Chapter 143

Good, the matter could be simply settled. Ji Man looked at Chen-shi and said, “Although Qingyun has married above his social status, mother, you haven’t had to lower your head in front of Errong. On the contrary, Errong has acted very filial towards you in every aspect, so why are you making life difficult of her?”

“How have I made life difficult for her?” Chen-shi frowned. “Don’t spread venomous slander.”

“Checking her body.” Ji Man’s gaze became slightly sharper and Chen-shi turned her face away. “Mother, you must be thinking that because Errong deeply loves older brother, she won’t tell her father about this. Nie Clan is the one that’s in the wrong about this matter to begin with, and yet you made this matter even worse. Mother, aren’t you afraid that one day Errong won’t be able to tolerate your abuse and will report everything to the imperial courts? The emperor had even issued a celebratory decree for this marriage. Mother, don’t you have any sense of what’s considered appropriate behavior?”

These words left Chen-shi speechless. Nie Sangyu had guessed correctly. She had thought there was no reason to fear the consequences because this junzhu was deeply in love with Qingyun. It was Ning Errong’s fault for being the person that Nie Sangyu had pushed Qingyun to marry. Although that girl wasn’t bad, she was still unhappy with their marriage.

Chen Suqin pretended to be fierce while inwardly feeling cowardly. She scolded, “When did it become the younger generation’s turn to lecture someone older than them? Who cares if she’s a junzhu? She married into Nie Clan, so it’s only right for her to obey me. If she feels she’s being treated unjustly, then I’ll have Qingyun give her a divorce letter!”

Ji Man was feeling angered to death by this woman’s stupidity. She wasn’t showing the slightest consideration for her son and was letting her own feelings decide everything.

“Sangyu has tried her best to persuade mother. It’s rare for a daughter-in-law to be good as Errong. If mother fails to appreciate her and loses her, it’ll be too late to feel regretful later.” Ji Man stood up, saluted, and said, “Mother, you should carefully reconsider.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Ji Man saw resentment and fear flashing through Chen Suqin’s eyes and decided to stop looking. She turned her head away and left the courtyard.

—

She ordered Dengxin to buy something for her. Two hours later, she went to the courtyard that Nie Qingyun usually stayed in.

Don’t misunderstand. She wasn’t going there to talk with him. Those two were a married couple. As his younger sister, she didn’t have any basis to discuss this type of thing with him. She was just going to his room to place the drugs she had asked Dengxin to purchase.

Yes, it was aphrodisiacs. What was there left to say? If he wasn’t willing to sleep with Errong, then she would simply force him to sleep with Errong, even if she had to drug him. These two were already married. There was no need to feel any apprehension about right or wrong. The sooner she drugged him, the sooner the matter would be completed.

—

Nie Qingyun hadn’t returned home yet. He was actually quite busy in the imperial court too and usually didn’t return home until the evening.

—

Ji Man had sent Dengxin to buy this drug at a high-class brothel. Dengxin had been quite lucky. She had met a female brothel owner at the back entrance and was able to accomplish her task with just one silver ingot. There were two parts to the aphrodisiac. One part was for internal use and the other part was for external use.

After she personally poisoned, no, personally cooked a meal for Nie Qingyun, she called Errong over to take a bath. Dengxin personally attended to Ning Errong and rubbed the external use drug everywhere. She also rubbed a little bit of the remaining internal use drug onto Ning Errong’s neck as well. The rest of the internal use drug had been already been added to the food. Ji Man had also added some of the external use drug into Nie Qingyun’s courtyard’s lamps.

Don’t say she was treacherous. Sometimes, you had to act slyly in order to accomplish your objective. She was only taking an indirect method because the direct method wouldn’t work.

And so, after Nie Qingyun came home that evening and he had finished asking Nie Sangyu a couple of questions out of concern for why she was here, they all went to his courtyard to have dinner.

Of course, Ji Man had only eaten a few bites of food before saying she had to go to the bathroom. In the passing, she brought all of the servants with her as she left to create a favorable environment.

Good deeds should be done with intention, not for attention.

—

Ji Man had a peaceful night’s sleep at Ning Errong’s Huarong Courtyard. When she woke up the next morning, she sent Dengxin to check up on the situation in Nie Qingyun’s courtyard.

However, before Ji Man heard any news about Nie Qingyun, Dengxin had hurriedly rushed back to report, “Master, something bad happened in the marquis’s residence. You should hurry and go back!”

Something bad happened? Ji Man’s heart jumped. It felt as if a stone was being suspended high above her.

Was there some degree of truth to that sage monk’s words? Had she avoided misfortune?

After Ji Man put on her clothes, she asked while entering the carriage, “What happened?”

Dengxin furrowed her brow and said, “Early this morning, a servant from the marquis’s residence came over with a message. He said something disastrous had happened last night. He didn’t provide details, but based on how anxious he looked, it’s probably not a trivial matter.”

Ji Man frowned. She supported her chin in her hand and thought for a while.

What could have possibly happened? The images of the sage monk, the third prince, and the eye-catching Jinse appeared in her mind. Ji Man felt as if she was on the edge of an epiphany, but there was still a missing piece that she needed before her confusion cleared up.

—

Gancao was waiting at the marquis’s residence’s entrance for them. Seeing them come out of the carriage, she hurriedly rushed forward and concisely reported, “Madam, Mistress Wan suffered a miscarriage last night. This servant heard that she was being plagued by a ghost baby and ended up losing her baby because she was too frightened. Honored Concubine Xue has also fallen sick from fright. A monk will be coming over soon. The marquis was furious all night. Right now, everyone is with Old Madame in the main courtyard.”

Wen Wan had lost her baby? Although Ji Man really wanted to ask, was everyone gathered together today because of this reason? She was more curious about the ghost baby. Hadn’t the sage monk already performed a purification ritual? Shouldn’t any spirt have been vanquished? Why had the ghost appeared again and caused Wen Wan to suffer a miscarriage?

Looking at Marquis Moyu’s residence’s wooden plaque, Ji Man also shivered. She pursed her lips and followed Gancao to the main courtyard.

She had the constant ominous feeling that a plot was gradually rising from a watery surface.

Translator Ramblings: Oh, Ji Man. How could you drug Nie Qingyun and think it’s okay to do something like that? The first time I read the novel, I thought it wasn’t that bad of Ji Man to use aphrodisiacs because in this novel, people are capable of fighting off the effects if they’re truly not interested. But, now that I’m reading it for the second time, Ji Man comes off as smugly righteously about playing god. If Nie Qingyun truly isn’t in love with Ning Errong, how does she think he’ll react the next morning?

Tiny spoiler. Ji Man won’t do anything as horrible as this again.

If you want to know why Nie Qingyun hasn’t had sex with Ning Errong yet, I included the spoiler in the comments below.