Of course not!
Qiu Yelan didn’t believe that Kuang Qingwu really loved Qiu Jinzhu!
If he really loved her, how would he wait until their affair was exposed before he promised to marry her? Not to mention that Qiu Jinzhu herself had confessed that she had given everything to him. Knowing that his father and the Empress Dowager had decided on his marriage, he still did this, which meant Qiu Jinzhu had no way out then. It could be seen that he had never considered for Qiu Jinzhu!
Jiang Yashuang also thought so, “Although Prince’s Mansion of Xihe declined after your father died, but with Commandery Princess Ningtai’s status, Kuang Qingwu couldn’t play with her emotions. Therefore, since he did not really like Commandery Princess Ningtai but still had sex with her, it can be seen that what he really wants is not Commandery Princess Ningtai but something else.”
Kuang Family probably didn’t know that before, but since Qiu Nie turned to Empress Dowager Gu, how could they not know that there was only an empty shell left in Prince’s Mansion of Xihe? Given Kuang Shihan’s current power, his only son would turn his nose up at Prince’s Mansion of Xihe certainly.
Since his aim was not Commandery Princess Ningtai nor Prince’s Mansion of Xihe…
Qiu Yelan frowned, “You mean, brother?”
It was only Qiu Jinglan who could get a relationship with Ningtai and let Kuang Qingwu seduce her in person.
However, “My brother is tired of them. Since they returned the dowry of my grandmother and mother to me, my brother never paid attention to them then, let alone met with Qiu Jinzhu. Even if Kuang Qingwu seduced Qiu Jinzhu, what could she do to my brother?”
Qiu Jinzhu hadn’t even stepped through the gate of Ruan Family.
“She needn’t do anything to brother. Her identity is useful!” Jiang Yashuang narrowed his eyes, “She is the only daughter of the legal wife of the Duke of Xihe. Although you said that the Duke of Xihe actually didn’t take her daughter seriously, but her mother, Princess Yang is the legal wife of the Duke of Xihe, so Commandery Princess Ningtai may know many secrets of Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. This makes sense!”
Qiu Yelan pondered for a while, and said, “Then Kuang Family intends to use my silly cousin to ‘discover’ what kind of secrets?”
“For example, your father was not killed by Kuang Shihan but Duke of Xihe as he wanted to get the position of Duke?” Jiang Yashuang looked at her, “There was a conflict between you and Duke of Xihe before. When the news spread to the Western Army, even if the former subordinates who inclined to Grandfather Ruan and your father did not fully believe that, they would be doubtful, right?”
In this way, Qiu Zhongyan’s death was an internal fight in Qiu Family, and it had nothing to do with Kuang Shihan then.
Of course, Kuang Shihan’s betrayal of General Ruan who helped him before was beyond excuse, so even if he was cleared of his murder of Qiu Zhongyan, it was impossible for the former subordinates of Ruan Family and Qiu Family to be completely committed to him.
In fact, Jiang Yashuang preferred another speculation, “And the relationship between ‘Tianya’ and brother.”
Qiu Yelan’s face changed at once!
“Tianya” was a killer organization that had existed since the founding of the country. Once it was exposed that it was actually owned by a Prince who got the title when the country was founded, the consequences would be disastrous!
If Empress Dowager Gu’s party could prove the relationship between Qiu Jinglan and “Tianya”, then even if Marquess Qin and Xue Chang joined forces, they would not be able to protect him!
It was the recognized No.1 killer organization in Darui!
How many people had been killed by this killer organization since the founding of the country? How many enemies it had? How many secrets did it get? It was estimated that even Qiu Jinglan couldn’t even know that!
Even Ren Ziyong, the former Left Dharma Protector who had a pivotal position in “Tianya” before and took away Qiu Jinglan and raised him secretly at Old Princess Lian’s command after Qiu Zhongyan’s death, might not be clear about that!
And once this secret was proved, it was hard to say whether Xue Chang and Marquess Qin would stand on Qiu Jinglan’s side still.
After all, they had to consider the overall situation.
The huge number of avengers, the secretive people who were eager to kill someone, and the normal people who were generally afraid and disgusted of killer organizations… These problems had involved the ordinary people and were able to influence the imperial court. Neither Xue Chang nor Marquess Qin would take such a big risk for a junior who they valued.
At that time, what would happen to Qiu Jinglan? It would be lucky for him to have a whole dead body!
“Qiu Nie and the others turned to the Empress Dowager before, but they have not used ‘Tianya’ to attack my brother yet. I had thought they could not make a fuss on this… ” Qiu Yelan frowned tightly.
It was hard to prove the relationship between Qiu Jinglan and “Tianya” obviously, otherwise the Empress Dowager’s party would not remain silent in this regard. And even Kuang Qingwu used the sex-trap personally. After all, Duke of Xihe’s party tried to wash their hands of the organization in the early years.
They had been trying that for generations. At the command of his predecessors, even though Qiu Jinglan grew up in this organization, he always kept a distance from it. While the Empress Dowager’s party learned this secret just at the beginning of last year, so how could it be so easy to get something on them?
This was also the reason why Qiu Jinglan dared to let Qiu Nie and the others leave. Because the Empress Dowager had no evidence to prove it!
But this time, it seemed that although the Empress Dowager’s party had no evidence, they could create evidence by themselves!
“If they claim that my brother has something to do with ‘Tianya’ without foundation, people will be suspicious even if they show evidence! It’s hard to convince the public!” Qiu Yelan’s face was gloomy, “But if they find out some secret in the name of the future son-in-law of Prince’s Mansion of Xihe…”
It was just like even if Madame Feng and others slandered Madame Tao Junior before, they couldn’t shake her status. After all, concubines like Madame Feng had bullied grandmother before with their husbands’ love and indulgence. But after Madame Tao Junior’s maids like Lvzhan betrayed her, she immediately got into big trouble!
Outsiders always believed a little bit more what people’s close guys said.
Therefore, the news that the lover of the Commandery Princess in Prince’s Mansion of Xihe received by chance would be more accurate than the news that the Young Prince of Marquess Zhang got, who had a blood feud with Prince’s Mansion of Xihe.
“But it was still a little weird since Kuang Qingwu did that by himself.” Qiu Yelan pondered that since Kuang Qingwu deliberately approached Qiu Jinzhu with such thoughts, then where did he get ready to go? How much of a threat was he to Qiu Jinglan? Then she heard Jiang Yashuang say again, “From your description, Commandery Princess Ningtai is young and ignorant, not someone hard to get close to, so Kuang Qingwu didn’t actually need to do that in person. What’s more, there is an engagement between him and Princess Changping, but he dated Commandery Princess Ningtai without the permission of Empress Dowager Gu and Princess Changping and even promised to marry Commandery Princess Ningtai today in public, which really brought shame on Empress Dowager Gu and Princess Changping! Although Empress Dowager Gu is now very dependent on the Western Army controlled by Kuang Family, it is impossible for her to tolerate them despising the dignity of the imperial family!”
Therefore, “I think Kuang Qingwu seduced Qiu Jinzhu by himself because he was worried about being cast aside in the future. On the one hand, he colluded with Empress Dowager Gu’s courtiers with this matter. On the other hand, he made Empress Dowager Gu suspicious of her subordinates. Then Empress Dowager Gu won’t dare to handle Kuang Family easily!”
As the only military card of Empress Dowager Gu’s party and the current commander of the Western Army, Kuang Family seemed to have a high position, and even Jiang Family needed to treat them cautiously. However, it had a shallow foundation in fact.
The reason for its shallow foundation was mainly that Kuang Shihan built up a fortune in a short time and he a bad reputation. What was more, Kuang Family only had Kuang Shihan and Kuang Qingwu at this time, and Kuang Qingwu became an official this year!
While the fight for the position of Crown Prince had been on since last year, and it was entering a fierce period at this time!
If the Empress Dowager’s party fails, then Kuang Family will have nothing to say. From ancient times to the present, the fate of the losers in the party struggle have always been the same; but if they succeed… Because Jiang Family managed so many troops, Empress Dowager Gu have been enduring Empress Jiang for decades. So how could Empress Dowager Gu forget such a big lesson?
Then they would be charged with some crime, and there would be so many people who wanted to be loyal to the court coming out to handle them!
Therefore, when Empress Dowager Gu still needed them and had a high tolerance for them, Kuang Family demonstrated their schemes calmly, “Empress Dowager Gu definitely didn’t know that Kuang Qingwu had dated Commandery Princess Ningtai before! Otherwise she would never allow other women to affect the influence of Princess Changping on Kuang Qingwu! Since Kuang Qingwu was in Jing City, who was the only son of Kuang Shihan and not the biological son of Xingkang Grand Princess, how could Empress Dowager Gu not send people to watch him no matter for surveillance or protection?”
Jing City was just under the Empress Dowager’s nose, but she even failed to watch the son of her trusted subordinate. He had an affair with someone for a whole year and she knew the news from others in the end! Qiu Yelan was sure that what drove Empress Dowager Gu crazy was not that Kuang Qingwu had an affair which brought shame on them but the fact that she had never known about it!
No matter how declining the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe was, they still had the position of Duke, and Qiu Jinzhu’s status in the noble-lady circle of Jing City was not low! She was not the maid of the Mansion of Marquess Zhang, so how could Kuang Qingwu really avoided everyone’s eyes to date her? Maybe Qiu Mengmin and his husband didn’t find that because they didn’t pay enough attention to their daughter, but how could Empress Dowager Gu be so careless about Kuang Qingwu?
So although the Empress Dowager seemed to be calm at this time, she would investigate her own people carefully!
But no matter how she investigated them, maybe Empress Dowager Gu would always be suspicious in her heart, “Is it because Kuang Family bought over these people or these people colluded with them privately because they commanded so many troops? Have they all been found out and eliminated?”
As long as Empress Dowager Gu kept suspicious, even if the Empress’s party could not threaten them anymore, Empress Dowager Gu was going to handle Kuang Family, she wouldn’t do that unscrupulously! She might use soft means instead of intense methods!
Therefore, Jiang Yashuang was very interested in the people around Kuang Qingwu, “They just got the bad reputation of immorality and there was still room for them to whitewash that. But they provoked Empress Dowager Gu’s suspicion of her subordinates, relieved the pressure on Kuang Family in the future, and pointed to brother then! It was really killing three birds with one stone!”
Belligerent flames flickered in his bright eyes, “It is especially surprising how this person helped Kuang Qingwu to keep his dating Qiu Jinzhu from Empress Dowager Gu.”
When the old Princess Qin passed away last year, Xiao Su, the Duke of Puyang, had secretly told Qiu Yelan that. Two days ago, Xiao Su mentioned it again through Princess Yongfu. The Empress’s party knew about it a year ago, while the Empress Dowager’s party didn’t know it until it was exposed! It could show the wisdom of this person!
Qiu Yelan knew less about the people around Kuang Qingwu than him, so she asked casually, “Could he have come up with the idea by himself?”
“No!” Jiang Yashuang shook his head, “If he had been so scheming, he would have come out top in the imperial examination in spring before, and he would have even got the first rank. How could he fall to the second rank?”
After pondering for a while, he said cautiously, “I suspect it’s Mr. Leshan!”