Chapter 8

Chapter 8

After we returned home, Madam Nan did indeed stop mentioning what had happened that day with the Governor of Ba Commandery. Instead, she threw herself into finding a husband for Nan Jinxiu with great urgency.

Although she had done her utmost to recommend Huan Wulang, Nan Jinxiu wept, raged, and threatened to hang herself, utterly refusing to marry him. Madam Nan had no choice but to turn her sights to other noble families.

It is said that when parents love their children, they plan far ahead for them. That was true enough.

Now that it was Nan Jinxiu’s turn to marry, Madam Nan not only required the other party to be a legitimate son, but also insisted that his mother be generous and kind, terrified that her daughter would suffer hardship after marrying into the household.

Perhaps if my own mother were still alive, she would have planned for me in the same way… though she herself had been a concubine, so there would likely have been little she could do.

This day, Madam Nan’s face, which had been stern ever since Hong’en Temple, finally thawed. She even sent Xiao Mei out to the street to buy plenty of fruit and snacks, saying she wanted to entertain noble guests who had come from afar.

It turned out that a collateral branch of the Chen Commandery Yuan Clan was passing through Chuzhou. Their legitimate son had just turned seventeen, and his mother happened to be searching everywhere for a suitable legitimate daughter of a noble family. The moment she saw Nan Jinxiu, she took a liking to her and immediately followed them to the Nan Family to present betrothal gifts.

The Chen Commandery Yuan Clan was a distinguished family. Even a collateral branch was more than the Nan Family could hope to match.

Madam Nan was overjoyed. She placed a gauze screen in the reception hall so her daughter could catch a hazy glimpse through the sheer fabric. Nan Jinxiu, nervous at heart, dragged both Xiao Mei and me along with her.

Compared to Huan Wulang’s slovenly state, this Chen Family Scion was naturally much better. He could even be called handsome.

It was only that, as a man, he had shaved his face, powdered his skin, and painted his lips red. He was dressed even more exquisitely than the average young lady, which inevitably made one feel a little strange.

Nan Jinxiu asked for my opinion, and as with the previous times, I gave a perfunctory answer.

“Very good. Very good.”

Xiao Mei, standing beside me, could not hold back. “Young Master Chen, he-he must have a whole pound of powder on his face…”

Before she could finish, I stepped on her foot. She hurriedly tried to salvage it. “W-well, powder and rouge are fashionable these days. It’s nothing serious.”

At that, Nan Jinxiu cast me a sour, resentful look, her eyes full of endless grievance. “If one could be Young Master Wang’s concubine, who would want to be Chen Lang’s wife?”

Me: “………”

In their eyes, since I had spent a night with Wang Yu, something unspeakable must already have happened between us.

And because of that connection, Father and Madam Nan did not punish me. Instead, they treated me as though I did not exist and let me wander around the estate every day. For quite some time, no one brought up marrying me off again.

The days slipped by, and several months passed.

In the blink of an eye, the Lantern Festival arrived. Young Master Chen invited Nan Jinxiu out to enjoy the festivities and brought Xiao Mei and me along on the way.

Once we reached the lantern market in the city, I quickly tugged my maid out of the carriage, lest we disturb those two in their lovey-dovey mood.

“My lady, what do we do now?”

We strolled slowly along the long street. At a small roadside stall, we bought two bowls of hot soup noodles, then found a little table nearby and sat down to eat.

As Xiao Mei slurped her noodle soup, she leaned toward me and whispered a secret. “Two days ago, I heard the master complaining to Madam. He said that governor has asked him for a person several times, both openly and covertly. I’m afraid this won’t end well.”

“He even scolded Madam for acting on her own. Not only did she fail to gain any benefit, she brought disaster to the door instead…”

One did not need to think hard to know that not long after Wang Yu had spoken those words, even if Father had made up his mind to give me away, he would have to proceed slowly.

I shook my head. “Let’s not talk about it. We’ll take it one step at a time.”

After finishing a steaming bowl of soup noodles, much of the chill in our bodies had been driven away. Keeping each other company, we followed the red couplets deeper into the lantern market.

On the long street, the full moon hung like a wheel of ice. Lanterns blazed like a sea upon the earth, red lotus lights filling the sky. Ahead, a tall, thin figure stood not far away, waving at me in haste.

“My lady!”

“Miss of the Nan Family!”

I looked toward the voice. Though I had only met him a handful of times, he had left a deep impression on me. I immediately quickened my steps and went forward to bow. “So it is the young master of the Cui Family!”

Then I studied him a few more times, and the more I looked, the more startled I became. “Young master, how have you grown so thin?”

“I…”

It had only been a few dozen days since we last met, yet he was already skin and bones, so gaunt that his cheeks had sunken in. He gazed at me now with reddened eyes. “At my cousin’s instruction, Mother kept me locked away all this time. These past few days, I resisted by refusing to eat. Only then did she let me out…”

I had not expected such an answer. I fell silent.

The young man stepped forward and tightly seized both my hands. “Mother has compromised now. She has agreed to let me associate with you. From now on, she will no longer interfere with me!”

Hearing this, I was naturally deeply moved, and my voice brimmed with hope. “Then does that mean Madam Cui does not mind my birth?”

He shook his head again and again. “She does not! She told me to receive you with the rites due a noble concubine. Mother is kindhearted, and she also said she would treat you well. She definitely was not lying-”

Before he could finish, my expression had already turned cold. I wrenched my hands away from him.

“I will not be a concubine.”

He froze where he stood, his pale lips moving anxiously. “Why… why?”

“The difference between wife and concubine is like a chasm between heaven and earth.”

“As long as I love and cherish you in my heart, what difference does it make whether you are wife or concubine? In the future, who else could surpass you?”

At that, I let out a cold laugh. “If I wished to be a concubine, with the looks I, Nan Jinping, possess, aside from the Wang and Xie Clans, is there any household in Great Ye I could not enter? Why would I have to become your concubine?”

Young Master Cui was stunned.

Perhaps my gentle compliance that day and my frosty coldness today were simply too different. He could not accept it and instead began tugging at me on the long street. “My lady, you must have misunderstood. Mother has already agreed to let us be together. This is clearly a wonderful thing…”

Seeing that cold rebukes were of no use, I calmly asked, “Young master, if your mother ordered you to go into trade and forbade you from entering officialdom, would you be willing?”

He answered in confusion, “To engage in trade is a lowly path…”

I nodded. “Exactly. If young masters like you, who could clearly enter politics, were to run off and become merchants instead, that would be called willingly lowering yourselves.”

At that, Young Master Cui’s face instantly turned pale.

Seeing that he no longer spoke, I took the silk booklet from my sleeve and respectfully returned it to him.

“Jinping thanks you for your misplaced affection, young master.”