Jun Jiuling

For young girls in the family, a future sister-in-law was an enemy snatching away their elder brothers.

Of course, her elder brother needed to marry. But if the girls next to her elder brother had an alliance that did not like sister-in-laws, this would make her very happy.

This necessary alliance consisted of her and her mother. So if someone wanted to spend merry days in the family and not be spurned by Big Brother, the only two they could rely on was her and Mother.

Thinking this, Ning Yunyan felt it somewhat pitiful.

This year, she was fourteen years old. Next year, it would be time to talk of marriage partners. If only marriage to the Yang Family’s young miss had gone through, Big Brother would have been married earlier, taken in a concubines earlier, and she could stay a bit longer in this house, making Lin Jin’er think that she was more necessary.

She paused in her walking. The servant girls hurried to pull open the door to the room, and the warm fragrance and sounds of laughter reached her.

“Yanyan, hurry over here, we were waiting for you,”each of the girls called out to her.

Ning Yunyan smiled and walked in and was surrounded by these girl. Still, no one noticed that Lin Jin’er had left.

Lin Jin’er, of course, did not care.

She did not need friends and also didn’t care about how others treated her. Women only needed to get married. The only one worth cultivating a relationship with was the man she would spend her whole future with. She did not waste time on girls, who were the same sex as her.

Especially these girls.

But still, it was pitiful.

Lin Jin’er stood outside the teahouse wearing her cloak. The chilly wind at the end of the second month produced a faint blush on her white face.

Tenth Noble Son and Miss Yang’s marriage actually wasn’t happening.

It truly was pitiful.

She felt it pitiful, of course, not because this would affect her chances of becoming Tenth Noble Son’s concubine. She had already asked about the Yang Family, and knew that from Eldest Madam Ning’s perspective, she would be satisfied with the marriage. If Eldest Madam Ning didn’t agree, that was because Tenth Noble Son Ning didn’t agree.

Tenth Noble Son Ning did not agree, naturally, because he didn’t like the Yang Family’s young miss.

It really was a shame. If Eldest Madam Ning insisted on the marriage, then Tenth Noble Son Ning would have to marry Miss Yang. If the official wife was arranged like this, then the new bride would be the type to collapse at the first blow.

It really was a shame.

Lin Jin’er sighed. Bowing her head, she supported herself on a servant girl’s arm while another passed her a hand stove.

Perhaps some people would not understand why someone of her background would want to become an aggrieved concubine.

They, indeed, would not understand. Becoming a concubine was difficult to bear, but if she could achieve her heart’s desire, there was no such thing as suffering.

There was nothing that could be reaped without sowing. To obtain what you want you must pay. As for whether it was worth it, that would only depend on your own feelings, not other people’s judgement.

Tenth Noble Son Ning was her heart’s desire. She didn’t even want to become his wife, but to spend her whole life by his side, watching over him.

As for whether or not she was in his heart had nothing to do with her own desire. She did not care about that at all.

Although her family background was not bad, it was not enough to become Tenth Noble Son’s wife, in fact, there was no one suitable in Yangcheng. So, becoming a concubine was the most suitable choice, since becoming a concubine did not need Tenth Noble Son Ning’s intentions, but Eldest Madam Ning’s.

Eldest Madam Ning’s only preoccupation was this, as of now.

“Young Miss, are we going back?” the servant girl asked quietly, looking at Lin Jin’er, who was standing there without moving.

Lin Jin’er firmly lifted her hood onto her head.

“No, we will be calling on someone first,” she said softly.

………

Although the end of the second month was still chilly, with the windows blocking the chilly wind and filtering in the sun’s rays, the whole room was bathed in warmth.

Miss Jun had pushed up her sleeves, exposing her forearm as she sat before a kang table. This time she was not holding a writing brush, rather, a single chopstick.

Brush and paper were scattered on the kang table. In addition, there was a tray with small saucers and dishes on it. Obviously, they were for food.

Miss Jun gripped that chopstick tightly as she seriously stared straight ahead of her. Suddenly, she threw the chopstick in her hand.

It hit the partition, not far away. With a plop, it fell onto the ground.

Liu’er then pushed open the door and entered, tsking as she picked up the chopstick.

“Young Lady, you are naughty,’” she scolded.

Throwing the chopstick after eating was truly a naughty and childish behavior.

Perhaps it was because of her newfound status, but sometimes she would relax slightly.

A trace of shyness flashed across Miss Jun’s expression, but she immediately recovered and sat up straight as she normally did and pulled down her sleeve.

“Is it stuffy in here? Do you want to go out?” Liu’er asked in concern. “Young Master has eaten his medicine, and I chased them out. I already taught them a lesson; let’s see who will let their tongues wag.”

Miss Jun smiled. Because she never went to see Fang Chengyu except for at night, let alone taking care of him as her wifely duty, she also did not let the servant girls wait on him for too long. Naturally there would be ill rumours circulating around the house.

However, she didn’t care about that. She didn’t even care about what Fang Chengyu thought.

Oh, she knew what he was thinking. Although telling him that she was actually curing him would make their interactions much more pleasant, this was not as simple a thing as curing him. It also was meant to find the enemy behind all of this.

For now, the eyes and ears in the house were really in the dark. If Fang Chengyu really believed that he was getting better, he would be so happy that an old person who had experienced the ways of the world could not hide such happiness, let alone a young boy in his teens. Despite all the suffering he had gone through, he was yet a young boy with an incomparable thirst for life.

As for whether or not their interactions would be pleasant, Miss Jun couldn’t care about it less. She was not living to make friends or become close with relatives.

“But for someone to be alone is always stifling and boring. It would be better to go out and find someone to play,” Liu’er said.

Before, Young Miss loved to go out and play the most, but right now, she had no choice but to be confined in the Fang residence.

“I have no one to play with,” Miss Jun said with a smile, lifting her brush.

Just as she said that, a timid voice came from a servant outside.

“Young Lady, Miss Lin has come,” she reported.

Miss Lin?

As she continued to live in this body, Miss Jun gradually assimilated the original memories. Those that were useless, she suppressed, so right now, she couldn’t recall who the mentioned girl was.

“Young Lady! It’s Miss Lin,” Liu’er said excitedly. “It’s Miss Lin.”

Her face became unhappy.

“But, why is Miss Lin coming just now? Could it be that when the suggestion she gave Young Lady to hang herself was useless, she didn’t dare come?”

Oh.

Miss Jun remembered.

Lin Jin’er was Jun Zhenzhen’s favorite playmate in Yangcheng. She was also the one who told Jun Zhenzhen about Tenth Noble Son Ning’s and Miss Yang’s impending engagement, as well as suggested the idea to use hanging herself to scare the Ning Family.

“Ah, Miss Lin.” Miss Jun smiled and put down her brush. She said something strange. “I forgot she was still here.”