Chapter 258 - The Family Affair of Marquis Boling’s Mansion

Before Daiguo Grand Princess answered, Jian Xubai, who hadn’t spoken since he came in, chuckled lightly and said with a casual air, “In fact, although what you said just now does make sense, you still failed to mention one possibility. That is, it was a deceptive trick of a thief crying ‘Stop thief‘!”

He raised his hand to stop Daiguo Grand Princess from flaring up. “Aunt, please allow me to elaborate!”

“If you can’t elaborate on it clearly, don’t blame me for not showing respect for your mother!” Daiguo Grand Princess looked at him coldly for a moment and then said sternly. “Your mother always indulges you but I just won’t allow a junior to act presumptuously!”

“Actually, this matter is very simple. Even if Miss Jiang walked to Cousin Mingfei’s room on her own, she went there definitely not to meet him,” Jian Xubai just smiled at his aunt’s threat and then touched the tea bowl casually, saying. “It was not necessarily the case that Cousin Mingfei wanted to affront her. You know, Miss Jiang had walked into the room at that time. No offense. Miss Jiang is only a weak woman. Did Cousin Mingfei need to lock the door so as to keep her in the room? If he directly pretended to be drunk instead without locking the door, he could still be able to see things somewhat clearly then. Why did he have to do that and make everybody suspect him of setting Miss Jiang up?”

He hedged and squinted his eyes, saying with a spurious smile, “So they must have been set up!”

“This is quite obvious!” Daiguo Grand Princess sneered. “You have talked so much. And that’s the stupid conclusion you’ve finally got?”

Jian Xubai responded, “Aunt, calm down. Please allow me to say more. Since these two people have fallen into a trap, the ringleader must be one of those people whom they have offended before. The problem is that Cousin Mingfei has been wandering outside and tends to mess with villains. If only he was framed, there would be a lot of options. However, Miss Jiang has been raised in her boudoir since she was young. According to my wife, Miss Jiang is a virtuous and elegant lady, who never bears any grudge against others. Allow me to ask the question to you all now. How many people will frame her?”

He said that Ji Mingfei often wandered outside and thus tended to mess with villains. It was certainly a euphemistic saying for the sake of Ji Mingfei’s respect. In fact, due to Ji Mingfei’s kinky hobby, almost all the aristocrats in the imperial capital were directly or indirectly pissed off by him. If it were not for the power of Daiguo Grand Princess and Marquis Fuyang as well as the fact that Ji Mingfei and Ji Zifu were the only two male descendants of the young generation of the Ji Family, Ji Mingfei would have been killed! As a saying went, a thing was valued if it was rare. Even if he was always good-for-nothing, he must be kept alive then.

Everybody knew that and wouldn’t lay it bare on the surface.

However, Jian Xubai mentioned that Jiang Muting shouldn’t have any enemies given her temperament. By “you all”, he seemed to imply something.

Jiang Yin, the father of Jiang Muting, pondered slightly and then said with a long face, “Your Highness, you mean we’ve offended others outside and thus implicated our womenfolk?”

“I can’t think of any other reason to explain why the guests of Aunt Daiguo specially locked Miss Jiang and Cousin Mingfei in one room than this reason.” Jian Xubai was satisfied with his cooperation and put the tea bowl back. Then he looked at Daiguo Grand Princess sitting in the seat of honor. “Aunt, as you mentioned before, no matter how the Jiang Family indulges their daughter, they can’t sacrifice the whole family’s prospect for a daughter’s marriage. Therefore, I guess you wouldn’t scheme against Miss Jiang just in order to stop them from supporting the Crown Prince, for you would only piss off the Jiang Family instead of achieving your goal, right?”

Daiguo Grand Princess sneered and said, “You have been listening. Do you even need to ask me?”

“In that case, you are innocent so the most likely suspect must be the one who Lord Jiang and Cousin Mingfei both have offended before. As to whether such a person exists or how many there are such people, I don’t know either,” Jian Xubai laughed and said. “The problem is, Miss Jiang was coaxed into going into Cousin Mingfei’s room under the guise of Xuepei. That is, the ringleader has angered three parties. Aunt, today is your birthday and this is your place. Your nephew and guest have suffered wrong. How can you not hate the ringleader?”

“As for Lord Jiang’s family, we don’t even talk about it. A decent lady has suffered wrong like that. Even if Cousin Mingfei didn’t offend Miss Jiang and what happened today may not be spread, how can they not want to seek justice for her?”

“The third party is certainly Xuepei. Now that the Crown Prince attaches great importance to Xuepei, which is known to all, offending Xuepei is equal to pissing off the Eastern Palace in some sense!”

He asked calmly, “I wonder now who is bold enough to do that!”

Suddenly a deadly silence just descended on the warm chamber.

The current political power was generally divided into four parties: the Eastern Palace, Prince of Wei, Prince of Zhao, and the rest of the people who were on the sidelines, took a neutral stand or just were not qualified to take part in the political struggle.

Prince of Wei and Prince of Zhao had a covenant. According to Jian Xubai’s analysis, the ringleader offended all except the fourth party. However, the reason was only the incident that an unmarried lady was romantically involved with a single dissolute childe!

Who would do such a fruitless thing?

Jiang Yin was silent for a while and then raised the question, “Your Highness, please advise who did this matter?!”

“Xuepei planned to choose a woman as his wife a few days ago. I suppose you must have heard of it?” Jian Xubai answered with a question.

“Of course.” Jiang Yin was slightly stunned and nodded his head. If he didn’t know it, how could he allow his daughter to stay in Cuihua Mountain and meet Yuan Xuepei?

“But you don’t know that Xuepei’s action has displeased the seniors of his family!” Jian Xubai said meaningfully. “As far as I know, Elder Lady Tu and Madam Liang, aka, Xuepei’s step-grandmother and aunt, always hope that Xuepei can choose among the nieces of Madam Liang’s maiden family as his wife, but Xuepei declined the suggestion!”

Jiang Yin was slightly shocked. “You mean my daughter was mistaken by Elder Lady Tu when she went to visit Marquis Boling?!”

He rarely associated with the Yuan Family, but they were both in the imperial capital. Hence, he did hear something about the situation in Marquis Boling’s mansion. There was mutual mistrust between Yuan Xuepei, the current Marquis Boling and his stepgrandmother, Elder Lady Tu, which was not a secret. Otherwise, why would Yuan Xuepei have sent his sister to his blood grandmother’s mansion–Prince of Hengshan’s mansion before he headed towards Wuhuan to gain merits?

By reason, Yuan Xue’e should be raised by Elder Lady Tu!

Just judging from Yuan Xuepei’s move, it could be seen that he not only distrusted Elder Lady Tu but also kept strict vigilance over her.

Besides, he was captured by Wuhuan less than half a year after he went out to battle. Back then, the second master, aka, Elder Lady Tu’s birth son, immediately moved back into the Marquis’s mansion with his whole family on the excuse of condoling Elder Lady Tu, as if taking the Marquis’s mansion as his own home. If they didn’t fear Prince of Hengshan’s mansion and Yuan Xuepei was only captured instead of being killed, they would move to the main hall!

After Yuan Xuepei came back, he drove out the family in less than two months. After that, he even detained Elder Lady Tu in her own yard on the excuse that she should take a good rest for having done so much for him over the past years. This old lady even had to ask for her stepgrandson’s approval if she wanted to meet her son and grandson, let alone interfere with the affairs in the mansion.

“In fact, when Xuepei just came back, Elder Lady Tu had talked to him about marrying a daughter of the Liang Family,” Jian Xubai said gently. “It was not surprising. The late Marquis Boling, I mean Xuepei’s grandfather, specially chose Elder Lady Tu who was from a poor family, simply out of the concern that his original wife’s son could be maltreated. Even though the late Marquis Boling helped the Tu Family for their relationship, the Tu Family’s foundation was too weak to make any satisfying progress when the late Marquis Boling passed away.”

In this case, “Xuepei’s second uncle is mediocre and only the son of a second wife, who is not qualified to inherit the title of marquis. His mother’s family is not outstanding either. Hence, he was surely no match for Xuepei’s father when it came to his marriage. As a result, Xuepei’s aunt, Madam Liang is only a daughter of a fifth-rank officer. The Tu Family and the Liang Family are not only mediocre but also emotionally distant from Xuepei. As Xuepei grows older, it is evitable that they intend to bury the hatchet with him through marriage!”

Jiang Yin believed that Yuan Xuepei was out of his daughter’s league but for Elder Lady Tu and Madam Liang, a hereditary marquis, even with disability in legs, was still worth their efforts!

So when Jiang Muting met Yuan Xuepei privately, how could they not think that she got in their way to wealth!

After all, Yuan Xuepei was on bad terms with these two seniors. How could he tell them his private affairs?

Even if he told them, they might not believe it.

To say the least, even if they believed it, they wouldn’t be relieved. Jiang Muting was not only beautiful and talented with a good family status but also in deep love with Yuan Xuepei. Who could resist such temptation?

Even if Yuan Xuepei declined it now, how long could he insist?

At the thought of it, the Jiang Family’s face blushed and then turned pale. They subconsciously looked at Daiguo Grand Princess. It was not strange that Jian Xubai knew about Yuan Xuepei’s family affairs given their close relationship. On the contrary, Daiguo Grand Princess, the political enemy of Jian Xubai and Yuan Xuepei, also had the reason to pry into that.

After all, Elder Lady Tu and Madam Liang were not from any influential family. Their greatest dream was probably taking charge of Marquis Boling’s mansion. Even if they had the guts, how could they be capable of making underhand moves at the birthday banquet of Daiguo Grand Princess?

No wonder Jian Xubai said that this matter was a deceptive trick of a thief crying “Stop thief”!

Daiguo Grand Princess had seen through their thoughts. With her eyes getting colder, she was about to speak when Jian Xubai continued, “Actually, no offense. The priority at the moment is probably not to find out the truth and do Miss Jiang and Cousin Mingfei justice but to smooth things over today.”

He said, “After all, it is not rare that Cousin Mingfei left the banquet, but when Miss Jiang was found missing at the birthday banquet, the womenfolk seemed to have searched for her for a while? Even I heard of it while I was waiting for my wife outside!”

When the Jiang Family heard this, they all appeared angry, but after looking at each other, they nodded in the end. “Exactly. After all, the Tu Family and the Liang Family can’t run away. They must pay back for what happened today!”

“Wait a minute!” However, Daiguo Grand Princess sitting in the seat of honor, reluctant to pour oil on troubled waters like this, said with a sneer, “Xubai, good for you. You’ve just blame all the mistakes on me with a few words. And now you are being a nice person here? If today’s issue is not made clear, I will never let go!”