Title: The Drear in the Spring Boudoir
Chapter: 034 out of 513 – He loves her (1)
Marquis Moyu returned to his senses after hearing old mada’s angry voice. He pursed his lips, kneeled, and said, “This son greets mother.”
“Do you still rember that you have a mother?” Old mada’s anger wasn’t light. She pointed at Wen Wan and asked, “Did you even ask once before marrying her?”
Ning Yuxuan lowly said, “Mother, please calm down. This son had planned to report our marriage to you after you returned.”
After saying this, he actually glanced at Ji Man.
Ji Man hurriedly hid away her glee and innocently looked at the decorative pattern on the carpet.
Marquis Moyu had been naturally talented and clever since childhood. Other than this marriage, he had never given his mother any reason to worry. Right now, there were rapid changes in the imperial household and the emperor deliberately wanted to oppress Nie Clan. Thus, she could understand why he had acted against Sangyu. But, even if she had calculated a thousand tis, she would have never expected that he would welco a woman without status into this household.
“You knew that I wouldn’t agree, so you acted first and reported later.” Old mada heavily harrumphed.
Ning Yuxuan raised his head. His eyes were full of sincerity. “This son truly loves Wen Wan. This is why I want to give her the best position.”
Love.
Old mada stared blankly at him for a long ti. Wen Wan, who was still kneeling, started to cry again.
Ji Man found his words laughable, but Nie Sangyu felt as if her heart was being ripped out. Ji Man couldn’t help furrowing her brow.
Among the nobles, generals, and officials’ families, the most unspeakable word was love and the most difficult thing to obtain was sincere love. Old mada had loved Marquis Pingnan for over half of her life, but she had never said this word. And now, she was hearing the word “love” from her son’s mouth.
After she returned to her senses, old mada actually laughed. She laughed until her shoulders shook. “Xuan-er, do you know what love is?”
Ning Yuxuan kneeled with his back perfectly straight and didn’t cower the slightest bit, “This son wants to grow old with her.”
Wen Wan was extrely moved by his words. Underneath their sleeves, Marquis Moyu was gently holding her hand. She suddenly felt confident and kowtowed to old mada, “All of this bla is entirely Wen Wan’s. As long as Wen Wan can stay by the marquis’s side, whether it’s being the main wife or concubine, Wen Wan doesn’t mind either way.”
Ah, such a profoundly loving, harmonious, and affection couple. Ji Man looked at them with the cool eyes of a bystander. She felt that the male lead and female lead’s minds were completely different from everyone else’s. For them, emotions could prevail over everything. The male lead’s one word, “love”, was supposed to make everything else inconsequential.
But, it couldn’t work out like that. This was a light novel about harem struggles, not a Grimm’s fairytale.
Old mada was silent for a long ti. She finally said with a smile, “Look at the two of you. One is crying like a rained upon pear blossom. The other has a solemn expression and a stretched taut figure. If soone didn’t know any better, they would think of as a malicious old woman that was tearing up a happily married couple that truly loved each other.”
Her tone had changed too quickly. Ning Yuxuan and Wen Wan both froze in surprise and looked up.
“I was just testing you. Wan-er, you also seem to truly love Xuan-er.” Old mada’s entire face softened and she indicated for Danggui and Shouwu to help the two of them to stand. In the passing, she also let Ji Man stand up as well.
“Actually, as long as you can undertake the role of marquis’s wife well, your family background isn’t especially important. I’m feeling tired. You can all leave.”
Wen Wan was overjoyed at the unexpected good news. She whole-heartedly thought that old mada had accepted her. She repeatedly kowtowed to express her thanks and pulled Ning Yuxuan’s hand to kowtow with her.
However, Ning Yuxuan’s brow didn’t relax. He only saluted old mada before taking Wen Wan with him as he left.
He naturally had a clear understanding of his mother’s character. But, seeing how happy Wen Wan was, he couldn’t tell her the truth and make her worry more.
Ji Man shrugged her shoulders. She saluted old mada and was planning on leaving the room too. However, the servant girl next to her, Shouwu, stopped her and lightly shook her head to single for her to stay.
After the doors were closed, Ji Man gritted her teeth and kneeled down again in front of old mada. She still needed to kneel in order to have the courage to speak to her.
“Steward Qian said you changed a lot, but I hadn’t believe him.” The smile on old mada’s face faded. It was replaced by a deep sigh. “It must have been difficult for you. You use to have such a lively and straightforward personality, but it’s been grounded to dust by Xuan-er. You didn’t even cry or fuss when you heard him say that he loves soone else.”
At the ntion of this, her reaction was prompt. As Ji Man bit her lip, she started to cry and sobbed out, “Old mada, I don’t want to accept this. I really don’t want to...”
That had definitely been Nie Sangyu coming out for a guest appearance. It was only for a brief mont, but Ji Man noticed her frailty.
It seed that old mada truly cared about Nie Sangyu. Otherwise, Nie Sangyu wouldn’t have risked her life and wasted her spiritual energy to say so many words.
Her tears wouldn’t stop falling down. Ji Man also started to truly feel badly along with Nie Sangyu.
Old mada felt distressed for her. She hurriedly stood up and personally led her to sit down on the cushioned chaise lounge with her. “Silly girl, of course I know that you’re not willing. This old woman has seen how you treated Xuan-er during the past several years. You love him too much. Doing too much is just as bad as doing too little. Perhaps, he’ll understand your feelings one day.”
Ji Man shook her head. Wait until he understood? He would have already killed the secondary female character if she only waited.
“From what I saw of that Wen Wan, she’s not soone that has the ability to appear in public. In the short term, Xuan-er can repeatedly tell that he truly loves her. But, in the long term, she won’t be able to withstand the pressure of being the marquis’s wife. In the end, that position will be returned to you.”
Old madam’s black eyes slightly sunk, “As for you, don’t act so impulsively and stir up trouble again. I heard the you barged into the palace with loose hair and that was why you were rebuked by the emperor.”
Ji Man nodded her head in sha.
T/N: I love how the author writes old mada not just as disapproving mother-in-law to Wen Wan and a tough love one to Nie Sangyu, but also as a woman that was deeply in love with a man in a polygamous society. We know that old mada loved Ning Yuxuan’s father, but I wonder if he loved her back. Does she see herself in Nie Sangyu? Right now, she’s this imposing 40 years old woman, but she was once Nie Sangyu’s age.
Also, old mada’s POV is one of the earlier hints to show the readers that Ji Man’s perspective isn’t completely right. Up to this point, we assud that her demotion to concubine was strictly because Ning Yuxuan doesn’t like her. Now, we also know there was a political reason behind it. As the story continues, we’ll see more hints. Her perspective is very much limited to the marquis’s inner court.
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