Chapter 215 Teach the First Branch a Lesson

They got married on April fifteenth. After three days, they returned to see Qiu Yelan’s family. Then Jiang Yashuang spent two days with Qiu Yelan at home. After that, he went to the Hanlin Academy.

They were just married, so when he was home, they were always together. Therefore, after he went to work, Qiu Yelan had the time to plan the marital life.

The time for her to adjust was shorter than she expected.

It was mainly because Jiang Yashuang was not only a grandchild but the youngest grandson.

The third branch had He Shuijin. Even though Marquess Qin’s Mansion was big and the amount of work could be described as a pile, He Shuijin took care of all of them orderly. She completely eradicated any chance of others’ taking her power.

Now the power distribution in the Mansion was like this: the center was He Shuijin. And the subst.i.tutions were other mesdames from the third branch, which were the sixth Madame, the seventh Madame, and the eighth Madame who was slightly older than them. When all of them couldn’t hold up, Madame He and Madame Tao would come out to save the day.

If they had really needed the help of the fourth branch, there would have been Madame Tao Junior and Sheng s.h.i.+shui before Qiu Yelan.

So, the thing she could be in charge of, like what Jiang Yashuang said before, was the residence they lived in.

The residence was the standard for the Jiang Family’s grandchild. The whole residence could be divided into three smaller residences. In the back, there was a vast empty s.p.a.ce. They built a pond and made it a garden.

The first residence was where the kitchen was. Young male servants also lived there. The second residence was for hosting guests. Some bedrooms were made into guest rooms. The rest part of the second residence was for the maids. The third residence was where Jiang Yashuang and Qiu Yelan lived. It was the one that was built with most thoughts. The floral-pendant door for entering the residence had delicate carvings. Even the stone threshold was fully carved with auspicious patterns.

The yard inside was full of exquisite sceneries. Walking down the hallway, people could see a mixed scene of artificial hills, climbing figs, flowers, and gra.s.s. It looked colorful and splendid this season. It was like a painting.

The furniture in the main room was all according to the family rules. After being taught by Shao Yuemei and Ruan Ciyi for two years, Qiu Yelan realized that the Jiang Family was indeed wealthy. In a residence for a grandchild, they had many things that Prince’s Mansion of Xihe didn’t have.

She walked around in the room, recognizing places like study and bathroom. Then Qiu Yelan asked Caiqi to show her the back garden. This garden was not small. It was as big as the three residences combined. There were three ways to enter the garden. One was through the small door on the back wall of the main room. One was the back door of the study. And the last one was the back door of this residence.

Qiu Yelan was leading a large group of maids and old maidservants. She was afraid to break something had they went out through the study, so she went into the garden from the door on the wall. When she entered, she saw a stone path. On the sides stood flowers, trees, and artificial hills.

She walked on the serpentine path. After a while, she saw an artificial hill as tall as a person. There were caves that could allow people to hide or walk through. On one side of the hill was a narrow staircase. On top of it was a pavilion. It was the place that Caiqi came to persuade them to eat on the second day of their wedding.

“It was raining and it was dark. Everything was just black. I didn’t see any view. Now it looks really good.” Qiu Yelan held her dress and climbed up. She couldn’t help but praise, “There’s even a red-crowned crane!”

On the other side of the hill was a pond. Along the pond, there were lotuses being planted. Now several of them had bloomed.

On the sides of the pond stood willows. In between them came the chirp of the yellow warbler. She looked carefully and saw more than one nest. The red-crowned crane she talked about was standing underneath the tree. It was preening its feathers calmly. Not only the red-crowned crane, Qiu Yelan watched for a while and she found three pairs of mandarin ducks that were swimming in between the lotus leaves. While she was standing on the artificial hill, the koi fish in the pond probably thought she was going to feed them. They swarmed to the hill. They were not afraid of the red-crowned crane who was gazing them in the near distance. In a short while, the water under the hill became all red. It was as if a giant Mandala bloomed on the water.

“This is really like heaven!” Qiu Yelan asked a servant to get some fish food. She scattered them on the water. The fish fought even more fiercely. Some fish even jumped out of the water now and then.

Caiqi smiled, “I’m glad you like it!”

After seeing the residence, her next task was to recognize everyone. On April sixteenth, Jiang Yashuang had asked everyone to come in and saluted to Qiu Yelan.

Because he was raised by Marquess Qin, Marquess Qin was afraid that he would be spoiled. Therefore, before he was married, he had less than ten servants. Now that he was married, Marquess Qin asked He Shuijin to get him enough servants based on the standard.

So, Jiang Yashuang was also unfamiliar with these people, let alone a.s.signing them to do things. He left all these to Qiu Yelan.

She spent half a day touring the residence and half a day familiarizing the servants and asking the things that needed to be arranged. At night, she ignored Jiang Yashuang and wrote a personal scheduling plan painstakingly. Remembering what Ruan Ciyi taught her, the next day after Jiang Yashuang left, she asked the servants to prepare some dim sum. She then went to find Madame Tao Junior, “Jiang Yashuang said we needed to take charge of the things in our residence. I don’t know what rules do we have. Could you please teach me?”

Because Madame Tao Junior didn’t have a child and she wasn’t favored by her husband, she was despised among the wives. So, Madame Tao tried her best to plan the wedding of Jiang Yazhu and Jiang Yashuang. Madame Tao was afraid that Madame Tao Junior would be despised by her brother’s wives too.

No matter Sheng s.h.i.+shui or Qiu Yelan, after they started to take charge of their residence when they were married, the first thing they did was to come to ask her. This made her very happy.

She modestly declined a while and said, “We don’t have many rules in the family. I’ll tell you about it later.” She then said, “You can just come. You don’t have to bring anything.”

“My maid made it. I just want you to have a try!” Qiu Yelan explained hurriedly.

Her trip wasn’t a waste of time. Madame Tao Junior carefully read her plan. She then changed everything about it with a euphemistic tone. After all, Tao Qianbin came from the most prestigious family in the country. The Tao Family had seven Jins.h.i.+s and three Premiers. Even the Jiang Family that occupied half of the government could never catch up.

Shao Yuemei and Ruan Ciyi who taught Qiu Yelan were nothing in front of her.

Especially she had been the daughter-in-law of the Jiang Family for ten years. She knew everything about the Jiang Family’s rules, personal preference, and taboos. She didn’t have much hesitation when talking about them.

After being taught by her for half a day, Qiu Yelan felt like she benefited a lot. So, she came to ask her every afternoon with dim sum and fruits.

Because she came too often, she also met Sheng s.h.i.+shui. Sheng s.h.i.+shui who got married a couple of months earlier than she looked the same as when she was in the school of Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. If she hadn’t changed into a married woman’s clothes, people would have wondered if she hadn’t been married.

Seeing Qiu Yelan, she smiled in a distance and greeted her, “Are you going to find the sister-in-law?”

“Yeah, you too?” Qiu Yelan saw her natural att.i.tude and she was impressed in the heart. They had been cla.s.smates for two years. But who would have thought that Sheng s.h.i.+shui who had such a background could one day be her sister-in-law?

Even though Jiang Yazhu’s status in the Jiang Family was not like Jiang Yashuang, but the gap was wider between him and Sheng s.h.i.+shui. From what Qiu Yelan heard from Zhuang Man, Sheng s.h.i.+shui didn’t have an easy time in the Jiang Family. Her background was not prestigious and even problematic. Her husband was marginalized and he always blamed her…

Besides Madame Tao Junior, in the whole family, only Madame Tao was nice to her. But Madame Tao treated everyone nicely, including the servants, unless someone offended her.

Under this circ.u.mstance, Sheng s.h.i.+shui still kept an out-going and graceful att.i.tude like what she had before she was married. Even if she had been trying her best to hold it up, it would have been quite impressive.

“Then let’s go together.” Hearing that, Sheng s.h.i.+shui nodded to her with a smile. She was like a normal relative, not self-abased or obsequious. It was just the right closeness.

Qiu Yelan smiled and agreed. They used to have some hostility, but they had never done anything to each other in these years. Now they were in the same branch, the grudge Qiu Yelan had with her was now fading and almost gone.

Seeing them come together, Madame Tao Junior smiled, “I thought you would meet.” She exempted their greetings and asked them to sit down.

After sitting down, Sheng s.h.i.+shui asked, “Who is it this time?”

“The seventh sister-in-law.” Madame Tao Junior answered first and then explained to Qiu Yelan who was confused, “I forgot to tell you yesterday. We have a rule off the record. The wives will get together and have a party once every season. We pick a straw to decide who will host it. It was supposed to be in early spring. But because of your marriage, we decided to hold it when you come.”

Qiu Yelan asked curiously, “What kind of party?”

“Just get some food and drink and hang out together.” Madame Tao Junior bit her bottom lip and continued, “Of course, when we were in our family school, we all learned some talents. So occasionally, we would perform it.”

When she was speaking, she looked awkward. Qiu Yelan felt strange in her heart. If it had only been a compet.i.tion of the talents, with Madame Tao Junior’s background, even if she hadn’t been able to come out on top, she wouldn’t be embarra.s.sed. But looking at her expression, she seemed to have taken a beating on this kind of party. And with her personality, it must be hard for her because she couldn’t hide her expression.

Therefore, after leaving Madame Tao Junior’s place, she especially asked to go with Sheng s.h.i.+shui. On the road, she asked, “Is there any problem with this party? When Madame Tao Junior was talking about it, she didn’t look right.”

She asked straightforwardly, so Sheng s.h.i.+shui answered directly, “Last year, they probably wanted to teach me a lesson. So, some of them colluded and urged me to play qin. I’m not good at it. The sister-in-law saw it and performed it for me. She was flawless. They couldn’t judge her performance, so they said that she practiced qin often because she didn’t have a child to nurture and that was why she was good at it.”

She glanced at Qiu Yelan, “You’re newly married too. Maybe the sister-in-law was worried something like that would happen again. But I think she is thinking too much. I married high. So high that my grandmother never even dreamed of it. But you’re different. No one can compare to your background among the wives. It’s unlikely that they will gang up and target you.”

Qiu Yelan smiled, “Maybe. But you didn’t know. On the day that I served the tea, grandfather gave me a phoenix hairpin. It is said that the first branch wanted it to be Jiang Huizhi’s dowry.”

“Really?” Sheng s.h.i.+shui was surprised for a while. She then quickly changed back to a normal expression and said, “Then the first branch would probably target you. I don’t think Madame Dou Junior is a generous person. Be careful. The sister-in-law is a soft person. She doesn’t argue with others. With my background, I can’t really say anything for you. It’s all on you.”

“I understand.” After knowing why Madame Tao Junior changed her expression when mentioning this party, Qiu Yelan nodded at Sheng s.h.i.+shui. They split up on the road and went back to their residence.

Jiang Yashuang came back early today. When Qiu Yelan went into the inner chamber, he was already lying on the bed under the window and reading a book.

Seeing she came back, he put the book on the table. He stood up and smiled, “Did you just come back from Madame Tao Junior? Jiang Yadan told me that you went there more often than him.”

“I’ve never met him once. So, he’s talking nonsense.” Qiu Yelan didn’t have a good impression on Jiang Yadan. Hearing this, she pouted, “I don’t understand why is he not satisfied with such a good person like the sister-in-law.”

Jiang Yashuang was surprised when hearing this, “Probably just because she is a good person, so he doesn’t care. Because he knows that she won’t fuss about it.”

Qiu Yelan dazed for a while and said, “Yeah. You’re right.”

“I remember it’s soon going to be the party of wives?” Jiang Yashuang looked as if deep in thought. He suddenly asked.

“I just heard it from the sister-in-law. Why?” Qiu Yelan looked at him doubtfully.

Jiang Yashuang nodded, “It’s about that phoenix hairpin. If they make it difficult for you because of that, don’t hold back! Just argue with them. I’ll take the blame in front of my grandmother and grandfather!”

Qiu Yelan smiled and said, “Rest a.s.sured. I won’t disgrace our fourth branch! I just heard Sheng s.h.i.+shui saying that they kept bullying sister-in-law because she is nice. She taught me a lot these days. I’m thinking about repaying her!”

Hearing that, Jiang Yashuang raised his eyebrows. He asked with a faint smile, “She taught you something and you want to repay her? Then I not only taught you but will also take the blame for you… Why didn’t you repay me?”