The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

In the past, he had maltreated Nie Sangyu because she failed to see the larger issues and provoked his annoyance and disgust. But, the person in front of him right now had already changed from a shrew to proper, magnanimous, and unselfish woman. Thinking of their marriage that had occurred before their adulthood ceremonies, Ning Yuxuan felt a slight sense of humanness and ended up not willing to make her suffer.

Besides, if Nie Sangyu entered the palace using her identify as a member of Noble Consort Nie’s maiden family, what would happen to reputation of his marquis’s household?

After being silent for a while, Ning Yuxuan stood up and said, “Come with me first.”

Ji Man raised her head to look at him in confusion. The carriage would be leaving soon. Why would she go somewhere with him?

Ning Yuxuan lifted his feet and started walking forward. Ji Man could only follow after him. As they were walking, Ji Man carefully scrutinized the side of his face. Although his face was mostly expressionless, he didn’t seem angry, so she put down her worries.

Marquis Moyu led her to western courtyard, told her to wait outside, and entered his room. A short while later, he came out with a circular jade accessory.

The jade accessory was truly circular and felt very nice to touch. There wasn’t a decorative pattern on the jade, but it had a neatly carved character, “Ning”.

To be honest, this jade accessory looked really ugly. It was a wasted use of a valuable piece of white jade. However, when Ning Yuxuan put the jade into her hand, he still hesitated slightly.

“In the end, you’re still a person from my household.” Marquis Moyu finally loosened his grip and the piece of jade fell into the hollow of Nie Sangyu’s palm.

Ji Man was at a loss. She naturally didn’t understand the significance of this item. Just as she was about to ask him, Ning Yuxuan extremely impatiently said, “If you’re going to the palace, you should hurry up and go. Why are you dilly-dallying? Mother might already be waiting for you at the entrance.”

One moment he was cold, the next moment he was warm. It really was difficult to understand this person’s thoughts. Ji Man decided that since he was giving this item away for free, she would just accept it. After she hanged the jade accessory on her waist, she ran back to Feiwan Courtyard in small steps. She had Muxu straightened her up before they would walk to the main entrance.

“Master,” Muxu saw the jade accessory that was hanging on Nie Sangyu’s waist and was very surprised. “This... Did the marquis give you this?”

Ji Man nodded. The surface of the jade accessory was carved with his last name.

Muxu brightened with joy. She stretched her hand out and replaced the silver hairpin in Nie Sangyu’s hair with the jewelry they had redeemed back from the pawnshop, until her hair was covered in gold. She also changed Nie Sangyu’s clothing to a long pink dress over white sleeves.

“What’s this for?” Ji Man was confused.

“Although the marquis gave you this jade accessory without announcing it to the household, it’s still worth of a celebration.” Muxu happily said, “This is the jade accessory with the marquis’s last name that can only be worn by the secondary wife. The marquis must have definitely felt that he couldn’t bear to let you lose face when entering the palace. This servant naturally can’t let you look unpresentable either.”

Secondary wife? Ji Man was speechless from amazement. She had only said a few words and Marquis Moyu had actually been this generous? Hadn’t he originally done everything possible to block old madame from promoting her to secondary wife? Why did he end up giving her this jade accessory himself?

“This servant had just been thinking. What will you do if you meet Madam Nie and Old Master in the palace? But, now it’s fine. Although you had committed a huge mistake, you’re still the marquis’s secondary wife and other people won’t dare to be derisive towards you.” As Muxu said this, she helped her stand up with a smiling face.

Ji Man leaned her head to side and thought for a long time. Even as they were walking, she still continued to think. Ning Yuxuan didn’t seem like the type of person that would be willing to forgive Nie Sangyu after a short period of time. He had suddenly given her such a great favor. What was his purpose?

As she was getting into the carriage with old madame, old madame saw the jade accessory. Her eyes brightened, but she wasn’t too surprised. “Xuan-er was finally willing to give this to you.”

Ji Man smiled in a well-behaved manner and said, “Sangyu will have thank the marquis for his favor again when we return.”

“It’s fine for you to thank him, but he’s currently having a disagreement with that person in Qiangwei Courtyard. Don’t directly go there and add to the trouble.” Old madame advised.

Ji Man naturally understood the logic behind her words. Since Marquis Moyu hadn’t announced to the household about giving her this jade accessory, she would just treat it as him lending her this item temporarily. When they came back from the palace, she would still have to return this jade accessory to him.

After old madame has sat down in the carriage, she quietly discussed, “Right now, your older brother’s political career is going smoothly and your father continues to be highly regarded by the emperor. But, Nie Clan’s branches had recently been significantly cut down and those people are more aware of their place and won’t go beyond their bounds. Thus, the emperor is willing to favor Noble Consort Nie again. As for you, be better behaved. Don’t always rush forward and land yourself on the chopping block.”

“Sangyu understands.” Ji Man nodded. Her mind faintly became aware of what had happened. Marquis Moyu had only been willing to treat Nie Sangyu better because of Nie Clan. In addition, so that he wouldn’t be putting old madame into a difficult position, he had given her a reasonable status to meet Noble Consort Nie.

And so, this meant that his change didn’t have much to do with her personal performance. She had thought that if this man saw Nie Sangyu acting well-behaved for the past few months, he would be able to see her good points.

However, Ji Man was still feeling happy that she would be able to see this dynasty’s palace. She would treat this experience as a free vacation.

Before they entered the palace, they had to go through three inspections. After the formalities were completed, old madame came down from the carriage and brought Nie Sangyu with her as they followed the palace servants deeper into the palace. This dynasty was called Song Dynasty and its economic environment was comparable to the historical Song Dynasty.

The current palace wasn’t as lavish as the palace in the Qing Dynasty. The red walls and yellow tiles weren’t too excessively majestic to the point of feeling oppressive. It was only that the covered corridors meandered like ribbons with twists and turns. The eaves of the roofs were curved upwards like a beast’s fangs and there was a building or pavilion every five or ten steps. All in all, it was different from a commoner’s place.

Noble Consort Nie had always been very favored by the emperor and the place she lived in was more glamorous than the other halls. Ji Man kept her head lowered while she followed old madame inside. When they entered the hall, she saw layers of gauzy curtains with a vague figure behind them and smelled the strong scent of incense.