Nonsense! She’s Not a Bad Woman! - Chapter 89

Joe Wanyan didn’t wake until the sun was already high in the sky. Still drowsy, she leaned lazily against the soft couch while Ziyuan came over with a Hetian jade comb to smooth her hair.

“Miss, this servant heard that the Tenth Princess invited Joe Yihuan to her manor as a guest.”

Ziyuan muttered in dissatisfaction, “That girl’s luck is really foully good. She’s only just returned to the capital and managed to bump into the princess. And by sheer chance, the guards His Highness assigned to her ended up saving the princess, turning her into the princess’s so-called savior. Now she’s being treated with honor.”

Joe Wanyan raised a brow. “Oh? When did this happen?”

“While you were sleeping, Miss. The invitation came this morning.”

Hearing Ziyuan’s indignant tone, Joe Wanyan chuckled. “What are you so angry about? She only saved an insignificant, powerless princess. What difference does it make?”

Could Joe Yihuan really use the Tenth Princess to climb into the circles of noble ladies? Impossible.

Even back when the Tenth Princess lived in the palace, she rarely left the grounds and never socialized with the young ladies of the capital.

She had no connections. Joe Yihuan clinging to her was hardly what you’d call a lofty branch.

It was nothing more than one pitiful soul befriending another pitiful soul.

“You’re right, Miss. But in a little while, it will be the Emperor’s Longevity Celebration. Have you decided on a gift yet? Madam said this year is His Majesty’s sixtieth birthday. All the high-ranking officials of the capital will enter the palace with their families. Naturally, Miss, you must attend as well.”

“Madam also said you must astonish everyone this time and outshine all the noble daughters of the capital. Only then will the Crown Prince be even more moved by you.”

Joe Wanyan’s beautiful eyes half-closed as she admired her nails. “I’ll give the Yuqing Pill Yunheng gave me before. The capital already has everything His Majesty could possibly want, but a pill personally refined by Yunheng—the genius healer of the Apothecary Valley, famed throughout the world—now that is rare.”

Ziyuan nodded in agreement. “That’s indeed a brilliant idea. Miss is truly clever! But I heard from the steward that Joe Yihuan will also be going with Master. Apparently, the Crown Prince himself requested it, so Master had no choice but to bring her along.”

Joe Wanyan’s expression shifted slightly. “And do you know what gift Joe Yihuan is preparing?”

She wasn’t too surprised Joe Yihuan would attend—after all, in the original story, she had gone.

But back then, Joe Wanyan herself hadn’t.

On the day of departure, she had eaten something bad and was too sick to attend. Instead, Joe Yihuan had appeared graceful and poised at the banquet, even earning a word of praise from the Emperor, who said her father had raised his daughter well.

What happened next in that story again?

A servant from Mingxiang Pavilion had overheard Joe Yihuan scolding Xiaoying, saying it was far too much to drug her sister on the day of the Longevity Celebration. No matter how little respect she had for her elder sister, she shouldn’t have done such a thing.

That servant, eager to curry favor, had told Joe Wanyan. Xiaoying was then punished with a beating so severe she couldn’t get out of bed for three days.

This time, Joe Wanyan intended to turn the game around.

After she finished dressing, someone came to report that His Highness the Crown Prince had arrived at the manor. He hadn’t come for Joe Yihuan nor for Joe Wanyan—he was simply passing by and had stopped to discuss state affairs with Minister Joe.

Joe Wanyan ordered a bowl of sweet soup to be prepared, then had Ziyuan take Yun Yao out to play. Only after that did she head toward the study.

“Second Young Miss.”

Just as she stepped through the moon gate leading to the study, Joe Wanyan saw a figure under the corridor—strangely unfamiliar, yet oddly familiar at the same time.

To say he was a stranger—she had never formally met this man before.

To say he was familiar—she had once glimpsed half his face by the roadside.

Xu Shujian wore a robe the color of pale reeds, his waist bound with a white silk sash from which hung a flawless jade pendant.

His deep eyes gleamed like polished black jade scattered with starlight, his skin fair and his bearing pure, untainted by the dust of the world.

He possessed a strikingly handsome face. His every gesture carried the scholarly air of a learned man, yet beneath that bookish grace flowed a natural elegance—effortless, without the stiffness of a pedant.

It was as if by simply standing there, he refreshed the very air around him.

Qiao Wanyan halted, unrestrainedly sweeping her gaze over him. “I thought you were lying about being Father’s disciple just to trick me into saving you. Turns out the world really can be this coincidental.”

Xu Shujian smiled, posture poised like pine and cypress, calm and composed. “Second Young Miss is kind-hearted. Had fortune not been with me, I truly might have frozen to death in that snow.”

At those words, he bent slightly in a respectful bow. “My deepest thanks to Second Young Miss for saving my life.”

Qiao Wanyan sighed inwardly. Life-saving debts… she seemed to be collecting quite a few of those lately.

At this rate, she was going to become a living Bodhisattva.

Qiao Wanyan replied calmly, “I’m just a kind person. Saving you was no big deal. As the saying goes, saving one life is worth more than building a seven-storied pagoda. I’ll just consider it a blessing for my own karma.”

Xu Shujian’s lips curved faintly. Is that so?

But that day, if he hadn’t claimed to be the Minister’s disciple, she absolutely would not have lifted a hand to help.

Second Young Miss… rather liked telling little lies.

“In any case, I’ll remember your grace, Second Miss. Should you ever have need of me in the future, I will give my utmost.”

He looked directly at her, clearly seeing the flicker of mockery and disdain in her eyes the moment his words fell.

That expression seemed to say: What help could a poor scholar like you possibly offer a noble daughter of an aristocratic house like me?

Qiao Wanyan answered softly, “Your heart is enough.”

A destitute scholar dreaming of clinging to high branches and taking shortcuts—how laughable. And to boast so shamelessly about it.

Truly amusing.

“Second Young Miss is here to see the Minister? The Lord Minister is currently in discussion with the Crown Prince. I fear you may have to wait a while.”

Qiao Wanyan gave him a slow once-over. “You’re too wordy.”

Xu Shujian stepped back with a slight bow. “My apologies for being rude. Please, Second Miss.”

Qiao Wanyan no longer paid him any mind and strode past.

The next second, Xu Shujian’s gentle voice sounded again. “Second Miss, wait.”

She turned, a trace of impatience flickering across her face. What now?

“There’s a plum blossom in your hair.”

Qiao Wanyan raised her hand to feel. On her way here, she had passed through the plum garden. Perhaps one had fallen onto her head.

She groped for a while but found nothing. With a frown, she ordered, “What are you standing there for? Take it off.”

No sense of initiative at all. He didn’t look like a bookworm, but in truth he still was one.

Xu Shujian answered softly and stepped closer. A clean, cool scent, like pine and cypress in the wind, brushed past her.

At that very moment, He Zhiyu emerged from the study. His gaze immediately landed on the two figures beneath the corridor, standing far too close.