Chapter 138 Is It Pure Relationship Between Brother and Sister?
Jiang Tianao had no title of nobility at that time, and it was impossible for him to inherit the position of premier. In terms of family property, Jiang Da and Jiang Er, with the identity of being the legitimate eldest son and second son of Jiang Family, couldn’t be afraid of being unable to compete with Jiang Eleven!
Conversely, Jiang Eleven should have been the person who would secretly scheme against the two brothers, right?
“My eleventh brother and my third sister were born to the same mother.” Jiang Yashang sighed, “My third brother-in-law, Duanrou’s father, as you know… At that time, my Forth Aunt agreed to marry a daughter from Jiang Family to my third brother-in-law, but she didn’t plan to choose my third sister. Instead, she wanted to choose a poor girl from her ancestral family. As a result, my First Aunt… So both my First Uncle and my Forth Aunt feel a little guilty about my third sister.”
Qiu Yelan understood, “In some ways, they make it up to your eleventh brother?”
“That’s it.” Jiang Yashang rubbed his eyebrows for a while. “Two days ago, when hearing that there was an important position vacant in the Northern Army, my father wrote a letter to ask if anyone in the family wanted to go there. It seems that First Uncle is going to choose my eleventh brother, but First Aunt seems to have the intention of recommending her nephew from her parental family.”
“Then I’m confused.” Qiu Yelan was surprised and said, “In this way, if your eleventh brother made any trouble in the capital city, he would be just sent away, right? And to be honest, no matter how kind First Aunt’s nephew is, he couldn’t be as close as the member in Jiang Family.”
As for the position in the Northern Army, even if Jiang Tianchi, Great General of North, wrote a letter to ask his family, neither Jiang Tianao nor Madame Dou could make the final decision because Marquess Qin and Jiang Tianchi themselves were the decision-makers!
Let them choose, unless Jiang Yahong was the mud that could not hold the wall, and the guy from Dou family was a star that was dazzlingly bright, they would definitely choose the one from their own family!
Jiang Yashuang sneered, “The reason why that position is vacant is that the predecessor had a lust for women, so that he almost made a big trouble! So my father told my grandfather that they must choose a reliable person this time, and those lecherous guys are absolutely removed from the list.”
“…” Qiu Yelan pondered for a moment and sighed, “Anyway, Aunt Lian was really incriminated by me!”
If Jiang Yahong really ravished Madame Lian, he not only violated Jiang Tianchi’s advice of excluding “lecherous guys”, but also directly offended Qiu Yelan, a prospective sister-in-law who had been acquiesced by Marquess Qin and his wife, and had been fervently supported by Jiang Yashang himself, which was equivalent to disgracing the fourth branch. In this way, could he still have a chance?
Jiang Yashuang hurriedly comforted her, “It’s not all your fault.”
However, hardly had her voice died away, she had been punched by Qiu Yelan, who said angrily, “You should be blamed more for it! If it weren’t for you, I would have nothing to do with the internal fight in Jiang Family! And my Aunt couldn’t be incriminated!”
“… You are getting fiercer and fiercer! Jiang Yashuang rubbed his sore and lamented, “It is said that your cousin has begun to teach you martial arts, right? He does have bad intentions to make you murder your own husband by accident!”
“Nonsense! My cousin once said it was meaningless for my husband to be defeated by me!” Qiu Yelan sneered and waved her pink fist, “And did you say I’m a fierce girl? So you like gentle girls? Like Cousin Tao, or Xue Fangmi? Anyhow, we haven’t got formally married yet, you can propose marriage to anyone you like! Did I stop you? Isn’t it meaningless to murmur some mean words in front of me?”
With his hair standing on end, Jiang Yashuang hastened to appease, “I have forgotten the two persons you mentioned for a long time! And how can I like gentle girls? I only like girls like you!”
“You mean I’m not gentle enough?” Qiu Yelan stretched out her finger and grabbed his ear, with a faint smile on her face, “Have I wronged you? Mistreated you? Do you feel unhappy?”
Jiang Yashuang frost smile obsequiously, “Why do you need to be a gentle girl? Anyway, I like you whether you are gentle or not! Isn’t it enough?”
“So you still think I’m not gentle!” Qiu Yelan clenched her fists, with fierce light in her eyes!
“I can lose my conscience for a while, but!” Jiang Yashang didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh, “It’s too hard for me to say you’re gentle against my conscience!”
Qiu Yelan snapped in a delicate voice, “You like to tell the truth so much, do you believe I really beat you to death?”
Jiang Yashuang couldn’t help laughing, “So you know that I am telling the truth?”
The two had a quarrel for a while, and then Qiu Yelan let go.
“Did the bear paw taste good yesterday? If you like it, I’ll send some to you later.” Jiang Yashuang secretly rubbed his red ear and asked her with a smile.
Qiu Yelan’s eyes lit up and said, “Delicious!” The short but powerful answer fully demonstrated her longing.
“What else do you like to eat?” asked Jiang Yashuang who was delighted at that time.
“Wait!” It was proved that Su He’s word, “Commandery Princess doesn’t like to use her loaf when she hears delicious food these days” was false information. That was because Qiu Yelan suddenly pulled a long face and unexpectedly directed the topic away from food. “Although this time your eleventh brother did not hurt my Aunt Lian, your eldest brother and second brother have gone too far, haven’t they? Aunt Lian didn’t goad them at all, but just for framing up their illegitimate younger brother, they didn’t care about Aunt Lian’s chastity…”
At this point, she suddenly burst into tears. “I don’t know if I’m the same person in their eyes.”
Jiang Yashuang hurriedly coaxed her, “How could it be possible? They won’t dare to treat you in this way!” When it came to those disgraceful brothers, Jiang Yashuang also felt disgraced. “In the early years, my family’s social status was not as high as it is now. My grandfather and uncle were busy with political and military affairs, and my aunts inevitably doted on their children. By the time my grandfather and uncles wanted to set family rules, everything was too late. They didn’t deal with this matter properly. I had just told my grandmother, and she said she would call Uncle Mengmin to talk about it in the side yard the day after tomorrow.”
Qiu Yelan knew that he was adroit, and if she kept holding on to the settlement of trouble caused by the first branch of Jiang family, she would inevitably be found to be sowing discord, so she stopped before going too far. Now she sobbed and said, “Won’t they dare to treat me like this? Who am I to deserve the considerate treatment of the eldest son and the second son of the Jiang family?”
As expected, Jiang Yashuang guessed the formal relationship between the two, saying, “Deng Yi and his mother have never appeared yet. I’m going to send someone to disguise as them and spread the word. Then I would come back to the capital city to break off the engagement, forcing them to show up. I have discussed with your cousin about this plan. Since they deliberately put off making reactions to us, they couldn’t stand by when they heard the news. As long as they come out, they will certainly break off the engagement!”
Qiu Yelan was stunned, “Is this your idea?”
Jiang Yashuang said, “Yeah… You saw your cousin today. Didn’t he tell you?” He muttered to himself, wondering whether Ruan Qingyan had taken all the credit. But he thought this future brother-in-law had a sense of pride, it seemed that he wouldn’t be that kind of person although he had been so fussy about him.
But he didn’t know what Qiu Yelan thought in her mind, “No wonder when I praised this idea thoughtlessly, my cousin immediately turned against me and said there was nothing good about such a simple idea. Now I understand that was because it hadn’t been my cousin’s idea, but Jiang Yashuang’s.”
Thinking of this, she burst into laughter and said to Jiang Yashuang who was confused at that time, “Since you intend to force Deng Yi and his mother to appear, why don’t you just let the person disguising as Deng Yi marry a wife? Why do you let them go back to the capital city? What if they plan to kidnap the person secretly on the road and then leave a letter as a threat?”
Jiang Yashang smiled and said, “Then people would say that you were abandoned by him, wouldn’t they? If so, how humiliating you would be!”
“What’s the point of arguing about this kind of dignity?” Qiu Yelan said. However, she was very glad to see that he cared about her dignity so much. So she took the initiative to lean forward and kissed him on the cheek. At that moment, Jiang Yashuang’s breath stopped for a short while. Then he squinted and suddenly held her in his arms. However, hardly had he lowered his head and smelled the fragrance in Qiu Yelan’s hair on her temples when the latter patted his arm slowly, “I have already rewarded you, don’t push your luck!”
“Alas! I must tell them to act quickly! Let’s get married soon!” Jiang Yashuang said with regret. He knew that after she said those words, she would really fell out if he still did not let go.
Qiu Yelan smoothed her earlock, reorganized her skirt, and smirked after hearing his words, “I am only fifteen, which is even a nominal age. Do you want to get married when I’m so young? Wait for two more years!”
Jiang Yashang was astonished and asked, “Are you going to marry me at seventeen?”
“Actually, getting married at the age of seventeen is too early.” Qiu Yelan twitched her lips. Seeing that he seemed to have an objection, she said, “Don’t mention this at present. If the engagement were not broken, there would be no point in talking about it.”
“One more month.” Jiang Yashuang made estimation about the efficiency after his urging, “If this method didn’t work by then, then we could only spread the rumors that your marriage with Deng Yi will be fated to mourn the relatives’ death.”
Qiu Yelan was confused and said, “The marriage certificate is in the hands of Mrs. Gu. If you didn’t take it back, what could you do just by spreading rumors?”
“If several members were killed in both families, then there should come a reason to annul the marriage engagement!” Jiang Yashuang said without consideration and sighed again, “But in this way, you would be pushed in the teeth of the storm.”
As a matter of fact, this is why he was beaten recently. Ruan Qingyan, who always found fault with him, asked him seriously about what if it didn’t work after listening to his disguising plan.
In order to show that he had been well prepared in front of his brother-in-law in the future, Jiang Yashuang came up with this idea of repudiating the marriage contract. As a result, Ruan Qingyan burst into anger immediately, “Several years ago, when the wicked old woman Lu was alive, she spread the rumor that my cousin was fated to mourn the death of her parents and elder brothers everywhere. It was not easy for this vicious rumor to stop in the past two years, but you still want to cause its spreading again by yourself? You’re afraid my cousin won’t be reproached, aren’t you?”
Then, before Jiang Yashuang finished saying, “Let me explain, please.” Ruan Qingyan had already drawn a sword towards him… What else could he do but pull out the soft sword in his sleeve to defend himself?
Thinking of the brother-in-law who was eager to protect his cousin, Jiang Yashuang still felt a little unsettled in his heart. Just as he was distracted, he happened to hear Qiu Yelan’s words, “I don’t care. I’m only afraid my cousin will be worried when he knows about it.”
He frowned and said tentatively, “Just coax him for a while if he’s worried. After all, it’s your own business.”
“How can that work?” Qiu Yelan immediately shook her head. “Do you treat my cousin like you, who can be coaxed in a few words? If he doesn’t agree, I dare not let you do this. Otherwise, I will definitely be punished by him later!”
Jiang Yashuang squinted, “I am so sad to hear your words. Does your Cousin Ruan is so much more important than me?”
Qiu Yelan disdainfully replied, “He’s my brother!”
“You might as well take him as your brother!” Knowing that she was not gentle and oversensitive, Jiang Yashuang was afraid of causing a quarrel with her. So he dared not speak out, but he thought to himself, “But the cousin is not her physical brother anyway, she puts me behind him in everything… Is it likely that she treats true love as the attachment between brother and sister, just like I did at the beginning?”
Although his heart was suddenly filled with a sense of crisis, he maintained his composure, “Well, I won’t argue with you anymore. But don’t bully me too much. After all, I am the one who will marry you in the future, right?”
Qiu Yelan casually said, “That’s not definite. If you don’t treat me well enough, I won’t marry you to be bullied. Anyway, now I have enough food and clothing with the dowry left by my grandmother and my mother, and I have my cousin to rely on!” The purpose of her remark was to imply that his brother had been too disgraceful, but the meaning was complicated from the point of view of Jiang Yashuang!
“No, I must go to have a talk with Ruan Qingyan!” Jiang Yashuang couldn’t even maintain his smile, “He cares too much about his cousin Lan!”
Now Qiu Yelan would mention Ruan Qingyan whenever she spoke!