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Chapter 399 - My Cruelty Is Always Enough!
Chapter 399 - My Cruelty Is Always Enough!
Chapter 399 My Cruelty Is Always Enough!
However, Jiang Yashuang did not approve of his wife going with him, “The first branch and the third branch would like to see us in a bad situation. Now that you are pregnant, what if you get hurt in the heat of the moment?”
Hearing this, Qiu Yelan suddenly changed her idea because she thought that it was possible for the first branch and the third branch to do such things.
“And since mother has recovered, we have been paying our respects to her every morning!” Jiang Yashuang added, “If I don’t go, I can still say that I’m busy with my duties, but if you don’t go, I don’t know what our mother will think or worry about. So, I’ll go alone to ask about it, and you go and stay with mother!”
Qiu Yelan asked, “What about Sister Qizheng?”
“Just as we discussed yesterday, we’ll talk about it together when I return!” Jiang Yashuang patted her back, “I’m going. You can take An to mother’s place later, and be careful not to let her see anything wrong! She can’t afford to worry about that now!”
“All right!” Qiu Yelan sighed and reached out to straighten the edge of his clothes, saying, “Be careful! Although you are in Marquess’s Mansion, the two branches are used to being domineering. Now that they suffer the loss of their son, it is possible for them to do something!”
After sending Jiang Yashuang away, Qiu Yelan returned to her inner chamber to decorate her hairpin. Su He and the others knew that she must be in a bad mood at the moment, and so they gently picked out the jewelry for her. After the last hairpin was inserted into her hair, Qiu Yelan looked at the mirror to examine her appearance. Satisfied with her appearance, she did not stand up but slightly closed her eyes and thought.
A few moments later, she called Xiaran, “Go to Ruan’s Mansion and ask Mr. Ruan for some men.”
“What do you want, madame?” Xiaran asked quietly.
“Go to the first branch’s courtyard where Madame Dou and others are housed, and take away the second aunt Jiang Tianou and her children!” Qiu Yelan said with an expressionless face, “Just say that I dreamt of my grandfather yesterday!”
Xiaran nodded, “I understand! Do you have any other orders?”
“Tell Chunran to get some pastries from the kitchen at random and make a trip to the third branch. There’s no need to say anything else.” Qiu Yelan plucked the bracelet on her wrist and said indifferently, “He Shuijin is in the third branch. She will understand!”
In the past year, the first branch excavated General Ruan’s tomb, which could be used to control them. Although Madame Dou was dead and Jiang Tianao didn’t care about the situation of his half-sister and nieces and nephews, Madame Han was still there! Qiu Yelan thought, “As long as we get Jiang Tianou in our hands and pass the news to Madame Han, we’re not afraid she won’t do anything!”
As for the third branch, He Shuijin would remind Madame He that the fourth branch was not what it used to be, and the lady of the house, Madame Zhuang, was back!
If Madame He didn’t want to follow in Madame Dou’s footsteps and be beaten to death in public without a word and involve her own daughter, she’d better persuade Jiang Tianqi not to do things to the extreme!
“That should take some of the pressure off Yashuang!” Qiu Yelan stroked her brow, giving a gentle and submissive smile to the mirror and adjusting her subtle expression before sighing, “Time for the meal. I still have to go to mother’s side later.”
While the battle in Jing City was becoming increasingly fierce, in Shazhou Jiang Qizheng was persuading Qiu Jinglan with a smile, “Just say it to her face to face! General Qiu, you’re a man, a good scholar and a good fighter. Since you’ve met so many lovers in your life, why do you refuse? Are you still afraid that Xing will eat you up?”
Qiu Jinglan said indifferently, “Your Highness, we have reached an agreement before. If I don’t fall in love with Miss Ou, then I will let her give up as soon as possible! Now that I have conveyed my meaning very clearly, Your Highness is still asking me to see Miss Ou again. It is giving her hope, isn’t it? This is against Your Highness’s previous wishes!”
“I’ve changed my mind!” Jiang Qizheng said confidently, “I am a woman, and since General Qiu is a frequent visitor to the brothel, you should know that women’s minds are fickle! Besides, last time when I persuaded General Qiu to let Xing give up, there was still a gap between me and my husband. And so of course I don’t want Xing to repeat the same mistake!”
She gave a smug smile, “Now I and my husband have bridged the gap and are in harmony! However, I can’t help but see Xing’s persistence. After all, thanks to your help that we have reconciled! Even though I was born with wealth and prosperity while my husband came from an unknown family, you still believed in us. But why can’t you believe in Xing and yourself? Isn’t Xing more suitable for you than the delicate young lady from the Han Family, both in terms of background and temperament?”
In order to satisfy Jiang Qizheng’s previous request and in consideration of the convenience of ruling the Western Army, Qiu Jinglan asked Ren Ziyong to help him propose marriage to one of the temporary commander’s granddaughters.
Although Han Jishan said he would consider the proposal and give a reply in a couple of days, everyone knew that it was just a cosmetic proposal for the sake of the girl’s face. How could he not say yes?
Since Shazhou was not so big, with Qiu Jinglan’s current status, how could his lifelong commitment not be noticed? So, Jiang Qizheng, Ou Qinglan, and the others all knew about it!
When Jiang Qizheng came to him today, Qiu Jinglan thought she was here to compliment him on his good work, but it turned out to be a request for him to give Ou Qinglan a chance to meet him in private!
This really made Qiu Jinglan feel speechless, “Since Your Highness believes that it is the work of me to reconcile you with your husband, why do you have to put me on the spot now?” He thought, “So my design to get rid of all the bad blood between you and your husband has prompted you to change your attitude towards the matter of Ou Qinglan pestering me?”
Jiang Qizheng said seriously, “How can I put you on spot? Your sister, my sister-in-law, is going to be a mother while you are still not married. Not only will the people who care about you have to worry, but you also have no one who shares your joy and sorrows. You are now taking care of so many things a day, but when you come back to the backyard, you only have subordinates to serve you… Since I’ve taken advantage of your kindness and made up with my husband, I can’t bear it that you are in such a situation!”
“…” Qiu Jinglan rubbed the corner of his forehead and continued to be expressionless, “Your Highness is in love with your husband and so you don’t need to care about me. The people serving beside me are very attentive. There are often people who are warm and considerate and so…”
“Let’s talk about kindness!” Seeing that he was still stubborn, Jiang Qizheng had to play her trump card, “Since you are tall and strong and now have a high and powerful position, your future will be promising… You wouldn’t be an ungrateful person, would you?”
“When I convinced Xing to do such a dangerous thing, I only said one reason!”
“It will be of great benefit to you! Xing didn’t even think about it when she agreed! Now she is only asking for a private meeting with you. If you are determined not to give her a chance, why should you be so stingy with this little time?”
Jiang Qizheng asked, half provocatively and half tentatively, “Could it be that the reason why you refuse to response is that you are worried that you may not be able to refuse after seeing Xing?”
Qiu Jinglan looked at her and smiled, “Your Highness, I am reluctant to meet Miss Ou because of her status and her personal relationship with Your Highness and my sister, for fear of hurting the peace! But now that Your Highness has said so, I do not care to show off my heart of stone that I have honed over years of drifting around the demimonde…”
His smile was filled with gentleness and cordiality, but also with concealed sharpness and coldness, “As long as Your Highness won’t regret, my cruelty is always enough!”
“…” Jiang Qizheng froze for a moment, but in the end, she said, “So, when will you have time to spare?”
“I now have a thousand things on my hands and my official businesses are piling up like a mountain!” Qiu Jinglan said indifferently, “So it is better not to delay such a trivial matter any longer. Tonight! As for the place, Your Highness and Miss Ou can decide!”
Jiang Qizheng pursed her lips, “And then please be punctual, General Qiu! Since Xingkang Grand Princess’s Mansion covers a vast area, I will make a special place for you and you will never be disturbed!”
After the downfall of Kuang Shihan, both Marquess Zhang’s Mansion and Xingkang Grand Princess’s Mansion had been sealed off. Now Qiu Jinglan occupied Marquess Zhang’s Mansion as his office. Xingkang Grand Princess’s Mansion was so luxurious and beautiful that many of the systems inside were only available to the royal family. So, no one dared to ask for it. When Jiang Qizheng and her party came to Shazhou for a temporary stay, it was logically given to her to use. Although Jiang Qizheng had no royal bloodline, she was a proper princess.
Jiang Qizheng chose this place because Ou Qinglan could have the benefit of the location.
But it didn’t matter to Qiu Jinglan, who promised readily, “I will be there then!”
With his promise, Jiang Qizheng didn’t stay too long and got up to say goodbye.
When she returned to Xingkang Grand Princess’s Mansion, she did not tell Ou Qinglan the result immediately, but first went to Qiu Feng and complained, “I had to talk a lot to get Qiu Jinglan to agree! But his tone indicated that he wouldn’t be able to explain it politely when he saw Xing. What if Xing couldn’t take it? But she has to ask him in person… Now it’s neither right nor wrong to tell her!”
However, Qiu Feng was a novice in matters of love. How could he help? But when he saw his wife’s frowning face, he racked his brains to find a solution for her, “Why don’t we ask Mengtao to tell Miss Ou?”
“But she still has to come and ask me.” Jiang Qizheng sighed, “Besides, if I go and say to her, I can still enlighten her and give her some ideas! But if Mengtao goes to say…”
“We can let Mengtao go and say it when the appointed time is almost up, can’t we?” With Qiu Feng’s character, it was rare for him to come up with such a bad idea, “And then Miss Ou won’t have time to come to you!”
Jiang Qizheng looked at him unexpectedly and said with a smile, “That’s a good idea… But she’ll be angry with me later! She’s been telling me thousands of times over the past few days that when she met Qiu Jinglan last time, she was being chased and was in a terrible mess. She regretted it very much! If they meet again, she’ll have to dress up properly! You can think if you don’t leave her enough time to dress up…”
Qiu Feng did not think so, “What’s the meaning of dressing up? If Qiu Jinglan really had had an interest in her, he would have felt pity for her when he saw her in a poor state, instead of disliking her! If he is not interested in her, he will still refuse her, even though she dresses up in a fancier way. Is Qiu Jinglan a kind of person who has never seen beauty?”
“You really don’t understand!” Jiang Qizheng hid her mouth and snickered, “A girl will spare no effort to dress her up to please her loved one. As for a girl’s mind…”
“…” Qiu Feng froze at her words and suddenly began to look at her seriously. Seeing this, Jiang Qizheng turned red and lightly punched him, snapping, “I’m talking about Xing! What are you looking at me for?”
After all, they had just made up. Jiang Qizheng was still a bit shy, but she was also thinking about Ou Qinglan’s matter. She slightly sulked and left, “I’ll go to talk to Xing. I won’t talk to you anymore!”