Mad Queen Leaves the Palace

Chapter 116 Returning to Jiangnan for the New Year

The following January, a biting wind blew, and the Spring Festival was approaching, filling the world with a festive atmosphere. Xiao Mu'an and Xiao Lan carefully calculated the days and decided to embark on their return journey to Yuzhou City in a few days. This time, they chose to travel by carriage, firstly because the rivers in the north were frozen in winter, and secondly, to make a detour to Shaozhou to check on Xiao Lan's residence as a princess.

Back then, the emperor doted on Xiao Lan, not only bestowing upon her a generous fiefdom but also granting her the luxurious palace and villa in Shaozhou as her residence as a princess. Such great favor made Xiao Lan feel it necessary to personally inspect it, both emotionally and logically.

This year, Jiang Nihuang is six months pregnant and has difficulty moving around, so she has stayed at the Xiao family home in Xiwu Prefecture to rest and prepare for childbirth. Because of this, Xiao Lan estimates that she will probably have to spend this Spring Festival in Xiwu Prefecture. But this is fine; she can take this opportunity to reunite with her family and enjoy family time.

In addition, there was something else that Xiao Lan was eagerly anticipating—visiting Hou Xianglan. After the New Year, Xiao Lan planned to take Hou Xianglan to the capital and teach her her unique recipe for making refined salt. Thinking of this, Xiao Lan couldn't help but feel excited, as she knew that this skill played a crucial role in improving people's livelihoods and promoting economic development.

The renowned Wutong Residence in the capital had already meticulously planned the arrangements for those remaining behind. The key figures in coordinating the entire operation were none other than Cui Sumu and his wife.

Since Cui Sumu began assisting Xiao Lan in her intensive study of those ancient medicinal formulas, only about four months had passed. Yet, in this seemingly short time, as the year drew to a close, Xiao Lan generously awarded Cui Sumu a full three hundred taels of silver as a substantial bonus! Not only that, Xiao Lan also distributed a festive New Year's allowance to all staff members.

So when January arrived, it was a month of great success for Cui Sumu and his wife. They received not only the huge bonus at the beginning of the month, but also their fixed monthly wages and a heartwarming New Year's allowance. In total, the couple's income approached one thousand taels!

You should know that if Cui Sumu had continued with his ordinary job as a resident doctor, even if he worked day and night diligently, it would probably have taken him at least five years to accumulate such an astonishing amount of wealth!

When Xiao Lan solemnly instructed them to take good care of Wutong Residence, Cui Sumu and his wife replied without hesitation, "Please rest assured, Miss Xiao! We will do our best to protect Wutong Residence properly and will absolutely not let you have any worries about it!" Their words revealed their firm determination.

So, even though there was still some time before the middle of the month, Xiao Lan and Xiao Mu'an couldn't wait to lead Yue'er, Dingdingdangdang, and the others on their journey away from the capital. Along the way, the sound of horses' hooves was rapid, raising clouds of dust.

Riding on horseback, Xiao Lan spoke softly with Xiao Mu'an beside her, recounting in detail the matters mentioned in the recent letter from Lin Dayou. It turned out that, after much investigation, Lin Dayou had successfully uncovered the mystery of Jiang Yunbai's origins. However, what was completely unexpected was that this Jiang Yunbai was actually the descendant of an old friend—his biological father was none other than the powerful Prime Minister Lin!

Many years ago, the ambitious Yao family desperately wanted to curry favor with the Lin family. After racking their brains, they devised a clever plan: they carefully selected a woman of exceptional beauty and talent from a collateral branch of their family, intending to send her to the Lin household to become Prime Minister Lin's concubine. Unfortunately, fate intervened. At that time, Madam Lin was still alive, and the Prime Minister's eldest son was nearly the same age as the woman. More importantly, Madam Lin, leveraging her special status as the mother of the current Empress, firmly refused to allow Prime Minister Lin to take a concubine. Thus, the Yao family's wishful thinking was thwarted.

The story goes that the person was delivered, but was unable to step through the gate. The reason for this remains unknown. However, rumors circulated that perhaps because the woman from a collateral branch of the Yao family was exceptionally beautiful, Prime Minister Lin fell in love with her at first sight and secretly kept her outside the mansion, claiming to the outside world that she was the daughter of an old friend.

Who could have predicted that, despite the Prime Minister's busy schedule, allowing him only one or two visits per month, the Yao family woman would become pregnant in less than three months? Even more surprisingly, the pregnancy wasn't discovered until she was four months along. Fearing the Prime Minister wouldn't acknowledge the child, the Yao family had the woman lie and say she wanted to return to her hometown in Jiangnan to visit her parents. Thus, without the Prime Minister's knowledge, the Yao family woman hurriedly returned to her family home in Jiangnan and successfully gave birth to the child. Few members of the Yao family knew the truth.

Initially, Lin Dayou painstakingly investigated for a long time, only to discover that the child had been brought back from the Yao family's villa. Unexpectedly, further investigation revealed that the child's birth mother was a woman from a collateral branch of the Yao family. After much effort, including inquiries from various sources and information gathered by Xiao Lan from the elite circles of the capital, the entire story was finally pieced together.

Xiao Lan said to Xiao Mu'an with a worried expression, "Brother, this matter is truly perplexing! I just want to ask you, how should we deal with it? If Jiang Yunbai were just a beggar's child, it would be fine, but it's better than him being Prime Minister Lin's son! The current situation in the court is quite clear. Because of the Crown Prince and the Fifth Prince, the Lin family and our family are destined to part ways and become strangers. But now Jiang Yunbai has become the Prime Minister's illegitimate son, and the Jiang family is related to our family by marriage. It's really hard to guarantee that once this matter is exposed, it won't be used by those with ulterior motives to make a big fuss. At that time, I'm afraid our entire family will be put in a passive position."

Xiao Mu'an listened quietly to his sister's story, his brows furrowed, lost in thought for a long time. Finally, he looked up at Xiao Lan and slowly said, "Sister, in my opinion, we should tell Second Uncle the truth. After all, it's his prerogative to make the decision, and we shouldn't overstep our bounds and make decisions for him. Furthermore, it would be best to discuss this matter with Grandfather and Grandma, and hear their opinions." For some reason, Xiao Mu'an felt that his sister seemed to be shouldering too much responsibility lately, like a protective mother hen, doing everything in her power to protect herself and all her relatives. However, his sister was only seventeen years old; such a heavy burden on her delicate shoulders truly pained Xiao Mu'an. Therefore, he sincerely hoped to help his sister share some of the pressure and prevent her from becoming too overworked.

“But brother…” Xiao Lan opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something more, but before she could finish speaking, Xiao Mu’an interrupted her without any politeness: “Lan Lan, you can’t always make decisions for others like this! Besides, my greatest wish is to see you live a happy and carefree life, instead of worrying and fretting about these trivial and complicated things every day.”

Hearing her brother's earnest words, Xiao Lan nodded gently and replied, "I understand, brother." Although she agreed so readily, she had already made her own plans and considerations in her heart. You see, Xiao Lan, who now appears to be only seventeen years old, had actually experienced many hardships in her previous life, living to the age of twenty-five. However, this bizarre and tortuous experience was difficult to tell others, even to her brother Xiao Mu'an, whom she considered her own flesh and blood. Xiao Lan felt it inappropriate to explain further and did not want to cause any further conflict.

Time flew by, and seven days later, the imperial palace in Shaozhou City was bustling with activity. After enthusiastically touring her own princess residence, Xiao Lan decisively ordered Lin Dayou to dispatch men to guard the palace and ensure its safety. Meanwhile, as her maternal uncle's family returned to Shaozhou to celebrate the Spring Festival, Xiao Lan had a sudden inspiration and instructed Lin Dayou to seize the opportunity to reveal the truth about Jiang Yunbai's mysterious origins. Ultimately, after Jiang Dechun's personal approval, Jiang Yunbai was resolutely expelled from the Jiang clan's genealogy, and he was generously given three thousand taels of silver as resettlement expenses. Thus, the turmoil surrounding Jiang Yunbai's origins temporarily came to an end.

Subsequently, the Jiang family searched far and wide for a reliable person to escort him to the capital. However, once he arrived in the capital, what he would do remained unknown to the Jiang family. Perhaps he was searching for his long-lost biological parents, or perhaps he had other unknown motives; these were all beyond the Jiang family's concern.

Time passed quickly, and the events in Shaozhou gradually settled down, bringing an end to the busy days. At this time, Xiao Mu'an and his sister packed their bags and hurried to the Xiao Marquis's residence in Xiwu Prefecture. The reasons for this were twofold: firstly, Jiang Nihuang was heavily pregnant and her movements were difficult; secondly, Xiao Jinshi had been brought to justice, while Xiao Dayi was imprisoned. Given this situation, Xiao Daren, along with his wife and children, stayed at the Xiao Marquis's residence this year to spend the Spring Festival with Xiao Zhenwei.

Xiao Lan stayed in Xiwu Prefecture for a full half month. During this time, in addition to indulging in fine wines and delicacies every day, she also made a special trip to visit Hou Xianglan and generously taught her how to make refined salt.

While Xiao Lan appeared to spend his days indulging in food, drink, and entertainment, the people he associated with were all extraordinary individuals. Prefect Liu Pengfei, having previously received a favor from Xiao Lan, already understood the situation. Using his brother-in-law's name, he amassed a large number of shops released by the Ye family.

Back then, the Ye family had no choice but to sell off numerous assets to raise funds. However, even more astonishingly, the head of the Ye family discovered that their arch-rival, the Hou family, had regained their status as imperial merchants and even acquired valuable salt permits! Once this news spread, merchants from the Jiangnan region flocked to the Hou family's establishment. As a result, the Ye family's once-thriving business instantly plummeted.

As if things weren't going to go wrong, news from the capital dealt the Ye family an even heavier blow—Consort Ye had fallen out of favor and been banished to a temple to pray for blessings. The once invincible and glorious Ye family seemed to have collapsed overnight.

Faced with this dire situation, the Ye family had no choice but to painfully sell off their farmland and shops once again in order to survive. Unfortunately, under the secret instructions of Prefect Liu, the other merchants in Xiwu Prefecture remained silent, and no one dared to easily take over. In the end, these properties could only be sold at a loss to the Xiao and Liu families at extremely low prices.

On the twenty-eighth day of the year, Xiao Lan accepted Hou Xianglan's invitation and went together to the most bustling and prosperous street in Xiwu Prefecture. The street was teeming with people and vehicles, lined with shops on both sides, and filled with the sounds of vendors hawking their wares—it was incredibly lively!

The two walked side by side, chatting and laughing all the way. Hou Xianglan enthusiastically introduced the scene on the street to Xiao Lan: "Lan'er, look at the shops on this street now, almost half of them have been taken over by those big families! Especially the Ye family, they have been severely weakened recently, and they can't even take over the most lively Lantern Festival every year."

It's worth noting that in the past, the Ye family was always responsible for organizing the grandest and most eye-catching Lantern Festival in the entire Xiwu Prefecture. However, this year was different. Due to a shortage of funds and other reasons, coupled with Ye Jian, the young master of the Ye family, noticing that Prefect Liu Pengfei was clearly biased towards Xiao Lan, he harbored a lot of resentment and decided to ignore the Lantern Festival altogether in a fit of pique.

"Aunt Xianglan, aren't we going to hold it in the name of the Xiao family and the Hou family? Didn't you tell the Prefect?" Xiao Lan could actually hold the lantern festival in the name of the Xiao family alone, but when she communicated with Hou Xianglan before, Xiao Lan told her that if the Ye family was unreasonable this year, the lantern festival would be held in the name of the Xiao family and the Hou family, the imperial merchant family, and she was informed of what needed to be prepared.

The purpose of this trip was actually to check on the progress of the lantern festival preparations. After a careful inspection, everything seemed fine overall. Xiao Lan then decisively instructed Hou Xianglan to quickly decorate both the Xiao and Hou families' shops with specially made red lanterns. This way, the people of the city would naturally know that this year's lantern festival was organized by the Xiao and Hou families, not the Ye family.