Chapter 142 - Mission accomplished with aphrodisiac (1)

Ji Man was shocked. She instinctively looked around. The room was totally silently and she didn’t hear the sound of anyone from outside.

“How could this be possible?”

Ning Errong briefly pulled the corners of her lips up into a bitter smile. “It’s probably my fault. He doesn’t like me, but I stubbornly insisted on marrying him. It’s only natural that he doesn’t want to share a bed with me. But... Madam has been forcefully asking me for a proof of our wedding night... In the end, she checked my body to determine if I’m still a virgin... I...”

Before Errong had finished saying everything, she started sobbing again.

Ji Man was furious. Nie Qingyun was bullying Errong too much. A grand junzhu had married him and yet she had suffered through an examination like that. How lucky for him that Ning Errong loved him so much that she didn’t say a single word of this during her visit home. Otherwise, based on how much Marquis Jingwen loved his daughter, he wouldn’t be willing to let things go with Nie Clan.

“I’m going to look for my older brother!” Ji Man stood up and wanted to go outside.

“Sangyu.” Ning Errong clutched her sleeve. With reddened eyes, she said, “You’ve already helped me a lot. There’s no reason for you to talk about this matter with him to help me. I can’t afford to lose him either.”

“What are you going to do then?” Ji Man was truly very angry. “Since he agreed to marry you, he should love and cherish you. How could he let you be wronged like this? If a man can’t even protect his own woman, then what’s the use of being a man? He might as well have his woman protect him.”

In her life, she hated men that didn’t have a sense of responsibility the most. She hadn’t expected that Nie Qingyun, who she had always thought was a pretty good person, would disappoint her like this.

Errong was momentarily stunned by her words. She pursed her lips and said, “Qingyun is pretty good to me. I just don’t have his heart. He hasn’t treated me unfairly. Other than not sharing a bed with me, he’ll do various martial arts tricks to amuse me and buy little trinkets that are popular with the commonfolk. When he’s being sweet... it’s really good too.”

Ji Man rubbed the temples on the sides of her head. Women would always be creatures that forgot the pain of past injuries. After they were finished feeling sad, they would only think about that person’s good points. Ji Man forgot where she read this idea. It said that men were a pile of dog shit. When women noticed the smell, they would stay away from them. But, as soon as the dog shit cooled down and the smell faded, these women that lacked long-term memory would think the dog shit was chocolate. They had to taste it again to realize that it was still dog shit.

Although using these words to describe Nie Qingyun was a bit harsh since he wasn’t actually this terrible, this idea was still totally valid for the women in the world that had married bad husbands!

After calming herself down with deep breaths, Ji Man sat down again by Ning Errong’s side and asked, “Do you remember the advice that I gave you on capturing a man’s heart before your wedding?”

Ning Errong paused for a moment before nodding. “I remember. You said that I had to play hard to get to keep him interested and to not always treat him so well...”

“But Sangyu, when I’m in front of him, I can’t remember any of those methods. I just want him to think about me and to truly fall in love with me. Do you understand that feeling?”

Ji Man’s heart ached. She didn’t say a word.

Of course she understood Errong’s feelings. Everyone had fallen in love with a few bastards when they were young. But, she didn’t understand. There wasn’t anything bad about Ning Errong. Whether it was family background or appearances, she was a perfect partner for Nie Qingyun. Why would Nie Qingyun treat her like this?

After spending a long time comforting Ning Errong and even saying that she would sleepover tonight, Ji Man left the room to pay Chen-shi a visit.

As Ning Errong’s mother-in-law, Chen-shi wasn’t a good person to deal with. Since she had already gone so far as to examine Errong’s body, it was unlikely that she was treat Errong well normally.

When Ji Man entered Chen-shi’s courtyard, Chen-shi was currently picking pearls out of a small basket.

This basket of pearls had been part of Ning Errong’s dowry. In order to curry favor with Chen-shi, Ning Errong had given this to her.

Chen Suqing picked up pearl after pearl with her long nails. She looked at them disdainfully, but she wasn’t wiling to return any of them.

“Oh, isn’t this Marquis Moyu’s wife?” Seeing Nie Sangyu at the entrance, Chen-shi continued to sit and smiled as she said, “Aren’t you here to see Errong? Why did you come to my courtyard?”

Ji Man didn’t smile. Step by step, she walked over. She sat down at the table and watched Chen Suqing as she said, “Sangyu hasn’t see mother in a while. Mother’s vision is the same as before.”

Superficial and pitiful.

“What’s wrong with my vision?” Chen Suqing harrumphed and picked up a pearl that was as wide as a finger. “It’s about time for me to enjoy living a prosperous life. There’s no need for you to interfere with matters that don’t concern you.”

“How could Nie Clan’s matters not concern Sangyu?” Ji Man chuckled. “Sangyu has a debt of gratitude towards father for raising me and older brother for caring for me. Although the other people in Nie Clan have nothing to do with Sangyu, Sangyu can’t let the actions of stupid people cause father and older brother’s deaths.”

Chen-shi scornfully glanced at her. “Alright, tell me. Who’s harming them?”

Ji Man placed both of her hands on her knees and said with a stern expression, “Marquis Jingwen has always been an elder that the emperor respects. His fiefdom, Jing Province, is also located at a very important strategic position. He’s even allowed to sit down during the imperial court sessions. Mother, do you think Marquis Jingwen’s status is low?”

Chen-shi put down the pearl and moved her hands closer to herself. She somewhat uneasily said, “No one had said that Marquis Jingwen’s status is low. Qingyun was the one that benefitted from this marriage.”

Translator Ramblings: Do you guys remember Ji Man’s advice to Ning Errong in chapter 96 about silently enduring when your mother-in-law bullies you? I think if Ji Man hadn’t given Ning Errong well-meaning, but spectacularly bad advice, things wouldn’t have deteriorated to this point. If Ji Man had taken the time to consider that old madame and Chen-shi are very different types of people before giving Errong advice, she wouldn’t have needed to come to Nie Residence to fix the problem that she created.

And, I really disagree with Ji Man’s thoughts on why Nie Qingyun should love Ning Errong. Even if someone is the most amazing person in the world, it doesn’t mean you’ll instantly fall in love with him or her.

What do you guys think?