Ji Man said with a smile, “The marquis already has more than enough to food to eat just from what all of you have sent him. Since he caught a cold, you should just make him something that will warm his stomach. Won’t it be fine if you just don’t give her the opportunity to be nitpicky?” 

  Jinse raised her eyebrows and looked at Nie Sangyu in askance. “All of the other women are showing their affection towards the marquis in his sickness. As the main wife, won’t it look bad if you don’t show any sign of your care for him?” 

  Ji Man nodded. “I can think about this on my own. You can go back.” 

  Sending over food would be the same as putting on a show. Right now, Marquis Moyu’s heart was full of thoughts of how weak and delicate Wen Wan was. Did they really think that they could move his heart just by sending him delicious food? Anyways, she was still feeling annoyed by him. She had worked hard to make an entire table full of food for last night, but he had barely moved his chopsticks. If someone wanted her to be particularly attentive to him just because he was sick? 

  Haha. 

  After sending Jinse away, Ji Man raised her legs and leisurely peeled melons seeds to eat. With Marquis Moyu being sick, she actually had a lot more free time. Perhaps, she would go outside in the afternoon and stroll around the market. 

  — 

  Ning Yuxuan was leaning back on the side of the bed. 

  Wen Wan was fussily looking at the various types of soups and other foods. “Honored Concubine Xue’s food is too bland. You have a dulled sense of taste right now, so you definitely won’t like her food. You can try drinking some of Mistress Yun’s chicken soup later. You can also drink a little bit of Honored Concubine Ling’s ginseng soup. It’ll be replenishing. The bone broth that Mistress Jin recently brought over is too oily. I had it sent away for you. As for Mistress Muxu’s congee, the kitchen servants can prepare a bowl of it for dinner. There’s no need for hers.” 

  After listening to Wen Wan list out all of the food items, Marquis Moyu didn’t hear her mention Nie Sangyu’s name. He slightly raised his eyebrows and asked, “Was there anything else?” 

  Wen Wan asked, “Do you not like any of them? How about I go make soup for you then?” 

  Ning Yuxuan lowered his gaze. “I’ll just drink the chicken soup then. You don’t need to work so hard.” 

  In the end, Wen Wan was a person that had lived a wealthy lifestyle before, so she could be quite picky about things. She left right after saying, “Then, I’ll go fetch your bowl. The bowls they brought over are a bit crude.” 

  Marquis Moyu glanced at the table full of nourishing soups and asked Gui Bai, “Where’s Madam?” 

  Gui Bai bowed and said, “Madam is resting in Feiwan Couryard.” 

  “Does she not know that I’m sick?” Ning Yuxuan raised his eyebrows. No, that couldn’t be possible. Even his mother had come over here to check up on him. There was no way that Nie Sangyu wouldn’t know about this. 

  Gui Bai considered his words before he said, “Madam probably knows, but she might have thought it was unnecessary to send over more food since everyone else had already sent over something.” 

  Unnecessary? Based on what he knew of her personality, she should at least come over here to see him, right? Marquis Moyu’s expression sunk. 

  However, after thinking about it more, he came to the conclusion that he had indeed done something wrong last night. He should have waited for the New Year with her instead of with Wen Wan. Perhaps, she was just acting rashly because she felt wronged. 

  No need to worry. Once she stopped feeling angry, she would come over to complete the rest of the rituals for New Year. 

  Ning Yuxuan continued to lie in bed to recuperate. 

  — 

  Ji Man had decided to go out in the afternoon. By chance, Ning Mingjie and Steward Qian were also going out at the same time and she met them at the residence’s entrance. They decided to leave together as a group. She had Gancao following after her and Ning Mingjie had his personal servant, Changshan, following after him. This could be considered avoiding doing something that would invite gossip. 

  After taking a carriage to the main streets, Ji Man chose a less busy street to slowly stroll around with Gancao. It would be good to walk around more for her pregnancy. Ning Mingjie and Steward Qian went to another street to make their purchases. They agreed that they would meet at Yongning Street’s corner in two hours. 

  As Ji Man looked at the trinkets being offered for sale as she walked down the street, someone bumped into her when she wasn’t paying attention. 

  Gancao hurriedly went forward to protect her and scold that person, “Are you blind? Why didn’t you use your eyes?” 

  The honest-looking farmer hurriedly bowed and apologized, “Madam, forgive this small one. This small one is lost and didn’t notice you.” 

  Seeing that his attitude was very good, Gancao’s anger cooled. While supporting Nie Sangyu, she said, “If you’re lost, then go the corner of the street to ask for directions. Don’t randomly bump into people.” 

  “Yes, yes.” The man nodded, then he turned around and headed to the street corner. 

  Ji Man saw him being shooed out of a fruit shop that was at the street corner and dejectedly walking back to them. 

  He asked them, “Would you mind telling this small one how to get to Songling Temple?” 

  Seeing that he looked quite pitiful, Gancao pursed her lips and said to Nie Sangyu, “Madam, go to that nearby tea house. This servant will go to point out directions for him.” 

  Ji Man frowned. She looked at that man and said, “There’s so many other people on this street. Why did you walk back such a long street just to ask us for directions? 

  The man scratched his head. “The two of you looked familiar. When this small one asked other people, they ignored this small one……” 

  It was true that the people in the capital weren’t very friendly sometimes. Ji Man glanced at him again before nodding and saying, “Gancao, go with him to the street corner to point out directions. Come right back afterwards.” 

  “Okay.” Gancao nodded, and then she turned around and said to that man, “Follow me.” 

  The man hurriedly nodded and bowed to them. He gratefully followed after Gancao. 

  The end of this street was an intersection. Other than that fruit shop, there weren’t any other stores. And so, there weren’t many people at the end of the street. 

  Ji Man went up the teahouse and picked a seat by the window to sit down on the second floor. From here, she watched as Gancao led the man to the corner of the street and pointed in the direction he would have to go as she told him the instructions. The man wrung his hands for a while. It seemed as if he wasn’t sure about where to go yet and wanted Gancao to lead him further. 

  No, there was something off about this. 

  Ji Man hurriedly descended the stairs and shouted from a distance, “Gancao!” 

  The streets were full of people and the crowd naturally drowned out her voice. Ji Man sprinted towards the end of the street. 

  Gancao stamped her feet. She seemed as if she was considering his request bothersome, but she wasn’t a match for the man’s repeated pleading. And so, she actually continued walking further away to guide him. 

  The street after the intersection had even less people! Ji Man clutched her stomach as she rushed after them.

  Chapter 179 out of 513 – Helplessly watching as someone is kidnapped (2) 

  Right after Gancao and that man went past the intersection and reached a path lined with willow trees, a group of men suddenly appeared from behind the trees. After a linen bag was placed over Gancao’s head and her hands and feet were swiftly tied up, they carried her away. 

  Gancao was being kidnapped in broad daylight! Ji Man anxiously shouted, “A woman is being kidnapped! Please save my servant girl!” 

  Anxiously running forward, Ji Man almost tripped. As she took a moment to stabilize herself, she looked forward at the intersection. 

  The kidnappers were very quick. By the time the nearby bystanders had heard her shout and looked in the direction, the kidnappers had already gone over a wall. Who knows where they were taking Gancao? 

  A deep feeling of dread rose in her heart. Ji Man felt utterly helpless. She had only watched as Gancao was kidnapped and hadn’t been able to do anything to stop them. Although the ancient world didn’t have anything as terrifying as black market organ selling, nothing good could happen to a woman after being kidnapped! 

  Ji Man hastily went to local authorities office to report Gancao’s kidnapping. Unfortunately, most of the people had already gone home today because it was New Year. 

  The head official could only apologize with a smile, “Madam Ning, don’t worry. This official will think of a way to find her.” 

  Original translation is from fuyuneko dot org. If you’re reading this elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft. 

  By the time these people thought of a method, who knows where Gancao would have been sold off? With a stony expression, Ji Man started walking out of the office. Just as she was about to return to the marquis’s residence to ask him for help, she saw Ning Mingjie at the entrance. He looked a bit breathless as if he had been running around. 

  Ning Mingjie looked at her and asked, “Didn’t we said that we would meet at Yongning Street’s corner? Why did you come here instead? I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” 

  At the sight of this person, Ji Man almost couldn’t stop herself from crying. She quietly said, “Gancao was kidnapped by traffickers.” 

  Ning Mingjie froze in surprise for a moment. “How could that be possible?” 

  Lately, there had been many kidnapping cases in the capital. As a result, the emperor had specially ordered him to investigate this trafficking group. In the past two days, there had been a few servant girls in the marquis’s household that were almost kidnapped, and he had asked them questions to try to find clues to this case, but they weren’t able to prove any helpful information. 

  He hadn’t expected that he would encounter this situation today. 

  Ji Man said, “An honest-looking farmer came up to us to ask for directions. The place he wanted to go to was a bit remote. Gancao went with him to point out the directions, but a group of people covered her head with a linen bag and snatched her away. I only watched as she got kidnapped,” 

  For a moment, Ning Mingjie was stumped for words. This was the first time someone witnessed the crime as a bystander. “Which direction did they go?” 

  Ji Man hurriedly led him to the street corner and pointed the direction for him. 

  Ning Mingjie’s eyes brightened. “Go back with Steward Qian first. Let me handle Gancao’s matter.” 

  Ji Man looked at his appearance that seemed as if he had already had a well-thought out plan and nodded. There was no point in her staying outside to worry. She could only return home for now. 

  — 

  Lying in her bed after returning to her room, Ji Man felt somewhat uncomfortable. In addition, she had been feeling uneasy and had recently experienced something shocking. She rubbed her stomach and decided that she should call Doctor Li over. 

  Recently, Li Zixiu had become considerably haggard looking. He probably hadn’t recovered over what had happened with Muxu. But, he still properly bowed to Nie Sangyu when he entered the room and diligently checked her pulse. 

  “The fetus has been slightly disturbed,” he said, “You should drink some medicine to stabilize it.” 

  In order to avoid other people, especially Marquis Moyu, from finding out about her pregnancy, Ji Man hadn’t drank any common prenatal medicine. 

  But today, she didn’t have any other options. She ordered Dengxin to prepare the medicine for her and told her that it was just an ordinary bowl of nourishing soup. Anyways, other people wouldn’t be able to tell that it was pregnancy medicine just by smelling it. 

  Doctor Li didn’t leave behind a prescription. Instead, he personally prepared the herbs and brought them over, then he bowed before leaving. 

  Ji Man felt that this person was pretty good. Although he had initially helped Muxu by lying to her, he had been willing to turn back once he had found out about the truth. The fact that he didn’t say any useless words like he wouldn’t betray her again made her feel a lot more assured than anything he could have said. 

  After the herbal medicine had been cooked, just as Dengxin was about to bring a bowl of it to Nie Sangyu, she saw Wen Wan suddenly returning to Feiwan Courtyard. 

  Looking at the bowl of medicine, Wen Wan asked, “What’s that?” 

  Dengxin rolled her eyes and didn’t even bother with answering her question. Instead, she continued walking to Nie Sangyu’s room. 

  Unexpectedly, Wen Wan followed Dengxin inside. Looking at Nie Sangyu, who was lying on the bed, Wen Wan asked, “Madam, are you sick? The scent of this medicine seems somewhat familiar. What type of medicine is it?” 

  Ji Man raised her eyebrows. How could she have forgotten? Wen Wan had once been pregnant and would naturally be familiar with the types of medicines that a pregnant woman would take. 

  Ji Man smiled and said, “This medicine isn’t for me. Isn’t the marquis sick? I had Dengxin prepare this medicine for him. It’s a nourishing medicinal soup. It had ginseng and young deer antler.” 

  Wen Wan also smiled. “This servant was just wondering about this. How could Madam not show a token of her care when the marquis is sick? This servant had just come back to get my things. Since this servant happens to be here, how about this servant brings this over for Madam?” 

  “No need,” Ji Man said, “Dengxin can bring it over herself.” 

  Dengxin was stunned. Wasn’t this medicine for Madam because she wasn’t feeling well? How did it become nourishing medicinal soup for the marquis? Regardless of her confusion, she still had to listen to her master’s order. She immediately put the bowl of soup away and carried it to the western courtyard. 

  After placing the medicine on the table, Dengxin said, “Marquis, my master sent over this nourishing soup.” Feeling a little worried, she added, “If this medicine tastes too bitter, its okay to not drink it.”