The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

Muxu was normally the only one that entered her room, so Ji Man hadn’t paid special attention to these young servant girls. Now, she carefully looked at them. Dengxin had clear eyes and seemed energetic. Gancao was quiet, sensible, and knowledgeable about etiquette. They would be good, young successors to Muxu.

“En.” Ji Man smiled. “Go see if your Aunt* Muxu has woken up yet. She suffered from a fright because of me.”

* (T/N: Just to be clear, these two girls aren’t related to Muxu. Calling Muxu their Aunt is just showing that she’s higher than them in hierarchy. Just like how Wen Wan calls Nie Sangyu her younger sister.)

There were five boxes of cold cream in total. Ji Man sent over a large box and two small boxes of cold cream to old madame’s courtyard. As for the remaining two boxes, she sent one box each to Wen Wan and Qian Lianxue.

Originally, since there was cold cream that could be purchased by anyone now, it wouldn’t be necessary for her to do this good act. However, she had ordered Miss Shui to not sell any cold cream to the marquis’s household unless it was her servant girls that were asking.

She had initially planned on always doing this as a way to curry favor. However, she knew that it wouldn’t be possible to continue. She had to end this before the bomb exploded.

—

When Muxu woke up, she leaned against her bed and gasped for a while. She saw that there were two lowest-ranking servant girls and Doctor Li in the room. Her master was the only one missing. Her heart clenched. She staggered out of bed and opened her wardrobe to look.

The bag was in its original position and there weren’t any traces of it being rummaged through.

“Did master give any orders?” Muxu turned her head to ask the people in the room.

The two young servants girls and Doctor Li shook their heads.

“Mistress Sang said she frightened you. She was worried, so she had me stay here.” Doctor Li picked up his medicine box and said, “You fainted because you were too scared. There’s nothing else that’s wrong. You’re fine after taking that short nap.”

Muxu relaxed. She straightened her clothes for a moment, then she sent Doctor Li away and went to look for Nie Sangyu.

Seeing Muxu come inside, Ji Man only asked, “You woke up?” There was a slight amount of distress in her expression.

Muxu’s heart rose up in fear again. She walked to her side and asked, “Master, why are you so dispirited?”

Ji Man’s head was resting on the table and her tone was extremely dejected as she said, “Ai, I believed in the wrong person.”

Muxu’s knees felt weak. She was almost about to kneel down. Her face was also becoming increasingly pale.

“I treated Miss Shui so well. Why did she see profit and forget her morality? She abandoned me in spite of my care.” Ji Man quietly said.

Miss Shui? Muxu paused. She stammered out a few words, “Why is it her?”

“Other than her, who else could it be?” Ji Man angrily said. “We had agreed upon a sixty and forty percent split. But now that she has money, she won’t acknowledge our agreement. She gave me five hundred silver taels and said she had purchased the copyright for the cold cream. She taking my ideas and going to do business for herself.”

“How could she do something like that?” Muxu widened her eyes. “Miss Shui seems like a decent person.”

Ji Man shook her head and sighed. “You can known a person for a long time without understanding her true nature, ah. I put the banknotes in bottommost drawer in the wardrobe. I’ll leave it alone and use it to support myself in old age.”

“Understood.” Muxu lowered her eyes. There was a struggle in her eyes.

The pair of master and servant stayed silent for a long time. Muxu couldn’t resist asking, “Master, aren’t you going to sue her? Wasn’t there a contract?”

Ji Man shook her head and said, “It won’t be good for me to make this matter public. If the marquis and Old Madame found out that I was the one behind the cold cream, there’ll definitely be unpleasant consequences.”

Muxu nodded and dazedly stood at the side in silence.

Ji Man lowered her head and drank tea with saying another word.

—

On the very same night, Qi Siling said a thief had entered her courtyard. She was fine, but she had lost a hundred silver taels of personal money.

Noise clamored throughout the marquis residence immediately, even the guests in the southern courtyard were affected. Full of curiosity, Ning Errong ran over to Nie Sangyu’s room to join in the fuss. “The honored concubines in your family are really rich. She’s actually saved a hundred silver taels.”

Ji Man was currently facing her mirror and grooming herself. When she heard these words, she chuckled and said, “She’s a person that once managed the inner courts. It would be strange if she didn’t have any foundation. There’ll probably be people coming over here to search my room later. You don’t have to go anywhere else to watch drama. My place will be the most exciting.”

Ning Errong didn’t understand the meaning of her words. But, a short while later, she saw Qi Siling and Marquis Moyu come to Feiwan Courtyard’s entrance, along with a group of servants.

“Check this place too.” Ning Yuxuan saw Nie Sangyu as soon as he entered the room. She even turned her head to look at him. Her face seemed even more beautiful now compared to when he saw her a few days ago. His heart would start to beat faster if he looked at her for a little bit longer.

Marquis Moyu faintly looked away and gestured at the servants.

Qi Siling entered the room and warmly held Nie Sangyu’s hand. “Older sister, we’ll have to bother you. The marquis and I even searched Qiangwei Courtyard recently. There shouldn’t be a problem here, right?”

Ji Man’s smile was proper and relaxed. “Younger sister, feel free to search anywhere.”

Qi Siling nodded. She turned around and saw a few servant girls coming inside. They opened Nie Sangyu’s wardrobe. A few of the servants also barged into Muxu’s room. After rummaging through, one of them yelled out, “Found it.”

A lot of Nie Sangyu’s clothes had been thrown out of the wardrobe in their search, but the servant girls came up empty-handed. With red faces, they stood up and said, “There’s nothing here.”

Qi Siling looked at Marquis Moyu. A few of the servants had seized Muxu and brought her into Nie Sangyu’s room. Just as they placed the bag down and was about to open it, they heard Nie Sangyu call out, “Wait.”