Chapter 52 - The world changes whether you want it to or not (1)
For her to remember even childhood memories this well, there naturally wouldn’t be any noticeable physical difference. Ning Yuxuan had observed Nie Sangyu for many days and had examined her face when she was sleeping. And now, he finally had to admit that this person was Nie Sangyu herself. This person couldn’t be an impersonator.
Then, what could have made this woman change so drastically?
“During childhood, other than coming out to look at the marquis, this servant was at home embroidering the rest of the time. Unfortunately, even though the marquis accepted my embroidered items, you never used any of those items even once.” There was a mocking smile on Ji Man’s lips. “How fortunate that Sangyu used to feel very happy over this. In hopes that the marquis would enjoy using those items, Sangyu had kept practicing in order to become more skillful at embroidery.
Once these words were said, Ning Yuxuan became somewhat embarrassed. He lightly coughed and turned his gaze away. “The things that I use are managed by the servants. I wasn’t paying special attention to it.”
“You don’t care about Sangyu, so you naturally don’t pay attention to the items made by Sangyu.” Ji Man sighed. “Sangyu had once spent an entire month embroidering a cloak with a cedar tree pattern, but unfortunately, Sangyu hasn’t seen you wearing it even once.”
Nie Sangyu had spent several days embroidered that cloak without stopping to rest. After falling sick, she resumed embroidering again for a month before she has even recovered from her illness. However, Marquis Moyu had only indifferently accepted the item, put it away in his wardrobe, and never took it out again.
“It’s all in the past. If you hadn’t been so devoid of sense, I wouldn’t have treated you coldly for that long.” Ning Yuxuan looked at Nie Sangyu and said, “The way you’re behaving right now is pretty good. It saves me from being troubled.”
Ah yes, her behavior was saving him from being troubled. She was already at the point where she didn’t want anything. Of course, she was saving him from feeling troubled. Men always wanted women to be magnanimous, not argue or worry about things that men felt were minor, and to not be willful. Actually, it would be easy for a woman to do this. Just, don’t be in love with than man and she would be able to satisfy all of his requirements without any difficulties. Her current interactions with Marquis Moyu were an example of this.
“My lord, your eyes look bloodshot. Let’s go to sleep early.” Ji Man expressionlessly turned her back to him in clear show of rejection.
Ning Yuxuan didn’t insist on continuing this conversation. Lying next to her, he straightforwardly fell asleep without the slighted additional movement.
She had been right. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea of bestowing favor on her either. Ji Man let out a slight sigh in relief. Tomorrow, she would still go to old madame’s place to hide and avoid other people feeling jealous that she had been favored for two nights in a row.
But, there was a saying. The trees longed for peace, but the wind will never cease*. When Marquis Jingwen’s family finally arrived, something still went wrong.
* (T/N: This idiom means that the world changes whether you want it to or not.)
Because it was close family members that were visiting, old madame naturally warmly welcomed Marquis Jingwen and his son and daughter with a festive meal at the main courtyard. All of honored and ordinary concubines also attended. However, they were separated by status. The honored concubines and the main wife were sitting. The ordinary concubines could only stand in place.
Although Mu Shuiqing was pregnant, she wasn’t an exception to this rule and still had to stand near old madame to add food to her bowl.
Ji Man stood behind Wen Wan and looked the table full of fish and meat and silently swallowed her saliva.
This was called poor people can only smell the rich scent of meat and wine as they freeze to death in winter. She hadn’t even eaten dinner yet! These people were actually just sitting and talking nonsense while leaving these delicious delicacies untouched.
“The new cousin-in-law is truly beautiful. She’s much prettier than our old cousin-in-law.” Ning Errrong was a wearing a cute outfit that consisted of a vest-style garment lined with white fox fur and a sky blue, pleated skirt. She looked rather lively. Her eyes had looked at Sangyu for a long time before falling on Wen Wan’s body.
This devilish little ancestor had become friends with Sangyu several years ago after a period of discord. She never gave anyone any face. Although Wen Wan had a beautiful face, it had become significantly haggard during the past several days. She hadn’t been able to smile since the beginning of this dinner and resembled a squashed flower. Compared to Nie Sangyu, who had been using skincare products made of natural ingredients, her face looked quite inferior. And yet, Errong still said those words.
Hearing the words, “new” and “old”, made Ning Yuxuan’s expression turn ugly.
Sitting next to Errong, there was a man wearing a silver mask. He quietly said, “Errong, properly eat dinner and speak less,” and added more food to her bowl.
Ning Errong quietly harrumphed, lowered her head to eat, and firmly kicked Ning Mingjie’s leg underneath the table.
Ning Mingjie didn’t show any reaction to being kicked and only quietly ate dinner. When he inadvertently raised his head and saw a glance of Wen Wan, he felt that this woman was quite pretty.
Ji Man remembered that the female lead and the supporting male character had met during this banquet. But since she had entered this book, a lot of the details had already changed. Wen Wan also hadn’t caused as much trouble as written in the original novel. She couldn’t say whether or not the direction of the original plot was changing. However, whether or not the supporting male lead stayed was a serious matter that was related to preserving her life.
The reason than Nie Sangyu had been ordered to commit suicide was because this supporting male character had obtained the evidence of Nie Sangyu harming the female lead. As a result, the marquis had ended the supporting female character’s life in a fit of anger.
They were both supporting characters. Why did the supporting male character have to make life difficult for the supporting female character?
Ji Man couldn’t resist looking at Ning Mingjie a few more times. When that person paused while holding chopsticks, he inexplicably looked up and looked in her direction.
When his bright and beautiful eyes looked at her, Ji Man slightly froze for a moment before she hurriedly lowered her head and obediently went back to adding food to Wen Wan’s bowl.
Hey! This man’s eyes were too good-looking. No wonder people said that the male lead was for the female lead and the supporting male character was for the readers. A reader like her loved supporting male characters like him! Ah, he was such a beautiful man and his temperament also seemed better than Marquis Moyu. Perhaps, she should try her best to change the plot and let the male lead and female lead have their grand finale while she returned to her world with the supporting male character?
As she thought about this, Ji Man glanced at Ning Mingjie again and felt that it would be worth it try out this idea.