Madame Zhuang handled decisively this incident all by herself, and the backyard of Marquess’s Mansion quickly restored calm again under her deterrent influence. The disappearing Ms. Duan and the newcome Ms. Gu both sank into silence as if nothing had ever happened.

The grand wedding of the Emperor and the Empress would begin in just a few days.

June had always been the hottest time of the year. If it had been in the former years, Emperor would have accompanied Empress Dowager to take refuge from the summer heat in Mount Dizi long ago. But the Royal Observatory had picked on a day in June as the most suitable date for the marriage of Emperor and Xin Fubing. For the grand wedding celebration, Emperor chose to give up this year’s summer holiday.

The hot sun was baking the whole city day after day, but it couldn’t extinguish the festive air across the city.

The road from the Xin’s Mansion to the palace had long been refilled with yellow soil and maintained by daily sprinkling water.

The road was lined with bouquets of flowers and piles of brocades, and decorated with a variety of green draperies with golden screens and silver flowers. There were so many novel decorations for the eyes to take in. Furthermore, the whole road was smoked by the famous incense Rui Longnao which could only be enjoyed by the imperial household. As the south wind blew, the whole city was full of strong fragrance.

This was just the sight of the road from the Xin’s Mansion to the palace when Xin Fubing was carried into the palace in a sedan. It could be imagined how grand the scene would be in the palace. But for such a grand wedding, Qiu Yelan couldn’t go to attend.

She was already 7 months, almost 8 months pregnant. Not to mention that Madame Tao, Madame Zhuang, and Jiang Yashuang were worried about her, she also felt herself clumsy and needed two maids on each side to help her when getting up or sitting down. With such a big pregnant belly to attend the wedding, even with the good care of Empress Dowager Jiang, it wouldn’t be easy for her.

So, without any persuasion from the elders and her husband, she volunteered to stay at home.

On June 15, she got up early and sat under the grapevine in the courtyard to enjoy the cool. And the maid presented her a chilled dark plum drink. Both of them listened to the clamor coming from the outside, guessing the process, “Now I guess grandmother and mother should have arrived in the palace, and Empress Dowager is ready to meet the guests… His Majesty has to send someone to offer sacrifices to Heaven and Earth and the Imperial Temple before he can inform his wedding to the Empress Dowager… Right this moment, the imperial edict should have been announced at the Xin family, and my cousin Xin should have received it, which declares her to be the Empress.”

“The phoenix coronet and robes of the imperial household are really beautiful!” Su He said with her eyes shining brightly, “Two days ago, you sent me to take something to the Xin’s Mansion, and thus I had the privilege to admire the phoenix coronet and robes. The phoenix coronet is set with so many pearls and jewels that it brightens the house with dazzling light. Not to mention the wedding dress, its embroidery is simply vivid as if it were real rosy clouds on the sky horizon when piling in the plate. Miss Xin… no, it was the Empress who allowed me to touch for the sake of madame…”

“Really? How does it feel?” Chen Shui observed with an excited but regretful tone, “If I had known that, I would have begged madame that day to allow me to go along with you!”

“The Empress and your madame have long been intimate friendship.” Qiu Yelan smiled and threw a grape into her hand, “Next time when I go to the palace, you can go along with me. And you will have the opportunity to get a glimpse of them.”

The maids pondered for a moment and all agreed with her words. Empress Xin had always treated Qiu Yelan as an intimate friend and even been very nice to her maids!

So, they were all clamoring for Qiu Yelan to take them into the palace someday to admire the Empress’s wedding dress and other wedding stuff, to make up for the regret of not being able to go to the wedding ceremony at the moment.

They were talking and laughing until late afternoon. Qiu Yelan had a meal alone, freshened up, and went to bed. She thought that the Jiang Family would not return until late. But surprisingly, not long after she went to bed, she heard that Jiang Tan was calling the maids to prepare hot water so that Jiang Yashuang could bathe and change clothes.

“Why are they back so early?” Qiu Yelan had not yet fallen asleep. She got up when hearing the sound from outside, and called Chunran who was waiting in the outer room in case her madame might need any help, “Go and pour a cup of the mint dew on the table for Jiang Yashuang!”

A few moments later, Jiang Yashuang walked in. The fragrances of delicacies and wine amid the strong mint fragrance could still be smelled. His robe was already wet by sweat, and he was wiping his face with a handkerchief and said to Qiu Yelan, “Did I wake you up?”

“I haven’t fallen asleep yet… Why are you back so early?” Qiu Yelan asked, “I’ve had dinner, freshened up, and gone to bed. You might as well come back home together with grandmother and mother after the palace banquet ends. If you worry about me being alone at home, why don’t you come back a little earlier to have dinner with me?”

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He escaped the banquet at such an awkward time…

But before she could finish her talking, Jiang Yashuang sighed, “Something went wrong at the banquet so grandmother asked me to accompany Jiang Yalan and his wife to come back earlier. I just sat down for the banquet and ate a little. Is there anything left to eat in the kitchen now?”

Qiu Yelan could not help but be stunned, and then she instructed Chunran, “Go and ask Mrs. Li to make a few simple and light dishes quickly.”

And then she walked to the opposite of Jiang Yashuang and sat down, asking, “Mi Yinyin dared to make a show of herself on such a big day… Moreover, my cousin Xin is also a married woman from this day on. Shouldn’t she be happy about this?”

Jiang Yashuang looked unhappy. Originally, Mi Yinyin, as the in-laws of the sixth branch, bore no blood relationship with him and so she was never on a par with Xin Fubing, his blood aunt’s daughter.

Given the intimate relationship between Xin Fubing and Qiu Yelan, he had always been on the side of Xin Fubing in the feud between Xin Fubing and Mi Yinyin. Moreover, today’s incident was caused by Mi Yinyin. And his disgust was gradually showing up on his eyebrows when his wife said, “Originally, His Majesty sent people to offer sacrifices to Heaven and Earth and the Imperial Temple this morning, and then went to Hall of Taishi to meet my aunt. After getting her permission, he would return to Hall of Funing and then send people to the Xin’s Mansion to bring Miss Xin into the palace… Everything was very smooth!”

It happened when Xin Fubing entered the Hall of Beique of the Zishen Palace. When she sat down on the phoenix chair and was ready to be worshipped by the mothers or wives of the officials, unexpectedly, Mi Yinyin acted very improperly, which was bad to a large extent. The rest of the women got up while she didn’t. It wasn’t obvious. But when the rest of the women kneeled, she still didn’t kneel. Everyone onsite saw what happened.

But luckily, the eunuch who presided over the ceremony didn’t say anything for the sake of her status. But there were so many people there then. Even though the people in front of her did not see the whole thing, did the people behind her not see it?

But they all knew that today was the big day of the Emperor and the Empress. Who dared to discuss it openly when they all saw that the newly crowned Empress Xin didn’t say a word about this?

But the fact that they didn’t discuss it openly didn’t mean that they wouldn’t discuss it. So, after the banquet started, the news was whispered across the banquet.

The others might not know the feuding love pentagon among Jiang Yalan, Mi Yinyin, Xin Fubing, Ou Bicheng, and Emperor… but the five involved knew it very clearly.

Originally, Jiang Yalan preferred to marry Xin Fubing. If it were not for the fact that Xin Fubing did not fancy him, he would never let his uncle be his father-in-law even though the Mi Family and Mi Yinyin made every effort to make this happen.

Today on such a bid day of Xin Fubing’s wedding and becoming the Empress, she dressed up so dazzlingly beautiful, and her aura of being the most powerful woman in the imperial harem was quite different from that of her status as a “cousin”. Whoever else would envy Emperor to have such a beauty as his wife, even if for the bold stranger, not to mention Jiang Yalan who was once infatuated with her and still was in love with her, right?

On such an occasion, it would be unlikely that Jiang Yalan didn’t feel kind of upset and regretful.

At a time when he heard that Mi Yinyin acted improperly when presenting herself before the Empress, he was naturally upset and said, “If I had known that you would have such a rude behavior today, you might as well have stayed at home like Jiang Yashuang’s wife!”

And then Mi Yinyin justifiably burst into tears in public!

“You also know that the status of our family today would present us in the most prominent position. When she burst into tears, the majority of the people in the hall noticed that!” Jiang Yashuang was still a bit annoyed at this moment, “So awkward and such a bummer. My aunt’s face suddenly looked terrible as if she wanted to throw something over her to stop her crying!”

“And then what happened?” Qiu Yelan also frowned as Xin Fubing’s marriage was already full of twists and turns. Why did Mi Yinyin continue to make trouble on her big day?

Jiang Yashuang said scornfully, “The hall suddenly sank into silence. And Jiang Yalan felt so embarrassed that he was about to stand up to apologize for what his wife had done. Fortunately, Cousin Xin reacted quickly. She said with a smile that she was very close with Mi Yinyin even though they bore no blood relationship and Mi Yinyin must weep with joy to see her be married. My aunt, grandmother, and the younger aunt also echoed with her and finally, the whole thing subsided!”

He sighed tiredly, “Even if it is a wedding for ordinary people, I believe there will be no one like her who only cares about her own feelings to ruin the wedding, let alone the wedding for the Emperor and the Empress. To make this grand wedding go on smoothly, so many people have been quite busy from last year to this year. Look at what she’s done! She almost ruined the whole wedding because of her jealousy!”

“It’s so lucky for her to have such a good mother-in-law like the sixth aunt who loves her niece more than her own son.” The more Qiu Yelan listened, the more annoyed she was. She said scornfully, “It always has been the case that she provokes my Cousin Xin proactively to cause the feud. Earlier when Aunt Tianhe came back and the sixth aunt came and apologized to her, Min Yinyin even didn’t come. With such great airs, I really do not know how much the Mi family is spoiling her to make her so ill-mannered. But she can only behave unrestrainedly at her family. Since the day she became a member of the Jiang family, she takes advantage of the good nature of my youngest uncle and his wife and continues to put on airs and graces!”

The majority of what Qiu Yelan said was true. A daughter-in-law like Min Yinyin wouldn’t be tolerated by Marquess Qin!

Let alone Madame He who always tricked her nieces, even for the model mother-in-law Madame Zhuang, she was kind because her daughter-in-law was respectful and submissive, but her biological sons were always more important than her daughters-in-law for her. But for a daughter-in-law like Mi Yinyin, Madame Zhuang would make her respectful and submissive, or send her back to her maiden family after her son divorced her.

“After cousin Xin dealt with the episode resourcefully, the youngest aunt asked Jiang Yalan and his wife to go back home directly at a time when Prime Minister Xue began to toast and she had to explain this to the Empress Dowager and the Empress at a later time!” Jiang Yashuang didn’t want to comment further on his sister-in-law either and said coolly, “My grandmother noticed that Jiang Yalan was extremely unhappy, and so, she asked me to accompany him back home. Moreover, I’m a little worried about you.”

Qiu Yelan then asked, “What happened on the way back home?”

“Hardly had he passed the palace gate, he wanted to quarrel with his wife, but I stopped him.” Jiang Yashuang lightly said, “After leaving the palace gate, Jiang Yalan just greeted me and rode directly away towards the direction of Mirror Lake.”

As mentioned in previous chapters, Mirror Lake was the most famous place in Jing City that was full of brothels. Jiang Yalan chose to go there with an aim to deliberately embarrass Min Yinyin!

“What about his wife?”

“I followed her carriage to the gate of her residence and saw her enter the door, and then I came back.” Jiang Yashuang exhaled, “No talking about her. Is the meal ready? I got up early this morning to head into the palace and had been busy all the time. I don’t even have the time to drink a few mouths of water and I really feel hungry now.”