In fact, Qiu Yilan underestimated the intelligence of her nephew and son, and also underestimated her husband's ability to teach children.
When Chu Shao suggested sneaking away to play in the imperial garden that night, Jiang Jingkun and Jiang Jinglang disapproved from the beginning—the two of them had been trained under Jiang Yashuang for some days. Although they were not old, they already knew some of the importance. At that time, He persuaded his friends: "Except for His Royal Highness, the eldest prince, none of us have been to the Imperial Garden very often. We are not familiar with the path and it is still at night. If we get injured, we will make the elders sad if we go back, and also cause the people around us to be punished. This big Why bother celebrating the New Year?”
However, due to Chu Shao's noble status, everyone else chose to obey, and the two brothers could not refuse.
"So the two young masters made an appointment to deliberately lag behind the eldest prince on the way. When the eldest prince wasn't paying attention, they ran to the side of the road to hide, and then went back to Taishi Palace in a circle. When the time came, they said they didn't know the way. We went astray - this way we won't offend the eldest prince, and we won't worry you, the young lady!" Su He whispered softly, "It's just that the two young masters didn't know that you immediately chased after him, but they happened to miss it!"
Qiu Yilan sighed, the coldness in her eyes became much lighter, and she smiled: "I didn't expect the two children to be so smart and sensible, but I, the adult, was too stupid and was easily tricked into the lake! "
Even though the New Year is already over, the two cousins are only six and five years old. At that time, when some friends were making a fuss about running away, most children would go along with it. After all, people have a tendency to follow the crowd, let alone children, who are most afraid of being isolated - even if a few people can persist, they will probably only use direct rejection, and the inevitable result will be falling out with their friends!
When they were unable to persuade their companions, they were able to come up with such a way not to offend their companions and avoid themselves being in danger. Regardless of their IQ or emotional intelligence, these two little brothers can be said to be very outstanding.
Even though Qiu Yilan was in an extremely complicated mood right now, she felt deeply relieved to hear that her nephew and son who had grown up under her knees were so clever.
"You are so concerned that you are confused!" Su He lowered his eyes and sighed. Putting aside the usual suspicions that Jiang Qizheng and He Shuijin saw at a glance, how could Qiu Yilan not be aware of them? It was all because of my confusion that I completely lost my judgment.
"What happened to them? Did they return to Taishi Palace?" Qiu Yilan's eyes were dazed for a moment, she collected her thoughts and continued to ask.
"Yes." Su He pursed his lips, "When the two Mr. Sun went around in a circle and returned to the Taishi Palace, Miss Cousin happened to have packed up for Mr. Li and took Renyu to the Imperial Garden to help. I was very surprised to see the two young masters. After asking about the situation, I sent them to the old lady—"
After saying this, she pondered for a moment and then said, "The two young masters were very worried when they knew that you fell into the lake! They kept pestering you to stay in the yard to serve you. No matter how the old lady coaxed you, it was impossible. In the end, the young master got angry. Only Mr. Sun is willing to move away temporarily."
Qiu Yilan nodded slightly: Although there was only one wife in Jiang Yashuang's backyard, the incident with Fenzhi had just happened, and there was Lin Wanniang in the study - even Qiu Yilan's services were left to Su He, who was already married. Others, no matter how smart Jiang Jingkun and Jiang Jinglang are, they are just children, let alone Jiang Huiying, who has just turned one year old!
How could Jiang Yashuang rest assured that such three children were left in the yard when their mother was critically ill and their father had no time to take care of them? If Qiu Yilan could express her position at that time, she would definitely have asked them to go to Mrs. Tao's side.
"The old lady feels that if the two young masters know the truth about this situation, I am afraid they will blame themselves too much, so... tell the two young masters that you jumped in because you saw the eldest prince in the lake! With the two grandsons, It doesn’t matter, Master!”
Qiu Yilan had no grudges: "This is what it should be."
She jumped into the lake to save people regardless of her pregnancy, just because she was afraid that something might happen to her two children. Instead of wanting them to be grateful and tell them the truth, why should they have to worry about something at such a young age? She wished that these two children would never know the real reason why she jumped into the lake!
"But they didn't hate the eldest prince because of this, right?" Qiu Yilan thought for a while and asked again. Although the whole thing seemed to be caused by Chu Shao's nonsense, even a five-year-old child could be ignorant. Qiu Yilan has a good relationship with the queen, but she doesn't want their children to have any rift because of this - not to mention that if nothing unexpected happens, Chu Shao will be the future prince and emperor.
Even if he is a puppet like his father and grandfather, you can tell by looking at the fourth room. There are always benefits to having a good relationship with a puppet. After all, no matter how puppet you are, you still have to respect the royal family on stage, right
Su He smiled bitterly this time: "The two young masters said they would never play with the eldest prince again! On the Lantern Festival, neither young master was willing to enter the palace for the banquet!"
"That's all, let me coax you slowly from now on!" Qiu Yilan waved her hand, both happy and having a headache, "I know what happened to the children. Now if you talk about me jumping into the lake... who is the waiter? The fragrance by the lake What happened to the bag? How did the eldest prince fall into the lake? "
"My maid, let's talk about the eldest prince first!" Su He thought for a while and then said, "According to the eldest prince himself, he was halfway through the run and found that our two grandsons had turned to other roads. He only said that they I ran in a panic, so I chased after them to tell them that they were going the wrong way... but I was suddenly knocked unconscious after not running a few steps, and when I woke up, I was in the lake! "
"As for the sachet, the eldest prince said that it was given to him by his fourteenth grandson. The fourteenth grandson said that he saw it when he was playing with it, and he snatched it out of curiosity!"
Qiu Yilan said "hmm" and said, "The sachet is such a coincidence! If I hadn't seen it thrown on the shore, I wouldn't have mistakenly thought it was An'er or Lang'er in the lake!"
There were all her absolute confidants in the room now, and there was nothing she couldn't say: If she had known that the child drowning in the lake was not the child she was raising under her knees, she might not have been willing to jump in so decisively!
It's not that she doesn't value her friendship with the Queen - after all, she still has one in her belly.
She might be able to sacrifice herself for others for the sake of friendship, but she would never be able to sacrifice her children for others.
In fact, if she had not been so worried and anxious at the time, she would have discovered something was wrong after just a moment's thought.
But as Su He said, caring leads to chaos.
Even though she thought it was a trap before jumping in, and there wasn't even a child in the lake, just a piece of clothing or something like that - but out of a sense of responsibility as a mother or adoptive mother, she still chose to jump!
After all, what if? What if it was really Jiang Jingkun or Jiang Jinglang who was in the lake, but she missed the rescue opportunity because of suspicion? How could she bear the consequences? !
"The eldest prince insisted that he was curious." Chunran said softly.
It was obvious that it was not just Qiu Yilan who suspected that the eldest prince was being used, but the eldest prince would not let go. Such an old child was also a prince, so it was impossible to force him, right
"...Tell me about that chamberlain!" Qiu Yilan narrowed her eyes, thought for a while, and said slowly.
The three confidants were silent for a while, and then they said: "Young Madam, do you still remember... Fang Zijun?"
"Fang Zijun?" Qiu Yilan frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly remembered, "The one before cousin Ruan?!"
"It's him!" Su He sighed, "At first, Fang Nongyan spoiled his concubine and killed his wife. After he was beheaded, his family was unable to return the dowry to his cousin despite all the money. But because of Fang Zijun's young age, Uncle Ruan, who was responsible for getting back the cousin's dowry, still left Fang Zijun the deeds of two old servants, a small courtyard to live in, and dozens of taels of trivial silver... I thought that the Fang family's affairs had nothing to do with our family. Here we are, who would have thought that Fang Zijun would become a chamberlain?"
Qiu Yilan's face turned livid: "The waiter who tricked me into going to the lake is Fang Zijun?!"
"...Yes." Su He smiled bitterly, "His identity was thoroughly investigated on the second day of the first lunar month. From that day on, Uncle Ruan knelt down in front of our house to plead guilty and refused to leave! Later, the young master went out in person to persuade him. go back!"
"Uncle Ruan is not to blame for this!" Qiu Yilan said distractedly, her hand unconsciously touching her lower abdomen, and she said hastily, "Uncle Ruan has always been kind-hearted, Fang Zijun... Although he was taught by his parents I was so focused on my studies that I was only six or seven years old at the time... "
At this point, she suddenly choked up and couldn't speak anymore. The question she had been wanting to ask but didn't dare to ask since she woke up finally came out, "What's wrong with my child...?"
"...The doctor said...it's not very good..."
"Not good?! Why is this not a good idea? Please explain it to me clearly!"
Su He and the other three were silent for a long time, and then Su He said in a solemn voice: "You caught a cold when you jumped into the lake, and the cold air entered your fetus. Later, in order to diagnose and treat you, many medicines were used for the child... so... even if you are born, I'm afraid... You can’t live without medicine for the rest of your life! And you may not be able to grow up!”
Qiu Yilan felt as if she had been hit hard. In her excitement, the pain in her stomach suddenly worsened! She couldn't help but groan in pain!
"Young Madam!" Su He and others noticed something was wrong and hurriedly stepped forward to help them, and then quickly asked Shen Shui to call the doctor, "Quick!"
... About the same time, Shazhou was thousands of miles away.
In Shazhou City, which had just been recaptured by the Zhenxi Army, the fire set by the Western barbarians before retreating had not yet been completely extinguished.
In the dilapidated and messy General Zhenxi's mansion, in the hastily tidied courtyard, Ou Qinglan in a blue jacket and white dress looked worriedly at the study, and asked softly: "Husband, you haven't slept all night again?"
"As for Madam, no." The servant replied cautiously, "At three o'clock in the afternoon, General Ruan Yi went to persuade him, but he was scolded by the general and went out. The maids really didn't dare..."
"I understand!" Ou Qinglan said with a heavy heart, "Don't disturb him, just let him be quiet!"
The servants all responded to the amnesty - Qiu Jinglan's mood has been very unstable since Jiang Yashuang's handwritten letter about Qiu Yilan's accident arrived three days ago.
He had never expressed his anger to his servants before, whether it was a major defeat or the death of his eldest daughter. In the past three days, he had almost punished everyone around him!
but…
Considering that the rumored Princess Ningyi seems to be dying, and the current situation in Western Xinjiang, it is impossible for Qiu Jinglan to escape, so it is no wonder that he would be so rude...
"Our child was gone before, and my husband was never so sad and painful." Ou Qinglan stood behind the flower tree in the courtyard, looking at the study, feeling a little distressed and sad, "Yilan... she..."
It's just that the smell of jealousy dissipated, and Ou Qinglan's face gradually turned ugly: "The situation in Western Xinjiang has just improved, and now such bad news has spread in Beijing! Who is plotting against Yilan, and who is heading towards Yilan? Are you going towards your husband?"
She clenched her fists and thought through gritted teeth, "If I knew... I would cut him into pieces!!!"