Before bedtime, Aunt Bai brewed a calming soup for Yun Si.
Aunt Bai was the head stewardess of Drifting Cloud Garden. Worried that the maids were too young and might not be careful enough, she insisted on personally preparing Yun Si’s medicine to ensure its effectiveness.
In the past, Yun Si had always dreaded taking medicine because of its bitterness. Whenever she had to take it, the aunties and maids would coax her endlessly, holding candies and preserved fruits nearby so she could eat something sweet immediately after swallowing the bitter brew.
But today, Yun Si’s actions left Aunt Bai and the maids utterly stunned. She took the medicine bowl and drank the warm soup in one go without even furrowing her brow.
After finishing the medicine, Yun Si didn’t even eat the preserved fruit offered by the maid. When the maid brought it to her lips, Yun Si shook her head. “Will eating this affect the medicine’s potency? Never mind. Bring me some clean water to rinse my mouth.”
The maids stared wide-eyed in shock. What had happened to their young lady? What kind of nightmare had tormented her so deeply?
After drinking the calming soup and lying quietly in bed for a while, drowsiness soon washed over Yun Si.
Her last thought before falling asleep was one of relief: tonight, she would surely not dream again.
Yet, to her surprise, Yun Si still dreamed.
It was the same bedroom, the same man. Yun Si struggled desperately to break free from the dream, but the calming soup had taken effect, and she simply couldn’t wake up!
The third dream went even further than the previous two. She saw the man undressing…
Yun Si felt both shame and fear. How could a man’s body look like that?
When dawn finally broke, Yun Si woke from the dream. Suppressing her anger, she asked Yinzhen, the maid on night duty, “I was trapped in a nightmare last night. Why didn’t you wake me?”
Yinzhen replied in surprise, “Did you dream again last night, young lady? But you didn’t make a single sound. I checked on you several times by the bed, and you seemed to be sleeping very peacefully.”
Yun Si was shocked. She had struggled so hard to escape the dream, thinking she must have been thrashing about in bed, yet there had been no sign of movement at all.
Frustrated, Yun Si exclaimed, “That calming soup is completely useless! I’m never drinking it again!”
Not only was it useless—it had made things worse!
When she didn’t drink the calming soup, she only dreamed for a short while before waking up. But last night, after drinking it, she was trapped in that dream the entire night!
The images from the dream… even the slightest recollection made Yun Si blush crimson.
However, there was one thing in last night’s dream that brought Yun Si some comfort. The first two dreams had felt so real that she began to suspect such a man might truly exist.
But this third dream was utterly absurd. As soon as she woke up, she knew it couldn’t possibly be real.
How could a man’s body look like that beneath his clothes?
Although Yun Si had never seen a man’s body before, she felt it simply couldn’t be true.
Women are human, men are human—they’re both people, so shouldn’t they look somewhat similar?
Since this detail was clearly false, the entire dream must be false as well. There was no such man in the world. Thinking this, Yun Si breathed a sigh of relief. If the man in her dream wasn’t real, she felt much more at ease.
But… was what she dreamed truly false?
Although Yun Si believed so, she still needed to confirm it to set her mind at ease, just in case.
After much deliberation, Yun Si gritted her teeth and summoned Jin Ming, the most reliable and discreet maid she had.
Leaning close to Jin Ming’s ear, Yun Si whispered her instructions in the softest of voices.
Jin Ming gasped in shock, staring at Yun Si. “Miss, you want me to buy… a spring palace painting?”
Yun Si quickly covered Jin Ming’s mouth. “You, you, you—how could you say it out loud!”
Jin Ming thought to herself, But Miss, you were the one who said it first.
Of course, Jin Ming couldn’t say that directly to Yun Si. Instead, she asked in confusion, “Miss, before your wedding, Madam will prepare it for you.”
Yun Si said, “I can’t wait… I want it now!”
Jin Ming looked at her young mistress with an extremely complicated expression, thinking that her mistress must be extremely satisfied and eager about her marriage to the young prince Xie… This was far too impatient.
Since Yun Si had ordered it, Jin Ming had no choice but to comply. She found an excuse to leave the mansion, put on a wide-brimmed hat, and covered her face completely.
After circling the shop selling spring palace paintings several times, she finally gritted her teeth and walked in. Suppressing her embarrassment, she randomly pointed to one and bought it for her mistress.
What Jin Ming didn’t know was that despite her careful efforts, she was still recognized by an acquaintance.
The person who recognized her was none other than Xie Changze.
Xie Changze had an exceptional memory and kept Yun Si in his heart. After meeting a few of her maidservants, he had memorized their appearances.
Today, Xie Changze had come out to buy books. When he saw Jin Ming wearing the wide-brimmed hat, her figure made him suspect it was her. Seeing the clothes she wore—the uniform of the maidservants in the Chancellor’s Mansion—confirmed her identity.
Was Jin Ming out shopping for Yun Si?
Curious, Xie Changze paid attention to what Jin Ming was buying.
Then he saw that Jin Ming bought nothing else but took a spring palace painting and left…
Xie Changze’s face instantly flushed hot.
Cousin… Cousin was actually so eager to see such things? All for his sake, right?
Xie Changze truly hadn’t expected that his dignified and reserved cousin had such a side to her. He felt as if his heart were about to leap out of his throat. Cousin must love him deeply to cast aside the restraint of a proper young lady and do such a thing.
Although this was improper, Xie Changze wasn’t angry at all.
This little secret, he would definitely keep it firmly for his cousin.
After their wedding, when they became a real couple, he would mention this to his cousin in her ear. He wondered how shy she would be…
Thinking of his cousin’s feelings for him, Xie Changze’s face was filled with a dizzying happiness.
Jin Ming hid the spring palace painting inside her clothes like a thief and slipped back into the Chancellor’s Mansion. At night, while making Yun Si’s bed, she secretly tucked the spring palace painting under the embroidered quilt.
As soon as Yun Si got into bed, she felt the thing Jin Ming had hidden there.
When all was quiet and the other maidservants had fallen asleep, Yun Si secretly retrieved the spring palace painting from under the covers and took a quick glance at it under the dim lamplight…
With just one glance, Yun Si was utterly shaken.
How… how could the man in this spring palace painting look exactly like the one in her dream?
No, not exactly the same—the man in her dream had longer legs and a slimmer waist…
But the man’s body truly looked like that.
A man’s body and a woman’s body were really completely different!
With a tearing sound, the trembling Yun Si ripped the spring palace painting.
How could this be? Could someone dream of something they had never seen before?
She had never seen a man’s body before last night and had no idea what it looked like. Even after waking from the dream, she had thought what she dreamed must be false.
To reassure herself, she went to buy an erotic painting, but what she saw in it shattered her firmly held beliefs.
Could it be that her dream… was actually real?
Could it be that in this world… there truly existed such a man?