Chapter 464 – The secret finally comes out (1)

Wow, he even knew how much longer the war had to last. Ji Man almost felt somewhat sympathetic towards Zhao Zhe. He couldn’t possibly have a good outcome after going against a thousand-year old fox like Ning Yuxuan.

But, how could Ning Yuxuan say those words when Yuzhen’s princess was standing right there? Ji Man carefully looked over at Pengxin again.

She didn’t know that Pengxin wasn’t paying attention to the contents of their conversation at all. Instead, Pengxin’s attention was fixated solely on her. Seeing Ji Man looking at her, she quickly turned away to break eye contact and went to clean the large sword that was placed on the table.

Oh my god, did all of Yuzhen’s princesses study martial arts?

Ning Yuxuan turned his head to glance Pengxin. “Princess Pengxin, my wife is pregnant, so it easy for her suffer frights. Your blade…”

“She’s pregnant?” Pengxin’s eyes brightened, and she immediately broke out into a grin. “I boarded the boat recently and didn’t know that. A pregnant woman needs to rest properly. Pengxin won’t bother her then.”

She had previously heard that the woman Ning Mingjie liked would be on this boat, and the other party was a married woman too. Thus, she wanted to come over to check her out. Seeing that this woman was more attractive than herself, she was internally murmuring this offense. She was quite surprised to hear this woman was pregnant.

It was already impossible for a married woman to be with Ning Mingjie. A pregnant woman was even less of a threat. Pengxin swallowed down her negative feelings and happily went to the deck of the boat to swing around her awe-inspiring large sword.

She had finally found the ideal husband. Thus, she had to train her martial arts to perfection in order to take him down in one move!

—

As the days got colder, Ji Man felt increasingly tired. She would frequently sleep the entire day away. And so, when Pengxin passed by Ning Yuxuan and Ji Man’s room, she would sometimes see the marquis, who was rumored to have power over the imperial court and the common people, carrying a sleepyhead woman, along with her quilt that was wrapped around her, to the table and asking her what she wanted to eat.

Ji Man was so sleepy that she only opened her mouth. Ning Yuxuan would put the vegetables and rice onto a spoon and fed her bite by bite. He would quietly say, “Be careful. Chew a few more times before swallowing.”

Pengxin’s heart warmed up by this sight. No wonder older sister Pengyue preferred staying and dying in Great Song. As it turned out, Great Song’s men were very gentle.

—

Zhao Zhe started to cough and feel other sickly symptoms, but he didn’t know why. The imperial physicians said it was because he worn out from overworking, so he handed over a portion of his work to the prime minister.

Qian Yingchen had taken on Marquis Moyu’s heavy responsibilities, and Marquis Moyu had taken Nie-shi out on a journey to seek medicine that would help ensure the well being of their unborn child. Surprisingly, the emperor hadn’t stopped the marquis and even lent him a boat. There were even people that said the emperor had done this for Nie-shi‘s sake. That, actually, it was the emperor that sent out Marquis Moyu, who was such a busy person, out of the capital.

However, people with discerning eyes could tell that the emperor wanted to send Ning Yuxuan away in order to seize back his imperial power. The competition between Xiao Tianyi and Qian Yingchen had also continued during Ning Yuxuan’s absence.

—

In the end, Ning Yuxuan returned ten days earlier than predicted.

In his excitement, Qian Yingchen brought a group of important officials dressed in their court clothing to wait outside the marquis’s estate. The state of affairs in the imperial court was clear. As soon as Marquis Moyu returned, the scales tilted in their favor, and their days would naturally become even better.

But, when the carriage stopped at the entrance, they saw Marquis Moyu coming out of the carriage while carrying Nie Sangyu.

Autumn had just arrived in the capital, so the weather was slightly cold. Ning Yuxuan wrapped a cloak around Ji Man, nodded at the officials, and said, “Let’s talk after we go inside.”

Then, he dashed inside while steadily carrying Ji Man.

Based on his behavior, everyone assumed that something had befallen Nie-shi, so they hurriedly followed the marquis to the western courtyard. However, after Ning Yuxuan had placed Ji Man down inside and came out, he only took a deep breath and said, “She’s gotten heavier. I almost couldn’t carry her all the way here.”

Everyone, “…”

Marquis, did you have to act so anxious when you were only carrying Nie-shi inside to rest? You made everyone else worry that Nie-shi was seriously ill and about to suffer miscarriage.

They went into the study and closed the doors. The discussion inside continued even after the sunset.

—

Pengxin had been settled down in the guest quarter in the southern courtyard.

—

Ji Man felt as if she slept through multiple years. When she drowsily woke up, she saw Ning Yuxuan, who had come here to feed her as usual.

He said, “Your body is getting swollen from too much sleeping.”

Ji Man turned over and got up to eat some food. Looking at the familiar things in the room, her reaction was a bit sluggish. “We already returned to the capital?”

“En.” Ning Yuxuan hugged her and said, “Sleep some more. By the time you wake up, it’ll be a peaceful and prosperous time.”

Ji Man furrowed her brow. Did Ning Yuxuan have an important thing coming up? Shouldn’t she be standing by his side and fighting this battle with him? But, she really felt too sleepy right now.

“Don’t worry. Just leave it me,” a quiet voice said by her ear. It had a soporific effect on her. Ji Man quietly fell back to sleep.

—

The emperor had fallen gravely ill, and Xiao Sihai had supposedly died in a borderland battle. Xiao Clan finally noticed there was something wrong, and members of the clan wanted to enter the palace to see the emperor and assist the emperor with the borderland war.

Under the reasoning that Xiao Clan had been secretly mobilized their private armies, Marquis Moyu charged the clan with the crime of revolting against the emperor and sent the entire clan into the imperial prison.

The empress dowager shouted that Marquis Moyu had disloyal intentions, but her words didn’t travel beyond her palace. The palace that Marquis Moyu had previously helped her get renovated had become a cage, and it was a soundproof one.

The empress wasn’t allowed to return to the palace. Erxin had taken charge of the imperial harem. At first, Zhao Zhe was still able to say a few words after falling sick. However, after he had spent a prolonged time with women that looked strikingly similar to Nie Sangyu, he gradually lost his voice.

Looking at the person in front of him, that looked so similar Nie Sangyu, Zhao Zhe thought it was strange. How could there be people that looked this similar to her? There was even one woman – her name was Zhuer – who looked exactly like Nie Sangyu. It was exactly because of this reason that he favored her especially much.

(T/N: The “zhu” (竹) in Zhuer mentioned in the last paragraph is using the character for bamboo. The “zhu” (珠) for Zhu Yurun’s servant girl’s name, Zhuer, is the character for pearl.)