Chapter 452 - I like him (1)

Seeing that her gaze had suddenly dimmed, Ning Yuxuan couldn’t resist smiling. However, he turned his head away. He couldn’t let her see.

What benefit would there be in having more women in his harem? Other than the advantage of curbing each faction’s interest, it would be endless competing for his attention. This would adversely affect his heir. By its very nature, a harem would endanger Haohao. If it was possible, only having one woman was enough.

He just didn’t want her to be too proud of herself and be under her control.

Recently, Ji Man hadn’t been feeling well and would occasionally feel nauseous. Thinking that it would be troublesome to find a doctor that she could trust, she decided against it. However, while she was talking with Ning Yuxuan, she suddenly fainted. Alarmed, he quickly summoned a doctor over to check on her.

“Congratulations my lord, this young lady is two months pregnant.” The doctor smiled and saluted with his hands.

Ning Yuxuan was thrilled. Sitting on the bedside, he tightened his hold on Ji Man’s hand. She was pregnant? He would have another child soon?

When Ji Man woke up, she saw Marquis Moyu smiling like an idiot.

“Man-er, let’s have a daughter,” he said.

Ji Man was dumbfounded. She didn’t understand what was going on until the nearby doctor repeated his diagnosis. She couldn’t help becoming a bit lost in her thoughts. When she was pregnant last time, her thoughts were only about survival. This pregnancy, her heart was brimming full of warmth. Looking at the person sitting next to her, she wanted to grab him and firmly hold onto him.

She hoped that her next child would be a daughter. She would braid her hair and dress her up like a beautiful princess. Picturing this image, Ji Man smiled too.

Right now, the inner court was peaceful, so Marquis Moyu didn’t have any apprehensions. This news immediately spread through the estate, and soon after, it reached the palace.

Ji Man was already pregnant with his child. Zhao Zhe wouldn’t continue to try to snatch her away, right?

But, the outcome was that Zhao Zhe sent people to bring Nie Sangyu into the palace under the excuse of nurturing the baby.

Everyone in the estate was shocked. Ji Man was pregnant with Marquis Moyu’s child. Why did she have to go the palace to nurture the baby? Sitting on Ji Man’s bedside, Marquis Moyu couldn’t figure out the answer to this question either.

A rumor spread in the marquis’s estate that the emperor had favored Nie Sangyu when she was in the palace, so the unborn baby’s paternity was unclear. In order to avoid the royal bloodline from leaking out, he naturally had to bring Nie Sangyu into the palace.

Once the rumors started, it couldn’t be stopped. Even when Ji Man was resting inside, she could hear people gossiping outside her doors.

“The marquis is so pitiful. The other party is the emperor, so he can’t resist. If it’s really the emperor’s child, how could he compete with the emperor?”

“I’ve never been initiate with Zhao Zhe,” Ji Man seriously explained.

Marquis Moyu only responded with an “En.”

But, what woman would admit that she was intimate with another man? Even her face looked a bit pale as she explained. After all, Zhao Zhe had already sent people over to pick her up.

He felt conflicted. He didn’t know if he should stop the palace servants or not. If he did, the situation would only get worse, and Ji Man’s reputation would suffer a devastating blow. In the future, she probably wouldn’t be able to go out in public. But, if he didn’t stop them, she would be taken into the palace. He couldn’t allow that.

Right now, Ji Man utterly hated Zhao Zhe for pouring this dirty water on her. He ignored his wife and spent so much time scheming on how to snatch someone else’s wife. They had been alone in Shen Youqing’s palace for less than fifteen minutes. Was he so determined to pull her down that he would even humiliate himself?

Standing at the doorway, Guibai said with a furrowed brow, “My lord, the people from the palace are waiting outside.”

Ji Man raised her head to look at Ning Yuxuan. “Are you going to have me enter the palace?”

Ning Yuxuan had already thought for a long time. He took a deep breath and answered, “Yes.”

Ji Man’s eyes dimmed.

“I’ll go with you.” Marquis Moyu stood up and picked her up. “We’ll go thank the emperor for his benevolence, then tell him that the scenery in my estate is very good and suitable for a pregnant woman, so there’s no need for the emperor to trouble himself.”

After being slightly taken aback, Ji Man smiled. She hugged his neck and let him carry her out of the estate. In front of the eyes of the palace servants, they boarded the carriage.

Being trusted by your lover was a very warm and soft feeling. Ji Man thought; Ning Yuxuan could actually be a good husband.

Guibai also came along with them. After the three of them departed, there weren’t many people left in the estate. A servant girl that had been hiding in Qiangwei Courtyard, which had been neglected since Wen Wan’s death, popped out and headed to the garden.

In the garden, Haohao was currently being watched over by a servant girl. He was swaying his head as he read aloud a poem.

“Fair, fair, cry the ospreys, on the island in the river.

Lovely is this noble lady, a fit bride for our lord.”

(T/N: Taken from https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/chinese_poetry_ospreys.html)

The nearby servant girl blushed as she heard these words. It reminded her of her meeting with Little Three from the kitchen, and she gave into her impulse. She looked around, then lowered her head and asked Haohao, “Heir, can you stay here for fifteen minutes by yourself?”

Haohao turned his head and blinked his eyes. “You can leave if there’s something you need to do. I’ll stay here. I won’t wander off.”

“Heir, you’re the best!” The servant girl couldn’t resist patting his cheeks. “If someone asks, can you tell them I went to the toilet?”

“En,” Haohao agreed.

The servant girl happily left, and Haohao resumed memorizing the second half of his poem.