Title: The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

Chapter: 002 out of 513 – A Strange Dream (2)

Muxu pulled back her hand. Her body trembled for a few moments as she continued kneeling next to the dressing table. She didn’t dare to speak.

Ji Man happily went to the bed to sleep.

However, the dream felt too realistic. She even smelled the incense in the room and the soft and warm blanket made it easy to fall asleep.

Just when she was about to dazedly fall asleep, she heard a loud sound. Someone slammed opened the doors and stood at the doorway to shout, “Master Sangyu, the marquis wants you to come to the receiving room. The new madam has already arrived. You can’t avoid this by hiding.”

This voice was really unpleasant to hear. Ji Man forced herself to open her eyes and sat up to see an older servant that was wearing a blue buttoned jacket. She remembered this older servant. She had been sent here the empress to take care of the marquis’s daily life activities. Her last name was Liu.

Ji Man rubbed her head and in an unhappy tone, she said, “Are there servants like you who shout at their masters?”

Even if she was only dreaming, she wasn’t someone that was easily bullied. Nie Sangyu was a failure as a person. She had just been given white cloth to hang herself* and now someone was treating her badly when she was already in a sorry situation. She could see that Nie Sangyu didn’t enjoy popular support.

* (T/N: Just in case it’s confusing. The white cloth part is where Ji Man stopped reading the story. She hasn’t realized yet that she’s starting at the beginning of the story.)

The older female servant froze for a moment in surprise. Then, her furrowed eyebrows showed her disdain as she said, “Master Sangyu, I was only being polite by calling you master and to also show respect that you were once the marquis’s wife. Right now, you’re only a concubine without any status. And you’re still trying to act as if you have your previous status?”

Ji Man narrowed her eyes. She sat on the bed for a while to think things through.

Nie Sangyu had become a concubine? She vaguely remembered reading this. She had skimmed through half of the book. When the male lead was marrying the female lead, the male lead had demoted her to a concubine because she had been jealous and failed to see the larger issue.

So, why had she woken up as the unlucky second female lead? Ji Man sat there blankly.

She pinched her thigh. Ouch. Ji Man resolutely became clear-headed. She opened her eyes and looked at the scene in front of her as if she had vaguely figured out some disastrous information.

She had really transmigrated as Nie Sangyu.

She stretched her hand out and slapped herself to make sure that she really wasn’t dreaming. Ji Man didn’t react for a few minutes, then she closed her eyes and took deep breaths.

It would have been a better alternative to transmigrate into any other character than this second female lead that was doomed to die. What should she do? Should she kill herself off with a knife so that she could have an earlier ending?

No, she couldn’t do something so passive and negative. As a modern day career woman, she was willing to tirelessly work like a dog to buy a house, so why couldn’t she do her best to save her life?

She suddenly heard a voice by her ear say, “Help me… I can’t accept this.”

Ji Man sighed. Nie Sangyu’s deep obsession must have dragged her, the innocent reader, into the story. Heavens, please have pity on me! She had only been read a novel to pass the time!

Seeing that Nie Sangyu wasn’t showing any reaction, the older female servant at the doorway couldn’t resist feeling impatient. She called out again, “Master Sangyu.”

“I know. Let my change my clothes. My current clothing isn’t appropriate.” Ji Man stood up and did her best to smile at the older female servant. Then, she turned her head and said to young servant girl that was on the floor, “Muxu, stand up and help me change my clothes.”

Did that sound right? Did her words sound like the words that people from ancient times would say? She hadn’t carefully read through that novel. However, it shouldn’t be that hard to mimic the way that people spoke here. Her imitation should be good enough to not expose her secret at least.

When the young servant girl on the floor heard these words, she raised her head in surprise. But, she didn’t dare to directly look at her. She ran towards a cabinet to look for clothes right after she stammered out, “Understood.”

Ji Man followed her and swept her gaze across the clothing. House Nie was a wealthy and famous family, so Nie Sangyu was naturally very wealthy. Although her status had been demoted, she still had her extremely gorgeous and fashionable clothing.

Since the unfathomable thing had already happened, she would act as Nie Sangyu for a while until things went back to normal. Ji Man seriously contemplated what she should be doing next to avoid Nie Sangyu’s fate. May the heavens protect her. She was still planning on going back and collecting her year-end bonus!

T/N: Edited on 6/26/18 to add Cast of Characters. Page has minor spoilers up to most recently translated chapter. Link for cast of characters can also be found on table of contents page after the summary section.