Chapter 197 – Don’t you dare hurt my baby! (2)
“Starting from the day that the imperial n.o.ble consort gave birth to a baby prince to now, when I recovered from my serious illness, I’ve certainly lost a lot,” the crown prince slowly said, “Madam, do you know why Yuxuan was the first person that I’m visiting after I got better?”
What an unnecessary question. It was because Ning Yuxuan was like a jar of tiger balm, a cure-all for all sorts of problems. Right now, the crown prince was being attacked from all sides. Other than using everything that he had, did the crown prince have any other choice? Ji Man inwardly cursed him, then she pursed her lips and said, “Sangyu is slow-witted and know nothing about political affairs.”
The crown prince chuckled. “If you’re considered slow-witted, then I don’t know if there’s anyone that can be considered clever. Yuxuan is my right-handed man. I won’t let off anyone that might cut off my right hand. This includes people that haven’t been born yet. Madam, do you understand my meaning?”
Zhao Zhe thought that Marquis Moyu had been avoiding him because Nie Sangyu was pregnant. In addition, the third prince’s faction was doing very well. He thought that Ning Yuxuan was having rebellious thoughts of changing sides. The first step towards resolving his current predicament was resolving the problem of Nie Sangyu.
Ji Man wryly smiled. She and this baby were absolutely innocent. Ning Yuxuan definitely wouldn’t rashly make a decision just because she was pregnant. The crown prince had worked together with Ning Yuxuan for a long time, but he clearly didn’t understand Ning Yuxuan’s mind at all.
Ji Man said, “Your Highness, if you harm Sangyu’s baby, you’ll suffer too. Are you willing to pay that price?”
Zhao Zhe laughed. “Madam, do you think I’ll do a stupid thing like that? Isn’t Miss Wen also here? How could that crime fall onto me?”
Wen Wan paused, but she still obediently lowered her gaze and didn’t refute.
Ji Man furrowed her brow. The crown prince was planning on killing her baby in broad daylight, then walking out of here as if he was completely uninvolved by pus.h.i.+ng the crime onto Wen Wan? Did he think Ning Yuxuan was an idiot?
But, as things stand, Nie Clan was too powerful. It was reasonable that the crown prince was willing to take risks in his current desperate state. Ji Man protectively covered her belly, took a step back, and looked at Zhao Zhe. “Sangyu has already said this before, Sangyu is willing to risk my life in order to keep people from harming my baby.”
“How are you going to risk your life?” Zhao Zhe coldly smiled at her. “Are you going to commit suicide? Taxue, give her a knife.”
Taxue actually threw a knife onto the ground.
Ji Man glanced at the knife, pursed her lips, and said, “Sangyu won’t do anything that only harms myself and helps others. If the crown prince wants to kill Sangyu’s baby while keeping your hands clean of this matter, that won’t be possible.”
“Oh?” Zhao Zhe’s eyes were full of disdain. “What can you possibly do?”
It was true that there was nothing that she could do. However, she was already standing at the line between life and death. She had to try by saying something to scare the other side. Ji Man quickly thought; how can she save this baby?
The knife was right at her feet. While trying to think of a solution, Ji Man crouched down and picked it up.
Use the knife to kill the crown prince? That was the same as seeking death. She wouldn’t do something that stupid. Kill Wen Wan? There wasn’t any benefit to that either. She would probably get in trouble for that too. After thinking things through, Ji Man hardened her heart and thought; how about she stab herself, divert their attention, and pretend that she had suffered a miscarriage?
But, she wasn’t able to go through with it. It had looked so easy for those brave TV characters to stab themselves. Ji Man really didn’t have their determination.
She had pointed the knife at herself, but she wasn’t able to move it forward.
The crown prince impatiently looked at her. “Taxue, help her!”
Taxue nodded, stepped forward, grabbed Nie Sangyu’s hand that was holding the knife, and expressionlessly pushed it down, towards her belly.
Ji Man struggled with all of her strength. In this emergency situation, would anyone be able to hear her scream? There wasn’t any guarantee for success if she yelled out Ning Yuxuan’s name. What other words could she scream?
Ji Man screamed at the top of her lungs, “Long live the People’s Republic of China!”
Everyone in the courtyard was dumbfounded. Was the meaning of these words? Even Zhao Zhe couldn’t resist the impulse to mentally repeat the words she had shouted in an attempt to figure out the meaning. Were these words a secret signal?
Taxue had also paused. The blade was already resting on her belly. Ji Man hurriedly used this time to push Taxue half a step back, then she threw that knife over the wall.
“Madam?” Guabai’s voice came from outside the courtyard. He seemed to have seen the knife that had been thrown out. After a pause, he knocked on the courtyard’s doors. “The marquis woke up. Madam, he wants you to go to his room.”
Thinking that Nie Sangyu was quite interesting, Zhao Zhe had originally wanted to draw this out for a little bit longer. However, against his expectations, someone had really come to rescue her. Why had Ning Yuxuan woken up at this exact time?
“Madam?”
After Ji Man’s great disaster had been averted, she momentarily forgot to respond. When Guibai called out again, she hastily called out, “Guibai, save me! The crown prince wants to kill my baby!”
Taxue covered her mouth, but Ji Man continued to try to call out. She kicked over a flowerpot and tried to pinch Taxue. Her usual elegant appearance had completely disappeared.
Guibai paused. In an icy voice, he said, “Miss Wen, please open the door. The marquis is looking for Madam. If anything accidentally happens to Madam, then it’ll be impossible for the marquis to recover from his illness.”
Zhao Zhe laughed. “He won’t recover from his illness? What a clever Marquis Moyu. He guessed accurately. I can’t bear for anything to happen to him. Taxue, bring Nie Sangyu with us. Let’s go see the marquis that finally woke up!”
Ji Man’s heart was wildly beating. With her hands pressed behind her back, Taxue forced her forward as he went to open the doors. When the doors were opened, she saw Guibai looking at her with a worried expression.
The crown prince strode forward and waved his hand. “Let’s go.”
Guibai nodded and led the way. From time to time, he would turn his head to look at Nie Sangyu. Since Taxue was still restraining her, she was stumbling with every few steps. No matter how he looked at it, this didn’t look safe.
During the entire walk, the crown prince’s expression was very cold. When they arrived at the main room, he stretched his hand out, took hold of Nie Sangyu from Taxue, and personally brought her into the room with him.
Translator Ramblings: I wonder whose view of Ning Yuxuan is the correct one. Is the crown prince right in that Ning Yuxuan is already wavering because of Nie Sangyu’s pregnancy? Or, is Ji Man right that it’s impossible for Ning Yuxuan to change his feeling so quickly, and he’s wavering for a purely political reason?