Ji Man stroked Big Meow’s fur. Her smile seemed a bit melancholy. 

  Big Meow looked at her, sweetly rubbed against her hand, and let out a meow. 

  “This cat looks pretty similar to the cats from where I come from,” said the voice behind her. She didn’t have to turn around to know that it was Xia-shi. 

  Ji Man turned her head. Xia-shi was currently holding Haohao. With a grin, she said, “I didn’t expect that Madam would raise such an ordinary cat. Back home, everyone said that the cats raised by rich families had very long fur and eye colors that didn’t match the other one.” 

  “I’m just raising it because I want to,” Ji Man simply responded. She looked behind Xia-shi. It seemed that Dengxin had left to do something, so that was why she hadn’t announced there was someone that wanted to see her. And Xia-shi had just casually entered Feiwan Courtyard’s backyard while holding her baby. 

  “It’s cold out. Be careful that Haohao doesn’t get sick. Let’s go inside,” Ji Man said. 

  Xia-shi uttered a sound of assent and went into the main room. As soon as she sat down, she casually put Haohao down on Nie Sangyu’s bed and stretched her hands towards the brazier to warm herself up. 

  “Its so much colder here than where I come from. The falling snowflakes are so big here.” Xia-shi sniffled and said, “It’s only the rooms that are so warm that it feels like summer.” 

  Ji Man sat down on the other side. A servant girl brought over hot tea, and they saw Xia-shi treating this place like an outdoor tea stall. She removed the lid on the teacup and slurped a mouthful from the teacup like she was drinking soup from a bowl. After that, she exhaled a warm breath of air. 

  Ji Man couldn’t resist laughing. Right now, Xia-shi’s manner reminded of herself when she had been a dog-tired college student. Every day, after she returned to her dorm, she would curl herself around her parabolic heater and hold a cup of hot tea as she shivered. 

  Hearing her laughing, Xia-shi felt somewhat embarrassed and said, “Madam, do you think I don’t know any manners either?” 

  “No.” Ji Man shook her head. “I wasn’t laughing at you. I was just remembering something from the past and thought it was funny.” 

  Xia-shi pursed her lips and said, “It’s no big deal if you’re laughing at me. I’ve already gotten used to being laughed at. Back when I was in my village, everyone would be laughing at me to my face. Now that I’m here, there are a lot of people laughing at me behind my back. If I was bothered by something like this, I would have given up on living a long time ago.” 

  She was certainly open-minded and magnanimous. 

  Ji Man had also originally thought Xia-shi‘s manners were too crude. But after hearing these words, she felt closer to her. 

  “How did you meet the marquis?” 

  Feeling nice and toasty now, Xia-shi brightly smiled as she said, “I’m from a small fishing village. After my husband died, everyone was always pushing me and blaming me. The marquis happened to pass by my small village and……” After saying to this point, realizing that it wasn’t okay to continue, Xia-shi hurriedly said, “Bah. The marquis doesn’t want me to bring up that old story.” 

  Ji Man was stunned. Xia-shi had been a widow? Ning Yuxuan’s taste was certainly heavy enough, ah. Didn’t all men from ancient times have a virgin complex? He was actually able to do that with a widow…… 

  Oh, she had forgotten. There was also another type of woman that men really liked, a motherly figure. 

  Ji Man looked at Xia-shi with a complicated gaze for a long time. Really, her life hadn’t been easy. In ancient times, there was a lot of societal pressure towards a woman that married for the second time. It was rare to see someone like her that could still be smiling so easily in her situation. 

  “The marquis told me to frequently come here with Haohao so that you’ll feel closer to him,” Xia-shi mumbled, “But, Madam, don’t you already have a child? How can you still like Haohao too?” 

  Marquis Moyu had really put a lot of thought into this. This woman was like a simple-minded village girl. If he didn’t push Xia-shi under her protection, Xia-shi really wouldn’t be able to survive for long in this household. 

  “Xi-er isn’t my biological son either. As the matriarch of this family, as long as the child is the marquis’s, I’ll like him or her.” 

  Xia-shi stared at her for a moment before saying, “I still like my own child the most.” 

  Is there any mother in the world that didn’t love her own child the most? At the mention of this painful subject, Ji Man lowered her eyes. 

  But, Haohao, who had been placed on the bed nearby, suddenly started gurgling happily. 

  “Such a good child.” Ji Man picked him up from the bed and gentle poked his little face. “Xi-er is always crying so much every day. It’s only Haohao that’s smiling and laughing every day.” 

  “That’s only natural. Haohao is a little bit older.” With her hands tucked into her sleeves and her eyes narrowed, she said, “I heard there’s only one baby girl in this household. Who’s her mother? I haven’t met them yet.” 

  Ji Man said, “Liu-shi is the one that gave birth to a daughter. They’re in Linghan Courtyard. I’m in a pretty good mood today. Let’s go visit Hanyun.” 

  “Sure.” Warmed up, Xia-shi became livelier. “Is there a brazier in her place too?” 

  “Of course.” Ji Man ordered the wet nurse to carry Xi-er while she continued to hold the happy little fellow in her arms. She didn’t want to put Haohao down, so they departed the room like this. 

  When they arrived at Linghan Courtyard, there wasn’t a single person in the courtyard. Thinking of how she hadn’t come here in a long time, she felt a bit guilty and hurriedly went towards the courtyard’s main room. 

  “Hanyun?” 

  When she pushed open the doors, the temperature inside the room was actually the same as the outside. Ji Man frowned. 

  Deeper into the room, the sound of coughing came from the bed. 

  “Madam?” Chunpi came running over. Seeing Ji Man, she hurriedly saluted. There was a fidgeting baby in her arms. Its little face didn’t look very healthy. 

  “Where are the other servants?” Ji Man’s expression sunk. 

  Next to her, Xia-shi was trembling from the cold. “Ah, didn’t you say there would be a brazier here?”


  Chapter 258 – How long will the road to revolution be? (1) 

  Chunpi bit her lips. 

  Ji Man passed by her and saw a deathly pale Liu Hanyun on the bed. 

  Liu Hanyun coughed a few times before sitting up and leaning against the headboard. “The weather has become colder, and the other servants are afraid of the cold, so they don’t want to come here to serve. Madam, why did you come here?” 

  Ji Man put Haohao down by her bedside. Behind her, the wet nurse walked forward and placed Xi-er next to Haohao. The two young babies seemed to feeling cold too. Haohao only widened his eyes. Xi-er wobbled his lips for a moment before bursting into tears. 

  “I remembered that I haven’t seen you in a while. Xia-shi happened to be visiting, so I brought the two children along too.” Ji Man’s expression wasn’t good. She turned her head and said to Dengxin, “Go and tell all of Linghan Courtyard’s servants to come and stand in the outside courtyard.” 

  Dengxin left right after making a sound of assent. 

  Xia-shi was left standing in the room and shivering. She clicked her tongue in disapproval and said, “That Honored Concubine Zheng lied to me. She said there was a difference in the treatment between honored concubines and ordinary concubines. Look at this pitiful place. Even my room has three braziers, but your room doesn’t have a single one. How about I bring you two of mine?” 

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

  Liu Hanyun picked up the crying Xi-er and gently patted him as she tried coaxing him. Hearing these words, she looked at Xia-shi and wryly smiled. “No need. There are braziers in my courtyard too. They were just taken away.” 

  “Who took them?” Ji Man’s expression sunk again. 

  While Liu Hanyun was hesitating, Chunpi straightforwardly said, “It’s those older female servants. Just because they’re Mistress Yu’s servant girl’s relatives, they dared to take away all of my master’s braziers. They said that they need the braziers because they’re older and more sensitive to the cold. And then, there are those other servant girls. They dare to gossip about my master behind her back. They said that my master’s fortune would never be changed because she had been unlucky enough to give birth to a daughter.” 

  Ji Man pursed her lips. Although it was true that there would be incidents of higher rank people stepping on lower rank people in large households, Liu Hanyun was someone that the marquis was protective of. How could this entire courtyard of servants dared to act so outrageously just because she and the marquis hadn’t had the free time to visit her recently? 

  “Master, they’re gathered outside,” Dengxin reported with a solemn expression after entering the room. From her complexion, it seemed that she recently had a shouting match. 

  Ji Man nodded, stood up, and walked outside. 

  There were four servants scattered in the courtyard: two older female servants and two lower ranking servant girls. They unwillingly stood in the courtyard with their legs shivering from the cold. 

  Seeing that it was Nie Sangyu, one of the older servants smiled, approached her, and called out, “Second Miss.” 

  It really was someone from Nie Residence. When Nie Chenyu entered this household as an ordinary concubine, she had brought over many servants. Unfortunately, her status wasn’t high enough, so several of her servants had been sent to work in different courtyards. 

  Although Ji Man couldn’t remember the name of the person standing in front of her, seeing this servant’s fawning smile and the dislike in her eyes, Ji Man knew that this person was walking on a different path than her. 

  Ji Man lightly asked, “Do you think it’s appropriate to call a married woman Miss?” 

  Stiffed by her words, the older servant’s smile disappeared. She took a step back and called out, “Madam.” 

  Looking at her, Ji Man said, “I had thought it was just the marquis’s household servants behaving insensibly, and the matter would be settled by punishing them. But, the group of you caused the Nie Clan to lose face in front of the marquis’s household. People that don’t know better would think that Nie Clan doesn’t know how to manage their own servants. Otherwise, how could there be a servant like you that doesn’t even know how to serve her master?” 

  The older servant was very unsatisfied and retorted, “This servant came here to serve Third Miss. How could this servant have known that I would be sent to this desolate place? When this servant went to ask for coal in the winter, they weren’t even willing to give me that. The days here are far worse than when this servant was serving Third Miss.” 

  Dengxin scowled. “It’s only masters that choose their servants. This is the first time this servant heard of a servant feeling disdainful towards her own master. Honored Concubine Yun had such a good temperament. It’s your fortune to be chosen as her servant. How can you have the decency to say such shameful words?” 

  The older servant weakly harrumphed a few times and mumbled, “Third Miss has gained the marquis’s favor. Madam, why don’t you raise her status and send this servant back to her side?” 

  Ji Man smiled. “You don’t want to serve Mistress Yun, right?” 

  The older servant looked at her and nodded. 

  “Alright, go and pack up your belongings.” Ji Man waved her hand. 

  The older servant was thrilled. She hurriedly bowed and said, “Thank you, Madam!” 

  Seeing this, the other nearby servants also pleaded, “We don’t want to serve Mistress Yun either.” 

  “Alright then.” Ji Man lightly smiled. “The rest of you can pack up your stuff too.” 

  The servants cheered and hurriedly went to their respective rooms to pack up their possessions. 

  Looking at her master’s cold smile, Dengxin pursed her lips and said, “This servant will go and arrange for some sensible servants to come to Linghan Courtyard.” 

  “Go.” 

  By the time the four servants had finished packing up their stuff, Steward Qian was standing at Linghan Courtyard’s entrance. 

  Ji Man smiled at him and said, “I’ll have to bother Steward Qian with a task. Send these four servants to the back of the estate to wash clothes. The weather has gotten cold, and there aren’t many servants that can wash clothes.” 

  The four servants had originally been in high spirits. As soon as they heard these words, their expressions changed. 

  Steward Qian was also stunned. “Madam…… This……” 

  “The marquis told me to take good care of Hanyun. It was my negligence that allowed these people to come here to serve her.” Ji Man continued to smile as she said to Steward Qian, “If the marquis get angry and wants to punish someone, I can’t afford his anger. In order to avoid these things from harming Mistress Qiling too, I have to use them as a warning against others from following their bad examples. Steward Qian, don’t you agree?” 

  Steward Qian paused before nodding. He gestured for the other servants to enter the courtyard and bring those four servants away. 

  “Madam! Madam! Forgive this servant!” 

  When the ringleader of the four servants had been dragged out, alarm and dismay finally appeared on the other three servants. One after another, they pitifully pleaded. 

  Standing by Madam’s side, Chunpi said with an expression that showed she had let off steam, “They’re finally dealt with. Those despicable creatures. They saw that Mistress Yun has a kind temperament and took advantage of it. It would be one thing if they didn’t serve her, but they actually dared to steal their master’s stuff.”


  Chapter 259 – How long will the road to revolution be? (2) 

  Ji Man went back inside. Looking at Liu Hanyun, she sighed and said, “You were being bullied. Why didn’t you send Chunpi to look for me?” 

  Liu Hanyun dryly smiled. “It wasn’t that bad. Back when this concubine was a servant girl myself, my winters were like this too.” 

  Chunpi pursed her lips and said in a low voice, “It’s because those servants belonged to your younger sister, so my master was scared of offending her and didn’t even dare to scold them.” 

  Nie Chenyu was currently making quite the scene; even the servants that she had brought with her were all strutting around too. 

  Ji Man lightly laughed, shook her head, and said, “Just because she’s my younger sister, it doesn’t mean that she can ignore the rules. I won’t be unfairly biased. If something like this happens again, just come and tell me. I’ll take care of it.” 

  Liu Hanyun smiled and nodded. She was still holding Xi-er. Xi-er had already stopped crying and fallen asleep. 

  “That’s odd.” Ji Man blinked and looked at the little fellow. “I always have to coax him for a long time each day before he’ll fall asleep. It’s surprising that it only took a short amount of coaxing from you to get him to fall asleep.” 

  Liu Hanyun was still smiling as she said, “Babies respond differently to different people. Look at Yun-er. She likes to cry a lot too usually, but Chunpi always succeeds in calming her down.” 

  Looking at Liu Hanyun’s motherly glow, Ji Man thought; she had been right. A woman that was also a mother was the most mesmerizing type. Had Ning Yuxuan developed astigmatism or nearsightedness? Otherwise, how could he like someone like Nie Chenyu? 

  — 

  That night, the snow stopped, but it was still very cold outside. Ji Man was informed that Ning Yuxuan would be going to Luoyuan Courtyard later tonight. And so, wrapped up in a cloak, she brought Yun-er with her, stood at the path that would lead to Nie Chenyu’s courtyard, and waited. 

  After walking closer and seeing them, Ning Yuxuan asked in a displeased tone, “What are you doing here? Pretending to be a ghost?” 

  Holding Yun-er, Ji Man sighed and said, “If this servant had a chance to see the marquis during the day, this servant wouldn’t be standing here in this place to stop you. How long has it been since you saw Hanyun?” 

  Marquis Moyu stopped at her side, looked at Yun-er, and took her from Nie Sangyu. “Now that you mention it, it’s about time for me to visit her.” 

  Ji Man stretched her hand out and stroked Yun-er‘s face. “When I went to visit her today, there wasn’t a single brazier in her room. Hanyun’s face was also deathly pale. Even if Yun-er is only a daughter, she’s still your flesh and blood. Look at how thin she’s become. She’s not even half of Xi-er‘s weight. Don’t you feel any pain when you see her like this?” 

  Perhaps, it was just genetics or it could be some other reason, but Yun-er continued to be very small and looked especially pitiful. 

  Marquis Moyu’s gaze softened. He pursed his lips and said, “You stopped in the middle of this path because you want me to go to Linghan Courtyard, right? Aren’t you worried that your younger sister will be mad at you?” 

  Ji Man shrugged. “I’ve already gotten used to being the villainess. My lord, you need to hurry up and change your path. Otherwise, if other people bully Hanyun to death, you’re going to blame me for dragging her into this trouble.” 

  Ning Yuxuan slightly nodded. He glanced at her one more time before turning around and heading towards Linghan Courtyard. 

  Ji Man stroked her chin as she contemplated. Normally, if the male lead liked someone and that person told him to favor another woman, shouldn’t the male lead be very unhappy and storm off after a throwing a tantrum? As it turned out, Marquis Moyu still didn’t like her then? No, that seemed wrong too. There were definitely times when she thought that he was behaving very affectionate towards her. Those moments had just felt too surreal. 

  Lowering her head, she drew circles in the snow with her foot. How long will the road to revolution be? 

  — 

  Ning Mingjie had already left the marquis’s estate without anyone noticing. The next time that Ji Man saw him again, it was at palace banquet that happened two days later. 

  Ning Yuxuan had specially ordered two formal outfits in matching dark purple. They looked like outfits that were meant to be worn together by a couple. 

  When Ji Man received the formal dress, it was accompanied by a message that told her to dress herself up properly. She would be going to the palace banquet with Ning Yuxuan. 

  In ancient times, there was no such thing as couples outfits. It was probably because there would be a lot of people at the palace banquet. In order to avoid your wife accidentally being led away by someone else, people from the same families would wear the same color. 

  Regarding this banquet, only the main wives were allowed to attend with their husbands. And so, the rest of the women in the harem were very unhappy. 

  On the day of banquet, right after Ning Yuxuan and Ji Man left the estate, a huge ruckus started. Of course, that part of the story will be told later. 

  — 

  The combination of Ji Man’s excellent posture and the purple dress with accessories that she was wearing made the other guests feel that she had an impeccable demeanor. No matter who she saw, she would greet them with a faint smile, even if she absolutely had no idea who they were. 

  The first prince had already been let out of house arrest. After the confinement period to reflect on his past errors had ended, he no longer had a crown prince’s impressive aura anymore, but there was still a smile on his lips. When he saw Nie Sangyu from far away, he even smiled at her too. 

  Ji Man didn’t have the slightest good impression towards him. She immediately turned her head away in response and ended up seeing her older cousin. 

  Recently, the third prince was riding on the crest of success. The emperor had bestowed him a princess from a vassal state to be his princess consort, and the imperial noble consort was doing everything she could to help her son. Ji Man estimated that it wouldn’t take long before the third prince easily gained the title of crown prince. 

  The third prince smiled and said, “Seeing that younger cousin’s life is going smoothly, I can let go of my worries.” 

  Ji Man returned his smile. It was the same type of smile that she would show a customer. 

  Seeing so many princes and princesses coming and going, Ji Man couldn’t distinguish who was who. However, there was one person that was very conspicuous because he was sitting in a wooden wheelchair. A golden hair accessory held up his hair, and he was wearing a blue-green robe that was embroidered with serpents that had four claws. 

  Following her gaze, Ning Yuxuan lightly said, “That’s the second prince. There’s no need for you to pay extra attention to him.” 

  Translator Ramblings: In the previous chapter, I was thinking that it’s difficult for Ji Man and Ning Yuxuan to protect Liu Hanyun, because she doesn’t tell them when she’s being bullied. But, maybe the reason that Liu Hanyun doesn’t say anything is because,” It wasn’t that bad. Back when this concubine was a servant girl myself, my winters were like this too.” She’s been a servant girl much longer than she’s been a concubine. As Ji Man noted earlier, even after Liu Hanyun became a concubine, she still pretty much lived like a servant. Her accepted standard of living is much lower than Ji Man’s. Liu Hanyun didn’t find it noteworthy when Qi Siling made her wash her stained dress as punishment. 

  Liu Hanyun seems to be a foil to Muxu. They both started off as a servant, but unlike Muxu, who desperately wants to climb up, Liu Hanyun was content with where she was. Muxu remembers every wrong to done to her, but Liu Hanyun views it as, suffering being a type of blessing. 

  What do you guys think?