Because Ji Man had to help Ning Mingjie manage his estate while he was away, she visited to Ning Residence twice. 

  Ning Residence didn’t have a steward. Everything was being managed by a servant girl name Luoqi. For some reason, she saw a bit of hostility in Luoqi’s eyes when she handed over the account book. 

  “Young Master ordered this servant to hand over the account book to Madam, so there isn’t much for this servant to say about this.” Luoqi stood up. Her gently and lovely face showed a bit of resentment as she said, “This servant will naturally follow Young Master when he leaves, but there will still be many servants remaining here. No matter how you look at, it’ll be inconvenient for Madam to be in charge of this estate. How about letting Nuanyu assist you? You’ll make the decisions on important matters, but you won’t need to be bothered by having to constantly come here to decide on minor issues.” 

  Hearing the tone of her voice, Luoqi wasn’t an ordinary servant girl. Ji Man nodded. She seriously took the account book, then she glanced at the nearby Nuanyu. 

  Both of the servant girls had charming appearances. Luoqi somewhat resembled Lin Daiyu, and Nuanyu resembled Qin Keqing. 

  (T/N: Lin Daiyu and Qin Keqing were both characters in The Dream of Red Chamber. Lin Daiyu was described as having a slender and willowy figure, and Qin Keqing was a beautiful and flirtatious woman.) 

  Ji Man said, “Since Young Master has put his trust in me, I’ll do my best.” 

  Some of the red ribbons in the estate still hadn’t been taken down and gave off a desolate feeling. The last time she had been here, the splendid red ribbons had been accompanied by a happy crowd. But now, there was only the sparse winter snow. No one would ever mention again the bride that had been happy from the bottom of her heart when she had married into this household. 

  “Where’s Young Master’s study?” Ji Man asked. 

  Ning Mingjie had left for the imperial court and hadn’t come back yet, so Ji Man was taking this opportunity to brazenly look around. 

  To her surprise, Luoqi showed a slight overreaction. She blocked her path and abruptly said, “You can’t enter Young Master’s study.” 

  Ji Man slightly froze in surprise. 

  It took Nuanyu pulling on Luoqi’s sleeve and shaking her head at her for Luoqi to remember her manners. Luoqi said in a low voice, “Young Master normally doesn’t allow anyone to enter his study. Madam, if there’s something you need from there, tell Luoqi. Luoqi will go get it for you.” 

  “Never mind then. I was just curious and wanted to take a look.” Ji Man smiled and turned around. “I can’t go to the study, but I can visit other places, right?” 

  Luoqi nodded. “This servant will give you a tour of the estate.” 

  What could possibly be in the study to make Luoqi so nervous? Ji Man felt very curious, but Luoqi was in front of her and leading her around. She obviously wouldn’t lead her to study and let her look. After thinking about it for a bit, she decided to drop the subject. Everyone had secrets that they wanted remain private. 

  After they had taken a stroll around the entire estate, Luoqi was called away by another servant. Ji Man had only vaguely heard the servant saying someone was drunk before Luoqi lifted her skirt and hurriedly rushed towards the estate’s front entrance. The other servant was left behind to look after her. 

  Ji Man curiously asked, “What happened?” 

  The servant sighed and said, “The emperor had bestowed Prince Gong’s daughter to the third prince. The first prince dragged our Young Master to the third prince’s residence to celebrate the wedding. Young Master seems to have gotten drunk.” 

  Really, Zhao Zhe’s behavior was too outrageous. Why did he have to poke at Ning Mingjie’s sore point? The amount of wicked thoughts in Zhao Zhe’s mind was enough to fill all of the rivers in northern China. Ning Mingjie was already feeling bad that his bride had been taken from him, but Zhao Zhe insisted on dragging him out and rubbing it in. He might as well have said, “Hey, look, your wound is bleeding.” 

  He really deserved to be thoroughly beaten. 

  Ji Man didn’t know when Luoqi would return. After thinking it over, Ji Man probingly asked the servant, “Where’s Young Master’s study?” 

  This servant normally guarded the doors and didn’t serve in the inner court. Knowing that this madam was his master’s younger cousin’s wife, the servant solicitously showed her the way. “It’s in that direction.” 

  As it turned out, only Luoqi knew that Ning Mingjie didn’t want other people to enter his study. Ji Man raised her eyebrows and followed the servant. 

  As the doors to the study were opened, Dengxin quietly asked, “Master, what do you want to do here?” 

  Ji Man scratched her head and whispered, “I just want to go inside and look around.” 

  While it was true that the more you know, the faster you’ll die, Ji Man subconsciously thought; Ning Mingjie wouldn’t harm her. At the very least, this man was the secondary male character. He didn’t have a shadowy background, so he naturally wouldn’t have any terrible secrets. 

  The other servant politely stood outside by the doors with Dengxin. 

  After taking one step inside, Ji Man saw neatly arranged books and many calligraphy scrolls hanging on the walls. 

  Ning Mingjie’s calligraphy was very beautiful, and he had also written a lot of poems. With the exception of one calligraphy scroll, they were all simply hung up. That one scroll was hanged on the middle of the opposite wall and very carefully hanged up. 

  “In spring, I sleep, unaware morning is here,

  From near then far, I hear trilling songbirds,

  In the night’s pitter-patter of winds and rains though mild,

  Who know how many petals have fallen? Know not, I fear!”


  Once, there had been a young man that gently smiled as he wrote this poem inside a garden pavilion. By his side, with a blushing face, someone had quietly praised, “Young Master’s writing is really beautiful.” 

  “Really? Then, I’ll give it you.” 

  (T/N: Poem’s translation is taken from here. Ji Man is thinking about what had happened in chapter 209.) 

  Ji Man blankly stared at those words. Her heart actually felt a bit pained. 

  Next to that scroll, there were paintings of a beautiful woman. Or, to describe them in another way, none of them had faces. But, when Ji Man carefully looked at them, she could tell who it was. 

  She had never sat by a river and let Ning Mingjie paint her. Perhaps, she was imaging feelings that didn’t actually exist, but that figure looked too similar to herself, especially because that figure was wearing a plum blossom hairpin. For a period of time, that plum blossom hairpin had been her favorite hairpin. Also, the figure was always painted with a plain sash around her waist and a simple douma hairstyle. This was obviously what she had been wearing during the Southern Trip.

  Chapter 276 – Was it really that difficult to say, “I love you”? (1) 

  When it came to matters of love, a good woman had a bottom line. If you didn’t know for sure and didn’t want to falsely presume that the other person liked you, then you can maintain your distance and treat it as if there was nothing between the two of you. If you already knew that the other person liked you, but you couldn’t give that person the response he wanted, then you should thoroughly break that other person’s hope. Don’t leave any margin for false expectations. 

  As a reader of novels, Ji Man had always loved and hated the secondary male characters the most. Were they just idiots? They either risked their life and limb to secretly help the female lead, or served as a foil to the male lead, who had a full harem, by only being interested in the female lead. And yet, every female lead could enjoy the pleasure of being attended to by the super attractive secondary male character without any shame. At worst, the female lead would only have to say a prolonged, “I’m sorry,” to the secondary male character at the end of the story. 

  Sorry, my ass! The other person had already wasted the best years of his life on her, would it kill the female lead to cleanly break the supporting male character’s hopes in a timely manner? Why couldn’t the female lead simply tell the secondary male character, “Even if the male lead abuses me a thousand times, I’ll still choose to stay with my first love.” 

  Ji Man organized the words that she wanted to say and prepared to have a conversation with Ning Mingjie tomorrow to make things clear. She would tell him that his paintings were pretty good and so were his calligraphy scrolls. He should sell all of them to her, and she would dispose of them for him. As a married woman, she couldn’t be the object of someone’s yearning. 

  When she and Dengxin returned to the marquis’s estate, there was a low-level servant girl from Feiwan Courtyard waiting at the entrance for them. Seeing that her master had returned, she hurriedly and anxiously reported, “Master! Young Miss Yun is seriously sick. The doctor isn’t here. He’s away on vacation to his hometown. Miss Wan-er has been frantically looking for you.” 

  Ji Man froze in surprise for a moment. Yun-er had been perfectly fine before. How did she get sick? 

  Qiangwei Courtyard was filled with the sound of crying. The sounds of an adult crying and a baby wailing blended together. As soon as Ji Man entered the room, she saw that Wen Wan was holding Yun-er. The wailing Yun-er looked quite pitiful. Wen Wan was muttering, “Why is there no doctor? Is it necessary to be heartless to this degree……” 

  Ji Man pursed her lips and said, “I already sent a servant to bring an outside doctor here. No one is being heartless. The estate’s old doctor is just away on vacation today.” 

  Wen Wan looked at her with bloodshot eyes. “Why put on this pretense? Aren’t you really happy that you snatched away Yuxuan’s heart? Is the next step of your plan figuring out a way to kill me so that Yuxuan won’t have lingering, nostalgic feelings for me?” 

  The corners of Ji Man’s lips twitched. Had Wen Wan been stricken with delusion thoughts? Based on Wen Wan’s connection with first prince as well as the empress, there was no way that she would be able to get rid of Wen Wan. Snatched away Ning Yuxuan’s heart? Did that thing even have a heart? Why did women stupidly think that a man’s heart and mind only had love? 

  “You’re overthinking things.” 

  Wen Wan’s gaze looked a bit violent. The shock that Wen Wan had received last time was probably erupting now. Glaring at her, Wen Wan said, “I won’t let you live happily.” 

  “Oh.” Ji Man nodded. She had only been standing here for a bit when the doctor arrived. She moved out of the way so that the doctor could treat Yun-er‘s illness. 

  “Don’t you dare touch my child!” Holding the wailing baby, Wen Wan retreated a step. Looking at her with a guarded look, Wen Wan said, “No one is allowed to touch my child!” 

  Ji Man, “.……” 

  She blamed her because a doctor hadn’t come. Now that a doctor had come, she wouldn’t let the doctor see the baby. What exactly did she want to do? 

  Marquis Moyu had headed over here after leaving the imperial court. Tired, he stopped by the doorway and asked, “What’s going on?” 

  Seeing that he was here now, Wen Wan resumed crying. Her tears were like falling shot put balls. One after another, they splattered onto the ground. And yet, there were only tears and no nasally mucus. Her crying face was as beautiful as a scene of raindrops falling onto pear blossoms. Holding Yun-er, she approached him and said, “Yuxuan! Look at Yun-er.” 

  Apparently, the recently called over doctor was useless. But, one look from the male lead would be enough to cure Yun-er. 

  Ning Yuxuan glanced at Nie Sangyu, then he stretched his hand out and took Yun-er from Wen Wan. “Why has she gotten thinner again?” 

  The other two children in the estate were white and plump. It was only Yun-er that got thinner each day. Her little face was almost nothing but skin and bones. 

  It was impossible for him to not feel distressed when he saw Yun-er like this. Even though she was a daughter, she was still his child. Marquis Moyu sighed and handed the child over to the doctor. 

  Wen Wan immediately hugged his arm and swept her gaze to look at Nie Sangyu. 

  Ji Man had seen plenty of shows where women used their children to compete for favor. Should she leave and pretend that she hadn’t seen anything? No, no, no, her days had been getting boring lately. Why bother showing tolerance? 

  Ji Man approached them, wrapped her arm around Ning Yuxuan’s other arm and said, “Yuxuan, the imperial noble consort handed over the matter of welcoming the Yuzhen princess to this servant. This servant isn’t familiar with Yuzhen and wanted to ask you how to handle this matter.” 

  Marquis Moyu slightly raised his eyebrows and looked at her in askance. 

  There were still streaks of tearstains on Wen Wan’s face. She pursed her lips and said, “Madam, can’t you talk about this later? Are you unwilling to give Yuxuan to me even just for a little bit?” 

  Ji Man let go of Ning Yuxuan, lightly sighed, and said, “Never mind then.” 

  When you’re directly competing for a man, the man stuck in the middle will always feel as if he’s being put into an awkward situation. If you can’t win against someone that’s shamelessly acting pitiful, that’s okay. Just generously let him go, then mention a proper responsibility that he can’t avoid and wait for him to come to you. 

  “My lord, this servant will leave first and wait in your study for you. The imperial noble consort is still waiting for a reply. My lord, please come over soon.” 

  Ning Yuxuan lightly nodded. His tensed brow slightly relaxed. 

  Wen Wan’s tears hadn’t dried yet, but a smug smile had already appeared on her face. In the end, she was still young, and her mind was simple enough. She thought that since the marquis hadn’t left with Nie Sangyu, it meant that she had won.

  Chapter 277 – Was it really that difficult to say, “I love you”? (2) 

  Ji Man was genuinely preparing for the Yuzhen princess’s visit. In accordance to the imperial noble consort’s wishes, she had to do her best to play matchmaker for the third prince. If she couldn’t do that, then it would better to match the princess with Ning Mingjie rather than letting this alliance marriage benefit someone else. 

  Right now, there were only three princes that would be suitable marriage candidates. The first prince and third prince already had princess consorts. Between them, there was the second prince, whom hadn’t been engaged yet. But, the second prince’s mother had already passed away, his legs were disabled, and his father didn’t care about him. It was very improbable that the princess would become interested in him. Out of all the young, talented men in the imperial court, Ning Mingjie was clearly the most popular character. 

  She knew that Ning Yuxuan had extensive knowledge about the important officials, even minor information like what breed of dog a specific imperial court official had in his household. During his free time, he had even shared gossipy information about some of the officials’ families with her. 

  And so, Ji Man thought that he would know something about this Yuzhen princess. 

  She had only been waiting in the study for a short period of time when Ning Yuxuan arrived. It seemed that Wen Wan hadn’t been able to keep him. 

  Marquis Moyu said, “I heard that the Yuzhen princess likes men that are talented in martial arts. I think that you shouldn’t even make an attempt to pair her with the third prince. That princess is prideful and arrogant. You might end up offending her if you try to convince her to be a side consort. It’ll be better if you go straight to matchmaking her with Mingjie.” 

  The corners of Ji Man’s lips twitched. She wasn’t a professional matchmaker. As far as Ning Yuxuan knew, her only task was to welcome the princess and play tour guide as well. Did everyone think that the princess would just marry whomever she choose? 

  “This servant will do my best.” 

  — 

  Everyone used to say that Ning Yuxuan was Zhao Zhe’s close friend, but during this period of time when Zhao Zhe was spending his days in the relaxed role of the first prince, Ning Yuxuan’s path rarely crossed with his. Ji Man vaguely thought; the first prince probably had no hope of getting back the crown prince position. Otherwise, Marquis Moyu, this rudder that agilely followed the winds of popularity, wouldn’t be acting like this. 

  If the third prince’s position was stable, then Nie Sangyu’s little life was secured safely in a safe. No one would dare to touch her. 

  Ji Man made a resolute decision to play matchmaker. She wrote down all of Ning Mingjie’s good points and planned out a series of methods to fully display the best of his special qualities. 

  However, before she could start executing her plan, Ji Man mentally prepared herself and went to Ning Residence again. 

  — 

  Sitting outside in a courtyard, Ning Mingjie quietly watched her as he prepared tea for the two of them. 

  Ji Man went straight to the point by saying, “I’ve seen the portraits in Young Master’s study.” She smiled for a few seconds before adding, “The woman in the portrait looks quite similar to me.” 

  “En.” Ning Mingjie slightly lowered his eyes before saying, “When I was looking at the scenery sometimes, I somehow ended up painting you each time.” 

  Ji Man nodded. “The only person in my heart is the marquis.” 

  Ning Mingjie froze for a moment before glancing at her and saying, “That’s okay. I was just casually painting.” 

  “Then, sell all of those scrolls to me,” Ji Man said with a smile, “I happened to have recently started a hobby of collecting paintings and calligraphy.” 

  The steam from the tea rose up in spirals. Ning Mingjie silently kept his head lowered. After a long time passed, he finally mumbled, “If I had known this earlier, I wouldn’t have let you go in there……” 

  “En?” Ji Man raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t clearly heard his words. 

  “It’s nothing. If you like them, then I’ll give all of them to you.” Ning Mingjie smiled. It looked as if his vitality had been sapped away. “It’s about time for me to change the decorations on the walls anyways.” 

  “Alright.” Ji Man didn’t feel the slightest trace of embarrassment. She had specially brought two extra servant girls with her today to help her move the items. 

  “Sangyu has no good way to repay Young Master’s generous giving of so many presents,” she said, “Young Master, how about meeting with Sangyu at Luoyan Pagoda three days before you leave the capital? Sangyu will treat Young Master to drinks, and we can have a discussion about poems one more time.” 

  Three days before he was leaving to go the battlefield, the Yuzhen princess would be arriving in the capital. Ning Mingjie lowered his eyes again. Pretending not to know her real motive behind asking him, he lightly nodded and said, “Sure.” 

  — 

  Ji Man brought back all of the calligraphy scrolls and paintings to Feiwan Courtyard, dug a big hole in the backyard, and started to bury the box that contained everything. 

  She turned around to return to her room. There was a painting in her room. It was a very average-looking peony painting that could be purchased anywhere. Once she took down the peony painting, the hidden daffodil painting was revealed. 

  “Master, do you want to bury this painting too?” Dengxin asked. 

  Ji Man stretched her hand out to take down the painting and laughed, “En, bury this too.” 

  Dengxin took the painting from her and tossed it into the box outside. 

  The peony painting that Ji Man had been holding slipped and made a loud sound as it dropped to the ground. 

  The edge of the mounted painting slightly curved up and revealed another layer. 

  Was there something underneath the flat-surfaced peony painting? Ji Man slightly raised her eyebrows and ripped off the peony picture. 

  There was a wrinkled painting of a beauty underneath. The ink used to paint the woman’s beautiful, thick hair had slightly bled into the paper. There was a light colored mark between her eyebrows, and her lips were vermillion. 

  Was this her? 

  Ji Man raised her eyebrows. Paintings in ancient times always looked as if the artist had liberally used Photoshop. When Nie Sangyu’s face was drawn like this, she looked really beautiful. 

  But, who had painted this? Ning Yuxuan had been the one that gave her this peony painting. Why had he hidden a crumpled, then smoothed out portrait underneath it? 

  Could it be that in ancient times, people always secretly drew pictures of people they were in love with? 

  Ji Man’s eyes brightened and she hastily ran to Ning Yuxuan’s study. 

  Marquis Moyu was currently in the middle of writing a secret letter when the study’s doors were suddenly pushed open. He impressively maintained his calm and used a book to cover the letter. 

  He asked, “What?” 

  Slightly gasping for breath, Ji Man clutched his lapel and said, “My lord, say that you love me.” 

  Startled by her behavior, Ning Yuxuan blankly looked at her and repeated, “Love me?” 

  “Don’t just say, “love me”. Say that you love me.” Ji Man was very eager. Thinking that she would soon be able to return to modern times, she was so excited that her body was slightly shaking. 

  “You love me?” Ning Yuxuan pursed his lips. 

  Ji Man felt flustered and exasperated. This person more or less had fallen in love with Nie Sangyu. As long as he said that one sentence, she guessed that she would be able to go back! 

  “It’s not, you love me, it’s I love you!” 

  Ning Yuxuan’s cheeks had turned slightly red. He pursued his lips and turned his head away. “Alright, I know.”