The group was happily chatting away in Luoyan Pagoda. Sir Li was probably feeling embarrassed over today’s matter, but the awkwardness wouldn’t disappear while the group drank only tea and remained cleared-headed. Thus, as more tea was drunk, it was eventually replaced with wine. 

  Drunkenness can get rid of all sorts of troubles. The group of people on the seventh floor of Luoyan Pagoda let loose and let poetry skills dictate who was superior. The loser of each round had to drink. Naturally, nothing would happen to Ji Man and Luo Qianqian. Ning Yuxuan wouldn’t lose either. Zhu Yurun that pitiful chubby girl was doomed. Ji Man tried to help her by slipping her notes, but Qian Yingchen confiscated the paper. As soon as he saw what was written on the paper, he ripped the paper up and even harshly glared at Ji Man. A human married couple wasn’t like a pair of phoenixes that could fly together with their colorful wings, but shouldn’t husbands and wives have a close, inseparable union anyways? 

  The young, chubby woman helplessly wrung her hands, so Qian Yingchen helped her write a few verses. But, in the end, they couldn’t win against Luo Qianqian. After drinking a few cups of wine for losing, Zhu Yurun leaned against Qian Yingchen’s chest and didn’t move. 

  By the end of the gathering, no one cared about poems and were simply randomly toasting. Sir Li had drunk too much. Holding up a wine cup, he looked at Ji Man and said, “Work hard. You’ll have a great future!” 

  “May your good wishes come true.” Ji Man didn’t refuse his toast. She took a few sips. It wasn’t bad. There was a slight burning sensation as the wine went down. 

  Xiao Tianyi and Ning Yuxuan were also drinking wine with each other. Xiao Tianyi chuckled and said, “Who could have expected that the marquis would have this type of taste?” 

  Ning Yuxuan lightly snorted. He clinked his wine cup with Xiao Tianyi’s and drank the contents of his cup in one gulp. 

  Seeing that most people had drunk a lot and since she was the host, Ji Man asked Luoyan Pagoda’s shopkeeper to arrange for carriages to bring everyone back to their respective homes. This gathering had cost Ji Man two hundred silver taels, but she wasn’t upset about it. Shopkeeper Liu and Shopkeeper Rong had a dug out a path for her to the minister of revenue, so she would naturally use it. After today, it was very likely that no one else would dare to mess with Ji Store again. 

  Although she hadn’t wanted to rely on a man for her livelihood, it seemed that she still hadn’t been able to escape the social system in ancient times. Wasn’t she depending on Ning Yuxuan to protect her? 

  After belching once from the wine, Ji Man smiled. There wasn’t anything wrong with that. Another person meant that there was another path available, and Ning Yuxuan was the most stable and steady path. Walking on this path, she wouldn’t fall…… 

  Marquis Moyu stretched his hand out and caught hold of this tottering person. 

  After they had boarded the last carriage, he lightly ordered the carriage driver, “Marquis Moyu’s estate.” 

  Although he had drunk a lot too, Ning Yuxuan wasn’t drunk at all. He continued to hold her in his arms and even tolerated her using his clothes to wipe her nose. 

  “I miss my mom……” Ji Man murmured, “I said I would go back on New Year and buy her a foot warmer. How many New Years have passed……” 

  Ning Yuxuan slightly furrowed his brow and hugged her a bit tighter. 

  Ji Man felt uncomfortable and pushed him away. She opened her eyes halfway and looked at him for a long time before saying, “Strange, why do I feel so uneasy that you’re treating me so well? I keep thinking that you’re using me for something. You’re too clever. It’s hard to believe in smart people.” 

  Marquis Moyu was stunned for a moment before he chuckled. “You’re really clever too.” 

  “En, two clever people can’t be happy together.” Ji Man leaned against the carriage and tilted her head as she looked at him and said, “Look at Zhu Yurun and Qian Yingchen’s relationship. One is clever, and the other one is unbelievably stupid, so they have an easy time together.” 

  Her voice was fuzzy, but her words were very clear. Ning Yuxuan sighed and brought her over to hold in his arms once again. He couldn’t tell if she was truly drunk or just pretending to be dunk. When the carriage arrived at the destination, he carried her into his estate. 

  Ning Yuxuan was carrying Ji Man, who was dressed as a man, to the western courtyard with her face tucked against his chest. On the way there, they passed by servants, who saw the sight of the marquis carrying a man underneath the moonlight and were shocked. 

  With his robes lightly fluttering, he strode into his room. 

  At this time, Marquis Moyu’s status of a gay man was confirmed. Later on, someone tried to bribe Marquis Moyu by sending him five beautiful men with alluring bodies. Of course, this was something that happened much later on. 

  — 

  When Ji Man woke up, she saw that she was in a somewhat familiar room. Ning Yuxuan was already gone, but Guibai was standing outside by the doors. He sent a servant girl into the room to attend to Ji Man when he heard noise coming from the inside. 

  “The marquis gave us orders. He said that you were a bit drunk and that you can rest here until you feel better. A carriage will you bring you back to your home when you want to leave,” the servant girl obediently said, “The kitchen servants are preparing breakfast. It’ll be ready for you in just a bit.” 

  Ji Man just blankly nodded. 

  However, reality proved that staying in Marquis Moyu’s estate for too long was an unwise decision. While she waited for breakfast and did some stretching in the courtyard, Liu Hanyun came over. 

  Seeing her face, Liu Hanyun let out a long breath and said, “So it’s you.” 

  “Hmm?” Ji Man stopped stretching and returned to a normal position. 

  “It’s nothing.” Liu Hanyun wiped her cold sweat. She had though that the marquis had brought back a different man. That would be very difficult to deal with. “Were you drunk last night?” 

  “En.” ”Ji Man nodded. Since they happened to meet, they might as well eat breakfast together. 

  “I happened to have something that I wanted to discuss with you.” Something flickered through Liu Hanyun’s eyes. She looked in a different direction as she said, “A long time has passed since that incident, and I had people secretly watch Wen Wan during this time. She really has amnesia and doesn’t remember anything.” 

  Slightly stunned, Ji Man pursued her lips and asked, “So……?”


  Chapter 390 – A pair of purple jade, one thousand five hundred taels (1)

  Liu Hanyun clutched her handkerchief and seemed to have made a big resolution. “I was thinking. There aren’t many people here to serve the marquis anymore. Originally, Qing-er was available to help out with serving the marquis, but her health has been poor lately. She’s recuperating from her illness, so there’s only this servant left. This servant also has Xi-er to care for, and the marquis doesn’t come to Linghan Courtyard often either. Since Wen Wan has lost her memories, how about letting her out to serve the marquis? This way, the marquis won’t stay out so often.” 

  Ji Man was bewildered after hearing these words. Liu Hanyun was being so magnanimous, ah. It was already pretty good that she wasn’t holding a grudge against Wen Wan for switching her son back then. But now, she was thinking of helping Wen Wan by letting her out and giving her the chance to serve the marquis again? 

  “Madam, you’re this family’s matriarch. Why are you asking this one this type of question?” Ji Man pursed her lips and said, “However, this one wants to offer Madam some advice. A person’s heart is unpredictable. Even if you treat her well, she might not appreciate your kindness.” 

  Liu Hanyun looked away. “I’m just worried that the marquis will bring other women home. At the very least, he once liked Wan-er. Now that she lost her memories, she’s like a completely new person. If its possible, this servant wants to try it out.” 

  What was that saying again? Even a prairie fire can’t completely destroy the grass. Once the wind blows, the grass will sprout up again. Ji Man thought; Ning Yuxuan had once loved Wen Wan, and the tenderness he felt for her was out of the ordinary. 

  “Madam, you can decide this matter yourself. You don’t need to ask this one.” 

  Breakfast was brought over, and Ji Man picked up a bowl of congee and finished drinking it. Looking at the rays from the morning sun, Ji Man smiled and said, “Since this one happens to be here, Madam, can you bring this one to see Mistress Wan? We’ve known each other for so long after all.” 

  “Sure.” Liu Hanyun nodded, stood up, and led Ji Man towards Qiangwei Courtyard. 

  — 

  There were still flowers blooming in Qiangwei Courtyard. Wen Wan was sitting at the stone table in the outside courtyard and slightly smiling as she embroidered. When Ji Man stepped into the courtyard, Wen Wan turned her head. There was unfamiliarly in her eyes, but her gaze was very gentle. 

  “Madam?” Wen Wan put down her needle and thread and walked over to Liu Hanyun. Full of obeisance, she saluted, “This servant greets Madam.” 

  After Liu Hanyun acknowledged Wen Wan’s greeting and led Ji Man further into the courtyard, Ji Man stopped by the stone table and carefully looked at Wen Wan. 

  Wen Wan seemed to have changed into a new person after her failed attempt at hanging herself and losing her memory. Although she still looked weak enough that a gust of wind might blow her away, she was smiling very gently. She was wearing a white dress with a sleeveless yellow vest over it, and a rosy, red cloak was draped over her shoulders. She looked fresh and refined and had the appeal of a girl next door. 

  Ji Man had to admit that she was the one that destroyed Miss Wen’s appearance back then. Wen Wan originally had a beautiful face, but it had been filled with resentment day after day, so it naturally got uglier and uglier. Right now, it seemed as if Wen Wan had let go of everything, so she was very comfortable to look at. 

  “This young master is?” Wen Wan looked at Ji Man with a doubtful gaze. 

  Liu Hanyun said, “This is the marquis’s close friend, Mister Ji.” 

  Wen Wan curtsied. Her eyes sparkled when she looked at Ji Man. “Is there a reason why Mister Ji has come over here?” 

  Ji Man looked directly into her eyes and slightly smiled. “It’s nothing. This one just came over to look because it was on the way. This one will be leaving soon.” 

  Not quite understanding, Wen Wan simply nodded. 

  Letting Wen Wan serve Ning Yuxuan again? Ji Man thought that Liu Hanyun’s way of thinking was truly very unique. Wen Wan was the female lead that was still alive after looking death in the eye. What would it take for Wen Wan to die? 

  On the way out of the estate, Ji Man quietly said to Liu Hanyun, “Madam, excuse this one for speaking out of turn. Being kind to your rival is the same as being cruel to yourself. If you want to save a snake, be careful that the snake doesn’t bite you. Right now, it seems like she genuinely lost her memories and won’t be a threat to this one’s life, so this one has nothing to say. If this one discovers that she’s pretending, then, in order to preserve this one’s life, this one won’t allow her to stay no matter what.” 

  Liu Hanyun was slightly stunned. Soon after, she said, “I understand.” 

  — 

  After Ji Man returned to the rice store and sat down, an injured Yan Buba came to see her. 

  “What happened?” Ji Man was at a loss. She hadn’t known that Yan Buba had been arrested. 

  “A constable arrested this one yesterday, and this one was punished with three lashes of a whip and five hits by a plank.” Yan Buba was calculating something on his abacus as he said, “Later on, they apologized, said it was a misunderstanding, and released this one. This one struck the drum that’s outside the government office and complained about the unjust treatment. This one received twenty silver taels as compensation. After deducting medical expenses, there’s a net profit of nineteen silver taels.” 

  Ji Man didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. As it turned out, her actions had implicated Yan Buba. He was a rare person that was able to focus on calculating how much money he had earned. 

  “In addition, all of Liu Store and Rong Store’s tenant farmer contracts had been sent over here in the early morning.” Yan Buba put away his abacus and said, “This one has already asked them. They’re giving you those contracts for free and only ask that they be put under your protection. This one isn’t sure what’s going on.” 

  Ji Man slowly got up. “Where are the contracts?” 

  Yan Buba brought over a box. There was a thick stack of contracts inside. Ji Man did a rough count. There were at least 500 agreements. 

  Had the rice shopkeepers gone crazy? How could they simply give her all of these contracts? Ji Man was at a loss for moment before she remembered what happened yesterday and smacked her head. 

  Those old men had tried to use the minister of revenue to suppress her, but they ended up losing their wits in fright by the group that consisted of members of the imperial family and high-ranking court officials. The rice shopkeepers were probably scared of her seeking revenge by seizing their rice shops in one swoop, so they had directly sent over all of the tenant farmer contracts to appease her anger. 

  The rice shopkeepers were overthinking things. Those people had just come over here for a meal and ended up scaring those shopkeepers with their mere presence, but they wouldn’t actually help her with anything.

  Chapter 391 – A pair of purple jade, one thousand five hundred taels (2)

  Yan Buba was smiling as he fiddled with the abacus. “Boss, you’ve earned several thousand silver taels in one morning because of the actions of the various major rice merchants. We have enough money to fulfill all of these tenant farmer contracts. After the imperial court takes their share of the autumn harvest, the rest of the grains can all enter Ji Store’s granary. In addition, contracts had been signed with other rice merchants, and the rice will be sold wholesale to them at a below market price. 

  Ji Man felt very grateful towards Ning Yuxuan for helping her so much. It was about time for her to send a gift his way. 

  After thinking it over, Ji Man stood up and said, “I’m going out for a bit. Watch the store for me. Also, invite the other rice shopkeepers to have dinner with me.” 

  “Understood.” Yan Buba nodded. 

  The weather was pretty good today, so Ji Man wanted to go out for a stroll and buy Ning Yuxuan a gift in the passing. Participating in gift giving to those above her was simply how the world worked. Marquis Moyu was such a high-ranking official. It was only natural that she should send him a gift. 

  However, she didn’t need to put too much thought into this gift. She simply went inside a jade store and decided any expensive item would do. Ji Man lowered her head to carefully look at the top-quality jade pieces. From the corner of her eyes, she saw a pair of purple jade. 

  Purple jade was truly rarely seen, and this jade was a half-finished good without any engravings. 

  “Young Sir, you have good eyes. Purple jade is a rare item, and this store only has this pair as its treasure.” The shopkeeper solicitously came over and said, “You can have whatever you want engraved on the surface.” 

  “How much is it?” Ji Man picked up a piece. It’s smooth surface felt slightly cold. 

  The shopkeeper rubbed his fingers together and said, “The piece that you’re holding is a thousand taels. If you buy both, this one will give you a discount and only charge one thousand and five hundred taels.” 

  Ji Man almost dropped the piece of jade. 

  A thousand taels? For a lousy piece of jade? This was highway robbery. 

  “Please be careful with it.” The shopkeeper hurriedly took the jade from her and murmured, “This is a rare piece of jade. Selling it for this price is already very low.” 

  Ji Man slowly breathed out and wanted to look at something else. However, after seeing that purple jade, nothing else looked good enough in comparison. 

  Agonizing, Ji Man asked, “If two pieces are a thousand and five hundred taels, shouldn’t one piece by itself be only seven or eight hundred taels?” 

  The shopkeeper shook his head and said, “No. The price for one piece is a thousand taels.” 

  “It’s not like this is matching pair!” Ji Man gritted her teeth. 

  “It’s store policy,” the shopkeeper said, “If you buy more, we’ll be willing to sell the items at a cheaper unit price.” 

  Ji Man felt very hesitant. The cost for buying one piece was too expensive, but buying two pieces would be even more expensive. Even though he had control over the Six Ministries, she wasn’t willing to give something so expensive to Ning Yuxuan! 

  “I’ll buy the other piece,” said the person that had been standing in the doorway for a long time. 

  Startled to hear this voice, Ji Man turned her head to look. Ning Mingjie was wearing a formal robe and slowly walking into the store with Changshan following after him. 

  The shopkeeper smiled when he heard those words. “Ah, that’s okay too. The two of you can make the purchase together and buy the pair for a thousand and five hundred taels.” 

  Ji Man hadn’t quite recovered from her surprise yet, but Ning Mingjie had already reached her side and was looking at the jade. “Since these are half-finished items, something should be engraved onto them. What do you want it to be?” 

  “No need for Sir to worry about this.” Ji Man took a slight step back. “This is going be a gift for someone, so there’s no need to put too much though into it.” 

  A gift? Ning Mingjie slightly pursed his lips. “It wouldn’t be right to give someone a half-finished piece of jade either. 

  “En.” Ji Man nodded. She looked at the shopkeeper and said, “It’ll be enough to engrave the jade with the word, “Ning.” 

  After that, she decisively went over to pay her share of the cost. 

  While Changshan also went over to pay, Ning Mingjie looked at the shopkeeper and said, “My piece doesn’t need to be engraved.” 

  As the shopkeeper was accepting the banknotes, he was smiling so widely that his eyes seemed to disappear. Naturally, anything a customer said was good. The store had a skillful engraver. Ji Man only had to wait an hour to get the finished engraved item. 

  “I heard that you’ve been doing well lately.” Ning Mingjie didn’t seem as if he was going to leave after Changshan took the piece of jade for him. Instead, he deeply looked at her. “We haven’t seen each other in a long time since last time.” 

  Ji Man’s lips were twitching as she smiled and said, “Yeah.” 

  After that, the two of them didn’t have anything to say. 

  Changshan, who was holding the box with the jade and standing behind Ning Mingjie, quietly asked, “Master, do still want to look for something to buy for Madam?” 

  Ning Mingjie nodded. “You can go choose the items for me.” 

  Ji Man raised her eyebrows. “General, you came here to buy something for your wife?”


  “En, it’s going to be for her birthday.” Ning Mingjie lightly said, “Even though she wants to spend her birthday in the palace, it works out well. Something has come up in the Ministry of War, so I won’t be able to accompany her anyways. That’s why I’m buying her a few presents.” 

  Why would Kangyuan Junzhu go to the palace for her birthday? Ji Man thought this was a bit strange. But, she had heard that Kangyuan Junzhu had a close, almost sibling-like relationship, with the emperor. Anyways, it was none of her business. 

  Ji Man continued to wait for engraving to be done, and Ning Mingjie continued to silently wait with her while Changshan selected items to be bought as gifts. 

  When a carriage was about to pass by the store, it surprisingly stopped. Xiao Tianyi looked through the store’s doorway from the carriage’s window and smiled at the person behind him. “Look, isn’t that your Mister Ji?” 

  They had just been talking about her, and now they happened to meet. Ning Yuxuan switched spots with Xiao Tianyi in order to look out the window. Sure enough, it was Ji Man inside that store. 

  But, why was Ning Mingjie also there? 

  “This is certainly interesting.” Xiao Tianyi chuckled. “There’s going to be a good show in the palace. How about using your Mister Ji to invite General Ning to the palace to have a look?” 

  Translator Ramblings: I guess it works out nicely that Ning Mingjie and his wife haven’t been in love with each other from the very beginning.