Madame is Pretending to be an Academic Slacker Again!

”Jue’er, have all the important guests arrived?”

Mrs. Nalan had been welcoming guests at the entrance for a full hour. The first table had already been extended repeatedly, and now there were ten tables in the first row, quite the spectacle!

Nalan Ye Jue smiled without a word.

Indeed.

Before the words even settled.

Another heavyweight guest arrived from outside.

”Madam, hello. On behalf of the royal family of Y Country, I congratulate Miss Qin on her wedding...”

Everyone: ”...”

Wow, can’t these big shots stop stressing us ordinary people out?

==

Lounge.

Qin Xin had already put on her wedding dress, done her hair and makeup, and sat on the sofa idly playing with her phone.

Ah, what to do if you’re bored of playing with your phone.

Nalan Ye Jue wouldn’t allow her to go out and greet the guests, afraid she’d get tired.

But sitting idly on the sofa is tiring too, right? The waist, legs, everything feels tired.

Getting up and moving around a bit feels much more comfortable.

Qin Xin removed the heavy diamond necklace from her neck and the weighty hair ornaments from her head, finally feeling a bit relieved.

Oh, being a bride isn’t easy. These ornaments alone are exhausting enough.

I heard that in some places, customs dictate wearing gold bracelets, covering the whole arm. It’s suffocating just thinking about it.

After thinking it over, she also removed the crinoline and train from her dress.

At once, the formal long train wedding dress turned into a light and convenient short tulle skirt—this was her clever design, to make sure brides wouldn’t be too tired dragging a big train everywhere.

Feeling light and free, she pushed open the lounge door, planning to take a stroll and get some fresh air.

The front hall was a no-go, too many old acquaintances among the guests there, she’d never be able to escape the chatter.

The servants were busy in the back hall preparing snacks and drinks, she didn’t want to disrupt them either.

Thinking it over, she decided to slip out the side door and take a walk on the garden lawn.

She walked with light steps in her crystal shoes, treading through the garden corridors, occasionally stopping to play with the fish or adjust the flowers and plants—the gardener of the Nalan Family really did a great job, the flora was well cared for. She thought about moving her Dongju here another day.

A petal from a Dongju flower in her hand fondly brushed against her.

She touched the Lan Qingxin ring on her finger. Lately, she’d put it back on to play the role of Lan Qingxin and had forgotten to remove it. Later, when exchanging wedding rings, where would be a safe place to put the flower ring?

While thinking, she suddenly tripped over something.

It seemed to be a cork.

In the dim garden light, she looked down and was surprised—it wasn’t a cork, it was a person.

Wearing a Nalan Family servant’s uniform, the person was not tall, very young, presumably a newly recruited apprentice.

Why sleep in the garden?

Were they too exhausted from preparing for the wedding?

Qin Xin crouched down, unafraid of her wedding dress getting dirty, and gently called, ”Hey there, wake up. You’ll catch a cold sleeping here. If you’re tired, go back to a room to rest. You don’t have to do everything perfectly.”

Everyone had gone above and beyond to make the wedding so grand and heartwarming; she was already deeply moved.

She wasn’t too concerned with the formalities.

Qin Xin called a few times and lightly shook the apprentice’s arm, but they didn’t budge.

Realizing something was off, Qin Xin placed her fingers under the apprentice’s nose, and her breath hitched.

Their breath was weak, faint as though they wouldn’t last much longer.

She quickly turned them over to check for injuries.

But after a brief examination, there were no visible injuries on the apprentice, and no signs of damage to their blood vessels, just a very weak pulse, as if their vitality had been drained. Qin Xin had never encountered such a situation before.

Her expression grew serious, and just as she was about to call for someone to carry the apprentice to the hospital for a more thorough examination, she noticed the apprentice was tightly grasping something.

It was round, shiny.

It looked like a Crystal Ball.

Glittering with vibrant colors, as if life itself swirled within.