Jun Jiuling

Chapter 8: To Leave with a Flick of the Sleeves

Miss Jun left through the Ning Family’s side door.

The main gate of the Ning house was not usually opened; only the side door allowed people in and out.

But when Miss Jun left, the side door was shut. Although, the sound was not very loud, the gentle closing of the door represented the hate for the person who was leaving.

Miss Jun did not turn her head.

“Ning Yan’s clansmen only amounted to this much,” she mused.

Ning Yan, Old Master Ning’s second son, Eldest Madam Ning’s Younger-brother-in-law, occupied the highest governmental post in the Ning Family and was a pillar of the Ning Family. At twenty-three years old, he had passed the imperial palace civil service examination and had been a government official for twenty years since. He was the current Right Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Works, and after two to three years he would be able to be promoted to minister. In the future it is very likely that the emperor would appoint him prime minister.

For this caliber of a person to be called directly by name by Miss Jun, if Eldest Madam Ning heard this, she would feel even more humiliated.

There was no one placed on duty at the Ning Family’s gate. Miss Jun’s young servant girl had a dull expression, carrying the banknote pinched in her hand within her sleeve. She did not hear Miss Jun’s words.

They plodded forward, and just as they reached Beiliu Town, the young servant girl stopped.

“Young Miss,” she suddenly called out. She reached out to pull on Miss Jun’s sleeve, and her master turned to look at her. “The Ning Family’s people are not following us.”

Miss Jun made a sound of agreement.

“Don’t worry, they will not chase after us,” she said. “The Ning Family has at least that much face.”

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The young servant girl made an ‘Oh’ sound, then pulled her sleeve again.

“Then where will we go to wait?” she asked. “The inn won’t allow us to stay there, and there aren’t any other inns close to the Ning Family’s residence.”

Some time ago, Young Miss had faked hanging herself to demonstrate her sincerity to and scare the Ning Family. As a result, she almost died for real. Her shouting and screaming had disturbed people in the inn who then saved her.

“The people of the inn are real cowards. Young Miss was obviously fine, but they were afraid something else would happen and wouldn’t let us stay,” said the young servant girl, completely forgetting about her own paralyzing fear at the time.

While she grumbled, the young miss was ever peacefully walking along.

“What time will they come to invite Young Miss again?” the servant girl asked after a few moments.

Young Miss Jun stopped in her tracks and looked at the young servant girl.

“The matter has already ended. We do not need to wait; they will not come to find me again,” she said.

The young servant girl stared at her with wide eyes.

“What do you mean it has ended?” she stammered out.

When Young Miss had just been rescued, she seemed to have died. Two women tried pinching and hitting her chest again and again for a quarter of an hour before she finally took a breath. When she finally moved after half a day of lying on the bed, she scared people half to death.

The young servant girl was about to return to Yangcheng to look for Old Lady Fang, when Young Miss suddenly grabbed her arm. She said because of the marriage with the Ning Family, there was no need to look for other people. She was going to solve the matter on her own.

At the time, the servant girl had not believed Miss Jun. They had been in Yangcheng for some time and hadn’t solved the problem, but Young Miss said she would definitely solve it this time and made her take out the hidden marriage contract.

That was right. They always had the marriage contract. They hadn’t brought it out before because they thought that the Ning Family would also have the marriage contract, which would have made sense. But when they came to Yangcheng and they told Old Lady Fang that they had a marriage contract with the Ning Family, and that she should go and visit them, Uncle’s wife mocked them, saying ‘How could you have a marriage contract?’ This made Young Miss very angry. She did not say anything in reply, making Uncle’s wife visit the Ning Family herself to see if they had one.

Young Miss intended for Uncle’s wife to go speak with the Ning Family. She was certain the woman would be received as a guest of the Ning Family, and then she would be able to strike a blow to that vile person’s face.

But neither the master, nor the servant had considered that when Uncle’s wife went to the Ning Family, they would deny that there was any engagement. It, naturally, left Uncle’s wife flustered, and she returned home to mock Young Miss. This made Young Miss angry enough to go find the Ning Family herself.

However, she was unable to enter the Ning Family’s residence, and neither could she contact anyone of the Ning Family. The only one she saw was Tenth Noble Son Ning returning to the capital on August 15, the day of the Lantern Festival. She was mixed in the crowds at the time and noticed him from a distance.

Tenth Noble Son Ning’s elegant bearing garnered Young Miss’ affection, but she knew that the Ning Family wanted to break their promise of marriage. Since they had rejected it, there was no use in bringing out the marriage contract now.

At this time, Young Miss’ acquaintance Miss Lin had panicked, bringing back news of the Tenth Noble Son Ning’s engagement. After hearing that, Young Miss could not sit still and resolved to do something that the Ning family could not ignore.

A fiancée hanging herself was naturally hard to ignore. Young Miss almost died attempting it, and after lying in bed for half a day, she said she wanted to resolve the matter.

Many people had seen Miss Jun hang herself, so the Ning Family definitely should have been scared, right?

The servant girl had happily accompanied Young Miss to the Ning Family. Although, she did not understand very well what Young Miss had said during the encounter, they were able to enter the Ning Family and meet with Eldest Madam Ning. It was clear that Young Miss’ ways were very effective.

That’s why, just receiving the silver and handing the Ning Family the marriage contract seemed a little anticlimactic. But she was certain that Young Miss had already crafted her own plans.

Or perhaps someone from the Ning Family would follow them, unable to wait a day to invite Young Miss back.

But what did Young Miss mean when she said it was over?

“I mean that I no longer have an engagement with the Ning Family.” She looked at the servant girl. “The matter has been resolved.”

The little girl’s eyes were wide and her mouth hung open from shock. A strangled sob came out, attracting some sidelong glances from people on the street.

“What’s there to cry about, this is good,” said Miss Jun. “By forcefully twisting the stem of a melon, you won't make it sweet. This way, everyone has what they need and will be happy."

The young servant girl sobbed.

Naturally, she knew that the Ning Family did not want the marriage. They would be very happy without it.

“But how could Young Miss be happy with nothing,” she sobbed.

“Don’t I have money?” said Miss Jun.

Money?

The young girl had never been rich, but whether it be her time at the old Jun Family’s residence or when she was assigned to go with Jun Yingwen, the Jun father and son had both been kind and charitable. She had enough to eat and wear. If they had money, they would spend it like water. They also could go through days when they did not have money, so the young servant girl had also been influenced to not care much about money.

What was money worth? A woman should want to find a good husband to ensure that her life went smoothly.

Having more money would not let them buy a husband like the one from the Ning Family. Did Young Miss grow dumb from hanging herself? Her method of resolving things was to actually back out of the marriage with the Ning Family.

“What’s the use of this bit of money?” said the young servant girl tearfully.

“This bit of money?” asked Miss Jun.

Her talking speed was slow, and at the moment it had become even slower. She had dragged out those four words for a long time, sounding as if she were disappointed.

The young servant girl could not help but sniffle and raised her head to look at her household’s Young Miss.

“It should be enough for me to go the capital,” said Miss Jun next.

Go to the capital?

The little servant girl went blank. Their old family was from Runan. The master had held a post in Funing, and her maternal family was from Yangcheng. They had been to the northern capital, but she had only heard of the southern capital. Without relatives or any other reason, there was no point to even think about going there.

Why would Young Miss suddenly want to go to the capital? Her eyes suddenly glinted.

“Oh!” she exclaimed with excitement. “Young Miss, are you planning to appeal to the emperor?”

A smile bloomed across Miss Jun’s calm face. She was obviously amused by the servant girl’s words.

The young maidservant did not pay attention, but got even more excited.

“Yes, yes. As expected, Young Miss’ ways are good. First you back out of the marriage, let the Ning Family settle down while also getting the money so you can travel easily,” she said. She lowered her voice, as if afraid of being overheard by other passersby. “Tenth Noble Son Ning’s uncle is a government official at the capitol, so we could get him to deal with the matter. But if he doesn’t want to, then we can go appeal to the emperor. We can go see if he’s willing or not. Young Miss, I heard that the emperor at the capital is wise and has divine martial skills and can…”

When she said this, Young Miss who had been walking in front of her suddenly turned around. Her tranquil and clear eyes had abruptly become very deep, and her expression could make people shiver.

The young servant girl’s words came to a stop, and she could not help but move back a step.

Although she had been sold as a child, her masters had been humane and kind. The Young Miss might be arrogant and willful, but she had never degraded people. The young servant girl had went with the flow, so, she had never seen such an expression before.

She couldn’t even recognize the emotion in this expression. It seemed like despair and viciousness, as well as suffering. It was enough to make people scared and eager to run away.