Jiang Ning walked from the main courtyard towards the main gate, happening to pass by the ancestral hall.
Two servants were sitting on the steps outside the ancestral hall, whispering something. Jiang Ning stood there for a moment, then circled around to a nearby rockery and climbed in through the window.
"Did you come specially to see me, little sister?" Nangong Muyan looked at the person climbing through the window, smiling charmingly. "I'm so touched..."
Jiang Ning walked to Nangong Muyan's side and looked at the thick stack of papers on the table, asking, "How many times have you copied it?"
"Thirteen times now," Nangong Muyan answered, putting down her pen and rubbing her wrist.
"That's pretty fast. You might be able to leave once you finish," Jiang Ning said, pulling over a cushion and sitting down at the edge of the table.
"How could that be?" Nangong Muyan laughed. "I'm the unfilial daughter who made my own mother ill with anger. To atone for my sins, I plan to copy the Buddhist scriptures another hundred times to pray for my mother's blessings."
Jiang Ning was momentarily at a loss for words.
Nangong Muyan placed a completed sheet of paper in the upper left corner and turned her head to look at Jiang Ning. Just as she was about to say something, her eyes suddenly flashed.
The next moment, Nangong Muyan's hand shot out as swift as lightning, aiming straight for Jiang Ning's neck.
Jiang Ning reacted instantly, grabbing Nangong Muyan's wrist to stop her movement, and asked coldly, "What madness are you up to?"
Jiang Ning knew very well that Nangong Muyan had no reason to kill her, and there was no killing intent in her earlier action.
Nangong Muyan allowed Jiang Ning to hold her hand, but her gaze fell on Jiang Ning's neck. She smiled meaningfully, her eyes full of teasing, "Little sister, what are those red spots on your neck?"
Jiang Ning abruptly let go of Nangong Muyan's hand, about to reach up to adjust her hair to cover it, when she heard the other woman continue to tease her with ill intent, "Surely they can't be mosquito bites?"
"They're not," Jiang Ning answered seriously.
Jiang Ning knew that if she showed any sign of embarrassment, the person in front of her would have achieved her goal. So instead, she leaned in closer, fully exposing the marked skin to Nangong Muyan's view.
"They're love bites, left from intimacy between a man and a woman. Satisfied now?" Jiang Ning said with a smile, successfully seeing Nangong Muyan's expression freeze.
"Tch, no fun," Nangong Muyan pouted, losing interest and averting her gaze. She then set aside her joking mood and asked, "What did you come to see me about?"
"I've severed ties with Nangong Ya. I probably won't be coming back here in the future. You and I will live our separate lives from now on. I came to say goodbye to you as well."
Jiang Ning calmly spoke these words. Her severance of ties with Nangong Ya was a farewell to the past at the Prime Minister's Mansion as Nangong Ling. Coming to the ancestral hall to see Nangong Muyan was a farewell to her past life as N.
From now on, she would just be Jiang Ning.
Nangong Muyan understood Jiang Ning's thoughts clearly. After a moment of silence, she asked her question, "Even if this father wasn't competent enough for Nangong Ling, you're not someone who craves fatherly love. Why give up being a well-off young lady? Is it for that man? Do you want to live a good life with him?"
Jiang Ning neither confirmed nor denied, only saying, "I've said what I came to say. I'm going home now."
"Hey, wait!" Nangong Muyan called out to Jiang Ning. "Will you still go by Nangong Ling in the future?"
"Jiang Ning."
"Jiang Ning?" Nangong Muyan repeated the name in disbelief. "Isn't that the identity you had before you died?"
Jiang Ning nodded, "Yes, the one you made up - some archaeology master who studied overseas."
"Aren't you afraid it's unlucky?" Nangong Muyan looked at her with a somewhat helpless smile.
Jiang Ning spoke indifferently, "It's just a name. There's no need for so much fuss."
"True, just a name," Nangong Muyan picked up her pen again, dipped it in ink, and began copying. She casually said, "But it's quite a coincidence, you really are surnamed Jiang."
"Oh?" Jiang Ning raised an eyebrow, showing some curiosity. "Wasn't I an abandoned baby?"
"Well... how to put it, not entirely," Nangong Muyan put pen to paper, while asking, "Your father was a philanthropist named Jiang Yuntao. Does that name ring any bells?"
"I remember it. He was the first person I killed on a mission," Jiang Ning said, resting her chin on her hand as she watched Nangong Muyan write. She spoke as if chatting idly, as if talking about something inconsequential.
Nangong Muyan glanced sideways at Jiang Ning, seeing no fluctuation in her emotions. She smiled, not surprised.
"Your mother was a fresh university graduate, pretty, who joined your father's company after graduation as his assistant. They got involved, and she became his secret lover."
"Oh, I forgot to mention, your father was nearly fifty then, married with children. He was still a model husband in public. His eldest son was the same age as your mother. An old bull eating tender grass, you know. One after money, one after looks, quite a match!"
Jiang Ning made a sound of acknowledgment, indicating she was listening.
"But your mother wasn't very smart. After getting pregnant with you, she thought she could use you to gain legitimate status. Your father's first wife found out, had her beaten up, and almost forced her to have an abortion. Luckily, she didn't succeed."
At this point, Nangong Muyan sighed wistfully, "If you had been aborted, how dull this world would be!"
Jiang Ning couldn't be bothered with Nangong Muyan's intermittent fits of eccentricity and urged, "If you're going to tell a story, tell it properly. I'm in a hurry to get home."
"Alright~" Nangong Muyan agreed and continued, "Your mother gave birth to you in secret, but didn't want to raise you, so she left you at an orphanage and found herself another sugar daddy."
"Being a mistress is a profession that relies on youth and beauty. After six or seven years, your mother's looks faded, and she remembered you. She went to the orphanage to find you, thinking of taking you to the Jiang family to get some money..."
Jiang Ning thought back to where she was at six or seven years old, and realized she was already in N's hands by then - that is, with the person in front of her.
"And then?" Jiang Ning asked, though she already knew the answer in her heart.
"Do you need to ask? I killed her, of course," Nangong Muyan replied with a smile.
Jiang Ning listened to all this without the slightest ripple in her heart, as if hearing someone else's story.
"But just because I knew your father's surname was Jiang, later on, whenever you needed to create an identity for a mission, I got lazy and just used this sound. Didn't you notice that most of the time your surname was Jiang, Jiang, or Jiang?" Nangong Muyan asked Jiang Ning again.
Jiang Ning thought carefully and realized it was true, but who would have made such a connection?
"Now that the story is over, I'll—"
Jiang Ning was about to say goodbye, but Nangong Muyan interrupted her, smiling alluringly, "Little sister, I told you this story to let you know that N's life has a beginning and an end. It's completely over now."
Nangong Muyan stared into Jiang Ning's eyes, her gaze filled with deep amusement, "You died, I died too. We met again in another world with new identities. Why do you have to cut ties with me so cleanly? It's quite saddening..."
Jiang Ning frowned and asked in return, "Is there any need for us to maintain a connection?"
"Oh my! Those words break my heart. After all, you know, over all these years, everything I've tried to raise has died, even cacti. You're the only one I've successfully raised. In this world, apart from myself, you're the one I love most."
"You're treating me like a pet?" Jiang Ning felt like punching someone.
"What are you thinking? You're a living, breathing person!" Nangong Muyan wore an expression that was half-smiling, half-not. "It's just that I don't know anyone else here. I want to come play with you."
"You're sick!" Jiang Ning couldn't be bothered with her anymore and climbed out the window herself.
Watching the window open and close, Nangong Muyan leisurely stood up, smiling and cursing, "You ungrateful little thing!"