Title: The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir
Chapter: 060 out of 513 – The role of the supporting male and female characters (1)
After Muxu left, she was gone for a while. By the time she returned, she brought lunch with her on the way back. Ji Man was busy looking over the accounts, so she didn’t ask Muxu where she went. However, her mood was pretty good when she saw that there was roasted chicken for lunch.
“When this servant went to get lunch, this servant overheard some gossip.” With a gossipy face, Muxu said, “Master, guess what happened.”
Ji Man went along with her request and asked, “What happened?”
“Early this morning, Madam said she wanted to brew tea by using the dew collected from a tree and climbed up a plum tree in the garden.” Muxu ambiguously smiled. “She ended up falling from the tree. Instead of being helped up by one of the female servants, it was the marquis’s male cousin that helped her up.”
Ji Man froze in surprise. Wasn’t that Ning Mingjie? Those two still ended up meeting, ah. Could it be that regardless of what happened in the middle, the major plot points couldn’t be changed?
“The servant girls that were passing by and saw the scene said that Madam’s expression was very bashful.” Muxu’s mouth twitched as she said, “She didn’t have the slightest intention of avoiding something that might arouse suspicion. And, she even invited the marquis’s cousin to drink tea with her in the pavilion.”
The expected event in the plot had occurred, but it seemed as if something had changed. From Muxu’s words, it seemed as if Wen Wan was the one that had a favorable impression of Ning Mingjie instead of the other way around.
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Ji Man propped up her chin in one hand as she contemplated this change for a while. Then, she shook her head and said, “Let’s not talk about this messy occurrence.”
“No one has the power to control Madam’s actions. They were just watching them because it was interesting.” Muxu smiled as she added food to Ji Man’s bowl. Ji Man didn’t think further about this occurrence and peacefully ate her lunch.
Ji Man didn’t have a wealthy person’s habit of taking a nap after lunch. In the past, she had been busy with work. Where would she have the time to take a nap after lunch? It was the same right now. There was still some natural light after lunchtime in winter, so Ji Man brought a basket with her as she went to garden. She selected other flowers that she could use to experiment as alternative ingredients in cold cream.
Right after she walked behind a large border of Nippon lilies with sphere-like fruit, she heard someone saying, “Sangyu?” Ji Man’s hand paused and she looked around to see who was calling her.
“I’m not familiar with her, but I heard from Yuxuan that her temperament isn’t good. That’s why she went from being a main wife to a concubine.”
This was Wen Wan’s voice. Moreover, she clearly hadn’t been calling her name to get her attention. Instead, she had only mentioned her name as she was talking to someone. Her voice had come from the other side of the Nippon lilies.
Ji Man raised her eyebrows and sneakily stretched her head to see.
A Chinese chessboard had been placed in the pavilion. Wen Wan was actually playing a game of Chinese chess with Ning Mingjie and deliberately looking for words to talk about. After eating lunch, she was very lively and her manner was unrestrained.
This… There was only one servant girl, Tanxiang, next to them. What was Wen Wan thinking?
Ji Man retracted her head and crouched down to look at the potted poinsettia in front of her. She silently contemplated that she had only come here to pick flowers and hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. They were the ones that were behaving too brazenly. She couldn’t be blamed.
As far as she knew, Ning Yuxuan wasn’t a generous and tolerant man. He especially didn’t like other people touching his stuff. Moreover, Wen Wan was his darling. If the female lead was thinking of using a man to provoke Ning Yuxuan, it probably wouldn’t be effective and was more likely to be counterproductive.
After listening to them for two hours as they played Chinese chess without mentioned anything related to her again, Ji Man rubbed her sore legs and sneakily returned to her room.
—
Later that day, she was at old madame’s place for dinner. Ning Yuxuan and Wen Wan were also there. Wen Wan was still showing a pure and harmless smile, but Marquis Moyu’s expression had blackened. He was probably in a bad mood because he knew what Wen Wan had done.
Ji Man happily watched the show. While she picked out all of the shredded meat in the dish in front of her, she secretly watched the interactions between them.
The female lead absolutely had no intention of paying attention to the male lead, but she said a few sentences to Ning Mingjie. Old madame was still at the table. Wasn’t this behavior simply seeking death?
Old madame didn’t like Wen Wan to begin with. Seeing her son grimace with displeasure, her attitude towards Wen Wan only worsened.
Old madame put down her chopsticks and looked at Marquis Moyu as she said, “Shuiqing is almost three months pregnant. Since the main wife hasn’t give birth to a child, it would still be good if the concubines gave birth to children. This way, I can have grandchildren to hug. If Shuiqing gives birth to a boy this time, I think you should promote her to an honored concubine. After all, the most unfilial act is being unable to produce offspring.”
Wen Wan’s face paled. Her recent smile completely disappeared without leaving a trace. She turned her head to look at old madame and initially wanted to say something, but she swallowed her words and lowered her head to continue eating.
Instead of disagreeing, Marquis Moyu indifferently responded, “En.”
Wen Wan’s expression became worse.
After dinner, old madame pulled Sangyu to her side. She wanted to speak with her.
But, Marquis Moyu surprisingly said, “I haven’t finished listening to Sangyu’s stories. Mother, give in to your son this time and let your son have her.”
This was the first time that Ning Yuxuan acted close to Nie Sangyu in front of other people. Even Ji Man froze in surprise. But, when she turned her eyes and saw Wen Wan’s expression, she understood. This scumbag was just using her as cannon fodder. The role of the supporting male and female characters were the same. They were both used to provoke the male lead and female lead.
She was somewhat unhappy being used like this. And, her mood worsened when she thought about having to tell him stories again. Ji Man was smiling as she made a sound of agreement in front of Marquis Moyu, but her brows pinched together after she turned her head.
Wen Wan was seeking death by acting reckless, but there was no need to drag her into this mess. She was innocent.