Real Empress from a Noble Family

Chapter 464 Unexpected Concubinage

It was easy for Jiang Yashuang to arrange for Jiang Jingmu and Jiang Jingman to enter the clan school. He did not even need to go there in person. But in the end, he was their uncle rather than their father. He had to talk to Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan.

However, after three or two more days, there was still no sign of the two cousins. Jiang Yashuang sent someone to “Spring House” to poke around, only to learn that Jiang Yadan and the other two brothers went on a journey together with prostitutes. They went to a village near Jing City and did not give the date of returning to Jing City when leaving.

Jiang Yashuang was speechless. So, he had to personally go and find his two sisters-in-law, Madame Ho and Madame Jin, to discuss.

Madame Ho had no problem with it, “My nineteenth brother, thank you very much indeed for your trouble! You think about Jingmu like this in the midst of your busy schedule. It really makes my heart uneasy…” After a few polite words, she told Jiang Jingmu that he must respect his uncle and listen to him well.

Afterwards the subordinates reminded Madame Ho that Jiang Yashuang was probably not willing to accept his nephew as a student. And now after a few times of teaching his nephews, he suggested that his nephews should go to the clan school. Could it be that he decided to push his nephews to the clan school and leave them there? Madame Ho didn’t think so, “Do you think the Jiang Family’s clan school in Jing City is the same as the one in Kui County? In Kui County, in addition to Jingmu and two or three of his brothers over there, there are sons of the gentries from near and far, who only fawn over them. It is so seedy there so that it is the same whether they go or not!”

“Although I do not come from a noble family and I am of limited horizons, I have been given advice by my father before this journey. In the Jiang Family’s clan school in Jing City, besides the cousins of Jingmu, those who are not named Jiang are also mostly from high-ranking officials and nobles! Even if he cannot make progress in his study in the clan school, it’s good to get familiar with these people!”

Madame Ho also instructed, “From today onwards, double the monthly money for Jingmu. And teach him to treat guests when you have time so that he can make friends with fellow students earlier. As such, in the future, no matter how well he does in study, there are more ways to do things, right?”

Compared with Madame Ho’s alacrity, Madame Jin’s attitude was thought-provoking. Before Jiang Yashuang finished his words, she took out her handkerchief and started whimpering, “My husband and I only have two sons. Jingzhan has died. And now only Jingman is left with us! I really can’t feel assured if he is out of my sight!”

Jiang Yashuang said quickly, “My fifth sister-in-law, although the clan school is not in Marquess’s Mansion, it’s only a street away from there. Besides, when our children go to the clan school, there are guards escorting them! Nothing ever goes wrong!”

“Did anything happen to Jingzhan before? But… But all of a sudden, he died!” Madame Jin sniveled, but she was quite firm on that, “So, I don’t want Jingman to leave me. I’d rather let him be mediocre for the rest of his life. It’s better than asking us to bury our son once again!”

Anyway, no matter how Jiang Yashuang spoke, she just did not agree with Jiang Jingman to go to the clan school. She just wanted to have him be around and keep an eye on him every day!

Jiang Yashuang returned to his yard, extremely depressed. And he told Qiu Yelan, “I have even asked my fifth sister-in-law to go to the clan school to have a look. Our family has made countless enemies over the years. How can we not pay much attention to such an important place as our clan school? But my fifth sister-in-law didn’t buy it!”

“Perhaps she didn’t disbelieve you. I remember that Jiang Jingman and Jiang Jingzhan are from different mothers. The latter is the trueborn son and the former is given birth by a mistress.” Qiu Yelan smiled but secretly thought, “Originally a mistress’s son was hardly a threat to Madame Jin and her son. But now the trueborn son died while the mistress’s son survived. And her husband is always fooling around outside. Madame Jin is afraid that she is not very likely to give birth again at her age. If the mistress’s son can achieve something after study, it may not be easy for her to control him! That’s why she excused that she was worried about him and refused to send him to the clan school!”

But she was not familiar with Madame Jin. There was no need to mention what she guessed in her heart to Jiang Yashuang. If she was wrong, wouldn’t she make Madame Jin into trouble? Even if she was right, Qiu Yelan didn’t intend to needlessly make herself any enemies.

“Perhaps it was because that Jingzhan’s lamentable death stimulated her, wasn’t it?” At this moment, Qiu Yelan answered, putting him off, “Because of that, Jingzhan’s wife also died, right?”

“I’ll have someone go to the village and invite my fifth brother back to talk about it. For Jingman’s age, it is not good to delay him anymore. I see that he doesn’t have a solid foundation in study. If he still studied in fits and starts, he would hardly achieve something in imperial examinations in his whole life!”

Jiang Yashuang rubbed his eyebrows. And his face didn’t look good, “Honestly, my eighth brother has been playing around. It’s okay. But why drag my fourth brother and fifth brother into it? It has only been a year since my great grand uncle died. Although my fourth brother and fifth brother have already finished their mourning, their parents are still in mourning. So, it’s really unbecoming for them to hang out like this!”

Qiu Yelan smiled, “If your fourth brother and fifth brother did not like it, your eighth brother would not be able to drag them into it! It’s not completely your eighth brother’s fault.”

“You are right!” After being reminded by his wife, Jiang Yashuang remembered that the biggest concern of Marquess’s Mansion was that the second branch and the fifth branch would waste their money and take a share of the court after they came to Jing City. It was costly to have Jiang Yadan take Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan to indulge in beauty. But if the two were lost in Jing City, the place of temptation, they would not be able to get in the court.

It was actually a good thing for the fourth branch, who did not value the estate of Marquess’s Mansion very much but valued the court more.

At that moment, Jiang Yashuang no longer complained about Jiang Yadan. He called his young servant Jiang Lin and told him, “You must bring back a definite answer of my fifth brother. And then I can arrange Jingman to enter the clan school, so as not to make him only count on my teaching and neglect his study!”

Jiang Lin was Jiang Tan’s cousin. The two were both sons of the Jiang Family’s servants. Last year, Jiang Tan got married and was assigned to go out of the house to be a steward. Since that, Jiang Yashuang ordered the 12-year-old guy Jiang Lin to replace him. With his cousin’s words and guidance, Jiang Lin knew Jiang Yashuang’s preferences very well. So, he was quick to take over the job.

It was believed that this time he would bring back a reply from Jiang Yawan soon. But it turned out that there was no message for three to five days. Jiang Yashuang was inconvenienced and displeased, “What’s going on? Did something happen? Or did he get confused and delayed?”

While Jiang Yashuang was wondering, the servants reported that Jiang Yadan had returned together with Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan. Jiang Lin was back with them.

After hearing that, Jiang Yashuang went to see his three brothers first. He asked them whether the trip was enjoyable. And soon he mentioned the matter of the clan school. Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan were quick to say, “Brother Yashuang, you are professional in study. It’s all up to you to decide!”

So, it was settled. Jiang Yashuang took Jiang Lin back to the yard and naturally asked him about the reason why he delayed.

“When I arrived at the village, the eighth young master said they were going to come back anyway and asked me to return with them.” Jiang Lin said cautiously as he could see that Jiang Yashuang was unhappy.

With that, Jiang Yashuang said no more and waved to let him go.

However, after two days, Jiang Yashuang instructed the steward of the front yard to arrange a job for Jiang Lin in the outside store and re-pick a young servant, who was renamed Jiang Shan, to replace Jiang Lin.

Jiang Lin, no matter how ignorant he was, knew that he had angered Jiang Yashuang. He did not dare to go to his master to pester him and so he went to Jiang Tan to weep and tell him his grievances. “How extremely stupid you are!” Jiang Tan was so angry that he gave him a kick, “Are you the nineteenth young master’s servant or the eighth young master’s servant? The nineteenth young master told you to ask the fifth master for a reply and go back to report. But when the eighth master asked you to stay, you stayed, didn’t you? You are so stupid. How can the nineteenth young master still keep you around? Fortunately, the nineteenth young master is such a nice man that he got you to do another job! If it were another young master, you would have been beaten and kicked out!”

Jiang Lin sobbed, “But the eighth young master is the brother of the nineteenth young master. As he said…”

“This is not a question of how the relationship between the eighth young master and the nineteenth young master is!” Jiang Tan was speechless, “You only thought about daring not to refuse the eighth young master. However, you did not think that the nineteenth young master only sent you to go to the village to get a reply. As long as you did not go back, the nineteenth young master would keep waiting for your news, right? Fortunately, it was not a very urgent thing this time. Otherwise, could you afford to delay the big event!”

It was only then that Jiang Lin understood. He asked sadly, “Now I know I’m wrong. Do I still have a chance to go back to be around the nineteenth young master?”

“You’d better do the job the nineteenth young master has arranged for you!” Jiang Tan shook his head. Since Jiang Shan had gone to work, how could Jiang Lin still have a chance? Jiang Lin only had himself to blame for being so stupid.

“It’s all the fault of the eighth young master! If he hadn’t said something to keep me, how could I have not come back in time to report to the nineteenth young master?” While Jiang Lin was greatly disappointed, he relocated his anger to Jiang Yadan. Of course, he didn’t dare to do anything to Jiang Yadan. He just hated him in his heart.

What happened to Jiang Lin meant nothing to masters. As Jiang Lin was sent out, the masters completely forgot about him within a few days.

After all, there were a lot of people and things to worry about in the big family.

For example, when the thing that Jiang Jingmu and Jiang Jingman were going to join the clan school had just settled, Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan revealed two decisions that they wanted to take mistresses, which made the entire Jiang Family, especially the fourth branch’s Jiang Yashuang and his wife, vomit blood.

Their taking mistress was not the point. The point was that one of the two intended to take Hua Shenshen of “Spring House” as his mistress and the other intended to take Penglai Yue of “Jinpa Pavilion” as his mistress!

“Is it coincidental or intentional?” When Qiu Yelan learned the news, she was so shocked that she came back to her senses after a long time, “Besides, last time, your eighth brother invited them out… Didn’t they say that they first went to the ‘Spring House’ and then decided to have a journey and took someone from ‘Spring House’? Why Penglai Yue is involved?”

“It is said that my fourth brother and my fifth brother found Hua Shenshen very pretty at first sight. And they almost fought for her. To round up, my eighth brother said that there was a beauty Penglai Yue in Jing City, who had been a rival for Hua Shenshen.” Jiang Yashuang looked angry as well, “So, he invited Penglai Yue from the ‘Jinpa Pavilion’. My fourth brother and fifth brother didn’t stop until they each have one!”

Qiu Yelan now simply did not know what to say.

After calming down, she said, “I remember, there is a rule in our family that a woman who is not from a decent family cannot be a mistress, isn’t it?”

“We can’t disturb grandfather over such a small matter, can we?” Jiang Yashuang smiled bitterly, “My eldest uncle and others have no intention of dealing with it. We are their peers. It is inappropriate for us to say something.”

Marquess Qin had been lying on his sickbed for more than a year. It was so hard that he began to recover. No one in Marquess’s Mansion would agree to bother him with such trivial matters as the concubinage of his great grandchildren at this juncture.

Now the elders said nothing. It would be awkward if Jiang Yashuang as the cousin went to persuade. Qiu Yelan rubbed his forehead. Hua Shenshen and Penglai Yue failed to enter the yard of Qiu Jinglan but now they were going to be taken into the Jiang Family together. Qiu Yelan felt that they were coming for her. And in fact, they were coming for her brother Qiu Jinglan.

So, she said, “It is not good to persuade them not to accept the famous prostitutes into our family. But there are stories between them and my brother. I think it is better to explain, or… I’m afraid that they will then hate my brother and make something trouble!”

Jiang Yashuang thought for a while, “I’ll talk to my eighth brother later and ask him to tell my fourth brother and fifth brother.”

After these days of playing around, Jiang Yadan had been close with Jiang Yazhao and Jiang Yawan. Having him to say it was the most suitable. Moreover, Jiang Yashuang had been a decent man. With his character, if he was asked to tell his two cousins that the mistresses they were going to take had an affair with his brother-in-law. They once cried out to be with his brother-in-law. But unfortunately, his brother-in-law’s wife didn’t agree… He was really a bit clueless to speak.