Chapter 135
Miss Shui wanted to give her the box that contained the banknotes to her, but Ji Man hastily said, “Safeguard this money for me. I’ll just take three hundred silver taels with me as pocket money. If I need more, I’ll send someone to get it. You have to remember, if someone comes to you and ask who’s the behind-the-scenes owner, you have to pretend to not recognize me. Just say that you created everything yourself.”
“This servant understands.”
Miss Shui was a clever person, so Ji Man’s worries lessened considerably.
Knowing that she had her own money, Ji Man felt ample confidence. When she returned to the residence to check the account book, she was still in a very good mood.
When Qi Siling had returned the inner courts’ account book, she had look through it. Although she didn’t notice any clerical error for the transactions, the remaining money left for this residence was very little.
Marquis Moyu had his own enfeoffment and gifts from various people, as well as large rewards from the emperor. His salary was considerably abundant, so there shouldn’t be the slight problem with him supporting a large family. However, the money left for this quarter was only twenty-something silver taels. At the beginning of spring, items still needed to be purchased for every courtyard. The remaining money definitely wasn’t enough.
But, the position of the main wife had only recently returned to her. It wouldn’t reflect well on her if she were seen as being stingy with each of the courtyards’ essential necessities. Misunderstandings caused by gossip would occur.
Ji Man considered for a while, then she gestured for Gancao to come over, gave her the banknotes, and sent her off to buy the items. At minimum, the items for old madame’s courtyard needed to be purchased.
—
After Jinse had miscarried, she had been resting this entire time. It seemed that Marquis Moyu had the attitude of not wanting to pay attention to her.
Thinking that it wasn’t easy for a woman to recover from miscarriage, Ji Man prepared and sent over the items that Jinse would need.
In the end, the only courtyard that she didn’t send over enough stuff was Jiyue Courtyard.
Ji Man could see that Qi Siling had always been targeting her. But since Nie Sangyu had been the one that treated Qi Siling poorly to begin with, Ji Man didn’t say anything and just pretended that she didn’t notice Qi Siling’s previous attempts. But now that Qi Siling had messed with the account book, she could only counter her tricks. Didn’t leave her enough money for the quarter? That’s fine, ah. But, Qi Siling wouldn’t be receiving much for her courtyard.
—
Tonghao Poetry Association’s members had the equivalent of a lavish party at Luoyan Pagoda for one afternoon and had attracted the attention of many people. Wen Wan also stepped into the limelight again. She was proclaimed Tonghao Poetry Associations’ most beautiful woman.
Luo Qianqian could only silently stew in resentment. Why had Nie Sangyu left so early? If she hadn’t left, there would be no way that the words “most beautiful woman” would be used to describe Wen Wan.
—
However, Wen Wan was in trouble once she returned that evening. Marquis Moyu went to the crown prince’s residence to have a long talk and wouldn’t be returning tonight. Thus, old madame was able to punish Wen Wan with kneeling in the ancestral hall for a night because Wen Wan had been loose with her morals.
This episode had also happened in the original novel. Ji Man remembered that Wen Wan would faint during the night. Because she had fainted, a doctor had checked on her and she had been revealed to be pregnant. After the marquis came back, he had a huge fight with old madame. The male lead lovingly protected the female and their cold war ended.
Ji Man wasn’t just the supporting female character. She was a supporting female character that knew the plot. So, how could she let them reconcile? Haha, dream on.
Didn’t Wen Wan like to be surrounded by men? Then, let her get her fill.
Ji Man sent out the news that Wen Wan had been punished with kneeling in the ancestral hall and requested the presences of emissaries to protect this fragile flower. The ancestral hall was located a short distance outside of Marquis Moyu’s residence’s back entrance and it was easy enough to climb over the wall that surrounded the ancestral hall.
Hearing the news that a delicate beauty had been wronged and was pitifully kneeling in an ancestral hall, the group of romantic young men couldn’t stop themselves. One by one, they came over like thieves to protect this frail flower.
They still had some sense of propriety. Thus, instead of entering the ancestral hall, they only stood outside and sighed and moaned to the moon that Marquis Moyu didn’t appreciate beauties and old madame had a poisonous heart.
Wen Wan had originally been kneeling, but there wasn’t anyone else in the ancestral hall except for Tanxiang. She had been bored to begin with. Now that a crowd of people had come over to keep her company, why would she care about staying inside to kneel? She went outside to cry out her grievances.
With such a large group of people keeping her company, would Wen Wan still faint? Of course not. Wen Wan passed the night very happily with her admirers doing their best to make her laugh and smile.
When she returned to the residence the next day, she thought; why did she insist on staying with Marquis Moyu when there were so many other people treating her well?
—
The fainting episode had been skipped, so Wen Wan’s pregnancy hadn’t been detected. Ji Man calculated the days. Wen Wan should be about two months pregnant. There just hadn’t been any pregnancy signs, that was why she hadn’t noticed.
Right now, the question was, how should she deal with this baby that hadn’t been discovered yet.
No matter what, a child was innocent. Back when she used to watch palace dramas, she always despised the women that would harm children the most. She wasn’t planning on poisoning Wen Wan like Nie Sangyu had done in the original novel. But, under what circumstances would Wen Wan’s pregnancy become less important?
If she was pregnant as well.
Ji Man counted the days on her fingers. From the time they returned from the Southern Trip until now, two months had passed. Was it possible for her to have become pregnant too?
If she wasn’t pregnant, then she could only wait to see Wen Wan’s reversal in fortunes. If she was pregnant, although Marquis Moyu might not necessarily be as happy about it as Wen Wan’s pregnancy, the other women would still be expected to stand to the side if the main wife was pregnant.
In a gambling mood, Ji Man summoned a doctor to check her pulse.
Doctor Li came over with his medicine box. After checking her pulse, his following words left her very disappointed. “Madam, you’re not pregnant.”