The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

Chapter 276 – Was it really that difficult to say, “I love you”? (1)

When it came to matters of love, a good woman had a bottom line. If you didn’t know for sure and didn’t want to falsely presume that the other person liked you, then you can maintain your distance and treat it as if there was nothing between the two of you. If you already knew that the other person liked you, but you couldn’t give that person the response he wanted, then you should thoroughly break that other person’s hope. Don’t leave any margin for false expectations.

As a reader of novels, Ji Man had always loved and hated the secondary male characters the most. Were they just idiots? They either risked their life and limb to secretly help the female lead, or served as a foil to the male lead, who had a full harem, by only being interested in the female lead. And yet, every female lead could enjoy the pleasure of being attended to by the super attractive secondary male character without any shame. At worst, the female lead would only have to say a prolonged, “I’m sorry,” to the secondary male character at the end of the story.

Sorry, my ass! The other person had already wasted the best years of his life on her, would it kill the female lead to cleanly break the supporting male character’s hopes in a timely manner? Why couldn’t the female lead simply tell the secondary male character, “Even if the male lead abuses me a thousand times, I’ll still choose to stay with my first love.”

Ji Man organized the words that she wanted to say and prepared to have a conversation with Ning Mingjie tomorrow to make things clear. She would tell him that his paintings were pretty good and so were his calligraphy scrolls. He should sell all of them to her, and she would dispose of them for him. As a married woman, she couldn’t be the object of someone’s yearning.

When she and Dengxin returned to the marquis’s estate, there was a low-level servant girl from Feiwan Courtyard waiting at the entrance for them. Seeing that her master had returned, she hurriedly and anxiously reported, “Master! Young Miss Yun is seriously sick. The doctor isn’t here. He’s away on vacation to his hometown. Miss Wan-er has been frantically looking for you.”

Ji Man froze in surprise for a moment. Yun-er had been perfectly fine before. How did she get sick?

Qiangwei Courtyard was filled with the sound of crying. The sounds of an adult crying and a baby wailing blended together. As soon as Ji Man entered the room, she saw that Wen Wan was holding Yun-er. The wailing Yun-er looked quite pitiful. Wen Wan was muttering, “Why is there no doctor? Is it necessary to be heartless to this degree…”

Ji Man pursed her lips and said, “I already sent a servant to bring an outside doctor here. No one is being heartless. The estate’s old doctor is just away on vacation today.”

Wen Wan looked at her with bloodshot eyes. “Why put on this pretense? Aren’t you really happy that you snatched away Yuxuan’s heart? Is the next step of your plan figuring out a way to kill me so that Yuxuan won’t have lingering, nostalgic feelings for me?”

The corners of Ji Man’s lips twitched. Had Wen Wan been stricken with delusion thoughts? Based on Wen Wan’s connection with first prince as well as the empress, there was no way that she would be able to get rid of Wen Wan. Snatched away Ning Yuxuan’s heart? Did that thing even have a heart? Why did women stupidly think that a man’s heart and mind only had love?

“You’re overthinking things.”

Wen Wan’s gaze looked a bit violent. The shock that Wen Wan had received last time was probably erupting now. Glaring at her, Wen Wan said, “I won’t let you live happily.”

“Oh.” Ji Man nodded. She had only been standing here for a bit when the doctor arrived. She moved out of the way so that the doctor could treat Yun-er‘s illness.

“Don’t you dare touch my child!” Holding the wailing baby, Wen Wan retreated a step. Looking at her with a guarded look, Wen Wan said, “No one is allowed to touch my child!”

Ji Man, “…”

She blamed her because a doctor hadn’t come. Now that a doctor had come, she wouldn’t let the doctor see the baby. What exactly did she want to do?

Marquis Moyu had headed over here after leaving the imperial court. Tired, he stopped by the doorway and asked, “What’s going on?”

Seeing that he was here now, Wen Wan resumed crying. Her tears were like falling shot put balls. One after another, they splattered onto the ground.  And yet, there were only tears and no nasally mucus. Her crying face was as beautiful as a scene of raindrops falling onto pear blossoms. Holding Yun-er, she approached him and said, “Yuxuan! Look at Yun-er.”

Apparently, the recently called over doctor was useless. But, one look from the male lead would be enough to cure Yun-er.

Ning Yuxuan glanced at Nie Sangyu, then he stretched his hand out and took Yun-er from Wen Wan. “Why has she gotten thinner again?”

The other two children in the estate were white and plump. It was only Yun-er that got thinner each day. Her little face was almost nothing but skin and bones.

It was impossible for him to not feel distressed when he saw Yun-er like this. Even though she was a daughter, she was still his child. Marquis Moyu sighed and handed the child over to the doctor.

Wen Wan immediately hugged his arm and swept her gaze to look at Nie Sangyu.

Ji Man had seen plenty of shows where women used their children to compete for favor. Should she leave and pretend that she hadn’t seen anything? No, no, no, her days had been getting boring lately. Why bother showing tolerance?

Ji Man approached them, wrapped her arm around Ning Yuxuan’s other arm and said, “Yuxuan, the imperial noble consort handed over the matter of welcoming the Yuzhen princess to this servant. This servant isn’t familiar with Yuzhen and wanted to ask you how to handle this matter.”

Marquis Moyu slightly raised his eyebrows and looked at her in askance.

There were still streaks of tearstains on Wen Wan’s face. She pursed her lips and said, “Madam, can’t you talk about this later? Are you unwilling to give Yuxuan to me even just for a little bit?”

Ji Man let go of Ning Yuxuan, lightly sighed, and said, “Never mind then.”

When you’re directly competing for a man, the man stuck in the middle will always feel as if he’s being put into an awkward situation. If you can’t win against someone that’s shamelessly acting pitiful, that’s okay. Just generously let him go, then mention a proper responsibility that he can’t avoid and wait for him to come to you.

“My lord, this servant will leave first and wait in your study for you. The imperial noble consort is still waiting for a reply. My lord, please come over soon.”

Ning Yuxuan lightly nodded. His tensed brow slightly relaxed.

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