The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

Scared, Muxu trembled. She hastily wrapped up the lotus leaf and went to sit in the outer room’s couch. She ate the chicken and rice, tiny bite by tiny bite. As she ate, she turned her head to scrutinize Nie Sangyu.

Her master voraciously ate her food without the slightest hint of table manners. There was even rice sticking on her face as one hand held a chicken leg. She really resembled a bandit. Noticing Muxu’s gaze, she lifted her head and looked at her like a fiendish spirit, “Eat your food!”

Muxu shuddered. She hastily lowered her head and didn’t dare to continue looking. Perhaps, it was her misperception, but she felt as if her master was gentler than before. But, when she behaved fiercely, her gaze was exactly the same as before.

After Ji Man finished the chicken and rice, she started feeling more satisfied with her current situation. She left the aftermath of the meal to Muxu to clean and went back to sleeping.

——–

Ji Man unexpectedly dreamed of Nie Sangyu on her first night in this unfamiliar world.

This pitiful and hateful woman with her deathly pale face floated by in her dream. She quietly said, “You came here to fulfill my wish for me. When you fulfill my wish, I’ll leave to be reincarnated and you can go back.”

Ji Man really wanted to kick her far away. Stupid second female lead. She had caused her own death and now, she wanted her to change the novel’s ending?

“What benefit do I get if I help you?”

Nie Sangyu blankly looked at her and said, “If you don’t help me, you won’t be able to go back.”

Ji Man, “...”

So, the meaning was that she had been snatched here to do free work. If she didn’t accomplish her task, she wouldn’t be able to return to her wonderful modern world and would have to continue staying here?

She took a deep breath, then she took another deep breath. Ji Man decided that a person couldn’t bicker with a ghost. She could only press down her anger and ask her, “What’s your wish?”

Nie Sangyu didn’t say a word. She turned around and her figure gradually faded away.

She left?

Ji Man was flabbergasted. She shouldn’t be messing around like this, right? If Nie Sangyu didn’t say her wish, how could she fulfill it?

When Ji Man woke up the next morning, there were two black circles under her eyes.

She was sitting at the table when Muxu brought a bowl of porridge and a pickled vegetable dish. Then, she closed the doors, and quietly said, “Master, the marquis has ordered for you to stay in the confinement courtyard for now, so you don’t need to pay respect to the new madam.”

Ji Man nodded. If she didn’t have to pay respects, it would save her trouble. She hadn’t figure out who had harmed her on the wedding day yet. She would definitely be at a disadvantage if she went over there without knowing anything.

“This is breakfast?” She lowered her head to look at the porridge in the bowl. It was such a small bowl. It didn’t even look like there was enough to fill the gap between teeth. Fortunately, she had stolen a chicken yesterday.

Muxu lowered her head in shame. “They said this servant had come too late. Only this was left... Master, please bear with it and eat it.”

Ji Man actually wasn’t hungry. She waved her hand and said, “You can eat it. I’m too full from yesterday. Since I’ll be staying inside doing nothing, I won’t be hungry for a while.”

Muxu turned her head to look at things piled in a corner and quietly said, “Master, you haven’t finished your embroidery yet. That will take energy. You should at least eat a little bit. This servant will go to the kitchen at noon and wait. I’ll bring more food for lunch.”

Embroidery? Ji Man was at a loss. “What embroidery?”

“The marquis has ordered that while you’re in the confinement courtyard, you need to finish embroidering two hundred handkerchiefs. They’ll be used by the people in the residence.”

Ji Man swatted her head and remembered. This Nie Sangyu only had one skill: unique embroidery. The things she embroidered were vivid and lifelike and she had even received the emperor’s praise once. As it turns out, Marquis Moyu was turning waste into profit. Wouldn’t this count as forced labor?

“How many have I embroidered?”

Muxy honestly replied, “To respond to master, you haven’t even embroidered one. Didn’t you say before that no one in the residence to deserve to use a handkerchief embroidered by you? So, they’ve been put to the side...”

The corners of Ji Man’s lips twitched, “What will happen if I don’t embroider?”

Muxu looked at her strangely. “Liu Mama said last time that if you don’t embroider, then you’re only allowed to eat breakfast and lunch. You won’t be served anything for dinner.”

In the previous month, Nie Sangyu would rather be beaten to death then embroider handkerchiefs. The quality of the food had also been too poor, so she didn’t eat either. She spent every day endlessly wailing and weeping and had starved herself to only skin and bones.

Ji Man rolled her eyes. If you can earn a meal, why not do it?

But, there was a problem. She didn’t know how to embroider.

Muxu saw that she kept staring at the embroidery frame and other tools that were in the corner, so she went over there and brought the items over. There were two hundred white and clean handkerchiefs without any embroidery inside the burlap bag. There was also a large pile of different color threads and a pincushion with numerous needles.

Muxu put a handkerchief into the embroidery frame. Seeing her master experimentally pick up an embroidery needle, she looked at her with slight surprise and asked, “Master, are you going to embroider?”

“Eh...” While Ji Man was still pondering on how to embroider, her hand suddenly started to move and skillfully completed the first stitch. As the excellent stitches continued, the outline of a mandarin duck’s head appeared.

The hand was still hers and it was her strength that was being used. She could also stop when she wanted to, but Ji Man discovered that this hand had an innate ability embroider.

Or, she could also explain it as Nie Sangyu still being in this body and this body had an instinctive response to embroidering.

Nie Sangyu, who was unyielding towards Ning Yuxuan and who would prefer to starve to death than embroider, why was she willing to help her right now? Ji Man found this slightly inconceivable. But, this was great. If she obediently embroidered handkerchiefs, then she wouldn’t have to worry about going hungry!