Fortunately, she was very familiar with the layout of the marquis’s estate. She chose the shortest route, so it didn’t take long before they arrived at Ning Yuxuan’s room. The lights inside the room were clearly still lit, and the doors weren’t even fully shut. They could see from the outside that Ning Yuxuan and Qian Yingchen were playing chess and chatting.

  Tapping a chess piece, Qian Yingchen said, “Once a pathway is opened for Zhangjun, many things will become easier. Originally, this would have been an unmentionable topic. It’s unexpected that new emperor would agree to it.”


  Marquis Moyu pursed his lips and said, “That was also outside of my expectations as well. Someone had already suggested this idea earlier, but I thought it wasn’t doable, so I dismissed it. I didn’t think it thoroughly enough.”


  Ji Man was slightly stunned as she listened to their conversation, but Zhu Yurun had already lightly pushed the doorframe to get a better view. Her eager eyes were practically falling out. She let out a sound as if she had suffered a critical hit after squeezing Ji Man to the side to get a better view.

  The corners of Ji Man’s lips twitched. Before the people inside the room came out to check on the noise, she haplessly scrambled into the room. Half-kneeling, she said, “Marquis, this one has something to report.”


  With his eyebrows furrowed, Ning Yuxuan glanced at her. “It’s so late. Why did you come here?”


  Qian Yingchen also looked over in Ji Man’s direction with a confused expression.

  Ji Man could still hear Miss Zhu’s loud breathing, so she hurriedly said, “Marquis, please follow this one. It’s something urgent. Really urgent!”


  Worried by her nervous tone, Marquis Moyu stood up and pulled her up by the arm as he strode out of the room. “Yinghen, wait here for a bit.”


  Qian Yingchen was smiling as he assented, “Sure.” As he watched Ji Man staggering along from being pulled out of the room by Ning Yuxuan, there was a hint of amusement in his eyes.

  However, soon after, his smile disappeared. Shortly after Marquis Moyu and Ji Man left, a blur rushed into the room and excitedly grabbed onto him by the lapels of his robe and shook him. “Sir, I finally found you!”


  After getting a clear look of that person’s face, Qian Yingchen’s face turned red, then white before settling on a greenish color. “You……”


  “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me!” Zhu Yurun happily exclaimed, “I’m the person that you had a physical relationship with, in that inn in Xu Province. I’m so happy that you still remember me!”


  It really would be a difficult task to forget a woman like her. Qian Yingchen was choked off into silence by the shock of her appearance for a long time. Finally, he took in a fresh gulp of air. With an unpleasant expression, he said, “Miss, is there a reason why you came looking for this one?”


  —


  In another area, Ning Yuxuan had brought Ji Man near the garden. With his brows furrowed, he asked, “What exactly is wrong?”


  Even after Ji Man had thought for a long time, she still couldn’t figure out a sufficient excuse to say. She could only pull on his hand and somewhat stiffly say, “The moonlight looks very good tonight. I wanted to take a stroll outside with my lord……”


  Ning Yuxuan was a bit sluggish in responding. Soon after recovering, he snorted.

  “My lord, don’t be angry, ah.” Ji Man let go of his hand and clasped her hands behind her back. “I wasn’t intentionally trying to pretend there was an emergency. It was because…… Because……”


  He helped her with finishing up her sentence by saying, “You were scared that I would kick you out of the estate and you wouldn’t be able to see Haohao anymore, right?”


  Ji Man repeatedly nodded. Right, this was exactly it.

  The moonlight really did look very good tonight. With the moonlight sprinkled on the ground, the shadows of the two people looked very, very close.

  Ning Yuxuan suddenly sighed. He looked at her and said, “Since you don’t want to leave Haohao, then why are you getting married?”


  “I have my own reasons for wanting to get married……” Ji Man pouted and said, “Marrying Miss Zhu will be beneficial for her and me. Why wouldn’t I do it?”


  “Since you’re willing to take Haohao into consideration, why won’t you take me into your consideration when you make decisions?” Ning Yuxuan sneered. He deeply looked into her eyes as he said, “It’ll be very good for you if you marry Assistant Minister Zhu’s daughter, but what about me?”


  It felt as if his eyes were bottomless. It made Ji Man feel apprehensive. She instinctively wanted to look away. “My lord, what’s wrong?”


  She was just marrying a woman, not marrying another man. Why was he so out of sorts over it?

  Ning Yuxuan took a deep breath, then he hugged her and very helplessly sighed, “You’re so terribly selfish.”


  Ji Man’s body somewhat stiffened. His arm was around her waist, and her entire upper body was touching his. He slightly leaned over, and his hug got even tighter.

  This was the scene that greeted Wen Wan when she walked over here through another small path. She was holding a tray of refreshments. While Wen Wan’s eyes were widening in shock, Tanxiang tugged on her master’s sleeve.

  “What……” Just as Wen Wan was about to ask what was going on, Tanxiang gestured for her to remain silent and pointed at the other side.

  The marquis was actually publicly hugging a man while they were standing by the garden’s entrance and illuminated by moonlight.

  Startled by this sight, Wen Wan took a step closed to them.

  Ning Yuxuan loosen his grip on Ji Man, but then he grabbed her chin and kissed her as if he was a thirsty land that had been suffering through a long drought, and now, he finally met a long spell of sweet, copious rain. He almost bent her body too far backwards.

  Wen Wan gasped before she covered her own mouth. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing with her eyes.

  The three servant girls that had been following behind Wen Wan all took a few steps back and pretended that they hadn’t seen anything. They quickly left this place in order to stay out of trouble. It was only Wen Wan that blankly stood here for a while before staggering back to her courtyard.

  Ning Yuxuan was interested in men? Wen Wan shook her head. No, this had to be wrong. How could he……

  Although it was true that he recently hadn’t been visiting anyone’s bedrooms in a while, he was someone that already had children. How could he be gay? After falling onto the floor in a sitting position, Wen Wan sat there for a long time before she stood back up and headed towards Liu Hanyun’s courtyard. It had been too long since she received favor herself, so she had to ask another women about this matter.