Qiu Yelan ignored Jiang Yashuang’s invites in the next few days. Instead, she asked Zhuang Man to go out for a few days.
There was no sign of Qiu Feng during those days. One day, she talked about it with Ruan Ciyi. Ruan Ciyi roared with laughter at once, “You really believed your brother? Haven’t you been out these two days? Qiu Feng drank all day long since the early morning lying in the tree. He only got down to have meals when the servants called him. I could see him daily through my window upstairs… How could he go to follow you?”
Qiu Yelan was enlightened. She said grinding her teeth, “I know my brother doesn’t adore me anymore! How could he lie to me like this!”
“You were just not smart enough!” Ruan Ciyi patted her with a silk fan and said leisurely, “Didn’t you say it yourself? When Qiu Feng came here this time, he had a great change in temperament. Your brother told you that there was something on Qiu Feng’s mind… Under this circumstance, how could he be in the mood to do your brother’s bidding? I think he came here to drive away his cares!”
“Anyhow, my brother is so annoying!” Qiu Yelan was angry, “I’m going to talk to him!”
“Wait!” Seeing that she was about to run away, Ruan Ciyi grabbed her in a hurry and said grumpily, “The day after tomorrow is the Emperor’s birthday. But you still haven’t picked out your dress and jewelry yet. Don’t think about leaving. Sit down! Listen to me carefully!”
Qiu Yelan sat back with a bitter face and complained, “Ciyi, don’t you feel that you are becoming more and more like my brother? Both so stern.”
“Oh, you brother said so,” Ruan Ciyi said casually while asking servants to bring Qiu Yelan’s new dress, jewel box and other stuff, “He said that you only responded to strength and reasoning with you was useless, and you wouldn’t listen unless we used a little force!”
“…” Qiu Yelan was so frustrated, “I’m definitely not his real sister!” No one would do this to one’s real sister!
Ruan Ciyi shoveled one dress and serval pieces of jewelry into her arm and stared at her, “Even if you were adopted, go in and put those on right now!”
Until the dusk before the Emperor’s birthday, except eating, sleeping and other necessary matters, Qiu Yelan kept trying on clothes and jewelry and adjusting makeup under Ruan Ciyi’s supervision… Ruan Ciyi even brought in the tailor to adjust Qiu Yelan’s new clothes in order to make her unique among all the ladies.
“Don’t think these are trifles!” They finally decided on the outfit for the Emperor’s birthday and the backup one. Ruan Ciyi saw Qiu Yelan lying face down on the bed recklessly and refused to get up. She said sincerely, “People will only know how to properly eat and dress after being officers for three generations! Judging people by their appearance and clothes is superficial. But most of the people are like that! Dressing up nicely will spare you a lot of criticisms and you will be more worry-free.”
Qiu Yelan said spiritlessly, “How worry-free can I be? Let alone others, people from the Gu Family must be eager for going after me!”
“There is nothing to be scared of!” Ruan Ciyi disapproved, “You are a Commandery Princess. Among all the ladies who will be on the scene, only a Princess’s level is higher than you. And Her Majesty controls all the legit Princesses! Her Majesty adores Jiang Yashuang the most among all her nephews. Which lady will be stupid enough to offend you? As for Princess Shou’an from the Gu Family, doesn’t the Jiang Family also have Chunfu Princess? You just need to follow her closely!”
Qiu Yelan got up, “I’m not scared. I just feel that people will mess with me anyway. Why do I bother going through all the trouble to dress up?”
“What do you mean by going through all the trouble?” The senior lady was angry, “Do you think the Emperor’s birthday is ordinary people’s family dinner? It will be your second big celebration after your mourning period was over. Her Majesty’s birthday was ruined last time. It will be your first appearance in a celebration. Especially, you are the Jiang Family’s future daughter-in-law! I didn’t dress you up for people from the Gu Family. It’s for your future sisters-in-law! Do you understand?”
“I’m sorry!” Seeing that Ruan Ciyi was about to give her a proper lecture, Qiu Yelan admitted her fault decidedly!
She was lucky that Ruan Ciyi was tired after teaching her two days about how to be a lady. Ruan Ciyi waved her hand and asked the servants to put away the clothes and jewelry they selected, “Take these to your place. The begonia red one is for tomorrow morning. The others are backups in case of accidents… Do you remember everything I said?”
“Yes, all in my mind!” Qiu Yelan said in a hurry.
Ruan Ciyi asked her to take those to her place. Ruan Ciyi didn’t mean the place which was one corridor apart from her room. She meant the Fangfei Pavilion of Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. The Ruan Family was still in mourning after all. Nobody cared that Qiu Yelan lived there in the normal days. But she was about to go to the Emperor’s birthday party. If she lived in the family which was in mourning the day before the birthday and someone exposed this, it would cause trouble.
Besides, as an unmarried woman, she needed someone to lead her to the palace unless she was summoned to go alone. No one in the Ruan Family could lead her at that moment. If she didn’t go back to Fangfei Pavilion, she couldn’t go with the Jiang Family, could she? It was so frivolous!
Qiu Yuqing was dead in March. Normally, Qiu Yelan and others should be in mourning for her for nine months. However, she was dead because she tried to kill Deng Yi in order to frame her maiden family. So, after the case was adjudicated, Qiu Mengmin naturally cast her out of the Qiu family and denied her as his sister!
In that case, Prince’s Mansion of Xihe didn’t need to be in mourning…
Enough about those. When Qiu Yelan went into the villa at dusk, Qiu Jinzhu had already been waiting for her behind the door for a while.
Qiu Jinzhu approached in a hurry and saluted after seeing her, “Yelan!”
“Do you need anything?” Qiu Yelan had stayed in the Ruan Family ever since Qiu Jinglan was attacked. She hadn’t seen this cousin during that period. When Qiu Yelan looked at her at that moment, Qiu Yelan felt that she seemed to grow taller and prettier. It was just that her obedient look still couldn’t hide the grievance in her eyes. So, Qiu Yelan asked coldly.
Qiu Jinzhu said in a soft voice, “I just haven’t seen you for a while. I heard that you would come back today. So, I’m here to greet you on purpose.”
“Thank you,” seeing that Qiu Jinzhu was trying to please her and didn’t cut to the chase, Qiu Yelan didn’t ask her again. She said flatly and then asked, “Has my room been cleaned?”
“It has been cleaned a long time ago,” Qiu Jinzhu said in a hurry.
But when they got to her room, Qiu Yelan frowned. It was not that Qiu Jinzhu lied to her. “Didn’t I live in the courtyard at the northeastern corner last year? Why do you lead me to your room?”
“This place was getting repaired back then. So, we arranged for you to stay over there. Now this place is ready. Of course, you should live here,” Qiu Jinzhu said guiltily.
When they spent the summer there last year, Princess Yang made an excuse saying that a lot of the empty courtyards in Fangfei Pavilion needed to repair which were uninhabitable. She arranged Qiu Yelan to live in the damp and stuff courtyard at the northeastern corner on purpose. And she let Qiu Jinzhu live exclusively in a courtyard which was big enough for a few princesses. Qiu Jinglan bought Green Villa at once because of it.
Before that, he and Ruan Ciyi were invited by the Xue Family to stay in one of the Xue Family’s unoccupied villas.
However, this year was different from last year. Both Qiu Jinglan’s origin and the Jiang Family’s endorsement made Qiu Mengmin and his wife lose the courage to give Qiu Yelan a hard time. Qiu Jinzhu was obviously trying to make compensations. It was not just her. Ding Qinghong approached while they were standing outside the courtyard. She said to Qiu Yelan with enthusiasm, “Yelan, here you are. I just asked the servants to water the flower bed outside your door. Those crape myrtle flowers are newly planted. I don’t know if you like them?”
Qiu Jinzhu frowned after seeing that, “Qinghong, why are you here? I have been living here. I’ll show Yelan around.”
“Since my mother took Feng from me to raise him by her side, I don’t have much to do. So, I’m just walking around,” Ding Qinghong was smiling. But when she mentioned Feng, her look was weird. Obviously, she was not willing to let Princess Yang raise Qiu Feng like she appeared to be.
Qiu Jinzhu sensed it and sneered, “Mother put you in charge of our family business. You need to manage the whole back yard. How can you find time to take good care of Feng? Mother did it for your own good!”
“I think so too!” Ding Qinghong smiled faintly, “You sound like I blamed our mother. I can’t bear that accusation… Don’t keep Yelan at the door. Let’s go in!”
Qiu Jinglan wasn’t fully recovered yet. The Emperor’s birthday on the next day definitely wouldn’t be smooth. Qiu Yelan didn’t have time to care for the infighting in Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. She followed Ding Qinghong into the yard. She checked her room and found nothing was wrong. After making a few conventional remarks, she saw them out.
Ding Qinghong seemed to have something to say to Qiu Yelan during that period. But she didn’t have the chance. So, she had to leave with regret.
The next day morning, Su He woke Qiu Yelan up while it was still dark. Following the procedure that Ruan Ciyi instructed early, she took a bath first and then got dressed. After getting ready, she had some cakes. Princess Yang also sent people over, “The Princess, Madame Ding and sixth Commandery Princess are ready. They wanted to know if you were ready?”
“I’m ready too,” Qiu Yelan stood up. Chunran and others took the backup clothes and jewelry in a hurry and followed her to the Flower Hall where Princess Yang and others were waiting.
Other than the people who were mentioned by the servant, Senior Concubine Bian who the servant didn’t mention on purpose was also there. She was all dolled up. She looked nice which indicated that she had a great life in these two years.
“Yelan is also ready? Then let’s go,” seeing Qiu Yelan came in, Princess Yang gave back the Persian cat on her lap to Qiu Jinzhu. She stood up and said.
“Mother, could you let Yelan be in the same carriage with me?” Just after everyone agreed, Ding Qinghong suddenly spoke in a hurry, “It’s the first time Yelan attends the Emperor’s birthday. There may be something she doesn’t know. I can explain those to her.”
Princess Yang frowned after hearing that and said, “Lady Ruan was a regular in the palace. Why should you bother?”
“Your Grace, that’s not true,” Ding Qinghong was really embarrassed because of Princess Yang’s words. Senior Concubine Bian blinked her eyes and suddenly said with a smile, “Lady Ruan is an outsider after all. Although she gave advice to Yelan, our family couldn’t let it be, could we? Besides, Lady Ruan hasn’t been in the city for a few years. As for the people at the banquet, how could she know more about them than Madame Ding, right?”
Princess Yang didn’t know how to answer. She just gave her a dirty look and walked away, “Suit yourselves!”
Ding Qinghong gave Senior Concubine Bian a grateful look. She approached and pulled Qiu Yelan who had a faint smile. She whispered in her ear, “Yelan, I’m asking you for a favor. Please help me!”
“Feng?” Qiu Yelan was correct at her first guess.
“Yes!” Ding Qinghong bit her lips and then begged, “I heard that my mother often treated him poorly in private. I’m really worried! Please speak up for me. So that I can raise him by myself!”
Knowing that Qiu Hongzhi didn’t get along with her and they even quarreled with each other, Ding Qinghong didn’t talk vaguely, “As long as you help me with this, if you need anything in the future, I’ll be at your service!”
“Let’s talk after today,” Qiu Yelan focused on Qiu Jinglan’s recovery in these few months. She didn’t know the current situation of Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. Of course, she wouldn’t agree to help her so easily.
Ding Qinghong sighed inwardly after seeing this. She had to say, “Then let me tell you about the Emperor’s birthday…”