Chapter 87 Is This Your Marriage Proposal?!
Closing the door, Qiu Yelan threw herself upon the bed and made a roll with the quilt in her arms. She looked at the top of the bed canopy, stunned. She had to get up earlier and eat less this morning because she was going out. She was tired with the event and it didn’t take long for her to feel sleepy. Soon she went into a sound sleep….
Not knowing how long she had slept, she suddenly heard someone calling, “Commandery Princess Ningyi? Commandery Princess Ningyi?”
Qiu Yelan answered vaguely and suddenly woke up. She saw it was already dim inside the room. Obviously it was almost time for dinner. In the dim room, she could barely recognize Jiang Yashuang, who had changed into a robe, a jade belt and a gold crown. His face was obscured in the shadow. His eyes were drooping but not pointed at Qiu Yelan’s bed.
“How dare you come?” Qiu Yelan rubbed her eyes and rolled up, saying sulkily, “When the door opened, we were innocent with neat clothes. But Miss Tao would not excuse us! If she knew that you came to see me secretly, she would kill me!”
Before Jiang Yashuang could speak, she snorted again and said unhappily, “Please allow me to say something unpleasant. You were not honest in this matter! Now that you were engaged to Miss Tao, you should have tried every means to open the door when you found the booth locked. We were there for just a short time, and…”
Jiang Yashuang raised his head in amazement and saw that she was half covered with the quilt. He quickly looked away, “Stop there! Am I engaged to Cousin Tao? What are you talking about! How can it be?”
“There is no one else here. Why are you pretending to be confused?” Qiu Yelan thought. “I guess you are not engaged, so I said that.” She still seemed wronged. “If you were not engaged, why wouldn’t she spare me when we were locked together by mistake? Do you believe that she was hostile to me just because I praised her pearls instead of her?”
Jiang Yashuang frowned and said nothing.
Qiu Yelan went on, “I don’t believe Miss Tao would be so tough over such small matters! When she found that we were alone in the same room, she cried. If she was not fond of you, why did she cry? She is your cousin, not my mine! Did she think you were ruined by me?!”
“It seems that Cousin Tao and others have offended you so badly!” Jiang Yashuang sighed and shook his head. “Why did you sow discord as soon as you saw me?”
Qiu Yelan blushed when she was exposed. But as she was in the bed canopy, no one could see that. She said awkwardly, “Did you see through it?”
Jiang Yashuang was even more awkward. “Am I so stupid in your eyes?”
“No, I always think you are smart!” Qiu Yelan said righteously, “And you are kind and amiable!”
Jiang Yashuang laughed, “Then why are you still sowing discord?”
“Because you are kind!” Qiu Yelan said sweetly, “You see, how dare I talk so casually in front of others, even my cousin?”
Jiang Yashuang felt that she seemed to have something to say. Of course, due to his social position, he absolutely could not think of the connotation in Qiu Yelan’s praise: “There’s money enough here to attract idiots,” so he did not find any malice in it and said with a smile, “Master Ruan seems to treat you as a sister?”
“He is even more ruthless than my brother!” Qiu Yelan sighed, “I don’t like to see him recently. Well, forget it. What are you here for, General?”
“It’s almost done. I think I should come and talk to you.” Jiang Yashuang showed some embarrassment. Obviously it was difficult for him to tell her the truth. If it were easy, it would not be Jiang Yashuang who sneaked in to tell her. It should be Jiang Qizheng and others who came to visit and explain.
Anyhow, Qiu Yelan didn’t expect any justice, so she smiled and asked, “Oh? So fast? What was that about?”
“It was my brother.” It was absolutely impossible for Jiang Yashuang to tell Qiu Yelan that Jiang Yadan did not care about Qiu Yelan’s fame, so he said vaguely, “I told Jiang Tan to follow him when he left and see what he was doing… I think it was for this reason that he got impatient and told somebody to come back to lock the door… No one had expected to get you into trouble.”
“Is that so?” Qiu Yelan said, “Well… what could I say? The innocent was hurt.”
But she was sneering in heart. Jiang Yadan was almost thirty this year, how could he be so naive?
Jiang Qisheng dared to beat her cousin in front of others. So the peers in the family were not very afraid of him. Maybe, that was because Jiang Yashuang had a good temper, or he was younger. Jiang Qisheng was just a cousin! Not to mention Jiang Yadan, an elder brother. She heard clearly how Jiang Yadan negotiated with Jiang Yashuang the last time at Ganli Palace.
If Jiang Yadan didn’t want to be disturbed by his brother, he didn’t need to lock the door. He would just tell him to mind his own business.
Moreover, why did Jiang Yashuang go to Yunyi Restaurant today? He himself told her the reason! To care for Jiang Qizheng and others!
Jiang Qizheng and others were in the booth, how could Jiang Yashuang leave them behind to follow Jiang Yadan?
Jiang Yashuang knew that his words were full of loopholes, and he coughed, “Anyway, we should apologize to you.”
They were startled by the knock on the door. It was Su He. “Your Grace! It’s time for dinner!”
“I’m not hungry now. You guys can eat by yourselves. Don’t disturb me.” Qiu Yelan frowned and said casually.
Su He said anxiously, “Oh? But you didn’t have lunch!” Following was Mrs. Zhou’s voice, “Your Grace, you’d better come out to freshen up and eat a bit! I know you were wronged today, but you still have to live the life. Both His Royal Highness the Prince and Her Royal Highness the Princess are gone. If you don’t take care of yourself, what could we do?”
Su He also said, “You don’t have to worry, Your Grace. Even if outsiders don’t believe you, will the young master not believe you? Besides, you were innocent. It was the Jiangs who made trouble for you. You don’t need to ruin yourself for their fault.”
The little maid choked a little, “If you are really aggrieved, just come out and beat me! I am really worried about you!”
Qiu Yelan rubbed his forehead and said in a perfunctory manner, “I’m not as bad as you think… There are pastries here and I have eaten some. I don’t really want to eat now… Mrs. Zhou, please go with Su He. I want to have a bit more rest and will come out later.”
The persuasion was repeated by Mrs. Zhou and Su He. Hearing Qiu Yelan more and more impatient, they left hesitantly.
Jiang Yashuang listened quietly to the conversation between them. He whispered when there was no sound outside the door, “Grandma means, if You are willing, I would like to marry you. What do you think?”
“Huh?!” Qiu Yelan was wondering whether Jiang Yadan was the one who locked the door, and what his real purpose was. When she heard this, she was almost startled to fall off the bed. “What did you say?!”
At this time, dusk was falling and it was hazy in the room.
So it was impossible to see Jiang Yashuang’s face. In Qiu Yelan’s opinion, Jiang Yashuang, who had always been shy in matters between men and women, should not be able to say such words!
Jiang Yashuang slowed his tone and repeated, “If you are willing, my grandmother will go to the palace tomorrow and ask my aunt to disengage you from Deng Yi. We will make the engagement with you!”
“What is going on!” Qiu Yelan was messed up. Aren’t we talking about that matter? How come it has turned to a marriage proposal?!
Meanwhile in the Jiangs’ residence next door, young Madame Tao was also asking Madame Tao doubtfully, “You don’t like Pebin. Then why do you like Commandery Princess Ningyi whom you’ve met only once?”
“It has nothing to do with like or dislike.” Madame Tao glanced at young Madame Tao. Both young Madame Tao and Tao Peibin were her grandnieces, but Madame Tao valued the former more than the latter.
She said frankly to her, “Just because she is good-looking and has the status of a Commandery Princess. If she is engaged to Shuang, your father and mother won’t say I have mistreated their little son!”
Little Tao wondered, “But grandma, what’s grandfather’s idea?” Jiang Yashuang was one of the few heirs of the Jiangs who was cultivated by Marquess Qin himself. It was impossible that Marquess Qin wouldn’t care about his marriage!
Madame Tao smiled, “I know well about your grandfather. He never values the family background and appearance of a person. What he values most is talent! With her performance in the court, your grandfather will never say no! Besides, he always prefers Shuang. As long as Shuang himself talks it to him, he’s sure to agree!”
She looked at young Madame Tao, “I know what you are worrying about! This Commandery Princess Ningyi has nothing but a title. Her uncle’s family is unlikely to help her. Only Ruan Qingyan has always protected her because of their blood relationship. But he is just a new Jinshi. He is worth talking about in the families of ordinary people. But he is nothing in a family like ours”
Young Madame Tao said with a smile, “Nothing can be hidden from you. I just think, even if our family has fallen a bit these years, there are still some people. This Commandery Princess Ningyi is so lonely!”
“Why are you so honest? No wonder even a maid dare bully you!” Madame Tao sighed and said seriously, “You are thinking about Shuang! But with the prestige and power of our family, Shuang can marry any distinguished girl, even Princess Yongfu. So long as the two of them are willing to marry each other, Tianluan will agree. However, he is good-tempered and is easy to get along.”
Tianluan was Empress Jiang’s pet name, and only Madame Tao could call it in private. Even Marquess Qin would mention her as Empress before his juniors.
Young Madame Tao said cautiously, “I know you are good to me. But I’m afraid others will talk about you.”
Madame Tao said contemptuously, “Let them talk! When I got married, Madame Dou had no respect for me just because she was Jiang Tianao’s wife and a niece of Chaohai’s first wife. She has been restrained a bit these years because of Tianluan. In this big family, who is really good to me besides you? At that time… Well, let’s stop talking about the sadness. In short, so long as Tianluan is there, nobody dares come over to quarrel with me even if they are not content!”
She lowered her voice, “Jiang Qijun did not show respect for you in front of others! Jiang Qisheng even beat Shuang. These idiots! They even came to me and said Shuang was bad to them. They didn’t think how they treated others in the family! Now that they don’t like Commandery Princess Ningyi, I will marry her to Shuang!”
Young Madame Tao tried hard to hold her tears, but she still choked, “I’m useless, grandma. You’ve given me so much care!”
Although she was a well-known “good lady” in the family, she was not a fool.
From what Madame Tao said, she was intending to fight with his daughters-in-law and granddaughters. But young Madame Tao was very clear that Madame Tao was arranging for Jiang Yashuang to marry Commandery Princess Ningyi for her sake. As she was not favored by her husband and had no children of her own, she had been living a hard life in the family. She was least noticeable among all the wives. Except for Jiang Yashuang, none of the sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law had respect for her….
If Jiang Yashuang married a woman who was backed by her father and brothers, like Cousin Tao Peibin, due to his good nature, even if Jiang Yashuang respected her as a sister-in-law, if his wife disrespected her, he would not blame his wife but only admonish privately, how can she keep her dignity as the eldest sister-in-law?
But Qiu Yelan was different. She was an orphan girl. The only cousin, Ruan Qingyan, who could help her, had no significant influence. Now the engagement had not yet been settled and she had already offended a group of ladies… After the marriage, she would certainly bring no threat to her.
Maybe, she would have to rely on her to be able to survive among the ladies….