Chapter 14 — A Scheme
Xie Ningtang’s mood finally eased a little. “From what I can tell, Xue Ning doesn’t seem to like the heir in that way.”
Su Qing let out a faint scoff. “That’s just an act. You’ve only just arrived, Sister—you still don’t know how scheming she really is.”
Xie Ningtang didn’t think Xue Ning was particularly calculating. She was simply… quiet by nature.
Beautiful, yes—but unless you paid close attention, it was hard to read any emotion from her face at all.
Still, she had willingly acknowledged Madam Jiang as her mother.
Did she truly have feelings for Su Zhan?
The more Xie Ningtang thought about it, the more unsettled she became.
She couldn’t grasp what Xue Ning was really thinking, and the uncertainty left a sour feeling in her chest.
“Lady Tang?” Su Qing called when she noticed her staring blankly ahead. “Are you worried Xue Ning will seduce my brother?”
Xie Ningtang pressed her lips together without answering directly.
A beautiful orphan girl living under the same roof was, no matter what, still a threat.
What if one day Su Zhan became fond of her and kept her by his side as a concubine? Even the thought was disgusting.
She refused to imagine her future husband marrying her while still keeping some childhood sweetheart close beside him.
But saying that aloud would only make her seem petty and narrow-minded, unworthy of a princess.
Su Qing sneered. “Grandmother’s already seen through her little tricks. She just hasn’t said anything openly. But the person Grandmother truly likes is still you, Sister Tang. You absolutely must hold onto Brother Heir Apparent. Honestly, I really don’t want Xue Ning staying in our marquis household any longer. At the end of the day, her surname is Xue, not Su. The sooner she’s married off, the better it’ll be for everyone.”
At the moment, Xie Ningtang didn’t consider someone like Xue Ning worth worrying over.
“Then after the family recognition banquet, have Madam Jiang marry her off as soon as possible.”
Su Qing’s eyes brightened with a smile. “Speaking of that, I actually have an excellent idea. Would Sister like to hear it?”
Xie Ningtang turned toward her, puzzled by just how much Su Qing disliked Xue Ning.
“What are you thinking, Sister Qing?”
Su Qing curled her lips upward. “In two days, it’ll be the anniversary of her parents’ deaths.”
She leaned close to Xie Ningtang’s ear and lowered her voice.
Snow drifted soundlessly through the air, blurring the smiles on both their faces.
Only after the two women disappeared into the distance did Baochan turn and quietly head back toward Qiushui Courtyard.
Xue Ning was still in Madam Jiang’s room when she noticed an exquisitely crafted red sandalwood box sitting on the desk.
“Mother, what’s that?”
Madam Jiang pulled out the household account books from the past few days. “A tonic your Second Aunt sent over.”
Xue Ning blinked calmly. “May A-Ning take a look?”
Madam Jiang handed her the box without hesitation. “It’s something for women to nourish their health. You’re still a young girl—you don’t need this yet. Later, Mother will have Nanny Song send some bird’s nest soup ingredients to your courtyard instead.”
Xue Ning opened the box and found a delicate white jade bottle inside.
The bottle contained black pills rolled into thumb-sized spheres. Leaning closer, she caught a faint sweet-and-sour scent.
Quietly, she slipped one pill into her sleeve before placing the bottle back onto the table.
Madam Jiang worked through the accounts with practiced efficiency. Xue Ning sat beside her silently in company until Su Man returned from outside the estate. Only then did she rise and excuse herself.
After greeting Madam Jiang, Su Man clung to Xue Ning and followed her back to Qiyun Pavilion.
The room was warm with burning charcoal.
The two girls sat cross-legged across from each other on the kang bed beside the southern window, snacking on pastries.
“In a couple of days, it’ll be your birth parents’ death anniversary,” Su Man said. “A-Ning, are you still going to Zhen State Temple to burn incense this year?”
Xue Ning lowered her eyes to the book in her hands. “I am.”
In her previous life, this was the year her affair with Su Zhan had exploded into scandal across the capital.
Old Madam Xie had forbidden her from leaving the estate and embarrassing the family further, ordering her confined to Qiyun Pavilion until her marriage to Su Zhan.
But on the very day of her parents’ memorial, a votive lamp at Zhen State Temple had tipped over, nearly burning down half the temple.
The spirit tablets of her parents and elder brother had all been reduced to ashes.
That year, she never managed to offer them even a single stick of incense.
And after marrying Su Zhan, for one reason or another, she never returned to Zhen State Temple again during those following years.
Later still, she had been cast aside to the Su family’s old residence in Yongzhou.
When she missed her parents and brother, she could only mourn them from afar.
Her life had always been filled with regret.
So this time, no matter what happened, she would go.
Su Man puffed out her cheeks as she chewed dried fruit for a long while. “But Zhen State Temple is outside the city. How can you go alone?”
Xue Ning burst into soft laughter. “Who said I’d be alone? I already spoke with Mother. She assigned two estate guards to accompany me, and I’ll take the marquis manor’s carriage.”
“Those guards are barely skilled enough to protect themselves.” Su Man scooted over and hooked herself against Xue Ning’s arm. “I’ll go with you, then we can ask Big Brother to escort us too, alright?”
Xue Ning refused almost instantly. “No… there’s no need.”
Afraid Su Man might notice something strange, she steadied her tone before smiling again.
“Big Brother is busy with official duties every day. There’s no need to trouble him over my matters.”
“You always used to insist on having Big Brother accompany you. A-Ning… what happened to you?”
“Nothing happened. I just truly don’t want to bother him anymore.”
“Then what about Second Brother?”
“No. We’ve never gotten along.”
“Third Brother will be back soon too.”
Xue Ning sighed helplessly. “Manman, really—I can manage on my own.”
Having lived a second life, she sincerely wanted nothing to do with any of the young masters of the marquis household.
It would be better to marry early and build a home of her own than continue burdening Su Zhan, putting Madam Jiang in a difficult position, and earning Old Madam Xie’s dislike.
From now on, she would never trouble Su Zhan with her affairs again.
Truthfully, there were many things she could handle herself.
Back then, she had only wanted the man she loved to care about her a little more.
Su Man felt that Xue Ning had changed.
Changed so much she barely recognized her anymore.
“A-Ning… do you really not want to marry my brother anymore?”
“You’re really just going to watch Xie Ningtang stand beside him calling him ‘Brother Heir Apparent’ over and over?”
“Don’t you think she’s arrogant and prideful? Like she thinks my brother absolutely has to marry her? Seriously, where does all that confidence come from?”
“Isn’t it true?” Xue Ning smiled faintly. “I think the Princess and Big Brother look very well suited together.”
She remembered how, after forcing Su Zhan into marriage in her previous life, he rarely returned to Mingyue Pavilion.
Either he slept in his study, or he simply stayed out and never came home.
Every banquet she attended afterward became another humiliation.
First, because she had married him dishonorably.
Second, because her husband did not love her.
Third, because rumors spread that Su Zhan had kept a mistress outside.
Not long after, she discovered that Princess Xiuning was already carrying his child in a separate estate.
Fear consumed her day and night.
She was terrified Su Zhan would divorce her.
The agony clawed at her constantly, as though her heart had been crushed to pieces and thrown beneath someone’s feet to be mercilessly trampled.
“A-Ning, what nonsense are you talking about?!”
Su Man’s startled voice snapped Xue Ning back to the present.
Xue Ning lifted calm eyes toward her.
“What?”
