Seeing that Dengxin’s hair was combed into a married woman’s hairstyle, Ji Man had a lot of questions to ask her too. Once Marquis Moyu left, Dengxin spoke first. 

  “Liu Rufeng can be considered a good person, but he didn’t know that Mistress Yun had already passed away.” Dengxin rubbed her nose. “He had originally been planning to come here to see her.” 

  Seeing that Dengxin’s face had remained fair and smooth, Ji Man could tell that she had suffered any grievances. Still, she sighed and said, “That’s a satisfactory ending.” 

  “This servant heard that General Ning is getting married.” Dengxin pursed her lips, “Do you think Gancao would be happy or upset if she knew?” 

  “She would definitely be happy.” Ji Man smiled. “Gancao would only wish Young Master well. She was a kindhearted girl.” 

  “En.” Dengxin sniffled. “This servant wants to go see her.” 

  It seemed that the remaining people had moved on with their lives. It was only Gancao that remained lying in the ground alone. When she thought of it that way, it felt sorrowful. 

  As a pregnant woman, it wouldn’t be appropriate for Ji Man to visit a grave, so Dengxin went there by herself. 

  Dengxin brought some fruit and paper money and walked to the place that Gancao had been buried. 

  In two more days, Ning Mingjie would be marrying Pengxin. However, there was someone sitting by Gancao’s grave. The weeds and fallen leaves had already been cleaned up. A man, who was wearing a cloak, drank some wine and poured some onto the ground. He used the wine to write something on the tombstone: Who know how many petals have fallen?

  (T/N: This is a line from a poem mentioned in chapter 209. Ning Mingjie writes this poem and gives it Gancao.) 

  Dengxin pursed her lips and suddenly smiled. 

  She had thought that other than herself and master, no one else would remember the servant that had died in a fire. As it turned out, Ning Mingjie remembered Gancao too. 

  Ning Mingjie probably also remembered that this foolish girl had once bashfully praised his calligraphy. He had given her a coral bracelet and said he was willing to marry her. 

  Dengxin thought that Gancao probably felt happy too. At the very least, there would always be a spot in Ning Mingjie’s heart that belonged to her. 

  —- 

  With Marquis Moyu’s assistance, the seven-year-old fourth prince was pronounced emperor. Wearing his crown, the new emperor officially attended the imperial court secessions. 

  Ning Yuxuan would stand in the lower right corner’s first spot. He would listen to each of the officials speak, then he would tell the emperor how he should handle the matter. Then, borrowing the emperor’s mouth, his command would be passed. 

  Ning Mingjie was bestowed the title of General Protector of the Nation. Under his military command and his marriage to Yuzhen’s princess, he had accomplished great meritorious service. 

  Someone put forth the suggestion to Marquis Moyu that the army under Ning Mingjie’s command shouldn’t remain so large. Even if they were close relatives, it was unavoidable that they would one day have conflicting views. 

  However, Ning Yuxuan didn’t take any action. He even smiled and said, “If Mingjie wants something, he can directly come and take it. Yuxuan won’t be stingy.” 

  Hearing these words at the doorway, Ning Mingjie loudly laughed. There were no other words that could have won his loyalty more. 

  Later on, it would be recorded in history books that Marquis Moyu was the official that had supported multiple emperors and never shown the slightest hint of rebelling. Ning Mingjie was written down in history as an extremely loyal general. He had the military power to take over the kingdom at anytime, but he remained loyal to the emperor for his entire life and only obeyed the emperor’s orders. 

  These two people would become legendary figures in history. Of course, this was something that would happen much later on. 

  — 

  Zhu Yurun woke up in the middle of the night and went running to Marquis Moyu’s estate in panic. 

  Qian Yingchen was chasing after her. He anxiously shouted, “Slow down!” 

  “Can’t go slower! Can’t wait!” Zhu Yurun had only remembered to put one shoe. “Mister Ji is about give birth! Hurry up, go faster!” 

  Qian Yingchen could only run after her. 

  —- 

  Ji Man had gone into labor today. Her past months of pregnancy had passed without mishap. When various people heard that she was giving birth, they all rushed to marquis’s estate to offer their congratulations. Even though the child hadn’t been born yet, madams from various families were already waiting at the marquis’s estate’s entrance. 

  It was the middle of the night, and the weather was cold, but Ji Man’s room was warm from the burning charcoal in braziers. Zhu Yurun and Dengxin were staring at the midwife so hard that the midwife’s hands trembled. 

  Ji Man even had to comforting the midwife. “Don’t be nervous. First, take a deep breath……” 

  Everyone was worried that the past would repeat itself, so no one dared to leave. Because of propriety, Ning Yuxuan was standing outside the birthing room and keeping guard. He was so nervous that he couldn’t stop pacing back and forth. 

  Mu Shuiqing was already dizzy from watching him turn so many times. She helplessly said, “My lord, please sit down and rest.” 

  “How can I rest?” Ning Yuxuan looked fretful. Where had the calm demeanor that he showed in the imperial court gone? As soon as he heard pained sounds coming from Ji Man’s room, his eyes turned red. “I really can’t go inside?” 

  Guibai and Mu Shuiqing uniformly shook their heads. 

  Guibai now understood why his master had locked himself up in the study when Madam had been giving birth last time. His uneasiness was too strong and couldn’t be concealed. 

  “Ahhh!” 

  The situation in the inner room resolved surprisingly quickly. Ji Man hadn’t been screaming in pain for long before they heard the sound of a baby crying. 

  The people outside let out sighs of relief. Qian Yingchen swiftly said, “Congratulations, marquis.” 

  In contrast, Marquis Moyu was stunned stupid. It was if his entire body was suffering from an electrical power failure. A long time later, he finally asked, “It’s born?” 

  The midwife brought out the baby. She was somewhat dejected, but she still smiled and said, “To respond to the marquis, Madam gave birth to a daughter.” 

  Such bad luck! She had been hoping to deliver a son in order to get more reward money! 

  “A daughter?” Ning Yuxuan stretched his hands out and took the baby from the midwife. He blankly looked down at the baby in his arms. The crying baby hadn’t opened her eyes yet. Unlike her older brother, she wasn’t a quiet baby. But, once he had settled the baby in his arms, the baby suddenly stopped crying. Her eyeballs were turning under her eyelids. It seemed as if she really wanted to open her eyes to look at him.

  Chapter 468 – The finale of the spring boudoir dream (1) 

  It was a wrinkled face, and he couldn’t see any hint of whom his daughter resembled. Ning Yuxuan blankly looked at her. After using all of her strength, she finally lifted up those thin eyelids. Her black, limpid eyes seemed to glow when she looked at him. 

  His face was reflected in her eyes. 

  The surrounding people had thought the marquis’s reaction was because he was unhappy that the baby was a girl. 

  When Zhu Yurun came out, she looked at Ning Yuxuan’s eyes and asked in surprise, “Marquis, why are you crying?” 

  It wasn’t that bad to have a daughter. It wasn’t worth crying over. Besides, there was already a son in this household. 

  Hearing Zhu Yurun’s question, Ning Yuxuan returned to his senses and wiped his face. There really were tears. Why had he cried? 

  Holding his daughter, Ning Yuxuan didn’t think dwell on those thoughts any further. He wanted to go into the birthing room. “Midwife, you can withdraw to collect your reward. I’m going inside to check on Man-er.” 

  Dengxin hastily stopped him. “My lord! The room hasn’t been cleaned up yet. It reeks of blood. You can’t go inside.” 

  Ning Yuxuan raised his eyebrows. “Why did you leave Madam there if the room is reeking of blood? If she’s not afraid of it, then why would I be afraid?” 

  While everyone was speechless, Ning Yuxuan went around Dengxin and entered the room. 

  — 

  The doctor hadn’t lied to her. The birthing process really had gone smoothly this time. And so, Ji Man’s energy level was in an okay state. She was still awake. 

  However, as she looked around, she felt a bit dazed. It felt as if she was in a dream. If she struggled a little bit more, she would wake up in modern-day. It felt as if the cracks in her surrounding were continuing to expand. 

  As soon as Ji Man thought that everything in front of her was only a blissful dream, her eyes reddened. 

  The room was filled with the raw scent of blood. The servant girls were currently busily tidying up the room. Holding the baby, Ning Yuxuan sat down on the bed and reached out to wipe the tears at the corners of her eyes. Somewhat anxious, he asked, “Does it hurt?” 

  Ji Man returned to her senses and looked at him. She mustered up a smile. “No.” 

  “Why are you crying then? Look, she’s so cute.” Placing their daughter down on the side of the pillow, Ning Yuxuan said, “Let’s give her a nickname for now. I’ll give her a formal name when she turns one.” 

  As soon as the baby girl left her father’s arms, she resumed wailing. Ji Man was a bit taken aback. Hearing the baby’s heartbreaking cries, she couldn’t help thinking of Nie Sangyu. 

  In the past, she would hear Nie Sangyu heartbreaking cries. Her crying really didn’t sound any different from a baby’s unbridled crying. Just like a newborn, she was uncaring about anything else except her own unhappiness. 

  “Can we call her…… Sangyu?” Ji Man quietly asked. 

  She had once read in an eccentric book that daughters were their fathers’ lovers from a past life. Ji Man didn’t think there was anything bad if Nie Sangyu had had entered the cycle of reincarnation and was reborn as her daughter. If that silly girl became her daughter, she would teach her from childhood how to properly love someone. 

  As for Marquis Moyu, he could finally repaid the feelings that he owed her, even if it wasn’t in the form that she had originally wanted. 

  “Our daughter can’t have the same name as you.” Ning Yuxuan furrowed his brow. “That would be going against the rules.” 

  Ji Man raised her eyebrows and asked, “Is Zhao Zhe dead?” 

  Ning Yuxuan nodded. 

  “Can you give me the name ‘Ji Man’ and give the name ‘Sangyu’ to our daughter then?” Ji Man slightly smiled. “This way, there won’t be any repeated name.” 

  She didn’t want to be called Nie Sangyu for the rest of her life. Nie Sangyu had her story. As for herself, she was just Ji Man. 

  It seemed as if Ning Yuxuan was finally reminded of something. His eyes brightened. He stood up and said, “Okay.” 

  Nowadays, he had final say in all the important and unimportant things in the imperial court. It was only a name. How could he not give it to her? Even more importantly, after Ji Man changed her name, the previous emperor’s imperial edict would no longer be valid. 

  Which meant that he could give Ji Man a formal status. 

  — 

  During her one-month resting period after childbirth, Ji Man played with little Sangyu every day. Little Sangyu showed signs of being clever like her older brother. When she smiled, she was quite cute too and very well-liked by the people in the estate. 

  — 

  After Xi-er had been given to Mu Shuiqing to raise, he gradually became more cheerful and carefree. From time to time, they would come over to pay respects to Ji Man. Xi-er seemed a lot livelier than before. When all was said and done, he was Ning Yuxuan’s child, and his birth mother had died. Ji Man felt that she could let go of some of her grievances. There was no benefit to herself to focus excessively on the past. And so, she became more caring towards Xi-er. 

  — 

  There were countless women that wanted to enter Marquis Moyu’s vast estate. 

  Zhu Yurun very curiously asked Ji Man, “Mister Ji, what did you do to get the marquis to agree to not marry another woman? Even if its only for the opportunity to be his bed servant, there would be enough women for a line to stretch all the way from here to capital’s southern gate.” 

  Ji Man shrugged. She very innocently blinked. “He’s the one that doesn’t want to. Who am I to argue?” 

  Even during her one-month recovery period, he only spent his nights coaxing their daughter to sleep. They would sleep in the same room together, but in separate beds. Ji Man honestly didn’t know where his motivation had come from for him to achieve such high-level enlightenment and keep to a one-woman diet. 

  Ji Man didn’t expect that there would be no other woman in his courtyard. On the contrary, she could be considered to have indirectly promoted Mu Shuiqing. A man that was never tempted to stray simply wasn’t human. She wasn’t going to unyielding insist that Ning Yuxuan could only look at her for the rest of his life. 

  However, Ning Yuxuan never entered Mu Shuiqing’s courtyard. Mu Shuiqing didn’t compete for his favor either. Instead, she raised Xi-er and peacefully lived her life. 

  Finally, Ji Man couldn’t resist asking Ning Yuxuan. “You spent the first half of your life being a Casanova. Why won’t you even glance at another woman now?”


  Chapter 469 – The finale of the spring boudoir dream (2) 

  Ning Yuxuan gave her a disapproving sidelong glance. “Since you know that I spent half of my life being a Casanova, then you should also know that I’ve already gotten bored of looking at beautiful women. I just want to have a peaceful life now. Alright, laugh behind your sleeve. You just happen to be lucky that you met me when I’ve reached the point in my life where I was looking for one person to grow old with, someone to be with for the rest of my life.” 

  The corners of Ji Man’s lips twitched. 

  — 

  After she went out when her one-month recovery period had ended, it seemed unusually lively outside. Dengxin and Zhu Yurun had come over to tidy up her appearance, then they brought her to the Nie Clan’s former main residence. 

  Since the day that Nie Clan had been exterminated, this residence had been left unused. Ji Man didn’t know why, but there were people entering and exiting the residence. She curiously walked inside and saw that red ribbons were hung up everywhere. Paper cut outs for the words ‘double happiness’ were also pasted everywhere too. 

  Swinging her handkerchief, the good luck matron came over to her. She supported Ji Man by the arm and led her further inside. As they walked, she said, “Aiya, dear bride, we need to hurry up and get your hair and makeup done. The marriage sedan will be here soon -“ 

  Stunned, Ji Man let herself be pulled into the room. They changed her out of her clothes and into a wedding dress and draped the wedding veil over her head. Then, they led her to the main hall for her to say her goodbyes. 

  Nie Qingyun was sitting in the top seat that Nie Xiangyuan used to sit in. His eyes were red as he copied the words that his father had once said, “You’re getting married. Once you arrive at Marquis Moyu’s estate, behave respectfully and virtuously. Don’t act contrarily to your husband’s wishes.” 

  Ji Man twitched her lips. Truly an example of ridiculous feudal code of ethics, ah. 

  Still, she knelt down and bowed forward until her head touched the ground. She softly assented, “Understood.” 

  Outside of the hall, there was a clamoring sound from gongs and drums being struck. A long line of women dressed in splendidly beautiful clothing were waiting outside to follow her from Nie Residence to Marquis Moyu’s estate. 

  Errong stayed by her side to support her. Several unmarried young women, who were serving as the bride’s attendants, were walking in front of them. From the servant girls to the good luck matron, everyone was wearing bright red clothing. 

  Underneath the sunlight, her wedding dress glittered. There were mandarin ducks symbolizing a happily married couple as well as mythical birds embroidered on the wedding dress. Compared to the wedding dress that Nie Sangyu had embroidered herself, this one was incomparably exquisite. One glance would be enough to tell that this wedding had been planned for a long time. 

  As Ji Man walked out Nie Residence and got onto the marriage sedan, she felt a bit absent-minded. During this moment of absent-mindedness, she saw her dreamland disintegrating. Everything in front of her disappeared, and she was the only one left. 

  “I dare not love for I fear this is only a dream.” 

  Ji Man felt it was hard to breath. There was tightness in her chest. The marriage sedan continued to move forward, but she felt aimless. What would she do if she woke up from the dream? What should she do? 

  The sounds from the percussion instruments and the strings of firecrackers seem to fade away. She felt as if she was being wrapped up in nightmares. When you had something, you would be afraid of losing it. Wouldn’t it have been better to have never had it? 

  But, she wasn’t willing to part with it…… 

  A pair of hands pulled her out of her nightmares. Ji Man opened her eyes. Her wedding veil had already been taken off without her noticing. She was in the bridal room that was lit by ornamental candles. 

  Ning Yuxuan curiously looked at her, “What’s wrong?” 

  Ji Man blinked and looked around. 

  “Too stunned?” Ning Yuxuan broke out into laughter. He took down her hair ornaments and gently brought her into his arms to hug. “It’s clearly a joyful day. Why does it seem like you’re scared instead?” 

  “If I pinch you, will it hurt you?” Ji Man stupidly asked him. 

  Ning Yuxuan raised his eyebrow. “Of course. If you want to check if this is a dream, why don’t you just pinch yourself?” 

  Ji Man lowered her eyes. She followed his suggestion and pinched her thigh. She hissed in pain. “It’s not a dream.” 

  “Alright then.” Ning Yuxuan stretched his hand and took out two ordinary dangling concentric knots. He hanged one on each side of the bed. “Starting from today, we’re husband and wife again.” 

  “En.” 

  “Joined in matrimony, our love is without doubts.” 

  (T/N: The is the first line of a poem from Su Wu, a Chinese diplomat, to his wife.) 

  “En.” 

  Ning Yuxuan shot her a dissatisfied look.” Do you know how to say anything else?” 

  Ji Man caught him off guard when she suddenly pushed him down on the bed. Smiling, she kissed lips. “I love you.” 

  Marquis Moyu froze in surprise for a moment. He lightly harrumphed and awkwardly hugged her. 

  “Actually, there’s something I still haven’t figure out.” Ning Yuxuan very seriously asked her, “Can you tell me the answer?” 

  “Huh?” Ji Man raised her eyebrows. 

  “What does cushioning a brain mean?” 

  Huh? Ji Man blinked. “Cushioning a brain?” 

  (T/N: See chapter 270 if you’re confused.) 

  Pursuing his lips, Marquis Moyu somewhat embarrassedly continued, “Didn’t you once say that you like men that can repair sky lanterns and cushion brains? I know how to repair sky lanterns. Cushioning brains…… I still think that it can’t be as something as simple as cushioning a pig brain with a chopping board.” 

  Ji Man was dumbfounded. She suddenly slid off of him and onto the bed. She hysterically laughed. “Cushioning brains……” 

  It was computer, ah, not cushioning brains! This was something that Marquis Moyu would never know about. 

  After laughing hard enough for tears to come out, Ji Man looked at Ning Yuxuan’s vexed expression and suddenly felt relieved. She stopped looking at the cracks in her surroundings that looked like cracks in a dream. She tightly hugged him and said, “En, that’s exactly it. You just cushion a pig’s brain.” 

  Ning Yuxuan looked at her with a face full of doubt, but Ji Man laughed even more happily. 

  If she could stay immersed in this dream for a long time, then she was willing to never wake up again for the rest of her life. 

  — 

  In the official historical records of Great Song, there was a faithful official named Ning Yuxuan. He had assisted four emperors from the Zhao Clan. Despite several coups, his loyalty to the throne never wavered. After he assisted the child emperor until the emperor turned twenty-four, he relinquished his power. He was loved by all and had the loyalty of the court officials. The emperor honored him with the title of Father of the Nation. Ning Yuxuan lived a life of glory and splendor until he died at the ripe old age of seventy-eight. 

  In Great Song’s anecdotal history, there was a strange woman named Ji-shi. She was Marquis Moyu’s wife and was highly praised by many women. After Marquis Moyu married her, he never took another concubine for the rest of his life. This led many women to seek out Ji-shi to ask her what was the secret to her success. However, no one was able to get a satisfactory answer. She also died at the age of seventy-eight and was buried together with Marquis Moyu in Fu Mountains’ peach tree grove. 

  — 

  Unwilling to wake up from this spring boudoir dream again. 

  (The End) 

  Translator Ramblings: I felt puzzled by the ending. It’s easier to believe that this is a transmigration story than a dream story because there was just so much that Ji Man didn’t know about and was wrong about it. And, even if Ji Man isn’t the best mother in the world, how could she dream about her son being poisoned and almost dying? Why do we get to see the points of view of so many characters if this is just her dream? What do you guys think? 

  Anyways, next up, Pengxin and Ning Mingjie’s story!