The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

“Master.”

“En?” Ji Man was absentminded for a while before she finally returned to her senses. “Huh? Where’s the marquis?”

“The marquis left a long time ago.” Dengxin sighed. Speaking like a little old lady, she reproachfully said, “Master, you should try to be more attentive with serving the marquis. When he left yesterday night, his expression look really horrible.”

Yesterday? Ah? She only remembered that she had been talking and talking... then, she ended up falling asleep after getting drunk. What happened after that? She seemed to have dreamed about Nie Sangyu. She hadn’t seen her in a long time. Then, she was briefly choked. And after that, she fell asleep.

Ning Yuxuan still hadn’t said he loved her! Otherwise, when she woke up, the cozy sight of her small apartment in modern-day should have greeted her!

Ji Man felt outraged. He had gone back on his word! As she washed up and changed her clothes, she kept grumbling to herself.

Later, when she went to the study to look for Ning Yuxuan, she didn’t find him there.

When she tried looking for him again that evening, he was already in Nie Chen’s warm and soft embrace.

“Older sister, what are you doing here?” Half-dressed, Nie Chenyu looked at her with an insincerely sweet gaze. “You’ve already taken the marquis when he was on his way to younger sister’s place several times before. Right now, the marquis is already in younger sister’s bed. Older sister, are you still going to snatch him away?”

Standing right outside of the room, Ji Man dryly laughed and said, “the two of you can continue,” before leaving.

—

Ji Man wasn’t an idiot. She could tell that Marquis Moyu had been deliberately avoiding her. He had been taking turns with resting at the other women’s courtyards, but he continued to not have time to see her even once. When she sent a message that there was something she wanted to discuss with him, he would have Guibai act as his messenger.

Thinking it over, there could only be one reason for his behavior. He had heard the words she said in her dream. As for how much of it he had heard or what exactly she had said, Ji Man thought it wasn’t that serious. Otherwise, Ning Yuxuan would have tied her up instead of just avoiding her.

Recently, Yun-er had fallen gravely ill and still hadn’t recovered. Wen Wan took advantage of this opportunity to keep Ning Yuxuan at Qiangwei Courtyard. Xia-shi would occasionally bring over Haohao so that he could get some fatherly affection too. Liu Hanyun was wholeheartedly taking care of Xi-er. As long as she didn’t go over there to compete for Marquis Moyu’s attention, her life in this household was quite peaceful.

Ji Man wryly laughed. She didn’t know why, but she felt a bit sad.

Fortunately, the Yuzhen princess would be coming soon, so she didn’t have the free time to be feeling melancholy for too long.

—

After Ji Man finished dressing up, it was about time for her to go to the palace and participate in the welcoming ceremony.

The Yuzhen princess was actually quite the peculiar character. She was wearing a snow-white arctic fox dress, and there was a long, fiery whip at her waist. It actually looked very complementary with the red and white boots that she was wearing. With her face arrogantly lifted upwards, it was easy to see that she had been pampered to the point of being conceited. Her chin remained slightly lifted up as she swept her gaze across the womenfolk that had gathered here to welcome her before she greeted the empress.

Her name was Pengyue. Her last name was Shangguan. She was Yuzhen queen’s only daughter.

In order to maintain the amicable and diplomatic relationship between the two countries as well as working towards an alliance marriage, Princess Pengyue brilliantly smiled at the empress and said, “Pengyu doesn’t want to live in the palace. They said that the palace walls are too high. It’s not a suitable place for me.”

All of the imperial concubines that were present sighed in relief. Although this princess was only a teenager, all of the women that entered the palace each year were also in their teens. If this princess somehow ended up wanting to marry the emperor, with her background and appearance, she would be a formidable opponent to all of them.

Hearing these words, the empress understood that this princess didn’t have the intention of marrying the emperor, so she happily said, “The first princess consort has recently been fussing that she’s been bored lately. She doesn’t have a suitable companion to keep her company. Your Highness, if you don’t mind, how about going to the first prince’s estate to play?”

The imperial noble consort wasn’t happy to hear these words. She pursed her lips and said, “It was only a short period ago that the emperor had the first prince reflecting on his errors in solitude. If the princess goes there, there probably won’t be anything interesting over there. Princess Pengyue seems to be around the same age as Qian-er. How about going over to third prince’s estate and staying a few days there?”

The empress faintly smiled. “The third prince has only recently gotten married and finally has a princess consort. For the princess to go over there during their honeymoon period, that doesn’t seem very suitable.”

Hearing these two women competing back and forth, Pengyue wasn’t very happy. She stopped smiling and said, “Your Majesty and Your Highness, you don’t need to argue anymore. Pengyue will choose a place to live by myself.”

“Your Highness, you came to our capital. The emperor has ordered that we can’t be neglectful.” Smiling, the imperial noble consort glanced at the nearby Nie Sangyu and Ning Errong and said, “Sangyu and Errong happen to be free today. How about they show you around?”

Ning Errong hadn’t left Ning Residence in a long time, not even to visit her best friend.

When Ji Man saw Errong today, Errong’s expression didn’t look good. She had wanted to ask her what was wrong, but she hadn’t been able to ask yet because of the current scene.

Pengyue looked at them for a few seconds, then she nodded and said, “That’s a good idea. I don’t know my way around here.”

Ji Man smiled. “Princess, do you want to take a stroll outside of the palace or look around the palace?”

Pengyue raised her eyebrows and said, “Naturally, I want to go outside of the palace. You both look like married women. Is it appropriate for the two of you to accompany me out in public?”

She had heard that the married women in Great Song Dynasty didn’t like to show their faces in public.

Translator Ramblings: When Ji Man first came here, she was scared that Ning Yuxuan would think she was a demoness/evil spirit that’s possessing Nie Sangyu’s body and try to exorcise her. Her fear has partially come true ^^;;. He’s avoiding her because he doesn’t want to confirm his suspicions any further. He’s like an ostrich that’s hiding its head in the sand.