Chapter 73 Be at the Second Rank

In order to put more pressure on Mistress Bian, Qiu Yelan sent Chunran to present Qiu Jinzhu two pear blossoms to put into a vase.

Although Qiu Jinzhu felt confused, yet Princess Yang would definitely figure it out when being told by her daughter that Qiu Mingzhu had visited Qiu Yelan. She would be thinking that there must have been negotiations between the two sides and Qiu Yelan must have put pressure on Mistress Bian as they didn’t reach an agreement.

Princess Yang immediately shifted her attention from Qiu Hongzhi to Princess Bian!

Yet Qiu Yelan, who made the undertow in the Prince’s Mansion even stronger with two branches of pear blossom, went to sleep quite early and prepared to get up early and go to the General’s Mansion to wait for good news.

After she had arrived at the General’s Mansion the next day, Ruan Qingyan had already gone to join in the Golden Hall. As all of them were in the middle of something, Qiu Yelan didn’t expect to come across him.

After she had served General Ruan for a while, she retired outside and stood by when seeing that General Ruan was tired.

When the results came out, the servant who went to see the billboard returned happily and informed, “Young master was the thirty-seventh in the second rank.”

“The thirty-seventh in the second rank?” It was out of Qiu Yelan’s expectation. “It was several places lower than the results of the metropolitan exam.” Ruan Qingyan ranked thirty-fifth in the metropolitan exam. If the imperial exam had been sorted by the grades from the metropolitan exam and the top three in the first rank had been abandoned, he would have been the thirty-second in the second rank.

Yet now it was fully five places lower than the last time. Though it could be said that he had come out in front as he had ranked about thirtieth among three hundred scholars who would be chosen in the subject and Ruan Qingyan had not even been twenty years old, yet Qiu Yelan still felt unhappy, “Though the imperial exam was held by the Emperor, yet he could not have anything to do with it. It must have been Empress Dowager Gu who lowered his rank…. But why did Empress Jiang stand aside?”

When thinking of this, she realized that Qiu Mengmin got her peerage back so easily. According to the news she heard, except that Empress Jiang labelled Madame Lu as “killing herself in shame”, she hardly fought against Empress Dowager Gu…. This was really not the style of the Empress who provoked the fight in the palace.

“Did anything that happened in palace chambers or in the Jiang Family distract the Empress at that time?” Qiu Yelan presumed while ordering the servants to furnish the General’s Mansion and sending Chunran and Xiaran to prepare for the reception of a steady stream of guests.

The current rule was that the billboard would be published two days after the imperial exam and those who passed it would be invited to dine with the Emperor the next day. But Ruan Qingyan could not be able to return to the Mansion after the billboard had been published. The reason was that he would be invited to some banquets by his fellows or people like Ling Zui to bond with him.

Only those who couldn’t attend the banquet would send their congratulation cards and gifts to the General’s Mansion.

Yet the reason was that everyone knew General Ruan was too ill to attend to business, otherwise there would definitely have been someone who came to the Mansion to validate their existence.

As a cousin, Qiu Yelan could not appear as the mistress of the Ruan Family. So she told Ruan An and the others to receive gifts but not guests. Even so, they still had to bring in quite a lot of presents.

Seeing this, Su He couldn’t help clicking her tongue, “I wonder when we can finish sending return presents….”

“It’s time to buy more servants.” Qiu Yelan, who was sorting the greeting cards, sighed genuinely, “Now it’s nothing like before. If there are still no newcomers, then the servants here will definitely not be enough.”

For fear that Ruan Qingyan might have been out of favor with the Jiang Family, Qiu Yelan excused herself earlier at the time at which she estimated Ruan Qingyan would return after the banquet. Ruan An proposed to keep her, “Young Master just said this morning that he hadn’t seen you for days. So please do stay a little bit longer and wait for him to return to talk to you.”

Qiu Yelan dismissed the crowd and whispered to Ruan An about the Jiang Family’s intention of choosing a son-in-law, “Not to mention that I have already had a marriage contract with Deng Yi, even if I don’t, I have already been a girl of thirteen, OK? I could still say that my uncle and aunt didn’t treat me well during the short period I lived here before. I don’t have other relatives and I can only seek protection from my cousin. Now, if I make outsiders feel that I have it off with my cousin, won’t it ruin my cousin’s future?”

Hearing her words, Ruan An also felt that it made sense, “But now you are in the Prince’s Mansion all by yourself, do you….”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make myself at home and I enjoy my life now.” Qiu Yelan consoled him, “Don’t tell my cousin what I’ve just said to you in case he might feel bad. In fact, my cousin has always been very nice to me. If without him, how could I own what I have today? So I can’t harm him whatsoever.”

Ruan An replied, moaning and groaning, “Madame and some other madams have gone too early, otherwise…”

“By the time my cousin gets married and I have a sister-in-law, won’t it be proper for me to come over often then?” Qiu Yelan reminded, “Speaking of which, please keep an eye on my cousin when you are free. Don’t let others lure him into fooling around with some bitches like Hua Shenshen or Hua Qianqian. If someone in the Jiang Family senses it, the Jiang Family will certainly intervene on behalf of their daughter. I saw the daughter of the Jiang Family in person the other day. She is really beautiful and good-tempered. Such a talent wouldn’t be worrying about finding a good husband even if she were not the daughter of the Jiang Family. Though my cousin is a good person, yet not a single girl doesn’t hope that her future husband only has eyes on her. As for those bitches in brothels, please ask him to stay away from them as possibly as he can! Never lose the main goal because of small gains!”

Ruan An said hastily, “Don’t worry. The reason that our young master hooked up with them was that he had no alternatives…. Now our young master won an official rank, so he doesn’t have to play up to others too much in the future.”

Qiu Yelan nodded, “I see, off I go then.”

Yet when he returned to the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe, she found that there was a gift lying in her yard. Then she asked who delivered it here.

Xiaran, who stayed behind, replied, “It was from the Young Master Qiu Hongzhi and he meant to congratulate the young master.” She and Chunran had been officially given away to Qiu Yelan and since then they had called Ruan Qingyan the same as Su He.

“That’s weird. If he really wants to congratulate my cousin, then he should send it to the General’s Mansion. Why did he send it here? Am I required to run errands for him?” Qiu Yelan grumbled, walking into the room.

Xia Ran followed behind her, replying smilingly, “No, no, no. The Young Master’s share had already been sent to the General’s Mansion. Young Master Qiu Hongzhi said that you should also be honored as the young master succeeded in the imperial exam, so he also sent you a share.”

“Tut-tut! Check the gifts to see if there is anything dangerous. If there isn’t any, put them in the depot.” Qiu Yelan didn’t buy any of that nonsense. She wondered whether it could be that Qiu Hongzhi wanted to follow Qiu Mingzhu’s example and take advantage of her to shift or interfere with Princess Yang’s focus or not.

She felt her heart was burning, “Who does he think I am? Does he assume that he can use me at his will?!” One should always be the master of his or her own destiny, OK?

But there was no need for her to do it instantly, as she had two important matters to deal with at the moment.

Tomorrow was the day on which she would invite Shao Yuemei over to be an assistant to the general.

Originally, Qiu Yelan only supervised the repairing and furnishing of Gui Xue and Mr. Shao’s residence. After all, Shao Yuemei just lived next door and it was inappropriate for her to call on her in person as she was still mourning for her mother. She could just send some servants like Su He to pick her up by then. As for the ceremony of starting school and accepting students, young lady He had already guaranteed that she would make arrangements for them.

Besides this, what she needed to do now was something Su He reminded her in the General’s Mansion — to add more servants!

Now the only assistants at her side apart from Mrs. Zhou, Su He and the Qu Family were the two personal maids Chunran and Xiaran given by Ruan Qingyan and several cheap coolies.

They were capable enough to serve her. But if she let them do something else that they didn’t always do, they would be at the end of their rope.

Especially two days ago, they even startled Princess Chunfu when guarding the Mansion. So who knew whether Princess Chunfu would be here again or not when Qiu Yelan brought Shao Yuemei here tomorrow?

No matter how simple a ceremony was, it was a ceremony after all. Qiu Yelan supposed that she would definitely urge He Shuijin and the others to have a meal, so the number of the men that would be serving them was…

Not to mention other errands, she didn’t even have enough servants to serve the dishes!

“After all the time of scheming against each other, the plan of adding people actually dragged on till today!” Qiu Yelan let out a sigh helplessly, “My cousin will definitely be terribly busy, so I had better not rely on him to cook anything up for me. Anyway, as for those servants that I bought, I have their indentures. So they can never raise hell!”

She immediately told Xiaran to take notes and find a reliable middleman to buy some servants five or six days later. “Hush it up, don’t breathe a word to anyone about it in case that someone with ulterior motives may know it and get us some spies.”

She planned to buy some servants on her own while Qiu Hongzhi dispatched someone to ask her if she was short of hands, “Young Master Qiu Hongzhi heard that Your Grace had invited a female teacher yourself and would like to set up a girl’s school at home. He wondered whether Your Grace needed some extra servants to serve guests.”

“No need.” Qiu Yelan spurned his offer, “The servants here should be enough. If there are too many guests, I’ll let them work harder at best.”

Qiu Hongzhi, along with Qiu Mengmin, was on the Empress Dowager’s side.

And no matter whether Princess Chunfu kept the appointment tomorrow or not, Shao Yuemei and He Shuijin were still diehard supporters of the Empress. How could Qiu Yelan let Qiu Hongzhi have a hand in this?

As a result, not only Qiu Hongzhi, but Princess Yang almost simultaneously dispatched someone to ask her, “It’s said that Princess Chunfu will call at here tomorrow, do you have enough servants to serve the princess….”

“Princess Chunfu has once come here and at that time she came straight into my yard without being unsatisfied.” Qiu Yelan replied sharply, “Why can’t I serve her well this time? Besides, the princess doesn’t look like a person who likes making a fuss. Please ask my aunt to focus on recuperating and not be worried in case that her illness may be aggravated!”

When the words fell on Princess Yang’s ears, she was so angry that she punched the bed for such a while. Then she reproached, “What an ingrate! I really should have watched Qiu Yuqing beat her to death!”

Xiuyan proposed cautiously, “Actually, I suppose that a chance may come up as the fifth Commandery Princess has invited the female teacher over.”

Princess Yang replied in puzzlement, “What? Why?”

“Didn’t the fifth Commandery Princess invite over that female teacher for the reason that young lady He come around to recommend?” This was not a secret. When Qiu Yelan intended to tear down the wall and annex the nearby house, all members of the Prince’s Mansion of Xihe heard about it.

Xiuyan continued, “She is also the teacher of Princess Chunfu! But the fifth Commandery Princess had her come and built such a large girl’s school only to make the teacher teach her. So what about the fourth young lady and our sixth Commandery Princess?”

Princess Yang frowned, “You mean you want Jinzhu to attend her girl’s school too? No way! You’ve already seen how sophisticated and crafty she was. Though Jinzhu and Yinzhi were her born cousins, yet did she show mercy to them? Jinzhu is so little! If she goes there, she will surely be bullied every single second!”

With this, Princess Yang’s hate grew stronger, “If she had just joined herself to the Empress, then that would have been fine. Yet now she brought in the person who was recommended by the tigress filled with the stink of money! After passing through a long time, I have no idea whether the Empress Dowager will…”

“How could I risk our six Commandery Princess?” Seeing her muttering, Xiuyan hastily explained herself, “Our sixth Commandery Princess is still a little girl and you have been ill, so as your own daughter, the sixth Commandery Princess will surely be at your side and serve you. However, as for the sixth young lady, she can attend it!”

Princess Yang’s eyes lit up, “That’s right! Qiu Mingzhu, a cheap maid, is such a piece of ass. She actually went to find that little b*tch whimsically….. Fortunately, that little b*tch was too weak to harbour her or help her out of the Mansion. Otherwise, if the Prince had returned in time….” She snorted slightly, “Qiu Mingzhu was carefree and not to mention how aggressive and domineering the little b*tch was! Just let the sisters learn something together…. Let’s wait and see how they will be getting along!”

Xiuyan echoed smilingly, “Mr. Shao was invited by the fifth Commandery Princess. So can the fifth Commandery Princess, who has a bad temper, have the fourth young lady attending the class with her? Besides, the fourth young master was not a coward. Thus they will surely get into a fight!”

She muttered, “But I fear that the fifth Commandery Princess won’t accept her right from the beginning!”

“There has never been such a thing that a female teacher is invited to teach only one student.” Princess Yang sneered, “If the little b*tch dares to oppose it, I’ll go to the palace to consult the Empress Dowager about how to discipline such a selfish niece who showed no respect to her aunt or cousin!”