When Xie Nanjia returned to Yilan Courtyard, the Fourth Miss and her friends had already finished their dinner and were sitting around chatting as usual.
When Nanny Li saw her come back, she came up to her with a beaming face and told her the good news, saying that this morning Princess Anping sent her trusted nanny to return the old lady's gift, and talked to the old lady for a long time before leaving. There must be hope for the fourth young lady and young master Zhou's relationship.
He also said that if this could really be accomplished, Xie Nanjia would be the biggest contributor, and in the future she would be able to marry into the Princess's Mansion along with the Fourth Young Miss and become a well-known maid, which would be much better than being a subordinate here.
Xie Nanjia couldn't help but admire the old maid's imagination. She had already thought about the dowry before the Fourth Young Miss even had her destiny decided. However, she had never thought of marrying with the Fourth Young Miss. She didn't want to be a maid or even a housekeeper. All she could do for the Fourth Young Miss was to help her marry into a good family. As for the life after marriage, the Fourth Young Miss would have to work hard on her own.
Su He and Zhen Er were quite concerned and begged the Fourth Miss to take them away as well.
Zhao Lanzhi changed her usual shyness and said solemnly: "Don't worry, no matter who I marry, I will take all four of you with me."
Nanny Li said hurriedly, "Young lady, you are going to marry Mr. Zhou. How can you say that you don't care who you marry? You must have confidence in yourself, in the old lady, and in Mr. Zhou."
"Yes, yes, you must have confidence." Su He smiled, "If the young lady really marries Mr. Zhou, she will be the most prestigious among all the sisters. Then we will see who dares to disrespect the young lady."
Seeing that they were talking animatedly but did not mention a word about the conversation between the old lady and Princess Anping's nanny, Xie Nanjia specifically asked, "What did the nanny and the old lady talk about?"
The four of them fell silent.
Zhao Lanzhi saw that her expression was a little serious and she didn't look happy for her. She couldn't help but panic for a moment and said, "I went to serve my grandmother a meal just now. The mistress didn't mention the content of the conversation. She just told me not to worry, so I didn't ask much. What's the matter? Do you think there is a problem?"
Xie Nanjia didn't think that Princess Anping would be so easy to talk to. Perhaps she asked the nanny to visit just out of courtesy. Thinking back to the scene when she met Zhou Yuncheng during the day, she felt that Zhou Yuncheng didn't seem to be very happy. Instead, he looked a little worried.
Therefore, she was not sure whether the old lady said this because she was really sure or because she was afraid that the fourth young lady would be upset.
"It's nothing, I just asked casually. Since the old lady told you not to worry, she must be confident about it. Just wait patiently!" she said with a smile.
"That's right, Miss, just wait patiently until you marry Mr. Zhou!" Zhen'er said happily.
Zhao Lanzhi didn't think so. She always felt that Xiu'er was not being sincere, but since everyone was there, she didn't ask any more questions.
Xie Nanjia said that she was tired and wanted to rest early. She went back to her room to rest without eating dinner.
After washing up, she changed into a clean undershirt and sat on the bed, going over what had happened during the day from beginning to end.
Thinking of the sword that was about to pierce her chest, she suddenly felt that something was wrong. The opponent's target was her mother, and the sword was coming from behind her mother. With that man's skills, he could have stabbed her mother directly, and should not have changed the target because of her obstruction.
So... the other party's target is most likely not my mother, but me!
Thinking of this, Xie Nanjia sat up straight with a start. After a moment of fear, he felt a sense of relief.
She had always been worried that enemies had set their sights on the General's Mansion, and was afraid that those people would fail in the assassination attempt today and would come up with other tricks to harm her family. If those people's real target was her, then her family would be safe.
Thinking of this, she hoped very much that her speculation was correct. As long as her parents and brother were safe, she was willing to take all the risks herself.
If the facts were as she expected, who would kill her
She thought about it and the only one was Qin!
It seems that Qin was really angered by her and was willing to do anything to take her life.
Very good, this is very good. As long as she can catch the person who killed her, she will have a way to defeat the Qin family in one fell swoop.
The premise is that those people will come again and she can catch them alive. I don’t know if they have the courage to act again tonight after experiencing failure
Just as she was thinking about it, someone suddenly knocked on the door, which scared her.
"Who?" she asked loudly, quickly took out a dagger from under her pillow, put on her clothes, got out of bed, and tiptoed to the door.
"Me." A voice came from outside.
Xie Nanjia recognized it as Zhao Jingyu's voice, put the dagger into his arms and opened the door.
A gust of cold wind brought in the chill and the smell of ambergris. Xie Nanjia poked her head out and asked, "Why are you here?"
"I missed you and came to see you." Zhao Jingyu smiled and walked in.
Xie Nanjia held the door tightly to prevent him from entering: "What is there to think about? I just came back from your place."
"Yes, I missed you as soon as I got back." Zhao Jingyu said, "It feels like a long time since we last met. By this calculation, I haven't seen you for several months."
Xie Nanjia: “…”
She had seen people who were thick-skinned, but she had never seen anyone as shameless as this. She had no choice but to let the man in.
After entering the house, Zhao Jingyu became serious. Seeing that she was wearing thin clothes, he said, "Go back to bed and sit down. I have something important to tell you."
Xie Nanjia was indeed very cold, so she took off her shoes and got on the bed, and asked, "What's the matter? Tell me!"
Zhao Jingyu rubbed his hands and said, "I'm cold too, why don't you let me sit inside and warm myself up."
Xie Nanjia: “…”
I knew he could only say three sentences seriously.
…
In Nuanyu Pavilion, it was time to go to bed. Qin Wanru waited for a long time, but when Zhao Jingping didn't come, she urged Tingxue to go to the study to call him.
Last night, Marquis Dingyuan learned about Qin Wanru's fake pregnancy and was very angry with Qin. If Qin had not fought to the death to protect him, Marquis Dingyuan would have had Qin Wanru sent back to the Prime Minister's Mansion.
Qin begged desperately, saying that family disgrace should not be made public. It was ridiculous for Qin Wanru to fake her pregnancy, but she was now the wife of the prince of Dingyuan Marquis's Mansion. If the matter were to spread, not only would the Prime Minister's Mansion lose face, but the Marquis's Mansion would also be ridiculed by outsiders, and it might even affect the marriages of several young ladies. The matter of the fourth girl falling into the water had not yet been concluded, so it was better not to create more trouble at this time.
Marquis Dingyuan was angry, but when it came to his daughter's marriage, he had to grit his teeth and bear it.
Qin also persuaded her that although Qin Wanru was not pregnant at the moment, she had already consummated her marriage with Zhao Jingping, and perhaps she was pregnant, but it was still too early to be diagnosed. If she was sent back to her parents' home in anger, and then was diagnosed with pregnancy there, she would have to be taken back again. Wouldn't it be a joke to go back and forth like this
Marquis Dingyuan could not forgive Qin Wanru's behavior, but he was afraid that if she was really diagnosed with pregnancy at her parents' home, it would be embarrassing, so he had to turn a blind eye and let her go.
Qin Wanru escaped death and followed her aunt's advice, deciding to get pregnant as quickly as possible. Only by getting pregnant with the Marquis's bloodline could she hold her head up high in the Marquis's mansion again.
In order to help her get pregnant as soon as possible, Qin even gave Zhao Jingping a death order that he was not allowed to go to other concubines' rooms to rest except for Qin Wanru's monthly personal days.
Zhao Jingping agreed, but tonight was only the first night and he was already not punctual. I don't know what he was doing dawdling in the study.
Qin Wanru was very unhappy, but for the sake of her status in the Marquis' Mansion, she had to wait patiently.
After a while, Tingxue came back alone. When asked why the prince didn't come, she stammered and said that the prince was called away by Aunt Liu.
Qin Wanru was immediately furious and ordered Madam Lu to take a few people to invite the prince back.
Nanny Lu felt that it was inappropriate, but she dared not disobey her master's order, so she took people there. After a while, they also returned empty-handed, saying that Aunt Liu's maid refused to open the door, claiming that the prince was drunk and had gone to bed.
Qin Wanru was furious and wanted to get up and go there in person, but was stopped by Madam Lu.
Madam Lu advised, "You are the wife of the principal house, how can you lower yourself to compete for favor with a concubine? That Lvliu is the former wife of the prince, she is arrogant and rude on weekdays, and doesn't give face to anyone. If you can really get the prince back, it will be good, but if you can't, won't you lose face?"
Qin Wanru still had some rationality and knew that what the nanny said made sense, so she had to endure it for the time being and wait until dawn to ask her aunt for advice.
Luliu thought Qin Wanru would not be able to help but come to the door in person, but after waiting for a long time without any movement, she knew that she must have been persuaded by her subordinates.
"I thought she was so powerful, but it turns out she's just a paper tiger." She turned off the lights, lay down next to Zhao Jingping, and sneered, "Look at how cowardly you are. If you're really afraid of her, don't come to my place anymore."
Zhao Jingping defended himself, "I'm not afraid of her, I just don't want to argue with her. She relies on her mother's power to even control which concubine's room I sleep in. I'm a human being, not a breeding animal. How can I put myself in such a humiliating position just to have a child for her?"
"Tsk!" Lvliu said disdainfully, "Can you please stop wasting the word 'dignity'? I think you are not much better than an animal. No one forced you to breed before, but you spread the seeds everywhere, didn't you? Why do you feel wronged when you are forced to do so?"
Zhao Jingyu liked her mean look and was not angry at all. Instead, he hugged her and said with a smile, "I want to be devoted to you, but you are always hot and cold towards me, so I don't know whether you like me or not."
"If I like you, can you promise not to get involved with others?" asked Lu Liu.
Zhao Jingyu was silent for a moment, and said sincerely: "I dare not say it for sure, but if you really like me, I am willing to give it a try."
"Really?" Lvliu smiled, "How about this, I'll try to like you, and you'll try to be good to me only, for a month. If you can control yourself and not look for others in this month, I'll follow you wholeheartedly from now on, how about that?"
Zhao Jingping thought about it, as if he had made up his mind: "Okay, that's it, I promise you."
Lvliu was very surprised and asked doubtfully: "Are you serious? Why?"
Zhao Jingping touched her hand and held it in his palm, and said softly: "Because you are very special, you have your own personality, not like them who are flattering, and also, when you are indifferent, you are very similar to Nan Jia. When I see you, I will think of her. You are her favorite girl. I want to make up for what I owe her with you."
Lvliu didn't say anything for a long time, and she couldn't tell what she felt in her heart. After a long time, she said quietly, "Go to sleep, and remember what you said tonight."
She did not have much confidence in Zhao Jingping, the romantic man. She just followed Xiu'er's arrangements to keep Zhao Jingping as much as possible and prevent Qin Wanru from getting pregnant, so that when the truth came out, Qin Wanru would not escape the punishment she deserved because of her pregnancy.
In fact, she had thought about letting Qin Wanru get pregnant and then killing two people at once, so that she could also taste the pain that the young lady had suffered. But Xiu'er said that the child was innocent and that good people should not act like bad people. Besides, although the young master had experienced life and death, he was now alive and well. She should regard it as accumulating virtue for the young master and should not do such inhumane things.
She felt that Xiu'er was right. Good people naturally cannot be the same as bad people, otherwise there would be no distinction between good and bad in this world.
Therefore, her mission is to prevent Qin Wanru from getting pregnant. As for whether Zhao Jingping can really keep his promise, what does it matter
…
It was late at night, the crows were crying, and on the roof of Yilan Courtyard, three men in black were crawling.
After a while, one of them leaped down and landed lightly in the courtyard. He looked around, made sure it was safe, and whispered to his companions to come down.
Of the remaining two people, one stayed on the roof to keep watch, while the other jumped down and went with him to the wing where the servants lived.
The two men had obviously checked out the area in advance and knew which room Xie Nanjia lived in. They went straight to her door and pried it open with a knife.
The room was quiet, with only the faint sound of shallow breathing.
The two men followed the sound of breathing to the bed, one of them lit a tinder, and the other swung a knife at the bed.
Unexpectedly, just as the knife was raised, the person on the bed suddenly jumped up, lifted the quilt and covered the two men's heads.
The incident happened suddenly and the two men had no time to react before two sharp blades were pressed against their chests.
"Don't move, or I'll kill you!" the cold man shouted in a low voice.
The two men were covered in quilts, their bodies frozen, knowing that they had been tricked. The girl in the room had long been replaced by two skilled men.
At the same time, a large net fell from the sky on the roof, trapping the man in black who was watching.
After daybreak, Xie Nanjia woke up in the west wing. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Zhao Jingyu's sparkling peach blossom eyes looking at her with affection and smile.
(End of this chapter)