Real Empress from a Noble Family

Chapter 74 Noble Girls’ Gathering

Qiu Yelan had thought she was ready to welcome the noble guests, but on the day when Shao Yuemei officially became the teacher in Prince’s Mansion of Xihe, she found she had underestimated this female teacher’s influence. Chunfu Princess Jiang Qizheng and He Shuijin were two she had met before.

Apart from them, from the Jiang Family came the fifteenth young lady Jiang Qiyun, the seventh young lady Jiang Qisheng; from the Tao Family came the fourth young lady Tao Peibin. And even two royal daughters came!

Qiu Yelan had met Princess Yongfu Chu Weitong before and had seen how naughty this royal Princess was. Alright, she might come here for fun.

But, why was County Princess Duanrou also here?

Qiu Yelan thought hard but remembered nothing else about her except for the time when she went to Ganli Palace, she stayed at this Princess’ yard.

In general, the royal daughters who had an official title would study with other princesses in the palace. They had full-time teachers in the palace to instruct them.

Last time when He Shuijin came and recommended Shao Yuemei, she mentioned that Jiang Qizheng was also Shao Yuemei’s student to attract Qiu Yelan, but she said nothing about County Princess Duanrou. If Shao Yuemei had taught her, He Shuijin would have mentioned that as it could be a credit to her career.

“Were these noble girls moved by Madam Shao’s experience so that when they heard she would teach here, they decided to come and support her?” Qiu Yelan tried to repress her feeling of surprise and greeted everyone as usual. Actually, since the number of guests was far more than what she had expected, it would be impossible for her to make everyone satisfied....

“Well, birds of a feather flock together. They may just like Princess Yongfu and came for fun,” when Qiu Yelan realized it, she decided to give up being perfect and tried her best to welcome the guests.

In this way, the guests that she had no time to greet could walk aside and whisper to each other using the decoration in the yard as a cover.

For example, Princess Yongfu was now murmuring to County Princess Duanrou, “See? That’s my future nineteenth sister-in-law! Your future nineteenth aunt!”

County Princess Duanrou Chu Chunxiao was of the same age as Princess Yongfu, but she was always careful because of her origin. She asked with doubt, “Wasn’t she engaged to Deng Yi two years ago?”

“Who cares about Deng Yi?” Princess Yongfu waved her hand with might like her mother. “As long as my cousin likes her, even if she were engaged to a prince, she could cancel the engagement.”

“That’s true,” Chu Chunxiao knew well the Jiang Family’s style and nodded. “She’s pretty.”

Princess Yongfu felt proud, “It was me who let them meet each other!” These days, all members and servants of the Jiang Family noticed Jiang Yashuang’s special care and help to Commandery Princess Ningyi Qiu Yelan. They came here today to see her by the excuse of attending this event.

Yet, including Madame Tao, all of them thought Jiang Yashuang was attracted by Qiu Yelan’s unmatched beauty when he was at Liuchun Pavilion, so he started protecting her.

Only Princess Yongfu knew that before that time, and thanks to her, Jiang Yashuang had met Qiu Yelan.

“You?” Chu Chunxiao knew nothing of it and was naturally surprised. It seemed to her that today was the first time that Princess Yongfu had seen Qiu Yelan.

“Well... I’ll tell you about it after they get married.” Princess Yongfu was desperate to tell her, but after a second thought, she decided with a feeling of pity to repress it. “My nineteenth cousin is too shy about such things. If I tell you now, who knows how shy he will be.... In order not to make trouble for him, I should say it when all is settled. I don’t mean to hide it from you.”

Chu Chunxiao was not so curious so she just smiled, “Okay.”

The two girls were both close to Jiang Yashuang. They wouldn’t look down on or dislike Qiu Yelan who was a Commandery Princess and never offended them. Princess Yongfu thought she made them know each other when she was playing by chance, and she felt happy about it.

But some were not happy.

Under the pear tree at the corner of the courtyard, Tao Peibin, pretending to be admiring the pear blossoms, was biting her lip lightly and unhappy.

Jiang Qisheng had always been close to this cousin of her, now she was persuading her, “Although she is a Commandery Princess, her parents are both dead now and she’s not in good relations with her uncle. My family has inquired about her. Only the heir of the Ruan Family is good to her. But that heir officially became a member of the Ruan Family only last year, so he may look after her for good fame. Even the Lian Family is only good to her for fame. I will ask my mother’s servant to tell them in private and make sure the Lian Family becomes distant from her! And also the Ruan Family! At the end of the day, she has nothing except the title of a Commandery Princess! She can’t compare with you!”

“She’s beautiful.” Tao Peibin was very downcast when saying it. As Madame Tao’s grandniece and a cousin of Little Tao, the wife of the eighth young master of the Jiang Family, she and Jiang Yashuang grew up together from childhood.

Girls fell in love early. Jiang Yashuang’s mother followed her husband to live in the border for years. He was brought up by Madame Tao and Little Tao. Thus, Tao Peibin had many opportunities to meet him and in this way, she fell for him.

Honestly speaking, it was very possible that Tao Peibin could marry Jiang Yashuang. For one thing, Jiang Yashuang had always respected and obeyed his step-grandmother Madame Tao and his official sister-in-law Little Tao. For another, in early times, the Tao Family was more influential than the Jiang Family. What was more, nowadays, the Jiang Family didn’t need marriage to strengthen their power.

Tao Peibin only worried that she was not good looking enough to attract her extremely handsome cousin. Another cousin of her, Little Tao was very kind and able, but because of her common look, she rarely attracted Jiang Yadan’s attention to look at her.

Compared to her, Tao Peibin was the most beautiful girl among her generation in the Tao Family, but she was still not as pretty as the young ladies from the Jiang Family, let alone that Commandery Princess in plain clothes but as beautiful as a pear flower fairy not far away....

“What’s the use of being beautiful?” Jiang Qiyun took off a branch of pear flowers and came near. She put the flower branch into Tao Peibin’s hair and said with disdain, “The prostitutes in the brothel are all pretty, but are they noble? And this one, well! She is a noble girl nominally, but see how she treats us as guests! She’s not like a noble girl at all!”

Jiang Qiyun was not so close to Tao Peibin. Her mean words were not for Tao Peibin, but for herself. She always thought she was good looking and hated others who looked prettier than her. In the past, she once tried to scratch Jiang Qizheng’s face and ruin her beauty and only stopped after Empress Jiang called her into the palace and scolded her harshly.

She was so cruel to her cousin, let alone to others who were not her relatives.

Actually her family didn’t want her to come, but when she heard Jiang Yashuang was attracted by Commandery Princess Ningyi’s beauty and would like to help her with anything, she was determined to come. Her family failed to stop her, so they persuaded Jiang Qizheng and others to take her along.

When Jiang Qiyun came and saw Qiu Yelan was as pretty as a flower fairy and realized she couldn’t compare with her, her feelings were clear to imagine!

“Don’t be silly. She’s the one Jiang Yashuang likes. If you hurt her, he won’t let you get away.” Jiang Qisheng disliked Qiu Yelan either because of Tao Peibin, but when she saw Jiang Qiyun, she still pulled her aside and reminded her. When Jiang Qiyun almost ruined Jiang Qizheng’s face, Jiang Qizheng’s younger brother Jiang Yashuang was only twelve but when he heard about it, he was furious and wanted Jiang Qiyun to be punished. If Jiang Qiyun’s mother, Madame Dou, didn’t let her run to her grandfather Chancellor Dou, she would suffer a lot!

Although later the old relatives settled this incident and Jiang Qizheng’s face was not broken, the first branch and the fourth branch of the Jiang Family had discord. Last time it was Jiang Yashuang’s sister, this time it was the girl he liked. If Jiang Qiyun did such thing again, Jiang Yashuang would not let her get away even if she hid in Chancellor Dou’s.

Jiang Qiyun also knew it. After that incident, she was a little scared of this cousin of her. She didn’t look happy but said, “I won’t come to her if she doesn’t offend me!” Then she snorted, “About Jiang Qizheng, I have told you that it was an accident! What’s more, she’s intact! Why do you all think it was me who wanted to harm her? It was possible that she harmed herself on purpose to trap me!”

“Keep admiring the flowers here and I’ll go to Peibin.” Jiang Qisheng didn’t want to argue with her. Seeing Jiang Qiyun agreed to her advice, she shook her head and went back to cheer Tao Peibin up.

Qiu Yelan knew nothing of what these unexpected guests were thinking.

When she found she couldn’t make everyone satisfied, she decided to put her focus on Jiang Qizheng, who she thought would be Ruan Qingyan’s future wife and her future sister-in-law. At the same time, Jiang Qizheng was also very interested in her younger brother’s future wife and her future sister-in-law.

The two both held the goal to help their brother and cousin find happiness. They talked like old acquaintances very quickly and started to test each other.

“This set of Four Treasures of Study of you seems very nice. I wonder whose calligraphy you are studying.” Jiang Qizheng scanned Qiu Yelan’s study and asked smilingly.

“I learned Floral Calligraphy from my mother. It’s not so good.” Qiu Yelan took out a piece of calligraphy paper confidently and showed her the characters she wrote. She thought at her age, her calligraphy was good enough so that she could please her future sister-in-law. “What calligraphy do you usually practice?”

Jiang Qizheng took over the paper and studied it, saying, “I don’t have a fixed type to study. Often I practice this type today and study that type tomorrow. If it were not my grandmother who was kind to me, I would be scolded by my parents.”

He Shuijin smiled by her side and said, “Qizheng’s writing is excellent.”

Did that mean she could write any type of calligraphy well?

Jiang Qizheng appraised the characters calmly for a while and smiled lightly, “Your writing is as pretty as you are.”

Qiu Yelan knew her words were only out of politeness and couldn’t help regret that she had taken a wrong step! She didn’t know this Chunfu Princess was an expert in calligraphy. Qiu Yelan thought her writing was good, but only among ordinary people. In front of an expert, she was silly to show it.

“It’s far from being pretty. I only know how to hold the brush.” Qiu Yelan regained her composure and started her mission again. “By the way, Cousin Ruan writes good calligraphy....”

Qiu Yelan restarted to help Ruan Qingyan leave a good impression but she didn’t notice Jiang Qizheng sighing after she put down the paper and exchanged an eye of resignation with He Shuijin....