Real Empress from a Noble Family

Chapter 465 It Was Time for Summer Again

When Jiang Yadan learned his brother and sister-in-law’s concerns, he said dismissively, “The thing between them and Qiu Jinglan? I have told my fourth brother and fifth brother long ago!”

“Do our fourth brother and fifth brother still want to take them as mistresses?” Qiu Yelan was surprised.

“What does it matter? They are courtesans from the brothel. Who expects them to be chaste?” Jiang Yadan snickered, “As my fourth brother and fifth brother like their talents and appearances, they intend to take them as mistresses. Back then they were well-known in the court and had many friends of high status. And among their guests, there were no common people. But everything changed. Now they are being no longer pretty. If they do not find a good husband, they would probably be miserable in the future. They may not have hostility towards you, my nineteenth sister-in-law.”

Qiu Yelan said, “I’m not afraid that they have any animosity towards me...”

Before Qiu Yelan finished her sentences, Jiang Yadan said, ignoring her, “Even though you are right to be worried about their hostility, the two women are in their twenties, not as young as they were. How many of those who visit a brothel are not easily bored? Only my fourth brother and fifth brother, who just came to Jing City, are dazzled by them and insist on taking them as mistresses. In a few years, when they are wrinkled, who will remember them? And they can do nothing big at that time!”

“...” Qiu Yelan had no words for this. After all, Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan’s grandfather was not the same one of the fourth branch. And they didn’t meet until recently. So far, they had still been polite towards each other when they met. They were not so close that they could prevent them from taking Hua Shenshen and Penglai Yue as their mistresses without making them enemies.

As such, Qiu Yelan had to return with a failure.

Jiang Yashuang comforted her on the way back, “Although the war in Xijiang is not as smooth as that in Beijiang, there is no big mistake. So, the first branch has no reason and opportunity to intervene there. And naturally, they cannot do something to your brother, let alone my fourth brother and fifth brother! Even if Hua Shenshen and Penglai Yue are going to provoke the relationship between them and your brother, what does it matter?”

As for whether Hua Shenshen and Penglai Yue would vent their anger on Qiu Yelan, Jiang Yashuang thought they didn’t dare to do that unless they wanted to die. Moreover, the yard where Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan lived was next to the first branch and far from the fourth branch. With their identities, the two women were not likely to come alone to visit the fourth branch. Even though they were in Marquess’s Mansion as well, they could hardly meet Qiu Yelan. Also, they could not manage anything. How could they do something to Qiu Yelan?

So, it was done.

In a few days, with the help of Jiang Yadan, Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan redeemed Hua Shenhua and Penglai Yue and placed them in a residence not far from Marquess’s Mansion. The two courtesans, who had been making the world mad for nearly ten years, were good at enchanting men. Since that, they not only coaxed Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan to ignore the rules of the Jiang Family that their sons must take mistresses from good families, but also let them solemnly invite someone to choose a date.

At the beginning of May, Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan set up a wedding banquet in the yard where they lived. They invited Jiang Yadan and some others of the Jiang Family, as well as a few friends they had known these days, namely some dandies from other families, to celebrate the ceremony and witness that they officially accepted Hua Shenshen and Penglai Yue as their mistresses.

As the two courtesans were taken into the Jiang Family, Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan indulged in their beauty. Instead of going out with Jiang Yadan, they remained indoors all day. He Shuijin privately told Qiu Yelan, “Our fourth sister-in-law and fifth sister-in-law now grind their teeth for the two courtesans. But the two courtesans are not easy to mess with, aren’t they? As our two sisters-in-law just gave warnings to them on the pretext of caring for the health of our fourth brother and fifth brother, they were viciously sued by the two courtesans. That made our two sisters-in-law a great disgrace!

“My eighth brother is likely to be hated by two sisters-in-law!” Qiu Yelan sighed, “Yesterday, I heard from Yashuang that our fourth brother and fifth brother now even did not care about Jingmu and Jingman. All they cared about is how to coax the two mistresses!”

The corners of He Shuijin’s mouth curled, “Our fourth sister-in-law and fifth sister-in-law are planning to arrange for their trusted subordinates to go out and buy someone these two days!”

“Eh?”

“They think they have grown old. Even when they were young, in terms of appearances and seduction skills, they were not comparable to the courtesans from the first-class brothels in Jing City. So, they want to find someone who can fight with the two courtesans to vent anger!” He Shuijin said, “After all, their maiden families are much lower than our Jiang Family. It was only because the second branch and the fifth branch had been confined in Kui County that my fourth brother and fifth brother married them. Now that my fourth brother and fifth brother have almost been enchanted to death by their mistresses, how can they not worry?”

Qiu Yelan mused, “I’m afraid it is difficult to buy someone.”

“Of course, it is difficult. If they are only beautiful, they will be unlikely to compete with those two!” He Shuijin jeered, “If they have beauty and means, they will be ambitious, and then will they be willing to be driven by my fourth sister-in-law and fifth sister-in-law? The two sisters-in-law are just driving the tiger to swallow the wolf. There is still a lot to worry about in the future!”

With that, she heaved a sigh of relief, “But Hua Shenshen and Penglai Yue can make our fourth brother and fifth brother stay in the mansion. Perhaps that’s a good thing! The two brothers are too careless with money. When the previous expenses were reported to me, I almost wanted to immediately get up and get them out!”

Qiu Yelan asked, “Was it the last time they went on a trip with our eighth brother? How much did it cost?”

He Shuijin gave a number. Qiu Yelan also felt the urge to go with her to drive the two brothers away, “How could they spend so much? How much do we the whole family spend in a full year?”

It was only a dozen days, no more than a month. However, the expenses were nearly half of the whole family’s one-year expenditure! Who could accept such relatives?

“I asked your fourteenth brother to ask your eighth brother about what happened. It was said that our fourth brother and fifth brother were a bit apprehensive on the way to the ‘Spring House’, asking that as it was their first journey far away from home, whether the courtesans in Jing City, who must be used to seeing great things, would look down on them and make them lose face in front of people.” Speaking of this, He Shuijin grimaced, “What do you think our eighth brother said?”

“What did he say?” Qiu Yelan was sure that Jiang Yadan must have said something terribly bad!

It was sure enough, “He said that the brothels were all the same all over the world. As long as a person was rich, he had a say. If the person was generous enough, no one would care about whether he was a frequent visitor or not!”

“And then the fourth brother and the fifth brother sent Hua Shenshen a bucket of pearls as soon as they met!”

“It took less time before a cup of tea was finished that they promised half-car cloud brocade, which was as valuable as gold.”

“As Hua Shenshen just played one song, the fourth brother promised her a house in the heat of the moment. Before others could say anything, the fifth brother jumped in and said he would send Hua Shenshen a bigger house than his fourth brother... The two of them just fought all the way, promising countless benefits like water!”

He Shuijin sneered, “The two of them are very generous. But they didn’t pay a single penny themselves. They let the factotum in the brothel write it down. And then they asked someone to come to our mansion and ask me for money! If they didn’t take the two courtesans in and love them so much, I would suspect that they were working together to blackmail our Marquess’s Mansion!”

“... When you say so, I also think it’s a good thing that Hua Shenshen and Penglai Yue have been taken into our family!” Qiu Yelan sighed.

Although she did not expect to live on the property of Marquess’s Mansion, she would not be happy when she watched people who were not qualified to share the property boldly squander and spoil the family’s money!

At the end of May, it was the day when Emperor and Empress Dowager went to Mount Dizi for spending the summer.

Marquess Qin’s condition was a little better this year than last year. But Dr. Lin still suggested that he should not go on a trip. So, once again, the entire Jiang Family stayed.

“Watch out for them. Do not let them run too fast and fall to the bottom of the steps!” The blazing summer sun baked the earth. Though the tall trees around the yard were cleaned twice, there were still sounds of the cicadas that were missed when they trying to pick them up, which added to the restlessness.

Qiu Yelan, in a loose low-necked dress, lay on a rattan bed under a vineyard, squinting at the occasional halo of light leaking down between the dense grape leaves.

With four utensils containing ice around the rattan bed, she felt cool while the breeze was blowing.

Jiang Jingkun and Jiang Jinglang were running around under the corridor not far away. Children’s screams and frolics made the yard extremely lively, but also let Qiu Yelan worry about accidents.

“Where there are steps, two of you should stand there. When you see the junior young masters approaching, protect them! Don’t let them hurt! Or else you will be punished!” Mrs. Qu answered and passed the order.

Mrs. Zhou handed over a bowl of sour prune drink and said, “My madame, you didn’t sleep last night and this morning, you also didn’t want to eat anything. Now as you have an appetite, just drink it!”

When Qiu Yelan was pregnant with Jiang Jinglang, she behaved as she was not pregnant. At that time, she could eat, drink and sleep. And even the birth went surprisingly smoothly. But perhaps her luck was run out with the first child. This time her second baby got her to suffer terribly.

She found out that she was pregnant because of the vomiting. As she took the medicine prescribed by the doctor, she had been fine for two or three months in a row. And she had thought it was all the same as she had Jiang Jinglan. Even He Shuijin said she envied her for having a second child so soon and not suffering so much. However, two days ago, she started throwing up again without warning!

Jiang Yashuang was scared enough to call someone to open the door and invite the doctor to come in the middle of the night. They were all up all night. And finally, Dr. Lin was invited over. Only until then did they confirm that Qiu Yelan was fine. It was just the reactions of pregnancy. From that night until now, Qiu Yelan had always wanted to vomit, which completely hurt her appetite.

She didn’t eat for a day and a night. But when she finally had some appetite now, she just asked for a bowl of sour prune drink. No matter what else food was held to her eyes, she was not interested.

She drank less than half a bowl of sour prune drink by Mrs. Zhou’s hand and then pushed the bowl away, “I can’t eat anymore!”

Mrs. Zhou and Mrs. Qu looked at each other, worrying and thinking, “How could a pregnant woman always not eat?”

The two old women hadn’t come up with any ideas when someone outside reported that Commandery Princess Yishu had arrived.

“Just let her in!” As Qiu Yelan heard that, she immediately half sat up. She thought to herself, “Qiu Qian always does not come to the door. Once she comes to visit, she must have something. I do not know what brings her here this time.”

A few moments later, Qiu Qian entered the yard with two willow hats in her hand. According to the freshness of the leaves, it could be known that they must have been folded after Qiu Qian entered Marquess’s Mansion. She nodded to Qiu Yelan as a greeting and walked to the corridor. And then she called Jiang Jingkun and Jiang Jinglang over and smilingly gave them one each to wear, “How about your Aunt Qiu Qian’s handicraft?”

“Be careful of the bugs on the willow hats!” As Qiu Yelan saw them, she hurriedly reminded. There were too many caterpillars on the willow leaves this season.

“I know they are delicate. I have picked caterpillars off and washed the leaves in the lake water.” Qiu Qian spread her hands as she walked down the corridor. She sat down on the soft couch in front of Qiu Yelan, “I promise it will not hurt your two babies. You can rest assured!”

Even though she said so, Mrs. Qu still picked up the two willow hats and carefully checked them before giving Jiang Jingkun and Jiang Jinglang to wear back. It was the first time for the two brothers to see the willow hats, which were new to them. Since that, they thanked Aunt Qiu Qian happily.

“You are so good at fooling children!” Qiu Yelan said contemptuously, “How can you ask with this sort of handicraft... It is not as good as my handicraft!”

“It is not for you anyway. Your son and nephew like it. That means I am good at handicraft!” said Qiu Qian triumphantly.

Qiu Yelan turned down the corner of her mouth, “Your visits are too few. Why are you here this time?”

“It’s too hot to eat and drink. I told Sister Mei that I wanted to change into a better cook, but she refused. So, I have to come over here to eat your food!” Qiu Qian sighed as soon as she heard it, “You don’t know the place where we live now...”

“Wait!” Qiu Yelan gestured for the servants to back off and asked in a suspicious whisper, “At the end of last year, didn’t my brother send Ruan Yi back quietly to hand over ‘Tianya’ to you? How come Mei Xue is still in Jing City? And why didn’t you guys go for the summer?”

The corners of Qiu Qian’s mouth twitched, “Your brother just gave us an empty shell! You think we can immediately give orders as soon as we take over ‘Tianya’? Now Sister Mei wishes to pinch pennies. Except my brother, my expenses on food and clothing are being reduced again and again together with Sister Mei. How can I not come to you?”

“That’s it?” Qiu Yelan found it farcical, “Nothing else?”

“Of course not!” Qiu Qian swore, “If you don’t believe me, you can send someone to send me food every day and I won’t come anymore.”

“Am I so stingy?” Qiu Yelan turned around and called Mrs. Zhou to come over, “Go and pack a room for Qian’er!”

At night, Jiang Yashuang came back. As he knew about this, he smiled and said, “It may be that she has been involved with somebody and something, and she comes to hide in our yard because she is inconvenient to speak out, right? Your cousin really does not seem to be a person who will come to stay just for some food and drink.”

“I think so as well.” Qiu Yelan smirked, “I have quietly sent someone to check after keeping her stay. I’m telling you. She is not young now. We have played matchmaker for her these two years. But she doesn’t like those men. Perhaps it has something to do with this!”