Chapter 292 – What? Did you think this was going to be a reenactment of the Legend of the White Snake? (1)
For a moment, Ji Man thought that if a woman like Wen Wan was placed into modern-day, it would be quite interesting. Wen Wan was an ambitious woman, but she only knew how to use foolish and lowly tactics. In the end, she might even blame her boss and say, “Why won’t you promote me?”
She mistakenly thought that her work quality was very good, but the value of medicine was based on its healing efficiency, not on empty boasts. If you want other people recognize your abilities, then you had to actually be capable of executing what you said you would do. There had to be an exchange of equivalent value. If you only looked at the world from your own perspective, then it would always be biased.
Ji Man didn’t bother with arguing with Wen Wan. She left after telling Wen Wan that she should be going to the mourning hall soon.
—
The mourning hall was small, and the coffin at the center wasn’t big either. When all was said and done, Ning Yuxuan did care about this child. He had personally come to the mourning hall to burn incense and remained crouched down to burn paper offerings.
When Wen Wan arrived, her eyes were like water pipes that had exploded. Her falling tears were like a torrential storm. As she cried, she shouted, “My child…”
The guilt in Marquis Moyu’s heart increased.
All of the other women in the harem had also come, but Xia-shi and Liu Hanyun had avoided bringing their children.
After Xia-shi had taken her turn in kneeling and burning incense for Yun-er, she went over to Nie Sangyu’s side and whispered, “She had been a perfectly good baby, but she died just like that. How could a mother be that careless?”
Wen Wan seemed to have heard Xia-shi‘s words. She turned her head and hatefully glared at her.
Xia-shi shrunk back so that she was standing behind Nie Sangyu. Then, stretching her head out partially, she said, “So scary.”
In a low voice, Liu Hanyun said, “There’s no need for you to say so much. Right now, the marquis is feeling unhappy, Wan-er is also feeling upset over losing her baby. Stop saying stuff that will make the situation worse.”
Xia-shi twitched her lips. Not convinced by these words, she said, “I just feel that if I was the one holding the child, even if a someone was riding a donkey and bumped into me, I still wouldn’t have let go and let the child drop onto the ground.”
With his eyes still closed, Ning Yuxuan quietly reprimanded, “Cailian.”
(T/N: Cailian means gathering lotus flowers. Back in chapter 241, Xia-shi said her first name was Lianxin. I think the author might have forgotten? Xia-shi’s first name is never mentioned again for the rest of the novel.)
Xia-shi finally stopped talking.
With redden eyes, Wen Wan said, “The Heavens sees all. If I had been holding Yun-er securely, how could I have possible let her fall down?!”
On the side, Mu Shuiqing, who had been silent until now, quietly said, “Yeah, the grievances that a child feels is the strongest after all. Miss Wan-er wouldn’t want to be haunted by Yun-er’s resentful spirit, so how could she possibly want to harm Yun-er.”
After these words were said, the nearby Monk Xuwu uttered a Buddhist prayer.
Wen Wan lowered her eyes.
After saluting, Ji Man followed Ning Yuxuan out of the mourning hall. Wen Wan would have to stay here for a while to keep watch over Yun-er. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ji Man told Ning Yuxuan about Errong and Nie Qingyun’s matter.
“Isn’t this something that you should handle?” Ning Yuxuan curved his lips. “Why do you want me to help?”
Ji Man dryly coughed. Seeing that the people behind them weren’t far from them, she lowered her voiced and said, “It’s a bit inconvenient for this servant to do something. Errong isn’t willing to see this servant, so this servant can only ask my lord for help.”
Ning Yuxuan swept his gaze across her and lightly said, “It’s not a bad thing for them to divorce. Why are you anxious about it?”
They’ve already divorced, and he doesn’t think it’s bad thing? Did they have to never come into contact with each other again before he would call it a bad thing? Ji Man gritted her teeth and said, “My lord, aren’t you taking this matter too lightly?”
“Why don’t you wait until Ning Mingjie has come back from the battlefield triumphantly, then think about the problem between your older brother and Errong?” Marquis Moyu chuckled, “Aren’t you very clever? Aren’t you supposed to know everything?”
Ji Man paused.
Ning Mingjie would return triumphantly? Alright, let’s ignore the fact that Ning Mingjie wasn’t even the commander of the troops that left the capital. Why was Ning Yuxuan bringing up the topic of Ning Mingjie returning triumphantly? How could Ning Yuxuan know that Ning Mingjie would definitely win? Hadn’t they said that because of the problem with the supplies, the troops had been forced to gradually retreat in defeat?
Moreover, even if Ning Mingjie will return victoriously, what did this have to do with Errong and Nie Qingyun’s marriage?
—
Nie Clan had collapsed, and the emperor wasn’t favoring the imperial noble consort. The recent additions to the imperial harem were more favored than the older women. Very quickly, there was that new favored consort, and that new favored court lady, and so on, until the emperor’s favor was gradually divided among them. The situation in the imperial harem was starting to become murky. There was also a vacancy for the position of Zhenyuan General, but the emperor didn’t have the intention of hurriedly filling that position. Instead, he allowed for someone to temporarily function in an acting capacity for that position.
Based on these facts, Ji Man thought that Ning Yuxuan would definitely give her the cold shoulder for a while.
However, to her surprise, he didn’t.
Right after dinner, Ning Yuxuan came to Feiwan Courtyard. After she had helped him washed up and changed his clothes, they lied down on the bed and quietly looked at the top of bed canopy.
Ji Man asked, “My lord, is there something that you want to say?”
Ning Yuxuan turned his head over to look at her and asked, “What about you? We haven’t seen each other for so long. Is there something that you want to say to me?”
Ji Man thought; based on Marquis Moyu’s smoldering temperament, she could only say sweet things.
Ji Man looked at him with a gaze full of love and said,
“Since we parted, I’ve thought of seeing you again,
Oh, how I have dreamed of being reunited with you.”
(T/N: These are lines from a poem called, Melody of a Partridge-filled Sky.)
Ning Yuxuan froze in surprise for a moment. He chuckled and lightly slid his slender fingers across her lips as he said, “It’ll be good when you can finally say the truth.”
The truth? Ji Man silently laughed. Could she really say the truth? Everyone thought they liked to hear the truth, but no one could bear knowing the truth. For example, if she were to straightforwardly tell Ning Yuxuan, “You dumb f*ck of a stallion. You went on a mountain vacation with women and children and didn’t return for such a long time. You left me here alone while I had to deal with my family undergoing a drastic upheaval. What kind of damn man are you?!” What would he do to her?
The truth? It was so easy and simple for him to say those two words.
