Chapter 100 Cousin, You Are Innocent
Qiu Yelan was stupefied, and then said, “What does this have to do with me?”
Sheng Shishui said neatly, “Yang Yifu is the child of a concubine. Her biological mother is old and out of favor now. She used to be her father’s beloved. She still has some money in her hand. She has only one biological daughter, Yang Yifu. She is willing to take it all out to avenge her daughter.”
“She should go to ‘Tianya’. What does she want from me?” Qiu Yelan muttered in her heart, but she also knew that “Tianya” was not an organization known to anyone.
Seeing Sheng Shishui who had a determined look at this moment, she said lightly, “You probably misunderstood. I am actually only interested in my own money. What’s more, last time Yang Yishi might have suffered a loss in my hand. However, can I still go to the Yang Family to deal with her?”
Sheng Shishui was a bit surprised, but she quickly said, “What if the person who contacted Yang Yishi is your cousin, young General Ruan?”
“What are you talking about?” Qiu Yelan suddenly changed her face, “It’s nonsense! My cousin doesn’t know the womenfolk of the Yang Family at all.”
She only reprimanded Sheng Shishui harshly on the surface, but Qiu Yelan had some doubts in her heart. Last time Ruan Qingyan knew that she had a fight with the womenfolk of Yang family, so he carefully asked the names of the three people including Yang Yishi. And this time he let her visit Princess Ruan’s grave. It seemed to have a glimpse of Xun Yuxi. But that was not what Ruan Qingyan said at first.
Could it be that he pretended to see Xun Yuxi? His real purpose was to send her away from the capital city so that Ruan Qingyan could rest assured to attack Yang Yishi and others?
Sheng Shishui said unhurriedly, “Your Grace, are you kidding me? How dare I arrange such a big event arbitrarily? In fact, It was me who found out about this first.”
Qiu Yelan said suspiciously, “Oh? Can the Yang family still keep you alive?”
“Of course I don’t dare to show my tracks.” Sheng Shishui said calmly, “The day after you left Jing City was my aunt’s birthday. My aunt is Yang Yishi’s mother. Although they don’t like me as niece very much, my grandmother also let me congratulate them. It was not good for them to kick me out in front of people. Of course, I knew how to behave. I followed my cousins to congratulate them. I spent the rest of the time in the corner so as not to disturb their eyes.”
Qiu Yelan hummed, “Don’t tell me that when my cousin sneaked into the Yang Family’s backyard to meet Yang Yishi that day, you saw it.”
“Even so, I’ve never met your cousin. How do I know that person is him?” Sheng Shishui smiled, “I happened to hear a maid advising Yang Yishi across the flower tree. She said that although the young General Ruan who contacted her was talented and considerate, he was your official cousin and supported Empress Jiang. He might not be willing to marry Yang Yishi. She was afraid he was teasing her.”
Qiu Yelan changed her face slightly, “Then what?”
“Then Yang Yishi of course disagreed with her.” Sheng Shishui sneered, “Otherwise, how could the matter be exposed and have to drag Yang Yifu to take the blame for her?”
“… Did my cousin do such a thing?” Qiu Yelan thought about it carefully and immediately burst into tears, “Why do I think it’s possible? Although Yang Yishi should be raised in purdah, Ruan Qingyan can’t see her casually, but it’s possible to meet the princess by cousin’s force. It’s no problem to climb an embroidery building!”
It was difficult for Qiu Yelan to think him pure because of Ruan Qingyan’s experiences with two famous prostitutes in Jing City. He could easily subdue masters of love such as Hua Shenshen and Penglai Yue, not to mention Yang Yishi who lived in purdah. Since ancient times, the most common elopement object of girls was either a scholar or a martial arts master. Cousin Ruan, he had both!
It was estimated that this kind of thing was easy for Ruan Qingyan.
Qiu Yelan felt bad. She had the upper hand in fighting. Her cousin still felt sorry for her, so he wanted to kill everyone else. Of course she felt very warm when she had such a good brother who was eager to protect her. The problem was that at present, this cousin was still the important son-in-law candidate of the bigwigs in the imperial court.
There was not much hope for Ruan Qingyan to be a son-in-law of the Jiang family because of Jiang Qisheng and Tao Peibin. Was it possible that even the Xue family’s marriage was hopeless?
What was more, Ruan Qingyan seduced Yang Yishi in his present identity, Qiu Yelan really felt that he was the one who suffered, “Yang Yishi is just an ordinary lady. There are many such girls in the backyard of officials all over the world. My cousin is a Jinshi who is less than 20 years old. It is estimated that he is the youngest Jinshi in the imperial court. He unexpectedly lowered himself to deal with Yang Yishi by himself. If he really wants to do this, won’t he hire a pretty boy?”
She thought about it in a mess. Qiu Yelan said with a sullen face, “So you threatened me with that?”
Sheng Shishui shook her head and smiled, “I dare not to call myself a smart person, but I think I am a sensible one. Your Grace, your identity is different from mine. What’s more, even Princess Yang can’t do anything about you. There are two reasons why I came here to study: One is that Madam Shao is so famous that I want to gain some benefit from her. The other is that Yang Yishi had spoken it on behalf of Princess Yang. In my situation, it’s impossible to say no, don’t you think? In that case, why should I be against Your Grace?”
Qiu Yelan thought that her words were naturally like a strong wind blowing. She didn’t believe it at all, “If you are really sensible, you should have pretended to be sick or dead. You shouldn’t have come here. But it’s not interesting to say these words right now, so let’s get down to business. Since you are not a threat, what do you want?”
“Snitch.” Sheng Shishui briskly said, “According to the news found out by Yang Yifu’s birth mother, although Yang Yishi pulled Yang Yifu to prevent disaster, as a matter of fact, the Yang family has also known about her adultery. My uncle always spoils her, so this time he is furious. But since Yang Yifu saved Yang Yishi with her life. After all, she is my uncle’s own flesh and blood. My uncle is also reluctant to let her ruin her whole life. Now he is planning to force young General Ruan to marry Yang Yishi.”
“Dream on!” Qiu Yelan was furious. A person like her who was unreasonable to help her relatives would be fair unless there were strangers on both sides, and there was no one she liked. Now she said, “Even if my cousin seduced Yang Yishi, if she is a good girl from respectable families, and there are many attendants in front and behind her when she is going out and in. Can my cousin still force her? She was not a good thing. Why blame my cousin?”
“What’s more, I had a fight with them that day. I don’t know which one of the three people deliberately stopped me and let the other side beat me and put a label on me. It can be seen that the Yang family are all such people. I don’t see my cousin seduce Yang Yishi. Maybe Yang Yishi saw my cousin somewhere and she tried to obtain him first. Otherwise, in her capacity, if she didn’t give him a chance, could my cousin get in touch with her?”
Sheng Shishui said, “You’re right. But it is said that Yang Yishi has the physical evidence given by your cousin. If things get really big, Yang Yishi will certainly be forced to death by the Yang family. Your cousin’s future…”
The biggest threat to Ruan Qingyan, who succeed in the imperial examination when he was young, was his future.
Qiu Yelan hummed and said, “You convinced me. But I can’t control the Yang Family. Since you have come to consult with me, I think you have an idea, but you just need my help… Right?”
“Your Grace, you are smart.” Sheng Shishui paid a compliment and continued to say, “But Your Grace also overestimates me. Your Grace still can’t do anything with the backyard of the Yang Family, let alone me? Fortunately, there is no need to go to the backyard of the Yang Family when we tried to clean up the grievances for Yang Yifu.”
She paused. Seeing Qiu Yelan not answer, she continued to say, “The person who has an affair with an outsider is not Yang Yifu at all, nor is it the maid beside her. Although Yang Yishi relied on that she was Yang Tao’s beloved daughter, and she pointed out that Yang Yifu took the blame for her, as far as Yang Yifu’s biological mother knows, Yang Yifu and her maid were still virgins when they were buried.”
“In this way, they will naturally not have an affair with others. But in this way, can you burn the fire on Yang Yishi?” Qiu Yelan was not satisfied, “The Yang family can take advantage of the opportunity to clean themselves. They can say that both the young lady and the maid have been wronged. And you should know that I don’t care if Yang Yifu’s revenge could be avenged. All I care about is how can my cousin get out of the dirty things of the Yang family.”
Sheng Shishui said, “Please listen to me. Yang Yifu was not actually suicide, but was killed by Yang Yishi, and then transferred the blame to her. After killing her, Yang Yishi was panicked and left away. Her body was packed into the coffin by her biological mother herself. According to what her birth mother said, Yang Yifu clenched her fists with both hands after her death, and she could not break it even though she tried hard… Maybe we can do something from here.”
“You mean spreading rumors to make Yang Yishi think that she accidentally left evidence when she killed Yang Yifu?” Qiu Yelan frowned and said, “What about my cousin?”
“We can let the rumor say that Yang Yishi’s adulterer is someone else. I think this is not a problem with the ability of Your Grace and the young General Ruan.” Sheng Shishui said, “As long as people suspect that in the Yang Family, Yang Yishi is the one who has an affair with others. Do you believe that she accused the young General Ruan of being an adulterer? She has suffered at your hands, and my uncle has suffered at the hands of you and the young General Ruan… These grievances are known to both the imperial court and the public, but they are not a secret, are they?”
Qiu Yelan thought for a while and said, “Tomorrow I will visit my grandfather. I’ll give you an accurate answer when I come back.”
Since Ruan Qingyan was involved, Qiu Yelan would not believe Sheng Shishui on the basis of her one-sided words without personally communicating with her cousin.
Sheng Shishui also knew this very well, so she left.
The next day, Qiu Yelan rushed to General’s Mansion early in the morning. It happened that Ruan Qingyan was at home that day. He was very happy to see her coming, “You’re back? You seem to have lost some weight after running back and forth.” So he told the kitchen to boil tonic soup. This was what Qiu Yelan loved most about this cousin because the so-called “tonic soup” he said was actually meet soup.
Although she usually thought of this cousin’s long face, she always felt unpleasant, but every time she drank the meat soup, Qiu Yelan felt his loveliness from the bottom of her heart. He was simply a real brother.
After drinking five bowls of “tonic soup” in one breath and seeing that Ruan Qingyan frequently handed over the look of “It is enough”, Qiu Yelan was very unwilling to put down the bowl and began to explain his intention.
She didn’t know that Ruan Qingyan frowned at the beginning, “I’ve never seen Yang Yishi or Yang Yifu.”
“Ah?!” Qiu Yelan was stunned. Ruan Qingyan never lied to her. Besides, there was no one else here at this moment, did he need to lie to his cousin? She suddenly angry, “How dare Sheng Shishui is! How dare she lie to me?”
“This lie is so easily pierced. The woman surnamed Sheng would not say such words if she had some brains.” Ruan Qingyan sneered, “I think this woman was also misled by the words of the master and the maid.”
Qiu Yelan couldn’t help being surprised, “You mean that Yang Yishi had an affair with others and wanted to force you to marry her, all of which were deliberately told to Sheng Shishui and Yang Yifu’s biological mother. Why?”
Ruan Qingyan shouted angrily, “Aren’t you usually very smart? You will know this kind of thing after a little thought. Why don’t you understand now? Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about soup!”
“…” Qiu Yelan looked at him with tears in her eyes: Of course I was still thinking about drinking soup! It was a pity. As a Commandery Princess in a rich family, I had never eaten a piece of meat. Didn’t you want me to miss the meat soup I just drank?
Ruan Qingyan twisted his head and did not look at her sad eyes, “Did Sheng Shishui suggest to steal the tomb? Originally it is not easy to handle the backyard of the Yang Family. If you want to keep it simple, you have to use your brain on the grave. I think that the Yang Family is going to wait for us.”
After saying, he didn’t wait for Qiu Yelan’s reply. He turned his head and saw that his cousin was staring foolishly at the green parrot on the porch outside. The salivating eyes made the parrot which was usually very noisy well-behaved that it hid its head under its wings and dared not to look at her.
“… You stay here for dinner today. I’ll let someone cook… some nourishing dishes for you.” Ruan Qingyan coughed for a long time but failed to wake up his cousin in longing. He sighed helplessly and said, “Now you turn your head around. Pay attention!”