Soon, Zhu Jiayu's carriage disappeared into the thick of the night. She returned to Chunshan Residence, washed up, and was about to go to bed when Lüzheng brought in a letter.
She rubbed her throbbing temples and asked Lüzheng, "Where did it come from?"
Green Kite glanced down at the envelope, presented it to her mistress with both hands, and replied, "It was sent from Yujing. It seems that the investigation into the matter between the Marquis of Kaiping's mansion and the Qi family, which you ordered, has yielded some results."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Jiayu took the envelope, bent down and used her dagger to remove the sealing wax, then took out the letter. She quickly scanned the contents of the letter, and her expression gradually became serious, but there was also a hint of mockery in her seriousness.
Green Kite couldn't help but ask, "Miss, what's wrong? Is something amiss?"
Zhu Jiayu chuckled and handed her the letter: "You'll see when you take a look."
Green Kite took the letter with trepidation and read it word by word, her expression growing increasingly puzzled: "The old lady of the Kaiping Marquis's mansion is also surnamed Qi, but her family suffered a great upheaval, and only one male surviving member was fortunate enough to survive? Miss, what does this mean?"
"What I mean is that our cousin Qi is not some distant nephew of my maternal grandmother. His real great-aunt is someone else, namely the old lady of the Kaiping Marquis's mansion in Yujing." As Zhu Jiayu spoke, the mockery in her eyes grew stronger.
She thought that the old lady had given up on the idea because she hadn't made any moves for so long, but she never expected that she would secretly bring over the young master of the Marquis's mansion.
Therefore, this young master wasn't simply passing through Heling and wanting to experience the local customs, as he claimed, and thus stayed at the Qiu residence. His true purpose was likely to assess the character of his great-aunt, his future granddaughter-in-law. He certainly had a well-thought-out plan.
Zhu Jiayu thought for a moment and said, "Don't tell anyone about this, especially not my older cousins. They must not find out."
Being able to establish a connection with the Marquis of Kaiping's family was indeed a rare and valuable opportunity for the official families of Heling. Furthermore, people naturally strive for higher positions, and even though she trusted her cousins, she wouldn't dare to easily test their character in the face of such a huge temptation.
Ultimately, this matter only concerns her and Madam Qiu, and she doesn't want any more people to get involved.
However, since Qi Xiuyuan is Madam Fan's eyes and ears, things will be easier. She will naturally have a hundred ways to make Qi Xiuyuan understand that she cannot marry into the Fan family. If the Fan family dares to use any means to force her into the family, then they should be prepared for the joyous occasion to turn into a tragedy.
She yawned, got up, placed the letter on the candle and lit it. Only after the snow-white letter had turned to ashes did she turn around and lazily say to Lüzheng, "It's getting late, you should go and rest."
Green Kite agreed, bowed her head, and withdrew.
Zhu Jiayu blew out the lamp by the bedside, lay down on the bed fully clothed, and thought of Qi Xiuyuan, Old Madam Qiu, and the Kaiping Marquis's Mansion in Yujing. She could no longer fall asleep and stayed awake all night until dawn before finally giving up and drifting off to sleep.
The next day, Zhu Jiayu woke up early and went to find Qiu Boyan.
Previously, she was unsure of Qi Xiuyuan's identity and didn't interfere much in Qiu Boyan's feelings for him. But now that she knew Qi Xiuyuan was not a good man, she naturally couldn't just watch Qiu Boyan step into a fire pit.
Qiu Boyan got up early to brew tea and water the flowers. She was the simplest girl in the Qiu family, without much scheming. She just wanted to live a quiet and peaceful life in her own courtyard, unlike Qiu Lingyan who loved excitement, or Qiu Mingyan who was ambitious.
As Zhu Jiayu entered the courtyard, she smelled a fragrant aroma of tea, which was slightly bitter followed by a hint of sweetness. However, she was not an expert in this field, and even though she could see the tea leaves and the tea soup, she could not tell what kind of tea Qiu Boyan had brewed.
Qiu Boyan didn't expect her to come, and she didn't dare to get too close to Zhu Jiayu, but thinking about what happened at the Ji family last time, she thought her cousin Ayu was very interesting, so she smiled at her and asked her what kind of tea and snacks she liked.
Zhu Jiayu smiled slightly and said, "I'm not picky. I'll eat whatever tea and snacks my cousin prepares. I'm here today to see my cousin about something. I wonder if my cousin is free?"
Qiu Boyan naturally expected that she had something to ask her. Several days had passed since her aunt's birthday banquet, and during this time, Ayu had not come to see her. Her sudden appearance today could not possibly be to reconnect with her.
She took out a plate of mung bean cakes, a plate of peach blossom rolls, and a box of begonia pastries from a small drawer and placed them in front of Zhu Jiayu, saying, "When you have time, what did Ayu want to talk to me about?"
Zhu Jiayu said, "It's about my cousin Qi. A few days ago, my cousin said she was interested in him, and I kept an eye on it. Afterwards, I went to find out more, and guess what?"
She picked up the mung bean cake, took a bite, chewed and swallowed it before continuing, "It turns out his family had already arranged a marriage for him. I couldn't bear to see my cousin's love go to waste, and I wanted you to cut your losses in time, so I rushed to find you."
Upon hearing this, Qiu Boyan's eyelashes trembled slightly. After a moment of distraction, she smiled and said, "I saw that my cousin looked very serious just now, and I thought something was wrong, but I didn't expect it to be just this. I understand, cousin, you don't need to worry about me."
Zhu Jiayu nodded and continued eating the mung bean cake in her hand, occasionally glancing at her furtively.
Although the reason she and Qiu Boyan fabricated—that Qi Xiuyuan was engaged—was rather clumsy, she really couldn't think of any effective way to make Qiu Boyan give up on Qi Xiuyuan in a short time.
But it was still a bit risky. If these words reached Qi Xiuyuan's ears, they would quickly fall apart. So she still had to find a way to make Qi Xiuyuan reluctantly accept this fictitious marriage.
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