vrcanaries Chapter 498 Xie Jingchun's storyline: My heart feels empty.
Chapter 498 Xie Jingchun's storyline: My heart feels empty.
"I don't want to be a concubine," she repeated, "nor do I want to get married."
"I am just a little maid with no parents. It is already good enough that I am alive."
"I like my life now. I just want to keep this life, keep this life, and stay peacefully by the princess's side. The princess is very good to me, and she will always be good to me."
Having said that, she finally raised her head.
His eyes were clear yet stubborn, like a little animal guarding its nest.
Xie Jingchun listened intently.
Their bodies, which were originally very close, were suddenly pushed several feet away by some invisible force.
I felt a slow emptiness in my heart, as if something had been taken away.
His throat tightened, and his breath was slightly rapid and cool.
“I never intended to make you my concubine,” he said abruptly, his voice strained.
"I'm not that kind of person, and I could never think of you that way."
As he spoke, his brows furrowed slightly, and he couldn't help but feel a little irritated.
He didn't know how things had turned out this way.
"I didn't think about any of that..." Xie Jingchun's voice was a little anxious, "I never thought about marriage, I didn't, I'm not..."
Before he could finish speaking, Nan Nan gently interrupted him.
“I know,” she said softly. “I know you’re not that kind of person.”
She knew that although their social statuses were vastly different, Xie Jingchun truly considered her a friend.
“But no matter what,” she looked up at him, “we’re not ten-year-old children anymore.”
"It definitely can't be like before."
Looking at her, Xie Jingchun felt as if he had suddenly fallen from a great height.
"So, will you never talk to me again?"
He cannot accept it.
Why did Nan Nan stop talking to him because of what those people said?
He won't let her be a concubine!
He wouldn't have a concubine!
He wanted to joke and play with Nan Nan like before.
He gripped the corner of her sleeve that she had just pulled back, as if afraid she would take another step back.
"You used to smile."
“You used to never lower your head and pretend you didn’t see me when you saw me.”
"We've been talking for so long, and you haven't asked me once if I'm okay."
“I haven’t been home for two years, and you haven’t asked me if I was cold or hungry at the border, or if my injuries had healed.”
“In the past two years, you only wrote two letters at the beginning, and then none at all.”
A layer of moisture slowly rose in his eyes as he stared intently at her, accusing her of "evil deeds".
"Don't you consider me a friend at all?"
His heart was filled with sadness, disappointment, and resentment.
Nan Nan looked at him silently, her eyelashes fluttering slightly, without saying a word.
She genuinely didn't know how to respond to him.
He didn't listen to a word she said.
He wouldn't understand her situation either.
We don't know if her life or her future is decided by someone else's single word.
Her life is too cheap, worthless.
She dared not make mistakes, dared not do anything out of line.
She is not brave.
She was cautious; she just wanted to survive.
Just then, a clear sound came from the tea room in the distance, and the water in the copper kettle churned and bubbled as it boiled.
Nan Nan turned her head and whispered, "The water's boiling, I'm going to make tea."
She lowered her eyelashes, preparing to turn around.
Xie Jingchun raised his hand to stop her, standing in front of her, his voice low and aggrieved: "Don't go."
"You've only said two sentences, why are you leaving again?"
His eyes still held the lingering grievance and impatience from before, and that youthful spirit seemed especially real under the moonlight.
Nan Nan stood in front of him and replied softly, "I am a maid, and making tea is my duty. Your Highness and Princess are still waiting for tea."
When his father and mother were mentioned, Xie Jingchun became more lucid.
Taking advantage of the moment he was stunned, Nan Nan gently raised her hand and placed her fingertips on his wrist.
He removed the hand that was blocking his face.
She didn't look at him, but said softly, "I'm going now."
Xie Jingchun stood still, motionless.
A breeze blows through the corridor, and the peonies sway gently.
The main courtyard of Prince Jing's Mansion, front building.
The moonlight outside the window was cold and clear, while the lamp inside flickered, casting silhouettes of four young girls.
Nan Nan leaned against the side of the bed, with an old wooden box on her knees, containing a lot of loose silver.
It weighed a full one hundred taels.
Her monthly allowance was four taels of silver. She never spent more than that; she used one tael for food and clothing and saved the rest.
Most of her wealth came from the princess's gifts, which she never squandered and has accumulated to a considerable amount.
If she saves up for a few more years, she can find a stable place to open a small teahouse or a needlework shop, which would be enough to live on for the rest of her life.
At this moment, the three maids on the couch were chatting and laughing softly.
“Let me tell you, Princess Jingzhao came again the other day, and she even brought her daughter to the mansion to pay her respects to the lady.”
"Tsk, she's really determined to marry her daughter to Young Master Chun."
"Indeed, among all the young men in the capital now, who can compare to our young master Chun? He was appointed a general at such a young age, and he will surely be ennobled and granted titles in the future. He is also so handsome, and all the girls in the capital are eyeing him."
"Huh?" The maid who spoke first suddenly turned around and smiled, "You're praising Young Master Chun so much, do you perhaps like him?"
"Don't joke around. Do you think I don't know my own status? I'm just a maid, at most a concubine. Young Master Chun will be ennobled and granted a title in the future, and his wife will certainly be a noble lady from a high-ranking family! How could it be a place for us servants?"
The laughter and chatter were in full swing when the maid who had spoken first suddenly rolled her eyes.
He gave Nan Nan a meaningful look, with a hint of teasing.
"But when it comes to who's really close to Young Master Chun in this house, it has to be Nan Nan, right?"
The other immediately laughed and replied, "That's right. She's served in Qinglan Courtyard since she was a child. When Young Master Chun comes back, she's the first person he sees. I even heard today that he smiled when he saw Nan Nan in the courtyard."
"Tsk tsk. In my opinion, it might not be long before Nan Nan is made a concubine."
"If she becomes a concubine, will Nan Nan still have a chance to be promoted to a concubine after Young Master Chun's main wife enters the household?"
"That's possible!"
"Oh my, that's the first one among us to rise to the top!"
Suddenly, the person who had been laughing the loudest stopped talking and glanced at Nan Nan sideways.
"However, being a concubine is not an easy job."
"When Young Master Chun marries his first wife, if that mistress is powerful, she will inevitably suppress the favored concubines in the mansion."
"I've heard of a concubine in a prince's mansion who was tormented to death by the principal wife, and her remains weren't even buried in the ancestral grave."
As soon as he finished speaking, the once lively room fell silent for a moment.
All eyes were on Nan Nan in the corner.
Nan Nan listened to their conversation without saying a word.
But at that moment, her hand paused, and her whole body froze.
She looked up, a forced smile on her face, but her lips were pale.
"Don't talk nonsense..."
But the three maids laughed even harder when they saw her reaction.
"Oh dear, look at her, her face is all pale."
"Nan Nan, you're not really taking this seriously, are you? We were just joking, don't take it to heart."
Nan Nan lowered her head, clutching the wooden box tightly in her hands, her fingertips trembling slightly.
She wasn't unaware of those rumors.
She never dared to dream of that kind of status; she only wanted to be the most obedient maidservant by the princess's side, with food to eat and a peaceful place to live.
enough.
But the more she tried to keep a low profile and follow the rules, the more counterproductive it became.