CHAPTER 851: CHAPTER 849: THIS GREAT AUNT

Jiang Yifan asked with a smile, "How did things go? Were you able to suppress Aunt Wong? I came to see if you couldn’t handle it, I’d assist a bit."

"How could I not?" Ye Xinyan raised her chin slightly, looking extremely proud, "Just look at me, look at my expression and you’ll know the result."

Jiang Yifan studied Ye Xinyan’s expression seriously for a moment and nodded, "Hmm, it looks like you did well. Ah Yan, your expression is just like you always say, very smug, so the result must be smug too."

"What are you saying? Is there a way to talk about your wife like this? Quickly, change your tune!" Ye Xinyan feigned anger, giving Jiang Yifan a playful punch.

"Yes, yes, yes, it was my fault," Jiang Yifan said hastily. "So, Ah Yan, when you went to the Wong Residence, were you able to help Second Miss Zhou?"

Ye Xinyan immediately became proud again, "Don’t you know your wife’s combat power? Always invincible. It’s a pity, Yuanfan, that you didn’t see how formidable I was, so majestic... In short, Lady Zhao can only live her own little life from now on, without thinking about this and that."

"Is that so?" Jiang Yifan tilted his head, looking at his own wife with interest. Compared to the blow Lady Zhao received, he preferred to see Ye Xinyan’s smug little look. Others couldn’t see this look, and he had never seen it before either, so it was quite rare.

But Ye Xinyan only stayed proud for a moment; after her smugness, she became a bit deflated, saying rather wistfully, "If I’d known Lady Zhao was so easy to handle, I wouldn’t have brought up the marriage proposal with His Majesty at Chang Garden that day. Wasting such a great favor on such a simple matter, it makes me ache just thinking about it."

Jiang Yifan couldn’t help but laugh, brushing his fingers across her face, "Alright now, be satisfied. That Lady Zhao is quite tricky. If it weren’t for the marriage date chosen by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory and the Imperial Palace Eunuch personally delivering a message to the Wong Residence, do you think she would fear you? At that time, if she’d fought with everything she had against you, could you really have taken her life?"

"Well... that’s true. Lady Zhao is indeed very wicked, taking others’ kindness and leniency as weakness to be bullied. Sigh..."

Ye Xinyan was very self-aware; after Jiang Yifan spoke, she immediately remembered who she was.

She was still a little woman in a feudal society; in every struggle, she always needed to leverage outside help. By herself, she had no chance of winning.

"That’s right, that’s right, our Ah Yan is the kindest and most lenient," Jiang Yifan laughed, hugging Ye Xinyan, "But your emotions rise and fall way too much; earlier, you were so proud like you were about to soar, and now you’re suddenly so down. No matter how it turns out, Ah Yan can always accomplish what she wants, isn’t that what counts? There’s no one in this world more formidable than our Ah Yan."

"Mmm, mmhmm, of course." Isn’t it just exhilarating?

Feeling delighted, Ye Xinyan turned to ask, "So the emperor is quite nice. How did your matter go? We really can’t afford to upset him." The key is that such a great supporter must be maintained; he certainly must not fall.

"I will certainly do my best," Jiang Yifan added with a smile, "to ensure that our Ah Yan’s reputation is not harmed."

Ye Xinyan’s eyes turned into crescents with joy. Indeed, her luck was quite good.

Jiang Yifan usually appeared very laid-back, whether at the yamen or loafing about on ordinary days, he seemed idle and aimless.

However, to really get along with him, one would know he had many matters to handle daily.

Sometimes when Ye Xinyan was invited to dine or stroll with him, this guy had a strong sense of purpose; while it seemed like he was assigning a few servants to attend to trivial tasks, in fact, they were all very important instructions.

Many times at home, Jiang Yifan was often working in his personal study; Ye Xinyan had been there twice and found that her presence was quite disruptive to Jiang Yifan, so she stopped going frequently.

For less urgent matters, Jiang Yifan would bring them to their room, enjoying tea and snacks served by Ye Xinyan while reading letters and documents; some items would be destroyed after being read.

Thankfully, Jiang Yifan always presented himself as relaxed and at ease; otherwise, living with this guy, Ye Xinyan would feel like she was acting in a spy movie.

Before long, the New Year holidays arrived.

Jiang Chen and Lady Qin planned to spend a New Year here with Jiang Yifan and his wife, and after the first month of the lunar year, they would return to their ancestral home. The Jiang Family in Cloud Central Province still had matters, and Jiang Yiyuan needed to prepare for his marriage, so they really couldn’t delay too long in the capital.

So, this New Year, the family of five just focused on their own affairs. Besides Ye Xinyan returning to her parent’s home, the rest of the time was spent with Jiang Yifan and his wife accompanying Jiang Chen and his wife and Jiang Yiyuan, either going to the temple to make offerings, visiting temple fairs, or chatting at home.

During this period, they also attended two banquets at Duke An’s Mansion and Marquis Zhongyong’s Mansion and visited Old Man Qi at the Qi family, after which Lady Qin began preparing for the return trip to Cloud Central Province.

Although Cloud Central Province wasn’t as far from the capital as Yuyuan Prefecture, traveling by carriage would still take about ten days. The Jiang Family had many members, and this trip to the capital made by the couple had to include bringing some local gifts for the various families in the clan.

Ye Xinyan, being a new daughter-in-law, even though she was from a privileged family herself, naturally couldn’t be stingy when it came to her in-laws making such a trip.

After the eighth day, shops in the capital resumed business, and she and Lady Qin enthusiastically shopped, preparing items for the return trip.

Following the three days of lantern celebrations on the fifteenth day of the first month, the capital yamen hadn’t let their guard down. The yamen had just resumed work when Master Wang, the assistant of Prefect You Chenghui, heard a government official discreetly report: rumors are circulating in the west of the city that the wooden track project Miss Ye, now Grandma Jiang, undertook last year had major faults.

Upon hearing this, Master Wang didn’t need any plaintiff’s complaint, and his mind was already filled with legal troubles.

He had personally experienced how troublesome Miss Ye was.

Even though Miss Ye didn’t win that lawsuit, her imposing manner in the yamen’s main hall was soaring. Even after listening to the judgment from the capital yamen, her momentum didn’t wane and she left with her head held high.

Soon after, she stirred up the matter to the Imperial Court, eventually drawing legal implications that warranted the addition of a law specifically targeting craftsmen and handcraft industries.

Who else could escalate situations to such an extent? Countless princes and princesses throughout history haven’t managed to stir so much commotion.

Now, this Great Aunt was also involved in the major defects of the wooden track project.

Though the wooden track’s cost was not comparable to the first iron track, it still required a huge expenditure. This project was, one could say, single-handedly managed by Miss Ye. Although the early phase of the project was under Old Man Qi from Guangsha Construction, most of the work leading up to the conclusion was indeed handled by Ye Xinyan until its completion.

The matters reported by the official were detailed and logical. Based on that period, the faulty section was indeed the one managed by Ye Xinyan.

Despite the weather being cold, Master Wang was sweating profusely.