Wen Wan caught a glimpse of Nanny Qin’s reaction out of the corner of her eye, and her face quickly flushed. She said coyly, "There are servants around, why are you doing this?"
Song Wei released her, a gentle smile playing at the corner of his lips. "Since the two of us are here, why don’t we let Nanny Qin go rest?"
Nanny Qin was just about to say sothing when Wen Wan interrupted her.
"No, husband, if she leaves and Qi Bao wakes up hungry, who will feed her? You know full well that I already..."
Though the latter part of the sentence was spoken softly, Nanny Qin heard it word for word.
Wen Wan was saying that since she had just recently given birth, she had taken a prescription to stop lactation and couldn’t nurse the child.
The voice was delicate and soft, distinctly improper to the ears.
Nanny Qin had always thought that Mrs. Wen, this head mistress, was well-mannered and proper. She didn’t expect her to say such shaless things in front of a man. At that mont, she understood why there were no concubines in the Song Mansion’s inner quarters.
It seed that Mrs. Wen had many tricks up her sleeve in that regard, enough to enchant the master completely. No other won could catch his eye.
Outwardly she maintained a proper deanor, but in truth, she was indulgent to the core.
The more she looked, the more Nanny Qin found Mrs. Wen displeasing to the eye.
Wen Wan seed oblivious that soone was occasionally casting glances her way. She stood up, "Would you like so tea, husband? I’ll brew so for you."
After taking a couple of steps and seeing an untouched cup on the table, she asked, "Who brewed this tea?"
Nanny Qin spoke up, "In response to Madam, it was this servant who brewed it for Master earlier. Master said he doesn’t drink tea at night, so he hasn’t touched it."
"Is that so?" Wen Wan turned to look at Song Wei. "Husband doesn’t drink tea?"
Song Wei nodded, "Just pour a cup of warm water."
The Purple Clay Teapot was filled with tea. To get plain water, it had to be boiled anew.
As there was no wind stove in the west wing, Wen Wan looked at Nanny Qin apologetically, "Could I trouble you to go to the tea room to boil a pot of water for ?"
Nanny Qin replied, "Madam, you weigh your words too heavily. As a servant, please feel free to command ."
"Alright, go ahead."
Nanny Qin responded and went to the tea room.
Wen Wan knew that her daughter was afraid of light. Seeing Song Wei sitting still, she gently reminded him, "Go to the outer room and check, so Qi Bao can sleep well."
Song Wei nodded, taking his book to the warm kang in the outer room.
Wen Wan extinguished the lamp and followed him out.
Sitting down at the other end of the kang table, she picked up Song Wei’s book out of boredom, flipping through it, and was imdiately amazed.
She had only known that the Taichang Temple was the foremost of the nine ministries, in charge of the royal family’s ancestral temple ceremonies, but she hadn’t considered how complex these characters were in content.
Just the aspect of worship alone included offerings at the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Heavenly Altar, the Suburban Temple, the Earth God and Grain God, which were collectively terd as society.
The Taichang Temple was responsible for the various forms of sacrifices, including the animals, currency, wine, utensils, and ceremonial music used.
Aside from this, the New Year’s Day grand court assembly, as well as the investiture of the Crown Prince and concubines, were also managed by them.
A portion of the priceless treasures taken from the campaign against West Yue was stored in the Taichang Temple.
Besides these treasures, the Emperor’s ceremonial robes for each sacrifice were also stored there.
The Taichang Temple was divided into many departnts, with regulations so nurous they could make one dizzy.
No wonder Song Wei had been reading these books for a long ti and still hadn’t finished them. For a newcor to the Taichang Temple, it wasn’t easy to morize everything thoroughly in a short period.
The lamp on the kang table cast a large shadow of Wen Wan on the floor.
Song Wei seed to glean her current mood from the flickering shadow, a smile playing on his lips, "What is it?"
Wen Wan pointed to the book in her hand, "Isn’t this way too difficult? Do you have to morize it all, husband?"
"The higher the position, the greater the responsibility," Song Wei said. "I can’t possibly remain clueless about things my subordinates are well aware of."
That was true, but the sheer volu and complexity of this material were overwhelming.
Wen Wan had thought that the family’s account books were already headache-inducing, but now she finally appreciated just how difficult it was for her husband to navigate officialdom.
Thinking of this, she sighed quietly, "Husband, how about I cook you a bowl of ginseng soup?"
"It’s cold outside, no need to trouble yourself." Such tasks would naturally be done by servants during the day; Song Wei truly didn’t want her to tire herself.
"But I feel like I’m not helping you with anything." For the first ti, Wen Wan felt so useless.
Song Wei chuckled, "These are my responsibilities as the Vice Minister of the Imperial Sacrificial Worship Office; how could you possibly help?"
"Then I’ll give you a shoulder massage."
As Wen Wan spoke, she stood up and walked over to him, about to give him a shoulder rub when Song Wei pulled her to sit on his lap, "Causing a disturbance late at night, are you trying to distract ?"
Just then, Nanny Qin, having returned after boiling the water, reached the door. She happened to see this scene and hear Song Wei’s words, and she inwardly spat, thinking Mrs. Wen really was a shaless seductress.
Probably enraged by Wen Wan’s "shaless" behavior, Nanny Qin deliberately let go, causing the white porcelain kettle full of boiling water to crash to the ground with a resounding "smack," spilling hot water all around, so soaking her embroidered shoes.
Nanny Qin let out a tily cry of pain.
"What happened outside?" Song Wei looked toward the doorway.
Wen Wan got up from him, "Husband, just continue with your reading, I’ll go take a look."
Having said that, she walked slowly outside and saw Nanny Qin crouching down to pick up the broken pieces, occasionally emitting muffled sobs.
Wen Wan asked her, "What happened?"
Nanny Qin’s eyes had turned red long before, and upon hearing Wen Wan’s question, she imdiately knelt on the ground, "It’s all because of this servant’s clumsiness, I’ve accidentally broken the kettle."
"Did you burn yourself?"
Nanny Qin rely sobbed, not answering.
Wen Wan said, "I have so ointnt for burns in my room. Go inside and rest for a while; I’ll get it for you."
As Wen Wan returned to the main room, Nanny Qin entered the west wing and, without waiting for Song Wei to ask, knelt in front of him with a "thud," "It’s all because of this servant’s carelessness. I hope Master is magnanimous and persuades Madam not to expel this servant from the mansion."
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