"Princess!" Qushan's family was very excited when they saw Qiu Yilan coming out.
Qu Shan's mother, Mama Li, is almost sixty years old. She is a daughter of Prince Xihe's family and is very talented in cooking. She has been in charge of Princess Xihe's diet since she was in her early twenties.
After the death of Princess Xihe, Qiu Mengmin became the head of the family. He was worried about the servants used by his aunt, so he cleaned out the entire palace. Originally, the Qushan family would have been sold that time, but it was Princess Ruan who came forward to save a group of people. , so the Qushan family began to serve Princess Ruan and her daughter.
It can be said that Qiu Yilan grew up in their family's eyes, and their affection for her was extraordinary.
At this moment, when the master and servant met again, Mother Li couldn't help but burst into tears, choked with sobs and kowtowed: "I don't want this old slave to see the princess again!"
"Mother Li, get up quickly!" Qiu Yilan was startled by this situation and hurriedly went to pull her.
After coaxing Qushan's family to get up, Qiu Yilan asked after they calmed down a bit: "Mother Li, didn't you... leave Beijing?"
According to Zhou's mother's recollection, Qu Shan's family was sold to an official who was sent out to work. The official seemed to be going to Lingnan to take up a post. With the transportation at this time and Li's mother's age, if he really went to Lingnan, it would be very difficult for him to go to Lingnan. She would never see her again in her lifetime, so her excitement was no exaggeration.
"Lao Nu's family was indeed sold to Wu Zhifu who went to Lingnan and took him out of the capital." Li's mother just calmed down her emotions and cried again when asked, "But before Wu Zhifu went to Jiangnan a few years ago, Ding You was appointed to the official position. ! Then he took Lao Nu and his family back to Sangzi, a suburb three days away from the capital. Two days ago, someone suddenly came over and claimed that he was ordered by the princess to buy Lao Nu and his family back to the palace. Magistrate Wu asked Lao Nu’s wishes. Of course the slave family is willing to come back and serve the princess... "
Qiu Yilan's heart skipped a beat. She looked at Ruan Qingyan, her superior, and blurted out, "I don't know where you were sold, how can I buy you back?"
"Princess, you are right." Mother Li sobbed, "Those people were actually sent by the prince and Princess Yang to kill Lao Nu and his family. On the way back to Beijing, they suddenly turned against each other and wanted to tie up Lao Nu and his family. Throw the stone into the river! Thanks to General Jiang and his people, the old slave family can see the princess again!"
Qiu Yilan's face was ashen and she said, "What then? Jiang Ya... what can Little General Jiang say?"
"General Jiang escorted Lao Nu and his family to the capital, and then directed Lao Nu and his family to come here to join the princess—" Mother Li raised her sleeves to wipe her face and begged, "Originally, Lao Nu and his family planned to serve the princess and princess for the rest of their lives. Before the princess left, she also told the old slave family to take good care of the princess! Now that she can still see the princess, she also asks the princess to take her in! "
Before Li's mother finished speaking, Qu Shan, who was behind her, silently held a stack of renunciation deeds in his hands.
Qiu Yilan sighed and did not go to accept the contract of betrayal. Instead, she said: "Mama Li, I won't hide it from you either—you almost suffered harm this time. I think it has something to do with me."
"How can you blame the princess? Although this old slave is stupid, he also knows that he served the concubine in the past, so he will naturally be an eyesore to the prince and Princess Yang." After hearing this, Mother Li did not complain, but smiled miserably. , "When my aunt sold Lao Nu and his family to Wu Zhifu, it seemed that she didn't do everything right. But if Wu Zhifu hadn't returned to his hometown, and Lao Nu and his family really followed him to the miasma-ridden place in Lingnan, I'm afraid Lao Nu wouldn't have been there. They will die on the road first! Qu Shan and the others are not in good health, so they may not be able to survive! The palace is clearly just trying to exchange the lives of people like this old slave for money!"
She took the deed of prostitution from Qu Shan's hand, stepped forward tremblingly, and placed it in Qiu Yilan's hand, "Princess, don't you want me to serve you?"
Speaking of this, Qiu Yilan had no choice but to accept the prostitution contract. She was in a very complicated mood. Ruan Qingyan's lips curled up slightly, thinking that since the Qushan family had been used by Princess Ruan, they were almost taken over by Qiu Mengmin. When someone kills someone, it should be believable. He was worried that Qiu Yilan had too few people to serve him now. The return of Qu Shan's family relieved his worries.
So after Qiu Yilan accepted the contract, she immediately rewarded Qushan's family fifty taels of silver on her behalf, as a reward for their loyalty.
Qiu Ran and Zhou's mother went to settle Qushan's family. Ruan Qingyan called Qiu Yilan to discuss: "It seems that Queen Mother Gu agreed to discuss Qiu Mengmin's matter after the Lantern Festival, mainly to give Qiu Mengmin a chance to kill and silence!"
Qiu Yilan looked unhappy: "We didn't think of this - but it's useless even if we thought of it, we don't have that many manpower! Fortunately, the Jiang family thought of it."
She frowned, "Actually, as a witness, since there are only servants, it won't stand up very well after all! What I'm worried about is the physical evidence."
Ruan Qingyan said: "You mean genealogy? It's not that easy to manipulate genealogy, right?"
The rules at this time were that only the principal wife could be recorded in the family tree. As for concubines, they would not be recorded unless they gave birth to children.
Mrs. Lu gave birth to Qiu Mengmin, so she was recorded in the Qiu family tree - but after Princess Xihe officially kicked her out - the so-called formality does not mean that after Mrs. Lu was kicked out of the palace, until the death of the princess, She was never able to go back; instead, Princess Yu Xihe ordered her to be deleted from the family tree!
In this way, Mrs. Lu will completely have nothing to do with the palace!
If you want to take advantage of the death of Princess Xihe, you can go back to the palace to mourn her, even if you try to regain your identity!
"If the genealogy cannot be manipulated, why would Qiu Mengmin send people to kill Mother Li's family?" Qiu Yilan shook her head and said, "I suspect that not only Mother Li, but other old servants may also be killed!?"
Ruan Qingyan pondered for a moment and said: "The genealogy is the most important thing of the family and will not be easily tampered with. Especially when the concubine drove out the Lu family more than thirty years ago, now we need to add the Lu family. The era is wrong!”
"If it cannot be modified." His words did not reassure Qiu Yilan. She said calmly, "The easiest way is to simply destroy the family tree! It will be better to bear the charge of poor preservation of the family tree than to be charged with disrespect. The legitimate mother is much better! And if you confuse Lu’s identity like this, maybe with the support of the Queen Mother, you can also become a concubine for Lu!”
"That's impossible!" Ruan Qingyan sneered!
He calmed down and said, "Queen Jiang is using this incident to insinuate Empress Dowager Gu. Even if Empress Dowager Gu wants to make Lu a concubine, Empress Jiang will definitely not agree. The two empresses are now evenly matched, Qiu Mengmin. Is it that easy to pass?”
Qiu Yilan thought for a while and suggested: "Why don't we invite Jiang Yashuang to come over and ask about the situation?" After the Lantern Festival, a group will be formed to cleanse the Queen Mother of the Valley. Now the allies have not communicated with each other, so they need to practice cooperation. , how can we have a happy cooperation then
Seeing Ruan Qingyan's long face immediately, Qiu Yilan felt dumbfounded: "This young general Jiang is a serious man, cousin, why do you hate him so much?"
"How would a serious person have a secret meeting with a young girl at the back door in the middle of the night?" Ruan Qingyan sneered!
One hit kill! Qiu Yilan said angrily: "That was my date with him..."
"That's his fault too!" Ruan Qingyan said very unreasonably, "Do you want me to admit that my sister is unruly?!"
Qiu Yilan smiled dryly and said: "This... it's just a meeting..."
"Anyway, I'll be in contact with the Jiang family. Just give up on meeting Jiang Yashuang again!" Ruan Qingyan shouted coldly, "I tell you, I already dislike that kid. If No matter how much he dares to seduce you - even if he is the Queen's nephew, I won't let him have an easy time!"
... This so-called seducing me includes but is not limited to me taking the initiative to ask him out, taking the initiative to approach him, etc., right
Qiu Yilan sighed: "Then what should I do? Stay at home every day? You see, my grandfather only wakes up once a day. I am really idle... "
"Then you can learn how to needle and thread needlework and so on." Ruan Qingyan said earnestly, "In a girl's home, these things must be learned! If you don't study hard now, when you leave the court in the future, you won't be able to get many things when you go to your husband's family. Doesn’t it mean that those who get rid of things will be looked down upon by others? The so-called marrying a virtuous wife, as long as the parents-in-law..."
So next, Qiu Yilan received Ruan Qingyan's endless ideological teachings on "how to be a good wife who sees people, loves trees, and sees flowers blooming." In the end, she couldn't bear it anymore and asked angrily: "Are you my cousin?" ? ! Or my future brother-in-law? Which side are you on?"
Ruan Qingyan said blankly: "Of course I am doing it for your own good... I think mothers advise their daughters like this, right? Could it be that a mother would harm her daughter?"
"..." Qiu Yilan was deeply defeated by him and pushed him out, "You go, you go, you go quickly!!!"
Who can afford to hurt this kind of cousin who has the heart to be a mother
However, although Ruan Qingyan was determined to isolate his cousin from meeting men outside, he still failed - two days later he was forcibly dragged to the "Jinpa Pavilion" by Ling Zui who came to the door in person to support Penglai Yue's first performance this year.
He walked on the front foot and claimed on the back foot that He Zifu, the shopkeeper of "Renqingtang" that Ruan Qingyan had bought when he arrived in the capital, came to the door sweating profusely and asked for help: "'Renqingtang' was smashed by His Highness King Zhou!"
"His Royal Highness the King of Zhou?!" Qiu Yilan asked in surprise, "He brought people to the door directly to smash it? The shop is not open yet, right? Then have you sent people to the Yamen to complain?" She vaguely remembered that King Chu Weizhou of Zhou was King Chu Weize of Yan. The biological mother of these two brothers is Gu, the concubine second only to Empress Jiang - yes, she is the niece of Empress Dowager Gu and the biological sister of King Guangyang!
With this relationship and the current situation, it is not surprising that Chu Weizhou would find trouble with the Ruan family's property. But even if Chu Weizhou was a prince who was granted the title of king, he would not dare to ignore Queen Jiang. Queen Jiang is not a kind and reputable aunt. Chu Weizhou helped Queen Mother Gu unreasonably. Aren't you afraid that Queen Jiang would take advantage of him
He Zifu wiped his sweat and said: "Young master originally ordered the shop to open after the Lantern Festival, but the medicine shop involves life and death, so there are people guarding it during the New Year. The day before yesterday, someone knocked on the door in the middle of the night and said that someone in the family had an emergency. He asked an acquaintance doctor to open it. He came to ask for medicine with a prescription. The clerk who guarded the shop believed it, so he opened the door and got him medicine for fear of delaying his life... Unexpectedly... the prescription had been tampered with, and there was something in it... "
"Okay, does it mean that King Zhou has a reason to destroy the shop now?" Qiu Yilan asked with a gloomy face.
He Zifu looked ashamed and said anxiously: "Yes, and the person who took the medicine died, and now the body has been carried to the lobby of 'Renqing Hall' -"