Chapter Four Someone of No Relation

People walked on the street. Su Tan Er was followed by Juan’er and Xing’er. Ning Yi was followed by Chan’er, and Xue Jing had two manservants. They were conversing in friendliness.

The area around Jiang Ning was prosperous and the cloth industry here was extremely developed. The three biggest cloth houses were the Su Cloth House, the Xue Family’s Great River Cloth House and the leader, the Wu Clothing House. Xue Jing had come this time primarily to discuss a partnership between them in Huai Nan with Su Tan Er. However, Su Tan Er was only in charge of a small portion of the business of the Su Family at this time. The majority of the business outside Jiang Ning was in the care of Second Uncle and Third Uncle so she told Xue Jing find Second Uncle Su Zhong Kan to discuss this matter. However, Xue Jing expressed that it was easier to talk to someone more familiar. A few days later, he would be having a banquet with Su Zhong Kan and he hoped that Su Tan Er would be there etc etc … … or so how the words were said.

Everyone knew long ago that Xue Jing had intentions about Su Family’s Su Tan Er. The Xue Family had asked about marriage but one, Old Grandfather Su did not like this Xue Jing very much and second, the amount of talent in this generation of the Su Family was almost nil. He did not plan on marrying Su Tan Er out. Also, both sides were competitors in the market. The marriage had not succeeded. On the day of marriage, Su Tan Er had ran way and Xue Jing took the chance to sneak behind Ning Yi to hit him with a brick. Because there were no substantial witnesses, and a matter like this was hard to investigate, in the end, it had just trailed off.

The matter had occurred so long ago, and with the matter of Su Tan Er running away in the front, Xue Jing clearly had not given up as he had come to find Su Tan Er. Now. Even though Su Tan Er was someone else’s wife and could not marry into the Xue Family, Su Tan Er was both intelligence and beautiful. Man that thought they were able liked to conquer this kind of woman. He hadn’t expected to see Ning Yi who was on his way home. Even though he had hit Ning Yi with a brick, he did not have a high opinion of this person. So he came over to exchange greetings and make Ning Yi feel uncomfortable.

Su Tan Er naturally came out because she knew what Xue Jing was thinking. Her feelings about Ning Yi were simple. There was no dislike, and since the other was already her husband, there was nothing she could do. In the end, she still thought that she and Ning Yi were tied together. Xue Jing did not have much ability and were about the same as the second- and third-generation good-for-nothings of the Su Family. She disliked him, but no matter what, with the Xue Family as his support, she would keep business separate from her personal feelings.

Receiving Xing’er’s message now, Su Tan Er hurriedly came out. She was afraid that Ning Yi would be angry, unable to tolerate the challenge and enter a conflict with the other. If a conflict really occurred, it would become a matter between the Su and the Xue Families. Her feelings about Ning Yi were far from the level she was willing to exchange her family to let Ning Yi vent his anger but she had to interfere. This was her husband. If she did not interfere, she would be called a faithless woman. If the conflict had not occurred, it would not be easy to ask for a peaceful resolution. Even though her interactions with Ning Yi had been harmonious in the past months, but men, what they cared about the most was these matters. They were also not very familiar with each other. If she really tried to get him to take a step back, who knew if he would think that she had something going on with Xue Jing. She hoped that this matter could be resolved peacefully and perfectly. Even if Ning Yi was marrying in, she still hoped that she could avoid having chaos in the household. She had a headache.

But when she hurried out, she found Ning Yi was discussing the matter of his amnesia with the other person in a natural attitude. It seemed that he didn’t even feel anything about the name Xue Jing … … was it really because no one had ever mentioned this matter at all? She pushed the problem aside with slight puzzlement. After a while, she bid farewell to Xue Jing and got onto the carriage with Ning Yi and the servant girls.

“Right, the Qinhuai River has a lantern festival during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Everyone will take their family to attend the Pu Park Poem Conference. I heard that Brother Ning is well-educated. Would you be attending with Sister Tan?”

Seeing the two leave, Xue Jing asked loudly. Right now, it was the beginning of the eight month and the Mid-Autumn was coming soon. There were many parties occurring on the Qinhuai River. Some only allowed single men to attend or women only. The Pu Park Poem Conference was slightly famous. In any era, it was normal for those after they satisfied their needs of warmth and hunger to yearn for elegance. It was said to be a poem conference so there naturally would be all kinds of performances. Su Tan Er usually attended every year but now, she put down the curtain and said, “We will see.”

“Tsk, we’ll see … …” Watching as the carriage left, Xue Jing ground his teeth. He then became puzzled and looked at his attendants. “Do you think that Ning really lost his memory or is he pretending? He really looks like it!” He was very depressed.

He originally wanted to remind Ning Yi that “I hit you, and you can’t do anything to me.” He even deliberately said, “Recently, there have been people making up rumors it had been this little brother that had attacked Brother Ning that day, does Brother Ning believe that?” He said all these things to make the other angry but Ning Yi’s tone had been sincere and calm. He didn’t look as though he was forcing himself at all. His punch had landed in empty space. Puzzled, he felt that he had acted for so long yet the audience did not react at all, so he was uncomfortable.

At this time in the carriage, Su Tan Er was looking in puzzlement at Ning Yi opposite her. At this time, the people talking in the carriage were the three servant girls. They chit-chatted and discussed how bad Master Xue had been and how rude he was. Even though none of what they said was related to Su Tan Er, but if one listened, all the words were pointing to one idea: “Miss doesn’t have any connection to this man.” Ning Yi occasionally smiled and put a word in.

In reality, he felt these three girls were adorable in their action. They were obedient and perceptive. If this was modern society, he didn’t know just how difficult girls of this age would be. After a moment, he heard Su Tan Er ask, “Husband … … you really forgot that Xue Jing?”

Ning Yi nodded. “I really do not remember him.”

“But … … you must have heard … …”

Su Tan Er looked in puzzlement at him. He glanced back. The two stared at each other for a moment. “Uh, does Wife hope that I would beat him up just now?”

Su Tan Er gazed at his eyes and blinked. Then she started to smile. This was not a perfunctory smile like the one before, this smile carried a feeling of relaxation. Her husband did understand how to interact with people. But then she felt slightly depressed. She did not like pure bookworms, but she didn’t really like people that had scheming minds. Right now, the two of them were not familiar and she could not measure how he was.

When the carriage reached a little bridge near the gates of the Su Family, Su Tan Er looked outside. “If that’s the case … … does Husband want to go to the Pu Park Poetry Conference at Mid-Autumn?”

“I don’t know much about poetry.”

You do not need to know too much. You just go to see some performances and look at the flower lanterns.”

After Su Tan Er said this, Juan’er nodded furiously from the side. “Yes, yes, Guye, there are so many performances.”

Xing’er agreed from the side. “The lanterns are very beautiful and there are spectacular fireworks … …”

“Maybe Miss Qi Lan would come out and perform … …”

“Listen to her singing … …”

The three servant girls chatted about the performance at the festival. In this era, entertainment was lacking and they clearly anticipated the even greatly. Ning Yi nodded and smiled. “En, if it is possible, everyone can go together.”

There were about ten more days until the Mid-Autumn Festival. A few days later, Su Zhong Kan came to notify him that he was to report to the Mount Yu School not far from the Su Family to prepare to become an idle teacher.

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