Title: The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir
Chapter: 074 out of 513 – An intense war between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law (1)
There was a slight sulkiness in Ning Yuxuan’s heart, but he couldn’t show this feeling.
Hearing these words, Mu Shuiqing quietly laughed and said, “My lord, if you’re missing Madam this much, why did you still come to Qing-er’s place?”
Marquis Moyu lightly smiled, “Is Qing-er jealous?”
“Qing-er wouldn’t dare.” Mu Shuiqing’s face had a warm, motherly radiance. With her hands covering a belly that hadn’t protruded out yet, she said, “Qing-er has accepted the unpleasant truth. The marquis’s heart only has Madam. As long as my lord is willing to occasionally come see Qing-er, Qing-er will be very happy.”
Ning Yuxuan’s smile slightly dimmed. He lowered his eyes and started to reflect upon his past actions. Had he been spoiling Wen Wan too much? The entire household knew his heart was with her. This must be why she was increasingly behaving without the slightest scruple.
To be honest, Wen Wan wasn’t a woman that could peacefully stay at home. But, he had fallen in love with her. No matter how badly she acted, he was still willing to show tolerance and forgive her.
—
Two days later, Ji Man finally completely recovered from her cold. Qian Lianxue and Qi Siling had sent over mushrooms and ocean delicacies as a token effort, along with a message that she should properly take care of her health.
Old madame also summoned her to her place and asked with a beaming smile, “Have you been enjoying the past two days of living with Xuan-er?”
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Ji Man smiled and said, “This servant fondly remembers in her heart the care that the marquis had shown towards this servant.”
Old madame repeatedly nodded. “Your current humble and patient temperament is very good. As time goes on, Xuan-er will naturally understand who’s the best.”
Ji Man nodded in agreement. She kept old madame company as they ate quite a bit of pastries. Worried that old madame would feel indigestion from overeating, she suggested that they go to the garden to stroll around. She supported her as they walked there.
In the original novel, the garden was worthy of being called the place where most incidents happened. Ji Man and old madame hadn’t even taken two steps into the garden when they met Ning Yuxuan. After Ning Yuxuan paid his respects to old madame, he accompanied them around the garden with a heavy load on his mind.
Old madame asked him questions related to the Six Ministries and he answered each question one by one, but his eyes continued to blankly stare at the ground.
Ji Man’s intuition told her that he was preoccupied with his feelings. Recently, he and Wen Wan were in a cold war. He was definitely at the tipping point where he couldn’t bear it anymore and was about to surrender.
After they passed through a covered corridor, the pavilion was straight ahead. There were two people siting in the pavilion with two servants standing nearby.
“Who are those two people? What are they doing?” Old madame asked after seeing those people from a distance.
Shouwu briskly walked forward to see, then she came back and said, “The marquis’s cousin is playing Chinese chess with Madam.”
Ning Yuxuan’s expression sunk. Old Madame’s frown was even more severe than his. She angrily shouted, “Preposterous! Is there no sense of propriety?!”
Ji Man was startled by old madame’s sudden anger. The two people in the pavilion had also clearly heard her voice and hurriedly came over here to greet her.
“Old Madame.” Wen Wan saluted with an innocent face, but old madame only coldly harrumphed and didn’t look at her.
Instead, old madame looked at Ning Mingjie and asked, “Mingjie, why do you have the free time to play Chinese chess here?”
It wasn’t early anymore. It would soon be time to go inside and sleep. At the very least, Wen Wan was the main wife. Not only was she outside playing Chinese chess, she had been playing with her cousin-in-law. No matter how anyone looked at it, it wasn’t appropriate. She wasn’t from a noble family, so she didn’t know these rules. It couldn’t be that Ning Mingjie also wasn’t aware?
Ning Mingjie’s face was actually calm and confident as he honestly said, “I happened to pass by and saw that Madam was troubled over a hopelessly bad move in her game. I couldn’t help myself and went over to see.”
Wen Wan guiltily looked at Marquis Moyu. The latter calmed his expression and sneered.
The aggrieved look on Wen Wan’s face increased. She bit her lip and said, “Upright people aren’t afraid of being in situations that look bad. Cousin-in-law truly just passed by here. If Old Madame insists on blaming Wen Wan, there’s nothing else for Wen Wan to say.”
“Look at you. You actually have the nerve to show your temper?” Old madame was so furious that she laughed. “Well, it’s also my son’s fault for not being promising. He fell for a temptress like you. If I were to lay down the rules, you would have been driven out of this residence a long time ago.”
Wen Wan’s eyebrows pinched together. She was extremely unwilling to accept old madame’s words. Although Qi Siling had already repeatedly told her to not adopt a confrontational posture towards old madame, she still felt mistreated and couldn’t help saying, “No matter what Wen Wan does, Old Madame will still dislike Wen Wan. Wen Wan will daringly ask Old Madame one question. Since Old Madame has come back, has Wen Wan done a single wrong thing towards Old Madame for Old Madame to have treated me like this?”
Ji Man was standing by the side and had her head lowered to admire the ground. The female lead was really seeking death. Ning Yuxuan was a filial son. He definitely wouldn’t make his mother suffer in order to protect Wen Wan’s feelings. And yet, instead of calming herself down, her every word had been challenging her elder and putting Ning Yuxuan in a difficult position.
There were countless examples of conflicts between a daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law in modern times. Ji Man felt that before marrying someone, you should first see if you could get along with your future mother-in-law. This was more important than checking the other party’s family’s financial situation. If you couldn’t get along with your future mother-in-law, then you should reconsider getting married. Otherwise, you might end up wasting your youth.
In the conflict between a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law, you really couldn’t say who was right and who was wrong. Ji Man felt that it was better for her to just stand by the side and quietly watch.
“How I treated you?” Old madame was flourishing with anger. She glowered at Wen Wan and said, “This household feeds you and clothes you. Do you think I owe you something? You’re the one that improperly handle matters in a dislikable way, and now you’re going to accuse me of treating you harshly in front of Xuan-er?”
Wen Wan still wanted to say more, but Ning Yuxuan stepped forward and stopped her.
“Mother, please calm down. It’s this son’s fault for spoiling Wen Wan,” Ning Yuxuan said. “Direct your anger towards this son.”
“How nice. A couple with mutually deep feelings.” Old madame took a deep breath and Ji Man hurriedly supported her body that seemed as if it would fall over.
“Fine, this residence is for the two of you. How about I just leave?” After flinging down these words, old madame turned around and immediately started walking away. She was so angry that tears fell down as she walked.
She disliked Wen Wan and didn’t want Xuan-er to lose his head over her, but Xuan-erchose to side with her. How could she not be angry?
Ji Man hurriedly tried to comfort her, “Old Madame, don’t stay angry. It’s bad for your health.”
“Come, we’re going to the palace and staying there!” Old madame angrily said. “I’ll give Marquis Moyu’s residence to her. We’ll see how long she can stay here!”
