Chapter 3 The Old Lady Is Not Happy Too

"Nothing can be hidden from mother." Qiu Xuan's heart was about to jump out of her throat.

"What did you see?"

"The princess and the night watchwoman were drinking and playing with money in the courtyard. I heard the noise but didn't dare to go in."

"So you didn't see anything?"

"I didn't see anything."

Qiu Xuan had just swallowed her anger when the old lady dragged Qiu Xuan in front of her fiercely and stared at her with her cloudy eyes.

"The princess is hiding something from me. I want you to go see her again and find out what's going on."

What’s the matter? Jing Beian is fake?

Qiu Xuan didn't dare to say a word and just waited for the old lady to speak.

"When you worked for Princess Ningjia, you were quite clever." The old lady placed Qiu Xuan's hand on her knee and patted it gently. "How come after a few years of eating for free in the Marquis' Mansion, you've become so dull that you can't even speak?"

"The princess has only been in the mansion for a few days and hasn't spoken a word to anyone in the household. I imagine there are many things about her that no one in the mansion knows about." Qiu Xuan held her breath, trying to keep her voice steady. "Does mother want to know everything, or is there something 'special' that even mother doesn't know about?"

"Stop talking nonsense in front of me."

The old lady held Qiu Xuan's hand tightly. Compared with Jing Beian's violence last night, Qiu Xuan felt that this was tolerable.

"The Marquis has come to pay his respects to the old lady."

Before the maid could finish her words, Jing Beian strode in.

"What did mother and madam say?"

"Just talking about this and that." The old lady covered Qiu Xuan's hand with her sleeve, "Only Xuan Niang can keep an old woman like me company and relieve my boredom."

Jing Bei'an smiled and said, "If you are bored, your Majesty has given me a farm where you can go to relax."

"Nonsense, the family can't live without me." The old lady clenched Qiuxuan's hand.

"Everything is going well at home, what could possibly go wrong? Besides, we still have Xuanniang here."

Qiu Xuan kept her eyes on her nose and her nose on her heart, keeping her head down like a wooden man, not participating in the mother-son confrontation. Suddenly hearing her own name, she couldn't help but curse Jing Beian inwardly, saying, "Just talk, why drag her into this?"

"You came here so early in the morning just to help your wife seize power?"

Old Madam, you have wronged me. How dare I take action with you around? Qiu Xuan thought, even if the old Madam is not here, there is still a princess, so it is not her turn.

"Your Majesty is going to hold a celebration banquet for the Fourth Prince, and I want to take Qiuxuan with me."

Qiu Xuan suddenly raised her head and met Jing Beian's half-smile on his face.

She has been a widow since she married into the Marquis's Mansion, and has not even stepped out of the mansion for three years.

"hiss……"

The severe pain in the palm of his left hand woke Qiu Xuan up.

"I haven't left the Marquis' Mansion for a long time. My Lord, please ask the Princess to accompany you."

"The princess is ill and needs to rest."

The old lady snorted coldly: "With her delicate body, it is rare for her to achieve merit on the battlefield."

To achieve meritorious service, one does not have to kill the enemy with one’s own hands, Qiu Xuan thought to himself.

"Mother, do you want me to go alone?" Jing Beian laughed. "I'm afraid that after so many years in the army, I've forgotten the rules and regulations, and that this will ruin the reputation of the Marquisate."

Qiu Xuan frowned, this sounded interesting.

It was not uncommon for border army generals to come to the capital to pay homage to the emperor every year. They were even less familiar with the rules, but it was never heard that the emperor reprimanded them for being disrespectful in front of the palace.

"Xuan Niang." The old lady held Qiu Xuan's hand, and her other hand held Qiu Xuan's arm.

"Just give your orders, mother."

"You will go to the palace banquet with the Marquis. Remember to follow the Marquis closely."

"That's good," Jing Beian clapped his hands and smiled without waiting for Qiu Xuan to reply, "I'll come to pick up Madam the day after tomorrow."

After saying this, he stood up and gave a hasty bow to the old lady: "Now that I have finished my work, I will not disturb you to rest. Goodbye."

Even though she was extremely reluctant, she had to pretend in front of the old lady. Qiu Xuan was about to get up to see her off, but the old lady held her tighter.

The old lady didn't let go of Jing Beian's hand until his footsteps faded away.

"Go and ask the princess about her illness. She won't tell anyone else, but she will definitely tell you."

"Yes, mother."

"But remember this." The old lady found Qiu Xuan's chin and pinched it hard, forcing Qiu Xuan to meet her gaze. "Remember, since you've married into the Marquis' Mansion, don't have any other thoughts. This is your fate, you must accept it."

"Yes, mother, I know." Qiu Xuan saw the shadow of her own smile in those cloudy eyes. "It's my fate. I will accept it."

No way.

The old lady opened her eyes wide, as if trying to see Qiu Xuan clearly. In the end, she sighed and pushed Qiu Xuan aside.

"I'm tired, please go."

"Please rest, mother."

Qiu Xuan walked to the door and heard the old lady's tired orders coming from behind her.

"Where is Shiro? Let him come see me."

Qiu Xuan walked out the door, and the wind blew, and tears came out of her already dry eyes. She used a handkerchief to hide her tears and her eyes full of thoughts.

The confrontation between the old lady and Jing Beian is by no means as simple as a competition between adoptive mother and adopted son.

What Princess Feifei said is true, and what Jing Beian said is false.

"Or maybe it doesn't matter whether it's true or not."

Qiu Xuan didn't think about this at first. Her mother got along well with her concubines, and the children were raised and educated together.

The Qiu family was convicted, the men were beheaded, and the women were exiled. The mother also first thought of entrusting Qiu Xuan's young and sickly concubine sister to the care of others.

If it weren't for the fact that my younger sister had a nightmare and cried incessantly that day when the Jing family came to pick her up, refusing to get on the carriage no matter what, and if it weren't for my younger sister's mother's insistence that since she had already promised the marriage to the Marquis's mansion, she couldn't break her promise, Qiu Xuan wouldn't have let her younger sister get on the Marquis's mansion's carriage and marry into the Marquis's mansion to bring good luck.

Qiu Xuan's mother cherished every one of her children, so much so that Qiu Xuan did not realize at first that for her mother-in-law, the old lady of Yunyang Marquis's Mansion, it didn't matter whether Jing Beian was fake as long as it could gain more benefits for the mansion.

Anyway, her original plan was to wait for Jing Jia Silang to marry and have children, then adopt his son under the name of Jing Bei'an, continuing the wealth of the Marquisate. In this way, her own son would not have to go to the battlefield and risk his life, but could live a comfortable life on the basis of his merits.

"So the princess's child is a big trouble..."

Qiu Xuan's feet suddenly felt cold. The handkerchief in her hand tightened, leaving pale marks on her fingers.

The old lady was so eager to ask her to go to the princess, probably because she wanted to put the blame for the princess's miscarriage on her head.