Chapter 311: Bitter Fruit Is Still Fruit
People lie at home, and the prison falls from the sky.
Old Madam Jiang had originally suffered a stroke, but thanks to her granddaughter’s careful care, she had miraculously recovered and could even stand up and walk.
She was back to bossing the servants around with great vigor.
Old Madam Jiang’s given name was Zhou Rongrong. Her name came from the Chu Ci, specifically from the work ‘Nine Laments: Far Away’ by Liu Xiang of the Western Han Dynasty: ‘The road is long and distant without end, the surroundings are chaotic without landmarks.’
The meaning was mediocre—the road is long and endless, and the surroundings are chaotic with no signs.
But it sounded very nice.
Zhou Rongrong had actually lived a pretty good life.
In her youth, everything went smoothly. Even when the family was exiled, she rarely suffered, as everyone protected her.
Her life had a trajectory of starting high and ending low, sliding downhill all the way. In her twilight years, she felt even more lonely and bitter, forced to rely solely on a granddaughter for survival.
But she had never truly experienced a hard life.
The most bitter thing was being stabbed by her own son, which caused her physical pain.
That was her greatest hardship.
Then she was arrested.
She never expected it.
At her age, she actually had the ‘joy’ of being imprisoned.
The charge was harming royal offspring.
It was freezing cold.
Before Old Madam Jiang could even put on her thick fur coat, she was taken away.
Jiang Wan panicked.
No wonder she had felt uneasy since early this morning.
She always felt something bad was going to happen.
She didn’t expect it to land on her grandmother.
With such a big thing happening, Jiang Wan could only go find her aunt.
The Seventh Princes Consort had received the news even earlier than Jiang Wan.
She was also dumbfounded.
She never expected her mother could do such a thing.
If it were true, then Heir Han was probably her real brother, and Jiang Changtian was the son of Princess Huiyun.
Why did Mother go through all this trouble? Since she had swapped the children, she should have either treated them well or killed them.
Leaving such a huge loophole behind.
Jiang Wan didn’t expect that after her grandmother was arrested, she would actually be kept by her aunt.
Just like that, she moved into the Seventh Prince’s residence.
It seemed that after going in circles, although everything had changed, it also seemed nothing had changed.
There was still a path to walk straight on.
Everything was unrecognizable, yet they had returned to the starting point.
The Emperor was lacking energy.
He had suffered from insomnia last night.
At the morning court today, he saw his imperial sister and her offspring.
Although excited, he couldn’t hold on for long.
Jiang Changtian naturally proposed to take his leave, wanting to tell his wife the good news personally.
When Princess Huiyun left with her people, the Emperor collapsed on the daybed.
His heart was boiling, but his body was weary and did not allow him to get excited.
He had to take his alchemy pills.
Mianmian felt a bit regretful; she had finally entered the palace, but still hadn’t seen her godfather.
However, she felt that although her godfather’s profession caused great physical damage, at least he had days off, so it was okay.
The family left the palace and passed by the gate of Prime Minister Lu.
It was majestic and quiet.
There was no long line of carriages parked there like in the past.
Jiang Changtian pondered.
Once Prime Minister Lu lost power, a group of officials would naturally swarm like mad dogs to bite him.
These people either had long wanted to replace him, were guilty themselves, or were accustomed to Prime Minister Lu’s tactics.
It was just that Prime Minister Lu’s original tactics were finally used on himself.
The Prime Minister’s residence was large; it took a while for the carriage to pass.
After traveling for a long time, they finally reached Mianmian’s home.
Princess Huiyun wanted them to go to the Princesss Mansion.
However, she discovered that apart from Mianmian, who was closer to her, there was actually still a rift between her son and grandson.
Especially after hearing the story Mianmian told, she felt too guilty to look at her son and grandson.
The Princess’s carriage arrived at the Jiang Family.
Princess Huiyun looked at the small gate.
It wasn’t even as grand as Fairy Liu’s gate not far away, which made her feel very uncomfortable.
Although she didn’t go out or participate in activities while in the temple, there were many women who came to burn incense at the temple, and she often heard gossip.
Someone had actually compared Fairy Liu to Princess Huiyun.
She didn’t want to compete for status with a junior, but because this person was Zhou Rongrong’s granddaughter, Princess Huiyun felt extremely disgusted.
Entering the Jiang Family, Princess Huiyun felt the carriage was a bit cramped.
The entrance was just a small three-courtyard house, as if one couldn’t even turn around.
However, the house was well-organized, and the servants weren’t running around.
There just weren’t many people.
In winter, there were no flowers or plants, but there was a vegetable garden.
Mianmian said proudly: “This was planted by Brother Chong and me. We can have vegetables even in winter, so we don’t have to spend money to buy them.”
Princess Huiyun had never thought that one of the reasons for growing her own vegetables was to save money.
It wasn’t for cultivating sentiment or physical fitness, but because of a few pieces of silver.
And this life was already the ‘best’ life in their words.
Princess Huiyun felt breathless looking at it, didn’t even eat dinner, and left in a hurry.
Qin Luoxia inexplicably gained the status of a titled lady.
Learning that Mianmian’s reason was so she could righteously beat her Elder Brother, Qin Luoxia, wearing the titled lady’s attire, wanted to make a move and let the little one feel the strength of a titled lady’s hands.
At night, the family was finally reunited.
Now there was also Zi Congheng.
When he was young, Qin Luoxia had nagged about wanting to give birth to another boy, always feeling that with only Jiang Feng as a boy, the family was thin and it would be good to have another brother.
Now, her wish was fulfilled. It was just right.
Tonight, Jiang Changtian didn’t break his rule and drink alcohol.
Having experienced a hard life, they had now settled in the capital.
They even suddenly discovered they had an extraordinary status, becoming the son of a princess.
The whole family became royal relatives.
At first, they were a bit excited.
But after experiencing the day, Jiang Changtian felt it was necessary to talk about it properly.
“Prime Minister Lu was covering the sky with one hand yesterday, but today his gate is deserted. When he was powerful, he had countless followers, but when he truly needed help, not even a bird went to him. We must take this as a warning,” Jiang Changtian said.
Zi Congheng:… He silently glanced at Uncle Jiang.
He was still used to calling him by the name he used with Aunt Qin.
What Uncle Jiang said sounded as if Prime Minister Lu’s misfortune had nothing to do with him, even though he was the one who caused it.
Qin Luoxia echoed: “We understand. Life will continue as before. I will ask Aunt Yin to go over to Sister Yu’s side and remind her again to be more cautious.”
Jiang Changtian nodded. Although he didn’t want to wrong Sister Yu, at this moment, it would only cause waves, so they had to restrain themselves for the time being.
He felt that Princess Huiyun was a person with an extremely unstable personality who acted without considering the consequences, acting willfully. Even if she was his biological mother, he didn’t approve.
Moreover, deep down, there was still resentment.
A person who could make her child’s life and death unknown just because of love, leaving them to wander outside while living a life that was neither human nor ghost, was truly a waste.
Jiang Changtian was very nervous that Mianmian had stayed with Princess Huiyun yesterday, worrying that Mianmian would learn from her grandmother and pick up her grandmother’s bad habits.
So tonight, at the family meeting, Jiang Changtian focused his attention on Mianmian.
“You must study hard recently. I will send you to your teacher tomorrow. Don’t run around aimlessly. Cong Geer, go with her and help keep an eye on Mianmian,” Jiang Changtian instructed.
Mianmian:…??
What? Suddenly acknowledging relatives, thinking I’m not fun anymore, and wanting to get rid of me?
Zi Congheng nodded. Yesterday Mianmian wasn’t at home, and it really felt like the house was too quiet, which he wasn’t used to.
Mianmian tried to resist: “That Elder Sister wants to hold a hundred-day banquet for her two big nephews, and I need to go help.”
“You are not needed, I will go,” Qin Luoxia denied.
“Grandmother also asked me to accompany her to choose fabric tomorrow, saying she wants to give it to the future eldest sister-in-law.”
“I can choose it,” Jiang Feng said.
“Then, Royal Uncle Emperor said he wants to invite me to watch a play tomorrow.”
“I can go in your place,” Jiang Changtian said.
Jiang Mianmian:…??
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