The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

When Ji Man returned to her senses and looked up after dazedly staying in her room for a while, she noticed that Muxu was gone. She stretched her waist and walked outside to look for her.

There wasn’t anyone in the courtyard either. She had sent the other servant girls to Shuiji store to see if its business was good and to also buy five boxes of cold cream. Muxu normally stood outside of Nie Sangyu’s room, but for an inexplicable reason, Ji Man didn’t see her today.

Ji Man walked to the side room and notice that Muxu’s door wasn’t closed. She suddenly had a playful impulse and wanted to startle her. And so, she quietly tiptoed into her room.

Muxu’s back was facing the door, and she was stuffing something inside her wardrobe.

Ji Man suddenly jumped over to her and patted her shoulder, “Muxu.”

“Ah!” Muxu’s entire body sprung up as if she had suffered a great fright. Her eyes were extremely wide. She stopped breathing and fainted straight away.

Ji Man was also startled. She inwardly scolded herself; she shouldn’t play around like this. There really were incidents when people died from fright. She hurriedly carried Muxu to the bed, went outside, found a servant that was passing by, and told him to send Doctor Li over.

Original translation is from fuyuneko dot org. If you’re reading this elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.

After Ji Man returned to the room, she saw that the wardrobe’s door was still open, so she went over there to close it. But, when she went over, she saw a cloth bag that was bulging with small objects. It seemed as if it was stuffed full of silver ingots.

Where did Muxu get a bagful of money? Last time, she had given her a banknote worth fifty silver taels. Even if it was changed into silver ingots, there shouldn’t be this many, ah.

Ji Man furrowed her brows. She cast a glance at unconscious person on the bed and opened the bag.

There were twenty silver ingots that were worth two hundred silver taels in total. There was also a banknote underneath them. Ji Man looked at it. It had a large value of one hundred sixty silver taels. On the top, it was marked with Feng Hui Union’s stamp. It was exactly the same mark as the ones on the banknotes that Miss Shui brought over every month.

Ji Man looked at it for a while, then she carefully wrapped up the money, put the bag back in its original position, and closed the wardrobe.

Doctor Li arrived quickly. His face looked very thin, but there wasn’t much worry showing. It was only when he saw that Muxu had fainted that he became somewhat anxious.

“She was perfectly fine before. Why did she faint?” Doctor Li sat down and checked her pulse.

Ji Man quietly said, “I called her name and unexpectedly frightened her into fainting.”

Doctor Li froze for a moment in surprise, then he helplessly said, “She is a bit too lacking in courage. I don’t know why, but she’s always so jittery.”

It was true that Muxu didn’t have much courage. Based on what Mu Shuiqing had said last time, she had previously been abused by Nie Sangyu. Ji Man felt that Nie Sangyu had wronged Muxu, so she did her best to make up for it.

But, how could she have forgotten? Vigilance must be maintained to avoid being harmed. This servant girl was her closest confidant and knew more of her secrets than anyone else. She was her Achilles’ heel. If someone could grasp her loyalty, then everything would be all over for her.

Ji Man lowered her eyes for a moment and said, “Doctor Li, how’s your mother’s health?”

Doctor Li was in the middle of writing a prescription. Hearing her words, he paused and said, “Mistress Sang, thank you for your concern. My mother’s health has finally improved recently after a long time of care.”

Ji Man nodded. She had heard that Doctor Li’s mother was bedridden and also had asthma. She had been regularly eating ginseng as medicine. Doctor Li’s income was meager, so it was definitely difficult for him to support his mother.

“Doctor Li, I’ll have to bother you with watching over Muxu for me. I have a slight headache. I’m going back to my room to rest for a bit.” Ji Man stood up.

“This...” Doctor Li hesitantly stood up and secretly checked Nie Sangyus expression. It wouldn’t be good for a man to be alone with a servant girl inside her room. However, Nie Sangyu was a master and he couldn’t insist that she stay here.

“There’s no need for you to treat Muxu as an outsider. If you’re concerned that you’re damaging Muxu’s reputation, then marry her in a grand ceremony. I can release her from her servitude,” Ji Man teased. Then, she left without waiting for a reply.

Doctor Li blushed. Seeing that he couldn’t stop her from leaving, he obediently sat back down on the bed.

—

Ji Man returned to her room and opened her wardrobe. She had placed her banknotes in the bottommost drawer. Since the cold cream and facemasks were both selling well, Miss Shui had sent over eight hundred silver taels worth of banknotes. She had Muxu keep accounts and hadn’t counted them herself.

Ji Man added up the pile of banknotes. There were still five hundred silver taels worth of banknotes left.

Did Muxu think she didn’t know how much she had earned, or did she think she was very stupid? Ji Man grasped the banknotes and couldn’t figure it out. If she wanted the money to treat Doctor Li’s mother, she could have asked her. It wasn’t like she would say no. Why would she take such a big risk by stealing from her?

Moreover, Muxu probably wouldn’t be the only one in trouble if someone found out there were three hundred sixty silver taels in a servant girl’s room. Would she also become implicated? Other people wouldn’t be happy if they found out that a woman had a business of her own. If she were exposed, even old madame wouldn’t be able to protect her.

Ji Man suddenly felt chills down her spine. She hurriedly packed all of the banknotes in her hand into a cloth bag and quietly walked to the backyard. Seeing that there was no one around, she dug a hole and buried the bag. In order to prevent other people from seeing that the dirt had been shifted, she moved a nearby flowerpot to cover it.

Then, she pretended that nothing had happened and returned to her room to sleep.