Chapter 115: Settle Old Accounts

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

‘The Queen shook her head and chuckled. “I don’t understand you young people. Sisi, be good. Don’t call him ‘Brother’ anymore. Just call him ‘Your Royal Highness’.

Qiao Jinniang didn’t say anything. Since both Lu Chen and the Queen had agreed, she really didn’t want to hear the pigeon cooing again.

Zhou Sisi said with red eyes. “But I’ve been calling you ‘Brother’ since I was a child…”

‘The Queen said softly, “If you call Chen’er ‘Brother’, wouldn’t you mix him up with your own brother? Just call him ‘Your Royal Highness’ in the future.”

Zhou Sisi burst into tears as if she had suffered great grievances.

‘The Queen warned her. “If you continue to cry, I won’t allow you to come to the imperial palace again!”

Only then did Zhou Sisi aggrievedly stop her tears, but she still pursed her lips pitifully.

After lunch, Lu Chen took Qiao Jinniang to the East Palace.

Seeing that Lu Chen took her into his bedroom instead of the palace where Xi’er studied, she looked at Lu Chen vigilantly and said, “Aren’t you going to take me to see Xi’er?”

“He’s studying. Don’t distract him. I will accompany you to take a nap and then send you home.”

Qiao Jinniang clutched her own neckline. “I don’t believe you. I’m in charge of the Duke Mansion now, so I have to go.”

Lu Chen said, “Am Ia lecher in your eyes?”

“Aren’t you?” Qiao Jinniang said, “When you were in Lin’an…”

Qiao Jinniang was too shy to continue to speak.

Lu Chen touched his nose and said, “If you don’t agree, I will definitely not touch you.”

Qiao Jinniang was relieved to hear that and said, “Are you so idle? Didn’t you say you were going to deal with Prince Mediocre? Do you still have time to accompany me for a nap?”

Lu Chen hummed. “I can work at night.”

His father couldn’t enter his mother’s palace, so he became his father’s punching bag. He had to accompany his father to handle political affairs late into the night every day, so it was fine for him to make some time to accompany her during the day.

Qiao Jinniang asked Lu Chen, “Is Zhou Sisi’s mental age really only six or seven years old?”

Qiao Jinniang didn’t think Zhou Sisi’s behavior was like that of a six- or seven-year-old child.

Maybe she was precocious?

Lu Chen said, “After she fell into the water when she was a child, the imperial physician said that her intelligence would stay at the age of six or seven forever, and her behavior had always been like a child’s.

“If you mind it, I won’t allow her to call me ‘Brother’ anymore. Only you can call me ‘Brother’.” (Brother can also mean Darling in Chinese)

Qiao Jinniang: “Bah, who wants to call you ‘Brother’? I have my own elder brother.”

“When do you have an elder brother?” Lu Chen asked Qiao Jinniang, “Don’t tell me your so-called cousin is your elder brother.”

Qiao Jinniang: “… Li Yun is my second aunt’s nephew, so he can be counted as my elder brother.”

Lu Chen said angrily, “You mention him again!”

Qiao Jinniang said fearlessly, “Why can’t I? I haven’t settled with you yet!”

Lu Chen wondered. “Why? Haven’t I forbidden Zhou Sisi from calling me ‘Brother’?”

Qiao Jinniang said, “Not because of that pigeon demon.

“Let me ask you, why didn’t you tell me your real identity after you regained your memory?

“Since you said that you did not write the divorce letter, why didn’t you tell me your real identity?”

Lu Chen: “…”

Qiao Jinniang snorted. “When you want to complain about me, look at your own actions first. Even if I have seventeen or eighteen brothers today, you can blame no one but yourself!”

“Send me back to the Duke Mansion. I have to tend to the affairs of the Duke Mansion.”

Lu Chen said to Jinniang, “I’m sorry, Jinniang.”

Qiao Jinniang said, “Although I promise you to enter the East Palace after the Lantern Festival, it’s not a sure thing. If you want to blame me for mentioning Li Yun, let’s settle all the old accounts first and then I can find another man to marry.”

Lu Chen said, “I really don’t care about Li Yun…”

Qiao Jinniang: “You don’t even care that I want to marry someone else?”

Lu Chen: “…”

‘Whatever he said was wrong.

He knew that Qiao Jinniang was doing it on purpose, so he simply didn’t explain it. Anyway, no matter how he explained, she could find fault.

He could only say fawningly, “There are a lot of treasures in the warehouse of the East Palace. Now that you’ve come here, pick some. Managing the big Duke Mansion must be tiring. Remember to take rests. After your parents come back, I’ll take you to climb mountains outside Chang’an, okay?”

Qiao Jinniang hummed softly. “Not bad.”

Qiao Jinniang never thought that the Duchess and the Duke would be away for more than half a month, and Old Madam Qiao also spent more than half a month on the mountain before going back home.

The Duchess looked much better than when she left, while the Duke looked a lot more haggard.

When the Duchess learned that Qiao Ruoyi’s mom was gone, she said guiltily to Qiao Ruoyi, “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t agreed to the Zheng family to marry you off to Zheng Bo, she wouldn’t have gone so fast.”

Qiao Ruoyi said, “Mother, I don’t blame you. I know it was Qian Shi who killed my mom…”

Qiao Ruoyi turned her eyes to Duke Anyuan. Qiao Jinniang was right. The only one who benefited from the fight between the wife and concubines was the husband.

Without Duke Anyuan’s support, Qian Shi could not have done so much evil.

Qiao Ruoyi said, “Mother, you said last time that you want to divorce. If you divorce, please take me with you.”

Duke Anyuan frowned. Why were both of his daughters inciting their mother to divorce him? Qiao Jinniang did so, but why did Qiao Ruoyi also do so?

The Duchess said to Duke Anyuan, “Ruoyi reminded me. Duke, let’s divorce!”

Duke Anyuan hurriedly explained, “Mu Qiangian has nothing to do with me. I have never even touched her. I redeemed her just because her brother is my friend!”

‘The Duchess listened and said, “I don’t care about Mu Qiangian at all. I just think I’m too stupid.

“For my beast-like family, I had been fighting with a concubine for your meaningless love and living a ridiculous life in the Duke Mansion, and ended up with both of my daughters not being my own.

“Now that the truth has come out and I have finally found my daughter back. I don’t want to be the ‘Duchess’ anymore. I just want to be Zheng Xiao.”

Qiao Jinniang was relieved to hear her mother’s words. This time, her mother was finally not weak anymore.

The Duke said, “Are you serious? You are still pregnant with my child. Why should we divorce at this time? I’ve already explained to you about Mu Qiangian. I was just angry that you wanted to marry Ruoyi to Zheng Bo.”

Zheng Xiao clenched her hands and said, “Isn’t this exactly what you want? After all, from the very beginning, you never wanted to marry me!

“If [hadn’t married you, my daughter wouldn’t have been separated from me for 18 years, nor would I know that the other daughter of mine had died 16 years ago!”

Qiao Ruoyi added on the side. “Mother, I’ve never blamed you for agreeing to marry me off to Zheng Bo. After all, if it weren’t for Qian Shi, you wouldn’t have been forced to give birth in the Zheng family, and you wouldn’t have felt guilty for them. But after you had a difficult labor and almost died, Father

still doted on Qian Shi.”

Zheng Xiao shed a line of tears. “Duke, even Ruoyi can see it clearly.. Let’s just divorce!”