As usual, Xie Xuanchen went back to bed first, and then Mu Mingtang went behind the screen to get changed. It was the same as yesterday, he was slowly getting used to it and he wasn’t as embarrassed as he first was when he heard the shuffling of her clothes. After Mu Mingtang changed into snow white undergarments, she blew out the candle and slowly fumbled her way back.
After Mu Mingtang climbed onto the bed, she tucked herself under the blanket in the dark. As she laid on the bed, she could hear the person next to her breathing, and she felt a strange sense of calmness.
In this huge manor, with plenty of servants and was grand as ever, she could only trust this person beside her. As they lied together at this moment, it felt like they were dependent on each other to live on.
Mu Mingtang knew that her thinking was extremely outdated. She didn’t know if she was too exhausted or had gotten used to this. Mu Mingtang quickly felt sleepy after lying in bed for a slight while today.
“That old physician is on duty on the fourth night. Tomorrow I’ll explore the way there, thenl wait until the fourth night. After we turn off the lights, you’ll stay here and I’ll quietly climb out the window to look for him. If the maid outside hears something, you must help me cover.”
Xie Xuanchen replied in a low voice. Mu Mingtang turned over and yawned softly, “Thank you, I’m going to sleep first. Good night.”
Soon after Mu Mingtang finished speaking, her breathing gradually became even, she had obviously fallen asleep. Xie Xuanchen exclaimed, he had to admire her carefree mentality.
There was no moon tonight, Xie Xuanchen opened his eyes and looked into the darkness, he could vaguely hear the sound of rain coming from outside the window. Before Mu Mingtang climbed up the bed, she would always put down the bed net first, everything outside would then turn blurry. The sound of the rain hitting the eaves made a pitter-patter kind of sound.
The night rain accompanied with the autumn breeze, it was actually quite a sad atmosphere, but hearing the shallow breathing of the person beside him gave Xie Xuanchen a strange sense of security. Along with the rain and the person beside him, this sense of security would probably forever be engraved in his memory.
Xie Xuanchen fell asleep slowly, surrounded by the sound of the trickling rain.
.
Early the next morning, Mu Mingtang woke up and found that the room was quite cold. She tucked her arm back in the blanket, and warmed herself up under it, she then got up very reluctantly.
Just when Mu Mingtang moved, the maid outside heard the noise. She knocked softly on the door and said: “Princess, are you awake?”
Mu Mingtang carefully walked around Xie Xuanchen, stood on the footrest, and placed her hair that was scattered all over behind her: “Come in.”
The maids filled in the room. Mu Mingtang washed her face and brushed her teeth with the maid’s help. The maid holding the basin softly backed away to make way for the maids holding the choices of clothes.
The maids were holding all kinds of *ruqun in their trays as they asked: “Princess, which one do you want to wear today?”
(**T/N: The ruqun (Chinese: 襦裙) is an traditional Chinese attire primarily for women but also for men. It consists of a blouse (襦; rú) and a wrap-around skirt (裙; qún).)
Mu Mingtang thinks that it’s better to dress bright and lively. She was in the Jiang manor for a year and a half and was fed up with imitating Jiang Mingwei. She had to force herself to dress in either white, black or grey tones only. There was war everywhere during this dynasty, and women were given stricter rules. The imperial court advocated that women should be elegant and graceful, to show their weak sides, and that they should dress plain.
Jiang Mingwei’s style was what most of the people favoured, but Mu Mingtang didn’t like it. She was fed up with imitating Jiang Mingwei’s cowardice, she wanted to wear what she liked. She chose a crimson red pleated skirt along with a white top, it’ll slightly dye down the glamour of the skirt, she then put on a large-sleeved robe that was indigo blue and gold on the outside, the sleeves were wrapped in yellow silk.
Red, blue and yellow were all bright colours. In the maid’s opinion, choosing one of these colors for her outfit would be gorgeous enough, but Mu Mingtang chose all the three. The maid sighed in her heart, her background determines her taste, she is of the common folk after all, no wonder she has such bad taste in fashion.
In the end, after Mu Mingtang got dressed, her outfit turned out gorgeous and charming. Mu Mingtang, with her delicate appearance, used to just wear gray and white, which didn’t look bad on her, but they were too plain. The colours made her facial features seem dull. Now that these three strong colors collided together, her outfit was bright enough, and it elevated Mu Mingtang’s appearance, her complexion looked great.
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