Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Overthinking Is a Disease!
Su Xuan Ming looked like he’d been struck dizzy. After a long beat, he asked, “Mother… what did you just say?”
Gu Nan Xi leaned back and looked him over from head to toe, as if assessing merchandise. “I’m asking Jing Niang how much gold she plans to offer me. You’re well over a hundred jin—why should I let you go cheap?”
Su Xuan Ming should have been relieved that she was “compromising,” but his skin crawled instead. Something about this was wrong in a way he couldn’t explain.
He leaned in and whispered urgently, “Mother, how can you ask Jing Niang for things?”
Gu Nan Xi’s brows shot up. Her voice sharpened, and she didn’t bother lowering it. “Your brother and sister can accept gifts, but I can’t? Are you looking down on me?”
The hall rustled at once, murmurs threading through the crowd.
Su Xuan Ming’s ears burned so hot they could’ve cooked rice. He felt like he could dig out a whole three-bedroom apartment with his toes.
Jing Niang, however, steadied herself almost instantly. “The gifts to the second young master and miss were small tokens. A proper gift for you can’t be careless. After Father and I count our accounts carefully, I’ll bring it to you.”
Only then did Gu Nan Xi nod with satisfied ease. She reached out and clasped Jing Niang’s hand with the warmth of a benevolent elder.
“I know you’re a fine girl. My eldest son is kind-hearted and proud. He doesn’t fall for just anyone. If he’s chosen you, it must be because you truly have something.”
Jing Niang lowered her lashes, cheeks pink. “Madam praises me too much.”
Inside, her heart couldn’t settle.
This marchioness valued Su Xuan Ming so much she had used connections to shove him into one of the capital’s finest private schools—Song Shan Academy.
Could she really agree so quickly?
Was there a hidden blade behind this smile?
Gu Nan Xi pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed like someone worn thin. “My body is useless. I’ve exhausted myself these past few days with the funeral and finally collapsed. The old madam is elderly—I can’t bear to drain her further. My daughter is still young and can’t shoulder a matter this heavy.”
Jing Niang’s eyes widened. “Then… you mean…?”
Gu Nan Xi patted her hand as if a great burden had just lifted from her shoulders. “Heaven has sent me you. You’ll have to work hard and take charge of this. Consider it practice for the future.”
The joy hit Jing Niang like a wave, dizzying and bright.
Yes, it wasn’t proper. Yes, it broke etiquette.
But if she could oversee the Old Marquis’s funeral, that meant only one thing: she was the future clan matron, stamped and sealed.
A gift this big dropping out of the sky—who could stay calm?
Jing Niang nodded rapidly. “Madam, don’t worry. I won’t disappoint you!”
Once that was decided, servants began calling her away at once. In a blink, she was swallowed by a mountain of tasks.
Su Xuan Ming remained kneeling, staring as if he’d forgotten how to breathe.
Gu Nan Xi shot him an annoyed look. “Are you still kneeling here? Go help Jing Niang. She can handle the women’s affairs. But the men in the front courtyard—do you expect her to show her face and run those too?”
Su Xuan Ming jolted. “Yes, Mother—yes!”
Before he left, he turned back and knocked his head down hard. “Mother… I never knew… that my happiness mattered more to you than Marquis Manor’s reputation.”
Then he straightened his back and rushed out as if racing toward salvation.
Gu Nan Xi pressed her lips together, faintly embarrassed. This child was far too good at overthinking.
She only wanted peace and quiet—making a scene was exhausting.
As for throwing Su Xuan Ming and Jing Niang into the funeral work, that was simple.
She didn’t want to work.
In her past life, overtime at least came with overtime pay.
In this life, doing less work was profit.
“Mother,” Su Yun Yan whined, clinging to Gu Nan Xi’s arm and swaying. “Why would you hand something this big to an outsider instead of letting me do it?”
The stool creaked. Gu Nan Xi grabbed the armrest with both hands, pain shooting through her.
Where Su Yun Yan squeezed felt like iron pincers. Another moment and her circulation would be cut off.
This little daughter looked delicate, but her strength was terrifying—strength that did not match her face at all.
With those arms, she could probably slap a grown man flying.
No wonder she wouldn’t be favored after entering the palace. emperor wasn’t stupid. Who would dare keep a human-shaped weapon beside the bed at night?
“Silly girl,” Gu Nan Xi said through gritted teeth, trying to pry herself free, “you think handling a funeral is good work? It’s miserable. Yet everyone is fighting to grab it.”
She tugged harder.
Nothing moved.
Her arm only hurt more.
Fine. If it went numb, maybe it would stop hurting.
Gu Nan Xi’s slacking off wasn’t a slogan. It was a lifestyle.
Su Yun Yan, however, still wouldn’t accept it. She wanted to see how Jing Niang was managing and slipped out.
Along the way, she overheard women speaking in low voices.
“Has the Marchioness lost her mind? She actually let a merchant girl run the funeral. Where does that leave Marquis Manor’s face?”
An older voice answered, patient and instructive. “You’re still young. Think back. When the merchant girl received us just now—what was her manner?”
The younger woman hesitated. “Overly eager. Too forward.”
“Exactly. She’s only a merchant girl. Without the marchioness guiding her, how could she know the etiquette of noble households? She treated us like customers to be won, not guests to be honored. That’s already beneath us. Tell me—do you think she noticed?”
The younger woman’s eyes widened in sudden understanding. “Merchants are best at reading people. Of course she noticed! The marchioness wants us to put pressure on her—give her a warning and force her to retreat.”
The older woman hummed approval. “If your husband fell for another woman and wanted to divorce you, would you resist head-on?”
The younger woman thought, then nodded sharply. “At first I’d test him with a hard stance. If that failed, I’d show weakness and break them apart one by one. So that’s it.”
“The marchioness opposed it fiercely before,” the older woman continued, “but Su Xuan Ming still dragged this mess into the mourning hall. Now she’s switched tactics. A true expert. But if she’s so skilled, why did she ever let concubines climb over her?”
The older woman laughed softly. “Your skill is still shallow. You see that marquis is stationed far away in the borderlands, with two concubines, and you assume the marchioness isn’t favored. But have you considered… perhaps this is exactly what she wants?”
“She has a son and a daughter. She doesn’t have to serve her husband. In this manor, she speaks and the world moves. Why follow a man to the bitter borderlands, eating dust and hardship just to ‘attend’ him? What use is a man’s favor? Her position as marchioness is unshakable.”
The younger woman sounded awed. “Her realm is beyond mine.”
The older woman sighed with admiration. “It took me nearly sixty years to see this truth. She understood it early.”
Su Yun Yan froze where she stood, as if struck by enlightenment.
So in Marquis Yong Chang Manor, the most dangerous player wasn’t concubine duan, and it wasn’t even Grandmother.
It was Mother.
She spun and ran back, bursting into Gu Nan Xi’s presence and chattering excitedly, praising her with sincere worship and begging her to teach her a few moves “for the sake of mother and daughter.”
Gu Nan Xi’s response was simple.
Overthinking was a disease. It needed treatment.
The original marchioness had simply lost at household scheming. Gu Nan Xi was just… slacking off.
Elsewhere, Jing Niang had also overheard those same words. She bit her lip hard, eyes turning cold.
So they wanted to make her retreat?
In her dreams.