When Shen Yi emerged from behind the folding screen, his body had already returned to its usual calm. He was once again the refined, dignified, and proper Heir Apparent of the Jingning Marquis’s Residence.
Only his ears were tinged with a faint blush.
“Let’s go. We’ll return to the residence.”
“Husband.” Jiang Xuening stood up. “I want to bring a young lady back with me.”
Shen Yi was not surprised.
“The young lady who was sitting beside you just now?”
Jiang Xuening nodded.
“So the money you asked for yesterday was to redeem her?”
“Yes. She came north to look for her relatives, but she was deceived and brought here. It’s rather pitiful…”
“And how do you plan to settle her?”
“She doesn’t have anywhere to go for now. She said she wants to follow me and become my maid to repay my kindness…”
Shen Yi rejected the idea without hesitation.
“No.”
“Why?”
“She’s someone whose background you know nothing about, yet you dare to bring her into the Marquis’s Residence?”
Jiang Xuening’s first reaction was to think that he was cold-blooded and heartless. But after thinking about his words, she felt that his concern was not without reason.
Everything she knew about that young lady had come from the woman’s own account. She had no way of verifying whether what the woman said was true, nor did she know what kind of background she truly had.
The Marquis’s Residence was not an ordinary household. How could they casually take in someone of unknown origins?
She had indeed failed to think things through.
With that thought, Jiang Xuening’s eyes shifted, and in an instant, she came up with another place for the young lady to go.
“Since she has nowhere to go and wants to repay my kindness, why don’t we settle her with my mother…” Since the woman wanted to become a servant to repay her kindness, serving Jiang Xuening or serving her mother would make little difference.
After saying that, Jiang Xuening did not forget to explain to him, “When I say ‘my mother,’ I mean my Birth Mother, not the Legal Mother of the Zhongcheng Residence…”
Jiang Xuening had no intention of concealing the fact that she had been born to a concubine. She assumed that he already knew her true identity anyway. Otherwise, he would not have said those things to her on their wedding night.
Shen Yi had expected her to argue with him, but he had not expected her to change her mind so quickly. He was also surprised by how openly she acknowledged her identity.
After a brief moment of surprise, he agreed to her arrangement.
“All right.”
Since the young lady had to be taken to her mother, Jiang Xuening discussed it with him.
“My mother’s home is quite far away, and hiring a carriage will cost extra. I want to borrow your carriage and take her to my mother’s place. You can take my carriage back to the Marquis’s Residence. Would that be all right?”
Shen Yi frowned.
“I’m not used to riding in other people’s carriages.”
“All right, then.”
She naturally held out her hand toward him.
“Then give me some money.”
The furrow between Shen Yi’s brows deepened.
“You don’t even have enough money to hire a carriage?”
“I came here today to redeem someone. The brothel madam demanded an exorbitant price, and I gave her every last bit of money I had just to barely redeem her.”
Jiang Xuening spread her hands.
“I don’t have a single copper coin left now.”
Shen Yi did not believe her.
“You had no money, yet you still ordered fruit?”
“That was ordered before I redeemed her.”
Hiring a carriage did not cost much. It was not that Shen Yi was unwilling to give her the money. He simply felt that the way she asked him for money was far too natural, as though she truly regarded him as a husband from whom she could ask for whatever she wanted at any time.
But they were merely husband and wife in name and had no affection between them. Such familiarity was inappropriate.
Shen Yi decided that he would no longer indulge her.
“Figure it out yourself.”
With that, he turned and left.
“Fine, I’ll figure it out myself…”
Jiang Xuening’s solution was to pull the young lady into his carriage by force and have Lu Ming take them to her mother’s home first.
Shen Yi’s carriage was spacious, and with the two slender women inside, there was more than enough room.
Jiang Xuening gave Lu Ming directions to the destination. Lu Ming glanced at Shen Yi, who had been squeezed into a corner of the carriage, and was momentarily at a loss.
“Heir Apparent, this…”
The black-patterned pottery lamp on the small table cast a dark shadow across Shen Yi’s face.
At that moment, Shen Yi’s expression was even darker than the night outside the carriage window.
“Get out!”
His voice was filled with anger and coldness.
But Jiang Xuening was not frightened in the slightest. Instead, she turned to Lin Nanzhi beside her and said,
“Don’t be afraid. Although my Husband looks cold and aloof and seems rather unfeeling, he’s actually a very good person…”
Lin Nanzhi was the young lady Jiang Xuening had redeemed from Drunken Wind Pavilion that day.
At that moment, she could sense Shen Yi’s rejection of her. She lowered her head, nervously twisting her hands together, and timidly responded to Jiang Xuening.
“Madam, I’ve caused you trouble.”
“Since I helped you, I’ll help you all the way. You said you wanted to become my maid to repay my kindness, but I don’t lack people to serve me. My mother, however, only has one maid serving her. So go to my mother’s side and help me fulfill my filial duty…”
“Yes. I’ll serve your mother with all my heart.”
“You don’t have to stay by my mother’s side all the time. Aren’t you still looking for your relatives in the capital? Just be careful when you go out, and don’t let anyone deceive you again…”
Lin Nanzhi gratefully said, “Thank you, Madam.”
While the two women spoke, Shen Yi was also secretly observing Lin Nanzhi.
If she showed even the slightest reluctance toward Jiang Xuening’s arrangement, it would prove that she truly harbored ulterior motives.
Fortunately, Lin Nanzhi had agreed without the slightest hesitation. This eased some of Shen Yi’s suspicions.
Thus, when Lu Ming once again looked toward him questioningly, Shen Yi gave a slight nod, tacitly agreeing to the arrangement.
Only then did Lu Ming lower the curtain and drive the carriage toward the place Jiang Xuening had mentioned.
The carriage wheels rumbled as they broke through the darkness of the night.
Half an hour later, the carriage turned onto a street in the eastern part of the city and stopped at the entrance of an alley.
The alley was narrow, making it difficult for the carriage to turn around. Lu Ming jumped down in one swift motion and set up the mounting step before lifting the bamboo curtain.
“Madam, you can get off here.”
Jiang Xuening and Lin Nanzhi got out of the carriage one after another. She glanced at Shen Yi, who was sitting inside with his eyes closed.
“Husband, would you like to come down and have a cup of tea?”
“No.”
He was already willing to bring them here, which was more than enough to give her face.
Although her Birth Mother’s residence was in this alley, Jiang Xuening had already been registered under the name of the principal wife of the Zhongcheng Residence’s main branch. Officially, she had no connection with the woman living in this house.
Naturally, that woman could not be considered his mother-in-law, so Shen Yi had no need to go down and pay his respects.
Jiang Xuening did not insist.
“Then wait in the carriage for a moment, Husband. I’ll be right back.”
She then led Lin Nanzhi into the alley.
Shen Yi lifted a corner of the carriage curtain and watched as Jiang Xuening and Lin Nanzhi’s figures gradually disappeared into the depths of the alley.
The hazy moonlight fell across his handsome face, revealing a complicated look between his brows.
The Jiang Xuening in the rumors was a vicious woman who had harmed her own siblings.
Yet the Jiang Xuening he had seen had clear, pure eyes and an open, straightforward manner. That day, she had even been willing to spend a large sum of money to rescue a young lady she did not know at all.
It was truly difficult to connect her with the kind of evil woman described in the rumors.
What kind of person was she, exactly?
While he was pondering this question, the carriage suddenly rocked slightly, and the horse pulling it became somewhat restless.
Lu Ming’s voice came from outside.
“Heir Apparent, the horse seems to be hungry. I’ll take it to the carriage station at the street corner to feed it…”
“All right.”
Shen Yi got down from the carriage and let Lu Ming drive it there himself.
He stayed behind to wait for Jiang Xuening.
The moment the carriage left, he heard hurried footsteps coming from inside the alley.
It was probably Jiang Xuening.
Shen Yi stood where he was and waited for her.
Then he heard a loud thump.
It seemed that she had fallen.
The sound was dull and heavy. She must have fallen rather hard.
A trace of reluctance flashed through Shen Yi’s heart.
He walked into the alley and, sure enough, saw her sitting on the ground, clutching her knee and repeatedly drawing in breaths from the pain.
He reached out to help her up.
“Why were you running?”
“You didn’t leave?”
Jiang Xuening’s voice trembled from the pain.
“I thought you’d leave without waiting for me…”