Real Empress from a Noble Family

Chapter 48 The Poison Youmianxiang

“My official mother and brother of my former family before I was adopted by Ruan Family are found. And they are being sent to the city secretly?” Ruan Qingyan said frowning, “Hua said so?”

Qiu Yelan nodded, “She also said that it was because Empress Dowager Gu’s clique had failed a few times trying to rob Lian Family’s letter which was about old Princess of Xihe. Then someone stumbled on the idea of going after you.”

Ruan Qianyan sneered, “Going after me? Do I look like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered?”

“Cousin, did you talk to your family before you were adopted by Ruan Family?” Qiu Yelan muttered to herself, “According to Hua Shenshen, your official mother and brother were about to say that you abandoned your original status and ancestral hall in order to become the young master of General’s Mansion....”

She had to say that this move of Empress Dowager Gu’s clique was very diabolic!

Abandoning one’s ancestral hall was a crime worse than killing the emperor or one’s father at that time.

“Don’t worry. People they found definitely weren’t my former official mother and brother,” Ruan Qingyan said with a sneer, “In my opinion, they may think that there is no one who knows my former official mother and brother in the city... And they found two people who had a southern accent and were the similar age to mess with me.”

Qiu Yelan said in a surprise, “How do you know?”

“... Tell you later,” a painful look flashed through Ruan Qingyan’s eyes. He said in a dull voice, “Fake will always be fake. They will definitely give the show away in due course.”

“I’m afraid that Empress Dowager Gu and her clique will keep holding this against you. Since they know when Lian Family’s letter arrives, Qiu Mengmin will definitely be in the wrong. Because you were the one who brought up the letter between Ruan Family and Lian Family,” Qiu Yelan sighed, “Jiang Family is focus on Lian Family’s letter right now. Even they know that Empress Dowager Gu is aiming at you, they may not be able to give much help. The one who contributes this idea to Empress Dowager Gu is really vicious!”

Ruan Qingyan smiled, “Don’t believe whatever Hua says. Many people know that I’m about to take the exam now. And she told you this at the very moment. Who knows whether it’s real or not? She may just want to make me feel ill at ease. So, I will end up with a bad grade.”

Qiu Yelan was confounded for a moment. Ruan Qingyan continued, “People’s mind is unpredictable. Besides, Hua grew up in a brothel. Although she is just a few years older than you, she is way more experienced in life than normal people. She seems to look out for me at everything. But don’t you forget? I supported her deadly foe Penglai Yue in the Courtesan Competition because of Young Earl Ling. Do you think she will return good for evil?”

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Seeing Qiu Yelan hesitating at saying something, Ruan Qingyan said sincerely and earnestly, “So, don’t assume someone is good because he is nice to you.”

Finally, he cut to the chase, “Jiang Yashuang is kind of good-looking. And he is polite to you. But just think about it. Let alone that you are still engaged, even if you aren’t, he invited you who aren’t married nor related to him to be with him alone for a few times. Will a decent man do such things? So you can see that he is not a good person. He is a sanctimonious man with an ulterior motive....”

Hearing Ruan Qingyan sparing no effort in tarring Jiang Yashuang, Qiu Yelan coughed, “I was just thinking about how to remind you that Hua Shenshen may not be trusted.... I didn’t think that you had already noticed it.”

“Do I need you to remind of me this kind of thing?” Ruan Qingyan sneered, “The number of prostitutes who give their first time to me is more than the number of people that you know... Ahem! Ahem! Ahem!”

Suddenly realizing that he might have said something which would corrupt his cousin’s heart, Ruan Qingyan changed the topic awkwardly, “Anyhow, don’t see Hua Shenshen again when she comes here in the future. How is she qualified to speak with you in her status?”

Before getting the last word out, he found a random excuse that he needed to keep on studying and run away.

“Eh, eh. The number of prostitutes who give their first time to him is more than the number of people that I know?” Qiu Yelan snickered behind him, “Really? You don’t look like you have excesses of drink and sex, okay? Or you paid to sleep with them, but instead you just talked to them under the quilt?”

“Your Grace, if Cousin Ruan hears what you said, he will punish you again!” Su He reminded her blinking.

The corner of Qiu Yelan’s mouth twitched, “If you dare to snitch on me, I will marry you to a cripple who is blind, mute and deaf.”

Su He smiled, “I’m not afraid! You adore me. You won’t do me wrong in my marriage.”

Was it true that people shouldn’t teach their maids too well?

Qiu Yelan said ruthlessly, “Then I will confiscate your salary of this month as penalty!”

Su He’s eyes were full of tears immediately. She raised her hand and said, “I will never ever tell!”

“Humph!” Qiu Yelan raised her head playfully, “Okay. It’s time to serve grandfather with his medicine.”

General Ruan was weak in the first place. Coughing a lot of blood had almost killed him this time. He lay under a sumptuous quilt looking skin and bones which drew tears from people.

Bloodstained handkerchiefs were carried out one after another. Although he stopped coughing blood after a few days, it was still shocking by the sight.

Everyone in the General’s Mansion was gloomy. It had weighed on everyone’s mind.

After butler Ruan An knew General Ruan didn’t have long, he didn’t want to attend to anything. He didn’t move a step from General’s bed and cried in silence.

His family had been Ruan Family’s servants for generations. And he had been General Ruan’s personal servant since General was a kid. He followed General Ruan to every war for his whole life. And he was there when General Ruan’s sons and grandsons were killed in the war. Finally, when General Ruan was punished because of his defeat, he also took off his armor and followed him back to Ruan Family to be his servant. He would accompany General Ruan and guard the General’s Mansion which was declining day by day for the rest of his life.

Although they were not brothers, their connections were deeper than real brothers.

“Mr. Ruan, go get some rest. I will serve grandfather with his medicine,” Ruan An didn’t fulfill his duty. But General’s Mansion shouldn’t be unattended or attended by Ruan Qingyan. So, Qiu Yelan had to be the housekeeper temporarily which would allow Ruan An to be with General Ruan more.

However, seeing Ruan An’s gloomy and spiritless look, she decided to persuade Ruan An to get some rest, “Considering grandfather’s condition, Ruan Family will have to depend on cousin. If you don’t take care of yourself, do you want cousin to keep taking care of this family and his work after he gets the Jinshi title? How will he be able to do that?”

After she repeated for a few times, Ruan An looked up blankly. Xishi held him and also dragged him to rest. Qiu Yelan was feeding General Ruan with his medicine. She suddenly thought of something and her expression changed.

She finished feeding General Ruan his medicine absently. It was rare that she didn’t stay to talk to General Ruan who was not able to talk. Shoving the bowl into Maid Xisong’s hand, she stood up and walked towards outside, “Where is my cousin? I need to ask him about something!”

“You want to know why grandfather is like this?” Ruan Qingyan was next door. Seeing Qiu Yelan rushing in eagerly, he stood up with a little surprise, “Dr. Qi said it was because he was too worried and angry. It is said that anger will damage the liver and worry will damage the spleen. The liver is in charge of storing blood in the human body. It is a vital organ. Spleen is in charge of blood that runs through main and collateral channels....”

“I can’t understand that you put it like this,” Qiu Yelan admitted directly that she was uneducated, “Anyhow, didn’t Dr. Qi say that grandfather was poisoned?”

Ruan Qingyan’s look became serious, “Poison? Are you sure? What kind of poison?”

“I’m not sure. That’s why I’m asking you,” Qiu Yelan had a bad feeling. However, she stayed calm and collected. She said blankly, “I just thought that grandfather’s condition was stable. Why did he cough blood suddenly? Empress Dowager Gu and her clique are trying every means to go after us these days. Did they exploit an advantage because we were being careless?”

Staring at her for a moment, Ruan Qingyan didn’t find any flaw and then said, “Dr. Qi was hired by Jiang Yashuang. If grandfather were poisoned, he definitely would tell us. Once we find out that Empress Dowager Gu and her clique did this, Jiang Family will have one more thing on them after all.”

Since Dr. Qi didn’t say anything, that meant General Ruan wasn’t poisoned. Or he didn’t find out that General Ruan was poisoned.

But General Ruan was clearly poisoned.

The poison Youmianxiang!

When Qiu Yelan first occupied this body, while she was organizing the body’s former owner’s memory, she noticed that the body’s former owner’s most profound memory was that Princess Ruan killed herself resolutely for her to leave Qiu Family without any strings.

The second profound memory was the poison Youmianxiang!

“However, talking about the memory of the poison Youmianxiang, it was not just that Princess Ruan told the body’s former owner that she and General Ruan were both poisoned by it. And also, Princess Ruan forbade the body’s former owner to tell anyone about the secret,” Qiu Yelan left the study. On her way back to Lvqiang Court, her heart was rising and falling like waves. She speculated eagerly, “Can’t even mention the poison Youmianxiang in front of others. Because mentioning it will cause a catastrophe!”

Qiu Yelan asked Kang Jinzhang about it deliberately back then. She estimated the thickness of the snow below the cliff and knew Kang Jinzhang wouldn’t die from falling. However, that guy did too many bad things and he had to shout which made himself get buried alive.

If she knew that would happen, she would ask all her questions above the cliff.

In a word, because she remembered Princess Ruan’s warning, Qiu Yelan kept those words to herself discreetly. She would rather expose that Qiu Mengmin didn’t respect his official mother the old Princess of Xihe than tell the truth about Madame Lu trying to murder Princess Ruan and her father.

She thought since she couldn’t bring up those words, she could make others bring it up.

But...

“If the poison Youmianxiang can’t be detected, how did Princess Ruan know?” considering how down and out Ruan Family was, they shouldn’t be able to find any good doctor back then. It was lucky that they could find a regular doctor.”

“Dr. Qi Shuluo who Jiang Yashuang hired was said to be in a high position in the Imperial Academy of Medicine. Ordinarily, he should be able to figure out why General Ruan looks like this.”

Qiu Yelan retrieved her memory of Qi Shuluo’s expression changes when he was diagnosing General Ruan carefully.

Suddenly, she remembered when Jiang Yashuang asked him whether General Ruan could be saved or not, although Qi Shuluo looked solemn, he was also a little uneasy.

Qiu Yelan thought it was because General Ruan’s condition was critical back then. Now when she thought about it, he might have noticed the poison Youmianxiang.

However, he also chose to shut up.

“What kind of big event does the poison Youmianxiang involve? Or does it have some horrendous origin? It could have this kind of huge deterrence!” Qiu Yelan felt so lost. And she was also deeply afraid, “The question is how did an abandoned concubine like Madame Lu get her hand on such a forbidden poison?”

After formed alliance with Jiang Family and got the letter from Lian Family and Ruan Family which could be used as the ultimate weapon, Qiu Yelan felt she was sure to win. A wonderful life was within reach. Now the mysterious poison Youmianxiang made her feel that danger lay everywhere again.

“Anyway, Madame Lu needs to die first,” having spent too many precarious days in the last phase after all, Qiu Yelan had adjusted her mind when she arrived at Lvqiang Court, “Take one step at a time.... Um. Eat, sleep and hit Cousin Kang. At least the present days are nice....”