Chapter 79 Being the Brother, the Father, also the Mother

Qiu Yelan ordered servants to prepare a carriage the next day, however, she did not go to the residence of Lian Chen but to the General’s Mansion.

Ruan Qingyan made great effort to spare some time to wait for her in the Mansion. Seeing her cousin sitting on the low couch under the peach tree in the distance… Qiu Yelan, who had been familiar with this scene, suddenly changed herself into a humble and solemn expression. Expecting his instructions, she came forward carefully to greet him, and quickly stood by, ready for his sermon.

“Don’t need to pretend anymore.” unexpectedly, looking at her, Ruan Qingyan shook his head and said in disappointment, “You always promised me so well, but then you never kept your words. You just do whatever you want waywardly…. What could I say anymore? All words are useless! You think I don’t know your temper?”

Qiu Yelan said and smiled obsequiously, “Since it is so… cousin, don’t blame me anymore….” Even if Ruan Qingyan hadn’t tired of sermons, Qiu Yelan was tired of making apologies.

Noticing Ruan Qingyan was goggling at her, she shrunk head and said embarrassedly, “Just kidding!”

“How have you been recently?” Ruan Qingyan had no way to deal with this cousin. He sighed and gave up his intention of dissuasion. Instead, he asked her to sit on another low couch nearby. Softening his tone, he showed loving care for her.

“Great!” Qiu Yelan said sweetly, “Knowing that you are Jinshi now as in such a young age, and are enrolled in the Hanlin Academy as well, everyone knows that you have a bright prospect… So, who dares to embarrass me?”

Ruan Qingyan frowned, “But how did I hear that you beat the young lady of the Yang Family?”

“They deserve it!” Qiu Yelan scolded those long-tongued people for being annoying, but quickly switched to a “pouring out grievances” mode, with tears in her beautiful eyes that were like spring peach blossoms. “It’s okay if they only blame me as a humble servant before Princess Yang, but they even humiliated my father and mother, I…”

Ruan Qingyan’s face quickly clouded, and he asked in a cold voice, “Really?”

“Why do I lie to you for this kind of thing!” Qiu Yelan said angrily, “And it was Princess Yang who asked me to come that day! Otherwise, why shall I care about them, the Yang Family’s arrival to Prince’s Mansion of Xihe? What does this have anything to do with me? Am I bored enough to stir up trouble and beat them?”

“Which young ladies of Yang Family?” Ruan Qingyan’s expression continually changed, unpredictably, but the unhappy feeling from his eyes was more and more. He asked, word by word, “Do you know their rankings or their names?”

Qiu Yelan left after beating them, but she asked afterwards, so she could answer this at this moment, “Yang Yishi, Yang Yifu and Yang Yinian… I can’t distinguish them and tell who is who. But these three are there at that time.”

Ruan Qingyan sneered and said, “Well, I keep them in mind. Just rest assured that I will definitely claim justice for aunt and uncle!”

“Forget it, these three were horribly beat by me and cried back. I don’t know whether they would still have courage to come to Prince’s Mansion of Xihe in future.” Qiu Yelan saw that he stopped investigating her responsibility for beating them. Taking a breath, she persuaded him in turn, “You are a newly selected Jinshi. Don’t demean yourself to care about these little girls! Besides, they are ladies from respectable families and are raised in the mansions. You would even hardly meet with them, OK?”

She had already taken the advantage anyway. If Ruan Qingyan hadn’t mentioned it, she would have entirely forgotten about this matter of the poor three sisters of Yang Family…. Now, complaining for a while, she suggested, “Let’s talk about Chunfu Princess! When you are not busy after the 9th of the month, come to visit me often. I would manage to let you meet with her once… And then you would know that Chunfu Princess was such a beauty, at the same time with good temper….”

Ruan Qingyan looked at her bubbling over with enthusiasm. The unhappiness deep in his eyes slightly reduced, and he said with a faint smile, “Are you sure that is “Chunfu” Princess? It is said that there are several young ladies of Jiang Family who are about to marry, not only Chunfu Princess. From my view, I think the sister that Jiang Yashuang said is more likely to be his cousin. After all, Chunfu Princess is the youngest young lady of the Brides-to-be in Jiang Family, right?”

Qiu Yelan felt surprised, “But if that was Jiang Family’s other young lady, why did Jiang Yashuang come for this? He has this only sister of the whole blood! The other young ladies of Jiang Family belong to other branches!”

“But he was the only one who could pass on this message at that time, wasn’t he?” Ruan Qingyan disagreed, “After all, their surnames are the same, Jiang, it doesn’t matter who passed on this message. Isn’t as the cousin, he then could not do this for cousin sister’s marriage?”

Qiu Yelan frowned and said, “If so, things would be tough to deal with. I thought it must be Chunfu Princess. Although two ladies of Jiang Family showed up observing the mentorship ceremony on that day, I unexpectedly pay little attention to them. Don’t blame me for my negligence. But it would be so bad if it affects your marriage.” Qiu Yelan, sincerely wanted to be a good sister-in-law and get along well with her future brother’s wife…

However, Ruan Qingyan looked like indifferent. He said, “There are many other good families to unite by marriage than Jiang Family.”

“Huh?” Qiu Yelan asked in surprise, “Cousin, what do you mean?”

Ruan Qingyan had already sent off all his men in order to teach her before. At this time, only these brother and sister are sitting under the peach blossom tree. He smiled slightly and said, “Prime Minister Xue often called me to go to his mansion during this time, and he taught me a lot.”

“But, it perhaps Prime Minister Xue simply cherishes your talents, without any other expectation?” Happiness knocked the door so suddenly— Qiu Yelan even couldn’t believe it!

She had thought that Ruan Qingyan being included as Jiang Family’s son-in-law candidates was already a big surprise. But now, even Xue Chang also pays special regard to him! Does this mean the cousin is the real main character of this book indeed?

This is not ancient romance at all, but should be a novel about Imperial Harem, right? Chunfu Princess, the young lady of the Xue family, and those three sisters of Yang Family that cousin asked just now are estimated to be the possible future concubine…

Ruan Qingyan interrupted Qiu Yelan’s unrealistic imagination with a slight smile, and said, “If they really want to teach me, why bother to ask me indirectly whether I’ve married?”

That was true. At this time, the most possible reason as asking him whether he had married or not should be they wanted to be a matchmaker. If they didn’t have girls in own family, they should be asked to do this for some others. There was no other reason to ask this just for a casual talk.

Qiu Yelan’s beautiful, peach-blossom-like eyes flickered, “Have you ever seen the young lady of the Xue family? Is she beautiful? How about her temper? Did you immediately feel butterflies in the stomach and fall in love with her… ah-ha!”

She raised her hand subconsciously to knock her forehead— Ruan Qingyan took her hands down with a cold face, and softly scolded, “You nonsense!”

“Just kidding…” Pretending to be pitiful for a while but seeing Ruan Qingyan wasn’t fooled by it, Qiu Yelan sadly gave up the trick, and said hatefully, “Cousin, you don’t love me anymore!”

Ruan Qingyan almost felt speechless and said, “Don’t casually say these words that should not be proper for girls, and don’t think that I don’t have the heart to punish you next time!” He had known for now that this cousin sister should be treated seriously with tough words, and you had to be cruel! Otherwise, no matter how earnest you were, she would not listen to your words!

Having only one cousin sister, like the apple of his eye, Ruan Qingyan didn’t want to spoil her into a bad girl!

Qiu Yelan saw him being hardhearted, so she sadly said, “Okay, I won’t say this anymore… so, go on. Have you ever seen the young lady of the Xue family? Do I ask like this still touch your sore spot and being defined as ‘improper’?”

“Of course not.” Ruan Qingyan said lightly, “What a person Prime Minister Xue is? He hasn’t made it clearly so far. So how can I meet with his precious daughter? But I guess the young lady of the Xue family should have seen me.”

Qiu Yelan suddenly was enlightened, “She is in the dark? How do you know?”

“The grandson of Prime Minister Xue led me to go around the small building intentionally, and tried with great effort to make me stand where I was straightly facing to the small building… If I still can’t guess who was upstairs, I would not be qualified as Jinshi!” The atmosphere turned to be easy again, Ruan Qingyan also acted like nothing had happened, and he smiled, “So don’t worry too much about my marriage! At least I am a man, and I don’t need to do this in a hurry… But you!”

“… Me?”

Ruan Qingyan nodded seriously, “Deng Yi is not a good choice, and this engagement is definitely going to be broke. He is now hiding back to Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang, but it is impossible for him to hide for a lifetime! I would be free after Courtesan Competition, and I’ll immediately go find him then!”

Ruan Qingyan looking at this cousin, said, “Jiang Yashuang…”

“I’m innocent with him!” Qiu Yelan said seriously, “Cousin, you definitely think too much!”

Ruan Qingyan hummed, “I also hope I think too much!” He warned, “I haven’t found anything bad about this person up until now. But Jiang Family is a big, powerful family, so the hidden matters would beyond your imagination! Aunt and uncle had been both passed away, and I am just a newly selected Jinshi. We brother and sister’s power are so weak that Jiang Family would even not notice us… You may come to grief if you marry him! So don’t consider about this guy anymore!”

Qiu Yelan sighed, “I have never considered about him, OK?”

“A scholar who went to the exam with me looks great.” Ruan Qingyan ignored her rebuttal and said, “Although he failed this time, I think there must be a place for him next time… His name is Xun Yuxi, a person from Shannan, one year older than me. He’s handsome and also talented, with a gentle temperament and an open mind. He would be a generous and kind person! The most satisfying point is that he is from an official family but also very rich. What’s more, both his parents had passed away, leaving him as the only child and inheritor! Without any sisters! If you marry him, you don’t have to serve his family, the parents-in-law, sisters or brothers… You don’t have to worry about any of his relatives….”

Is this the ancient version of the best bachelor— “possessing house and car, with both parents dead”?!

Seeing Qiu Yelan staring at him dumbfoundedly, Ruan Qingyan said with a smile, “When Prime Minister Xue discussed with his wife privately about the standard for selecting a son-in-law, I overheard it. I think everything about Xun Yuxi is suitable… so, how do you feel? I would arrange people to take a look at him for you privately. If you want, I can make an oral agreement with him first. When he becomes Jinshi later and you will also finish observing mourning….”

“… The biological parents will not do harm to their daughter… so you just copy these parents’ standard for choosing a husband?!” Qiu Yelan remembered Ruan Qingyan’s last time sermon, which claimed “how could the biological mother hurt her daughter.” Wiping off her sweat, she said in a low voice, “So the Prime Minister Xue and his wife choose you because you don’t have lots of elder relatives in Ruan Family to serve?”

She thought they were simply attracted by Ruan Qingyan’s talents! It turned out that Ruan Family’s small and with few people was also an important consideration…. Sure enough, she was still too young and too naive. She had been too moral!

Ruan Qingyan stayed calm and said, “That’s fine, how could they consider little for themselves? Further, I am willing to marry one of these young ladies, also aiming for her family.”

Huh, he tried to look on the bright side of it.

Qiu Yelan was about to say something, Qiuran coming in and reporting, “The young master of Lian Family comes.”

“Let him in at once!” Ruan Qingyan immediately got up, “And let’s move to welcome him!”

He also didn’t forget to take time to emphasize to Qiu Yelan, “After Courtesan Competition, when you come to visit grandfather, I would ask Xun Yuxi to come as well. Just like the last time you peeked at Young Earl Ling… Although this is against the rule, it is a big event for your life. So I hope you choose one you like.”

Qiu Yelan’s mouth twitched and she said, “I’m only thirteen, do you go too far?”

“In the southern countryside, many women are already mothers at the age of thirteen!” Ruan Qingyan sneered, “Don’t make excuses— anyway, just give up Jiang Yashuang! I have you as my only sister, so I don’t want to see you be fooled with and misguided!”

“…” Qiu Yelan looked at him speechlessly, “From which and why do you insist that I have the mind to be Jiang Family’s wife!”

She decisively shifted the topic, “Cousin Lian admires

you very much… Although we meet here today, and cousin Lian comes alone to avoid Prince’s Mansion attention, but….”

Ruan Qingyan took it for granted and said, “I naturally have to discuss the study work with him. And also, we have some business to discuss today, so it is inconvenient for outsiders to participate. Otherwise, I would have asked Xun Yuxi to come today. Then we would have killed two birds with one stone— check the study and also pick you a husband….”

“…!!!” Could you stop caring about me too much as being my brother, my father and also mother?!