Xie Nanjia turned a deaf ear to his call and walked out of Ci'an Residence with a brisk pace.
"Madam Hua, you've killed me!" Zhao Jingyu cried out in injustice and chased after her in panic.
Aunt Hua waited until he ran away, then said to the old lady with a bitter face: "Old lady, what should I do? I followed your instructions, but I offended the second young master."
"That's fine." The old lady laughed and slapped her thigh. "It's not a good thing for the two of them to keep dragging their feet like this without making any progress. We can't do anything else to help, but we can give them a push. He will understand our good intentions."
"But Xiu'er looks like she's angry. What if the two of them have a quarrel over this? Wouldn't that be counterproductive?" said Nanny Hua.
"Only when you are angry can you understand your own heart!" said the old lady, "She is a smart girl, she knows what to do."
Aunt Hua nodded, not quite understanding.
Zhao Jingyu chased all the way to the corridor leading to the management office before he caught up with Xie Nanjia. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he grabbed her wrist and pinned her against the pillar of the corridor.
"Why are you running so fast? You're making me sweat in this cold weather." He panted, "Would you at least listen to my explanation?"
"I don't want to listen. Get out of here and don't delay me from going to see the Fourth Miss!" Xie Nanjia glared at him fiercely.
"Is the Fourth Miss more important than me?" Zhao Jingyu asked.
"Of course." Xie Nanjia said, "At least I'm not as two-faced as you."
"How am I two-faced?" Zhao Jingyu said helplessly, "Madame Hua said I knew nothing about that matter, and I have never heard anyone mention it. Believe me."
"Compared to you, I would rather believe Aunt Hua." Xie Nanjia said, "I have never heard her lie, but you lie to this and that all day long, and never tell the truth. On the one hand, you want to get engaged to someone else, and on the other hand, you pretend to be a romantic in front of me. You are two-timing, shameless!"
Zhao Jingyu: “…”
Seeing that he was speechless, Xie Nanjia sneered, "You have nothing to say, right? If you have nothing to say, get out of the way and don't waste my time."
"..." Zhao Jingyu was wronged to death, "I won't let you go. If you don't believe me, I won't let you go."
"How dare you!" Xie Nanjia said, "Don't forget, I have a brother now, and my brother is waiting for me in the front yard!"
Zhao Jingyu: “…”
What’s so great about having a brother
While he was not paying attention, Xie Nanjia pushed him away and ran away.
Zhao Jingyu panicked, grabbed her wrist and pulled her into his arms, then held her face and kissed her without saying a word.
“Hmm…” Xie Nanjia’s exclamation was drowned out. She stared at him with wide eyes, her mind going blank.
Wei Jun, who was not far away, quickly covered his eyes, his heart pounding as if he had been kissed secretly.
Xie Nanjia struggled hard at first, but as Zhao Jingyu's kiss became deeper and deeper and his arms became tighter and tighter, she completely lost the ability to resist and slowly closed her eyes.
The soft, moist and intense touch between her lips and teeth made her heart float up to the sky, swaying in the breeze and white clouds.
Unconsciously, her hand climbed up Zhao Jingyu's neck, and tiny low hums and suppressed breathing sounded between the two...
Wei Jun secretly watched through his fingers and his face flushed. He wanted to remind them that it was not appropriate to be intimate here, but he was afraid of disturbing the Second Young Master's good time and making him unhappy.
Just as he was struggling with his dilemma, a scream came from the corner. He was so frightened that he jumped over like an arrow.
Xie Nanjia and Zhao Jingyu were also frightened and quickly separated, backing away and keeping their distance.
Then Wei Jun's voice was heard: "Fourth Miss, it's you!"
It turned out to be Zhao Lanzhi.
The two people who felt guilty breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the blush on each other's faces, and burst out laughing.
"You still have the nerve to laugh!" Xie Nanjia said coquettishly with a red face, and turned to go to Zhao Lanzhi.
Zhao Jingyu licked his lips with satisfaction, straightened his clothes, and followed leisurely as if nothing had happened.
"Xiu'er, why is it you?" Zhao Lanzhi asked in surprise. Her face was redder than Xie Nanjia's because she had witnessed such an embarrassing thing. When she saw Zhao Jingyu coming over, she became even more nervous and didn't know where to look, as if she was the one who had done something bad and was caught.
"Second brother..." she called softly, clasping her fingers helplessly.
Zhao Jingyu was thick-skinned. He put his hands behind his back and said "hmm" in a very stylish manner, "You go and do your work first. Xiu'er and I have something to talk about. I'll come to see you guys after we're done."
"Oh." Zhao Lanzhi was eager to leave this embarrassing place as soon as possible, so she turned around and fled.
"..." Xie Nanjia didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Why do I feel like she made a mistake?"
"She is thin-skinned, unlike you." Zhao Jingyu said slowly.
"What do you mean?" Xie Nanjia was immediately annoyed. "Are you saying that I'm thick-skinned?"
"Isn't it? You hugged my neck so tightly just now that you almost strangled me to death." Zhao Jingyu said jokingly.
"You..." Xie Nanjia glared and was about to get angry, Zhao Jingyu quickly admitted his mistake with a calm face: "Don't be upset, don't be upset, I was wrong, I just wanted to make a joke to ease the awkward atmosphere."
"..." Xie Nanjia couldn't help laughing angrily and punched him in the chest, "Can you be a little more decent!"
"Yes, of course." Zhao Jingyu immediately became serious and pulled her to sit on the wooden chair in the corridor. "Time is running out, let's discuss the marriage proposal. Have you thought of any good ideas?"
"Why propose marriage? Don't you have your grandmother to arrange it?" Xie Nanjia said angrily.
Zhao Jingyu almost went crazy. He slid down from the chair, touched one knee to the ground, put his fingers together and swore to the sky, "I swear, you are the only one in my heart. Apart from you, I don't want any fairy to come down to earth. You lied to me and made me single for the rest of my life!"
Xie Nanjia: “…”
He never forgets to talk nonsense even when he swears. This person is hopeless.
"Alright, alright, get up quickly, don't be ashamed." She said unhappily, "Anyway, I'm going to make it clear, no matter if it's the old lady's own decision, if I hear that you're getting engaged to someone else next time, I'll immediately ask my family to arrange a marriage for me. I mean what I say."
"No, no, no, you can't be so heartless." Zhao Jingyu said, "I guess it was Aunt Hua who was teasing us. My reputation is so bad, who would be interested in me? If they wanted to, they would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?"
"I don't care. I don't want to hear this kind of news in the future." Xie Nanjia said.
"Okay, okay, I'll go back and cut off Aunt Hua's tongue to serve as a warning to others. Let's see who dares to talk nonsense again." Zhao Jingyu had a ferocious look on his face and made a gesture of raising his hand and cutting with a knife.
Xie Nanjia rolled her eyes at him helplessly and said sternly, "I've been speaking well of you in front of Grandpa these days, and he's getting a better impression of you. What you need to do next is to please him and collect chess manuals, ancient swords, antiques, calligraphy and paintings as much as possible. Take them to him for appreciation every now and then, but don't give them to him. When you find out that he likes something to death and will go crazy if he can't get it, then your chance will come."
Zhao Jingyu: “…”
Don't you feel guilty for plotting against an old man like this
"As for my father, I have already inquired about him. He has no other hobbies except for famous calligraphy, so you might as well try to please him in this way."
"What about your mother?" Zhao Jingyu asked.
"My mother's style is much simpler. She likes Tencel brocade," said Xie Nanjia.
Tencel brocade was known as “an inch of brocade is worth an inch of gold”, and the palace only supplied ten pieces a year.
Zhao Jingyu: “…”
The hobbies of this family are quite expensive.
Fortunately, I am not short of money.
"What about your grandmother?" he asked again.
"I really don't know my grandmother. She was just like the old lady. She was only concerned about the family's honor. Moreover, she didn't seem to like me very much. This is somewhat different from my childhood memory." Xie Nanjia said.
"Do you still remember your childhood?" Zhao Jingyu asked curiously.
Xie Nanjia was stunned, realizing that she had let the cat out of the bag again, and hurriedly covered it up, "It's just a vague impression, but it doesn't matter. Grandma still has to listen to Grandpa in the end. As long as you take Grandpa down, everything else will be easy. Don't worry, I will assist you secretly."
"Tsk, it's true that girls cannot be kept when they grow up. They will do anything to get married." Zhao Jingyu exclaimed.
"..." Xie Nanjia glared at him hatefully, thinking that if it wasn't for her son, she would never want to marry you. Now you can be proud of yourself, and after the marriage, I will leave you alone and find a way to ask the Marquis to buy you an official position and send you to a remote place to be a county magistrate. Then let's see how you can still show off!
Seeing that she remained silent, Zhao Jingyu's eyes kept rolling around, and he asked warily, "Are you plotting against me?"
"Guess!" Xie Nanjia gave him a sinister smile.
Zhao Jingyu shuddered with fear and quickly stepped back: "You are not trying to murder your husband, are you?"
Xie Nanjia: “…”
The two of them had discussed everything, and seeing that it was getting late, Zhao Jingyu took the opportunity to tell Xie Nanjia about the assassin caught on the street, and reminded her to be extra careful when she returned.
Xie Nanjia had not expected this to happen, and was shocked and frightened: "So, the chaos on the street was deliberately created by someone, with the purpose of killing me?"
"That man is very stubborn and hasn't confessed yet, but I guess it has something to do with you. In short, you have to be careful. I will send someone to inform you as soon as there is any news." Zhao Jingyu said.
Xie Nanjia nodded, and quickly recalled Princess Jinping's actions from beginning to end, and he had a general idea in his mind.
"I understand. I will be careful." She said, "Send a few more people to the Duke's Mansion for me in the next few days. We need maids, servants and guards."
"Okay, I'll ask someone to do it later." Zhao Jingyu said, "Do you want to assign Huangfu to you again?"
Xie Nanjia liked Huangfu very much, but the secret guard of the Duke's Mansion recognized him, and it would be bad if he was discovered, so he refused.
The two of them had been together for too long. Xie Nanjia was afraid that Su Jincheng would be anxiously waiting in the front yard, so she hurried to the steward's office and sat with the fourth lady of Green Willow Painting House for a while, and then hurried back to the Duke's Mansion with Su Jincheng.
Lvliu and Hualou were now important figures in the Marquis' Mansion, so she had nothing to worry about. She just had to wait for Qin and Qin Wanru to finish their one-year mourning period, and then she would make them her legal wives. Then she would marry back in. The three of them would firmly hold the power of stewardship in the Marquis' Mansion, and they would not have to look at anyone's face. Their lives would be so carefree.
Thinking of this, she wished time would pass faster and faster so that she could live the life of her dreams sooner.
As for the present, in addition to paving the way for Zhao Jingyu, the most important thing is to find out the traitor hidden in the Duke's Mansion, to seek an explanation for my cousin's short and miserable life, to comfort my cousin's soul in heaven.
Princess Jinping was punished to copy scriptures in the Buddhist temple for seven days. Xie Nanjia had no way to start an investigation from her for the time being. After much thought, she decided to use a little trick to test the second wife Zheng. She always felt that Zheng was related to this matter.
The next day, after paying her respects to the old lady, Xie Nanjia returned to her own residence, wrote a letter with her left hand, and asked Liusu to take the letter out while going out to buy rouge. She also hired someone to deliver the letter to Zheng.
(End of this chapter)