Published at 29th of October 2020 05:51:39 AM
Chapter 215: Chapter 215 - Teach the First Branch a Lesson
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 substitutions 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 Shishui 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 space . 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 grass . 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 assigning 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 Shishui 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 . ”
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“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 Jinshis 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 Shishui . Sheng Shishui 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 attitude and she was impressed in the heart . They had been classmates for two years . But who would have thought that Sheng Shishui 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 Shishui . From what Qiu Yelan heard from Zhuang Man, Sheng Shishui 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 circumstance, Sheng Shishui still kept an out-going and graceful attitude 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 Shishui 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 .
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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 Shishui 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 competition 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 embarrassed . 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 Shishui . 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 Shishui 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 Shishui 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 Shishui . 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 .
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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 assured . I won’t disgrace our fourth branch! I just heard Sheng Shishui 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?”
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