During the Southern Trip, she frequently came over to his room. Using Mingjie as a pretense, she would prepare tea for him and watch them play chess. When Mingjie left, the two of them didn’t have much to say to each other. Floundering for something to say, he ended up using Sangyu as a topic every time. 

  It was because the only thing they had in common was Sangyu. 

  “Is Sangyu living happily in the marquis’s household?” 

  “Does the marquis bully Sangyu?” 

  “What do you and Sangyu usually do?” 

  He really was trying his best to find something to talk about. However, for some unknown reason, Errong’s expression looked increasingly ugly. Eventually, the number of times she came over to his room decreased. 

  Looking at the endless river, Nie Qingyun felt very depressed. Had he done something wrong? 

  After a few days, Errong returned to her usual self of circling around him. This time, Nie Qingyun controlled his mouth. He wouldn’t say anything! He would just elegantly hold a chess piece and pretend to be cool! 

  As a result, Errong looked as if she wanted to cry. She only stayed for a short period before leaving. Once again, she didn’t come back for several days. 

  When Nie Qingyun was alone in his room, he couldn’t resist smacking his head against a wooden pillar. It was so hard to make a woman happy. What should he do? 

  Noble Consort Nie had brought them along on the Southern Trip to give them a chance to cultivate feelings, but the outcome was that their relationship was becoming increasingly strange. 

  Let’s just wait until they got married, once they got married, it would all work out. 

  — 

  Errong was a clever young woman. Although it had seemed like she and Chen-shi wouldn’t be able to get along with each other, she kept enduring and letting Chen-shi have her way after the wedding. Errong treated him exceptionally well too. Nie Qingyun’s worried heart was put to rest. He very shamelessly sunk into the newly wedded bliss. 

  His little, sweet wife was lovable and sensible. Every day, after leaving the imperial court, his steps would be faster than usual. Onlookers watched him in amazement and one asked, “Sir Nie, why are you in such a rush to go back? Is there a pressing matter? 

  Yes, a very pressing matter. He wanted to see her sooner! 

  Although his expression didn’t change, he kept up his quick pace as he turned his head and answered, “En, there’s an urgent matter.” 

  He had once thought he would have to spend the rest of his life compensating Sangyu for his mother’s crime, and he had been happy taking care of Sangyu too. But, now that he had Errong, Nie Qingyun felt as if he had suddenly found himself. 

  However, since he frequently showed an unsmiling face, Errong didn’t know what he was thinking, so she acted slightly cautiously. 

  — 

  Although he was very happy with his wife, he couldn’t forget the responsibility that he owed Sangyu. If something happened in Marquis Moyu’s estate, he had to be the first one to go over there. If he didn’t have time, he would let Errong go there first as his substitute. 

  — 

  Although it wasn’t frequent, Errong occasionally seems depressed. He didn’t know why. But, as soon as her eyes met his, she would smile as if there was nothing wrong. 

  — 

  Finally, one night, Errong softly asked him, “Do…… Do you like Sangyu?” 

  Nie Qingyun was so startled by this question that he almost fell out of the bed, but he calmly grasped the curtain’s string in time. “Why would you ask this? Sangyu is my sister.” 

  Errong wryly smiled. “I keep feeling that you treat her better than anyone else. It’s not that I feel resentment. I have felt jealous of Sangyu in the past, but……” 

  Clenching her jaw, she didn’t continue her words. Instead, she closed her eyes and rested on his chest. “Never mind, let’s sleep.” 

  Nie Qingyun sighed. Why did other people misjudge his feelings for Sangyu? Even his father would sometimes say that he should clearly differentiate the boundaries of his feelings. 

  He wasn’t unclear about his feelings. The sister that he cared about the most was Nie Sangyu, and Ning Errong was the woman he loved the most. 

  Did everyone think he was an idiot? 

  — 

  Nie Qingyun felt relieved that Yuxuan and Sangyu’s relationship was progressing in a postive direction. Just as he was going to go home and discuss with Errong about having a child, Ning Yuxuan dragged him to a brothel. 

  “Why are we here?” Nie Qingyun normally didn’t come to places like this one. Looking at the distant dancers, he slightly furrowed his brow. 

  “Something big is going to happen in the capital,” Ning Yuxuan indifferently said, “There’s no way to save Nie Clan, but you can save Errong.” 

  Nie Qingyun found these words a bit laughable. How could something happen to Nie Clan? The third prince and the imperial noble consort were still around, there was the foundation that had been built over many years, how could…… 

  But, there wasn’t any traces of humor in Ning Yuxuan’s eyes. “Errong is my younger cousin, that’s why I thought about saving her. If you care about your wife, you should listen to my advice.” 

  “What do you want me to do?” Nie Qingyun’s expression finally sunk. 

  “Divorce Errong,” said Ning Yuxuan lowly, “Once her relationship with Nie Clan is broken, she’ll be under the shelter of Marquis Jingwen’s household.” 

  Nie Qingyun’s face paled. 

  This was ridiculous. He and Errong had been together for so long. How could he divorce her just because of a few words from Ning Yuxuan? What kind of calamity could possibly happen to Nie Clan that he couldn’t protect Errong himself? 

  Nie Qingyun didn’t want to believe this at all, but Ning Yuxuan took out a secret letter. 

  “If the third prince ascends the throne, it won’t be good. It’ll be the start of political upheaval in the capital.” Ning Yuxuan looked at him and helplessly smiled. “It’s not a problem to tell you about the upheaval because even I can’t stop it from happening. You’ll be even more powerless to salvage this desperate situation.” 

  The second prince’s forces were already secretly rushing towards the capital. The oldest prince had taken the initiative to give way, so the third prince was set to ascend the throne, but he wasn’t guarded against external threats. As soon as he ascended the throne, he would probably be shot down by the second prince under the excuse that the third prince had killed the emperor to gain the throne. 

  Behind the third prince was the Nie Clan. Nie Clan’s sole supporters were the third prince and the imperial noble consort. 

  Nie Qingyun’s body stiffened. Remaining in that sitting position, he couldn’t move a muscle. 

  Translator Ramblings: LOL, Nie Qingyun is such a dork. Qingyun and Errong are like two clueless puppies being mislead by two sly cats – Ji Man and Ning Yuxuan – that have questionably good intentions. Although…… would it also be possible that Qingyun and Errong would have kept misunderstanding each other if there was no outside interference?

  Chapter 496 – The world of feelings inside the metal can (1) 

  There was no one more terrifying than Ning Yuxuan. He clearly only had the title of marquis, but he had control of the Six Ministries. He looked like a weak scholar, but his martial art skills were better than the average warrior. If you asked him if there was anything he didn’t know about the imperial court, he could even tell you what day and which estate someone went up. 

  Nie Qingyun wished that he could doubt that Ning Yuxuan and think that he was only trying to trick him, but there was no benefit to Ning Yuxuan if he divorced Errong. On the contrary, once Nie Clan became the dominant power, it would actually be a lossl to Marquis Moyu if the connection between him and Errong was gone. 

  He wanted more time to consider. After all, there was peace and prosperity right now without any news of change. 

  And so, during the next few days, he didn’t go home. Ning Yuxuan reserved this room for him. In the passing, he pointed out a dancer named Geshan. 

  Geshan looked very similar to Sangyu. There was a light mark between her eyebrows, her lips were red, and her waist was soft. However, she didn’t enter Nie Qingyun’s eyes. 

  He was worried about Errong. He didn’t know what she was doing while he had been away from home. When he went home three days ago, he left right after getting a change of clothes. He hadn’t been able to resist looking at her from his peripheral vision. Seeing that her face had become wan and sallow, he felt slightly distressed. 

  Still, it was better for him to leave. If he did get news of a change, he could use the excuse that his feelings for her had faded to divorce her. 

  Faded, his ass! He liked Errong. Every day, he liked her a little bit more. He wanted nothing more than to hug her and not leave her side. 

  However, what if Yuxuan had told him the truth? 

  — 

  Chen-shi stopped him as he was leaving the estate. With an unsmiling face, she said, “Since Ning Errong is unable to keep you at home, why won’t you hurry up with taking a concubine? She’s been married to you for so long, and she still hasn’t gotten pregnant. You should be making other arrangements.” 

  Nie Qingyun felt a bit cranky. He nodded and left. 

  Take a concubine? This idea had never occurred to him. Errong was enough. 

  — 

  However, the news that Nie Xiangyuan was going to be removed from his position came out of the imperial court. The army had lost a battle because there was a problem with the weaponry. The emperor was furious, and someone naturally had to bear the brunt of the emperor’s anger. 

  Before the news had spread, Ning Yuxuan gave him advance notice. And so, with a pale face, Nie Qingyun brought Geshan home with him. 

  He saw the surprised look in everyone’s eyes and even saw an incredulity in his most beloved sister’s eyes. 

  In actuality, they were overthinking things. Errong was the only woman he romantically loved. He wasn’t a beast that would have such ideas about his own sister. 

  He didn’t know why Ning Yuxuan would find a dancer that looked like his younger sister. What a twisted person. 

  — 

  After he took Geshan as his concubine, Errong hid in her room. He stood outside her room scratching at the wall. He wanted to explain himself, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t even go inside and offer her a word of comfort. 

  Ning Yuxuan better not have lied to him. Otherwise, it didn’t matter if he was a marquis, he was going to punch him in the face. 

  — 

  Nie Xiangyuan was removed from his position. This happened within two days of him bringing Geshan back. Ning Yuxuan hadn’t lied to him. After the pillar of Nie Clan was lost, it’s formerly stable position slowly crumbled. 

  “What will happen next?” He asked Marquis Moyu with a pale face. 

  “Save yourself. If you can’t abandon your family, then just wait for death with them.” It was as if Ning Yuxuan was playing a complicated chess game. There were so many pieces on the board that it was impossible to determine the battlefield situation. 

  Nie Qingyun couldn’t figure it out. This person had the talent of predicting the future, and he was straightforwardly telling him without reservation. 

  Still, even if Ning Yuxuan told him this, there was no way he could change anything. He couldn’t give up on his family. No matter what, he wanted to hold up his family and keep it from falling. 

  — 

  When he divorced Errong, everyone thought he was calm and heartless. Only he knew that he had bitten down on the handkerchief as he cried while writing out the divorce letter. 

  That was too embarrassing. He wouldn’t tell anyone about that. 

  Nie Clan’s situation was too unstable. He would rather divorce her now than drag her down with him in the future. Nie Qingyun looked up at the blue sky and though he was truly a good man that had made a sacrifice for love. 

  However, when he looked at the empty room at the top of the building, he couldn’t resist turning around to cry and snivel. 

  — 

  When he was sending his father off, Errong also came, but she remained sitting inside her carriage. Chen-shi had cursed her by saying Errong was a wife that would only be with him in fortune and wouldn’t stay with him during difficult times. 

  Nie Qingyun lowered his eyes. Actually, he was the most selfish one. He hadn’t even given Errong a reason for divorcing her. Who knows how awful Errong must be feeling? Even if she found out the truth, she probably wouldn’t forgive him. 

  However, after she left, he didn’t have any lingering apprehensions about his choice. He did his best to save Nie Clan. Once the emperor died, he naturally had to help the third prince in his competition with the first prince for the throne. 

  Even though Ning Yuxuan had already warned him that the second prince’s hidden power and influence couldn’t be underestimated, it didn’t matter. There was only one path that he could take, helping the third prince. 

  — 

  When Zhao Jue ascended the throne, Nie Qingyun exhaled a long sigh of relief. He could probably bring Errong back now? 

  But, Ning Yuxuan shook his head. “It’s better if you don’t think about Errong. Nie Clan’s calamity is approaching.” 

  If Ning Yuxuan set up a stand as a fortune teller, his business would definitely be very good. Nie Qingyun looked at Marquis Moyu. He wished that he could choke him to death. 

  Sure enough, his prediction came true. The second prince’s army surrounded the capital. Since the third prince hadn’t guarded against this enemy at all, it was only a matter of time before he would lose. However, Ning Yuxuan accurately appraised the situation and took this opportunity to open the capital’s gate for the second prince.

  Chapter 497 – The world of feelings inside the metal can (2) 

  Nie Clan was doomed to perish, Ning Yuxuan’s move would only save his own household. Ning Yuxuan hadn’t lied to him; it had been the right choice to divorce to Errong. Otherwise, Errong would be kneeling here with them and executed for being a member of Nie Clan. 

  Kneeling on the execution ground, Nie Qingyun still felt a bit gratified. The two women that he cared about the most wouldn’t be dying even if Sangyu looked miserable and Errong didn’t know that he was going to die soon. 

  He had been with her for so long, but he had never properly said one word of love. Whenever she told him an interesting anecdote with a smile on her face, he only knew how to nod. If he opened his mouth, he wouldn’t know what to say. 

  His tongue was too stupid. Hopefully, he would get a smarter tongue in the next life. 

  But, after he was beheaded, would she be scared if she saw him waiting in the underworld for her with his head in hands? They didn’t have a child yet, and that silly girl probably didn’t know that he liked her so very, very much. He liked her so much that he wanted nothing more than to pick her up and spin her around. 

  She probably thought her love was one-sided, but actually, it had turned into mutual love a long time ago. 

  “Ning Errong requests to see Your Highness, the second prince!” This voice shouted from behind them and seemed to push aside the curtains of rain. It felt as if something important had skipped its way back into his heart. 

  When he opened his eyes, he saw Errong with her stomach slightly thrusted out. Her previously mischievous demeanor was gone. It was replaced by a solemn expression as she knelt down in the rain. “Ning Clan is willing to use the pardon that the late emperor had bestowed onto our clan for the life of Errong’s unborn child’s father!” 

  Nie Qingyun was shocked! Errong was pregnant with his child? And she had come here to save him? Was she crazy?! It hadn’t been easy for him to divorce her. How could she get mixed up in this mess again? Since she was pregnant, she should properly keep living, ah. With a child to keep her company, she wouldn’t feel too bored. 

  Why had she come here to kneel? The rain was so cold? What if this adversely affected the baby? 

  Seeing the dark look in the second prince’s eyes, he hastily stood up and refuted, “No matter what position I fall to, I don’t need a woman to come here to save me! Moreover, we had already divorced. There’s nothing connecting us……” 

  “Does the baby in my belly not count as a connection?” She turned her head to look at him. There was actually tears in her eyes. “Do you think I want to save a faithless man like you?……” 

  “Whatever you do, I’ll do it too.” 

  Nie Qingyun’s heart melted. Even though he was shackled and kneeling in the icy-cold rain, his body felt comfortably warm. However, he couldn’t let himself smile. If he smiled, it would be too outrageous and wreck the atmosphere. 

  Still, he was truly very happy. Although he was worried about her, he was still happy that even now, he had a place in Errong’s heart. 

  Even though he seemed to have a cold personality and didn’t like to say sweet words, he liked her. It was the type of like where he wanted to be with her for a very, very long time. The type of like where he wanted to protect her. 

  — 

  Nie Clan’s blood debt, and the shame of living without his clan name could only be washed away with Zhao Li’s blood. After he followed Errong back to Jing Province, he started off as a small official in the army. Step by step, he reached the position of Jing Province’s commander-in-chief. He wasn’t just doing this for Nie Clan. He was also thinking about how Errong liked the pastries from the Fuman restaurant in the capital. When it was time for the army to attack the capital, he would buy some back for her. 

  Their child slowly grew up. Unfortunately, he was a brat. Not only did this son compete with him for Errong’s attention, he had the same serious personality as him. Unlike the heirs of other families, his son wasn’t cute at all. 

  Hugging Errong on the bed, Nie Qingyun’s expression was black as he looked at the nearby Rui-er. “Why did you bring him over to sleep with us again?” 

  With a blushing face, Errong said, “Rui-er said he’s scared of the dark.” 

  “Rui-er,” Nie Qingyun called out to him in a deep voice and that brat turn his head to face them. He pointed at his own face. “You’re scared of the dark?” 

  Rui-er looked at him for a moment, then expressionlessly said, “I’ll go look for the wet nurse to sleep with.” 

  “Good child~” Nie Qingyun slightly smiled. He got up from the bed and dropped him off at the wet nurse’s room. After he came back, he hugged his beauty to have a peaceful night’s sleep. 

  Errong lightly scolded him, “Why did you want Rui-er to leave?” 

  Because it was enough just to have them on the bed. What was the point in having that meatball? Nie Qingyun harrumphed, but he didn’t say aloud his thoughts. His breath blew over Errong’s neck, and he gently bit down. 

  Errong let out a stifled yelp. She opened and closed her mouth, but couldn’t find any words to say. Previously, she hadn’t noticed this. But, once they had spent more time together, she noticed that Qingyun was getting clingier and clingier. And, even as he was being super sticky, he would still show a solemn expression. 

  But, Sangyu had said they would reach a happy ending as long as she had enough patience. Errong had figured out the meaning of her words through experience. Perhaps, Qingyun had liked someone in the past, but she was willing to patiently wait until the day that he fell in love with her. 

  In actuality, this was wrong. Ji Man meant that Errong to had to patiently wait until she discovered that Nie Qingyun’s secret. He was a reticent person who hid his feelings. He was like a tightly sealed metal can. You had to take a hammer and slowly break him open at the seam in order to discover what he was hiding inside. 

  His heart was like an onion. As you peeled off each layer, you would realize each layer was for you. When you weren’t around, the heart couldn’t be peeled. Although these words were nauseatingly sweet, let’s use these words to describe Nie Qingyun’s true state of mind for now. 

  Tightly hugging him back, Errong secretly thought; perhaps, Qingyun would be happier if they had a daughter . 

  As for Nie Qingyun, who had his face buried by her ear, he was already smiling in satisfaction.