Chapter 335 – A husband-to-be? (2)
Liu Hanyun was currently frowning as she looked at Ning Yuxuan. It had already been half a month since he had stayed over in someone else’s courtyard. Today, she had prepared food and invited him over, but he appeared preoccupied.
Liu Hanyun quietly asked, “My lord, is something bothering you? This servant hasn’t seen you much lately.”
Ning Yuxuan nodded and picked up Xi-er. Pursing his lips, he said, “I’ve been busy with work matters related to the imperial court.”
But, he clearly spent a lot of time at home and was frequently going over to see Haohao, so why didn’t he have time to see Xi-er? Liu Hanyun lowered her eyes and said, “Xi-er is already old enough to read short poems, but my lord never comes over to listen to him.”
Holding the child, he raised his eyebrow and asked, “En? Which poems? Xi-er, read one for me?”
Xi-er shyly snuck a look at him before turning his head away and staying silent.
Somewhat anxious, Liu Hanyun lightly tugged Xi-er’s little hand and said, “Come on, recite it.”
Pouting, Xi-er continued to keep his mouth closed and even started to squirm. Ning Yuxuan could only put him down. Right after he released him, he saw Ji Man coming over with Haohao in her arms.
Haohao had just learned a new poem this morning. When he saw his father, he wanted to go over there to share it with him and started to wiggle around in Ji Man’s arms. As soon Ji Man put him down, she saw the little marshmallow-like creature jump into Marqus Moyu’s arms. Haohao’s little face was tilted up and adoringly looking at Ning Yuxuan. Ji Man though; if Haohao had a tail, it would probably be whipping back and forth as fast as a windshield wiper.
Haohao didn’t even say a greeting before reciting the new poem that he had learned,
“Goose, goose, goose,
Curving its neck to sing a song.
It’s white feather floats on the crystal-clear water,
While its red-webbed feet pushes the clear water and ripples form.”
After reciting the poem, he looked at Ning Yuxuan with an eager expression that seemed to say, “Shower me with praises please.”
Marquis Moyu chuckled. He picked him and said, “Ah, you learned a new poem again.”
Liu Hanyun’s expression was slightly unpleasant. Xi-er had timidly hugged her leg to help himself stand up.
Ji Man walked into the room and saluted her first. “Madam.”
Liu Hanyun nodded and looked at her as she asked, “Why do you bring the heir over at this time of the day?”
Ji Man looked at the sky. It was about time to eat dinner. Ji Man awkwardly smiled and said, “This one has matters to discuss with the marquis, therefore this one presumptuously came over.”
“Why do you need to bring the heir over to discuss business?” Liu Hanyun’s tone was slightly unpleasant. She pressed her lips together and rubbed her temples before saying, “It’ll be bad if he bumps into something and knocks it over.”
Ji Man raised her head to take a look at Liu Hanyun. Right now, Liu Hanyun was the main wife. Although she didn’t have a strong family background, she had sufficient grandeur from attitude and being dressed up in her current attire. Compared to her previously unobtrusive presence, Liu Hanyun had already transformed into someone that was composed and sensible.
“This is one is at fault for being careless.” Ji Man saluted by placing one hand over her fist.
Ning Yuxuan raised his eyes to look at her. He stood up while holding Haohao and said, “Let’s go back to discuss.”
“Understood.” Ji Man nodded.
Liu Hanyun’s reaction to Haohao was much more extreme that she had imagined. Ji Man had originally thought Liu Hanyun would remain as the gentle and noncompetitive person that she used to be close to. But, there were too many things in Liu Hanyun’s eyes when she saw the two of them today. She was clearly unhappy. It couldn’t be that all women would completely change after having children, right?
As Ji Man followed Ning Yuxuan out of the courtyard, she felt as if she was being watched with a piercing gaze from behind.
Ning Yuxuan asked, “What was it that you wanted to say?”
As Ji Man walked, she quietly answered, “I want to get married.”
Marquis Moyu stopped walking. His gaze was completely bewildered. “What did you just say it? Say it again.”
“I said that I want to get married.” Ji Man raised her eyes to look at him as she said, “I already agreed that I’m going to marry Miss Zhu, so I want to discuss where I should move to so that I’ll still be able to easily come over to give Haohao daily lessons.
Ning Yuxuan didn’t recover from his shock for a long time. By the time that he understood what Ji Man had said, his face paled. “Do you think it’s a child’s game to get married? Your body… how can you marry someone?”
“We already discussed it. It’s just for the purpose of giving her baby a last name. We’re not actually going to have a real wedding night,” Ji Man said, “I’m not telling you this because I want your permission. I’m just letting you know.”
Ning Yuxuan’s eyes became cold. Pursing his lips, he looked at her in askance and asked, “You don’t care if I agree or not?””
“Why do I need you to agree? It’s not like I sold myself into this household,” Ji Man replied.
With a sneer, Ning Yuxuan took a step closer to her while still holding Haohao. Looking down on her, he said, “You’ve been staying in my estate for a while. Are you unaware of how well I’ve been treating you? Marriage is such a big matter, but you’re actually saying that you don’t care if I agree or not. That you’re just informing me.”
Ji Man furrowed her brow. “Marquis, the only connection between the two of us is Haohao. What else is there?”
Haohao blinked his eyes and innocently looked to the left, then to the right.
Ning Yuxuan took a deep breath. It was obvious that he was extremely angry as he laughed and said, “Okay, okay, you can do whatever you want. Nothing you do is my business.”
“What’s whatever?” Haohao looked at his dad in confusion. “Haohao doesn’t like whatever.”
Both parents froze in surprise. Ji Man was the first one to react, as she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. However, Ning Yuxuan’s expression didn’t change for the better. He turned around and started walking away from Ji Man.
Ji Man hastily yelled out, “Hey, marquis, we haven’t finished discussing where I’m moving to.”
Ning Yuxuan ignored her and started walking faster.
A short amount of time later, he had already walked far enough that his figure had disappeared from her view.
Ji Man felt worried. Recently, her personal funds were scarce, so buying any home and what not would be a bit problematic. Moreover, the relative cost of a home in the capital in this era wasn’t that much cheaper than a home in modern-day Beijing.
It was getting late and time to return to her room to sleep. From beginning to end, Ji Man firmly believed that she should just cross that bridge when she came to it.
—
When she woke up the next morning, she couldn’t find Haohao.
It was Steward Qian that came over, politely bowed, and informed her, “Teacher Ji, the marquis said that you won’t need to teach the heir today.”
Translator Ramblings: I feel its worse that Ning Yuxuan is telling Liu Hanyun fake excuses about why he doesn’t spend time with Xi-er. And, okay, it would be way worse if he told her truth that he likes Haohao a lot more from the start because he’s Nie Sangyu/Ji Man’s son.
And then, there’s a horrible feedback loop, where Xi-er rarely sees his father, so he understandably feels shy and nervous around him. Plus, since he doesn’t get to see his father as often as Haohao, his mother will feel more anxious that he has to do his ABSOLUTE best when he gets these rare opportunities to see his father, which he’s really sensitive to and that makes him even shyer and tenser.
I think the only person that has the power to break the vicious loop is Ning Yuxuan. He can easily do this just by spending more time with his son, so that Xi-er won’t feel that a visit from his father is a big deal.
On the other hand, it wouldn’t be unusual for parents to make up excuses for why they’re favoring one child over there. From Ning Yuxuan’s perspective, he might not even see his excuses as being untruthful.
Anyways, I think it’s very understandable that Liu Hanyun would be irritated with Ji Man and Haohao popping up a few minutes after she finally got Ning Yuxuan over to see his son and taking away his attention again. Liu Hanyun is probably thinking, why couldn’t this person have just waited until tomorrow morning or asked during all the other times that he seems him? Why must you interrupt our dinner? It’s one thing to be able to accept being in a loveless marriage, and a completely different thing to see your child always being neglected by his other parent.
What do you guys think?