Chapter 55: Brother Ning, Hear Me Out
Lin Ningkun directly turned red-eyed, disregarding propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame, he rushed straight to Jiang Xuerou’s door, but was stopped by Madam Zhou, “Kun’er, what madness are you having?”
“Mother, I want to ask clearly what exactly is going on. Why would the Crown Prince summon her out of the blue?”
Lin Ningkun feared that the Crown Prince had taken a liking to the woman he loved, and he grew so anxious that his whole person became irritable.
The thought that if he arrived even a step late, and Jiang Xuerou caught the Crown Prince’s eye, made his heart ache like it was being cut by a knife. He had no mood to listen to Madam Zhou and the others speak, directly pushing Madam Zhou aside and striding outward. Madam Zhou stumbled from the push, nearly falling.
“The Marquis is also worried that a lone woman seeing the Crown Prince alone wouldn’t be good. Ruanxi, don’t take it to heart.”
Hearing Madam Zhou’s words, Jiang Ruanxi cold smiled inwardly.
Seeing the Crown Prince is a matter for men, so Lin Ningkun going to see Jiang Xuerou now wouldn’t be a man seeing her alone.
Looking at Madam Zhou’s hypocritical self-justification, Jiang Ruanxi felt disgust.
But on the surface, she still acted as before, appearing dumbly to believe her words.
“Mother, I believe the Marquis.”
Jiang Ruanxi bit down hard on the words “believe.”
But now Madam Zhou’s heart was not here at all, and she didn’t detect the anomaly.
Madam Zhou feared she would guess some clue, and awkwardly said, “Who knows why the Crown Prince summoned her?”
After all, Jiang Xuerou was the mother of her grandson, so she was a bit worried about her too.
She also knew that if something happened to Jiang Xuerou, her son wouldn’t know what he might do.
Lin Ningkun was the hope of the Marquis Manor; if he did something bad, the Marquis Manor would be completely done for.
“The Crown Prince just now had us copy a page of Buddhist scripture. Perhaps he saw that the Heir Apparent’s Wife copied the Buddhist scripture well, so he summoned her to ask a few words. To be looked upon favorably by the Crown Prince is a good thing.”
Jiang Ruanxi’s words were undoubtedly adding fuel to the fire. Madam Zhou only thought Jiang Ruanxi didn’t know about the note, assuming her words were just a lucky hit.
“However, Mother, the Heir Apparent’s Wife stays deep within the manor all year round, rarely going out. Seeing the Crown Prince is a big matter, so why not have the Marquis take the Heir Apparent’s Wife there together? After all, we have ties of kinship with the Heir Apparent’s Wife and can help where we can.”
“This… wouldn’t be appropriate, would it?”
Madam Zhou muttered inwardly that the two differed in generations, and if seen by others, what then?
Moreover, there was that relationship between them, and she feared her son might accidentally reveal something in front of the Crown Prince, dooming the Dingning Marquis Manor completely.
How could Jiang Ruanxi give up so easily.
She continued to persuade, “There’s nothing inappropriate about it. Not to mention Second Sister’s relationship, the Heir Apparent’s Wife is also my sister. The temple encountered an assassin not long ago, and now everywhere is messy. For sentiment and reason, the Marquis escorting her there would fulfill our familial ties.”
Jiang Ruanxi spoke heartlessly, but Madam Zhou’s heart grew increasingly uneasy.
“Although we are relatives, we should still avoid suspicion. Let’s go with the Marquis to escort the Heir Apparent’s Wife.”
Normally, Jiang Ruanxi wouldn’t bother agreeing.
But now, she really wanted to watch the show, to see what Lin Ningkun would do if he learned Jiang Xuerou’s thoughts.
To see if the two would give themselves away in front of the Crown Prince.
Thus, Jiang Ruanxi agreed without thinking.
“Alright, Mother.”
**
“You’re just going to see the Crown Prince, why dress up so beautifully?”
After Lin Ningkun rushed in, he saw Jiang Xuerou wearing gorgeous silk clothing, with exquisite hairpins in her hair.
Seeing Jiang Xuerou dressed so beautifully felt dazzling to him, his heart uncomfortable as if gripped by someone, and he couldn’t help questioning her.
Seeing him enter, a flash of disdain briefly passed through Jiang Xuerou’s eyes, but it quickly vanished.
“Ning brother, the Crown Prince is a noble person. If I go in plain clothing, wouldn’t that be embarrassing?”
Jiang Xuerou didn’t even glance at Lin Ningkun, continuing to adjust her clothing.
She was in a good mood now and had no mind to deal with Lin Ningkun.
After the plan in the west wing room failed, she thought she had no chance left, but unexpectedly the Crown Prince summoned her.
What did this mean?
Could it be that the Crown Prince thought she was the one who sent the note?
But no matter what, as long as she had a chance to approach the Crown Prince, she
Amid Jiang Xuerou’s uncontainable joy, Lin Ningkun’s heart instantly cooled down. As a gust of wind blew, his love brain gradually cleared up bit by bit.
“Xue’er, why are you so happy?”
He was deceiving himself, still thinking that all of this was just him overthinking.
Jiang Xuerou also realized that she had been too obvious.
Thinking that she still didn’t know what the Crown Prince’s side would be like and couldn’t fall out with Lin Ningkun yet, she quickly covered up, “Brother Ning, what are you saying? The Crown Prince summoned me, of course I’m happy. Who wouldn’t be happy to be summoned by the Crown Prince?”
Such a great honor—how could she not be happy?
“But don’t worry, I don’t have the thoughts you think I do.” Jiang Xuerou reassured him.
Although her heart had already flown to the Crown Prince, she still wanted to keep a backup in her heart. If it didn’t work out with the Crown Prince, she would still have a fallback.
She could avoid letting him misunderstand, so she tried her best not to let him misunderstand.
After all, this man was also foolish. Whatever she said, Lin Ningkun would believe it.
“So you went to the West Wing Room last night. In fact, you already knew the Crown Prince lived there, right?”
Lin Ningkun was not like before, unconditionally believing her just because of Jiang Xuerou’s few words.
Because he had originally wanted to numb himself and deceive himself, thinking that all this was fake and that Jiang Xuerou could not possibly do such a thing. But her excited expression was so piercing, as if it had already explained everything.
Jiang Xuerou was stunned and used her usual trick again.
Her eyes reddened slightly, tears swirling in her eyes, but they lingered without falling for a long time.
“It’s not like that, Ning brother. Listen to me explain…”
“Explain? How are you going to explain? If you didn’t know the Crown Prince lived in that room, would you still have gone there in such a dangerous situation last night?”
Lin Ningkun endured not looking at her expression and forcefully voiced what was in his heart.
In the most perilous moment, she was thinking of another man, not him?
The hand at his side clenched tightly, his heart feeling like it was filled with icy water in winter.
A gust of wind blew over, knocking the hat off Lin Ningkun’s head.
Jiang Xuerou had originally planned to continue pretending to be weak to make Lin Ningkun believe her, but after seeing Lin Ningkun’s bald head and ugly scalp, her stomach churning.
Thinking about having to be with this ugly monster in the future, she no longer wanted to deal with him perfunctorily.
“You’re right about everything. I did go there last night precisely because I knew the Crown Prince was in that room.”
She just wanted to take advantage of the chaos to go to the Crown Prince’s room and make her presence known.
