After all, it was not Qiu Yelan’s duty to find out the regicide. She talked with Jiang Yashuang for a while and went to the third branch to help when it was the time. Before finding the criminal of poisoning the emperor, it was really inappropriate to take the account of “Qingfeng Ji” to find trouble with the Empress Dowager’s party.

But precautions averted perils. There would be a time when people used it. Anyway, finding out the king killer didn’t need the whole Jiang family.

Therefore, most of the daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law of the Jiang Family had to continue to do business in the first lunar month apart from visiting friends and relatives.

On the way to the third branch, Qiu Yelan couldn’t help complaining to her maids. She said, “I read the accounts everyday, and I feel like I’m going to throw up. I went to have a look yesterday, and there was still a room of accounts to check. When will it end?” It was true that this was boring. If it only needed a few days, it was OK. But Qiu Yelan had to come everyday for a long time, and she couldn’t lie that she was ill and call a sick leave. Therefore, it was painful.

Chunran joked and said, “If you vomited, you would be relieved.”

“I’d rather be sick.” Qiu Yelan was interrupted by Xiaran. Xiaran said, “Madame, Chunran doesn’t dare to say that you are ill. She wants to congratulate.”

Qiu Yelan stopped for a moment, and then she realized that Chunran meant that her vomit was pregnant vomit. She said, “If so, Sheng Shishui should be crazy.”

Sheng Shishui had to take care of both the pregnant Madame Tao Junior and the young Jiang Huihuan. When she got free, she had to help the third branch. She was so busy that she even hoped she could manage the magic of copying herself. If Qiu Yelan was pregnant and needed her to take care of, Sheng Shishui may not smile anymore. She was always smiling at others since she got married.

Chunran and Xiaran thought of the busy Sheng Shishui and laughed. They said, “Madame of Jiang Yazhu will be happy for you even if she is too busy.”

“Are you pregnant?” They heard a voice behind after the two maids laughed. She asked, “Am I lucky enough to share your fortune?”

Qiu Yelan and her maids stopped and turned around. Qiu Yelan greeted, “Sister.”

It was Madame Zhuang Junior, the madame of Jiang Yahong. She was on the way to help the third branch, and they met by accident.

Because of Zhuang Man, Madame Zhuang Junior was always close to Qiu Yelan among daughters-in-law of the first branch. She took her arm and said she was too polite, “We are in the same home and we see each other several times a day. Why are you so polite?”

Qiu Yelan stood straight when she took her arm and said with a smile, “What a coincidence. We meet here. If you didn’t speak, I wouldn’t know you were behind me. I am sorry.”

“I told you not to be polite like this. If you say that again, I’ll be angry.” Madame Zhuang Junior asked curiously, “I heard that you said Jiang Yazhu will be happy for you. What for?”

Qiu Yelan was a little embarrassed and said, “Nothing. Chunran and Xiaran were joking.”

“Oh, what did they say?” Madame Zhuang Junior saw from their faces that it was no big deal, so she asked more, “Would you mind telling me?”

Qiu Yelan was not as familiar with her as Zhuang Man. If it were Zhuang Man, she would say that I didn’t want to tell you, and they would play for a while. No one would be angry. But Qiu Yelan was polite to Madame Zhuang Junior. If she said something like this, it would be weird.

So she had to say, “Chunran was joking on me that I was pregnant. Although Sheng Shishui is busy now, she will be happy for me if she knows. If you didn’t speak, I might beat her.”

She said and stared at Chunran, and Chunran made a face to her.

Madame Zhuang Junior laughed and said, “She was right. Although Sheng Shishui is busy, she will be happy if you are pregnant. Not only her but the whole family will also be happy for you. Are you…?” She looked at her lower abdomen when she talked.

Qiu Yelan was embarrassed and said, “She was joking. I am not pregnant.”

“Maybe she was right.” Madame Zhuang Junior thought that it had been a year since Qiu Yelan got married. She was not pregnant. Although Jiang Yashuang didn’t blame her and people talked about the emperor’s poisoning recently, Madame Tao wouldn’t forget the issue of her grandchildren. When she noticed that Qiu Yelan knew nothing about what might happen and laughed happily, she thought of the experience of herself after she got married. She was sad. She reminded Qiu Yelan in a low voice, “Now it’s time to visit relatives in the first lunar month. If you have a problem, go to your cousin Ruan’s house. Let her invite a doctor and give you a diagnosis secretly.”

Qiu Yelan stopped for a while and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you understand?” Madame Zhuang Junior sighed and pointed at Qiu Yelan’s lower abdomen. She said with a meaningful expression, “This will be easy for Jiang Yashuang. Like Sheng Shishui, even you are pregnant at first and then get married, it’s your own baby.”

She emphasized “your own” on purpose. And her intention was clear.

Qiu Yelan didn’t expect that she had not been pregnant after a year of married life, and her sister-in-law reminded her to go to the doctor for examination. She was speechless. However, Madame Zhuang Junior meant no harm, and she couldn’t say much. So she had to pretend to be shy to stop this topic.

Soon, they arrived. They stepped in. A maid had been waiting to convey the words of He Shuijin, “This is what you esteemed madames were asked to do this afternoon.”

Looking at the account books that had been put on the case, they looked at each other, and sighed, “Let’s begin.”

After these days, He Shuijin already knew the efficiency of everyone. The assigned tasks were not too many or too few. They could leave by the time it got dark.

People finished their work almost at the same time, which showed the calculation ability of He Shuijin.

The servant of the third branch had taken hot tea and snacks to serve them.

Due to the accident of the Dou Family, Madame Dou and Madame Dou Junior forced their way into the palace to beg for mercy at the Lunar New Year’s Eve banquet. But they had no chance to speak because of the emperor’s poisoning. At present, the emperor’s poisoning was not solved. Even if Empress Jiang was willing to promise them, she certainly had no time to deal with it. But in the past few days, some members of the Dou Family were beautiful and provocative. Even if they were not so beautiful, the title of family members of Chief, the relatives of Half Regime Jiang, and the nieces and nephews of the Deputy Premier the country could make many people willingly exchange a lot of money for a night.

The Empress’s party didn’t dare to get involved, and either did the neutral party. However, Empress Dowager’s party was not afraid. Many people went there to enjoy the first lunar month during the vacation and then talked about this.

After the aunt and the nephew knew about it, they were greatly hurt. On the second day of the first month, when they went back to their mother’s home, they both fell ill.

They were the ladies of the house and elder sisters-in-law of the first branch. Even if their mother’s family was gone and they had children, others didn’t dare to look down upon them. Therefore, the second madame, Lu, stayed in the first branch to serve the ill, and the only one who could go out to the third branch was Madame Zhuang Junior.

Because of the chat on the road when they came here before, the relationship between Madame Zhuang Junior and Qiu Yelan was a little closer. At this moment, Sheng Shishui went back to see her daughter earlier, and she asked her maid to take some tea to Qiu Yelan, “After eating, I’ll go back. It’s cold and far away. Thanks to the care of He Shuijin, so we can warm up before we go. Otherwise, I can’t stand it on the road. What about you?”

Because the first branch was not the son of Marquess Qin, they didn’t live in the same yard. It was actually mainly because that the relation between Jiang Tianao and Jiang Tianqi was so bad that they couldn’t bear each other. They quarreled a lot when they lived together. Marquess Qin was annoyed, so he separated them to avoid a quarrel.

The third branch, fourth branch, and eighth branch were next to each other. It was more convenient and faster for them to communicate than the first branch.

Qiu Yelan swallowed a small tea snack and said, “I will go, too. I went to see He Shuijin because I was worried about her. But I just asked them and was told that she is in a good mood today, and Jiang Yaheng is in the room with her. I don’t want to disturb them.”

These two people laughed. Mi Yinyin, who was chatting with Madame Zhang, looked at them curiously for a while. Seeing that they didn’t mean to greet, she didn’t pay any attention and continued to talk with Madame Zhang.

Madame Zhuang Junior was aware of Mi Yinyin’s gaze and told Qiu Yelan with a smile, “What does she want me to do? If she is alone, it’s all right, but Madame Zhang is there. Does she want me to talk to them?”

The relationship between the first branch and the third branch was so bad. If Madame Zhuang Junior talked with Madame Zhang, Madame Zhang would ignore her. And if her mother-in-law and father-in-law knew that, they would be unhappy. The Dou Family just had an accident. Maybe Jiang Tianao and Madame Dou even suspected that she thought the first branch had lost a close relative by marriage, and the first branch was not as good as the third branch, so she flattered the third branch.

Qiu Yelan knew clear about these things. She just smiled and said, “The two of them are talking noisily. Why should we disturb them?”

“Exactly.” Madame Zhuang Junior mocked herself and said, “It’s lucky that you’re here, or I’ll be bored after I finish everything everyday.”

He Shuijin was ill, and she basically lay in the inner room. Sheng Shishui was so busy that she had no time to stay in the third branch for the tea. Mi Yinyin had always had a good relationship with Madame Zhang. At present, the only one who could accompany her here was Qiu Yelan.

However, Qiu Yelan didn’t feel that Madame Zhuang Junior was so miserable. She didn’t come here two days ago. She was drinking tea and eating snacks alone. After that, she said goodbye. She looked comfortable. How could the first daughter of the Zhuang Family not bear this coldness? Even if she was far less shrewd than her aunt and sister, her mind could not be so fragile.

So Qiu Yelan just smiled and changed the topic, “How’s Aunt Yang going?”

“Not very well.” Madame Zhuang Junior said. When it came to this topic, Madame Zhuang Junior frowned slightly, but she looked a little relaxed. “Madame Miao took good care of her, but she and sister-in-law were sad and often did not want to eat. Yesterday, it was Xu’er who comforted them, and they just ate a little.”

Xu’er was Jiang Jingxu, the eldest grand-grandson of the Jiang family, and also the flesh and blood of Madame Dou Junior.

Qiu Yelan guessed that she looked relaxed because Madame Dou and Madame Dou Junior now were sick. Lu was busy serving them, so no one had the time to find her trouble. Although she had to work in the third branch everyday, she was more comfortable.

Qiu Yelan was not very concerned about Madame Dou and her nephew’s mood. Since she asked, she just continued asking, “How could that be? They are already ill. If they don’t eat, how can they recover? Even if they don’t think about themselves, they should think about Uncle Mengmin, eldest brother, and Xu’er.”

Madame Zhuang Junior sighed and said, “My father is very busy these days. A few days ago, my father had a headache and couldn’t rest. My elder brother and my husband didn’t dare to leave for fear that my father would be too tired. Now Xu’er has to take care of both sides, which also makes him tired.”

Qiu Yelan was surprised and said, “The first branch is so busy. Then you have to advise Brother Jiang Yahong to take care of them. Xu’er is so young that you should pay attention to his health.”

“Yes. But it’s not finished. There’s no time to rest at all.” Madame Zhuang Junior was really worried. She said, “The murderer is really strange. We can’t find any flaws that can be traced. My father counted out all the different things in the Imperial Harem before Lunar New Year’s Eve and checked them one by one, but he didn’t have a clue.”

She said in a low voice, “Let me tell you a joke: Empress Dowager Ye, do you know Empress Dowager Ye?” When she saw Qiu Yelan nodded, she continued, “Empress Dowager Ye asked for an extra basket of eggs in the twelfth lunar month. They even sent someone to ask. Eggs are good for people and don’t hurt people’s teeth. Empress dowager Ye is old, and she can’t digest meat. What’s wrong with eating more eggs? They even need to make this clear.”

Qiu Yelan could tell that Madame Zhuang Junior thought it was no big deal. She even thought that the Premiers were in a hurry and had no other ideas. Therefore, they investigated everything that was different from that in the past years. But Qiu Yelan was stunned when she heard this.