“I never send someone to kill her,” said Jiang Yashuang innocently.

“What’s that?” Qiu Yelan looked at Ling Zui, suspicious.

“She cheats on her husband and tries to murder him with the adulterer. Prime Minister Xue had her at a later age, though, do you think she can live anymore?” Ling Zui said coolly.

“You did that?” Qiu Yelan was surprised, looking at her husband.

Jiang Yashuang mused, “I just have someone make Li Xuan busy with lots of things, so he has no time to go back to his yard, and then I arrange someone to seduce Xue Fangmi… But I haven’t heard that she colludes with the adulterer to murder her husband. Li Xuan is quite tight with your brother.”

Ling Zui put in, “Well, stop, it was me. Because of Chunjun, Li Xuan is also my friend. How could I stand by and watch him being ruined by that b*tch? Now Li Xuan can get rid of this sh*t without upsetting Prime Minister Xue.”

He added, “Yelan, don’t feel I’m a cruel man. Think, even if the adulterer might egg her on, Madame Xue shouldn’t have agreed. What chance would there be of the man himself murdering Li Xuan? It shows that Xue Fangmi is a spiteful woman. If we do not eliminate her in time, there will probably be lots of troubles in the future.”

Qiu Yelan said, “I don’t feel sorry for her. It just seems surprising.”

Thinking of Xue Chang’s treatment of Qiu Jinglan back then, she couldn’t help but sigh, “Prime Minister Xue is wise in his lifetime. What a pity to have such a daughter!”

“Fortunately, Prime Minister Xue is sensible, or the Li Family would be pissed,” scoffed Ling Zui. “Li Xuan has to take a rest in Xizhou before getting off. that Xue Fangmi will be secretly marched to the capital first… But I guess that Prime Minister Xue will not allow her to come into Jing City.”

Among numerous nobles in the capital, whose family does not have eyes? While Xue Fangmi just got married, she committed adultery and even tried to murder her husband. In Xizhou, the local Prefectural Governor, who was promoted by Xue Chang, would probably help to hide this scandal. In case she was marched into Jing City, that would surely leak out.

For preserving the honor of the Xue Family and giving an explanation to the Li Family, Xue Chang could do nothing but ensured that his daughter would never make it to Jing City.

Qiu Yelan felt Xue Chang was quite pathetic. “Xue Nongying is still not well and Xue Fangmi…” Suddenly Qiu Yelan thought of something, “If Prime Minister Xue couldn’t get over from the blow and fell ill, then who would take the position of Prime Minister?”

Ling Zui said casually, “Then your eldest uncle and sixth uncle will…”

By saying it already, he came to himself and said, “It seems not good for your branch, doesn’t it?” Because of switching sides, Tang Zimo survived when Madame Gu was killed. But he knew what was good for him and resigned himself to return to his homeland. Thus, the position of Deputy Premier was vacant. Marquess Qin and Sir Jibei were coy about that for some time. Finally, Marquess Qin made it. He managed to make Jiang Tiancan, the only son of Sir Jibei, Deputy Premier, rather than his eldest son Jiang Tianqi.

Jiang Tianao and Jiang Tiancan were currently the strongest candidates for the position of Prime Minister.

“That’s all right,” Jiang Yashuang remained calm, “No matter who will be Prime Minister, it’s grandfather who will have the last word as long as he is still here. Besides, as Empress Dowager, my fourth aunt is not ornamental. Eldest uncle is not going to be all-powerful even though he finally becomes Prime Minister.”

“But for Chunjun, it is better for Xue Chang to hold the position of Prime Minister when compared with your eldest uncle.” Ling Zui frowned and glanced at Qiu Yelan apologetically, “I haven’t thought about that. I’m not helping, right?”

He saw why Jiang Yashuang was not much of a good man. He had sent someone to seduce Xue Fangmi, but why did he leave some room? That was because they needed Xue Chang. After all, Xue Chang was a deep person. If the whole thing was that his daughter could not get along with his son-in-law, he would be sad and disappointed. But he might not be badly shaken.

If he ordered to kill her daughter in person… It was hard to tell.

“That’s Okay!” said Jiang Yashuang calmly. “If we just tell Xue Chang, it might kill him. But if we put it this way, it would be a different story.”

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Jiang Yashuang was so certain that Ling Zui and Qiu Yelan asked curiously, “What kind of way?”

“Say, I have sent someone to Xue’s place to tell him yesterday,” said Jiang Yashuang airily. “I have pinned what Ling Zui did on the first branch on the ground that they tried to use it for the position of Prime Minister under the banner of mine. It’s clear that they are trying to drive a wedge between your brother and him and destroy their teacher-student relationship. Luckily, you just passed by Xizhou when you came back. For Two days at Li Xuan’s place, you found something wrong. So, you immediately walked back day and night to tell me. Xu Chang now is busy dealing with my eldest uncle. How can he manage to feel worried about a mistress’s daughter?”

“…” Qiu Yelan and Ling Zui stared at each other. After a while, Ling Zui sighed, “I got the adulterer to egg on Madame Xue to poison Li Xuan. And I didn’t bring Li Xuan a doctor until he was close to death. I thought I couldn’t be harder. I never would have guessed that you’re the most vicious one.”

Jiang Yashuang didn’t blow up at him for his evaluation and smiled, “Don’t worry about that. Let’s talk about the details after the departure. We are concerned about you in these days when you went to the south.”

“There is nothing to say,” Ling Zui laughed at himself, “It’s purely nominal. After being sent there, all I do is wandering outside… I’ve had some trouble at the beginning of this year, otherwise, I should have been back when Emperor ascended the throne.”

Having noticed that Ling Zui was a little awkward when he said “I’ve made some trouble”, Qiu Yelan assumed that he had met trouble there because of women and it took him a few months to settle it. So, she didn’t ask for more details but cared about whether he was tired on the journey.

Ling Zui was glad, “No wonder Chunjun loves his younger sister. It’s so sweet to have a younger sister! After I got home yesterday, I met my elder sister. She caught me by the ear and scolded me from the second door to the back room. My mother wasn’t even as tough on me as she was…”

That made the couple laugh and stamp their feet. They thought, “Having come back from afar, you didn’t first visit your parents or sisters, but take a look at sisters of your friend. And then you remembered to get back home. It would be weird if your elder sister didn’t kick your ass.

Having had a nice chat, Qiu Yelan left Jiang Yashuang to treat Ling Zui. She went to the kitchen to prepare meals. After that Ling Zui talked to them for a little longer. And then he got up to leave, “My mother said she would take me to visit Empress Dowager. So, I have to get back earlier for fitting.”

As he left, Qiu Yelan asked her husband, “Would Prime Minister Xue believe your words?” The Prime Minister was such a wise man that he would not be easily fooled.

“The question is not if he will believe or not, but if he is willing to do so,” said Jiang Yashuang. He smiled faintly, “The Xue family is in no position to turn against our family. If he believes my words, at least he would have the help of our branch. If he doesn’t, not to mention our eldest uncle has got his eye on the position of Prime Minister, our branch would like to cut him down. So clever as Xue Chang is, how do you think he’s gonna choose?”

He added, “Plus, his daughter is the one who has done wrong and made even more serious mistakes. She deserves it! If he has to find fault, he is the one to blame as he has failed to educate his daughter well.”

Qiu Yelan thought in her heart, “Does your family have any claim to judge the way others educate their daughters?” But she said, “Princess Royal Maode is going to take Ling Zui to visit Empress Jiang. Does she want to get a position for Ling Zui?”

Jiang Yashuang saw what she meant, “I’ll make some inquiries. If so, I will ask Empress Jiang to give him a good position.”

He said thoughtfully, “But he is not selected from the Imperial Examination. I’m afraid the official rank will not be high from the beginning.”

“You know that,” Qiu Yelan nodded, “For my brother’s request, he didn’t visit his parents but first came to visit Ruan Ciyi and me when he returned from so far away. We really should do something nice for him in return.”

And with that, Marquess Qin sent someone to call the grandson over for discussion. So Qiu Yelan asked Su He to come in and asked, “What about the two things you were asked to find out?”

“What the fourteenth madame said last time should be true. When the concubines of princes had just been selected last year, Madame Shi’s own family had someone look around the Lian Family and ask the neighbors of the Lian Family about Cousin Wang.” Su He said with a twist of her mouth, “How ridiculous the Shi Family is! Just because none of their girls was able to enter into the Imperial Family, they could not bear to see that other families had concubines!”

Qiu Yelan was also not good on her face. She thought about this and said, “Next time when I enter the Palace to have my humble respects delivered to Empress Dowager, remind me! I would like to talk about this with Empress Dowager!” The thing that Prince of Wei took Wang Qingqian as his concubine was agreed by Empress Dowager, though this marriage was asked by Prince of Wei’s birth mother before Empress Dowager.

Now the Shi Family harbored resentment for that. Doesn’t it mean that they are mad at Empress Dowager?”

Empress Dowager Jiang was not so fond of Madame Shi. That was because of Madame He.

As the wife of the eldest son, Madame He was not friendly with her step-mother-in-law Madame Tao and sister-in-law Empress Dowager Jiang. Particularly, when the Old Master Jiang Tianjiao, Empress Dowager Jiang’s brother, died, Madame He finally stopped worrying that Jiang Tianjiao would compete with her husband and her. And she dared to gloat at the Old Master Jiang Tianjiao’s funeral… How could Empress Dowager Jiang like them?

As long as Qiu Yelan went to tell Empress Dowager Jiang, she wouldn’t mind calling Madame He and her mother-in-law to tell them off!

Well, if she did it, that would be a semi-public signal that they would turn against the third branch. But Qiu Yelan said with indifference, “Not as much as the first branch has done, but the third branch does set us up a few times. Why should I be afraid of offending them?”

Having made up her mind, she asked what she was concerned about yesterday, “Have you known about the reason why Xing was late yesterday?”

“It was said that Miss Ou happened to meet Young Earl Ling on the road. She stopped and talked with him for a while. But she went back in tears!” said Su He. “It was only after a change of clothes that she went out again. That was why she was late.”

“When she ran into Ling Zui, how come she was the one who went back crying?” Qiu Yelan was surprised and said, “Shouldn’t she have beaten Ling Zui and made him back in tears?” As Ling Zui dallied with Ou Qinglan before, he was punched severely by this tough lady. Since then, when he met Ou Qinglan, he would run away as far as possible like a mouse saw a cat. How could she be made to cry?”

Su He said, “I guess that Young Earl Ling might tell Miss Ou something happened in Shazhou… Right?”

“Ugh!” Qiu Yelan felt it was problematic, “I’ll ask Jiang Yashuang!” It’s time to put everything on the table. Otherwise, it would hurt Ou Qinglan!

Ultimately, she determined to have a big talk with Ou Qinglan to let her put any thought of marrying Qiu Jinglan out of her head. However, the second day the servant sent by her failed to invite Ou Qinglan, who used to arrive at the first invitation. The servant came back and reported, “Miss Ou said she had lived in Jing City for two years and missed her parents a lot. So, she planned to go to Beijiang for being with Count Jing and Count Jing’s wife. So, these days she needed to pack up and had no time for coming here. She begged your pardons, Madame.”

That made Qiu Yelan surprised and sighed with emotion. She thought to herself, “Ling Zui probably heard about the content of that letter from Jiang Yashuang and told Ou Qinglan all about it. Thus, the girl is so sad that she plans to return to her parents for healing her heart.”

Jiang Yashuang also sighed a little when she heard about this. But he was relieved as well, “It’s better to be sad for the moment rather than for a lifetime!”

The couple just barely managed to take a load off their minds. However, they didn’t expect that four or five days later, Ling Qu, the daughter of Princess Royal Maode and sister of Ling Zui, came to visit them. Looking very somber, she said, “My younger brother has gone out for three days without coming back. Today this letter is sent to us. We don’t know whether it’s true or not, please check it.”

Madame Tao took a look at it and suddenly her face changed. She sent someone to call Qiu Yelan over and asked sharply, “Was it you who gave Zheng the idea? You had gone completely off your head! The girl has been cosseted and never traveled, not to mention that it has only been a few days after her confinement!”

Qiu Yelan was confused, “Hasn’t Jiang Qizheng gone back to clean up the Princess Mansion and planned to move back in with her son? I have no idea about what you said, grandmother.”