Chapter 161: She Was Fooled Because She Trusted Me!

After taking the pills that Qiu Jinglan brought, Qiu Yelan could talk, but she still felt tired.

Chen Shui put two cushions behind her back to make her feel more comfortable. When she was about to leave, Qiu Jinglan asked her, “Did Mei Xue and Qiu Qian wake up?”

Chen Shui answered with fear, “The guy who tortured them struck hard. They probably won’t wake up today.”

Qiu Jinglan looked angry. Before he about to say anything, Qiu Yelan pulled herself together and mediated, “You were so angry just now. They won’t slight you. Just wait for a day then. Didn’t you say orchid incense was not fatal?” Mei Xue and the other two had the mind of betrayal for a long time. Qiu Jinglan’s focus was always on the official circles which gave them an opportunity.

Even this time, because of Qiu Feng’s accidental intervention, they fell short of success. But Qiu Nie did ask Qiu Qian to have a back-up plan. The orchid incense used to contain Qiu Yelan was not fatal, but she wouldn’t be able to stand up if she didn’t take the antidote.

And the antidote of orchid incense was the residue of the incense each time it was made.

Therefore, the antidote to every orchid incense was different.

The residue was not with Mei Xue and the other two. They could only find out when they woke up.

“It’s just bad for your health.” Hearing her words, Qiu Jinglan was less angry. He waved his hand and sent Chen Shui away. He touched her forehead to check the temperature, “No fever. It’s fortunate that you are of good health these years.”

Qiu Yelan was not in the mood to care for her health. Seeing that they were the only two left in the inner chamber, she couldn’t wait but asked, “Why did you lie to me?”

“…” Qiu Jinglan had a complicated look on his face. After a while, he laughed bitterly, “How can I have the face to see you again?”

“It sounds like you wronged me.” Qiu Yelan’s lips twitched, “You were seven when you left. Did you take my rattle-drum away?”

She wanted to ease the tension with a joke, yet Qiu Jinglan actually nodded, “Grandma made you a rattle-drum especially. I took it when I left…”

Qiu Yelan was dazed. He continued, “The bodyguard found it on the way. They took it and threw it into a pond. Later I heard the news from the Prince’s Mansion that I drowned. I guess grandma just counterplotted.”

While speaking, he looked at his hands self-mockingly, “Grandma was so afraid to leave any trail behind, so she didn’t let me take anything! I changed all my clothes into a servant’s. But I thought I need to take something. If I couldn’t come back one day, I need something to remind me of Prince’s Mansion of Xihe, grandma, mother, and you. So when I got on the carriage, I forced the bodyguard to pick a flower from the residence that you and mother lived in. Yet grandma was still worried. She later asked people to get rid of all those flowers. So you’ve never seen this dowry of our mother.”

Qiu Yelan was silent for a while. She then asked, “Was she afraid of Empress Dowager Gu and Kuang Shihan?”

Qiu Jinglan nodded heavily. She was confused, “But how come we were safe and sound, since Qiu Mengmin took the title of nobility? Did Empress Dowager Gu and Kuang Shihan choose him? That’s not right. Empress Dowager Gu wanted to support Kuang Shihan. But since she killed our father and other families, why did she leave Qiu Mengmin? They were all in the city at that time. They would be much easier to kill than father!”

Qiu Jinglan said coldly, “Even though Empress Dowager Gu and Kuang Shihan didn’t know Tianya was ours, they knew we still had other cards. If they didn’t find them and eliminate them, they wouldn’t rest assured. Therefore, they kept Qiu Mengmin as a bait.”

Speaking of this, he suddenly cried, “To make them believe it was me who died, grandma took poison after I left. She was still in her thirties! She said she would watch me grow up and be Number One Scholar. She said she would pick a good wife for me and a good husband for you. She called me Little Jingzi and you Little Yezi. She said we were the oldest and we needed to look after the younger brothers and sisters. But the sad news came, we would never have sisters or brothers anymore. Just because she wanted people to think our family had no off-springs anymore. She died of desperation. She…”

He raised up his sleeves and covered his face. He choked with sobs and couldn’t speak anymore. Qiu Yelan felt bitter. She raised up her hand and grabbed his robe with difficulty, “It had all past. That was all because of Empress Dowager Gu and Kuang Shihan. It’s not your fault, isn’t it?”

“You could have left too!” Qiu Jinglan put down his sleeves. His face was covered with tears. He avoided his sister’s look and mumbled, “But grandma was worried that if we all had an accident, people would suspect. So she decided to leave you behind. Do you know? It seemed that Qiu Qian was from the street, but it was her choice. When she was in Tianya, she was more honorable than a lot of royal young ladies. If you had come with me, how would you suffer for all these years? Qiu Yuqing, huh, when grandma was alive, she was less than a dog in our family. How dare she beat you up?”

“I only survived because grandma sacrificed herself and left you and mother in the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. All these were just to make Empress Dowager Gu and Kuang Shihan not suspicious. Even in the past years, you and mother were treated unfairly by Qiu Mengmin. It could be Empress Dowager Gu and Kuang Shihan behind it, trying to drive me or Tianya out!”

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He pressed on Qiu Yelan’s shoulders. He was pale and his tears fell down like rain, yet his eyes were hollow and empty. He said word by word, “So how is it not my fault? If it weren’t for me, you would grow up with grandma and mother’s care without any worry, just like Xue Nongqing and Chunfu Princess. If grandma were still alive, even if Qiu Mengmin took the title of nobility, how dare he not respect you?! Mother’s and your suffering was all because of me. How can I have the face to see you again?”

Qiu Yelan never met Old Princess Lian. She even never met Princess Ruan. She respected them more than she loved them as family. But she spent these two years with Qiu Jinglan and they did have a bond as brother and sister. Now listening to Qiu Jinglan talking about the old days, she felt sad mostly because she felt sorry for her brother, “But I’m fine now. Even though grandma and mother passed away, if they knew we’re doing fine now, they would be satisfied. If they saw how sorrowful you are, they would feel sorry and worried!”

“I know they wouldn’t blame me and you won’t blame me either.” Qiu Jinglan said quietly, “But I blame myself.”

“You were in the Hanlin Academy when you were eighteen that showed how hard you studied these years!” Qiu Yelan leaned on the cushion and sighed, “You also need to worry about Tianya. How old are you now? You took care of these all by yourself without the help of elders. You are doing pretty well! I still blame Empress Dowager Gu and Kuang Shi…”

Before she could finish the sentence, she felt dizzy. She wanted to say something but she couldn’t. She struggled for a while and eventually had a blackout. She fell in the arms of Qiu Jinglan who noticed something was wrong and went over to hold her.

When she woke up again, she felt like someone was feeding her medicines. She opened her eyes and saw Qiu Jinglan’s face become paler. His eyes were bloodshot, yet they were extremely gentle. He cuddled her on his shoulder. He was holding a bowl of medicine. He cooled it down and fed it to her.

Seeing she was awake, he obviously relaxed. At the same time, in the near distance, a weak and familiar voice laughed coldly, “See? She woke up. You now know the antidote is true. Can you give us our antidote and let us leave as you promised?”

Qiu Yelan recognized it was Qiu Qian’s voice. She looked at Qiu Qian and her pupils shrank. Qiu Qian was no longer arrogant as when she was holding Qiu Yelan a hostage. She looked like Qiu Nie who was brought here by Qiu Jinglan. Besides her face was intact, her whole body was badly mutilated. She was held by two bodyguards and kneeled in front of the door. Blood kept dripping from her clothes. Yet she still held her head high. Her look was disdainful and unruly.

Noticing Qiu Yelan’s look, she spat on the ground, “We used your life to exchange the three of us leaving here safely, and another 200 thousand taels of silver note. That was a legitimate daughter’s worth! a legitimate daughter worth this much!”

“It’s not because I am a legitimate daughter. It’s because I worth a lot to my brother.” Qiu Yelan really thought she treated her well, yet she almost fell into this cute and innocent Qiu Qian’s hand. So she wouldn’t talk to her nicely. She mocked, “If there were anyone to blame, it would be your useless brother! He couldn’t save you but need you to save him!”

Qiu Qian and Qiu Nie had a great bond. Hearing this, she was outraged, “Your brother is useful? He entered the Hanlin Academy when he was eighteen. How much older was my brother? If it weren’t to wait for him, my brother could do the same when he was eighteen! In the end, you two can laugh right now, just because you’re legitimate!”

She laughed coldly and looked at Qiu Jinglan, “Isn’t it? One is in the Qiu Family. The other is taking refuge in Tianya. Our father is an elder! But why when you came, you became the master. And our father, who entered the headquarter when he was young and worked hard for all these years, is just the Right Dharma Protector?! His boss is not only you but also a former Left Dharma Protector who is not even from the Qiu Family! If you were me, would you just take it?”

Qiu Jinglan didn’t respond. He fed the last bit of medicine to Qiu Yelan and picked a preserved plum from the silver plate that Chunran was holding to help her get rid of the medicine taste in her mouth. He then said quietly, “So you won’t work for me. But you’re willing to work for Empress Dowager Gu who killed your uncle?!”

“Empress Dowager Gu is an outsider. She killed your father not out father!” Qiu Qian said coldly, “We are families, yet you became our master! How many contributions did our father make to Tianya? Yet, in the end, it became your organization. Empress Dowager Gu promised us that if we killed you secretly, Tianya would be ours and we would have Gu Family as a patron. In the future, Mei Xue will be in charge of Tianya and my brother will be an official in the government. Why don’t we do it?”

Qiu Jinglan felt speechless, “You are just like your dead father. Wanting too much yet doesn’t have enough ability to get it. My sister is still tired. I don’t want to say a lot to you. I’ll only ask you this, your father entered Tianya decades before me, Qiu Mengmin didn’t know about Tianya, and our father never asked about Tianya. Why do you think I became the master when I was taken to the headquarter at seven years old?”

“Because you are legitimate…” Qiu Qian’s words were interrupted by him, “Because he was not capable! He couldn’t take power for decades. If he were not the Right Dharma Protector, but the master, Tianya would no longer exist!”

He looked at Qiu Qian disdainfully, “That’s why you asked to enter Tianya several times and I never granted it. Do you think I was taking precautions against you? I was worried that you’re too stupid and would hurt Tianya!”

“I’m not clever, but your baby sister is even more stupid!” Qiu Qian always thought herself as clever and decisive. Now she was continuously scorned by Qiu Jinglan. She felt angry. She gritted her teeth for a while and suddenly laughed coldly, “She didn’t even suspect anything before she welcomed us in. She even moved close to the orchid incense that I gave her to smell. I don’t know why a person as cunning as you would have such a dumb sister!”

Qiu Yelan was about to rebut her, but she heard Qiu Jinglan saying calmly, “She trusted you not because you were clever or good at acting, but because she trusted me. Because I introduced you three to her! This was not dumb! She only trusted me!”

Qiu Yelan immediately passed a complacent look to Qiu Qian. Before she could say anything, she suddenly heard someone talking calmly outside the window, “Nice speech. Ren also trusted you deeply without holding anything back. If it weren’t for Ren, even though the line of Duke of Xihe left all sorts of ways to contain Tianya, how could you be a master smoothly and successfully? I never expected the loyal Ren to die because of your internal fight. You knew everything, yet you did nothing! You even used his death to lie to me and made me work for you for years!”

Hearing this, everyone in the room was shocked!

“Is that Qiu Feng?” Qiu Yelan grabbed Qiu Jinglan’s arm, “He?!”

The bodyguards just held on to their swords, yet Qiu Jinglan raised his hand and stopped them. He patted on the back of Qiu Yelan’s hands as a consolation. He calmly looked outside the window and said, “Since you’re here, why don’t we talk in the study?”

“Study?!” Qiu Feng didn’t open the window, but people could feel his killing intent from his words that were almost solidified, even with the window in between. In the rain, he seemed to be laughing wildly, “I didn’t go into the room and kill you right now because Commandery Princess Ningyi is innocent. She is ill and shouldn’t catch a cold because of the wind! Now, do you still want to lie to me with all your fancy words? Come out! Let’s fight to the death! If you win, I didn’t revenge my friend’s death, and then I die without regret! If you lose, you can use your life to pay for Ren’s loyalty!”