Chapter 5 Doubts and Verification

"Madam seems afraid of me?"

Faced with Jing Beian's relentless pressure, Qiu Xuan was very annoyed. He already had a headache, and now he felt like vomiting.

"Your Majesty, you worry too much. I'm just worried that if I don't do something well when I enter the palace, it will be a loss of face for the Marquisate."

"How could that be?"

Jing Beian's inquiring eyes made Qiu Xuan very uncomfortable. She subconsciously gathered her hair bun. The hairpin inserted there was sharpened by her so that it could be used to pierce her throat.

Ever since she knew Jing Beian was a fake, she had started preparing these little things. If she hadn't been entering the palace today, she would have definitely brought her knife with her.

"I heard from my fourth brother that when Madam was studying at the Imperial College, she was proficient in the Six Arts."

Dear Youan!

Qiu Xuan was puzzled. How could the old lady, a suspicious and cautious person, give birth to such a loud-mouthed son?

"You competed in archery and won six consecutive games."

"Just fooling around in my spare time." Qiu Xuan took a serious note of Jing Youan and planned to go back to report him to Sanniang.

"It seems that you really have the ability to avoid everyone and go to the princess's courtyard..."

"What are you talking about, my Lord? You don't think the bows used in the Imperial Academy are the same two-stone bows used by soldiers at the border, do you?" Qiu Xuan smiled, covering his face with his sleeves. "They're just ceremonial light bows, with less than six points of force."

It's ironic to say that the children of aristocratic families who entered the Imperial College had no interest in studying at all, and just spent their days socializing and wasting time.

"Six powers?" Jing Beian laughed out loud, "It's so weak."

There were also those with good skills, who usually worked as hawks and dogs. They could not stay in the Imperial Academy for more than a few days before joining the Yulin Guard.

Jing Bei'an seemed very interested in Qiu Xuan and asked excitedly, "You were also a study partner. Are you still on speaking terms with the princess?"

Qiu Xuan was annoyed by the shaking carriage and just wanted to end this meaningless temptation as soon as possible.

"Princess Ningjia's marriage will pass through Liangzhou, where the Marquis is stationed. Doesn't the Marquis know about this?"

"Of course I don't know. After all, I'm pretending to be Jing Beian."

The carriage suddenly stopped and there was a burst of noise outside, which just diluted the stiff and cold atmosphere inside the carriage.

A beggar, squeezed into the middle of the road by the crowd, bumped into the carriage of the Marquis of Yunyang. She pleaded in an accent unfamiliar to Qiu Xuan, while the child beside her cried breathlessly. Jing Beian's men, also speaking in an unfamiliar dialect, whispered a few words, then laughed and reached out to pull the child away.

The child's crying became even more miserable.

"Tell your people not to make things difficult for them." Qiu Xuan couldn't help but say to Jing Beian, "Letting them go is a difficult fate for them."

Jing Beian smiled. He leaned forward and said something to his men. One of them took out a few pieces of silver from his pocket and threw them into the beggar's arms. Then he picked her and the child up and threw them to the side of the road.

The carriage continued to sway forward, and Qiu Xuan had to return to the conversation just now.

"Pretending," Fake Jing Bei'an raised his chin provocatively, "wasn't that what you were talking about the other day?"

Then you really wronged my mother, she didn't tell me anything.

"What is your purpose in pretending to be Jing Beian?"

"Everything is arranged by His Highness the Fourth Prince."

Qiu Xuan almost laughed when she heard this, thinking that this was a good excuse. After all, she couldn't go to the Fourth Prince to confirm it.

However, Qiu Xuan was very skeptical whether the Fourth Prince had such an idea.

"I say, aren't you curious about other things? Don't you have anything you want to ask me?" Fake Jing Beian looked eager to try.

"Who are you?" Qiu Xuan asked softly.

"Well," the fake Jing Beian sighed awkwardly, "Just treat me as Jing Beian. After all, it's certified by the court, and endorsed by the Fourth Prince himself."

Qiuxuan finally understood the look of disgust and headache on Ningjia's face every time he mentioned his younger brother.

Impersonating the heir of the Marquisate... Qiu Xuan thought, the Yunyang Marquisate is now just an empty shell. Even if this happened when her mother-in-law was young, the Queen Mother couldn't save Jiang Jue, at least a beating would be inevitable.

Jing Beian stopped pestering Qiuxuan with questions.

It's hard to say whether it was intentional or not, but when he lifted the carriage curtain, he saw the neighborhood where the Qiu Mansion was located outside the window. People were already living there, and a well-dressed servant came out from the corner door, using a broom to drive away the beggars kneeling there.

When did so many beggars appear in Dadu?

"I heard that everyone in your family died?" Jing Beian looked at Qiu Xuan expectantly.

The osmanthus tree in my mother's yard has grown over the wall and is growing vigorously in the sunshine.

"Not everyone died," Qiu Xuan smiled. "I'm still here, right?"

Seeing home means we are not far from the palace, Qiu Xuan thought with a smile.

Just after noon, pedestrians on the street looked hurried and carefully avoided teams of patrolling soldiers.

There is not much change in front of the palace gate. The red palace walls and the white jade avenue complement each other in the sunlight. When you get closer, you can even smell the scent of fresh paint.

"Marquis Yunyang, please get out of the car."

Qiu Xuan waited in the carriage for a while, but instead of waiting for the carriage to pass, the guards came and asked her to get off for inspection.

When did the inspection at the palace gate become so strict?

The palace maid in charge of examining Qiu Xuan looked very familiar. Before she could remember who she was, her attention was drawn to Jing Beian.

He took out a sword and handed it to the guard.

Qiu Xuan had clearly been traveling with him all the way, but she didn't notice the sword at all. Did he hide it on purpose?

"I'm used to living at the border." He said and winked at Qiu Xuan.

He did it on purpose, Qiu Xuan was very sure.

"Please follow me." After the inspection, the young eunuch waiting nearby came forward to lead the way for them.

The eunuch walked very quickly and when he turned the corner, Qiu Xuan understood the reason.

"You're here."

The fourth prince Jiang Jue grabbed Jing Beian's arm and hurriedly took two quick steps with him and walked away.

The Fourth Prince didn't see Qiu Xuan, but fortunately his eunuch did.

"Your Highness the Fourth Prince has important matters to discuss with Marquis Yunyang. Madam, please follow me."

"Thank you."

The eunuch took Qiu Xuan and walked to a position where they could not hear the conversation between the two people in front.

Unfortunately, Jiang Jue was too excited, and only a few words floated over as he stomped his feet and clenched his fists.

"Fei Fei...", "Throwing a tantrum...", "You're talking about her!"

Jing Beian was really quick-witted. Qiu Xuan sighed that if he had covered Jiang Jue's mouth a step later, the entire palace would have known that Princess Feifei was pregnant.

Walking further, he could already see other courtiers and relatives attending the palace banquet. Jiang Jue couldn't bear to pester Jing Beian with questions anymore, so he finally saw Qiu Xuan.

"Who is this?"

"When I disappeared, my mother found a wife for me in order to pray for my well-being."

"Oh, that's right, that's right." Jiang Jue's mind was full of Feifei's affairs, and it seemed that he didn't hear what Jing Beian said at all.

He glanced at Qiu Xuan perfunctorily, but then froze.

"You look familiar to me..."