Published at 19th of February 2022 6:00 am

Chapter 457 Ace in the Hole

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“Is Hong Shan pregnant?” Jiang Tianqi had a showdown with his nephew to deal with the situation after the pillar of the family fell. Madame Zhuang, who was waiting for her son in the fourth branch, had a pale face, “Are you sure?”

“Because she hasn’t been pregnant for a long time, the doctor doesn’t dare to confirm it, but he also says that she may well be pregnant.” The servant sent by Madame Wen said cautiously, “Madame let me come here to ask you… What if Hong Shan is really pregnant?”

Qiu Yelan, who was also waiting for her husband, had a twitch at the corner of her mouth, thinking that fortunately Chu Yitong had just been sent back to the yard by Madame Zhuang. Otherwise, she would be so annoyed.

But Madame Zhuang was just as annoyed as her eldest daughter-in-law. After rubbing her forehead for a long while, she said lukewarmly, “What about Hong Shan herself? Would she like to be with Dan’er or would she like to marry another person in the future?”

That person thought for a while and said cautiously, “Madame, Hong Shan has always been honest and she has not spoken since the incident in April. Even if my Madame talked to her, she only cried without saying a word. Now… It’s even more difficult to know what she thinks about. My Madame thinks this matter involves the bloodline of the Jiang Family, so it’s better to let you know it.”

“Dan’er has a lot of children. My sister-in-law likes Hong Shan so much so she must want her to live a good life…” Madame Zhuang didn’t finish her words but she had already shown her thoughts. Jiang Yadan had no shortage of children, whether boys or girls. So, Madame Zhuang didn’t mind Madame Wen helping Hong Shan have an abortion and continuing the remedial plan which they had negotiated before.

That person heaved a sigh of relief, “Thank you for your advice, Madame. I’ll go back to tell it to my Madame now!”

In fact, Madame Zhuang’s attitude was clear even if nobody came to ask her. However, Hong Shan was carrying a baby of the Jiang Family, so how would the Zhuang Family dare to meddle in it and make the decision?

“How could this be?” Madame Zhuang sighed and said to Qiu Yelan, “Fortunately, Shuang’er is not as useless as Dan’er. Otherwise, I don’t know how to live a life then!”

Qiu Yelan agreed with what she said in her heart so much, but she couldn’t belittle her brother-in-law just as her mother-in-law, so she comforted her softly, “Mother, don’t be so upset. I think my eighth brother did that just because he drank so much that night.”

“I don’t think he will have a promising future for the rest of his life.” Madame Zhuang touched her temples in frustration and said lightly, “By the way, remember to remind me to send something to the Zhuang Family for that maid as compensation after two days! That maid is really pitiful. She was about to get married, but she just encountered Yadan who destroyed her life! In the future, when she leaves our family and gets married, we have to prepare a generous dowry for her!”

Madame Zhuang was always said to be vicious in Jing City, especially in the circle of nobles related to the Jiang Family. However, according to Qiu Yelan’s observation, other than hating concubines and being partial to the people she liked and somewhat domineering, she was actually quite easy-going.

Otherwise, no matter how much Madame Wen valued this maid named Hong Shan, she was just a servant after all. There were so many important things that the Jiang Family needed to worry about at the moment, but Madame Wen had sent people over and over again to discuss with Madame Zhuang for the sake of a maid of hers. After all, even if they didn’t tell Madame Zhuang about it and didn’t dare to kill the baby, they could cause an “accident”. A grumpy lady of the house would have already been annoyed if being disturbed like this in this eventful period!

For example, Madame He would definitely feel that there were too many things in her maiden family… Of course, this was also because Madame He was not good at handling affairs and she would be annoyed when there were many things to deal with…

Qiu Yelan murmured in her heart. After she said yes, someone outside reported that Jiang Yashuang was back.

Both of them breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that Jiang Yashuang was alright after he came in, they were finally relieved, and then they asked him what Jiang Tianqi talked to him about together.

Seeing that there were no outsiders here, Jiang Yashuang did not hide it and told them what Jiang Tianqi had just said. Madame Zhuang and Qiu Yelan both frowned after hearing it, “Will things really be as he says?”

“We just have a small number of people in our branch and our in-laws don’t have many offspring as well.” Jiang Yashuang nodded, “In the final analysis, we don’t have enough reliable helpers in the court. We are likely to fall into the situation of being alone and returning to the army if the first branch and the third branch collapse!”

The Jiang Family got the title “Half Regime Jiang” after Marquess Qin quit the army and entered the court. Before that, although Marquess Qin and Sir Jibei had made great achievements in the wars, they were not considered to be powerful ministers, let alone ministers who could hide the truth from the masses and make Emperor a puppet at this time. How could powerful ministers stay away from the court for so many years?

Therefore, in order to maintain the current status and power of the Jiang Family, they must seize the military power and reliable court allies.

But…

The Jiang Family didn’t have particularly reliable court allies at this time.

After all, although Empress Dowager Jiang, Jiang Tianao, Jiang Tianqi, and Jiang Tiancan, who were under the leadership of Marquess Qin, were of the same bloodline, they had been contending for power and profit all the time. For them, the fewer competitors, the better! They didn’t have enough profits even for their family, so how could they allow outsiders to get involved?

The only exception was Xue Chang, who was strong and had a deep foundation since he started to make his fortune from an early time, so he managed to secure a place in the situation where the Jiang Family was dominant.

Even the Duke of Huainan, who was the member of the royal clan, was barely qualified to squeeze into this rank recently because of the lack of representatives in the court for the fourth branch of the Jiang Family.

In other words, in terms of military power and the power in the court, the Jiang Family had a large number of people and they only used their own people.

But Kui Xiannan’s and Sir Jibei’s offspring had been in mourning, and once Marquess Qin died, the Jiang Family, who led both civil and military officers at this time, would have to hand all the power to others! They had never thought that there would be such an unfortunate moment. The offspring of three families had to resign in less than half a year and they were not prepared to train any outsiders at all. Something was bound to go wrong!

Madame Zhuang was so anxious, “And then what should we do? Should we let your father support the third branch and the fourth branch or let him be against Xue Chang and Chu Xiao?”

“This is just an emergency plan.” Jiang Yashuang shook his head, “Grandfather’s condition is fairly stable now…”

“It will be the best if your grandfather is alright.” Madame Zhuang said in a low voice, “But if something really happened, what should we do then? We can’t have an internal struggle and allow the outsiders to take advantage of it and drive our family out of the court. But you are also aware of the feud between the first branch and the third branch and our branch. How can the feud be eliminated since a son was killed? Even if they have no evidence, they are clear in their hearts. We may trap ourselves then!”

Madame Zhuang was not very concerned about Marquess Qin’s life and death at first. In her opinion, Marquess Qin would suppress her branch as long as he was alive. If he died, the first branch and the third branch would be like the meat on her own chopping block. Their good days would be over then!

But at this time, hearing the consequences that her son told her, she wanted her father-in-law to stay alive, at least for two years!

Although the relationship between the first branch and the sixth branch and them was not very good, with their existence in the court, the fourth branch would not be restricted by the people in the court to enter the court because their forces were almost in the army.

Immediately, she was extremely annoyed, “It’s annoying to measure the scale. If your father has to keep the filial piety, he will definitely be fighting in Beijiang, and you must go back to Kui County to observe mourning. It will be inconvenient to communicate since you are far away from each other…”

Jiang Yashuang sighed slightly and said, “Mother, you don’t need to worry. If I had not guessed what the third uncle would talk to me about before, I would not have agreed to go there!”

“Um?”

“Mother, the three years of mourning are just for your generation.” Jiang Yashuang said calmly, “For my generation, we just have to do that for one year. Although our Jiang Family has been growing and thriving only for decades, we have good luck and deep foundations in the whole country. Even if some important officials in the court intend to do something to us, how can they turn the world upside down in just one year?”

“But people of your generation haven’t grown up yet!” Madame Zhuang said, frowning, “Even the eldest Jiang Yayun, although he has been carefully trained by Jiang Tianao, is no match for Xue Chang. And Xue Chang has Cheng Jin, Ding Yiguang, and some others behind him. All of them have experienced the political struggle between the Empress and the Empress Dowager and have been in the court for many years, so how can they be easy to handle? I don’t think Jiang Yayun can threaten them!”

Speaking of this, she sighed secretly. If Jiang Yadan had not picked up bad habits since he was in his prime and been talented, the fourth branch would have had nothing to worry about then after he cooperated with Jiang Yashuang.

“We still have our fourth aunt!” Qiu Yelan, who had been listening to them, suddenly said.

Jiang Yashuang glanced at her approvingly, “Yes! It doesn’t matter whether our eldest brother is a match for the important officials or not. We still have our fourth aunt. Even if Emperor is not her biological son, she is his nominal mother. His Majesty doesn’t dare to disobey aunt’s words.”

So, after listening to Jiang Tianqi’s “honest” words just now, he directly pointed out that once the whole Jiang Family returned to the hometown to have a mourning time, the most important thing was to keep Empress Dowager Jiang safe during this period if the Jiang Family wanted to stage a comeback then.

After all, Empress Dowager could control Emperor in the name of “filial piety”, and she would have righteousness after controlling Emperor. It would be a good pawn in the future no matter to restore the Jiang Family or to control the officials.

Empress Dowager Gu also changed the Gu Family, which was originally just an ordinary official family, into a noble family with a mansion and a title of Duke in the name of helping her son handle affairs.

“… The third uncle promised to make a list of the spies arranged by the third branch in the Imperial Palace to our fourth aunt, and he would also help to persuade the first branch. After all, these people are now under the control of the first branch and the third branch. But once these two branches both go to Kui County thousands of miles away, some people may have some evil thoughts then! Even if not, they may be bewitched by others as well! Anyway, only let the reliable people stay with our fourth aunt!”

After Jiang Yashuang figured out the purpose of Jiang Tianqi’s invitation, he ignored Madame Zhuang’s obstruction and came to the third branch not to listen to Jiang Tianqi’s persuasion but to force him to hand over this list and pave the way for Empress Dowager Jiang to clean up the Palace. There would be no better opportunity to weaken the first branch and the third branch in the Palace anymore. Because of Jiang Tianjiao, Empress Dowager Jiang and Madame Tao had always been very dissatisfied with the first branch and the third branch. Even at this time, they didn’t show weakness to Empress Dowager. If Marquess Qin really died, with Empress Dowager Jiang, the fourth branch would have an ace in the hole and be able to hold on for three years.

In particular, the Northern Army was gaining the upper hand in Beijiang. In Jiang Tianqi’s opinion, his fourth brother would certainly take advantage of this opportunity to beat Beihu badly! After handing over the Northern Army to Jiang Yashuang, he would return to Jing City to be the next “Marquess Qin”!

In short, the fourth branch was holding good cards, owning routes of retreat in any situation. But the first branch and the third branch were not so lucky!

After listening to the ins and outs from Jiang Yashuang, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law let out a long sigh of relief, “You have to serve at night, so go to have a sleep now!”

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