At the hour of Hai, ng Qianqian and Tan’er returned to the Governor Mansion.
Steward Cen, who had been waiting inside for quite so ti, let out a long sigh of relief. "Ah, Young Madam, you’ve finally returned."
ng Qianqian asked, "Is Bao Shu looking for ?"
Steward Cen replied awkwardly, "Miss Bao Shu did indeed look for you."
ng Qianqian instantly understood the hidden aning behind "did indeed." "Where is Madam now?"
Steward Cen answered, "She’s in Tinglan Garden, keeping Miss Bao Shu company."
ng Qianqian glanced at Steward Cen. "The Old Madam..."
Steward Cen smiled faintly. "Young Madam, you needn’t worry. Though Madam has a fiery temperant, she wouldn’t trouble the Old Madam."
ng Qianqian raised her eyebrow. "She never nitpicks with the staff either, as if I’m the only one she likes to tornt."
Steward Cen choked slightly.
ng Qianqian sighed with a sorrowful expression. "Well, what can I do? After all, I’m her daughter-in-law."
Steward Cen gave an awkward smile, scanning ng Qianqian and Tan’er from head to toe. Seeing their disheveled state, he couldn’t help but ask, "Young Madam, you’ve been exhausted all day. Why don’t you rest first? I can handle Madam’s side for you."
"Wait." ng Qianqian suddenly rembered sothing. "Madam once shortlisted three maidens from Miaojiang to marry my husband. Are their portraits still in the mansion?"
Steward Cen gave her a puzzled look.
ng Qianqian smiled. "I have no other intentions; I just want to take a look."
"Ah..."
Although Steward Cen didn’t understand, he complied.
Back when the nanny brought too many portraits, Miss Bao Shu had torn at them in a fit of anger but couldn’t rip them all. The remaining ones were thrown into storage by him.
Steward Cen fetched the portraits and delivered them to ng Qianqian’s room.
When ng Qianqian saw the second portrait of a Miaojiang woman, she suddenly had a mont of clarity. "No wonder she looked so familiar. Isn’t this the woman who appeared with the Young Master of Miaojiang? She called him ’brother,’ so she must be the Miao King’s granddaughter. Though adopted, he has no biological children. Doesn’t that make her position just as legitimate?"
"Lu Yuan, oh Lu Yuan, do you even know who you turned down?"
"Ahem!"
An arrogant cough ca from outside the door, belonging to Liu Qingyun.
ng Qianqian hurriedly rolled up the portrait and stuffed it into Nanny Li’s embroidery basket without much care.
Liu Qingyun, with her chin raised like a proud peacock, strutted in with an air of superiority, ignoring everyone else.
ng Qianqian greeted her with a smile and a bow. "Mother."
Liu Qingyun glared at her coldly. "So you still know how to co back?"
ng Qianqian respectfully explained, "Today, I went to visit a grave for a neighbor. The graveyard was a bit far, outside of the Capital City. That’s why I returned ho a little late. I hope Mother can forgive ."
Liu Qingyun looked at the dirt on her shoes and the sll of incense and funerary paper clinging to her. She snorted.
See? She’s not unreasonable after all.
If it had been the Lu Family’s Old Madam, she would be scolded for ddling. "What business do you have with other families’ graves?"
Taking advantage of the mont, ng Qianqian struck while the iron was hot. "Mother, you’ve been in the Capital City for a few days now but haven’t gone out to properly explore. How about I accompany you tomorrow to stroll around the streets and buy so new clothes and ornants?"
Liu Qingyun responded coldly, "Don’t think that’ll make forgive you—"
ng Qianqian glanced behind her. "Husband, you’re back?"
Whoosh!
Liu Qingyun disappeared.
ng Qianqian turned around to look at the creaking, swaying window lattice, unable to suppress a small smirk.
She really is quick-witted.
"Is it really that funny?"
ng Qianqian’s body stiffened. She turned around. "G-Grand Commander?"
So he really was back?
Are you secretly related to Cao Cao?
"What’s this?"
Lu Yuan’s gaze fell on the portrait stuffed in the embroidery basket.
ng Qianqian hastily reached out for the embroidery basket on the table, but Lu Yuan was a step ahead and pulled out the portrait.
Unrolling it one by one, he remarked nonchalantly, "ng Xiaojiu, I didn’t expect you to care so much about the marriage negotiations I had with other won."
ng Qianqian said seriously, "Grand Commander, let explain."
Lu Yuan looked at her coolly, shaking the rolled-up portrait in his hand. "An explanation is just a cover-up."
ng Qianqian sighed, opened the portrait, and singled out the one of the Miao King’s granddaughter. "She has co to the Capital City. I saw her today at the relay station! I just wanted to make sure I didn’t mistake her."
Lu Yuan asked, "You even rember what the other few look like?"
ng Qianqian was montarily at a loss for words.
Forget it. What’s the point of explaining? Think whatever you like.
"Do you want to hear sothing important or not? If not, I’m leaving."
"Where do you think you’re going?"
Right. Where could she go? Liu Qingyun was staying right in the courtyard.
ng Qianqian closed her eyes, resigned to her fate, and returned, smiling. "Grand Commander, Xiaojiu has an important report."
Lu Yuan dusted off his wide sleeves. "Speak."
To Lu Yuan, ng Qianqian kept no secrets. She even recounted the part about tailing Shangguan Ling in detail.
"Do you know? She’s the Miao King’s granddaughter. If you had married her, you’d now be the royal son-in-law of the Miao King. I can’t help but feel sorry for you."
Lu Yuan gave her a side-eye.
ng Qianqian shrugged. "But it’s too late to regret now. Better focus on figuring out how to disrupt Pri Minister Xun’s relationship with the Miao King. Whatever happens, don’t let him gain the Miaojiang people’s power."
Lu Yuan retracted his sharp gaze.
ng Qianqian continued, "Speaking of which, what’s your mother’s status in Miaojiang? How could she negotiate a marriage alliance with the Miao King’s daughter? Your family’s standing in Miaojiang must not be simple."
Lu Yuan hesitated for a mont, seeming sowhat resistant, but he eventually spoke. "I’m not too sure. I lived with my grandmother when I was a child."
"Your grandmother is the matriarch of the Yao Family, right?"
Lu Yuan paused, realizing why she asked. His mother and Consort Li were half-sisters, and Consort Li’s mother was the Yao Family Matriarch.
He replied, "Consort Li is registered under the Yao Matriarch’s na. I have no connection to the Yao Family."
"Then..."
ng Qianqian gazed at him longingly, clearly eager for him to continue.
Lu Yuan pressed his lips together. "My grandmother was from Miaojiang. She lived in an isolated village where customs differ from those in the Central Plains. Won could establish their own households, but once they did, they could never leave for the rest of their lives."
ng Qianqian asked curiously, "How do you establish a household?"
Lu Yuan replied, "By marrying and having children."
"M-Marry?" ng Qianqian was stunned. "How many husbands can they marry?"
Lu Yuan snapped coldly, "ng Xiaojiu!"
ng Qianqian put on a serious face. "I wasn’t envious! Absolutely not!"
Lu Yuan let out a cold snort and returned to the main topic. "When I was a child, I once asked my grandmother who my grandfather was. She said he was a silkworm farr who refused to stay in the village, so she drove him away."
ng Qianqian mused, "It doesn’t sound significant. There’s no connection to the Miao King."
"Could it be your father?"
Lu Yuan spoke with indifference. "Even less likely. My father had a short life; he passed away before I was even born."
"Forget it. I’ll ask your mother directly."
ng Qianqian went to Liu Qingyun’s quarters.
"Mother, are you asleep?"
She gently knocked on the door.
Liu Qingyun set aside the plate of fried pastries, covered it with a cloth, wiped her mouth clean, and said coolly, "Co in."
ng Qianqian pushed the door open and entered.
The rich aroma of fried pastries wafted over.
She pretended not to notice. "Mother, I have sothing to ask you."
Liu Qingyun responded, "Speak."
ng Qianqian said, "You know the Miao King, right?"
"Kn—" Liu Qingyun’s eyes flickered briefly before she solemnly replied, "Don’t know him."
ng Qianqian smiled.
Seems she knows him.
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