A Failed Seduction

"Madam used to go often. She only stopped after you came back..."

Xu Weibei sneered. So he was the one holding her back.

"His Majesty has confined you to the manor, and you have nothing to do. You could invite an opera troupe here to pass the time. What do you think?"

Although Jiang Qiubai was a famous performer, he wouldn't dare refuse the Marquis of Yingchuan's household.

Xu Weibei waved a hand. "See to it."

"Yes."

Gu Wanning still felt guilty, so she went to talk to Second Concubine.

"I've kept your situation in mind all along!"

Although she and Xu Weibei slept under the same roof, she had kept her word and done nothing substantive.

Second Concubine smiled. "I'm already immensely grateful that you've kept it in mind, Madam. Once you've borne a legitimate son, I'll be content if the Marquis comes to visit now and then."

"No, I'll find a way as soon as possible."

There was no room in her chamber for a man to sleep soundly.

She had to find a way to kick Xu Weibei out as soon as possible.

She had already thought of a way, but she couldn't say so.

"No, no, no," Second Concubine said hastily. "Madam, there's no need for that. I wouldn't dare step out of line before the princess."

That great deity was still looming over them!

If the Grand Princess thought she was making trouble, her good days really would be over.

Chapter 19: A Failed Seduction

Seeing that Second Concubine hadn't mentioned the money, Gu Wanning couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief.

"Madam, the Marquis has sent for an opera troupe. He asks that you bring the concubines to watch the performance."

"An opera troupe?" Gu Wanning was baffled.

Has water gotten into Xu Weibei's brain?

The emperor told him to reflect on his conduct, and he's inviting an opera troupe to perform at home?

Oh, is he handing the emperor another handle to use against him?

Never mind. I'm staying out of it.

Gu Wanning said to the four concubines, "Whoever wants to go may go. I don't care to."

She didn't like the drawn-out, slow-paced singing; it made her impatient.

Modern fast-food culture had ruined her taste. All she wanted to watch were fast-paced

feel-good

short dramas.

She didn't go, and neither did the four concubines.

Er Ya, on the other hand, heard Jiang Qiubai had come and went trotting off eagerly.

When she came back, she said it had been a lively occasion. Xu Weibei and nearly all the other servants in the manor had gone to watch the opera.

Gu Wanning:

farming

, do not disturb.

When she didn't show up, Xu Weibei demanded an explanation from Gao Lan.

Gao Lan said guiltily, "Perhaps, perhaps Madam was embarrassed on the first day..."

But on the second day, the third day... the troupe performed for seven days, and Gu Wanning never showed up once.

Most disgusting of all, Jiang Qiubai misunderstood. He thought Xu Weibei had taken a fancy to him and tried to throw himself into Xu Weibei's arms.

Xu Weibei was so disgusted that he had the troupe driven out.

The matter had been kept very quiet, but Er Ya noticed a few clues.

"Madam, the way Jiang Qiubai looked at the Marquis, I thought his eyes were practically trailing strings of affection."

Gu Wanning's interest was piqued at once. "How could you tell?"

"I saw it with my eyes, of course," Er Ya said with perfect confidence.

Gu Wanning said, "...What about the Marquis?"

"The Marquis probably didn't take a fancy to him, or why would the performances have stopped?"

"It's hard to say. Maybe they're throwing people off the scent!" Gu Wanning reasoned. "I think that would explain it."

Although she had never had a man, she had heard plenty about them!

Weren't men all like teddy dogs in heat?

She had been living with Xu Weibei for ten days, and he hadn't sought out a single woman. From what she had observed, he also seemed to have no desires at all.

She had found it strange, but now that she thought about it, had Jiang Qiubai been satisfying him during the day?

No wonder he had invited an opera troupe to perform for no apparent reason. So that was what he was into!

Unfortunately, this era was actually very tolerant of men's

passion

of the cut sleeve, so this couldn't count as leverage against Xu Weibei.

She had heard that when young masters traveled far from home, the male servants accompanying them had to take on certain special duties.

Tsk, tsk, Gao Lan...

As for Gao Lan, not only had Xu Weibei scolded him for failing at his task, but he also kept feeling that Madam had been giving him rather strange looks lately...

Xu Weibei had tried to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to lure it, and had been thoroughly disgusted besides. He fell silent for several days.

Although he was confined to the manor, he had plenty of matters to attend to and hardly showed his face except when he slept at night.

He came back and fell straight to sleep, and he and Gu Wanning left each other in peace.

Gu Wanning's corn was growing splendidly. She guarded it like the apples of her eyes, always feeling that she was close to making her fortune.

None of the concubines had seen it before, and they were very curious about it.

"Even you haven't seen it before?" Gu Wanning asked Second Concubine.

Second Concubine was a merchant and had seen much of the world, so Gu Wanning held her in higher regard.

"I haven't. Where did you find such a rarity, Madam?" Second Concubine asked with a smile, holding a peeled grape to Gu Wanning's lips.

At the moment, Gu Wanning was lying on a cool mat beneath a tree. First Concubine was fanning her, Second Concubine was feeding her fruit, and Third Concubine was massaging her legs. With a cool breeze blowing, it was comfort beyond words.

Fourth Concubine, meanwhile, was playing in the blazing sun with her little black dog, Doudou, without minding the heat in the slightest.

"It was at Bao's North-South Goods Shop."

"No wonder." Second Concubine smiled and explained, "My family's business does reasonably well, but it can't compare with theirs at all."

"Whose business is it?"

"I don't know either. But they can sail overseas, so they must have someone at court."

Ordinary people didn't have the resources and simply couldn't sail overseas.

"That's good, then," Gu Wanning said. "Things are valuable because they're rare. I was just afraid that once I'd grown mine, I'd find lots of other households growing it too, and it wouldn't be worth anything."

Since only that shop sold it, and she had bought the only one they had, she could hold on to this rare commodity for profit.

Second Concubine smiled. "Madam, you take farming so seriously."

"Of course I do."

A person could live a whole lifetime and leave scarcely a trace in this world, remembered by their children for a few extra years at most.