Chapter 467 Labor and Title Conferring

Her morning sickness was constant and tormenting, but days quickly went by. Soon, it was November.

The sky cleared up after the snow. With a handkerchief tied to her forehead, Qiu Yelan leaned against the head of the bed, looked at her daughter in swaddling clothes, and asked her husband with a smirk, “You mean you want to teach her a lesson since she is not well behaved?”

“She is forbidden to wear beads before the age of three. What do you think?” Jiang Yashuang poked his daughter’s glowing cheeks with his fingertip and asked flatteringly.

Greed was human nature. When he thought that his wife was infertile, he was content to raise his nephew. Later, his wife got pregnant, and he got jittery, hoping that both the mother and the child would be safe. After Jiang Jinglang was smoothly delivered, he secretly wished that they could safely have another child!

And then Qiu Yelan got pregnant again. Now that he had got a son and a nephew, he yearned for a daughter. When his dream came true, he immediately pushed his promise to the back of his mind.

As his wife brought it up, he grudgingly put forward a method of punishment. Qiu Yelan burst her sides with laughter and said, “Is she able to wear any beads before the age of three? You’re ungrateful. Now that you’ve got a daughter, you forget about me, right?”

“No!” Jiang Yashuang said sanctimoniously, “I was just afraid that the punishment of our daughter would upset you.”

“Sweet talker!” Qiu Yelan rolled her eyes at him, “Where are An and Lang’er? It’s inconvenient for me to go outside, and you should take care of them!”

Jiang Yashuang repeatedly agreed, “I’ll check up on them after seeing our daughter… But boys are naughty by nature. On the rest day, it occurred to me that I hadn’t spent much quality time with them, so I played with them for half a day. That was really exhausting. They are not as sensible and well-behaved as I was when I was a child!”

“Sure enough, people abandon the old for the new!” Qiu Yelan helplessly said, “During the hot days this year, you thought our daughter was not as considerate as Lang’er! In the blink of an eye, Lang’er has become the insensible kid!”

“I am telling the truth!” Jiang Yashuang said with a smile, “I was quiet when I was little, and my grandmother said that they took after Jiang Yadan!”

As soon as Qiu Yelan heard that, her expression changed. She said earnestly, “An is Jiang Yadan’s only son, and Lang’er is our eldest son. We’ll have to count on them to manage the family when they grow up. We cannot spoil them! Naughty kids at their age should be spanked so that they will learn their lessons…”

No kidding! People like Jiang Yadan failed as husbands and sons! Although Qiu Yelan didn’t demand prominence out of Jiang Jingkun and Jiang Jinglang, she could never accept that the children she had taken pains to raise grew up into immoral dandies!

Now it was Jiang Yashuang’s turn to tease her, “Every child is naughty, and you intend to spank them! Where is your motherly love? Reserved for your daughter? If Lang’er found out, wouldn’t he be sad? Sigh, you…”

“What did you say?” Qiu Yelan smiled at him.

“I said you’re a loving mother!” Jiang Yashuang sensed an unfavorable situation and quickly corrected himself, “Love well, whip well. At an early age, An and Lang’er are disciplined by you. Your love for them is ocean deep!”

They bickered for a while before Qiu Yelan asked if anything had happened in the past few days.

“The servants come and go every day. Can there be anything hidden from you? Oh, you remind me of one thing. When I came back, I heard from the servants that the eighth sister-in-law got pregnant again. When people from her place came to report, you hadn’t been up yet. I didn’t tell you for fear of disturbing your sleep,” Jiang Yashuang said.

“Have you sent the gift over?” Qiu Yelan asked, raising her brows.

Ever since Chu Yitong’s miscarriage, the relationship between them hadn’t been good. Now that the news of Chu Yitong’s pregnancy came again, Qiu Yelan certainly would not miss the opportunity of making peace with her.

“Mrs. Zhou had the gift list drawn up, and I’ve checked it. It’s fine, and Mrs. Qu has been dispatched to present the gifts,” Jiang Yashuang replied.

Qiu Yelan trusted Mrs. Zhou the most, but Mrs. Qu had been assigned by Madame Zhuang to take care of her grandson. Mrs. Qu’s status was extraordinary, and she was regarded as more important by people out of this courtyard. Such an arrangement showed their respect for Chu Yitong.

“Good!” Qiu Yelan bowed her head, “I hope that the eighth sister-in-law will deliver safely and forget about those unpleasant things!”

Jiang Yashuang leaned over, kissed her on the forehead, and gently said, “I’m sorry for your grievances. At the end of the day, the current eighth sister-in-law is not as magnanimous as the former one!”

“We don’t live in the same courtyard anyway. It’s just that the atmosphere is a bit awkward.” Qiu Yelan laughed, “I’m not aggrieved at all.”

“There is one more thing.” Seeing that his wife hadn’t taken it to heart, Jiang Yashuang added, “My aunt heard about our daughter and wanted to confer a Princess title on her. According to my aunt, it was not just her idea. Empress also proposed so.”

Qiu Yelan was surprised before she thought of Jiang Qizheng. Back then, the latter had just been sent back to Jiang City. Still in swaddling clothes, she had been conferred on the title of Chunfu Princess by Empress Dowager Jiang with a certain excuse. Empress Dowager Jiang favored Jiang Yashuang even more than Jiang Qizheng. However, Jiang Yashuang and Jiang Jinglang were both male heirs, and too many rewards would bring about turbulence in their inheritance of titles and properties, so she had to give up.

Now that Jiang Yashuang finally had a trueborn daughter, Empress Dowager would certainly repeat the practice. Empress Xin acted as the catalyst of her decision. After all, in the eyes of commoners, princesses were unapproachable. For the royal family, however, it just meant an extra edict, a princess house, and an annual salary.

“Our aunt has always loved us, and Empress also thinks for our good!” Qiu Yelan pondered for a moment and continued, “But there are many girls in the Hui generation. The royal family has never conferred any titles on them! If our daughter becomes the only one, won’t it be too ostentatious?”

“It’s OK.” Apparently, Jiang Yashuang had been used to such favors since his childhood. He said nonchalantly, “Wasn’t it like this when Jiang Qizheng was conferred on the Princess title? Haters are gonna hate. Even if she had not been conferred, she would have had friends and enemies when she had more siblings.”

Qiu Yelan reminded him, “But our father has been conferred Sir of North, and Jiang Yadan is the Young Prince! Jiang Yadan’s daughters were all given birth by concubines, and none of them has been conferred on, not even the title of County Princess. Our first daughter, however, will be given the title of Princess. I’m not sure if Jiang Yadan will mind it, but the outsiders will definitely think that the royal family favors us, the fourth branch. It won’t be a good thing if this gets out!”

It was true that Jiang Tianchi had made the Young Prince, but even the Crown Prince could be deposed, let alone a Young Prince.

Jiang Tianchi’s reputation was mainly in the army. His influence in court was limited. Maybe people would make an issue of Empress Dowager Jiang’s and Empress Xin’s favors for Jiang Yashuang and his wife. They might incite Jiang Tianchi to depose his eldest son and let his youngest son inherit his title. Who knew?

On the one hand, Jiang Yashuang and Qiu Yelan had never intended to usurp the Young Prince of Sir of North. They didn’t want to be manipulated by those flunkeys. On the other hand, given Jiang Tianchi’s attitude towards his two trueborn sons, he would never pass over the elder in favor of the younger! But what if someone incited him to make Jiang Yashuang the Young Prince? He would not be happy even if he knew that Jiang Yashuang and his wife were not part of it!

It hadn’t been a month since the birth of his daughter. Jiang Yashuang’s dream had come true. Still beside himself with excitement, he was willing to give all the best things to her. Therefore, he had totally agreed to Empress Dowager Jiang and Empress Xin’s plan.

After hearing his wife’s advice, however, he frowned for a long time and said blandly, “Makes sense. I’ll talk to my aunt and turn down the offer!”

“Even if she doesn’t have the title of Princess, who would dare question her high status?” Seeing that her husband’s spirits had been dampened, Qiu Yelan picked up their daughter, showed her to him, and said with a smile, “Except Yongfu, all the daughters of the emperor will probably not be as carefree as her!”

Jiang Yashuang echoed with a smile, “True.” He lowered his head, kissed his daughter, and chatted happily with his wife for a while longer.

The next day, Jiang Yashuang went to the imperial palace to pay his respects, saw Empress Dowager Jiang, and rejected the title on behalf of his daughter. Empress Dowager Jiang asked about the reason and said regretfully, “It’s not that we think little of Yadan, but his daughters were all given birth by concubines. So many trueborn great-granddaughters haven’t been conferred. If those daughters of concubines are conferred first, it will be a humiliation to the trueborn ones! Besides, you know that your mother doesn’t like those daughters of concubines. If Yadan had a trueborn daughter, she would have been conferred a long time ago.”

Jiang Yashuang smiled apologetically and said, “We appreciate Empress and your good intentions, but just as you said, Yadan has no trueborn daughter. If my daughter is conferred first, people are likely to misunderstand and sow discord! In my opinion, even if Empress and you don’t confer titles on my daughter, your love for her will not change, right?”

“So be it!” Empress Dowager Jiang pondered, “Isn’t the wife of Yadan pregnant? We don’t know if it is a boy or a girl. If it is a girl, your daughter will be conferred along! If it’s a boy… We’ll see. But if he doesn’t have a trueborn daughter, your daughter will be conferred before she gets married. No one will have a word about it by then!”

The grandaunt wanted to confer the title of Princess to her grandniece so that the latter would have a grander wedding. When that day came, no one would be so insensible as to object.

This matter was settled.

Due to his full schedule, Jiang Yashuang asked Empress Dowager to pass the message to Empress, retired from the palace, and went to work.

After her nephew left, Empress Dowager Jiang went to Beique Hall and told Empress about the matter. Emperor was also there. As a puppet, he didn’t have to worry about state affairs at all. Most of his time was spent in the Imperial Harem.

Although Noble Consort Jiang had been taken in a few months ago, Emperor rarely went to her place. The reason? Firstly, he had been in love with Empress for two or three years. Secondly, he spent most of the time in Beique Hall for the sake of his son, Chu Shao.

Hearing that Jiang Yashuang and his wife turned down the title on behalf of their daughter, Xin Fubing sighed, “What a shame! We came up with so many titles… In the end, none will be used!”

Emperor chimed in with a smile, “How so? Those are your choices and will be used when we have our own daughters.”

His speech surprised Xin Fubing. The courtiers hadn’t retired yet. At that moment, they were snickering behind their sleeves. She blushed up to her ears, sullenly cast a sidelong glance at him, and said to the courtiers, “Since the edict cannot be issued, reward the child with some gifts… Servants!”

Busy preparing the gifts for Jiang Yashuang and Qiu Yelan’s daughter, Xin Fubing was unaware that Emperor, who was sitting leisurely in the near distance, was coaxing Chu Shao with a smile. He was not as composed as he looked. In his sleeves, his fingers splayed and closed alternately. “They declined? Were they afraid of stealing the thunder of the Young Prince of Sir of North? Or did they sense anything wrong?”