Chapter 344 Marriage

While Qiu Jinglan was preparing to prevent the Jiang Family from meddling with his marriage, Jiang Yashuang was reminding his wife, “Our two uncles may bring up the thing again that your brother refused at the beginning of this year!”

Qiu Yelan frowned, “I don’t know what they’re thinking. Even if those two girls are dead set on working for them, how can they be so sure that my brother will be bewitched by them?” Qiu Jinglan would live in vain if he couldn’t handle those two girls. Besides, those two girls had been convinced by Qiu Yelan and decided to have it both ways. They wouldn’t let the first and the third branch manipulate them!

“Not just our two uncles, Jinglan wrote in his recent letter that Han Jishan invited him to dinner last month. The dinner was served in the garden on purpose. Han Jishan left During the dinner, Han Jishan excused himself. But his niece ‘accidentally’ went to the garden and saw your brother.” Jiang Yashuang said flatly, “And Prime Minister Xue’s granddaughter, Xue Nongying’s younger sister, is still unmarried. Your brother keeps stalling. But I’m afraid he can’t stall for time anymore!”

“…” Qiu Yelan was silent for a while, “What’s your advice? Xing?” Ou Qinglan was devoted to Qiu Jinglan. She tried serval times to go to Shazhou in those days. But the Ou Family stopped her. Qiu Yelan knew it because the Ou Family had revealed it to her on purpose. They wanted to sound Qiu Jinglan out about his attitude via her.

After all, Qiu Jinglan’s appearance, ability, origin, status, and power were all impeccable. His only flaw as a son-in-law was his association with those prostitutes such as Hua Shenshen. However, a capable man was inevitably a bit romantic before getting married. Especially, Qiu Jinglan didn’t have a senior to discipline him. He might change after getting married.

The Ou Family had no objection to Ou Qinglan marrying Qiu Jinglan. Although they had no objection, they needed to consider their family’s reputation. They could hide the truth that Ou Qinglan was hell-bent on marrying Qiu Jinglan. How could they protect their reputation if they let Ou Qinglan go to Shazhou? So, they told Qiu Yelan about it tactfully when they stopped Ou Qinglan from going there.

Ou Qinglan’s brother, Ou Bicheng, was Jiang Yashuang’s best friend and confidant. So, Qiu Yelan thought that Jiang Yashuang intended to set Ou Qinglan up with Qiu Jinglan.

To her surprise, Jiang Yashuang shook his head, “Xing marrying Jinglan is the last thing I approve of!”

“Why?” Qiu Yelan was confused, “I heard that you and she were childhood friends. How couldn’t you grant her wish?”

“That’s why I don’t want to screw her!” Jiang Yashuang said, “Let me be honest with you. Don’t be mad. Although your brother is young, he has been with many women. It’s hard for him to fall in love with someone! Besides, judging by the current situation in the Western Army, even if he should get married, he may need to join in the fun on occasion or even accept a few beautiful women to enrich his harem. He won’t care about those things. But Xing has a strong temper. She can’t change her nature and become obedient even though she loves your brother so much! We’ll only make her suffer if we grand her wish now!”

Speaking of which, he frowned and whispered, “Just like Qizheng and Qiu Feng. So, never give her what you shouldn’t give!”

Hearing that, Qiu Yelan sighed, “It worries me too! Honestly, I grow fond of Xing after spending time with her these years. Although she has a temper, she truly loves my brother!”

She pondered for a while, “Who should my brother choose if we rule out Xing?”

“Han Jishan has a head start. But it is the worst choice. Your brother won’t choose them!” Jiang Yashuang said after thinking for a while, “Because they represent the old-timers of the Western Army. With the Empress Dowager Gu’s party’s eclipse and Prime Minister Xue’s compliance, our family is the most powerful one in the country! If Han and Zhao want to disobey us by relying on their influences over the Western Army, they’ll come to no good end.”

“If your brother marries one of their girls, it will mean that he chooses their side. It’s unnecessary and unworthy. So, I don’t think your brother will choose girls on their side!”

“As for those two goddaughters of our uncles, if your brother had been willing to accept them, he wouldn’t have used the excuse that he finally avenged my mother-in-law and father-in-law and needed time to mourn. I think Miss Xue is the most possible choice. However, I heard that she was kind and generous, but not scheming?”

Qiu Yelan said with frustration, “Yes! I’ve considered Xue Nongqing a long time ago. She’s all good but too generous. I don’t think my brother will like her for her generosity.”

“It is not the key point that your brother won’t like her.” Jiang Yashuang clearly knew that if Qiu Jinglan were going to get married, at least for now, he would only care about his future wife’s ability, rather than personal feelings. So, it didn’t matter if Qiu Jinglan liked Xue Nongqing’s personality or not. What mattered was that, “I’m afraid that your brother’s marriage with her has two sides. The upside is that it will make him closer to Prime Minister Xue. The downside is that he will have to protect her from the intrigues in the harem!”

That wasn’t a good deal. Because judging by how much Xue Chang valued Qiu Jinglan, even if they weren’t in-laws, he would still try his best to help him.

After all, Qiu Jinglan was qualified to form an alliance of interests with Xue Chang now. Although this kind of alliance was unstable, it was effective!

As the marriage had little value, Xue Nongqing’s ability was the key to this marriage.

But according to Xue Nongqing’s personality and mindset, she clearly couldn’t help Qiu Jinglan take over the Western Army.

“In that case, no one is suitable for my brother, right?” said Qiu Yelan, frowning. “Or he chooses neither of them? He has to get married eventually, doesn’t he?”

“That’s just my opinion. We need to ask your brother’s opinion.” Jiang Yashuang explained, “The situation in Shazhou has been relatively stable lately. So, I’ll tell him more about his personal matters when I write to him this time. For example, Qiu Feng’s whereabouts, his marriage… Do you have anything else to tell him?”

Qiu Yelan thought for a while, “Let’s tell him that Ciyi is pregnant. It will make him happy!” Ruan Ciyi was found pregnant last month. Li Qianzhi was so happy that he borrowed a few careful old maidservants from his aunt to take care of her. He truly cherished her. Qiu Jinglan was right to select him as his brother-in-law.

Hearing that, Jiang Yashuang sighed inwardly and thought, “Your brother will be happier if you’re pregnant. However, he may worry about your parturition. Never mind, what we have now is fine!” He believed Qiu Yelan’s words which she had forgotten. She said that she survived in the avalanche on Mount Dizi. But she was harmed by the coldness. So, she couldn’t have a baby.

So, he never talked about pregnancy in front of Qiu Yelan to avoid upsetting her.

Qiu Yelan mentioned it at this moment. But he avoided the topic and just said, “Our doorman said that Spring House and Jinpa Pavilion both sent stuff here and they wanted us to give them to your brother. We should mention it as well!”

“I forgot about them if you didn’t mention it!” Qiu Yelan was distracted and then said, “I remembered Hua Shenshen from the Spring House was with Prince of Zhou, right? Since he was dead and the Empress Dowager lost her power, how could she be fine?”

Jiang Yashuang said with frustration, “Prince of Zhou wasn’t the only one who was infatuated with her.”

“I see,” It looked like that the Jiang Family’s offspring took her under their wings. It wasn’t known if Jiang Yadan was involved.

When she thought of Jiang Yadan, she thought of Madame Tao Junior and An. Qiu Yelan became gloomy, “An has been crying at night lately. I wonder if he knows that he has lost his mother.”

“Shall we send for a doctor?” Jiang Yashuang had never been a father. He became anxious after hearing that, “Is he sick?”

“Nonsense!” Qiu Yelan yelled in exasperation, “There’s no child who doesn’t cry! How can you instantly assume that your nephew is sick?”

Jiang Yashuang said awkwardly, “I was just guessing… We need to consult with our old maidservants.”

“I know you were guessing. But can you say something nice?” Qiu Yelan pinched his arm and said sulkily, “I’ll punch you if you say anything like that again!” She knew that babies only ate, slept, and cried all day although she hadn’t been a mother! How could anyone assume that a baby was sick because he cried at night?

“I still think it’s better to send for a doctor.” Jiang Yashuang said seriously, “He’s too delicate. What if he gets hurt from crying?”

Qiu Yelan couldn’t win the argument with him. So, she had to send for a doctor. As expected, he was all fine.

“I told you not to overthink it or make crazy assumptions!” Qiu Yelan held her nephew and tried to comfort him in an immature way. She gave her husband an earful while comforting the baby, “Such a healthy baby may be cursed by you!”

Jiang Yashuang poked the baby in his pick cheeks and said with a smile, “We can’t be too careful. The doctor did all the work anyway!” He paid so much attention to An. It wasn’t entirely because he cared about him, but he also thought that since he couldn’t have kids and Qiu Yelan wasn’t willing to adopt, raising An made up for their inability to have kids. So, he treated An as his own kid.

“An could arrange for our funerals and other things when Lanlan and I grow old. Hopefully, An would have kids by then. He could choose one for us to adopt.” Jiang Yashuang thought, “In that case, I can leave our estate to his offspring.” He had a lot of nephews and there would be more. But he valued An the most as Madame Tao Junior took care of him when he was young.

He thought he would never have kids. Naturally, he would like An’s offspring to inherit his bequest.

Qiu Yelan didn’t know what was on his husband’s mind. She had long forgotten the reason she used to refuse to get married back then. Watching An grow up every day made Qiu Yelan want a kid of her own, “Mrs. Zhou urged me to take the medicine which was good for conception yesterday. I wonder if it works or not. However, I just have begun to take care of An. I may neglect him if I’m pregnant.”

They had their own thoughts as they played with An. Suddenly, Su He walked in with a weird look, “Young master, Madame, something happened in the first branch.”

“What happened?” Jiang Yashuang and Qiu Yelan asked in a hurry.

“Miss Huizhi bumped into His Majesty in the imperial garden. A lot of people saw them.” Su He coughed, “Madame Dou is weeping out her grief to the Old Master.”

“…”