Chapter 177 out of 513 – A woman’s cheap tricks (2)
An hour later, Gui Bai finally rushed into the room and reported, “Marquis, the local authorities sent news over. They said that recently the traffickers had been running rampant in the capital and have already kidnapped many young women and children. We haven’t been able to find Miss Wen, perhaps…”
Ning Yuxuan abruptly stood up and started walking outside. “Prepare a horse!”
Although Ji Man continued to sit in her seat without showing any response, Errong couldn’t resist calling out, “Cousin, aren’t you going to wait here with Sangyu to see the New Year? Why are you rushing outside for a mere servant girl?”
It was a custom to stay up all night to wait for the New Year. If a husband and wife did this together, it meant that they would have a long and happy life together.
Ning Yuxuan turned his head back and icily looked Errong. Errong was so frightened by this glance that her face paled.
Ji Man frowned, got up, and stood in front of Errong to block his view. She looked at Ning Yuxuan and said, “My lord, the sooner you leave, the sooner you’ll be able to come back.”
He strode out of the room without the slightest trace of hesitation.
Ji Man patted Errong’s shoulder and comfortingly said, “Don’t you understand your cousin’s character yet? If anyone actually harms his beloved, he’ll definitely get angry.”
Errong twitched her lips. “Don’t you feel wronged by this? Wen Wan has already become a servant, but my cousin still likes her so much.”
Ji Man smiled, “Liking someone doesn’t have anything to do with the person’s status, ah. Your cousin was destined to like Wen Wan. There’s no reason I should feel bad about this.”
Hearing that her tone was as indifferent as drifting clouds, Nie Qingyun felt slightly distressed for her. “You must have suffered so much in order to be able let things go like this.”
Ji Man awkwardly laughed for a moment before pulling them outside towards the garden.
She didn’t feel wronged at all. After all, she was only a bystander and couldn’t feel bad by anything that Ning Yuxuan did. If she was the real Nie Sangyu, Ning Yuxuan’s actions would probably push her into a crying fit.
Ning Mingjie also leisurely followed them to the garden.
—
Looking at the beautiful lanterns in the garden’s pond, Ji Man felt her mood improving considerably. She casually picked up a lantern and crookedly wrote out a few verses with her unskilled brush writing. “Tonight’s lanterns are wondrous. The light of the moon fills the Heaven and Earth.”
Ning Mingjie quietly said, “You finally know how to write now.”
Ji Man paused before laughing out of embarrassment. “I used to only care about embroidering and didn’t practice writing.”
“Tonghua Poetry Association’s members praise you as a talented woman,” Ning Mingjie said, “I’ve been busy with work lately, so I have less opportunities to see you write poems.”
Ji Man thought; isn’t it enough for you to admiringly gaze after the female lead? The female lead is the one that needs to be proficient in the four scholarly arts.
She recollected how gentle Ning Mingjie had looked at Wen Wan this afternoon. But, why hadn’t Ning Mingjie shown any reaction towards Wen Wan’s plight? What exactly was going on in this person’s head?
After looking at the colorful lanterns for a while, Errong, Nie Qingyun, and Nie Xiangyuan had to leave to return to Nie Residence.
Ji Man walked with them to the entrance to send them off. She didn’t turn around to go inside until their sedan chairs had gone far away.
However, from the other end of the street, there was suddenly the sound of a galloping horse. In the midst of the quiet night, this sound felt jolting.
Ji Man turned her head to look and saw Ning Yuxuan. His sleeves were fluttering in the wind and Wen Wan was in his arms. Ji Man didn’t know if Wen Wan had just fallen asleep or if she had fainted. Ning Yuxuan was only wearing his inner robe. His outer robe was wrapped around Wen Wan.
Although spring had started, it was still chilly at night. In addition, he was exposed to more of the wind because of the galloping horse. Looking at how little clothing he was wearing, Ji Man only sighed. As expected of the male lead, he would rather look cool than be comfortably warm.
Ji Man told Gancao, “Fetch a doctor for him.” Then, she yawned and added after looking in Ning Yuxuan’s direction again, “Send the doctor to the western courtyard. It seems that there’s no need for the doctor to go Feiwan Courtyard.”
Feeling unwilling on her master’s behalf, Gancao made a delayed sound of agreement before leaving to find a doctor.
Ji Man thought; no matter what actually happened to Wen Wan tonight, she couldn’t be blamed for it. And so, she decided to return to her courtyard to sleep without worries.
—
After Dengxin inquired about the news from the other servants, she returned to Feiwan Courtyard and indignantly said, “This servant had really thought that woman had been kidnapped by slave traders, but she had just gotten herself lost and the marquis had personally gone out to look for her. She really has an outrageous amount of sway over the marquis.”
After Ji Man undid her hairstyle, changed her clothes, and lied down underneath her warm quilt, she finally said, “Of course the two of you don’t understand the interests and hobbies of those two little sweethearts. Go back to your room and sleep. It’s very easy to catch a cold in this weather.”
She wasn’t surprised by Marquis Moyu’s response tonight. As long as his heart had Wen Wan, then Wen Wan only needed to pretend to suffer in some way and he would always fall for her tricks.
She was just very curious what Wen Wan would do next. Wen Wan no longer had the servants given to her by the crown princess to help her and Tanxiang couldn’t leave the residence.
—
On the next day, Ning Yuxuan really did get sick. He stayed in his own courtyard with Wen Wan to care of him.
Old Madame had originally wanted to reproach him for not staying up with Sangyu to wait for the New Year together. However, seeing that he looked quite sick, she turned around and only said a few reprimanding word to Wen Wan. She couldn’t bear to scold him while he looked so sick.
Because of this matter, his harem became very active. A considerable amount of soups and other nutritious foods were sent to the western courtyard.
Just like that, Wen Wan became a mother hen. She wouldn’t let him eat this soup or touch that food item. When Jinse brought over food, Wen Wan said it was too oily and not suitable for a sickly person.
—
After coming over to visit Nie Sangyu, Jinse rolled her eyes as she said, “Who does she think she is? She’s only a servant. Madam, you should send over some food to the marquis and see what that little wench dares to say.”
T/N: In this chapter, the original text said Ning Yuxuan lived in the northern courtyard, but in the earliest chapters, it was the western courtyard. I’m going to keep it as western courtyard for consistency.