Chapter 1
Title: The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir
Chapter: 001 out of 513 – A Strange Dream (1)
“I can’t accept this! I can’t! Even as a ghost, I’m going to spend eternity cursing that your relationship will shatter like glass! Break apart like a pair of mandarin ducks that fly away from each other!” The second female lead spat out blood as she faced the sky and shouted.
“You worthless and malevolent-hearted creature. You conspired to murder my heir and tried to frame Wen Wan. This marquis will bestow three feet of white silk today for you to resolve this issue!” The male lead coldly waved his hand.
“Ah Xuan, don’t do this!” The kind-hearted female lead pulled the male lead’s sleeve and piteously entreated, “Don’t kill her!”
“No matter what happens to me, Nie Sangyu, it’s none of your business. I don’t need you to beg for me!” The second female raised her face to the sky and laughed for a long time while tears streamed down from her face.”
“But I can’t accept this… I can’t…”
This was a ridiculously melodramatic book. If she hadn’t been bored at home during the weekend, Ji Man wouldn’t have browsed through the light novel website on her phone and read this story. But, when she read up to this point, she couldn’t help sighing.
According to modern ideas, the second female lead had married the male lead first. The female lead should have been considered the other woman. But, the male lead loved the female lead instead of the second female lead, so the second female lead became the other woman. After many crafty plots by the second female lead, she had been ordered to commit suicide by the male lead.
Ji Man shook her head and whispered, “This is really destroying the three teachings too much.”
(T/N: The three teachings refer to the philosophies of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.)
Her eyes felt tired from reading, so she simply turned off her phone’s screen. She didn’t even have to think to know this novel’s ending. After the second female lead was gotten rid of, the male and female lead would have a happily ever after.
She had found it slightly interesting when the second female lead had been an obstacle in their path. Now that the second female lead was going to die soon, there was nothing left to see.
Ji Man yawned, turned off the light, pulled up her blanket to cover her head, and went to sleep. However, before she fell asleep, she couldn’t help thinking. Wasn’t it also because Nie Sangyu was too stupid?
“My lord, you’re the only person that I ever loved in this entire lifetime. Whereas you…”
“Her life is a life. Is this consort’s life not a life? Don’t forget. I was once your bride that was carried through the main doors by a palanquin with eight carriers*.”
(T/N: This means that she was married into the household as his legal wife.)
The character’s lines kept echoing in Jiman’s mind. As Jiman slowly sank into sleep, she laughed at the woman for being so foolish and stupid.
“I can’t accept this…” A voice traveled from the depths of Ji Man’s dream.
Ji Man slightly furrowed her eyebrows and looked towards the boundless darkness. In a seldom seen calmness, she calmly asked, “So what if you can’t accept this?”
“Help me… help me… I can’t reincarnate with my dream unfulfilled…”
“Why is it any of my business if you can’t reincarnate?” Ji Man rolled her eyes.
The boundless darkness rose up to drown her. Ji Man’s eyes widen. For a moment, it felt as if she had lost her breath. Her head felt like it was spinning. The world changed into a formless mass of chaos. It felt as if she was falling down an unending black hole.
Ji Man’s last thought as she lost her consciousness; I’m probably going to have a nightmare.
“At fourteen I became your wife,
So bashful that I dared not smile,
But at fifteen I straightened my brows and laughed,
Learning that no dust could ever seal our love,”*
“Why didn’t the poet write what type of feeling I would have at twenty? I see him marrying a new person, but I’m not allowed to cry. Could it be that I must still show a smiling expression?”
The woman’s distressed and bitter cries drifted over from a faraway place. It drifted to Jiman’s ears as if it had no roots to hold it down.
“Madam…” A timid voice called out. The voice in Jiman’s mind suddenly seemed to return to its original place. Her vision blurred for a moment, then a bronze mirror appeared in front of her.
The person in the mirror had a deathly pale face. She was wearing a white robe with wide sleeves and a simple shawl. There were two hairpins that each had pair of small white flowers in her cloud bun hairstyle. The colors were so light that she resembled a fresh corpse.
Ji Man blinked and the person in the mirror also blinked. The jealously, hatred, and distress that had been on the face was replaced with astonishment. When the unpleasant expression was removed, the face became more pleasing.
“Madam?” The nearby servant girl seems to be frightened as she looked at her madam, who had a devil-like expression. She felt as if a cold draft had swept over her back.
Ji Man blankly turned around. The servant girl that was kneeling on the ground had a luo hairstyle and light green jacket and skirt. Her entire body was trembling.
(T/N: Below is a picture of a luo hairstyle.)
“Muxu?”
The young servant girl’s trembling became worse. “This servant is here.”
Ji Man twisted her stiff neck and continued looking at the person in the mirror. She was probably dreaming. The person in the mirror had red lips and white teeth. There was a faint mark between the eyebrows and a pair of long and narrow phoenix eyes that contained malice. This appearance seemed like how the novel had described Nie Sangyu.
Then, she looked at the servant girl that was kneeling next to her. She remembered that the novel had also said the Nie Sangyu’s servant girl was weak. She was always trembling with fear. Her name was Muxu.
She could have dreamed about anything. Why did she have to dream that she had become Nie Sangyu?
Ji Man yawned. She still felt very sleepy. She might as well continue sleeping in this dream. Everything would be fine once she woke up.
“Madam… Don’t take things too hard. The new madam’s marriage sedan had already arrived at the entrance. You should at least go to the receiving room to see her.”
Just as Ji Man was about to lie down on the bed, Muxu carefully pulled the corner of Nie Sangyu’s robe.
Ji Man’s eyes slanted downwards to look at Muxu. She was only dreaming. Why did she have to be responsible with helping Nie Sangyu deal with the female lead? No way! She still had to go to work tomorrow. She didn’t have that energy.
“Don’t bother me. I’m going to sleep.”
*(T/N: These are lines from a poem called A Poem of Changgan by Li Bai, a famous Tang Dynasty poet. If you want to read the rest of the poem, here’s the version that I thought was translated the best and the one I used for this chapter. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56596/a-poem-of-changgan.
P.s. This novel has a slow beginning. But, what happens in the beginning chapters will be relevant to the novel later on. It really seems like the author had properly planned out the entire novel and the ending from the very first chapter. You’ll see what I mean when you read the final chapter. Or, even after reading 5-10% of this novel, you’ll start viewing the beginning chapters differently.
Anyways, hope you will enjoy this novel as much I did.)