Chapter 9: Another Chance Encounter

Xianglan Residence, Zuo Xiangning heard Madame Jiang and Zuo Zimo were coming and hurriedly had Nanny Cai fetch a coat for her to put on.

Standing outside the door, Zuo Zimo called out loudly, "Sister, if it's inconvenient for me to come in, I'll just stay outside."

"Third brother, come in," Zuo Xiangning said with a smile.

"How come you're still sick?" Zuo Zimo helped Madame Jiang sit by the bed, looked at Zuo Xiangning's pale little face, and asked with concern, "Feeling any better?"

"Much better." Zuo Xiangning noticed Madame Jiang's complexion was off, and asked softly, "Who has upset mother?"

Watching a play in the back garden, Madame Jiang was already preoccupied with thoughts of Zuo Xiangning; upon seeing her husband Zuo Yi An behaving intimately with Auntie Liu, and Old Madam Zuo showing excessive affection towards Zuo Ziteng and Xiangyu, Madame Jiang was even more irritated.

Madame Jiang initially didn't plan to discuss the elders' affairs with her children, but she was fuming and couldn't keep it to herself.

"Since when does a concubine equate herself with the matriarch? I have ignored her over these years, and now she thinks I am afraid of her?" Madame Jiang sneered, "I didn't give her any face tonight, she had to bear it properly!"

Madame Jiang thought to herself that if it were not for her children's sake, she wouldn't want to stay at the Zuo Family for even a single day!

"She is a concubine, and you are the wife. If she keeps the peace, then turning a blind eye is fine; but if she causes trouble without reason, then you don't need to spare her any face," Zuo Xiangning said, secretly anxious inside.

Madame Jiang seemed tough on the surface, but in reality, she was incredibly kind-hearted. She could suppress Auntie Liu occasionally, but to really harm her, Madame Jiang simply couldn't do it.

However, in the previous life, when Auntie Liu helped Elder Lady Zuo manage the household, she tormented Madame Jiang and her third brother relentlessly.

Comforted by this, Madame Jiang straightened the corner of Zuo Xiangning's blanket, "Mother knows what to do. Don't overthink it; getting your health back is what's important."

The next morning, Madame Jiang went to have breakfast at Xianglan Residence.

After Nanny Cai served tea, she sent everyone out of the room.

Madame Jiang slid off the golden bracelet from her wrist and placed it solemnly on Zuo Xiangning's wrist.

Zuo Xiangning's heart jolted upon seeing the bracelet.

This was a hollow golden bracelet, a keepsake of her mother. In her former life, Madame Jiang gave her the bracelet before her marriage, and it was with this bracelet that she had concealed poison.

"This bracelet is hollow, and inside there is a silver note of five hundred taels. It's your mother's dowry," Madame Jiang said slowly.

"My mother's dowry?"

In her former life, at the time of her marriage, the Zuo Family was struggling a lot. Madame Jiang was nearly bedridden and did not mention much to Zuo Xiangning about her birth mother, Nanny Ding.

Madame Jiang sighed, "Your mother may have been my maidservant, but we were as close as sisters. She took Nanny Cai as her godmother, and Nanny Cai and I chose a poor scholar for her, which pleased your mother as well. However, the scholar was struck and killed by the Liu Residence's carriage the day after the engagement. Auntie Liu declared your mother would bring misfortune to her husbands, wanting to send her away. In defiance and to also help me suppress Auntie Liu, your mother volunteered to become a concubine, and neither Nanny Cai nor I could persuade her otherwise..."

"When your mother gave birth to you, I had promised her to love you as my own daughter," Madame Jiang said in a choked voice. "I hope you can treat me as your real mother, too."

Zuo Xiangning had lost her birth mother at the age of three. Had it not been for Madame Jiang's genuine care, how could she have safely grown up?

And Nanny Cai, it's no wonder she was always different toward her.

"You are my real mother," Zuo Xiangning uttered as she hugged Madame Jiang's arm, tears flowing like rain.

Madame Jiang hugged Zuo Xiangning while her own eyes were also filled with tears.

If only she had not been selfish at the time and had found another match for Nanny Ding, she might still be alive and well.

After Madame Jiang left, Zuo Xiangning changed into men's clothes and ran to the front courtyard to find her third brother, insisting on going to Mingyue Mountain to the south of the city.

"If mother finds out I took you out, she's sure to scold me," Zuo Zimo nagged the entire way, "Is your illness really better? Don't go out with me and then get sicker."

"I'm all better now," Zuo Xiangning said with a smile. "I heard there are hot springs on Mingyue Mountain, and I would like to go take a look."

"Several of the spring's eyes have already been claimed by others to build villas, and there's hardly any place left for us to see," Zuo Zimo tried to persuade her but, seeing that she would not be dissuaded, he had no choice but to join in her caprice.

Upon reaching Mingyue Mountain, Zuo Xiangning wandered back and forth between several peaks for a long while before settling on the tallest one.

In her past life, her elder sister had told her that Gu Zhiqing had discovered a gold mine beneath the highest peak of Mingyue Mountain.

She instructed the coachman to drive directly to the foot of the mountain and told Zuo Zimo, "Third Brother, I want to buy this mountain."

Zuo Zimo hopped off the carriage, curiously examining the unremarkable small peak before him, "What do you want it for?"

"I adore the scenery here and want to build a villa on the mountainside. We can come here to escape the heat in the summer and appreciate the snow in the winter," Zuo Xiangning swayed Zuo Zimo's arm coquettishly, "Third Brother, I've taken a fancy to this place."

"We don't even know who owns the mountain, where would we go to buy it?" Zuo Zimo, who had never done anything like this before, cajoled Zuo Xiangning, "Let me inquire about how one might purchase a mountain."

"Third Young Master, this mountain belongs to Mingyue Village. Just find the village head, and you can buy the top of the mountain," the coachman suddenly interjected. "My uncle lives in Mingyue Village, and I've heard of nobles coming from the city to buy mountains for hunting."

Zuo Zimo, faced with the coachman's ingratiating expression and Zuo Xiangning's expectant look, had no choice but to say, "Then let's go to Mingyue Village and ask."

"Thank you, Third Brother," Zuo Xiangning didn't wait for Zuo Zimo to help her up but climbed onto the carriage by herself.

Zuo Zimo watched her clumsy movements and chuckled, his lips curling up in amusement: "You surely think of one thing after another."

Upon their arrival at Mingyue Village, everything went extremely smoothly, and the mountain was bought for just four hundred taels.

Zuo Zimo noticed the silver note Zuo Xiangning took out; he realized she wasn't just talking big.

Zuo Xiangning had Zuo Zimo sign the paperwork, and then followed the village head, as well as two other venerable villagers, to the city.

She took the silver note from inside her golden bracelet and exchanged it for four hundred taels of cash silver to give to the village head.

Zuo Zimo had someone complete all the necessary procedures.

By the time Zuo Xiangning had the land deed in hand, the sky had begun to darken.

Zuo Xiangning, feeling happy inside, pulled Zuo Zimo to Deyue Tower to treat him to a meal.

Zuo Zimo shook his head, "I'll treat you. You'd better save your silver for building the farmstead."

"What I'm going to build is a villa," Zuo Xiangning said with a grin. "That silver has to come from our mother."

"You must be dreaming. I wish you luck!" Zuo Zimo said. "I only have two hundred taels of silver that I can give you, not a cent more."

"I don't need your silver. Mother dotes on me the most, she'll definitely give it..." Zuo Xiangning, full of confidence, was walking forward while turning back to talk to Zuo Zimo when she accidentally collided with someone.

Zuo Xiangning felt as if she had run into an iron wall, being bounced back two steps and tumbling towards the ground.

"Xiang—" Zuo Zimo hurried forward to assist Zuo Xiangning.

Before he could reach her, another man's hands swiftly caught Zuo Xiangning's arm and pulled her back into his embrace.

Startled, Zuo Xiangning instinctively held onto the man's waist.

When she looked up at the man, she was taken aback.

It was the man from Prince Qi's Residence who had lent her a black cloak.