Chapter 82 Alone in a Room

So, on April 9th, at Jiang Yadan’s request, Jiang Yashuang and he rode to Yunyi Restaurant in advance. They went in the private room “Binghu Xianyu” which was next to the private room “Baihe Woxue” booked by He Shuijin.

Because it was still early. They just asked the servant to make them some tea. They chatted casually while eating some of the special snacks of Yunyi Restaurant. Yunyi Restaurant was built by Mirror Lake. All the private rooms upstairs were near the window. So, the guests could enjoy the lake view.

That day was the first day of the Courtesan Competition which was held once three years. Yunyi Restaurant made all of its private rooms into luxury belvederes which had the most splendid view. So, while they were drinking tea, Jiang Yashuang suddenly saw someone unexpected among the people who got off the carriage. He couldn’t help making a sound.

Jiang Yadan had been watching him. He looked at the same direction as Jiang Yashuang and also noticed Qiu Yelan who wore a veiled hat. He asked deadpan on purpose, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Jiang Yashuang said vaguely. He knew his brother wasn’t reliable when it related to women. He felt if he talked to his brother about Qiu Yelan, his brother wouldn’t have anything nice to say. Besides, two men talking about an unrelated woman was inappropriate.

Jiang Yadan didn’t ask him again. He just let time pass by. Until Qiu Yelan went in “Baihe Woxue”, he asked Jiang Yashaung frowning, “You are not going out?”

Jiang Yashuang was confused, “Going out to do what?”

Do what? Your mistress… oh no. You watched the woman you liked going into the restaurant. However, you didn’t find an excuse to go out and pretend to run into her. Even there were people around and it was inconvenient to say honey words, giving her a languishing look would be nice. Did you know how to seduce women or not?

Jiang Yadan’s face was gloomy. He felt his brother was absolutely useless.

I was ready to let you go out even if you made an excuse that you were worried about getting sunburn by the moon. But it turned out that you didn’t want to go out at all.

He was so frustrated. However, Jiang Yashuang continued, “Is someone you invited coming? So, you want me to go out? Aunt went through a lot of trouble to smooth the thing you caused in the Palace over. Don’t cause any more trouble! Beware of aunt knowing….”

“No one is coming.” Jiang Yadan interrupted grinding his teeth, “I haven’t invited anyone today!”

Jiang Yashuang nodded, “Since we are here to take care of our sisters, it’s better we don’t invite others.”

I was here for you! You idiot!

Jiang Yadan frowned for a while. He had an idea suddenly and then said to Jiang Yashuang, “You stay here. I thought of something and I need to go down there for a while.”

“Yadan, just be honest. Who exactly did you invite today?” Jiang Yashuang found him suspicious, “It won’t be the concubine of Zhang Family again, will it?”

“No!” Jiang Yadan said angrily. Before he could say another word, Jiang Yashuang asked again, “Then it’s the widow of Zhao Family?”

“How is it possible?”

“Young Lady of Xu Family?”

“No!”

“Madam of Liu Family?”

“I told you….”

“Two Madams of Yin Family? Bride of Xu Family? Young Lady of An Family? Or prostitutes?” Jiang Yashuang uttered all the women he knew who Jiang Yadan had seduced within one breath. Jiang Yadan was livid because of his question, “I said it was not like that. Why are you being so nagging? I’ll come back in a while!”

Jiang Yadan ignored him after he said all that and left determinedly.

Staring at his back, as if deep in thought, Jiang Yashuang instructed Jiang Tan, “Follow him. See if Yadan fools around with someone new!” although Empress Jiang was always very protective of her family, Jiang Yadan was too dissolute. He dipped his finger in the imperial harem again and again which brought shame on Empress Jiang again and again. Empress was nominally in charge of the imperial harem now after all.

Even Empress Jiang was busy jostling for the power of the court, and she let her trusted maid be in charge of the imperial harem, when things happened Empress would always be the one to be ashamed.

Jiang Yadan didn’t listen to him before and insisted on dating Fair Concubine. And Jiang Yadan was caught in the act by Empress Dowager Gu’s clique in the imperial garden a few days ago.

He was lucky that he was experienced in getting caught because he had a lot of affairs. Jiang Yadan saw that Empress Dowager’s clique was about to search behind the artificial hill. He knocked out Fair Concubine and threw her in the pond decidedly. And he jumped in too. He claimed that he was rescuing her. He managed to find an excuse for their messy clothes and the hickey on Fair Concubine’s neck. He was lucky that he had a great aunt who quarreled with Empress Dowager Gu for him and refused to back down. That was how the tumult was subsided.

However, everyone knew the truth. So, Empress Jiang had to make a concession to Empress Dowager Gu. She didn’t just give Qiu Mengmin his Duke title back, she also had to call off series of attacks regarding Empress Dowager Gu disrespecting Empress Dowager Ye which they had already prepared.

Therefore, right after Empress Jiang negotiated with Empress Dowager Gu, she summoned Jiang Yadan and scolded him badly!

If it were not for Jiang Tianao and his wife who pleaded for Jiang Yadan, Marquess Qin would beat him up badly. It hadn’t been long since the tumult. Yadan wasn’t going to fool around again, was he?

Jiang Yashuang sighed inwardly.

He looked down at the more and more crowded people by the lake pensively.

After a while, he heard the door opened and then closed rapidly. He sensed that only one person came in and thought it was Jiang Tan. He pushed the teacup away and asked without looking back, “Who did Yadan go to see?”

“Oh!” to his surprise, before his voice had died away, the person who came in made a sound out of surprise.

Feeling that something was wrong, Jiang Yashuang turned around suddenly. He saw Qiu Yelan who wore a green coat and blue dress gawking at him.

Qiu Yelan was participating in a poetry gathering on that day. It was inappropriate to wear her mourning clothes. So, she dressed up a little. Although she didn’t put on makeup, she chose her outfit wisely. She combed her hair into two conch shaped chignons and pinned two white jade flower-shaped hairpins and a silver hairpin. Although her outfit was light-colored and she had no makeup on, she was still gorgeous enough to make the begonias outside look pale. Especially the lingering panic look in her eyes made people eager to protect her.

Jiang Yashuang couldn’t help standing up, “You?”

“I went into the wrong room. This is not Baihe Woxue!” Qiu Yelan bit her lips, “Sorry!”

“Is there something out there? Are you scared?” Jiang Yashuang observed her expression and asked in surprise. In his impression, she was fierce enough to be described as doughty. Could she be scared in this kind of broad daylight?

Qiu Yelan was so frustrated and said, “I don’t know which idiot brings mastiffs here! I also don’t know what got into those two mastiffs. They just keep chasing me…”

Jiang Yashuang was stunned, “Really?” then he found it odd, “I saw you arrived a long time ago. Have you been down there the whole time?”

“I did come up here!” Qiu Yelan said with an injured tone, “But someone was looking for me down there. So, I went down. There were too many people down there. Su He and I were separated by the crowds. I wanted to come back up and see if Su He came back. But just when I came back up, two mastiffs which were taller than me pounced on me. I thought this room was Baihe Woxue! So, I opened the door in a hurry and went in!”

Actually, she wasn’t so scared for those two mastiffs. Because she had killed way too many strange creatures in the last phase. She could feel that those two mastiffs weren’t meant to kill. The problem was that she was a delicate Commandery Princess now, not the killer in the last phase.

Moreover, she had a glorious and grand mission on that day. That was to make Ruan Qingyan who got involved in the Courtesan Competition look like a loyal husband. In order to achieve that aim, getting Jiang Qizheng and others to trust her was necessary. She had got it all figured out. She would rush back to the private room using the mastiffs as an excuse and throw herself into Jiang Qizheng’s arm to seek comfort.

And then the loving big sister and future wife of her cousin would stand up for the delicate little sister and future sister-in-law. No matter how the thing went, they would become closer. The future wife of her cousin surely would trust her more. What a harmonious and loving script.

She was grateful of those two mastiffs and their owner. She had put on the scared and panic look when she rushed into the room. However, who could tell her why she went into the wrong room?

She was lucky that Jiang Yashuang sat at the farthest from the door. Otherwise, her throwing herself into his arm would make this decent young man cry for help. Then Jiang Qizheng and others would have come here after heard the noise and seen her molesting their brother. Cousin Ruan’s future would be ruined by her.

Jiang Yashuang’s delighted voice interrupted her train of thought, “The private rooms of Yunyi Restaurant look the same from the outside. Only their names are different. It’s normal that you made a mistake since you come here for the first time.” then suggested, “Let me walk you out. I suppose no one dares to let their dogs run wild here. It might be the servant who takes care of the dogs neglected and let them run out by mistake.”

Qiu Yelan said gratefully, “Thank you so much.” in order to prove herself to be a delicate Commandery Princess instead of a tough woman, she moved away from the door deliberately and let Jiang Yashuang open the door.

However…

Jiang Yashuang went to the door. Tried once, couldn’t open. Tried again, still couldn’t open.

Seeing this, Qiu Yelan declared in a hurry, “I just closed it casually! It’s not me who broke it!”

“The door isn’t broken.” after Jiang Yashuang pushed against the door and knocked for a few times, his face went dark rapidly, “Someone locked the door from outside.”

“What?” Qiu Yelan was surprised!

“We may be implicated by Yadan,” Jiang Yashuang knew that Qiu Yelan heard a little about what Jiang Yadan was like in Ganli Palace last time. So, he didn’t deny, “I was here with Yadan just now. He went out a while ago. I was worried and sent Jiang Tan after him… I assume that it’s meant for him. And we just happen to be here.”

Qiu Yelan realized what he meant which was that someone wanted to catch Jiang Yadan in the act, but they locked her and Jiang Yashuang here by mistake. She looked terrible all the sudden, “What should we do now?”

Jiang Yashuang also looked terrible, “This door is very solid. I can cut it open with my sword. But it will make a huge sound. We can jump out of the window at ordinary times. But today….” there were way too many people down there. If they jumped, they wouldn’t be able to land on the ground.

As for both sides of the private room, there were walls thick enough to obstruct sound.

Those two who had nowhere to go looked at each other and didn’t know what to say!

Meanwhile, outside the door, Jiang Yadan was talking to Ling Zui’s servant, “Thank Cousin Ling for me.”

“Eighth Young Master Jiang, you are welcome. My master said just two mastiffs, you could use as you please.” the servant who took care of the mastiffs for Ling Zui said with a smile.

“Okay. They won’t be needed anymore. Take them away… Remember, nothing has happened today!” Jiang Yadan nodded slightly and instructed.

The servant’s look became serious. He swore that he wouldn’t say a word. After sent the servant away, Jiang Yadan glanced at the doors of the two private rooms. He said frowning, “Idiots! Why haven’t they changed the names of the private rooms? If someone sees this and tells Yashuang about it, considering how smart he is, he will definitely figure it out!”

Jiang Tan who got pinned down by Jiang Yadan’s men begged in a low voice with a grimace, “Young Master Yadan, Young Master Yashuang is really not interested in Commandery Princess Ningyi. You are putting him on the spot.”

“I tried every means to let him be with a beautiful girl alone. How am I putting him on the spot?” Jiang Yadan objected, “Even if he wasn’t interested in that little Commandery Princess… It’s not too late to be interested in her now!” then he ignored Jiang Tan and asked his men to drag him to another private room which he had already booked. He thought complacently, “Let’s see how grandfather and aunt accuse me of being dissolute by using Yashuang’s abstinence as a counter-example from now on!”