"Coax her?!"
Chu Ming's eyes widened in disbelief.
Jiang Ning'an had already received 70,000 taels of silver. What else did she want?
Who would come to coax him?!
Chu Yu quickly said, "Father, keep your voice down. The entire mansion of the Princess Chang is full of Sister's people."
Thankfully, they were already some distance away from Wutong Residence, and there was no one around.
Chu Ming's face darkened further, but he finally fell silent.
Seeing this, Chu Yu continued, "Sister, as a county princess, is showered with love and favor. When she's angry, she beats and kills maids and checks the accounts. If we don't coax her into a good mood, who knows what else she'll do?"
Hearing this, Chu Ming felt even more bitter. "Come to think of it, you're two years younger than Jiang Ning'an."
Jiang Ning'an was so favored and domineering, while Chu Yu was so understanding...
The two were like the sky and the mud, worlds apart.
Chu Yu's eyes dimmed. "I don't dare to compare myself with her."
"What's there to be afraid of? You two are both my daughters!" Chu Ming said firmly.
A glint of grateful tears flashed in Chu Yu's eyes. "Father, only when Sister lives well can I have a chance to live well. For my sake, could Father do me a favor?"
Chu Ming sighed. "Go ahead."
Seeing that he agreed, Chu Yu broke into a smile through her tears. "Thank you, Father!"
—
Night fell.
Jiang Ning'an had just taken her medicine and was about to go to bed when Chu Ming suddenly sent someone to call her over, saying that he had something important to tell her.
But when Jiang Ning'an arrived, she didn't see Chu Ming.
The lamp in Chu Ming's study was on, but the door was locked, not looking like he was going to see her.
The maid who led the way curtsied to her and said, "Princess, please follow this maid."
The maid led Jiang Ning'an to the side room in the eastern wing and served her tea.
"Princess, please wait a moment. This maid will go and invite the son-in-law."
With that, the maid turned and left.
Jiang Ning'an relaxed and leaned back on the chair. "What's this all about?"
Meng Chun was also looking confused.
The tea cup was filled with clear tea, emitting a faint fragrance, but Jiang Ning'an didn't take a sip.
She didn't want to touch anything in Chu Ming's yard.
After a while, a steady footsteps sounded, and a figure appeared at the door.
The man stood against the light, and the moonlight outlined his lean and upright figure. Meng Chun couldn't see his face clearly, but Jiang Ning'an recognized him at a glance.
It was the man she had once loved wholeheartedly.
Xu Linchuan.
He was wearing a plain blue robe. The fabric was not luxurious, and there were no embroidery patterns on it, but it made him look even more elegant.
The moonlight cast a long shadow of him, only a hair's breadth away from Jiang Ning'an's silk shoes adorned with pearls.
As soon as Jiang Ning'an saw him, she couldn't help but think of his ribs and couldn't help but curl her lips in disgust.
"Ning'an, it's been a long time."
Xu Linchuan's voice was gentle, a tone Jiang Ning'an had never heard from him before.
But at this moment, Jiang Ning'an looked at him coldly, with only one thought in her mind—
Why was he here?
Seeing that Jiang Ning'an didn't say a word for a long time, the smile on Xu Linchuan's face began to fade.
Before seeing Jiang Ning'an, Xu Linchuan had imagined a hundred scenarios of how excited Jiang Ning'an would be when she saw him. He had even thought about how to respond.
He just didn't expect that Jiang Ning'an would react so coldly.
Xu Linchuan took a deep breath. "Ning'an, I couldn't sleep at night without seeing you. Only then did I realize that you had already occupied a place in my heart.
Now that I'm here, why are you treating me so coldly?"
Jiang Ning'an sneered and interrupted him directly. "Couldn't sleep at night? How come I remember that not long ago, Scholar Xu even said in front of outsiders that I was shameless and unworthy of being a person. Now how come you've become a lovesick fool?
I used to appreciate you, but you didn't know how to cherish it. Now you come here begging for mercy. Scholar Xu, is this what you call the pride of a scholar, not coveting power?"
Her words were full of sarcasm, and Xu Linchuan's face turned extremely ugly.
Not wanting to waste any more time on an unworthy person, Jiang Ning'an lifted her chin. "Lin Ji, show him out and find out how he got in."
It was no small matter that an outsider like Xu Linchuan could enter the inner courtyard of the Princess Chang's mansion directly.
Lin Ji emerged from the shadows and dragged Xu Linchuan away.
When he was being dragged away, Xu Linchuan was still in a daze.
He had just made an agreement with Chu Yu that he would be gentler with Jiang Ning'an this time and seize her heart. But how did things suddenly turn out like this?
He hadn't even said a few words, and now he was being dragged away?
Xu Linchuan couldn't figure it out.
Chu Ming and Chu Yu, who were hiding in the dark, also couldn't figure it out.
Especially Chu Yu, whose eyebrows were so knitted that they could crush a mosquito.
Jiang Ning'an's reaction... was very strange.
"System, what's wrong with Jiang Ning'an?" Chu Yu thought to herself.
What responded to her was a harsh electric current sound.
[Warning... Important supporting female character Jiang Ning'an... uncontrollable... warning...]
Chu Yu's pupils suddenly constricted.
Through the hiding trees, she looked at the side room, and a chill rose in her heart for no reason.
She clenched her fists, her fingernails digging deeply into her palms, but she didn't seem to notice.
On the other side, before Xu Linchuan could figure it out, he was thrown out by Lin Ji. He stumbled and rolled on the ground twice before barely regaining his balance.
Xu Linchuan didn't care about anything else. He got up from the ground, covered his face, and left in a hurry.
Not far away, someone witnessed this scene. A faint smile flashed across his narrow phoenix eyes.
"This is... the Princess Zhaoyang."
He left a piece of silver and walked alone into the quiet and deserted street.
—
In Wutong Residence of the Princess Chang's mansion.
Not long after Jiang Ning'an returned, Lin Ji quickly came back to report. "Princess, Xu Linchuan entered through the east corner gate."
Apart from the obvious guards in the Princess Chang's mansion, there were also many hidden ones. So it wasn't difficult to find out where Xu Linchuan came from.
Meng Chun frowned and said, "Then it seems that the guards at the east corner gate are the son-in-law's people."
Jiang Ning'an sneered. "My father really has his own people everywhere."
Chu Ming was smart. He always targeted the small but important places that were easily overlooked. If it weren't for tonight's incident, Jiang Ning'an would never have thought that there was such a loophole in the mansion.
In fact, no matter how many small tricks Chu Ming played, at most, he was just making things more convenient for himself and making his life easier.
If that was all, Jiang Ning'an could turn a blind eye.
But if Chu Ming used his power to cause trouble for her, she would never agree.
"Lin Ji, the guards on duty at the east corner gate yesterday failed to do their duty. Give them eighty strokes of the rod, and you supervise the punishment personally."
Lin Ji took the order and left.
Jiang Ning'an looked at the pitch-black night outside, her eyes dark.
Chu Ming had just lost 70,000 taels of silver today. He should be crying his eyes out. How could he act so quickly?
Today's move seemed to be Chu Yu's doing.
She couldn't drive Chu Ming away, but it didn't mean she couldn't drive Chu Yu away.
Jiang Ning'an pondered for a moment and said, "How is Chu Yu doing now?"
"Miss Chu is living in the servant's quarters. She's having a great time and even has the mood to grow flowers."
"Her? Grow flowers?"
Jiang Ning'an seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world.
When she was imprisoned in her dream, in order to survive, she had tried to grow vegetables. Her hands were covered in wounds, and her fingernails were filled with black mud. But when Chu Yu came today, she had deliberately sized her up. Chu Yu's hands were fair, delicate, and smooth, with long and shiny fingernails painted with new nail polish. She didn't look like someone who could grow flowers at all.