"Your father is getting married, and you're not going back to attend?" Nangong Yi nudged Xiao Man with his elbow. It was said that with a new mother came a new father figure, so was Xiao Man unhappy about the General marrying again?
Xiao Man picked up her tea and took an elegant sip. "No rush, I need to keep an eye on you, to make sure you don't cause trouble for my new mother!"
"What are you talking about? Why would I cause trouble for her?" Nangong Yi retorted indignantly. That He Qingyi was older, and only had a demure appearance. His standards were always high; why would he bother with He Qingyi? He wasn't drunk, so why would he seek trouble?
"Don't you have any idea why He Qingyi hasn't married until now?" Xiao Man said with disdain.
"No idea. What does it have to do with me? I didn't stop her from marrying." Nangong Yi looked innocent.
Xiao Man's gaze drifted towards the staircase. She saw a figure hurrying over. It was a woman, her face filled with rage. However, upon seeing Nangong Yi, her angry expression instantly transformed into a smile like a blooming flower. But when she saw Xiao Man sitting beside Nangong Yi, her smile instantly twisted, and her eyes flared with inexplicable hatred, which she quickly suppressed.
"This concubine greets His Highness Prince Qi, Princess Yongning."
"So it's Auntie. Is there something you need, Auntie?" Nangong Yi asked with a smile.
The woman eyed Xiao Man, hoping she would politely withdraw. To her surprise, Xiao Man ignored her, putting her in a rather awkward position. Nangong Yi noticed this and immediately said,
"Auntie, don't worry. Xiao Man is one of us. Just say what you need to say."
The woman gave an awkward smile. "There's nothing else, I just happened to see Your Highness and Princess Yongning here, so I came to pay my respects."
"Since there's nothing else, you may leave," Nangong Yi said, turning his attention back to Xiao Man. "I heard your new mother is quite capable. Will she make things difficult for you after moving into the General's mansion?"
Xiao Man glanced at the woman who hadn't moved and replied with a gentle, soft smile, "Mother has always been kind and is skilled in managing household affairs. Her arrival at the mansion is a good thing for me. Besides, I'm just a young lady who's reached adulthood. How many more years can I stay in the mansion? Why would she make things difficult for me?"
"That's true."
"She's a widow-to-be who killed her husband before they even married."
"Madam, I heard that Mother was rejected in marriage, which is also called a broken engagement. It has nothing to do with being a widow-to-be. I'm afraid you're mistaken."
"Hmph, her fate is harsh, killing her fiancé. Such an unlucky woman should remain a widow her entire life. Yet, she shamelessly remarries."
"Ridiculous," Xiao Man said calmly. "Everyone knows that young master Jin had been bedridden for years, and he died of exhaustion. The Jin family blamed an innocent woman for it. I say, the truly guilty party is the one who made him bedridden from a young age."
The flesh on the woman's face twitched uncontrollably. "You wretched girl, who are you calling guilty..."
*Slap!*
A loud slap echoed, accompanied by the woman's scream. Before the woman could react, she fell to the ground, her head hitting the leg of a stool, tears welling up from the pain.
Nangong Yi's usually amiable face was filled with fury. "How dare you insult the princess!"
Xiao Man looked at the enraged Nangong Yi with surprise. He was angry, even though the woman had insulted her. Moreover, she was his aunt, and hitting her would surely cause trouble with the Jin family.
"This commoner deserves to die!" The woman quickly scrambled to her feet and knelt down. The young prince had been too lenient with the Jin family, almost making her forget that she was merely from a collateral branch of the family!
"You indeed deserve to die," Nangong Yi reprimanded. "It's rare to see someone with such a vicious heart, driving others to their death. Get out! Do not appear before me again!"
The woman almost crawled and scrambled away. Xiao Man shook her head. "Alright, why are you so angry when she insulted me?"
"I have never insulted you, so why should she have the right to?" Nangong Yi gritted his teeth. "If there's a next time, I'll rip her tongue out!"
"You brothers seem to really like ripping out tongues," Xiao Man remarked, recalling that Nangong Yu also enjoyed doing so.
Hearing this, Nangong Yi glared at Xiao Man with mock anger. "You only have my fourth brother on your mind!"
"Don't talk nonsense, who has him on their mind!"
"If you don't have him on your mind, why are you always chasing after him?" Nangong Yi fiddled with the teacup in his hand, secretly watching Xiao Man's expression. He knew Xiao Man liked his fourth brother; he had known it since they were children. However, his fourth brother didn't like Xiao Man.
"When have I ever chased after him?"
"As soon as fourth brother returned from the battlefield, you rushed to the city gates to welcome him. You always seem to be following him around, saying you don't like him?"
Xiao Man's eyes widened. Did the Xiao Man of the past actually do such things?
A drop of sweat trickled down her forehead. Xiao Man suddenly wondered if her mistake of going to Nangong Yu's villa that night, mistaking it for Lan Xiao Pavilion, was due to the original her acting up.
"See, you're feeling guilty."
"I'm not feeling guilty, I just don't remember chasing after His Highness Prince Qin," Xiao Man said stubbornly. Did she like Nangong Yu? Xiao Man asked herself. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat, but quickly returned to normal, unnoticed even by herself.
A flicker of doubt crossed Nangong Yi's eyes, then vanished. "I've already begun to dismiss the concubines in my mansion. Those who wish to leave will be given a sum of money to start anew. Those who don't wish to leave, I will find them good husbands. Am I not a compassionate person?"
Xiao Man immediately shifted away with suspicion. "Scumbag, abandoning your responsibilities."
Nangong Yi glared at Xiao Man, wishing he could beat her soundly, but ultimately couldn't bring himself to do it. "I'm doing this for you!"
"Get over it. You're just tired of them and want something new, using me as an excuse." Xiao Man snorted. "Who else have you set your eyes on? Eager to clear out rooms for someone else? They say men are fickle, always loving the smiles of new lovers, never hearing the cries of the old."
Nangong Yi felt wronged. "I've always loved the old ones!"
"Ha, who would believe that?" Xiao Man crossed her arms. "Ask yourself, the women in your mansion have been changing one after another, have any of them been the same?"
Nangong Yi was speechless because he had no words. It was true that the women in his mansion were never the same, but in each of them, he could find a shadow of the person he loved. Yet, he didn't love the ones who loved him, and the ones he loved disdained him.
"Let's return to the mansion. The bride and groom are about to perform the ceremony."
The General's mansion was bustling with activity. Military officers were toasting Xiao Zhen, congratulating him on marrying a beauty. Xiao Zhen accepted all their toasts. Despite his excellent tolerance for alcohol, he couldn't withstand the relentless onslaught and had to pull Xiao Luo to help him fend them off.
Nangong Wu invited Xiao Man to drink with her. Xiao Man, in turn, called for Pei Qianyun and Bai Yanran. With Chu Qingge and the two Xiao sisters joining them, they set up a table in the backyard, creating a lively scene.