A few days later, Qiu Mengmin instructed his eldest son Qiu Hongzhi to invite Deng Yi to the Xihe Palace: "I heard that Brother Deng Xian will also take the provincial examination this autumn? Brother Yu also has the same intention, so I take the liberty to invite Brother Xian to come and confirm each other's lessons. Then we can also Be more confident."
Deng Yi was actually willing to leave the Guangyang Prince's House Purification Society, and was not disgusted with his invitation. He nodded and said, "Brother Qiu Xian is right, but Yi is very talented and has little knowledge. I hope Brother Xian won't laugh at you."
"Brother Xian, these words are too humble. Who doesn't know that brother Xian is talented? If it weren't for the name of Xie Yuan, I might have been named on the gold medal list two years ago." Qiu Hongzhi thought that his father's order was to get closer to his future cousin-in-law. So he was very relaxed and invited him into his study with a smile.
Both of them were candidates for the examination. Although they went to different places for the examination and the examiner's preferences were not necessarily the same, they still had a lot in common.
In particular, Deng Yicai was obviously superior to Qiu Hongzhi in his studies. At first, Qiu Hongzhi was still thinking of building a good relationship, but after a deep conversation, he was in awe of him and began to ask for advice seriously.
So that day, we communicated until the evening, and Deng Yicai said goodbye despite Qiu Hongzhi's repeated attempts to stay.
Next, Qiu Hongzhi often invited Deng Yi to come to the house. At this time, the Jiang family wanted to turn the capital upside down in order to track down the murderer of Qiu Jinglan. However, the two assassins left well prepared and could not find any clues about them. The Queen Mother Party Naturally, he refused to admit it even to death.
The Queen's Party was unwilling to find evidence and simply began to settle old scores.
But it was an old score, and it didn't belong to the Queen Mother's party, so the two empresses got into a ball again, and the government and the public were in turmoil. As the home of the Queen Mother, the Guangyang Palace is naturally extremely busy. Knowing that Deng Yi had gone to the Xihe Prince's Mansion, he inquired twice and found that the two of them had hardly talked about anything other than the autumn test, so they put it aside.
After doing this three or five times, Deng Yi was already somewhat familiar with the situation when he returned to the Xihe Palace.
He had written a new article that day, and he brought it here to analyze with Qiu Hongzhi. Unexpectedly, in the middle of the analysis, a maid hurriedly ran in and reported: "Eldest Young Master, the Eldest Young Madam seems to have activated it!"
"What?!" Qiu Hongzhi jumped up immediately. He didn't even have time to put on his shoes. He ran two steps before he remembered to explain to Deng Yi, "Brother Xian, I..."
"Brother, go! I hope my sister-in-law, mother and son are safe!" After Deng Yi came in and out several times, he also heard that Qiu Hongzhi's wife was indeed about to give birth. He just happened to catch it and knew that Qiu Hongzhi was a father for the first time, so naturally he couldn't help it. I will blame him for neglecting me now. He was about to say goodbye and wanted to pack up a gift and send it over when he returned, but Qiu Hongzhi turned around and left without giving him a chance to speak!
Deng Yi, who was left alone, couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when he saw this. Just when he was thinking about whether to leave or stay, a woman came in and apologized: "Our young lady has already entered the delivery room...it's not far from here, so I'm afraid there will be a noise." you… "
Deng Yi said hurriedly: "I was just about to say goodbye and go back to prepare a gift for Sister-in-law Ding."
The mother-in-law quickly bowed again: "Sir, please don't misunderstand me. The princess just wants to invite you to serve tea in the study room in the front yard."
"No need." Deng Yi thought that Qiu Hong was a father for the first time, so how could he have time to greet him today? I probably won’t have time to discuss homework with myself anymore, so what are you doing here? Just try to leave.
When the mother-in-law saw this, she said that Qiu Mengmin and Qiu Yinzhi were not in the house: "The Eighth Young Master is young and has been coughing for the past two days. I can't send it to you. I hope you won't be offended!"
Deng Yi said nonchalantly: "Mom's words have gone unnoticed. Just send a boy to take me out."
The mother-in-law called a boy in and told him face to face to send Deng Yi to the door.
The boy obediently led Deng Yi out of the study, and he heard the sound of people not far away. After leaving Qiu Hongzhi's courtyard, the boy turned around and led Deng Yi down a path he had never walked before. road.
Deng Yi couldn't help but be surprised: "I remember which way out of the house is which way?"
The young man explained: "Because today, the young lady has mobilized, and the princess has sent people to set up a memorial ceremony on the road over there... but it is not convenient to walk there. Please take a few steps around the garden."
"Oh!" Deng Yi nodded as if he understood. He only knew that it was very dangerous for a woman to give birth, especially her first child. He didn't think there was anything wrong with setting up a memorial ceremony at the Xihe Palace, so he followed without any precautions. The boy walked toward the vegetation.
Then after walking a few steps, a sudden wind came from the back of his head - with the little three-legged cat skills he had learned from Qiu Jinglan, he naturally became alert. He had already received a heavy blow and was unconscious on the spot!
... I don’t know how long it took, but Deng Yi woke up dizzy. Before he could recall what happened, hysterical screams rang out not far away!
A moment later, the servants swarming over were dumbfounded to see Deng Yi blankly holding a dagger, and at his feet was Tao Qiu Yuqing, the concubine of the Xihe Palace, lying in a pool of blood!
The latter's chest was still bleeding from the place where he was stabbed by the dagger. It looked like he had just been stabbed to death!
The prospective nephew-in-law murdered his fiancée's aunt - the news spread throughout the capital in the shortest possible time!
"What a bastard!" After hearing the news, Queen Mother Gu was so angry that she was shaking all over. She immediately summoned Qiu Mengmin and his wife into the palace and yelled, "I've turned against you! How dare you slander the grandnephew of the Ai family like this?!"
Qiu Mengmin and his wife looked horrified. Before the Queen Mother could finish her words, they knelt on the ground and cried out again and again: "Even if I have ten courages, I would not dare to do such a thing! I cannot understand what happened to Mr. Deng!"
"Don't you understand what happened in your house?!" Queen Mother Gu laughed angrily!
Princess Yang cried: "I don't know, my wife, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Chen family is about to give birth today, and the whole family was alerted and gathered in the eldest daughter-in-law's yard to wait for the news! At that time, someone was sent to take Mr. Deng out of the mansion. After that, my sister It was only after the servants came to tell me about her death at the hands of Mr. Deng that I and the others found out about it. At that time, I ordered all the servants to shut up, but I didn’t know that the news had already spread! The Chen family was really wronged!"
Queen Mother Gu sneered: "You think the Ai family is a three-year-old child, so you can just talk nonsense and get away with it?! Don't think about what Yi'er will do to come to your house? Qiu Hongzhi often invites him - then Children, you are so ambitious, I don’t know what you are thinking about! It must be the Jiang family or Qiu Jinglan who has given you a favor, right?"
"Your Majesty, your Majesty, let's not say that my family has never thought of betraying you. Let's just say that my eldest son invited Mr. Deng. It's all for the autumn examination!" Qiu Mengmin kowtowed with a quick bang on his forehead. She was bleeding, and kept on explaining sincerely, "Moreover, I am not a fool. Even if I want to harm Mr. Deng, why would I let my eldest son take the initiative to invite me? Your Majesty is wise, and you must know that I have three sons, and I have the highest hopes for him." He’s the eldest son! I won’t harm him no matter what!”
"That's nice to say! Who knows if you did it on purpose, but now you're pretending to be pitiful in front of the Ai family!" Empress Dowager Gu scolded angrily!
However, Qiu Mengmin and his wife insisted that they knew nothing. This was definitely someone who had reached into the Xihe Palace and deliberately wanted to trouble them!
And they also raised a very reasonable target of suspicion—Qiu Jinglan!
"That man has been dissatisfied with his niece's marriage for a long time, it must be him!"
Queen Mother Gu suppressed her anger and asked: "Where is the evidence?!"
Qiu Mengmin and his wife murmured and could not answer - or the female official in front of the Queen Mother coughed and reminded: "Young Master Deng has no grudge against the concubine in the house, how could he kill her? It must be someone else who slandered Young Master Deng. ! Since this happened in the Xihe Palace, how can the prince and the princess not give justice to Mr. Deng?"
This is a hint to Qiu Mengmin and his wife to quickly find some evidence and extract Deng Yi! Otherwise, according to the law at this time: couples, including unmarried couples, if one of them kills or injures the elders of the other party, it will be directly judged by the government without the consent of both parties!
As long as we understand how Deng Yi was deceived this time, how can we not know that the person who did it was for the engagement? Otherwise, there were so many people in the Qiu family, why was it Qiu Yuqing who was "killed" by Deng Yi? ! Not to mention that this marriage contract is one of the biggest levers to control Qiu Jinglan, when has the Queen Mother ever suffered such a disadvantage! When I met Qiu Mengmin and his wife, they were not stupid enough, and they also suspected Qiu Jinglan. Naturally, they had to give an explanation to these two ministers who were on God knows whose side!
"There is evidence. The knife inserted in the pillow, the willow leaves from the past few days, the torn robe... are all physical evidence." Qiu Mengmin and his wife lowered their heads, with a bitter smile in their hearts, "But, this has to be taken Come out, if the Queen Mother hasn’t dealt with Qiu Jinglan, I’m afraid we’ll be dead first!”
They had thought about today when they took Qiu Yuqing back - Qiu's family is small, and Qiu Yilan's elders now only have three. Qiu Mengmin and Princess Yang are definitely not willing to sacrifice themselves. Fortunately, they still have Qiu Yuqing.
Although elders like married aunts are not as close as uncles and uncles, after all, technically speaking, married aunts are family members... but they are still blood relatives!
What's more, Jiang Yashuang has an aunt, the Queen, who can argue with any reason, so is she afraid that she will miss this opportunity? So the two of them just kowtowed at the moment and said one after another: "I am incompetent!"
When Queen Mother Gu saw that these two were cheating, she couldn't figure out that they were either threatened by Qiu Jinglan or had made some kind of deal with Qiu Jinglan? He was so angry that he slapped the table hard, and was about to have a seizure when the waiters outside called in repeatedly: "The Queen is here!"
"What is she doing here! Tell her to go back!" Queen Mother Gu was so angry!
But before she finished speaking, Queen Jiang came in uninvited and stepped into the palace threshold with her head held high. After hearing the words, she answered with a smile: "What are you talking about, Queen Mother? How come the whole line of King Xihe are all my great heroes?" , the former King of Xihe even died fighting for his country! Now his only sister was killed by your grandnephew, how can you not give an explanation to the Qiu family? The punishment must be severe... I am afraid that you, Queen Mother, will be mad at this unworthy grandnephew. Isn't my daughter-in-law here to comfort you? "
Storms are brewing again in Taishi Palace—but the atmosphere in the Ruan family is not relaxed either!
Because Qiu Jinglan’s injury has finally stabilized!
Yes, this is good news.
So after Jiang Yashuang heard the news, he didn't care about the "nephew-in-law's murder of his aunt" case which was widely reported, and hurried over to plead guilty to his brother-in-law-to-be.
It's a pity that he was bowing and serving tea, and said a lot of sweet words, all from the bottom of his heart. Qiu Jinglan, who was leaning on the couch, closed her eyes and meditated, as if she didn't hear it.
Seeing this, Jiang Yashuang grimaced and turned her help-seeking eyes to Qiu Yilan, who was standing in front of the couch.
Qiu Yilan carefully smoothed things over: "He was the one who helped brother you out that day, and he was the one who helped bring you back here later. Regardless of his own injuries, he invited the old doctor Qi to come. He was the one who kept watch on the first night. With you..."
"Okay, okay!" the biological sister said, and Qiu Jinglan no longer pretended to be asleep. He opened his eyes and shouted impatiently, "You haven't married yet, so why are you so arrogant?!"
"It's all Yashuang's fault!" Jiang Yashuang hurriedly apologized again.
Qiu Jinglan looked at him and said: "I am not a stingy person. What you did before was all because you didn't know that our brothers and sisters are from the same mother, but it is understandable. But now that our brothers and sisters are in destitution, your family is prosperous. My sister promises you, and to be honest, I’m extremely worried!”
Jiang Yashuang was naturally eager to promise that she would never wrong Qiu Yilan.
Qiu Jinglan said lightly: "As you said, I have seen over the past two years that I am somewhat sincere towards my sister. But your family members..."
Thinking of the relatives at home, Jiang Yashuang felt like crying but could only say: "Brother, please don't worry. Although Yashuang rarely quarrels with her family, she will not sit back and watch Lanlan being bullied."
Qiu Jinglan didn't pay much attention to the fact that he immediately changed his title as he cut straw with the stick, and said calmly: "Let's settle the Deng family's affairs first, and then we'll talk about yours."
After sending Jiang Yashuang away, Qiu Jinglan thought for a while and ordered someone to bring a jade box: "From today on, you take this with you and never leave it for a moment!"
Qiu Yilan took a look at the jade box and said in surprise: "Isn't this the one Kuang Qingwu sent that day?!"