The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

“Of course.” Ning Jinchen lowered his eyes. “It’s getting onto a bridal sedan and becoming someone’s wife.”

Qian-er smiled, but there were tears in her eyes. “Huh, you really do know what its means. Do you also know that once I marry someone else, I won’t be able to keep you company anymore?”

Ning Jinchen froze in surprise. His hand stiffened around the rosary necklace. A long time later, he unfroze. “This day would happen sooner or later. Fortunately, I didn’t waste your time.”

The words echoed in Qian-er‘s mind. She laughed to the point that she was bent over at the waist. Tears plopped downwards too. “What does Buddha say?”

Ning Jinchen closed his eyes again and quietly said, “Idealism, fulfill one’s desire, forget yourself.”

“Why won’t you listen to Buddha’s words then?” Qian-er wiped her tears and looked up at him. “Don’t you like Buddha the most?”

“How am I not listening?” Ning Jinchen slightly smiled. “Everything that Buddha has said, I remember it all in my heart and follow them.”

Qian-er giggled. Her smile looked worse than when she had been crying. “Repeat after me.”

“Hmm?” Ning Jinchen blinked.

She took a deep breath and straightened up to look at him. “Buddha said.”

“... Buddha said,” he repeated.

“Idealism.” She took a step towards him.

“... Idealism.”

“Fulfill one’s desires.” She took another step.

“... fulfill one’s desires.”

“Love me.” On the third step, she stopped in front of him. Her eyes were directly looking at him.

“... Love...” Ning Jinchen furrowed his brow. “The last words are forget yourself.”

“I don’t care, love me!” Yan Shengqian stubbornly stared at him. “I listened to your recite Buddhist scriptures for six years. How could I be wrong?”

Ning Jinchen was shocked. An unclear emotion quivered in his heart, but in the end, he only calmly said, “Amitabha.”

Qian-er wished that she could have been slightly more mature and not cry in front of him so frequently. And yet, she could never resist becoming a crying mess in front of him. “You stupid monk. You’ve been reading Buddhist scriptures for so long, but you don’t understand what Buddha is saying. You should follow your heart. Your feelings are the most important thing, but you still value practicing Buddhism as if that’s the most important thing!

Ning Jinchen pursed his lips. He thought; this was probably his tribulation. It would be fine once it passed.

“In three days, the bridal sedan will come,” Qian-er said with reddened eyes. “I don’t want to get married!”

“You’re engaged. How can you not get married?” He stood up, brushed off a leaf from his body, and turned to leave.

“I don’t want this engagement. If you’re willing to take me away, I’ll go with you.” Qian-er looked at his back figure with a heated gaze. “Even if you want to recite Buddhist scriptures for the rest of your life, I’ll still follow you. Forever!”

How absurd.

Did emotions lead everyone in the mortal word to act so absurd? Ning Jinchen smiled. He calculated the time. He should be rushing back to the marquis’s estate now.

—

The marquis’s wife was currently very sick. Ning Yuxuan was sitting on the side of the bed and filled with anxiety. On the bed, Ji Man cracked her eyes open with tears streaming down. “It’s going to shatter...”

“What’s going to shatter?” Ning Yuxuan held her hand in distress. “No matter what it is, I’ll have someone repair it. There’s nothing that can’t be repaired.”

“The dream...” More and more tears fell. Ji Man felt so upset as she cried. “How can you repair a dream?”

While Marquis Moyu was stunned, Ning Jinchen rushed into the room and fed lifesaving medicine to Ji Man.

Ji Man’s eyes remained open for a moment to look at him, then she closed them again.

“What did you feed her?” Marquis Moyu said with a sunken expression.

“Mother’s soul is being pulled away by something. Now that she’s eaten that medicine, it’ll be fine,” said Ning Jinchen, “I came down from the mountain to repay my parents’ kindness by saving her life.”

Ning Yuxuan froze in surprise for a long time. Seeing that Ji Man was still breathing and everything looked fine, he put down his worries.

Ning Jinchen decided to remain in the marquis’s estate for three more days to care for Ji Man. He would use this time to contemplate as well. After three days, it would be time for him to return to the mountain.

Qian-er had already been engaged to a good family. In the end, it wasn’t his place to meddle with the mortal world’s ordinary affairs.

—

He choose to leave the marquis’s estate in the evening. He didn’t tell anyone that he was leaving and only left a letter for his parents. If he became an immortal, he would continue to protect his family.

Perhaps, he could protect her too.

As he was walking on the street, there was a flurry of sounds as a wedding procession passed by him in the opposite direction. Ning Jinchen stopped to watch for a moment. No emotion showed on his face. He turned and left.

Inside the bridal sedan, Qian-er‘s head was covered with wedding veil. She thought of that memory from several years ago. They had climbed onto a tree together.

He had asked her, “What is that?”

“This is a wedding procession,” she answered, “The groom is going over and bringing the person he likes to his home on a red bridal sedan to marry.”

She had waited for six years, and her heart hadn’t died yet. But in the past three days, her heart had turned into ashes. He would never come for her, just like how he hadn’t been willing to repeat those words and say that he loved her.

—

The teenager, who had a wonderful aptitude for reaching enlightenment, returned to the mountain. His hair was shaved.

Monk Xuwu happily hugged his disciple’s thigh and cried. “The day that I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived.”

Ning Jinchen was no longer called Ning Jinchen. He used a Buddhist scripture title as his name, Buddha said, as his monk name.

“Buddha said, “Idealism, fulfill one’s desires...”

Love me.

Translator Ramblings: I think Ning Jinchen likes Qian-er, but his like for her is a platonic one. She was his first and only friend. Because he’s never had a friend before and minimal contact with other humans, he doesn’t know how to name his emotions for her. I think he’s someone with really high IQ, but low EQ because of his upbringing.

What do you guys think of this story arc? I was rooting for Qian-er, but I also like that the author didn’t write a bunch of stories about infatuated girls and their happy endings. It feels sad that Qing-er is heartbroken, but it could be paving the way for her move on with her life and find a new happiness. I wish the author had written a short blurb from Qian-er ‘s point of view once she’s more mature and how she views her younger self.