Real Empress from a Noble Family

Chapter 452 Interlocking Stratagems?

Madame Zhuang learned that as well. So, she was a bit surprised, “Empress Dowager and Emperor… Isn’t it Empress Dowager and Emperor who are in charge? Why would you ask me, a wife of an official?”

It was impossible for Marquess Qin to move in this condition, let alone go to Mount Dizi. He could not go, neither could the Jiang Family. So, of course, the imperial family couldn’t go there for a summer holiday, either! How could the Jiang Family let go of power just because Marquess Qin was ill? They would seize power to prevent others from being in a panic when the news about Marquess Qin’s condition was spread!

Normally, Empress Dowager Jiang and Emperor should have known better and taken the initiative to cancel this year’s plan to spend the summer!

However, now they sent someone to ask if they should go there for the summer. Even though Madame Zhuang was not very good at politics, she also instinctively felt that something was wrong. As she saw that the person who came here was a trusted subordinate of Empress Dowager, she asked, “Did someone say something to Empress Dowager and Emperor?”

The visitor smiled, “Not really.”

When Madame Zhuang saw him stop after saying that, something occurred to her. She raised her hand and said, “Leave us, all of you!”

After clearing the room, the visitor whispered, “Empress Dowager has recently discovered that there are some suspicious people among the Imperial Guard who guard the palace. She wanted to catch these men right away, but Marquess Qin suddenly fell ill. And it is spreading panic in the palace. Empress Dowager is worried that if she takes action now, chaos will be caused. Especially, Empress is due in July!”

Madame Zhuang said with understanding, “So, Empress Dowager wants to use the excuse of spending the summer and take Empress to Mount Dizi so that she can vacate the palace to catch those people?”

“Madame, you are right.” The visitor whispered, “If I may say so, this is not a big deal in normal times. The only concern is that they don’t do anything. As long as they show up, it just needs the order to catch them, doesn’t it? However, Madame, you know it. Marquess Qin…”

Marquess Qin acted as such a significant deterrent, which could bring both good and bad things. When he was well, no one underneath dared to take action. However, when something happened to him, all wanted to do something!

“We can’t really just pick and go for the summer.” Madame Zhuang pondered for a moment and said, “Now that my father is ill, my mother is also tired after so many days of accompanying him. All right, when they can discuss things in a couple of days, I’ll report it to them and see what they think. As you know, I am just a woman and a junior. How can I make decisions on such matters?”

The visitor didn’t hang up on that. He thanked her and excused himself to return to the palace and report it.

Madame Zhuang summoned her children to discuss the matter at once. “The assassination of Jingzhan turned out to be the work of the remaining members of the Gus. Empress Dowager found out about the dissidents in the imperial guards before your grandfather fell ill. Could it be that the remaining members of the Gus have set up interlocking stratagems?”

Someone first killed Jiang Jingzhan to get Kui Xiannan to fall ill and then used Kui Xiannan’s condition of being confined to bed to spur Marquess Qin. If they looked at it this way, it seemed to make sense that the remaining members of the Gus would risk being traced out by sending the Man of Sacrifice to assassinate the not-so-brilliant great-grandson of the Jiang Family in Kui County.

“Our grandfather must not move now. We, as his descendants, must not stay away from his couch” This time, because Jiang Yadan was there, it was not appropriate for Chu Yitong to be the first to answer. However, Jiang Yadan was too lazy to use his brain on serious matters until he had to. So, with that, he immediately looked at his brother.

Jiang Yashuang had to come out and say, “So, regardless of whether or not Emperor and Empress Dowager go to Mount Dizi this year, our family will definitely not be able to go. However, the safety of my fourth aunt, Emperor, and Empress cannot be ignored!”

Empress Dowager and Emperor had no power. But they are essential as a front! Empress, who was created by the Jiang Family and was pregnant with the heir, was the guarantee that the Jiang Family would continue to hold the reins of power. She must be safe and sound!

“But our family is just an official family. If there are decisions to be made, they all have to be submitted or reported to Emperor face to face. And then Empress Dowager and Emperor will issue an edict.” Madame Zhuang frowned, “It is troublesome for the royal family to go to Mount Dizi! Even if fast horses are quick to send messages, the Summer Palace is built on a mountain. How can the climb be quick?”

“Aunt Tianhe and Emperor’s imperial edicts may not be written by themselves either.” Jiang Yashuang reminded, “The reason why they are judged to be imperial edicts is because of imperial jade seal!”

Madame Zhuang’s eyes narrowed, “That would be one way! But… It is okay with Empress Dowager. Emperor… Although he never looks at the folders that our family submits and does not oppose them and just presses the seal. After all, the imperial jade seal has always been in his hand. If we go to ask him for it, I’m afraid he will misunderstand it, won’t he?”

Jiang Yashuang said, “Yes! In fact, I suspect that this thing may be made to get our family to ask Emperor for the imperial jade seal! If the remaining members of the Gus have any power left, they can announce that our family has mischief in mind and intends to take over the throne!”

“So, we can’t ask Emperor for the imperial jade seal, right?”

“Yes.” Jiang Yashuang nodded, “With the war raging in Beijiang and flights coming in Xijiang, it will never be good for Darui to face civil unrest at this juncture!”

“And then what if there are things that need to be decreed after the imperial family go to the Summer Palace?” Chu Yitong couldn’t help but ask.

Jiang Yashuang said, “We can’t ask Emperor for the imperial jade seal, but we can ask him for some blank edicts. After all, whether Emperor is in Jing City or not, for him, is there any difference between the edict on which he presses the imperial jade seal and a blank one?”

“Let’s ask your grandparents later before deciding!” Madame Zhuang felt that this compromise was a more appropriate method. But she decided not to let the fourth branch take the responsibility and must get the approval of the Marquess Qin’s generation before answering the palace.

After discussing the matter, Madame Zhuang let her sons and daughters-in-law go.

When they returned to their own yard, Qiu Yelan and Jiang Yashuang went to see the children first as usual. But not long after entering the house, a servant reported from outside when each of them had just hugged a child to play with. “Empress’ maid is asking to speak to you at the back door in disguise!”

“Huh?” The couple was slightly stunned. They ordered the servant to bring Empress’s maid in quietly when they coaxed the babies back into the hands of the wet nurses.

They readjusted their clothes and went to the Flower Hall. After they sat down, the maid was brought there. After paying her respects, she told what happened without waiting to be questioned, “Over the past month, Madame Mi has sent someone to the palace a total of four times to cry to Empress about the grievances suffered by Miss Huizhi! Empress was going to ignore her. But yesterday, Madame Mi sent someone to ask to see her, telling Empress that before Miss Huizhi left, she had asked her to pass on a message that if the promise Empress had made to Sir Jibei was only to comfort the dying man, she would be willing to go to Kui County and never enter Jing City again, lest Empress be unhappy!”

Qiu Yelan looked at her husband and saw that Jiang Yashuang furrowed his eyebrows and there seemed to be anger on her face. The corners of her mouth twitched as well. “Jiang Huizhi is really determined to spend time with Xin Fubing, isn’t she? Even when she went back to her hometown to condole with her family upon the death of her nephew and prepare for her grandfather’s mourning, she didn’t forget to give Xin Fubing a hard time while she was busy packing!”

Of course, the most annoying one was Madame Mi. As Xin Fubing’s aunt, she was biased towards her maiden family’s niece and bullied Xin Fubing in secret in the early years. And now she went together with the first branch to stand in the rival camp of Xin Fubing once again. It was really confusing that, as Xin Fubing’s aunt, how much she hated her niece.

“Of course, Aunt Tianhe is always not helping. If she had saved Madame Mi’s face and not been so tough and used some carrot-and-stick approaches, I think Madame Mi would not have chosen to do so.” Qiu Yelan rubbed her forehead helplessly and sincerely shed a sour tear for Xin Fubing, “With an aunt who turns her arm outward and a mother who holds her back, it’s really…”

After settling down and seeing that Jiang Yashuang didn’t say anything, Qiu Yelan asked the maid, “Does Aunt Tianhe know about this? Empress is pregnant now. It is not good for my sixth aunt to go into the palace and disturb her all the time. If it’s not convenient for Empress to say, why not ask Aunt Tianhe to persuade her?”

The maid sighed, “Empress said that it had been less than a year since Sir Jibei’s death and that the whole family should still be in mourning and shall not be disturbed!” She continued, “Besides, the lady of Marquess E is straightforward. Empress is worried that she will make Madame Mi misunderstand. And in the end, it will be Madame Ou and the Jiang Family that will have to worry about it.”

It was customary that the father of Empress was crowned as Marquess in the dynasty. That was how Marquess Qin came to be. So, Xin Fubing’s parents, then, were made Marquess E and the lady of Marquess E.

Qiu Yelan pondered for a moment and said, “Empress is so filial. Although she thinks about the Jiang Family, she has not thought about herself at all! Even in normal times, this will be a disruption of the relationship between the ruler and his officials, not to mention the fact that she is still pregnant with Emperor’s heir, right?”

“Why did Empress send you here today?” Jiang Yashuang asked suddenly.

The maid said softly, “Young master, Empress wants to ask you to send someone to catch up with Miss Huizhi and explain to her that Empress definitely did not mean to let her stay in Kui County and never enter Jing City!”

“I see.” Jiang Yashuang waved his hands and did not let Qiu Yelan continue to ask anything. Instead, he sent the maid away, “You should go back to the palace. We will take care of this small matter for Empress!”

When the maid left, the couple looked at each other and both sighed, “We can’t decide if we don’t talk to the elders about this. If we talk to them, now that our grandparents are either sick or tired… It’s cruel for them to listen to such troubles after they wake up!”

“But Empress has already opened her mouth. It’s not good to refuse her.” Qiu Yelan frowned, “And to be fair, she has suffered enough anguish!”

“I’m not saying that I won’t help.” Jiang Yashuang shook his head, “I’m just worried that our grandfather can’t hear these trivial matters at this juncture.”

Empress Dowager had just sent someone to tell Madame Zhuang about the journey to the Summer Palace. The couple knew in their hearts that if the fourth branch could link it to the assassination in Kui County, others would also think of it. And then Xin Fubing sent someone to tell them Jiang Huizhi and Madame Mi’s blackmail, which was seemingly helpless. But in fact, it was a reminder to the whole Jiang family, “Jiang Huizhi’s cousin has died and her grandfather is dying of heartache! After what happened in Kui County, what about her? While following the first branch back to Kui County, she still remembered to do something bad to the pregnant Empress! There was no sign of grief for Jiang Jingzhan or Kui Xiannan!”

According to Qiu Yelan and Jiang Yashuang’s position, they were definitely on Xin Fubing’s side. Especially this time, Xin Fubing sent someone to ask for help. But considering the current health condition of Marquess Qin and Madame Ou, it was not appropriate for them to disturb them with these matters, which were not so important.

“Since we promised to send someone to catch up with Jiang Huizhi to explain, how about going to choose two witty messengers?” Qiu Yelan pondered, “As for the elders… It is not good to disturb our grandfather. When our grandmother wakes up, maybe we can see if we can ask her. Anyway, it won’t only be one or two days for Jiang Huizhi and others to go back to Kui County. If they come back now, they will be in time for Jingzhan’s funeral ceremony. And after that, they have to attend to their great grand uncle’s illness. As such, I don’t believe she dares to spread any rumors when her great grand uncle suffers a serious illness!”

Fortunately, there was still a cushion.

Jiang Yashuang mused, “You’d better go into the palace tomorrow and ask again. As the sixth aunt sent people into the palace so frequently to force Empress, my fourth aunt and my youngest grand aunt should have known it. How come they did not stop it?”

Qiu Yelan agreed and started making arrangements to go to the palace the next day. However, the trip that she thought to be smooth didn’t happen because that night the Marquess Qin’s Mansion received an urgent report from Xijiang, saying that the western savages were invading!

After last year’s war in Beijiang, the war broke out in Xijiang!