Chapter 362 – A foolish woman (1)
It would have been fine if it had been an ordinary painting, but the people in the painting had been Nie Sangyu, the heir, and the marquis. Liu Hanyun had already been brooding over the fact that Xia-shi had been abruptly sent away. It was only reasonable to assume that the marquis had chosen Haohao as his heir more or less because of his affection for Haohao’s mother. And so, it didn’t make sense that the heir’s mother would be sent away.
Liu Hanyun had originally been thinking that it was because Xia-shi was unbearably vulgar, and the marquis was worried that Xia-shi would become a hindrance to the heir in the future. Thus, he had sent her away. However, a terrible conjecture had popped up in her mind after seeing this painting.
Back then, Nie Sangyu had given birth to a toddy kitten after a full-term pregnancy, and the circumstances around the parentage had been unclear. Later on, the marquis had brought Xia-shi to the estate along with a baby that would have been about the same age as Nie Sangyu’s baby. Could it be that Haohao was actually Nie Sangyu’s son?
Shocked by this line of thought, Liu Hanyun reflexively glanced at Wen Wan. Back then, everyone had said that the marquis deeply loved Wen Wan and not Nie Sangyu. So, he wouldn’t have troubled himself over Nie Sangyu to that point, right?
But, if Haohao wasn’t Nie Sangyu’s child, why would the marquis have chosen a random peasant woman’s child as his heir? Even when she had brought up several times about changing the position of the heir to Xi-er because he was the main wife’s son, the marquis had never been swayed by her words.
Her heart sank, and she glanced at Wen Wan, who was still racking her brain over the painting.
In a quiet voice, Liu Hanyun said, “Since this painting was in Teacher Ji’s room, it means that he’s very special to the marquis.”
Wen Wan furrowed her brow. The uneasiness in her heart grew even stronger. How much space did she still have in Ning Yuxuan’s heart? She had endured that the children occupied his heart. After all, she would have children of her own in the future. But, Wen Wan really couldn’t accept that she would have to share Ning Yuxuan’s favor with a man.
—
As Wen Wan was walking back from Liu Hanyun’s Courtyard and passing through a covered corridor, she happened to see the marquis coming back with Teacher Ji.
“I forgot to give you back the bag from last time.” Ning Yuxuan tossed a small bag to Ji Man. “Keep good care of it. It might even save your life.”
Ji Man accepted the bag and felt the bag for the concentric knot items. They were still there. She awkwardly laughed before putting the bag into her sleeve. “Thank you, marquis.”
Ning Yuxuan stopped walking and looked at her as he said, “Go back to Haohao. He hasn’t had his lessons today.”
Ji Man nodded and turned around to go to Haohao’s room. Ning Yuxuan stood in place without moving until her figure had disappeared through the moon gate.
Wen Wan’s eyes reddened as she watched them.
A long time ago, before they had gotten married, he would escort her home every day. He would stand at the entrance and watch until she closed her door. When Ning Yuxuan was in love with someone, he really would be very gentle and considerate. Her previous arrogance and willfulness had been the product of him spoiling her too much.
But now, it had been a long time since she had seen this gentle side of him directed towards herself. Instead, he had turned around and was giving this gentleness to someone else while having her watch by the sidelines. The pain from this type of torture was truly worse than dying.
Back when the first prince had first approached her to be his pawn, he had said that if she obeyed him, she would be the only person by Yuxuan’s side once everything was accomplished. Back then, she would daydream how wonderful it would be to grow old with Yuxuan once the other women were removed.
Now that she was watching as someone was slowly stealing Yuxuan’s heart from her, Wen Wan felt even more resolute about driving away everyone else that was by Yuxuan’s side. Once she was the only person around, Yuxuan’s heart would definitely return to her.
She called out, “My lord.”
Marquis Moyu turned his head. Seeing that it was Wen Wan, he nodded and asked, “Are you waiting here for me?”
“En.” Wen Wan cautiously smiled and asked, “My lord, will you come with me to Qiangwei Courtyard and sit for a bit?”
Ning Yuxuan hesitated for a while before nodding and answering, “Alright.”
Wen Wan was overjoyed. She wrapped her arm around his and just like in the past, she skipped as she walked. “This concubine had the servants go out to buy sugar-coated hawthorns on sticks from West Street today. My lord, do you still remember those?”
Ning Yuxuan raised his eyebrows. He suddenly remembered something. Wen Wan liked to eat the sugar-coated hawthorns on sticks from West Street, and he used to frequently take her there to buy them, but this was something that happened a long time ago.
When he remembered something like this in the past, he used to feel a faint sense of nostalgia, but now he didn’t feel anything. He felt as if he was only inadvertently remembering a trifle incident.
He turned his head to the side and seriously looked at Wen Wan. Her simple yet elegant beauty was as moving as before. He had once loved her and wanted to be with her to a ripe old age in conjugal bliss. But, things changed. He finally clearly saw that their past love couldn’t last a lifetime.
Because of Wen Wan, he had been able to completely disregard Nie Sangyu’s feeling back then. He had given Wen Wan splendidly beautiful clothing and married her as his main wife. But now, his retribution had come. All of the harm and hurtfulness that he had given Nie Sangyu, it was all finally being paid back to him.
Wen Wan had no idea what Ning Yuxuan was thinking of. She only thought that everything was just like before. She was wearing a gauzy dress and bashfully sitting in his lap. She murmured, “My lord, Wan-er wants a child.”
Ning Yuxuan was slightly startled. He instinctively looked at the lit incense on the nearby mahogany counter.
“En, if you want a child, let’s have another one.” He lowered his eyes.
In an extremely cheerful mood, she tugged him onto the bed. During this romantic moment, she looked at him as she asked, “My lord, is Wan-er important or is Teacher Ji important?”
Startled by her question, Ning Yuxuan knitted his brow and asked, “Why are you comparing yourself to him?”
In a cutely spoiled tone, she said, “Wan-er wants to hear the answer.”
Ning Yuxuan lightly snorted. He closed his eyes and said, “Naturally, you’re more important.”
How could men be compared to women?
Wen Wan giggled. She was full of joy as she threw herself into his arms.