Chapter 399 (2/2)

Love was like that too.

Ning Yuxuan couldn't fully understand her words. He just gently leaned his head against hers and watched as the sunset glow changed into a night sky that was full of glimmering stars. The rest of their surroundings were tranquil too.

A long time later, Ning Yuxuan broke the silence by asking, ”Do you still hate me?”

Ji Man contemplated. At the very beginning, she hated him very much and thought of a hundred ways to get revenge. However, after returning to the capital, finding out that Haohao was her son, and she herself was always in his care, as time went on, the hatred in her heart wasn't as strong as it had been at the beginning.

No wonder suffering had to be experienced every day to be remembered. Otherwise, as time elapsed, it became much easier to forgive a lot of things.

Although she wouldn't knock off the price of what was owed to her, he was no longer on her list of people that she wanted to kill.

”Marquis, you're overthinking things.” Ji Man smiled and said, ”Our relations.h.i.+p had already concluded a long time ago with that divorce letter. This one doesn't hate the marquis.”

Ning Yuxuan slightly sat up. There was a glimmer of brightness in his eyes.

”Anyways, that doesn't matter. The marquis has chosen to be loyal to the emperor, and this one is carrying a blood debt that has to be collected. Our paths and plans are different,” Ji Man added before closing her eyes.

She could forgive him, but she couldn't forgive Zhao Li for having her watch as Nie Clan was exterminated.

His eyes had looked as if they were filled with stars, but after hearing her words, it was as if there had been a sudden downpour, and the stars had completely disappeared.

Marquis Moyu wryly laughed. He twirled a wisp of her loose hair as he said in a slightly hoa.r.s.e voice, ”Why are you so heartless?”

”Didn't I learn this from the marquis?” Ji Man turned her head away.

The oxcart continued to slowly move forward. Ning Yuxuan quietly looked the side of her face without moving.

He had said that she brought trouble upon herself, but in the end, who was the real culprit?

---

A few days later, Ji Man received a letter from Zhangjun Prince. As expected, he wanted her to collect grain. Moreover, he wanted her to slowly raise the price of grain in the capital.

There had already been a shortage of grain to begin with this year, and the imperial court was collecting a large amount of grain to supply the soldiers that were going on the military exercise.  The commonfolk had already been grumbling about this. Once Ji Man raised the price for grain, many people were unable to afford food, and cries of complaints filled the streets.

As a result, the imperial court was forced to release some of their stored grain to the general population, which was then completely bought out by Ji Man and s.h.i.+pped to Zhangjun. Thus, the price of grain didn't improve at all in the capital.

However, the emperor didn't care about the plights of the commonfolk. He still wanted Ning Mingjie to take the army to Zhangjun at the end of the year.