Marquis Moyu returned to his senses after hearing old madame's angry voice. He pursed his lips, kneeled, and said, "This son greets mother."
"Do you still remember that you have a mother?" Old madame's anger wasn't light. She pointed at Wen Wan and asked, "Did you even ask me once before marrying her?"
Ning Yuxuan lowly said, "Mother, please calm down. This son had planned to report our marriage to you after you returned."
After saying this, he actually glanced at Ji Man.
Ji Man hurriedly hid away her glee and innocently looked at the decorative pattern on the carpet.
Marquis Moyu had been naturally talented and clever since childhood. Other than this marriage, he had never given his mother any reason to worry. Right now, there were rapid changes in the imperial household and the emperor deliberately wanted to oppress Nie Clan. Thus, she could understand why he had acted against Sangyu. But, even if she had calculated a thousand times, she would have never expected that he would welcome a woman without status into this household.
"You knew that I wouldn't agree, so you acted first and reported later." Old madame heavily harrumphed.
Ning Yuxuan raised his head. His eyes were full of sincerity. "This son truly loves Wen Wan. This is why I want to give her the best position."
Love.
Old madame stared blankly at him for a long time. Wen Wan, who was still kneeling, started to cry again.
Ji Man found his words laughable, but Nie Sangyu felt as if her heart was being ripped out. Ji Man couldn't help furrowing her brow.
Among the nobles, generals, and officials' families, the most unspeakable word was love and the most difficult thing to obtain was sincere love. Old madame had loved Marquis Pingnan for over half of her life, but she had never said this word. And now, she was hearing the word "love" from her son's mouth.
After she returned to her senses, old madame actually laughed. She laughed until her shoulders shook. "Xuan-er, do you know what love is?"
Ning Yuxuan kneeled with his back perfectly straight and didn't cower the slightest bit, "This son wants to grow old with her."
Wen Wan was extremely moved by his words. Underneath their sleeves, Marquis Moyu was gently holding her hand. She suddenly felt confident and kowtowed to old madame, "All of this blame is entirely Wen Wan's. As long as Wen Wan can stay by the marquis's side, whether it's being the main wife or concubine, Wen Wan doesn't mind either way."
Ah, such a profoundly loving, harmonious, and affection couple. Ji Man looked at them with the cool eyes of a bystander. She felt that the male lead and female lead's minds were completely different from everyone else's. For them, emotions could prevail over everything. The male lead's one word, "love", was supposed to make everything else inconsequential.
But, it couldn't work out like that. This was a light novel about harem struggles, not a Grimm's fairytale.
Old madame was silent for a long time. She finally said with a smile, "Look at the two of you. One is crying like a rained upon pear blossom. The other has a solemn expression and a stretched taut figure. If someone didn't know any better, they would think of me as a malicious old woman that was tearing up a happily married couple that truly loved each other."
Her tone had changed too quickly. Ning Yuxuan and Wen Wan both froze in surprise and looked up.
"I was just testing you. Wan-er, you also seem to truly love Xuan-er." Old madame's entire face softened and she indicated for Danggui and Shouwu to help the two of them to stand. In the passing, she also let Ji Man stand up as well.
"Actually, as long as you can undertake the role of marquis's wife well, your family background isn't especially important. I'm feeling tired. You can all leave."
Wen Wan was overjoyed at the unexpected good news. She whole-heartedly thought that old madame had accepted her. She repeatedly kowtowed to express her thanks and pulled Ning Yuxuan's hand to kowtow with her.
However, Ning Yuxuan's brow didn't relax. He only saluted old madame before taking Wen Wan with him as he left.
He naturally had a clear understanding of his mother's character. But, seeing how happy Wen Wan was, he couldn't tell her the truth and make her worry more.
Ji Man shrugged her shoulders. She saluted old madame and was planning on leaving the room too. However, the servant girl next to her, Shouwu, stopped her and lightly shook her head to signal for her to stay.
After the doors were closed, Ji Man gritted her teeth and kneeled down again in front of old madame. She still needed to kneel in order to have the courage to speak to her.
"Steward Qian said you changed a lot, but I hadn't believe him." The smile on old madame's face faded. It was replaced by a deep sigh. "It must have been difficult for you. You use to have such a lively and straightforward personality, but it's been grounded to dust by Xuan-er. You didn't even cry or fuss when you heard him say that he loves someone else."
At the mention of this, her reaction was prompt. As Ji Man bit her lip, she started to cry and sobbed out, "Old madame, I don't want to accept this. I really don't want to..."
That had definitely been Nie Sangyu coming out for a guest appearance. It was only for a brief moment, but Ji Man noticed her frailty.
It seemed that old madame truly cared about Nie Sangyu. Otherwise, Nie Sangyu wouldn't have risked her life and wasted her spiritual energy to say so many words.
Her tears wouldn't stop falling down. Ji Man also started to truly feel badly along with Nie Sangyu.
Old madame felt distressed for her. She hurriedly stood up and personally led her to sit down on the cushioned chaise lounge with her. "Silly girl, of course I know that you're not willing. This old woman has seen how you treated Xuan-er during the past several years. You love him too much. Doing too much is just as bad as doing too little. Perhaps, he'll understand your feelings one day."
Ji Man shook her head. Wait until he understood? He would have already killed the secondary female character if she only waited.
"From what I saw of that Wen Wan, she's not someone that has the ability to appear in public. In the short term, Xuan-er can repeatedly tell me that he truly loves her. But, in the long term, she won't be able to withstand the pressure of being the marquis's wife. In the end, that position will be returned to you."
Old madam's black eyes slightly sunk, "As for you, don't act so impulsively and stir up trouble again. I heard the you barged into the palace with loose hair and that was why you were rebuked by the emperor."
Ji Man nodded her head in shame.
"Did you know that the emperor had previously left Nie Clan alone because of his relationship with Noble Consort Nie? Nie Clan has become a mature and powerful clan that has many dishonest members. The empress's side had been unhappy with this for a long time. Why did you still act rashly and give the emperor an opportunity to penalize the noble consort?" Old madam was slightly angry. "Sometimes, you really act too outrageously and without regard for protocol. No wonder Xuan-er held grudges against you for your actions during the past several years."
Ji Man could only obediently listen to her lecture while thinking that she wasn't responsible for any of those actions. But, she could see that old madame and Noble Consort Nie were truly good friends. Old madame was thinking about Nie Clan in all respects.
"Now that I returned, no one in this household will be able to harm you." Old madame returned her expression to normal and said, "But there are a lot of things that you have to learn for yourself. Don't blame me when I don't help you every time."
The atmosphere was excessively serious. Ji Man solemnly nodded. Soon after, she checked old madame's face and offered her treasure, "Old madame, you're probably feeling tired from the carriage ride. How about letting Sangyu give you a facial while you rest?"
Old madame glanced at her, "You're pretending to be obedient again. Fine, this face is showing the hardship of travel. Shouwu, go outside and fetch water. Danggui, bring pearl powder over. Let Sangyu attend to me while I nap."
The two servant girls acknowledged her order. Just as they were about to leave, Ji Man hurriedly said, "Dangui, I'll have to inconvenience you with a request to bring back boiled eggs."
Old madame thought Nie Sangyu was just feeling hungry and wanted to eat something, so she didn't ask any questions. A nearby older servant stepped forward and unwounded her hair bun so that old madame could comfortably lie down on the wooden chaise lounge.
Ji Man first used the water to clean old madame's face, then she peeled the eggs that Dangui had brought back and set them aside to cool down a bit. Then, she took out the cold cream and slowly rubbed the lotion onto old madame's face.
"What's this?" Shouwu curiously looked at the box in Ji Man's hand.
"This is cold cream." Ji Man scooped out a lump of cold cream, then she hand the rest of the cold cream to Danggui. "The two of you can try it."
"Was this purchased from Yongning Street?" Shouwu whispered, "When the carriage passed by Yongning Street, I heard many people talk about something called cold cream and saw a rouge shop's entrance almost being broken by so many people crowding around it."
Ji Man lightly smiled and nodded. She had told Miss Shui that on the first day she released the cold cream for sale, she had to hire a group of people to stand outside in a line and fall over each other in their eagerness to discuss about cold cream in order to achieve excellent publicity. It seemed that she had done her job well.
Shouwu and Danggui watched as Ji Man rubbed cold cream onto old madame's face. Old madame seemed exhausted and was deeply asleep. When the light pink cream was applied to her face, it quickly disappeared and old madame's face became beautifully dewy.
Shouwu was very surprised. She hurriedly pulled Dangui out of the room with her to try the cold cream in private. Although the two servant girls were old madame's personal servants, they were still seventeen and eighteen year old young women that loved to be beautiful.
After Ji Man patiently finished applying the cold cream, she washed her hands and gently rolled the boiled eggs over old madame's face. People that experienced this before would know that this felt very comfortable and also had a moistening effect.
When lunchtime came, old madame finally woke up. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Danggui and Shouwu's surprised and happy expressions.
Old madame looked serious as she asked, "What happened?"
Ji Man was smiling as she stood nearby. She brought a bronze mirror in front of old madame, "You had a really wonderful nap."
The face in the mirror had significantly become fairer and smoother. Although there were still branching wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and a slight puffiness under her eyes, her skin looked at least five years younger.
"This..." Old madame was shocked. She hurriedly reached out and touched her face. It was smooth without being oily. It felt clean and fresh.
"Master Sang applied cold cream and also rolled boiled eggs over your face for an hour." Shouwu smiled and said, "Old madame is so fortunate. Master Sang is a person that knows filial piety."
Old madame looked at Ji Man in astonishment.
Ji Man gently smiled, "I bought this cream a few days ago. The shopkeeper said it was a rare item, so I saved a box for Old Madame."
Although she was already widowed, all women loved to beautiful. Even though old madame's mouth said, "There's no need for me to appear good-looking," the joyful expression in her eyes showed her true feelings.
Ji Man knew that she had made the right decision in giving this bribe. Even if old madame had been secretly unhappy with Nie Sangyu before, she was definitely completely happy with her right now.
After looking at herself in the mirror for a long time, she finally said, "You were very thoughtful."
During lunchtime, Ning Yuxuan and Wen Wan came to the main courtyard. Old madame made an exception for Ji Man. She allowed her sit down at the table instead of standing at the side to add food to her personal plate.
"Mother, why are you in such a good mood?" Ning Yuxuan raised his eyebrows and looked at her. With some surprised, he said, "Your complexion also looks much better."
Receiving her son's praise, old madame became even happier. "Sangyu showed filial peity. She rubbed cold cream and boiled eggs on my face. My old face feels new from her efforts."
Wen Wan froze for a moment, then she followed Ning Yuxuan with flattering old madame, "Old madame isn't old. You're only called old to show the importance of your status. You're still young."
Last time, Nie Sangyu had told her that she had given her all of the cold cream that she bought. Unexpectedly, she had kept a box for herself. Wen Wan carefully looked at the person quietly sitting next to her. She finally started to have a sense of vigilance towards Nie Sangyu.