The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

“Third Young Master, it’s about time that you consider your own marriage,” Ning Yuxuan casually suggested. “Eldest Young Master has already married a virtuous woman and established his own stable household. For you to continue to not show care towards anything, it’s really failing to live up to Noble Consort Nie’s heartfelt intentions.”

The third prince looked up and raised his eyebrows, “Yuxuan, do you want to lend me a helping hand?”

On the surface, Marquis Moyu was helping the crown prince. However, the relationship between Nie Clan and Ning Clan wasn’t shallow. No one knew whose side this great tree would fall towards in the end.

“Yuxuan just wants to peacefully receive his salary every year. As for other matters, I’m not interested in thinking about them,” Marquis Moyu said with a slight smile. “With Third Young Master’s intelligence and talent, it wouldn’t be difficult for you to become accomplished.”

The third prince quietly chuckled. “You’re such a cunning fox...”

“Sir Ning, Third Young Master, its time to eat.” Errong held a dish as she came out of the kitchen and called out to the people in the pavilion as she passed by.

Original translation is from fuyuneko dot org. If you’re reading this elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.

“I’ve been feeling hungry since I smelled that aroma.” The third prince put down his brush and said, “In the past, I’ve always had people around to serve me whether I was in the palace or outside. I only needed to stretch my hands out when the servants put on my clothes for me and just open my mouth when food was brought over. I never knew what the feeling of hunger felt like. Father’s arrangement can be considered a rather useful experience.”

Ning Yuxuan nodded and followed the third prince towards the dining room.

—

It was problematic to figure out a good way to serve this large family of over a dozen people. There were a total of twenty different dishes and there weren’t too many duplicate dishes. However, it wouldn’t be possible for the other people to share a table with the emperor and Noble Consort Nie. If she separated the dishes to different tables, the other people would inevitably think she was biased one way or the other towards the emperor’s relatives based on the dishes she put at their tables.

And so, Ji Man placed seven dishes and one soup at the emperor, Noble Consort Nie, and the two prince’s table. For the other people, she separated the rest of the food onto small plates and put eight smaller plates and one soup at each of the remaining tables. Although it looked very abundant, it was only because the plates themselves were beautiful. The actual quantity of each dish wasn’t much. She placed the dishes onto trays and carried them over to the main courtyard’s short tables one by one. She lit a bonfire in the center of the courtyard, decorated the area around the tables with fur cushions, hanged fabric to block the winds, as well as embroidered screens.

In order to avoid showing differential treatment, Ji Man went to each courtyard and room herself to inform people that it was time to eat. She didn’t require anyone to sit at a specific spot. There were slight difference between the dishes on each of the tables, and she let them choose for themselves where they would sit down based on their preferences for the food.

Amongst the emperor’s relatives, there were a couple of madams and young ladies that were picky eaters. However, Ji Man had a very good attitude and she even delivered winter fruit to them after the meal was over. She said these fruit were good for nourishing their skin. In any case, she was Marquis Moyu’s secondary wife. She wasn’t some servant girl and she had already worked to this level and done everything for them. No one could say anything bad about her. After all, if they were really told to do this type of work themselves, they wouldn’t.

Ji Man had lived on her own in the modern world, so of course she knew how to cook. The people from the palace were accustomed to eating greasy and opulent dishes. After eating Ji Man’s fresh and tasty home cooking, many of the womenfolk came to ask Ji Man about the menu after the meal. Ji Man wasn’t stingy and gave away detailed recipes to these women. Of course, she had Ning Errong write out the recipes for her.

—

After the meal was over, Noble Consort Nie called her over. Holding Sangyu’s hand, she joyfully said, “Even Seventh Master was saying your praises.”

The current emperor had been the seventh prince in his generation.

Ji Man looked at the joy in Noble Consort Nie’s eyes and couldn’t resist curving her eyes too. “Sangyu is honored by this privilege.”

“The current you really makes me adore you from the bottom of my heart.” Noble Consort Nie looked at her happily and took off the jasper bracelet she was wearing to give to her. Feeling that this wasn’t enough, she turned around, brought back an exquisite earring box, and stuffed it into Nie Sangyu’s hand. “If you had been like this to begin with, I wouldn’t have needed to worry about you so much.”

Ji Man felt a bit embarrassed to be given these items. However, since the noble consort bestowed her these items, her only choice was to accept these items and thank her.

“Ah! Jue-er is the only person I have left to worry over now.” Noble Consort Nie’s expression suddenly turned sad. Her eyes held melancholy as she looked at her. “Sangyu, you haven’t forgotten the promise that you made to aunty, right?”

Ji Man was slightly at a loss. She did her best to think and finally remembered a fragmented memory.

In the memory, Nie Sangyu had pleaded with Noble Consort Nie to ask the emperor bestow a marriage. At the time, Noble Consort Nie had said, “Sangyu, aunty can help you. But, you have to remember that Marquis Moyu isn’t an easy person to deal with. Although his heart won’t only have love, he’ll still have weak spots. After you marry him, you have to do your best to help your older cousin... Do you understand this consort’s words?”

At the time, Nie Sangyu was only thinking about her overwhelming desire to marry Marquis Moyu. And so, regardless of whether or not she actually understood, she said she understood.

However, Ji Man understood the meaning of those words very well. Noble Consort Nie had been hoping that Nie Sangyu would be able to capture Marquis Moyu’s heart. Afterwards, in consideration towards the friendly feelings between their two families, he would help the third prince in obtaining the throne.

Although the emperor was very healthy right now, there would inevitably be a day when he passed away. The crown prince had no self-control. Moreover, he was narrow-minded and definitely wouldn’t tolerate Noble Consort Nie and the third prince’s continued existence if he became the emperor. Noble Consort Nie was worried about the third prince’s future, so she was hoping that Marquis Moyu would give him a helping hand.

However, Ji Man thought that Noble Consort Nie was too naïve. Although Marquis Moyu had a great deal of power under his control, he wasn’t a man that could be influenced by women. Look at his relationship with Wen Wan. Although he loved her a lot, he still used little tricks to manipulate her. One moment he was warm towards, the next moment he would act cold towards her until she became as docile as a baby. Moreover, he had always despised Nie Sangyu, so it was even less likely that she would be able influence his actions.

Translator Ramblings: So, we finally found out that Ning Yuxuan was forced into marrying Nie Sangyu. I still think it was wrong of him to treat her so badly, but Nie Sangyu isn’t an innocent victim either. Can you really expect someone to treat you well if you force him into marrying you when you knew he didn’t like you?