She used to say this often, but Zhang Tai never took it seriously. Money—men always had it, so why bother working so hard to earn it? As long as you had a man in your grasp, you’d never want for food or clothing.
But in her current predicament, Zhang Tai suddenly wished she had money of her own. Then she wouldn’t be so panicked, wouldn’t feel so lost about where to go, and wouldn’t have to worry about how to repay Mingyi in the future.
She touched her belly, her eyes reddening again.
Mingyi noticed her expression but said nothing. She simply led Zhang Tai to pay the fine, sign the confession, and complete the remaining trivial procedures before pulling her outside and into a carriage.
“Am I still going back to the Ji residence with you?” Zhang Tai asked nervously.
Mingyi shook her head. “I’ll find you a place to stay.”
Houses on the bustling streets of the main city were expensive, but shops with attached courtyards were more affordable. Mingyi and Zhang Tai walked around the city and eventually chose a slightly livelier area.
Then Zhang Tai watched as Mingyi gritted her teeth and pulled out two gold bars to haggle with the seller.
“You’re buying it?” Zhang Tai was surprised.
Mingyi didn’t turn around. “Renting isn’t as good as buying. You’ll feel more secure here. It’s a busy area with good feng shui, and if you ever want to start a small business, you can just open up the front shop.”
Zhang Tai was both touched and troubled—touched that Mingyi, who was usually so frugal, would spend so much on her, but troubled because she had been pampered all her life and couldn’t possibly endure the hardships of running a business. No matter what, she would never open the front shop. She’d just live quietly in the little house.
Once the deal was settled, since the house was already empty, there was no need to move anything in. After securing the deed, Mingyi hired some laborers to clean and furnish the place.
For some reason, Zhang Tai hadn’t felt wronged even when arguing with Xu Lan, but now, watching Mingyi bustling about, her nose stung with emotion.
By nightfall, Zhang Tai was already lying on the bed in the courtyard house.
On the table were three thousand Shell Coins Mingyi had left for her. The flickering candlelight made them gleam faintly. As she stared at them, Zhang Tai finally couldn’t hold back her sobs.
When Mingyi returned to the residence, the servants all looked at her with pity.
It couldn’t be helped—women in the Azure Cloud Realm struggled to survive without men. For someone like her, publicly abandoned, it was truly tragic. No one knew how she would manage in the future.
She played along, meeting their gazes with tearful eyes as she made her way back to the Lord of Flowing Radiance’s quarters, fully embodying the image of a pitiable woman.
But as soon as she stepped inside, she found someone sitting at the table.
“My lord?” She raised her brows in surprise.
Amid the dappled light, Ji Bozhai turned his head, his sharp brows and bright eyes fixed on her. He was still wearing the crimson silk robe from Flower Full Tower, faintly scented with the Courtesan’s perfume.
Mingyi’s nose wrinkled almost imperceptibly.
“What?” His sharp eyes caught it immediately, and he scoffed. “Daring to disdain even your lord now?”
“Of course not, my lord is teasing me again.” She giggled, closing the door and stepping toward him. “Granny Xun said you wouldn’t return for another half-month. I was just pleasantly surprised.”
He had never seen anyone express “pleasant surprise” with such an expression before.
With a low chuckle, Ji Bozhai reached out, gripping her waist and pulling her into his lap. “Yi’er put on quite the performance last night.”
She leaned against his shoulder and asked sweetly, “Did my lord enjoy it?”"I missed you, that's why I couldn't wait to come back and see you." He pinched her chin to examine her. "Where were you hurt?"
"Knowing my lord dislikes seeing injuries on his servant, how would I dare get hurt?" She blinked triumphantly. "Only my eyes are dry and sore from crying. If my lord could..."
Just give me more gold bars would be nice.
Before she could finish the latter half of her sentence, he pressed down on her, his cool lips landing on her eyelids, making her lashes tremble from the chill.
The candle on the table flickered out in a gust of wind. Outside the window, the starlight was brilliant, casting a beautiful halo around his elegant profile. He extended another hand to cradle the back of her head, letting out a soft murmur in his throat.
For some reason, Mingyi felt he was somewhat moved.
It was strange. Someone like Ji Bozhai shouldn't easily reveal his true emotions. Before this, their intimate moments had mostly felt like performances, hard to discern.
Yet now, on such an ordinary night, the hand gripping her waist was actually burning hot.
Her eyes, still being kissed by him, were full of confusion. Mingyi thought, this lord's preferences were truly hard to fathom. Could it be that compared to delicate beauties, he preferred those who could burn down houses?
If only he'd said so earlier. She would have burned down the nearby outhouse too—he might have been even more moved then.
"I just took a look at the storeroom," Ji Bozhai said, loosening his grip on her slightly after their moment of tenderness. "What made you think of burning it down?"
She knew he would ask about this. Mingyi guiltily averted her gaze.
The situation back then had been urgent. Twenty-Seven had just informed her of the trouble when Situ Ling was already at the door. She had no other choice but to channel her Essence Power to locate the wooden crates of fabric in the storeroom, gathering her power into flames to burn them all clean.
But neither Twenty-Seven's report to her nor her knowledge that the fabric was a gift from Gong Wang could be revealed to Ji Bozhai.
Mingyi thought and thought, but could only play dumb. "Great households inevitably have some dubious assets. Seeing the Adjudicator's men at the door and my lord absent from the estate, I feared something might happen to implicate you. If that occurred, it would be my fault for failing to safeguard the household. So I simply had someone burn the storeroom."
"This doesn't seem like your style," he said, not believing a single word. "Someone as fond of wealth as you would think to hide things rather than burn them?"
"There was no time to hide anything then. Besides, there's the gift registry. Missing items would only draw more attention."
"So you knew about the registry," Ji Bozhai scoffed. "Then what was the point of burning anything?"
Mingyi nearly bit her tongue. In her lingering fear, a wave of guilty irritation rose. "I did contribute after all. If my lord doesn't wish to reward me, fine, but to come back and interrogate me first..."
People often reacted this way—when guilty, they lashed out first to shift blame, making the other party feel too guilty to press further.
However, Ji Bozhai wasn't fooled.
"Contributions should be rewarded. Your service today is worth five gold bars," he said.
Her eyes lit up, ready to thank him, when he added, "But if you're hiding something from me, those five gold bars will cancel out your merits."
...Might as well just say you don't want to give them.
Mingyi puffed her cheeks. "What could I possibly hide from my lord? This estate belongs to you—how could there be anything you don't know?""Of course there is," Ji Bozhai lowered his gaze. "For instance, someone who clearly knows Essence Power and is a fighter, yet pretends to know nothing and stays in the residence all this time. I wonder what their intentions are."
"..."
For a moment, the blood in her veins seemed to freeze. Mingyi slowly raised her head, meeting his probing gaze directly.
OpenNovel