Chapter 318 A Crazy Change!
According to the contact information that Empress Dowager Ye provided, Qiu Yelan soon got in touch with Empress Dowager Ye’s, or maybe the Ye Family’s, even the former crown prince’s only group of secret pawns left in Jing City.
Emperor had taken the crown for more than thirty years. Even the youngest pawn was old enough to be a grandfather. Some of them already died of old age. Prince Qiyang was mentally challenged. Princess Qiyang was from the Jiang Family. County Princess was too young and didn’t know much about scheming and plotting. The only person who could use them was Empress Dowager Ye who was basically locked up for thirty years. Even so, they were still willing to do her bidding. This truly showed their loyalty!
Empress Dowager Ye gave them to Qiu Yelan in exchange for her taking care of County Princess Duanrou as well as she could, “This is why I insist on seeing you. I have forced the Empress to swear on Princess Yongfu’s life that she wouldn’t find a substitute or an eavesdrop. Curious? Unreconciled? No, no. I’ve lost all hope. I really don’t have time for that!”
“Why me? You don’t trust people from the Jiang Family, yet I’m also married into the Jiang Family.”
“Because Duanrou has told me, in the entire Jiang Family, only you and your husband fought for her marriage!” Empress Dowager Ye said quietly, “Even though she respects all her uncles and aunts equally, when it comes to her marriage, only you two who are just a few years older than her helped her! So since then, I have decided that when I’m about to die, I’ll give my men to you!”
Qiu Yelan remembered Empress Dowager Ye’s meaningful look at that moment, “Remember! To you two, or even just you! Not the Jiang Family!”
“You two are the ones who will truly think for Duanrou. Yet in the end, you still can’t persuade the Empress. It’s because you are too young. You don’t have enough power or status. What I leave may not help you reach success by one step, but they will be very useful!” Empress Dowager Ye said, “When you’re in a steady high position, you can better protect Duanrou!”
As for reasons why her style of talking was so different from before, Empress Dowager Ye calmly explained, “You have to have something to report back to the Empress!”
Frankly speaking, when Qiu Yelan recited the contact information Empress Dowager Ye gave her, she was very confused. She had never managed such men before.
And following Empress Dowager Ye’s request that these men shall never be given to the Jiang Family, she couldn’t reveal them to Jiang Yashuang.
She was going to ask Qiu Jinglan when he came back, but it turned out that Qiu Jinglan would be the first one to use these men.
Even though she made sure that these men and Empress Dowager Ye who was still alive didn’t have any reason to sell her out, she missed one thing. Because Empress Dowager Ye was still alive, when these men received her order, they sent the news to Ganli Palace and informed Empress Dowager Ye as they were making preparations.
Empress Dowager Ye pulled herself to listen to Qiu Yelan’s plan. She then asked some questions and immediately understood her thoughts and aims. Yet she shook her head with a smile, “She’s indeed young! She thought this much. Why can’t she make it better?!”
Empress Dowager Ye who was on the blink looked at the dim lights and laughed willfully, “I’m about to die. I’ll help you one last time. It’s sad that in the end, I’m still helping the Jiang Family. But in order to protect Duanrou, I’ll let the Jiang Family take this one! As long as she’s well…”
Again she gave orders to her trusted servant quietly, “Do it as I said!”
Even the servant who had followed her for a decade was so frightened after hearing this plan. Trembling with fear, he reminded Empress Dowager Ye, “Your Majesty, what if that young Madame can’t understand your thoughts?”
“Then she’ll blame me!” Empress Dowager Ye said assuredly, “She pities Duanrou. She won’t blame it on her. Then what else should I be afraid of?! I don’t even know whether I would still be alive by then!”
“But…”
“Just do it!” Empress Dowager Ye insisted, “I have already failed. Now Duanrou can only count on the protection of the Jiang Family. So, the Jiang Family must win this fight between two empresses! And this Madame Qiu must win the fight within the Jiang Family!”
Her dimed eyes shone brightly, “Madame Qiu only has this one brother and he’s very important and talented. We must keep him safe! This way, Madame Qiu will have her real brother to support her, and so her position in the Jiang Family will be more secured. This will in turn benefit their future. My Duanrou can then gain solid support!”
Her trusted servant didn’t dare to persuade her again. He kneeled on the ground and saluted. When he stood up, he felt his legs were still limp. He staggered out and left.
Qiu Yelan didn’t know that her plan was changed totally by Empress Dowager Ye without informing her. The problem was that not only Empress Dowager Ye drew up a new plan, but this plan was also just crazy!
Two days later, in the evening, a frightened servant ran up to Qiu Yelan and told her that the tomb of General of Warrior was dug open and only one of the thieves was killed. Upon hearing the news, Qiu Yelan thought she misheard or the servant misspoke, “Whose tomb? My grandfather? How’s that possible?!”
She had arranged for someone to do this to the Kuang Family’s cemetery! She asked them to leave something or pull out some grass to make it look like thieves had come by, and so it would force Kuang Shihan or Kuang Qingwu to come back to fix the tomb and investigate this crime. Kuang Shihan wouldn’t be able to leave, but Kuang Qingwu could and he had to!
It was because this was about filial duty. If he didn’t carry this duty, no matter how high he would rise in the future, he wouldn’t be able to clear this bad name! Even after he was dead, his sons and grandsons would be condemned by others!
Kuang Shihan would never let such a fatal stain be on his son’s record.
Just like Kuang Qingwu’s journey to Shazhou, it would not be very peaceful on his way back because Qiu Jinglan was almost killed. Once Kuang Qingwu stepped outside Shazhou and missed the protection of the Western Army, Marquess Qin would definitely kill him!
And then Kuang Qingwu would need to send many men to protect his son. Yet he needed to send out his trusted men to kill Qiu Jinglan or protect Kuang Qingwu. Impossibly, he couldn’t make the entire Western Army his trusted men, and so he wouldn’t have enough men for Qiu Jinglan. Besides, the battle with the western savages was still ongoing. Anyway, once something happened to the Kuang Family’s cemetery, Qiu Jinglan’s pressure would be lessened greatly!
This plot that the Jiang Family designed with the western savages targeting Kuang Shihan would be more likely to succeed!
Even though Qiu Yelan didn’t want to touch the cemetery of the Kuang Family, but if words got out, she would be reproved for several generations. Her own people probably wouldn’t even be able to accept it, so she didn’t even inform Jiang Yashuang, using Empress Dowager Ye’s men secretly.
After all, Empress Dowager Ye’s men were professionals. For them, there was no moral integrity, no shame, no good or evil, no right or wrong. They were just to be loyal!
But what was wrong? Why was it the Ruan Family’s tomb? And it was General Ruan, General of Warrior, who was buried with Emperor.
Qiu Yelan had real bad feelings.
But Empress Dowager’s party felt worse. General of Warrior’s tomb was dug up and the treasures inside were stolen. This was already quite serious. What was worse was that this general was buried with Emperor, which meant the Emperor’s mausoleum was right next to it! No one should touch anything in Emperor’s mausoleum!
Even though the news came to Marquess Qin’s Mansion in the evening, at night, all the government officials went into the Palace and had an Imperial Court Assembly!
On the Imperial Court Assembly, the general who was in charge of the protection of Emperor’s mausoleum came back to Jing City to admit his error and ask for punishment. He said frightenedly that they were tracking the identity of that thief. After two hours, the result came back, which almost made Empress Dowager Gu puke blood. It was the bodyguard of Marquess Zhang’s Mansion!
“Is it true?!” Empress Dowager Gu looked at all the government officials and tried hard to swallow the word “nonsense” down her stomach!
The person who went checking was not an idiot and the result was reported in front of everyone. How could it not be true? Besides, with the body here, there was no chance to deny it! She could only say, “Someone! Get the housekeeper of Marquess Zhang’s Mansion here! Ask him how he takes charge of Marquess Zhang’s Mansion! Marquess Zhang has been stationing at the border for a decade. He never even stayed in the Marquess’s Mansion after it was built! Is he acting wildly because his master is rarely in Jing City?”
Empress Dowager was trying to take Kuang Shihan out of this incident. Even though the Empress’s party was confused about why something so good would happen, they were more surprised. They would never let go of such a great chance!
At the moment, Jiang Tianao stood out of the line without hesitance, “Your Majesty, that’s not true! General of Warrior’s tomb is beside Emperor’s mausoleum! There is an army guarding and the deterrence of the former Emperor frightens the thieves! Even if someone craves for the treasures, he doesn’t dare to come near! Now that the tomb is dug up, is it really for the treasures? I think it’s probably for vengeance!”
“But I think it’s just for the treasures. After all, the General of Warrior raised up Marquess Zhang. The Ruan Family was a wealthy family since the establishment of our country. After years of accumulation, even if the Ruan Family has seen some bitter days, they would still have some valuable things! How would Marquess Zhang not know this?” Zhuang Mo followed up, “General of Warrior’s heir, Ruan Qingyan, was a student of a very wealthy man in the south. It is said that when he came to Jing City, he had tons of money. He was a filial person. The treasures he buried with General of Warrior would be adequate!”
“Then Marquess Zhang is targeting those valuable things that the Ruan Family used to have?” Even though Jiang Tianqi didn’t like to see Jiang Tianao getting all the credit, he wouldn’t be so stupid and hinder him when they were fighting against others. So, he stood out and said, “General of Warrior viewed him as his own son! Even if it’s for vengeance, this is just too heinous! This person… No, it doesn’t even deserve to be a person!”
When the King of Chu killed Wu Ziyu’s family, Wu Ziyu wasn’t able to revenge while the King of Chu was alive. He dug up the King of Chu’s grave and slashed the corpse, which was condemned by people until now. Let alone Kuang Shihan owed a great debt of gratitude to General Ruan!
The Empress’s party focused on the fact that General Ruan’s tomb was dug and that the bodyguard of Kuang Shihan’s Mansion died on the tomb. They caught Empress Dowager’s party off guard!
But even so, Empress Dowager’s party was not useless. They were dazed for a while and they quickly assembled a strike back, “That’s ridiculous! Only one person died on the grave, yet you think they must have done it? Can’t you recognize such a simple frame-up?!”
“A frame-up?” Jiang Tianao smiled coldly, “Deputy Premier Tang, please don’t forget that Cao Zizhong, who guards the tomb just has said that the thief was found digging General of Warrior’s tomb. He then fled in fear. That bodyguard was killed on the run! Do you call that a frame-up?”
“If Marquess Zhang had his eyes on the belongings of General of Warrior, then why didn’t he go ask the Ruan Family for them when they declined?” Tang Zimo rebutted coldly, “Why didn’t he mention it when General of Warrior was buried? Why did he send someone to dig it up now, knowing that the tomb is beside Emperor’s mausoleum? If he was caught, his whole family would be punished. Yet he did it without figuring out the routine of the patrols. If Marquess Zhang was indeed this stupid, why haven’t we lost Xijiang for decades?”
Qiu Dian snorted and continued to rebut, “Everyone knows that Marquess Zhang is close to General of Warrior. Maybe this was an inside job of the guard, yet he was caught by the bodyguard who went to pay his tribute to General of Warrior under the order of Marquess Zhang. That’s why the guard killed the bodyguard and planted the evidence!”
After he said that, Cao Zizhong and others who were kneeling underneath waiting for their punishment were half dead with fright. They yelled out loud that they were wronged!
“If you really were loyal to your job,” Qiu Dian was merciless. He widened his eyes and shouted, “Then why did this bodyguard enter Emperor’s mausoleum? When can a bodyguard just casually walk into Emperor’s mausoleum? This shows how you do your job on normal days!”
Empress Dowager’s party felt revived. They glanced at the Empress’s party aggressively. They thought, “Your frame-up was quite heartless. The heir of General Ruan was still fighting in Shazhou and his granddaughter was married into the Jiang Family, yet you dared to dig his grave! Now how are you going to deal with this flaw of the guards?”