The Powerful Minister I Forcefully Married Won't Warm Up; After Rebirth, I Give Up the Chase - Chapter 24

Wang Muyi was a straightforward person. After hearing Nian Xi’s idea, she laughed immediately:

“Opening a shop together is naturally a great idea. As it happens, I have a storefront among my dowry. Although the facade isn’t large, the location is excellent. It’s two stories high. If you push open the windows, you see weeping willows in spring and the moon in summer. It’s suitable in every aspect.”

Nian Xi was waiting for exactly those words.

She wanted to create a teahouse catering exclusively to female patrons, but it would sell more than just drinks and tea soup. It would be decorated with the finest materials, with private rooms carefully separated, huanghuali chairs and tables, and carefully trimmed pine bonsai, offering a relaxing retreat for young ladies.

After the two settled the details, a maid came to deliver a message. “Madam Heir, Miss Wen, the banquet has started in the front. Please follow your servant to the feast.”

The banquet at the Cheng’en Duke’s Residence was set in the Flower Hall for the women and in the Water Pavilion not far away for the male guests.

The pavilion where the two were located was rather secluded. To get to the Flower Hall, they had to pass through a long corridor. On the way back, they ran into Pei Jian face to face.

Wang Muyi lightly poked Nian Xi with her elbow.

Pei Jian was tall and slender with an outstanding appearance. Standing at the end of the path, it was impossible to ignore him even without deliberate reminding.

Nian Xi retracted her gaze.

The capital was small, and since he was Gu Ci’s good friend, they would have many opportunities to meet in the future.

There was no need to deliberately avoid him.

Given his extremely rude behavior in the corner garden, Nian Xi felt the best relationship for them now was that of strangers.

But Cousin Mu did not think so.

As they brushed past Pei Jian and turned around the corridor, Wang Muyi lowered her voice and asked, “Isn’t Pei Jian good friends with Young Master Gu? Are you and he… not acquainted?”

Nian Xi looked candid. “We’ve met, but we’re not familiar.”

Wang Muyi didn’t believe it. “But the way he looked at you just now didn’t suggest you were unfamiliar at all.”

He had been staring at Nian Xi until she looked up. Only then did Pei Jian expressionlessly shift his gaze.

Wang Muyi was naturally more perceptive than the average person about these things. “It looked like he knows you very well.”

“Tell me, does he perhaps like you?”

Nian Xi was practically killed by this question.

A sincerity that ten-plus years of companionship in the previous life couldn’t earn—could it suddenly be achieved through a moment of enlightenment?

“Cousin—”

Nian Xi felt helpless at Cousin Mu’s flight of fancy. “He and Gu Ci are good brothers.”

Wang Muyi grew even more excited at the sound of this. Who knew what she thought of, but her smile was suggestive. “Good brothers just have the same taste! That look Pei Jian gave you just now was certainly not innocent.”

She pressed her hands together, her eyes shining. “Pei Jian doesn’t look like he’s utterly powerless either. I wonder what it would look like if he and Gu Ci fought each other?”

Nian Xi pressed her hand to her forehead, glancing at her overexcited cousin, and said calmly, “A scene you wouldn’t even see in a dream.”

Pei Jian was the most composed and restrained person. Fighting? That was a wild fantasy.

Moreover, he fundamentally did not like her.

Wang Muyi, however, trusted her intuition greatly. “What if? If they both came to your family to propose marriage, who would you choose?”

Nian Xi had absolutely no interest in this topic.

Had she not learned her lesson after thirteen years of wasted life on Pei Jian in her last life? Even if Pei Jian were a celestial being, she wouldn’t endure that suffering again.

Forget it.

Living her own life well was better than anything.

However—

“While I was waiting for you just now, I unintentionally overheard Princess Wenshuo…”

Nian Xi recounted what she had heard behind the flowering trees to Cousin Mu.

Wang Muyi pressed, “Why didn’t you go tell Pei Shizhang yourself? This is a life-saving grace.”

Nian Xi took a step forward, her tone light. “To avoid suspicion.”

She naturally held no romantic feelings for Pei Jian, but to watch him deliberately ruin his future—

Current imperial regulations stipulated that a Consort who married a Princess could only serve as a wealthy idler and could no longer engage in officialdom.

For Pei Jian, that would probably be worse than death.

She wasn’t a saint overflowing with sympathy. Given their current relationship, they weren’t even enemies.

Since the cause of her death in the previous life was still undetermined, giving him a warning was merely a small effort.

But it turned out that one couldn’t be too kind.

The banquet at the Cheng’en Duke’s Residence was of a high standard. The menu listed “Fifteen Wine Courses,” with two dishes per course, presented in pairs, totaling thirty dishes.

Midway through the feast, Nian Xi felt a surge of heat from the wine. She informed her mother and excused herself to change clothes.

As soon as she walked out of the Flower Hall, she was stopped by someone blocking her way. “Miss Wen, Her Royal Highness the Princess requests your presence.”

Nian Xi’s heart clenched.

With many people watching, she didn’t want to draw attention. She signaled to Xing Yue and followed the maid with Lan Zhi accompanying her.

Upon entering a quiet, secluded courtyard, Princess Wenshuo was seated high on a chair, looking down at Nian Xi. “Was it you who ruined this Princess’s good plan?”

Nian Xi: …

How did she find out?

“What is Your Highness talking about? Your humble subject doesn’t understand.”

“Stop pretending. Yan Qing told me everything,” Xiao Nanxi said, pointing to the black-clad guard by the column. “When this Princess was discussing this matter in the garden, it was you who were hiding behind the trees, eavesdropping!”

She forcefully slapped the armrest and said sternly, “Speak! Do you also like Pei Shizhang?”

Nian Xi looked completely wronged. “Who? Me? I don’t like him at all.”

“Then why did you ruin my good plan?”

Nian Xi fully understood everything now—

It was all the fault of this guard named Yan Qing for being unreliable. Her luck was bad today, running into the Princess loudly plotting in the busy garden. If it had been anyone else, Yan Qing would have let them “eavesdrop” too.

Ultimately, the Princess’s plan was bound to fail today.

Having figured out the whole story, Nian Xi could only adopt a posture of high-minded righteousness:

“Young Master Pei is a classmate of my brother at the Imperial College. My brother studied diligently for over ten years only to serve the court, and I feel that Young Master Pei must have the same ambition. But if he were to marry a Princess, he would be doomed to be a wealthy idler for the rest of his life…”

Xiao Nanxi interrupted. “This Princess never said I wanted Pei Shizhang to marry me. How would that ruin his future?”

Nian Xi: “…Huh?”

Xiao Nanxi puffed out her small chest, sounding rather proud. “This Princess just wants to forcibly bed him; I don’t need him to be responsible. After today, he is free to go be an official and a chancellor, and we will have no further connection.”

Nian Xi: “…Huh?!”

Xiao Nanxi no longer maintained her princessly authority. She glanced sideways at Nian Xi, lifted her small face, and gave a light sniff.

“Pedantic!”

Nian Xi felt as if a new world had opened up to her. She had never imagined a woman could be so bold. “Your humble subject is pedantic, and not as enlightened as Your Royal Highness!”

Her tone was sincere, and her clear, almond-shaped eyes were full of admiration.

Xiao Nanxi was embarrassed by the praise. “Don’t you scholars care about propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame? Do you… truly think my idea is good, or are you just humoring me?”

In her previous life, Nian Xi might not have agreed, but having died and lived again, her perspective was completely different.

“These complicated rituals are merely chains that constrain the world. When one lives a life, as long as one can bear the consequences, why not be a little more unrestrained?”

“A kindred spirit! Absolutely a kindred spirit!”

Xiao Nanxi stood up excitedly from her armchair and took Nian Xi’s hand. “This Princess has booked a pleasure boat on the Condensing Jade Pond for today. You must come sightseeing on the lake with me later!”

Nian Xi did not want to go.

Princess Wenshuo had died young in her previous life, and Nian Xi had no interactions with her. Meeting her today, she couldn’t help but feel the Princess was a bit eccentric. Just as she was about to find an excuse to decline, she suddenly thought of something:

“Your Highness, your humble subject is quite versed in the I Ching. Observing your physiognomy, it is best that you do not go near the water today. It would be inauspicious.”