had to thank Jiang Qizheng with a fake smile for coming here personally to rehabilitate Prince’s Mansion of Xihe’s reputation. After the formality, Jiang Qizheng cut to the chase. She said exactly like how their family discussed last night, “We held a poetry party in Yunyi Restaurant yesterday. As for why we invited Commandery Princess Ningyi, I think Princess and Mrs. Gu already knew. However, what you two didn’t know was that I changed to men’s clothes halfway for convenience.”

At this point, everyone knew how Jiang Family was about to explain.

“We booked two adjacent private rooms in Yunyi Restaurant yesterday. It’s just one of the rooms that was booked under Yadan’s name. Of course, he and Yashuang also booked a room. But it was far from our rooms.”

Jiang Family thought Jiang Yadan did one thing right. That was booking another private room besides “Binghu Xianyu” secretly in order to teach Jiang Yashuang how to be a qualified man of Jiang Family. He did this to avoid having no place to stay.

“One of the adjacent rooms was for us to hold the poetry party. The other was for Commandery Princess Ningyi. Because we might horse around in the poetry party. Commandery Princess Ningyi was still in mourning. It was inconvenient for her. So, she went to the other room to rest after she enjoyed the sight of begonia for a while.”

Jiang Qizheng said calmly, “But since I invited her, I certainly couldn’t leave her in the other room alone. So, I went to keep her company for a while. Who would think that someone started a rumour? Because I wore men’s clothes. Yashuang went along with Yadan yesterday. And we just happened to be in the same restaurant.”

“I got tired after a while. I remembered that my grandmother mentioned that she wanted to meet Commandery Princess Ningyi. So, I went back home with Commandery Princess Ningyi and my two sisters. I was in the same carriage with Commandery Princess Ningyi. Yadan was worried about us. So, he asked Yashuang to go back with us. To our surprise, someone misrepresented this as Yadan taking Commandery Princess Ningyi to the residence. People who started the rumour were absolutely crazy.”

“I see. I wondered how could Yelan do such a shameless thing since she always behaves herself and Prince’s Mansion of Xihe has strict family rules?” it was not Princess Yang who replied, but Mrs. Gu.

For a moment, everyone in the room including Jiang Qizheng was stunned. Seeing Mrs. Gu’s convinced expression and her look towards Qiu Yelan filling with pity, even Qiu Yelan was stupefied. She threatened Tang and Mrs. Gu at the back just now. In this way, they wouldn’t attempt to manipulate her anymore, and they would break her engagement with Deng Yi as soon as possible.

What did Mrs. Gu want to do?

Qiu Yelan’s face went dark all the sudden.

Seeing this, Mrs. Gu said humbly, “I asked you not to go out as you pleased in the future just now. Because I have heard so many people talking about it. How could I doubt you? Now Chunfu Princess comes here in person in order to clear your name. If you are still unhappy, I will apologize to you, okay?”

Mrs. Gu continued, “I don’t have daughters. I always want to treat my daughter-in-law as my daughter. You can’t treat me as a stranger because of this….”

Qiu Yelan said with a gloomy face, “You are too serious. How do I dare to ask you to apologize to me?”

Seeing this, Jiang Qizheng said as if deep in thought, “It looks like Commandery Princess Ningyi and Mrs. Gu have something to discuss. And I interrupted you guys? In that case, you guys do what you please. I will be fine here with Princess Yang.”

Hearing this, Qiu Yelan didn’t decline. She stood up at once and saluted. Then she said to Mrs. Gu flatly, “If you have something to say, let’s go outside and talk.”

Then those two went out of the room. Just when they were at some secluded place, Mrs. Gu stopped Qiu Yelan suddenly, “Can we talk in private?”

Qiu Yelan was used to face zombies alone. Of course, she was okay with this.

After sent away the servants, with a bang sound, Mrs. Gu knelt in front of her without saying anything.

“Why are you doing this?” Qiu Yelan’s look changed. She moved aside at once. But she didn’t look surprised. She said coldly, “Didn’t you see what I did just now? Do you think you can bind me to your son by doing this?”

Seeing that Qiu Yelan didn’t want to accept her salute, Mrs. Gu still bowed to Qiu Yelan. When she looked up, she was crying, “Since you already knew, then I’ll cut to the chase. I’ll agree to anything as long as you help my son escape from Gu Yan.”

Qiu Yelan shook her head, “Who do you think I am? You might as well ask Her Majesty for help instead of me. Or go back and ask Chunfu Princess for help which is also more reliable than asking me.”

Mrs. Gu choked with sobs, “That’s useless. Those two aren’t afraid of Gu Yan. But how could they be willing to help my son?”

“But why should I help him?” Qiu Yelan asked, “I also avoid Gu Yan as possible as I can.”

“You just don’t want to be in this mess. You must have a solution.” Mrs. Gu said with a bitter smile, “Seeing what you did to Tang, I knew that if you married to my son, you could never let Gu Yan caste eyes at you and my son. I know you are out of my son’s league now. I’m not asking you guys to become a real couple. I just want you to help him after you guys are married. When he is free, if you want to remarry, I’m willing to give you eighty percent of my family’s property.”

Qiu Yelan sneered, “Mrs. Gu, you are so naive. Just because I tore up Tang’s clothes and hit her badly enough which made her not dare to talk back today, then you think I’m able to deal with Gu Yan? In the final analysis, I just caught you guys off guard today. Besides we are in Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. If I were in Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang, a crowd of old maidservants might rush into the room to fight with me when I just pulled down Tang’s clothes a little.”

She said coldly, “How am I capable of dealing with Gu Yan? Besides, to be honest, I never thought of marrying your son. Let alone become a real couple.”

“Do you want me to kill myself in front of you?” all words turned into a deep sigh, Mrs. Gu asked despairingly. Mrs. Gu thought for a while. She realized that she didn’t know how to deal with her future daughter-in-law.

Qiu Yelan squinted and said with a faint smile, “I’m really sorry. I’m more hard-hearted than you think. Besides, do you think you can kill yourself in front of me if I don’t want to watch?”

Mrs. Gu choked a bit and then sniffed. She moved towards Qiu Yelan on her knees and tried to grab her dress. Seeing Qiu Yelan moving backward warily, she lowered her hands disappointedly. She stood up slowly and whispered, “Fine. It seems like I have nothing to impress you now. But… could you please hear the story of my son? Maybe after you hear it, you will be willing to help him?”

Qiu Yelan thought that she had her hands full with her own matters. How could she have time to mind others’ business? Besides, it was something that could hurt herself!

She had a good impression of Deng Yi. But it was not good enough to take a risk for him!

But Mrs. Gu begged again, “I heard that Princess Ruan adored you very much when she was alive. And you also loved her a lot. For Princess Ruan’s sake, you just consider this as pity for a mother, okay?”

As it had come to this, Qiu Yelan thought of her parents of her last life. She puckered her lips for a long time and finally nodded, “Fine!”

“As a matter of fact, it was all my fault!” after got her permission, Mrs. Gu couldn’t help crying, “Back when Yi’s father was alive, I lived in Deng Family with his father. But I was young and stupid back then. I felt that because his father was born in a farmer’s family. Even he got the Tanhua and got into Hanlin Academy, the house he bought was still not luxury enough and food and clothing were not delicate enough! Although my mother is a concubine, old Princess of Guangyang raised me like her own daughter. So, after she heard me saying that I was uncomfortable living in Deng Family, she sent people to take me back to Prince’s Mansion from time to time… Then Yi’s father was gone. Not long after that, old Princess was gone too….”

At this point, Mrs. Gu’s face suddenly went pale. It was like she felt some unbearable pain at that moment. She adjusted her breath for a while and then continued, “Old Princess treated me as her own. Of course I was devastated when she was gone. I brought Yi to the Prince’s Mansion to offer our condolences. Gu Yan persuaded me to stay in the Prince’s Mansion with Yi at that time. He said he was afraid that I might be too toilsome on my own.”

“But actually he was after Deng Yi?” Qiu Yelan felt she had heard enough of the story. So, she said, “According to my knowledge, Gu Yan didn’t just begin to like both men and women in these few years, right?” since he was always like that, could it kill you to take precaution?

Mrs. Gu said bitterly, “Ruan Qingyan is known for being heartless among the prostitutes.

But will you suspect him of having evil agendas towards you?”

Seeing that Qiu Yelan was frowning, she sighed ruefully, “I trusted Gu Yan back then as much as you trust Ruan Qingyan right now. Just so you know, although I’m his aunt, I’m only a few years older than him. Because old Princess adored me. We were like siblings. Yi was only 4 or 5 years old. How could I know that he liked handsome young men and was after Yi since that time?”

Qiu Yelan thought she and her son both had stunning beauties. But they didn’t think about maintaining vigilance to others. She really was the one to blame for what had happened to his son!

“So, Gu Yan forced Deng Yi after he grew up?” Qiu Yelan asked.

Mrs. Gu smiled tragically, “If it were just like that… When Yi was young, Gu Yan led him to like men behind everyone’s back. When I found out about it, Yi didn’t even want to be close to me!”

Qiu Yelan was enlightened. It turned out that Gu Yan made Deng Yi a misogynist!

“Your son is only in his teens after all. If you teach him now, it may be reversible.” Qiu Yelan squinted and said, “As for getting rid of Gu Yan, I think you’d better place hopes on the Empress Dowager. According to my few meetings with her, she quite likes Deng Yi. And he is talented. He only needs to make the Empress Dowager see his talent and feel that he is worthy of her protection. Empress Dowager surely will do right by him. As for me, just like I said before I couldn’t help him.”

The gleam of Mrs. Gu’s eyes was dim at once, “I once knelt before Empress Dowager for 8 hours.”

You could guess the result.

“Are you really going to watch him die?” seeing Qiu Yelan’s poker face, Mrs. Gu asked disconsolately, “I always hope my son could have a talented wife. So, she could help him. I thought since you were picked by Gu Yan, you definitely wouldn’t be the one who could help him. Unexpectedly, Gu Yan was wrong!”

“I thought you were my son’s savior. Isn’t there a saying that every cloud has a silver lining?” Seeing that she was about to leave, Mrs. Gu approached and dragged her dress desperately, “Could you just take pity on us? Take pity on Yi? He really is not bad, is he?”

Qiu Yelan turned around and looked at her with frustration, “You have the courage to please me, the one who just humiliated you! You have the courage to bow down to me! You have the courage to threaten to kill yourself in front of me! Why don’t you have the courage to help your son by yourself? You are unreasonable enough to place illusional hope on a vixenish daughter-in-law?”

Mrs. Gu was stunned!

“Anyway, if you want to save your son, do it by yourself. Don’t drag me into it!” Qiu Yelan said flatly, “Otherwise, I may not be able to help him. But I surely can make it worse!” although she didn’t hate Deng Yi, as for Mrs. Gu, a certain warning was necessary. Qiu Yelan didn’t want to be tricked by her at the crucial moment because of her hatred!

What she didn’t know was that after watching her leave Mrs. Gu’s look became very calm all of the sudden. She didn’t look like someone who begged one’s junior but got nothing. Instead, she was relieved. She muttered to herself, “Why did ‘Tianya’ ask me to use my son as an excuse to beg this little girl?”

On second thought, she sighed, “Eh. I just wish they could make a move as soon as possible and help me and Yi get rid of Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang. Why do I bother about other things?”

The breeze blew across her stunning face. But it couldn’t blow away her sadness.