Counterattack of the Concubine’s Invincible Daughter

39. Every Word Mattered

Translator: Snowball

Following Gong Nongyue’s steps, Mu Yingxue brought Liu’er with her, along with the two large boxes in her hands, and got into the inner room.

After crossing the door, they walked through a long corridor for a while, and then casually turned at the end of it. Until then, the view in front of them became clear. It turned out that there was a different world here.

The pavilions, rockeries and lakes were very beautiful in late autumn. Moreover, the area was so large that they seemed to have entered the house of a big family. Who would have thought that there was such a secret place behind a pawnshop? It was no wonder that it had taken the pawnbroker such a long time to report.

“What a headstrong riche,” Mu Yingxue thought, feeling a little jealous.

Gong Nongyue suddenly stopped and turned around, as if he had sensed what she was thinking.

Losing in her thoughts while admiring the scenery, Mu Yingxue didn’t expect him to turn around so suddenly. Her nose hit his chest before she could dodge. Even Liu’er, who was behind her, also knocked into him. The corner of the box happened to hit her back.

“Hm…” Mu Yingxue was in great pain.

“The ladies from ancient official families are really weak.” Mu Yingxue felt aggrieved as she thought so. Enduring the pain with tears, she looked up and saw the concern in Nongyue’s eyes, which stopped her from blaming him. It seemed that he didn’t mean it.

Just as she was about to accept her bad luck, she saw with her sharp eyes that there seemed to be a flash of playfulness in his sharp and slender eyes. However, in the blink of an eye, his gaze was full of concern.

“Miss Yingxue, are you alright?”

“Miss, are you okay? It’s all my fault!”

Liu’er also stepped forward and apologized to her. Mu Yingxue could tell from Liu’er’s voice that she was about to cry out of grievance.

She originally wanted to argue with Nongyue, but now had to give up after seeing Liu’er like this. “I’m fine, let’s go.”

Wondering why Nongyue took them here in this roundabout way, she thought gloomily, “For the sake of 2,000 taels of silver, I won’t argue with him for the time being.”

However, Nongyue was somewhat in the mood of teasing her, “Miss Yingxue, are you sure you’re alright? Do you want me to take a look?” As he spoke, he lowered his head to check on her injury.

Mu Yingxue hurriedly took a step back and raised her head to glare at him with annoyance. She could not help but flush. Didn’t this ancient man understand what it meant that it was improper for men and women to have any physical contact?

She refused hastily, “No, thank you.”

Liu’er, however, was unaware of the situation, and even proposed dully, “Miss, why don’t you let Childe Nongyue have a look? What if something ‘s wrong with your nose?”

Mu Yingxue almost rolled her eyes, thinking, “Liu’er, Liu’er, you truly know nothing.”

Then Mu Yingxue noticed the slightly mischievous look on the tall man in front of her. She was 100 percent sure that this man must have asked that on purpose!

Mu Yingxue was speechless for this man. He was bearing a grudge against her just because she had described him as a scheming one when he was hiding beside the back of the mountain in the Mu’s Mansion.

Immediately, she pulled a long face and acted as if nothing had happened. “That won’t be necessary. Childe Nongyue, you must be very busy. Liu’er, let’s not interfere with his business.” Then, she turned to Nongyue, “Could you please help me issue the banknote as soon as possible? I have to rush back to the mansion.”

Nongyue wore a smile, and the corners of his mouth were drawn into a meaningful arc. He turned around and said no more.

In fact, it didn’t take long with the banknote.

Mu Yingxue fixed her eyes on the banknote and looked at it over and over again. Being too poor during this period of time, her eyes were twinkling when she saw such a large sum of money.

Feeling satisfied, she put away the note and held her hands in front of her chest, saying chicly, “Childe Nongyue, now that we are even, I should go now!”

Perhaps Nongyue was amused by her generous manner. He said mischievously, “Miss Yingxue, do you know the way back?”

“Of course… I don’t.” Mu Yingxue wanted to confirm, but on a second thought, she recalled nothing. So she could only change her reply immediately. After all, if she didn’t remember, Liu’er wouldn’t either.

“Don’t worry. When Servant Xin comes, I’ll ask him to escort you out.”

It seemed that Nongyue had expected that they wouldn’t know how to return. He sat in the wooden armchair, waving a paper fan and slowly drinking hot tea, quite leisure and comfortable.

“Thank you then.”

Mu Yingxue sat down again, waiting for Servant Xin.

With a smile, Nongyue took a sip of tea and said, “I like peace and quietness, so I don’t have many servants in such a large mansion. They’ve now probably gone to do their own businesses. Sorry that I couldn’t even get a cup of hot tea for you, Miss Yingxue. Please don’t mind.”

“Don’t mention it. You are so kind, childe. I’m not thirsty at all.” That was a lie. Mu Yingxue pursed her dry lips and twitched the corners of her mouth, pretending to smile. If it weren’t for the fact that she had just accepted 2,000 taels of silver from him, she would have left even if she couldn’t recognize the road.

Mu Yingxue couldn’t help but sigh in her heart. In her previous life…when had she ever been lack of money? Now that she had come down in such a situation, she deeply understood what it meant that a penny could overwhelm the hero.

Not until she was about to lose her patience did footsteps finally sound in the yard. She looked back but saw the pawnbroker coming over with Mei Qianqian.

Nongyue folded the paper fan and asked, “Servant Xin, why haven’t you sent Miss Mei out yet?”

It turned out that the Servant Xin he mentioned was the pawnbroker. In a dilemma, he wanted to say something but stopped on a second thought.

“Miss Mei, she…”

Before he could finish, Mei Qianqian could not help but say, “Childe Nongyue, I’m really worried about you. I’m afraid that you were cheated by Mu Yingxue. It’s a waste of money.”

After saying so, she glared at Mu Yingxue and said, “Mu Yingxue, even though you know that they are royal rewards, you still dare to pawn them publicly. Do you know that you will get Childe Nongyue killed by doing so?”

After that, she gently said to Nongyue, “Childe Nongyue, I know you are kind, but you don’t have to do it for someone like her…”

“For people like me, what kind of person I am?”

Mu Yingxue was already disgusted with her fake words. Now that Mei Qianqian provoked her directly and she herself felt aggrieved for being mistreated by Nongyue, Mu Yingxue decided to vent her rage on Mei Qianqian so that the latter could learn her lesson.

“Miss Mei Qianqian, I’ve never known you are so familiar with me that you even know what kind of person I am. Or, have you been admiring me that much ever since I’ve beaten you at the Moonlight Pavilion?”

“You…” Hearing her mention the scandal, Mei Qianqian was furious to think of the humiliation Mu Yingxue had brought to her, “What are you talking about? Don’t flatter yourself!”

“Is that so?” Mu Yingxue lowered her head and played with her sleeves, only finding that the workmanship of this dress wasn’t good at all. She said, “If I remember correctly, we’ve only met once before, right? Since Miss Mei didn’t admire me that much, you must have already forgotten me. Then how did you know what kind of person I am?

Miss Mei, you should know what you are talking about. Be responsible for your words. I assume you know what that means, don’t you?”

Her tone was so cold and indifferent as if she was talking about someone else, but every word she said mattered. Until now, Nongyue finally had a feeling that Miss Yingxue was nothing like the fool girl she had been known as.

Although he was not interested in watching the fight between the two women, because of Miss Yingxue’s infuriating manner, he wanted to see how much Mei Qianqian, who had always been fawned on, would suffer. As such, he picked up his fan again, took a sip of tea, and sat back on the armchair to watch.

As expected, Mei Qianqian was greatly irritated by her, her chest heaving. She pointed at Mu Yingxue but was at a loss for words for a long time. When she spoke again, she completely lost her demeanor.

“Mu Yingxue, don’t refute me with such crooked reasoning! It doesn’t matter whether you admit it or not. Selling the gifts bestowed by the royal family leads to nothing but a death sentence. Just wait and see, there will be someone to deal with you!”

Mu Yingxue squinted as she listened to her threat, hiding the spine-chilling coldness in her eyes.

“Miss Mei, are you threatening me? Then you are wrong.”

She suddenly curved the corners of her mouth and smiled. Her confident image made it hard for people to take their eyes off her.

Then, she turned to Nongyue and said, “I’m here today only to express my gratitude to Childe Nongyue. I’m always short of money. Now that I happened to be lucky enough to be rewarded by His Majesty, of course I would transfer the only thing left to Childe Nongyue as a thanks gift. If it is wrong to even thank my good friend, I have no idea what else I can do.”

Hearing this, Nongyue couldn’t help raising his eyebrows, appreciating this woman to some extent. She gently and skillfully left the problem to him, but he didn’t even have a chance to refuse. After all, the “the only thing left” had obviously been placed on the table beside him.

“Miss Yingxue, I am truly honored to be regarded as your friend. It was not a big deal to do that for you that day. I’m really flattered to have you thanking me with such good stuff.”

Mu Yingxue smiled gunuinely this time. She knew that he would play along. Of course, he had no choice but to follow her words. As Mei Qianqian had said, treading the royal rewards was a death sentence for both the buyer and the auctioneer.

Who would be silly to admit that they were committing a crime?

“It’s impossible!”

Mei Qianqian screamed and even forgot to play up to Nongyue. “Mu Yingxue, you are lying! Do you have to thank your friend at a pawnshop? You just said that you didn’t know this shop belonged to Childe Nongyue until now. Don’t you think you can lie to me!”

Mu Yingxue glanced at her and said, “Miss Mei, do you mean that Childe Nongyue is lying to you as well?”

Mei Qianqian was at a loss for words. She could not understand why Nongyue protected the wicked woman in front of them.

“Childe Nongyue…”  She could only ask for his help.

Nongyue, however, was obviously a little impatient. He changed the topic and said, “I wonder if Miss Mei has taken a fancy to any stuff. Do you need someone to pack and send it to your mansion?”

Mei Qianqian knew that she could no longer do anything to Mu Yingxue in front of him today. She could only respond awkwardly, “There’s no need to bother, Childe Nongyue. The pawnbroker has already packed it for me just now.”

“If that’s the case, pardon me for not seeing you off in person.” Nongyue turned to look at Servant Xin and said, “Watch your manners and escort Miss Mei out of here.”

Mei Qianqian still wanted to say something, but in the end, all she did was to glare hatefully at Mu Yingxue before she left, as if she was giving her a warning.