Real Empress from a Noble Family-Chapter 404 - Swapped in the Courtyard!
Chapter 404 Swapped in the Courtyard!
Two days later, the message came from He Shuijin and the others, saying that they had found the place where Qiu Qian and Mei Xue were being held and they had succeeded in buying over the guards. They asked Jiang Yashuang and his wife to superficially send someone to “kidnap” them so that the guards wouldn’t have to be blamed for that.
Jiang Yashuang sent some of his men and they were able to get them out easily. But…
After the two were “kidnapped” and settled in another courtyard, Su He, ordered by Qiu Yelan to go to comfort them, soon came back to Marquess’s Mansion to report, “Madame, we kidnapped the wrong people! Those two are not Miss Qiu and Miss Mei at all!”
Qiu Yelan was shocked and then furious, “Go to the third branch and ask what’s going on!”
At this time, they said that Jiang Tianao and Jiang Tianqi were so cunning that they made a fool of the daughters-in-law. Su He went to the third branch and asked He Shuijin. But they investigated for most of the day and returned with a suspicious message, “The two people who were kidnapped from the side yard by the people sent by the eldest uncle and my father-in-law are truly them. There is no lie!”
In other words, they had been swapped in the side yard!
Knowing that Qiu Yelan might not believe this, He Shuijin came over personally under the cover of her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law and explained to her face to face, “People sent by the eldest uncle and my father-in-law had never seen the two girls. They only knew that the two girls lived in the side yard. When they went there, they saw the two young women fully dressed and took them away directly. I have asked each of the men who are involved in the kidnapping and all of them have identified the two girls as the ones who lived in the side yard!”
She also suggested, “Perhaps we could question them about where they came from and who made them impersonate Miss Qiu and Miss Mei.”
Qiu Yelan laughed coldly, “I would like to question them, but Su He said that they couldn’t speak at all! I thought they were pretending to be deaf and mute, but when I ordered someone to torture them, I found out that the two uncles had ordered someone to cut out their tongues! When they were given ink and pen, they shook their heads. They couldn’t read either!”
He Shuijin was shocked, “The eldest uncle and my father-in-law should be too busy to go for interrogation these two days!”
“Do you want the two uncles to do the torture themselves?” Qiu Yelan asked coldly in return.
“I’ll go back and check again!” He Shuijin’s heart sank and she got up, “Our family members… We hope you to be generous and I’ll give you an explanation after all!”
Qiu Yelan said noncommittally, “What family members? What does it have to do with me?”
After sending away He Shuijin, Qiu Yelan called in a person, “Tell me what happened again!”
This man was one of the servants in the side yard where Qiu Qian and Mei Xue were put under house arrest before. When Jiang Tianao and Jiang Tianqi sent their henchmen to kidnap them, they killed almost all the guards in that side yard because they hated the fourth branch. This servant narrowly escaped with his life by hiding in the doghouse.
At this moment, he told the whole story in detail, and at the end of it, he had to cry and beg Qiu Yelan to do justice to him and his dead colleagues.
“Even if you don’t say this, we won’t spare the first branch and the third branch!” Qiu Yelan frowned and asked, “But there’s something wrong with the two people we have got back. Where do you think is the problem?”
The man was at a loss for words and he cautiously replied after a moment that since he was a manservant and the place he was responsible for cleaning was not the area where Qiu Qian and Mei Xue often lived, he really couldn’t say anything, “I saw those masked men entering the door, killing everyone on sight, and people in the side yard were defenseless and in great chaos. I didn’t know where the two ladies were and it was difficult to identify the direction in the night. So, I ran out of the side yard and then…”
“Masked men? How many?” Qiu Yelan suddenly felt a flash of light in her mind and asked.
The man hesitantly shook his head, “Sorry for my incompetence. I only heard the sounds of shouting and killing. I really do not know exactly how many people were there!”
“Well, you can go back now!” Qiu Yelan waved her hand and gestured for the apprehensive servant to leave. She turned to Mrs. Zhou, Su He, and others, “Do you think it is possible that Qiu Nie sent someone to hide in the men of the two uncles and took the two people away?”
Mrs. Zhou and Su He said at the same time, “Do you believe what the fourteenth madame said?”
“Her own brother is in our hands. Even though she has guessed that Yashuang wants to use this as a ploy to sow discord, his main purpose is to get back Qiu Qian and Mei Xue. If they don’t come back, we can’t give up!” Qiu Yelan thought, “It will be difficult not to punish those people at that time!”
After all, it was Jiang Yashuang who ordered the kidnapping and these days they were well fed and entertained. If there wasn’t an explanation for Qiu Qian and Mei Xue and they just sent them back… Wasn’t it funny?
Considering the face, Jiang Yashuang had no choice but to turn against them. Even if he didn’t kill some of them, he needed at least to let those people suffer so as to end the situation.
Since He Shuijin was smart, she certainly knew the reason.
And according to the surviving servant, the attack on the side yard took place late at night and the men were masked in black, which provided an opportunity for someone to fish in troubled waters!
“Send someone to check the neighborhood of the previous side yard to see if there are tenants who have suddenly moved out or changed recently.” Qiu Yelan pondered for a moment and ordered, “If it happened right at the side yard, it was most likely to be done by Qiu Nie! I don’t think he could let his henchmen hide on the two uncles’ sides, but I’m afraid that he has a nest near the side yard, keeping an eye on them. The two uncles’ actions gave him the opportunity to do so!”
They found it true. Su He came back in the evening and reported, “The house with three yards set at the southeast direction of the side yard is only at a distance of two streets. It is said that it was bought in the second half of last year. The new owner told the neighbors that the house would be used for the wedding. So, even though the house was still new, he still planned to renovate it before moving in. With this explanation, even though the neighbors often saw people coming and going and it sometimes had strange noise, they thought it was the craftsmen who were cleaning up. But in the past two days, the house was suddenly silent and so I asked someone to look for a place in the backyard and went inside. There were just some tools for cleaning inside but there were more signs showing many people used to live there!”
“Where are the people?”
“It’s empty!”
Qiu Yelan’s face turned ugly, “Keep searching!”
She had no intention of telling He Shuijin about this and she certainly had no intention of hiding it from her. So, the next day, He Shuijin also learned the news through her tracking of Su He and came to the door to sound her out, “It seems we’ve all been worrying for nothing! The eldest uncle and our father-in-law have been tricked too!”
“Maybe!” Qiu Yelan did not intend to form a deadly feud with the He Family and several other families and so he dropped hints while putting on airs, “But I only think the new owner of the mansion is suspicious. Whether it is or not, it’s not clear yet!”
The words sounded as if she was putting someone on spot, but in fact, it was a hint to He Shuijin that if she wanted the fourth branch to release the people, the current clues alone were not enough. There had to be more important and widely known evidence so that the fourth branch would not be perceived as a tiger’s head and a snake’s tail and that the confidence was not strong enough.
He Shuijin naturally understood this. When she returned to the third branch, she asked He, Shi, and Zhang to discuss the matter, “The people are very likely to be rescued by Qiu Nie. The problem is that not many people know about this now and if the fourth branch just let them go, it would be a shame! So…”
“They killed our husbands, kidnapped our maiden family, and now they want us to think about their face?” He and Zhang could still listen in silence, but Shi could not stand it anymore and sobbed in grief and anger, “There is no way to live like this!”
He Shuijin frowned, but then let go. She couldn’t blame Shi for saying that. She had lost her own son for some reason and now Jiang Yaqing also died. What else could she hope for in the future?
He Shuijin, He, and Zhang looked at each other, comforting Shi for a long time. When she saw that Shi was still in tears, He Shuijin let her maid, Juan, send her back to her room, “Since you are not feeling well, go back to your room and rest for a while. Let us take care of things here.”
When Shi left, the remaining mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law started to talk about business, deciding to describe Qiu Qian and Mei Xue’s escape from house arrest as Qiu Nie’s plot to kidnap. Jiang Tianao and Jiang Tianqi’s men happened to pass nearby and they intended to intercept them but failed because they were caught off guard.
As for those who were taken away by Jiang Yashuang, it was announced that they had gone to a faraway place for pleasure. They had sent their subordinates home to report this, but they had an accident and were unable to deliver the messages! This was how the “rumor” spread that the sons of the families had been abducted.
“That should be enough to cover it!” He Shuijin sighed after a long time of deep thought.
In fact, by this time, the fourth branch had already found more evidence that Qiu Qian and Mei Xue had indeed been rescued by Qiu Nie’s men. So, after a few more trips by He Shuijin, Jiang Yashuang ordered the sons and daughters who had gone out together “forpleasure” to be released. The families were relieved of their worries as they returned in good company!
After this matter, Sir Jibei and his party finally arrived in Jing City!
When they first entered Jing City, the first branch and the third branch could not resist the urge to meet them and ask them what was going on. However, Sir Jibei had sent a letter asking everyone not to greet him! When they returned to Marquess’s Mansion, things were to be told on the spot!
So, no matter what was in their minds, they had to gather outside Marquess’s Mansion and wait for it.
“How come you’ve lost so much weight?” Sir Jibei had said in his letter that he would bring someone to Marquess’s Mansion as soon as he entered Jing City to tell the truth. So, the people from Sir Jibei’s Mansion to greet him had to come first and wait together at the entrance of Marquess’s Mansion. Madame Ou, who was concerned about her husband, also arrived. Sir Jibei was much darker and thinner and he looked even ten years older than before. When Madame Ou saw Sir Jibei from afar, she could not help but frown and murmur softly, but then snapped out of it, “Two trueborn grandsons! Alas…”
Since Madame Ou could see how haggard and old Sir Jibei was, naturally the others could see it too. For a while, the atmosphere was a bit sorrowful.
“What are you all waiting for here?” When he reached the front, Sir Jibei glanced at the people, nodded slightly towards his old wife, jumped off his horse, and said indifferently, “Go in to talk!”
The crowd promised to move out of the way but did not move their feet. Their eyes all were looking at the group following behind his horse, especially Madam Zhuang, who had come deliberately to perform that the fourth branch knew nothing. Supported by Jiang Yashuang left and Qiu Yelan right, she saw Sir Jibei with eyes filled with tears and padded her feet, looking frequently at the several carriages at the back and asking in a trembling tone, “Where is my daughter? Where is my daughter? Where? My poor child!”
Jiang Qizheng was not dead. Sir Jibei had concealed this news before and it was even worse to say this in public. But now he was most concerned with pacifying the first branch and the third branch. So how could he be in the mood to pay attention to Madame Zhuang, who was in a position to take advantage of him? Therefore, without saying anything, he walked past her into Marquess’s Mansion!
It was Madame Ou who didn’t know what was going on. She came over to comfort Madame Zhuang in a low voice, “He definitely has brought her back. Since you’re at such an age, hold on! You still have Yadan, Yashuang, and grandchildren, don’t you?”
This immediately reminded Madame Zhuang, who had been playing the role of “a poor mother who lost her daughter”, and she was shocked, “Right! Where is Yadan? Why isn’t he back?”
Jiang Qizheng didn’t have to show up at the moment for Sir Jibei said that he would talk to her after he entered the mansion. Perhaps she would be allowed to show up then. But if Jiang Yadan came back, he should have leaped up to Madame Zhuang to pay his respects. But now the team that followed Sir Jibei back had almost all entered Marquess’s Mansion and there was no sign of Jiang Yadan!
Now even Jiang Yashuang and Qiu Yelan changed their expression, “You are right! Where is Brother Yadan? He shouldn’t have been left behind in Shazhou, should he?”
