The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

Grabbing Ji Man’s hand, Zhu Yurun somewhat proudly said, “Oh, right. I do have a skill. I can paint. It can be considered my one talent. Dad said that if I don’t have even one talent, my future husband would look down on me.”

With her head lowered and her attention focused on embroidering, Ji Man absent-mindedly responded, “En. What can you paint?”

Zhu Yurun happily took out a scroll and opened it. “Look, I know how to paint him!”

Ji Man froze in shock for a moment. The man in the painting was wearing a robe that was embroidered with green bamboo. His somewhat long and narrow eyes, which had been paired with a smiling expression, looked somewhat dissolute.

He looked pretty ordinary. It seemed like this painting had captured some of the person’s personality. Actually, this person looked somewhat familiar to her.

“Your painting is pretty good. Who is he?”

With a red face, Miss Zhu stamped her feet and said, “It’s him! The one I told you about. The one that’s really, really good-looking!”

What?

Ji Man stared at the painting for several seconds. Her eyelids twitched as she asked, “So you’re saying... this is your baby’s father?”

Zhu Yurun’s eyes were glimmering with stars as she nodded. Her fingers carefully stroked the face on her painting, and she quietly said, “I’ve never seen anyone that’s better looking than him. Even when he’s furrowing his brow, he still looks mesmerizing.”

Ji Man shivered and almost poked herself with the embroidery needle.

Sure enough, a woman in love really couldn’t be reasoned with. Although the man in the painting looked decent enough, it really wasn’t to the level of really, really good-looking. That face shouldn’t have been enough to turn someone into a love-struck idiot, right?

Or, perhaps, Miss Zhu’s painting skills weren’t good enough, so she hadn’t fully captured this man’s magnificent beauty?

Ji Man narrowed her eyes and moved closer to the painting. Even if she mentally Photoshopped this image into something more attractive, she didn’t have any strong feelings, except one. Familiar.

Where had she seen this person before?

—

Even after she returned to the marquis’s estate, Ji Man was still contemplating this question. However, when she entered the western courtyard, she found out that Marquis Moyu still had a guest over, but they weren’t inside anymore. Instead, they were playing chess under a covered corridor.

Ning Yuxuan was holding onto Haohao with one hand, and his other hand was holding a white chess piece. He was leaning against the red pillar behind himself and smiling as if he had a well-thought out strategy.

In contrast, the person across from him had a slightly furrowed brow and was silently holding a black chess piece.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, Ning Yuxuan turned his head to the side to look. When he saw that it was Ji Man, the smile on his face completely faded away, and he turned his head back. The person across from him was too focused on playing chess and hadn’t even bothered raising his head to look that way.

Haohao opened his mouth and sweetly called out, “Teacher.”

Taking advantage of this moment, Ji Man hurriedly came over and stretched her arms out so that she could take Haohao from Ning Yuxuan.

Ning Yuxuan held onto Haohao, who was slightly squirming. “Teacher Ji, aren’t you busy with getting married? How can you have the free time to teach Haohao?”

Ji Man stopped at the chessboard and properly saluted. “Marquis, this one has time to give Haohao lessons. The betrothal gifts and other items have already been prepared.”

Ning Yuxuan sneered. “You’re really going to marry her?!”

Ji Man pursed her lips and said, “This one has already stated that this one haven’t sold myself into lifetime servitude. This one has the freedom to marry whoever this one wants.”

Marquis Moyu was so angry that he laughed. He tossed the white chess piece that he had been holding into a puddle of water. With a stiff expression, he turned his head away.

Even though Qian Yingchen had been engrossed in the game, he finally raised his head and was astonished by the sight of Marquis Moyu’s drastic mood change. He looked at Ji Man and asked, “Is this the heir’s teacher?”

Ji Man paused before turning her head to look at him. As soon as she saw his face, the answer to the question that had stumped her earlier finally came to her. “Sir Qian!”

Back then, she had happened to meet this person by chance. Qian Yingchen was Qian Lianxue’s younger brother and Marquis Moyu’s friend. Ji Man still remembered that back then, he had been the one who welcome her into Tonghua Poetry Association. It was only that later, because of Qian Lianxue’s actions, he had been demoted to Xu Province. She hadn’t expected to see him again in the capital.

But, this face... A lot of thoughts went through Ji Man’s mind after she had looked at his face for only a few moments.

Was the destiny in this world really that rubbish? She had been bothered by why the portrait that Zhu Yurun had drawn had looked so familiar to her. The answer was simply because she had seen this face before. Admittedly, the face in the portrait had been drawn with simpler lines.

So, the man that Zhu Yurun had forced herself onto was Qian Yingchen? Ji Man looked at him deeply. This was really too...

Seeing that Ji Man was looking at him with such a strange look, Qian Yingchen couldn’t help touching his own face. “Teacher Ji, you actually recognize this one?”

“This one has been looking forward to meeting a famous person like you, Sir Qian.” Ji Man uneasily laughed. Wanting to confirm again, she swept her gaze across his face as she said, “This one heard that Sir Qian was in Xu Province. Why...?”

Qian Yingchen smiled and said, “This one was transferred back to the capital half a year ago. Teacher Ji, where are you from? Why do you have this information about Yingchen?”

Ji Man silently retorted; not only do I know this about you, I’m also going to marry your woman and be a father to your child. Ji Man returned his smile and said, “This one is from Zhangjun. This one has just heard of your famous reputation and happened to hear some news about you. That’s all.”

As someone that had been the manager of Tonghua Poetry Association, it wasn’t surprising that Qian Yingchen would have fans.

While the two of them were happily chatting away, Ning Yuxuan wasn’t in a good mood. With an unhappy expression, he said, “Yingchen, let’s stop our game here and go inside to drink some tea.”