Green Monkey

"I wanted you to stay and serve the lady," Xu Weibei said, "But I don't want you..."

He suddenly became speechless.

I can't exactly say, "I don't want you stuck in the middle, competing with me for my affections."

Is that reasonable?

"This servant is willing to serve you, Madam. I'm even willing to be your maid," said the Third Concubine. "To be Marquis, Your Highness, I am actually... a fallen woman, and I dare not defile Marquis. The Grand Princess knows this, but because I possess medical skills, she sent me here..."

She didn't want to live in fear, so she decided to tell everyone.

The worst that can happen is death.

"I'm content as long as I have a place to stay and can be of some use to the Marquis and his wife. I won't wander around the Marquis and disturb them."

If she's not a virgin, then forget it.

Xu Weibei originally wanted Gao Lan to marry her, but that wouldn't work; Gao Lan would be at a disadvantage.

"I understand. In that case, you should serve Madam well. As long as you behave yourself, I won't mistreat you."

"Yes, thank Marquis, Your Highness. This servant understands."

"So, we must take Old Madam Gu's illness seriously, understand?" Xu Weibei added.

"Yes."

Gu Wanning was unaware that she was about to lose money. She was reclining on the couch in her First Concubine's room, admiring the double-sided embroidered landscape fan that her aunt had made, while trying to persuade her.

"Don't overthink it. The Marquis has already promised not to force you, and he wouldn't go back on his word. Tomorrow we'll go to pray to Buddha; please pray sincerely..."

"No, I wasn't thinking about Qin Lie. I just feel like I've forgotten something, and my heart is racing."

But upon closer reflection, she couldn't recall anything; there were simply too many things she had forgotten.

"Don't push yourself too hard. Just remember as much as you can. After all, you said that many things are completely different from what you dreamed about. I'll have Hua Ying prescribe some calming and brain-boosting medicine for you later. You should get some rest."

I don't know if it's because she's not in a good mental state or because she's too tired from taking care of the child, First Concubine doesn't look well.

"Hmm." The First Concubine nodded and tried to sit down to massage Gu Wanning's legs, but Gu Wanning refused.

"It's too hot. Don't be shy. Lie down while Jiaoniang is asleep," Gu Wanning said. "I feel uncomfortable with the Marquis here today, so I'll just stay here for a while."

The First Concubine smiled and said, "The Marquis is becoming more and more fond of you."

"No, please, I'm scared." Gu Wanning twirled the fan handle. "The colors and layers of your landscape embroidery are truly exquisite. This fan must cost several tens of taels of silver, right?"

This is double-sided embroidery, very precious.

"This one is small. It will take me about three days to embroider, and I can earn about ten taels of silver," the First Concubine said with a smile.

Gu Wanning envied this earning power.

But let alone taking action, she couldn't even distinguish the colors of those threads. She was the kind of person who had no talent for becoming an apprentice and no master would accept her.

She won't be able to eat this bowl of rice.

"Madam, I have something to ask of you," the First Concubine said nervously, twisting her handkerchief.

"Why are you being so polite with me?" Gu Wanning carefully placed the fan aside; it was money, after all. "Speak."

Don't tell her she's not going tomorrow, or someone will be crying.

Chapter 89 Green Monkey

"Recently, there's been a little monkey here. I don't know if it belongs to someone nearby or if it came from somewhere down in the mountains, but it keeps coming into our yard to steal food."

The little monkey was very cute, Jiaoniang liked it very much.

"If you like it, then keep it," Gu Wanning said. "But let me tell you, monkeys can be a bit mischievous, so you can't spoil it too much. You also need to keep an eye on Jiaoniang and make sure it doesn't hurt Jiaoniang."

In her past life, she went to Mount Emei and was almost robbed and attacked by the monkeys on the mountain.

This thing is shameless, and most importantly, it's smart.

"I was worried about the danger, so I was thinking, could I ask someone to buy a cub and raise it myself from a young age, so it can be tamed..."

However, raising pets for Jiaoniang was a big deal, and even the First Concubine dared not make the decision on her own.

"Okay," Gu Wanning said, "It's better not to keep a monkey of unknown origin. I'll talk to Er Ya later and ask her to keep an eye on it."

Why didn't I see Er Ya with you today?

"It's quite a coincidence," Gu Wanning laughed, "Her father's birthday is also tomorrow, so I gave her three days off to go home."

She also had Er Ya take a lot of things back with her, since Er Ya had been by her side for many years and rarely had the opportunity to show filial piety, so she made up for it with material things.

"Remind me later, or just tell her about buying the monkey; I'm afraid I'll forget."

"Yes, I'll talk to her about it later and ask her to put in some effort."

Gu Wanning yawned.

Seeing this, the First Concubine quickly said, "This servant will lay out bedding for you, so you can lie down and get some sleep."

"No need. Do you have any storybooks I can look at?"

"Yaya left two books here a few days ago, I'll go find them for you."

While her First Concubine got up to find a book, Gu Wanning looked out the window out of boredom.

"Squeak, squeak--" A monkey appeared on the jujube tree in the yard at some unknown time.

Say the monkeys are there, and they'll appear!

Gu Wanning looked over with great interest.

The monkey was about 30 to 40 centimeters tall, its golden fur shimmering green in the dappled sunlight, with white cheeks...

It was a Green Monkey?

Gu Wanning was able to distinguish some monkey species because they studied agronomy together. After graduation, most of them changed careers, but her best friend, who was her nemesis, passed the exam to work at a zoo and went to raise monkeys.

However, Green Monkeys are tropical monkeys, not a species that should exist in the Central Plains!

Had the news already reached the Central Plains by this time?

Or is it another case of that shady shop selling dried goods from overseas, trying to resell them at a high price, only to have them escape?

The monkey wasn't afraid of Gu Wanning at all; it even flirted with her, trying to amuse her.

The First Concubine brought over the book and saw the monkey. She couldn't help but laugh and said, "Madam, it's this monkey. It's very clever; it knows how to treat people differently. It fawns over you and Jiaoniang, but it ignores us servants."