Mad Queen Leaves the Palace

As noon approached, the sun grew increasingly intense. At this time, Xiao Lan and Jiang Xiuzhi's conversation was drawing to a close. After some discussion, they decided to board the carriage together and speed towards the renowned Chunfeng Tower.

There were two carriages for the trip, and Wu Yuyu had originally been eager to share one with Jiang Xiuzhi and Xiao Lan. However, Xiao Lan was preoccupied with the shocking gossip she had just heard from Jiang Xiuzhi about her second uncle, Jiang Chang'an. She couldn't wait to share this news with her brother, Xiao Mu'an. Therefore, faced with Wu Yuyu's enthusiastic invitation, Xiao Lan quickly and politely declined, saying, "Oh, Yuyu, don't be in such a hurry! Come stay at my Xiao residence tonight, and we sisters will have plenty of time to talk. Right now, you should spend more time with your aunt and uncle."

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuyu bit her lip tightly, her heart filled with resentment and unwillingness. However, when she looked up at Xiao Lan, she found his gaze unusually firm, showing no intention of backing down. Helpless, Wu Yuyu knew she could no longer force the issue, so she slowly nodded, indicating her agreement to go to the carriage belonging to the General's Mansion.

Just then, Wu Yuyu walked heavily toward the carriage, turning back every few steps. With each step, one could almost hear the sighs and sorrows deep within her heart. Finally, she reached the carriage, and the driver quickly lowered the footboard and helped her into the carriage. Once inside, Wu Yuyu gently sat on the soft cushion, not bothering to speak to Wu De and Jiang Xiuzhi, her gaze blankly fixed on the scenery outside the window, her thoughts already drifting far away.

Meanwhile, seeing Wu Yuyu obediently board the carriage, Xiao Lan finally breathed a long sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. Then, like a cheerful little bird, she lightly skipped to another carriage. Once inside, she eagerly sat down next to Xiao Mu'an, then lowered her voice and said mysteriously, "Big brother, I have something to tell you, I guarantee it will shock you!" As she spoke, her eyes gleamed with excitement, and she began to vividly recount the astonishing gossip…

"Brother, guess what! What Auntie just told me will absolutely shock you!" Xiao Lan looked at Xiao Mu'an with a beaming smile, her smile as sweet as honey. Normally, Xiao Lan wasn't particularly fond of gossip, but what happened with Jiang Chang'an was just too explosive. She felt that keeping it to her brother until tonight would be torture. So, at this moment, she couldn't wait to share this earth-shattering secret with her closest brother.

Xiao Mu'an frowned slightly, lightly tapping Xiao Lan's head with his folding fan, feigning anger as he said, "Good sister, stop teasing me! What did your aunt tell you? Tell me the truth, or I'll punish you with family rules!" Although he was threatening Xiao Lan, he was secretly very curious about what news could make his usually composed sister so excited. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder why, despite both of them inquiring with their maternal grandfather and aunt, he had gotten nothing. This little girl, however, had only spent an hour with her aunt in the west wing and already knew everything. It seemed his sister was truly favored by his uncle and aunt!

“Brother! You’ll never believe it! We always thought that Yao’s marriage to Uncle was a stroke of good fortune for the Jiang family, a real stroke of luck for them! Who would have thought that after all this commotion, we’d find out that Uncle already had a girl he loved all along! That woman’s surname is Zeng, the Aunt Zeng you mentioned. It’s really surprising, really. If it weren’t for some mishaps, Aunt Zeng would almost have become our Second Uncle’s wife! What’s more, Aunt Zeng never married! Later, our Aunt even went to see the rumored son. And what she found was astonishing—the child looked exactly like Uncle when he was young! If you didn’t know it was our cousin, no one would believe it! When I heard this news, my heart was pounding so hard I had to run over to tell you this in secret!” Xiao Lan said excitedly to her brother in a low voice, afraid that others would overhear.

"Wow, that's amazing! But something doesn't seem right. Zeng Nianjing is about the same age as my cousin. Could it be that my second uncle... Oh dear, that's so immoral!" Xiao Mu'an was momentarily at a loss for words to accurately describe what was on his mind.

At this moment, Xiao Lan chimed in, "It is indeed very immoral, but it's not our Jiang family that's immoral, it's the Yao family."

Hearing this, Xiao Mu'an was stunned. He asked, his face full of confusion, "What does this mean? I'm completely confused. Weren't we just talking about Second Uncle and Aunt Zeng? How did we suddenly get to the Yao family? If we're talking about the Yao family being shameless, the only thing they did was get Jiang Zhuzhu engaged. Could it be that Second Uncle's matter is also related to the Yao family?" The more he thought about it, the more unbelievable it seemed. He stared wide-eyed at Xiao Lan, eager to get an answer from his sister.

The relationship between my second uncle and Aunt Zeng was truly tumultuous. In fact, long ago, my second uncle and Aunt Zeng had developed feelings for each other, but unfortunately, Aunt Zeng was the descendant of a disgraced official, a status that became an insurmountable obstacle in their love. My maternal grandmother vehemently opposed the relationship, her attitude exceptionally firm. However, the power of love made my second uncle decide to disregard everything; he had already planned to elope with Aunt Zeng. But who could have imagined that my second uncle, who had been frail and sickly since childhood, would be discovered and captured before they could even leave Shaozhou City?

Upon learning of this, the maternal grandmother, though furious, out of consideration for family ties, ultimately gave Zeng Da Niang a sum of money, demanding that she leave this place and have no further contact with her second uncle. Meanwhile, the second uncle, due to the failed elopement and his own poor health, fell ill and was bedridden for nearly three months. During this time, despite his deep reluctance, he was forced by his maternal grandmother to marry Yao.

Later, Yao became pregnant and gave birth to Jiang Zhuzhu. According to accounts at the time, Jiang Zhuzhu was born prematurely. However, upon closer examination, if she wasn't premature, then the child's birth date seems somewhat inconsistent with the timeline.

"Why doesn't it match up?" Xiao Mu'an asked, puzzled.

Xiao Lan shook her head helplessly, sighing inwardly, "Sigh, I still have to explain all this physiological knowledge to my brother!" She cleared her throat and slowly began to speak to her brother, "Brother, you should have heard of the saying 'ten months of pregnancy,' right? Simply put, after a man and woman get married, it takes at least ten months for the woman to give birth, and this date is usually not too far off. However, our second uncle and Yao Shi only got married seven months ago, and Jiang Zhuzhu was born. At the time, Yao Shi's reason was that she accidentally fell, which caused premature birth. Theoretically speaking, there is indeed a possibility that a fall could cause premature birth, but generally speaking, premature babies, because they haven't stayed in the mother's womb for a full ten months, will more or less have some congenital deficiencies. The most common manifestations are either that they are small and weak, or that they have some kind of illness. But strangely enough, when I asked my aunt later, I found that Jiang Zhuzhu didn't have any of these conditions at all!"

At this point, Xiao Lan frowned, lost in thought. The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she felt, and continued, "It's because of this that I've started to suspect that Jiang Zhuzhu might not actually be my cousin! Otherwise, why would a family of Yao's status willingly marry their eldest daughter to the Jiang family's second son, who has a slight disability? There must be some secret behind this! However, we can't just speculate; we need to find a reliable person to investigate thoroughly!"

"Sister, are you sure about this? This is no small matter." Xiao Mu'an sighed. If this matter hadn't happened, her second aunt was usually quite good to her and her sister. She wasn't stingy either. But if it was true, it wouldn't be so easy to resolve, and if the Yao family found out, the situation would be even more serious. Xiao Mu'an wondered if her sister was just too angry about the Yao family's engagement to Jiang Zhuzhu, which was why she said that. But then she thought, her sister wasn't the kind of woman who would make trouble out of nothing. If she said that, there must be some basis for it; if she only suspected it, she would never tell her.

Xiao Lan knew that reasoning alone wouldn't cut it; she had to find someone to investigate the Yao family. If Jiang Zhuzhu truly wasn't a member of the Jiang family, she had to be expelled. Thinking this, Xiao Lan said to Xiao Mu'an, "Brother, my reasoning is sound. We only heard that Yao was in love with Second Uncle and wanted to marry him, but thinking about it carefully, Second Uncle doesn't have much talent, his health isn't good, the Jiang family isn't much wealthier than the Yao family, and he's not the eldest son, so he won't be the head of the family in the future. Think about it carefully now, doesn't it all make sense? And I also learned something from Aunt. Second Uncle discovered that Zeng Da Niang hadn't left Shaozhou and even wrote her a letter, but somehow Yao found out. Yao, disregarding Second Uncle's illness at the time, returned..." She'd been staying at her parents' house for over half a year, bringing Jiang Zhuzhu with her. After talking with her aunt today, the more they talked, the more something seemed off. She'd only asked her aunt about these things; her aunt probably hadn't realized it yet. She shouldn't make a fuss. They should wait until they had solid evidence before telling their mother.” Xiao Lan also thought this was true, but all the signs indicated that Jiang Zhuzhu wasn't Jiang Chang'an's biological daughter. But thinking about it, it made sense. Jiang Zhuzhu didn't resemble Jiang Chang'an at all. Before, everyone thought she was beautiful, inheriting the best features from both parents. But if you looked closely at her features, besides seeing Yao Shi's resemblance, she didn't resemble Jiang Chang'an at all. Xiao Lan sighed. Such a huge oversight, and no one in the Jiang family had noticed it in her previous life. Fortunately, in this life, Jiang Zhuzhu's marriage to Gu Sanlang had planted a seed of discrepancy, causing a family division, the emergence of Zeng Nianjing, and the discovery of their contradictory parentage.

Just then, Xiao Mu'an listened to what Xiao Lan said and fell into deep thought. After pondering it carefully, he sighed to himself, "Alas, it seems that I know too little! I didn't expect that just from my sister chatting with others, she could discover that my cousin's background is problematic."

However, despite this, Xiao Mu'an tried his best to remain calm and suppressed his surprise, asking Xiao Lan, "Now that we are both in the capital, should I return to Shaozhou to investigate further?" In truth, Xiao Mu'an's thought was quite simple and direct. He knew he wouldn't participate in the palace examination until next year, and had plenty of free time before then. If it was truly necessary to return to Shaozhou to investigate, he could go himself. After all, in comparison, Xiao Lan not only had a heavy workload of studies but also had to help manage the family business, so she certainly wouldn't have much free time to leave the capital for Shaozhou.

More importantly, one of the reasons Xiao Mu'an came to the capital from Shaozhou was to escape the troublesome Cui Jiuhan. Whether he was in the capital or Shaozhou made little difference to him. Besides, given Cui Jiuhan's status, even if he wanted to harm him, he probably wouldn't openly pursue him to Shaozhou. After all, Xiao Mu'an was the eldest grandson of the esteemed Marquis Xiao. Even if his father's official position wasn't particularly prominent, that status alone was enough to deter Cui Jiuhan, no matter how audacious, from openly attacking him.

"No need, brother. You should focus on your studies in the capital. The imperial examination is next June, which is only a month away. Investigating this kind of thing requires people from the martial arts world. I'm planning to ask Uncle Lin and the Fifth Prince for help," Xiao Lan said. Her brother was too naive; she wondered what he was thinking, a scholar investigating a case. She didn't want him to get involved before the matter was cleared up. The Yao family's actions were so dirty; what if they found out her brother was investigating this matter...? Suddenly, Xiao Lan remembered the fire at the Jiang family's old mansion in her past life. She had always thought it was the Ye family who did it, but before she died in her past life, she had seen Ye Lanyi. She had almost killed her, but she hadn't admitted to setting the fire. However, she had admitted that she had caused the loss of her child. So, her maternal grandfather had no enemies, and the fire wasn't set by the Ye family. Could it be that the Jiang family had discovered Jiang Zhuzhu's secret, and so...? Xiao Lan didn't dare to think further. She just gave Xiao Mu'an a few more instructions, thinking that she would ask Yan Nan about the Yao family's situation when she met him tomorrow, and then make further plans. After all, I'm just a poor student now, with no money or power, and I can only rely on my friend when necessary.