The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir

Chapter 55: Treat this experience as doing it with a prostitute

Marquis Moyu made a sound of acknowledgment, but he inwardly found the third prince's words laughable. The third prince hadn't married yet. Why was he turning around to lecture him on matters of love?

"Third Young Master, it's about time that you consider your own marriage," Ning Yuxuan casually suggested. "Eldest Young Master has already married a virtuous woman and established his own stable household. For you to continue to not show care towards anything, it's really failing to live up to Noble Consort Nie's heartfelt intentions."

The third prince looked up and raised his eyebrows, "Yuxuan, do you want to lend me a helping hand?"

On the surface, Marquis Moyu was helping the crown prince. However, the relationship between Nie Clan and Ning Clan wasn't shallow. No one knew whose side this great tree would fall towards in the end.

"Yuxuan just wants to peacefully receive his salary every year. As for other matters, I'm not interested in thinking about them," Marquis Moyu said with a slight smile. "With Third Young Master's intelligence and talent, it wouldn't be difficult for you to become accomplished."

The third prince quietly chuckled. "You're such a cunning fox..."

"Sir Ning, Third Young Master, its time to eat." Errong held a dish as she came out of the kitchen and called out to the people in the pavilion as she passed by.

"I've been feeling hungry since I smelled that aroma." The third prince put down his brush and said, "In the past, I've always had people around to serve me whether I was in the palace or outside. I only needed to stretch my hands out when the servants put on my clothes for me and just open my mouth when food was brought over. I never knew what the feeling of hunger felt like. Father's arrangement can be considered a rather useful experience."

Ning Yuxuan nodded and followed the third prince towards the dining room.

---

It was problematic to figure out a good way to serve this large family of over a dozen people. There were a total of twenty different dishes and there weren't too many duplicate dishes. However, it wouldn't be possible for the other people to share a table with the emperor and Noble Consort Nie. If she separated the dishes to different tables, the other people would inevitably think she was biased one way or the other towards the emperor's relatives based on the dishes she put at their tables.

And so, Ji Man placed seven dishes and one soup at the emperor, Noble Consort Nie, and the two prince's table. For the other people, she separated the rest of the food onto small plates and put eight smaller plates and one soup at each of the remaining tables. Although it looked very abundant, it was only because the plates themselves were beautiful. The actual quantity of each dish wasn't much. She placed the dishes onto trays and carried them over to the main courtyard's short tables one by one. She lit a bonfire in the center of the courtyard, decorated the area around the tables with fur cushions, hanged fabric to block the winds, as well as embroidered screens.

In order to avoid showing differential treatment, Ji Man went to each courtyard and room herself to inform people that it was time to eat. She didn't require anyone to sit at a specific spot. There were slight difference between the dishes on each of the tables, and she let them choose for themselves where they would sit down based on their preferences for the food.

Amongst the emperor's relatives, there were a couple of madams and young ladies that were picky eaters. However, Ji Man had a very good attitude and she even delivered winter fruit to them after the meal was over. She said these fruit were good for nourishing their skin. In any case, she was Marquis Moyu's secondary wife. She wasn't some servant girl and she had already worked to this level and done everything for them. No one could say anything bad about her. After all, if they were really told to do this type of work themselves, they wouldn't.