After receiving the news, Jiang Qizheng was furious: "What a Gu family! Why did you not forget to trick us like this even if you lose!"
Because the competition was over, He Shuijin, who was released by Jiang Qisheng, persuaded her: "Fortunately, Princess Huainan didn't believe it and sent someone over to check with us."
"Princess Huainan is not gullible, and others are not necessarily so." Jiang Qizheng frowned and said, "I guess she was deceived by them. She went back and said that our family is overbearing."
Zhuang Man didn't care: "Isn't it just a few gossips? Those who follow the wind and act like rain have nothing to explain."
"That's true." The main reason for Jiang Qizheng's anger was that she was manipulated by Gu Wanna and the others. As for the Jiang family's reputation for being domineering - this has long been recognized.
He Shuijin smiled and smoothed things over: "Thanks to Sister Qiu being here today, we have the opportunity to continue our outing."
"If you hadn't invited me, I would still be at home right now." Qiu Yilan said a few words of humility to them, "We have been delayed down the slope for a long time, why don't we talk again when we go up the slope?"
Since Jinxiu Slope is a slope rather than a mountain, it is naturally not too tall and has many repaired paths. A carriage is enough to drive directly to the top of the slope, but in He Shuijin's words: "The scenery along the road near the top of the slope is the best. It would be too disappointing to see it from a carriage. It's better to get out of the car and take a walk."
Therefore, except for Jiang Qisheng, who claimed to have an injury on her foot, everyone got off the carriage and walked slowly.
At your feet is a mountain path made of bluestones that looks like sparkling ripples. The stones are covered with moss, giving you a sense of ancient elegance.
Although the peach, plum, pear and apricot hybrids on the roadside have not yet bloomed like rosy clouds, they are occasionally colorful and fall with the mountain wind, which does not live up to He Shuijin's recommendation.
After everyone reached the top of the slope, they chose a piece of flat land where the flowers were blooming best. As usual, they surrounded the area with brocade barriers and laid out carpets. They also brought out various melons, fruits, cakes, pens, ink, pianos and flutes to decorate the area.
Qiu Yilan walked around for a few steps and found that although the Jinxiu Slope was not high, the top of the slope was very large, like a huge platform. It is estimated that when the flowers are in full bloom, thousands of people will come to play, and it will not be too big. Overcrowding.
At this time, thousands of people are a considerable amount of traffic.
"Sister Qiu, let's go meet Princess Huainan?" She just walked under a peach tree to watch the flowers up close. Jiang Qizheng came over and asked, "By the way, I want to ask about what the Gu family just said."
"Has Princess Huainan already gone uphill?" Qiu Yilan asked.
"It's also being decorated over there." Jiang Qizheng pointed to the distance, and couldn't see anything through the flowers and trees, "We are not familiar with the Huainan Palace, but Princess Lihui has a lively personality, and we met at the banquet. We can still talk about it a few times."
When Qiu Yilan heard "Princess Lihui", she looked at Qiu Jinzhu who was following her step by step: "You seem to know Princess Lihui too?"
Qiu Jinzhu was not sure how Qiu Yilan would settle the score after she hid Gu Graceful Na and reported it. At this moment, she was still cautious: "I will go to Huainan Prince's Mansion to congratulate the princess on her birthday every year." He added, "I will also invite the princess on her birthday. … But she didn’t come last year.”
"Cousin Kang has gone to be a baby mother for me, how can I be happy?" Qiu Yilan sneered in her heart, but did not say anything in front of Jiang Qizheng, and just said: "Then you can come with us." Qiu Jinzhu was afraid that she would not be able to follow her, and she did not trust Qiu Jinzhu to move freely!
So Jiang Qizheng called He Shuijin, leaving Zhuang Man to take charge of the situation. The four of them took a few maids and walked towards Princess Huainan.
When they arrived at the place, they saw that the royal palace of Huainan Princess had not yet set up the barrier, but they had set up seats outside for Princess Huainan and others to rest.
"Why are you guys here?" The princess and the princess are on the same level. Princess Huainan saw Jiang Qizheng getting up in a hurry, "I was just saying to take a breath and take my daughter over to thank you."
After the two parties met and the guests and hosts took their seats, Jiang Qizheng smiled and said: "What did the princess thank us for? This Jinxiu Slope does not belong to anyone, but Shou'an and the others had nothing to do and insisted on competing with us, so they decided who would lose." "Leave - it has nothing to do with others. If the princess hadn't sent someone to ask, we wouldn't have known they couldn't afford to lose."
The Huainan Prince's Palace is also a neutral party, but because of the special status of the Huainan Prince, he has a normal relationship with Xue Chang and does not regard him as the leader of the party, so he is relatively carefree. Therefore, there is no need to try to clear up the relationship with Jiang Qizheng and others. At this moment, Princess Huainan said with a smile: "Young people are inevitably angry, and we finally came out. We thought we would turn around and go back home without asking for details." , so disappointed.”
Concubine Mo also said: "We have all heard about Princess Chunfu's temperament, and she is not that overbearing one."
After the two parties exchanged pleasantries for a while, Princess Lihui Chu Yitong suddenly asked: "Is this strange sister the Princess Ningyi of the Xihe Palace?"
"My name is Yilan." Qiu Yilan nodded, "Hello, sister Lihui!"
"You, too." Chu Yitong pursed his lips and said, "My name is Yitong - I have long heard Aunt Kang say that you are a beauty, but now that I saw you, I realized that what she said was too modest."
Neither Jiang Qizheng nor Shui Jin knew that Kang Lizhang was the concubine of the King of Huainan. After all, Kang Lizhang was not even a daughter of an official, and was not on the same level as them. The Princess of Huainan was just a concubine, so she didn't care about it at all. necessary.
At this moment, Chu Yitong suddenly heard that an aunt came to praise Qiu Yilan, saying that she deliberately buried Tai, and her face didn't look good.
"What does my aunt want me to do?" Qiu Yilan smiled, "My uncle..." His eyes turned to the woman in colorful clothes standing behind Princess Huainan, and she stopped speaking meaningfully.
If an ordinary family's daughter becomes a concubine, everyone in the family would feel embarrassed, let alone the dignified niece of the King of Xihe
Especially two years ago, the in-laws of the Xihe Palace had two daughters who had affairs with others. Now Qiu Jinzhu is said to be the cousin of Yang Yishi and Yang Yifu - but less than a year later, Kang Lizhang voluntarily gave birth to her daughter. When she became a concubine, Qiu Mengmin and his wife were so angry that they simply announced that they would not recognize this niece who was willing to debase herself.
So last time Kang Lizhang wanted to tell Qiu Yilan the clues about the missing properties of the Xihe Palace, she had to do it secretly - because if the Xihe Palace knew that it was someone she sent, they would definitely not be allowed to enter.
Now that Qiu Yilan mentioned this section, Princess Huainan coughed lightly and said, "Yitong, don't talk nonsense."
He smoothed things over and said, "Princess Ningyi, please don't be offended. This child has been spoiled by me. He doesn't have any sense of what he says, but he means what he says but doesn't mean it."
Qiu Yilan smiled: "You are serious."
Jiang Qizheng and He Shuijin heard that there was an inside story, but it was not easy to ask questions at this time, so they stood up and left.
Princess Huainan and the concubine left a few symbolic words and then let Chu Yitong see off the guests on their behalf.
Before leaving Princess Huainan, Chu Yitong pulled Qiu Yilan and said: "Sister, don't blame me for asking Aunt Kang just now. You said that our mother and daughter are still cold today, especially my mother and concubine are already old. Why should I run away? Is this Jinxiu Po done by Aunt Kang?"
Qiu Yilan was stunned and said, "What?"
"She said she wanted to meet your cousin, but she was afraid that because of the huge gap between her and your status, you wouldn't want to see her anymore. Doesn't this involve us, mother and daughter, acting as a cover for her?" Chu Yitong sneered, "What do you want me to say? You should ignore her. She is a good family member. It’s not like the Xihe Palace doesn’t praise her. She grew up in the palace, right? It’s hard to find someone, but she rushes to be my father’s concubine! What’s so easy to recognize? King Xihe is really sensible!”
Jiang Qizheng and He Shuijin were both surprised: "So Aunt Kang is your former cousin Kang Lizhang? How could she become a concubine?"
Qiu Yilan sighed: "How do I know?" Her voice lowered, "But I know why she became a concubine, but I can't say this easily."
Chu Yitong was thinking of ways to deal with Kang Lizhang, but how could he not listen? At that moment, he pulled her tightly: "Good sister, let me tell you the truth, don't be angry with me: I heard that Aunt Kang's mother and your aunt almost beat you to death! You are a serious princess! That Qiu Yuqing What kind of thing is this? As the saying goes, like mother, like daughter, do you think my mother and concubine will not have a headache if such a person is in our house now? You have also seen my mother and concubine’s age, so you can just treat her as pitiful. As a daughter, do I have any filial piety?"
Upon hearing this, Qiu Yilan looked at Qiu Jinzhu.
Everyone thought for a moment and suddenly realized, Chu Yitong blurted out: "Isn't this impossible? If Princess Yang doesn't like her, can she still be forced to be a concubine?"
Qiu Jinzhu was anxious and said: "There is no such thing! When she and our aunt suddenly disappeared, my father, the queen, mother and concubine sent people to look for her, but when she received the news, she had already entered your palace!"
She had known Chu Yitong for many years, and now she felt aggrieved and said, "Originally, I invited you for my birthday last year, and I wanted to explain it to you, but you didn't come."
Chu Yitong was startled, and then sighed: "You don't know how difficult it will be for my mother-in-law to be a concubine after Aunt Kang enters the house..."
"My father, the princess, and the concubine also said they don't recognize her!" Qiu Jinzhu argued, "What she said about our family is all her own talk!" She couldn't help complaining, "How come your father still doesn't recognize her?" Let you and the princess accompany her to visit her cousin! Who is her cousin?"
Chu Yitong said listlessly: "Father, as he gets older, he will inevitably become more willful... Oh, let's not talk about this anymore. I thought she was so confident because you also wanted to see her!"
"If we want to see her, does she need to be afraid that we won't want to see her?" Qiu Yilan exposed her lie lightly.
Chu Yitong said awkwardly: "Well, what she said was that she was afraid that the noble lady you would befriend now would look down on her - I think it was when you and Jin Zhu went to the Huainan Palace that year, you were scolded by my cousins, for fear that The past happened again."
"Now that things have been made clear, let's let it be." Jiang Qizheng said, "Our barrier is almost ready. Zhuang Man and the others may be worried if they haven't seen her back for a long time."
"Okay." Chu Yitong nodded and apologized again, "I hope you will forgive me for what I said just now that offended me."
"That's serious." Qiu Yilan said perfunctorily, and pulled Qiu Jinzhu to say goodbye.
When Chu Yitong disappeared, Jiang Qizheng asked, "What does Kang Lizhang mean?"
"I don't know either." Qiu Yilan thought that Kang Lizhang's move was not normal, and thought that Qiu Jinzhu also had an agenda this time - could these two people be doing the same thing? Probably! After all, she didn't care about the missing bulk of Xihe Palace's property, but Qiu Mengmin and Kang Lizhang were definitely thinking about it.
"It's just that these two people think that I will know?" Qiu Yilan sneered in her heart, "If Jiang Yashuang didn't say it, I wouldn't know about it at all! Let's see how you find a way!"
Jiang Qizheng fell silent when she saw her answer, thinking that she didn't want to say anything, so she didn't ask any more questions. He just said: "If you don't like to be disturbed by her all the time, can I ask Fourth Aunt to send you a message?"
"How dare you bother the Empress with such a trivial matter?" Qiu Yilan hurriedly declined. If she got involved with Empress Jiang, a trivial matter would become a big deal.
While they were talking, they had returned to their previous place. Sure enough, the barriers had been pulled up, the carriages had driven to Poyin, and the surroundings had been tidied up.
However, Zhuang Man and others were not resting in the brocade barrier, nor were they waiting for them outside. Instead, they were quarreling with a group of people: "...Open your eyes and take a closer look. Do you think I need you to pay for this money?! Don't you give me that money?" If you beat me to death, this matter is not over!"
"Miss, your lion cat is just frightened, but this mastiff we are waiting for is borrowed from a friend, and it is also someone else's favorite thing..." A voice that sounded like a clear spring in the mountains was calm and unhurried. The man spoke slowly, but in the middle of his sentence, he was interrupted by a person behind him: "Princess Ningyi? Is this your friend? Can you please wait for me?"
Qiu Yilan felt that the man who spoke slowly looked familiar, and when she heard the voice, she looked over, only to see that the person speaking to her at this moment was Qiu Feng dressed as a scholar!