Real Empress from a Noble Family

When a husband died, it was the rule that the wife had to keep staying in the funeral hall.

But since Madame Ou was so old and grieving for the death of her companion, no one dared to let her go and kneel there for a few days. So, Marquess Qin personally stepped in and persuaded her to rest in the back room where Madame Tao would accompany her.

When Qiu Yelan reached the door, she was greeted with a silent gesture from Mom Hu, who was on guard here. Mom Hu gestured that she should not go in yet.

After waiting for a while, Madame Tao came out alone. She saw her with a slight nod and pointed to the compartment not far away.

Qiu Yelan saw that her back was slightly hunched. So, she went forward to support her. After they entered the room together, Madame Tao pushed her arm away and gestured her to sit down. “It was so sudden. You have been tired. Now no one is around and there is no need to care about etiquette!”

“Thank you, grandmother.” Qiu Yelan set her mouth in a line and sat on the stool. She asked softly, “Is my youngest grand aunt all right?”

“The couple has been together for a lifetime. They have basically never fought with each other,” said Madame Tao in a sad voice, “As one died first, how could the other be well? No matter how resolute and decisive your youngest grand aunt is, she is so sad that she is almost at a loss! I have put something to help her sleep well in the tea. At least, it can let her get some sleep!”

Qiu Yelan’s nose twitched and she slightly turned her head away.

But she heard Madame Tao asking, “Now all of you are helping out there. Have you arranged the things at home? It is okay with other things. But the three children brought up by you and Yashuang cannot be ignored!”

“I have asked Mrs. Qu and Mrs. Zhou to take care of them, ordering that they should guard the door and make the children their priority. Anything else can be put aside.” Qiu Yelan said in a low voice.

“Well.” Madame Tao rubbed between her eyes and said wearily, “That’s too bad! Shuijin has been ill and is found to be pregnant. So, she is stuck in the place far away from Jing City and thus cannot come back. If she were here and only made simple orders, why should so many people be busy helping there?”

Qiu Yelan twitched the corner of her mouth and said softly, “Although my sixth aunt is too sad, with my fourth aunt and eighth aunt to help, everything will be OK.”

Madame Tao asked a few questions about the funeral ceremony. A flash of disappointment passed over her face and she sighed, “It’s indeed just OK!” What she meant was that they were barely OK. But when He Shuijin was there, everything was done properly and no one could find real mistakes. Compared with that, it was far from being that good!

Qiu Yelan could not make any comments on that topic. After a silence, she persuaded Madame Tao to take care of herself as well.

“I’m cool with that. I am almost going to die and have seen human beings who have gone and come.” Madame Tao said coldly, “You should worry about your father!”

“My father-in-law?” Qiu Yelan was stunned. She thought to herself, “Jiang Tianchi hasn’t received the news yet, has he?”

“Your father has been trained by your youngest grand uncle who is like a father to him. Your father is not young. But in the earlier years, your grandfather made him start as a soldier to get him some experience. He was seriously injured a few times in combat. And as you know, it’s hard not to cure in Beijiang… Before he died, your youngest grand uncle kept telling the news of his death should not be told to him immediately so that he would not grieve too much.” Madame Tao touched the corner of her forehead, not feeling well. Qiu Yelan stood up and walked behind her, gently rubbing and pressing for her.

“There is no one else here at the moment. So, I’ll be straight with you. The death of your youngest grand uncle will have an impact on your branch. But, with your father around, the impact is small.” Madame Tao closed her eyes for a moment to enjoy herself before she whispered, “But you couldn’t let anything happen to your father! It’s not just because Yashuang is still young but also because your father is the foundation of our entire Jiang Family… The death of your youngest grand uncle has been a big blow to your grandfather. If your father… I don’t know if your grandfather can hold it up.”

Qiu Yelan’s fingers stopped for a moment and then she continued. She said seriously, “I see, grandmother.”

“The family have been spoiled by the fourteenth daughter-in-law. Now none of them are fit to take charge of the situation.” After another moment, Madame Tao opened her eyes, pushed her hand away, and said warmly, “Go and help. Don’t make it too chaotic. Otherwise, if your grandfather sees it, he will be anger!”

… After leaving the room, Qiu Yelan greeted Mrs. Hu, who was still guarding the outside. And then she took Su He at the door towards the front hall.

As they passed through a narrow alley, a girl in linen, with two maids following behind, happened to come by. When they looked at each other, the girl in linen immediately bowed, “My nineteenth aunt!”

“Huizhi!” Qiu Yelan nodded slightly and gestured her to straighten up, “There’s no need of that!”

Compared to the time when Madame Zhuang just returned, Jiang Huizhi had lost a lot of weight. Although girls at her age were generally slim, they shouldn’t be as thin as a shadow as she was.

Qiu Yelan knew that it was probably because of the unhappiness in her heart. Once upon a time, the first branch was the proudest one in the Jiang Family. Whatever good things and opportunities were theirs as long as they liked. Even if things were not originally theirs, they had to be theirs in the end.

Jiang Huizhi, as the first trueborn granddaughter of the first branch, was treasured and loved by both Jiang Tianao, Jiang Yayun, and their wives. Strictly speaking, this girl’s upbringing was even more prestigious than that of Jiang Qizheng, the only princess of the Jiang family to be crowned.

But their situation turned ugly these two years. The first branch was beaten again and again in several important fights, even to the point where the death of the lady of the house could only be ignored. Faced with such a gap, Jiang Tianao sounded his age. How could the young girl Jiang Huizhi feel nothing?

“You look too peaked. You don’t look so good that you ought to see a doctor and get into shape when you have time!” Looking at her niece, who was about her age, Qiu Yelan said warmly, “The past is gone for good. You’d better take good care of yourself.”

Half of the blame for how Jiang Huizhi looked like that lay in the fourth branch. But Qiu Yelan had no resentment towards her… After all, it was easy for the victor to forgive.

When they happened to meet this time, Jiang Huizhi behaved with decorum and didn’t show resentment. So, Qiu Yelan gave comforting words to her.

After saying this, she wanted to leave. After all, Qiu Yelan believed that Jiang Huizhi had heard a lot of similar words and she wouldn’t care about the words from her.

But Jiang Huizhi smiled sadly at her words and said, “Thank you for your concern, my nineteenth aunt. But the dead is as natural as the living. There is no point in taking care of myself or not!”

Qiu Yelan thought she was talking about Madame Dou’s death. She was not angry, saying, “If you don’t think of yourself, think of your parents and brothers. You have always been the apple of your family’s eye. If something happens to you, how distressed do you think they will be?”

“If it hadn’t been for them, I would have killed myself!” However, no one had expected that Jiang Huizhi would roar like that without thinking!

Qiu Yelan could see that she was not talking in anger. So, she was slightly stunned and repented that a casual word of concern had let this niece say something of her death wish. Above all, she was not very good at this kind of comfort either. It took her a while to find the right words to say, “Why do you have to force yourself to take on things between the last generations? I believe my dead eldest aunt would like you to have a good life!”

“My nineteenth aunt, you’re overthinking this. I am not talking about matters between elders but about what happened to me.” Jiang Huizhi’s lips trembled slightly. And then she suddenly said, “If I say the thing in which the Emperor and I got involved in the palace last time… was neither done by me nor by my branch, will you believe that?”

Qiu Yelan was a bit surprised. She hadn’t thought that what let Jiang Huizhi have a death wish was not the decline of the first branch nor the death of Madame Dou and Jiang Yayue. It should be this matter that made her act like this.

While she was pondering, Jiang Huizhi misunderstood it. She raised her sleeve to cover her face and whimpered, “I knew you wouldn’t believe me… Except for those in my branch, no one believes me! No one!”

“No…” Qiu Yelan was about to comfort her, but Jiang Huizhi no longer had the confidence to say more. She hid her face and held onto the wall of the narrow alley, pushing her way past Qiu Yelan and stumbling away.

“Miss Huizhi!” Her two maids were so anxious that they shouted and gave a hasty salute to Qiu Yelan, “Miss Huizhi has not been in a good mood these days. The nineteenth madame, if she has offended you, please excuse her for that!” After saying that, they hurried to chase after Jiang Huizhi.

Qiu Yelan frowned and twisted her head to look at where she had come from. Jiang Huizhi was hurriedly running and in a few moments, she was out of the alley and gone. The figure of Jiang Huizhi looked so hasty and frustrating. She had lost her grace and elegance as a lady and was full of despair and sorrow.

“Madame, what do you think about what Miss Huizhi just said?” Su He, who was waiting, asked in confusion.

“We’ll talk about it later. What is most important now is the things after my youngest grand uncle’s death.” Qiu Yelan shook her head and stopped Su He. But in her heart, she was pondering, “It wasn’t like she was lying… If it wasn’t the work of the first branch or her, could it really be that the rest of the Gu Family had deliberately set her up in order to pick us against each other?”

Suddenly she remembered the time she accompanied her mother-in-law to the palace when she was pregnant and bumped into Emperor in the imperial garden. “The internal fight in the Jiang Family can make the rest of the Gu Family take their revenge. Moreover, wouldn’t it be better for Emperor to no longer be a puppet?”

If this was true, it would be a great matter!

“I’ll talk to Yashuang about that!” Qiu Yelan thought this and then frowned again, “But Cousin Xin has already become the Empress! With the Jiang Family’s power now, it’s not a big deal to have another Emperor. But what should Cousin Xin do?”

The confidante’s marriage was already tragic. It had been less than a half year since she became the Empress. Was she going to be the Empress Dowager?

Moreover, although she felt that Jiang Huizhi told the truth, who could tell that if she acted like that or not? What if it was a ploy by the first branch and they have some ulterior motive?

“It has been too busy for these days. Just wait for a couple of days!” Qiu Yelan set her mouth in a line and made up her mind, “In a couple of days, when I’m not so busy, I can calm down and I’ll be able to look at things with less emotion.”

Only when she had thought of this, she heard Jiang Tianhe’s voice behind her, “Yelan!”

“Aunt Tianhe!” Qiu Yelan was stunned and turned around to salute, “Do you have anything to tell me?”

Jiang Tianhe looked at her with a half-smile, “I just saw Jiang Huizhi walking in the direction you came from. Did you meet her?”

“Yes.” Qiu Yelan was surprised and she asked, “Are you looking for her?”

“She just came to me. Why should I look for her?” Jiang Tianhe said disdainfully, “Now my father has died. The whole family is so busy. I don’t know how the first branch has taught her! On the pretext of coming over to pay respects, she dared to come here to fight against me… And she dared to say that she had never thought about being a concubine. All was planned by someone else! Hey! If she really didn’t want to be a concubine, why would she have seduced Emperor earlier?”

Only then did Qiu Yelan understand why Jiang Huizhi ran away in tears when she had only thought for a while before she answered. That was because she had already been humiliated once by Jiang Tianhe!

“You are so thoughtless. Your fifth grand aunt has the disposition of the Jiang Family. You cannot think that how hard and merciless she is! There is a generation between her and you. As a junior who is not known for a fiery temper, you dare speak to her alone… Are you troubling yourself?” Qiu Yelan sighed in her heart but did not admit that Jiang Huizhi had said something similar to her. She pretended to be surprised, “Is there still such a thing? I don’t know about that.”

“Yes, there is!” Jiang Tianhe sneered, “Your youngest grand uncle even mentioned her before he died, telling Fubing to treat her well in the future!”

Qiu Yelan exhaled, “It’s true that before he died, my youngest grand uncle still remembered to get the family to make up.” But sadly, just by looking at Jiang Tianhe, it could be observed that the efforts of Sir Jibei had been wasted!

“So, I have something to ask you!” Jiang Tianhe didn’t stop Qiu Yelan just to tell her niece how she bullied her grand niece. After saying the whole story, she stated that she was there for something…