Chapter 282 - The Truth of the Day
"Daughter, you have to be more careful. There are ears through the walls, don't let your grandmother notice that you are investigating her, otherwise, those people from back then are afraid of being silenced. Moreover, you should ask your father to send someone to protect Granny Huang well, do you understand?"
"It's still Mother who has thought of everything." An Qing Ran smiled.
In fact, she had also thought of it and had asked the Crown Prince to arrange for someone, but it was not easy to say.
Lian Jingyu asked her again how she had found Granny Huang. An Qing ran told her mother the truth, saying that the Crown Prince had helped.
Lian Jingyu thought about it and didn't say anything in the end, it was true, if it wasn't for the Crown Prince's help, how could she, a girl, go out looking for someone in the open, and she was so calm and collected that she only spoke to herself when things had come to this point, in short, she was happy once she thought about which of An Qing Ran's steps were justified.
In fact, it was a little early to say that.
An Qingran was telling her mother now for a purpose, mainly because she wanted her mother's help in investigating the maids and pozies who went to the countryside, mainly Madam Lan's little maids.
Madam Lan, is a concubine. Grandmother was carried in from the main door to the main house ( main wife), this, can not be wrong.
Soon there was news, Madam Lan's maid from back then came looking for her.
She was received by An Qingran and Lian Jingyu together, in a separate courtyard of the General's residence.
What was going on here could not reach the old Furen’s ears.
As soon as An Qingran entered the house, a granny in her sixties looked at her with some excitement, "It's too similar, it's too similar ......"
Saying that, she stood up and trembled and went forward, with excitement in her eyes: "You are ......"
"I am An Qingran ......" An Qingran saw her excitement but did not know reason, still smiled and replied.
The old granny nodded, "Why does it look so much like Madam Lan back then ......"
The old granny talked about what happened back then.
She had been aggrieved for so many years because she was the one who knew.
And she had waited for this day for so long that she didn't dare to forget about it, telling herself every day to recall every single thing that happened back then.
It turned out that forty years ago, there were two wives in the General's house, Shen Shi, the head Mistress and Lan Shi.
T N note: Here Lan Shi was called as Lan Furen but change as Madame. Both Shen Shi and Lan Shi are Furen. But Shen was married but Lan was first entered as concubine then became Furen , like Lian Jinrong here called Second Furen.
Lan Shi was delicate in appearance, kind-hearted and extremely gentle in character.
At that time, the General favoured Lan Shi and she had a high position in the house, only slightly lower than the main Mistress, and there was an intention of the old General to make her his equal wife(legal Furen).
It was a coincidence that she and the main Mistress were pregnant together that year. The old General thought that when the child was born, then he would establish her as a flat wife(Furen), which was the icing on the cake, but what was even more coincidental was that the two wives gave birth at the same time. That day, the weather was beautiful and the General's residence was full of joy. Lan Shi’s side had moved first, and then there was movement on the Mistress's side, while the old General had won a big battle and was on his way back from the border ......
The maid recalled that Madam Lan and the Mistress had had a movement together that day. When the old General returned to the house, news came from both houses that only the Main Mistress had given birth to a young master. But later on, it was said that Madam Lan's child had died at birth. The maid still found it strange at the time, Because the midwife who had delivered the baby went away, with joy on her face, and an ingot of gold in her hand. She wanted to go into the room, but she was the rough maid outside at the time, and she was not allowed to go in, she waited outside, and followed the joyfulness.
What happened next was very strange. The mistress of the house found many reasons to get rid of all the maids who were Madam Lan's personal attendants saying that they were not taking good care of her. Because she, rough maid was not close to her, so it was only after Madam Lan's death that she was sent back.
At that time, Madam Lan was crying day and night because her son had died. The old General always comforted her and took better care of her than he had done for his wife, but Madam Lan's health was getting worse every day. I don't know if the new arrivals are not serving her well, but Madam Lan is getting weaker and weaker every day. The General invited a doctor to see her, and the Mistress of the house was also anxious and personally went to find a doctor for her. But after drinking the medicine, she still didn't see any improvement, and finally coughed up black blood. Poor Madam Lan also died a year later, and when she died, her lips and fingernails were black, which the Mistress said was due to her excessive sadness, resulting in lung disease ......
An Qing Ran was listening to her incoherent speech and finally finished hearing her story. Her heart vaguely knows the rough idea, for the black lips and nails, no longer can be caused by lung disease, it should be poisoned.
"The doctor at the time was always invited by the mistress?" An Qingran asked again.
“Yes, At that time,the Mistress was very sad and stayed by Madame Lan's side every day, saying that as long as she was well, she would even be given the position of Matriarch, because the General would be happy only if Madame Lan was there.... But I don't know why, but then Madam Lan didn't want to see the Mistress, and whenever she came, she pretended to sleep ......"
An Qingran nodded: "Did the maid beside the Mistress also change?"
“Yes, The Mistress said that some of the maids had the identical destiny and collided with the young master's fate. so she replaced a large number of them, but considering how hard they served, she sent several large carriages to personally send them back to the countryside.Those who had homes went home and those who didn't were given arrangements by the Mistress and that is arrangement for marriages, anyway, everyone was very positive and complimentary about what the Mistress was doing at that time ......" Granny Zhang sighed after she finished speaking, as if she was thinking about something.
Because of the praise that was heaped on the Mistress at that time, there is a diversion of topic. Now when she thinks about it that was not so much.
Lian Jin Yu kept quiet during this process, she knew what her daughter was checking out. As this Granny Zhang spoke more and more, she had more and more to relate to about the situation back then.
Apart from anything else, just the birthmark, the midwife who delivered Madam Lan's baby was accurate, An Zhongtao was Madam Lan's son. Only then would it make sense why Shen Shi would use various pretences to get rid of the maids back then.
Her heart beat wildly at the thought of it, what would happen if Zhongtao knew the truth? That the mother to whom he had been dutiful for so many years was not his real mother. And it was most likely his mother's death that was caused by carrying him away. She could be considered an indirect murderer.
Whereas An Qing Ran thought otherwise, she felt that Shen Shi was the direct perpetrator and why Lan Shi was reluctant to see her afterwards, probably because she herself had understood the truth. It's just that she didn't know that her child was still alive in the world. If she had known, I'm afraid she would have fought back in the end, and it wouldn't have been like that mourning was greater than the death of her heart.
When Granny Zhang saw her ask such a detailed question, she had some insight in her mind: "Is it possible that Madam Lan's child was still alive back then? I had always thought about this in my heart, but I didn't think about it thoroughly at the time and I wasn't sure, so I didn't dare to tell Madam Lan. Madam Lan was extremely gentle and kind and the best master I had ever met in my life. After all these years, when I think of what happened back then, I still feel sorry for Madam Lan, that appearance, it is really rare on earth, just like you, girl, you are so much alike ......"
Granny Zhang said again that An Qing Ran looked like Madam Lan.
An Qing Ran's heart felt a surge of sorrow, that Madam Lan was most likely her own grandmother, and it was natural that she resembled her.
Dongnuang Pavilion.
Lian Jin Yu had been sitting there in a daze since she returned from the courtyard, this matter was too shocking. She didn't even know where her daughter had gotten the acumen to think that there was a conspiracy back then.
An Qing Ran also sat there trying to figure out what to do, knowing that the evidence of the midwife and Granny Zhang alone was not enough to support. Since one was Lan Shi's personal maid and the other was a midwife who attended her delivery, She could have denied it and condemned them, or she could have made a fuss. The General's House can't afford to have a scandal, and if her father is really not a first-born, it's really troublesome ......
She bit her lip and kept thinking about whether she should tell her father about this matter first.
Inside the General's residence, the outward appearance is calm, but no one knows that the raging undercurrents are about to emerge.
The old Furen is not feeling well again these days. Of course she was not happy either. None of the things were done neatly, and none of them went according to her wishes, but what could she do?
Seeing that An Zhongtao has no intention to adopt An Mingbo to the succession, while Chu Shi's making such a fuss, she herself is not in the mood. She is obviously fighting for them, but this has resulted in a lot of complaints, what does she want?
Fang Shi was just watching the play, but there was nothing to see these days, and she felt even more bored, and if her son hadn't been preparing for his exams, she wouldn't have been able to stay.
The good thing is that Sister Qiao is also the one who can relieve her heart. She serves her from time to time and is more useful than Shen Zhiyun who always runs to Qiuwu courtyard.
As she was thinking about it, Shen Zhiyun came running back mysteriously, "Mother, I found a strange phenomenon."
"What's the matter, making a fuss, where's the manner of a proper daughter?" Fang Shi said disgruntledly to her.
Shen Zhiyun caught her breath, "It's not even easy to get into Qiuwu courtyard now, For several days in a row, An Qingran is not in her courtyard, nor is she in the DongNuange, and she doesn't know what she's busy with, it's reasonable to say that the Crown Princess shouldn't be so mysterious."
"What's the matter, she's just going out for a walk, so what." Fang Shi didn't think so.
"When she goes out for a walk, why do the maids act like thieves and not let anyone into her courtyard?"
"That is not impossible, now she is the crown Princess, naturally to be different ...... you spend all day hanging out with her ...... is good. If she enters the palace and can find you a good marriage family, it will be considered that you were not trying to make her happy for nothing." Fang Shi has kind of figured it out.
She only thought her daughter was making a fuss, but in fact Shen Zhiyun had almost crashed into their secret.
Finally, An Qiang Ran arrived outside the Study, she walked in and came out after only an hour, coming out with a happy look on her face.
Night.
As expected, it was the first day of the month and it was very dark, but the palace lamps in the house glowed dimly, and there was a wind that picked up a chill.
It was the middle of summer, how could it be cold.
The old Madam sat up, "Miner, close the window ...... Miner?"
