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Title: The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir
Chapter: 076 out of 513 – The crown prince’s playboy nature (1)
If old madame really went to the palace to live, could Wen Wan’s life in the marquis’s residence be good?
The answer was no.
The carriage directly went past the crowd and headed towards the palace, and yet Wen Wan was angrily sitting at her dressing table. Marquis Moyu was standing nearby. His expression was very ugly, but Wen Wan pretended that she didn’t see it and sobbed in aggrieved tone, “You said you would treat me well and wouldn’t let me suffer any grievances, so why do I have to be the one that apologizes to her every time?”
This was the first time that Ning Yuxuan felt that Wen Wan was immature and unreasonable. She refused to admit her mistake. It didn’t even occur to her that causing this type of trouble wouldn’t benefit her at all.
“Besides, what’s wrong with the palace? There’s delicious food and drink in the palace. She’ll be treated very well in there. What exactly are you worried about?” Wen Wan glared at Ning Yuxuan through the mirror.
Marquis Moyu rubbed the spot between his eyebrows and said in a low voice, “You were the one that was wrong to begin with. It was already so late in the day, but you still did something that would arouse suspicion by being so intimate with Mingjie. How could mother not be angry?”
“He was the one that came over of his own initiative. I didn’t invite him. Why are you blaming me?” Wen Wan became even angrier. “Tanxiang and Changshan were also there. Why are you treating me as if I was fickle woman?”
It was impossible to talk sense with her. Ning Yuxuan’s face finally sunk. He coldly harrumphed, then turned around and stepped past the doorway. It was still snowing outside, but he didn’t go back inside to take an umbrella with him. Instead, he directly returned to the western courtyard.
Wen Wan was shocked. She stood up and took two steps outside to chase after him, but seeing that Ning Yuxuan didn’t even look back, her eyes became red again.
She had just wanted to make him angry. She knew that he would be in the garden at that time, so she had Tanxiang lead Ning Mingjie over. How could she have known that old madame would be in the garden and be so furious? Wen Wan felt that she was totally an innocent victim. She turned around and went to her bed to cry.
Anyhow, Yuxuan loved her dearly. In a few days, after his mother was comfortably settled in the palace, he would probably forgive her, right?
---
Noble Consort Nie had regained the emperor’s favor. The emperor looked after her in every possible way, which made many people’s eyes turn red with jealousy in the harem. She had simply said she wanted old madame to come to the palace and keep her company, and the emperor had marked off a ting yu xuan that was near Ninglu Palace for old madame and Sangyu to stay.
(T/N: Ting yu xuan literally means a listening and viewing rain building. It’s building that has windows and a balcony view over a lake or pond. Below is a picture of a simple one.)
The gossip traveled quickly in the palace; Marquis Moyu had married a shrew that forced his mother out of the marquis’s residence and into the palace. Old madame wasn’t an ordinary mother. She was a first-rank lady. While clutching her handkerchief, she cried in front of the emperor. And so, the emperor summoned Marquis Moyu to admonish him.
“You previously had me promote Wen Yi’s rank on the basis that he had taught his daughter well and he has a good moral character,” The emperor said as he looked at Ning Yuxuan with shining eyes. “As it turns out, the good daughter that he taught was a woman like this.”
Marquis Moyu realized that his mother had lodged a complaint with the emperor in a fit of pique. His father had die in a battle and the emperor had always felt that he owed something to the Ning Clan because of this. Thus, the emperor was naturally often willing to take his side. However, if there was an argument between him and his mother, as an elder, the emperor had to side with his mother and protect her.
“This subject has failed in seeing the truth,” He slowly kneeled down and said.
Wen Wan’s father, Wen Yi, was just a jailer that worked in the capital’s prison. After Wen Wan married into his family, he had used his connections to promote his father-in-law all the way up to a sixth-rank official. Wen Wan had already been satisfied with this, but because old madame had used Wen Wan’s background to criticize her, he didn’t have any other options. He had to think about promoting Wen Yi further up.
But after this incident, there was no chance the emperor would ever agree. He valued a woman’s morality and conduct the most. Last time, part of the reason that he had angrily rebuked Sangyu was truly because she had acted too outrageously. And clearly, Wen Wan had acted even worse than Sangyu this time.
Ning Yuxuan felt that the emperor could see that he truly loved Wen Wan. And thus, unlike with Sangyu, he wasn’t instructing him to abolish Wen Wan’s position.
After suffering through a long lecture, Ning Yuxuan went to the ting yu xuan to look for someone.
---
After Ji Man followed old madame to the ting yu xuan, they started unpacking. Old madame would be staying in the main hall and she would be staying in the side hall. The group of servant girls would be staying in a small side room. Right after they had finished settling in and old madame was speaking with Noble Consort Nie in the main hall, someone came over.
Ji Man didn’t react properly by kneeling down to salute until Muxu tugged her sleeve. Because she didn’t clearly see if the dragons on the robe had four-claws or five-claws, she didn’t know if it was the crown prince or the emperor that had come. She didn’t dare to call out the wrong greeting, so she only quietly kneeled.
“Is Noble Consort Nie and Old Madame Ning inside?” The crown prince looked at the person kneeling on the ground and asked with quite a bit of interest.
“Yes,” Ji Man said with her head lowered.
The snow had just stopped. The crown prince stood in place and didn’t seem as if he wanted to go inside. Instead, he stretched a hand out and helped Nie Sangyu stand up.
Shocked, Ji Man’s gaze swiftly glanced at the dragons on his robe. Thank god, it was four-claws. This person was the crown prince.
She wasn’t overthinking. There were too many examples of an emperor forcibly seizing married women in history. With no one to manage the emperor from above, past emperors were all lawless and out-of-control. But, the crown prince was different. The emperor controlled him. No matter what, he wouldn’t dare to act recklessly.
Last time, she had felt uneasy just hearing his movements when he had visited the marquis’s residence’s southern courtyard. And now, this grand crown prince was actually helping her stand up. Ji Man felt chills going up her back.
“I heard from Yuxuan that you wrote the poem in Luoyan Pagoda,” The crown prince moved closer to her and quietly said. “This has greatly helped this prince. What should I reward you with?”
Ji Man took a step back and respectfully said, “It’s because the marquis has instructed me well. Your Highness, please just reward him.”
Zhao Zhe raised his eyebrows, looked at this well-behaved woman, chuckled, and said, “How could I have the opportunity to reward Marquis Moyu? He’s only below one person and above a thousand others. He has countless beauties. His life is more comfortable and unrestrained than mine.”
Ji Man felt that this crown prince was somewhat dislikable. Why was he standing so close to her while he was talking? He was completely lacking in manners.