Chapter 10 - Awakening

Awakening

When Mu Mingtang woke up the next day, she realized that she still didn’t have a dresser and a mirror. Yesterday, she told her dowry maids to bring the mirror from where it was placed and keep it in her chamber. However, they were brave enough to be disobedient.

Sure enough, Mu Mingtang, you can’t count on the Jiang family’s maid. They are just Mrs. Jiang’s spies, what can you expect from them?

Mu Mingtang murmured angrily while arranging her hair in a bun. After she cleaned herself, she hurriedly stepped into Xie Xuanchen’s chamber.

“My lord, good morning.”

Even though Xie Xuanchen was still in a coma, Mu Mingtang didn’t intend to treat him like a patient. So that’s why she began to greet him in the morning and evening and tell him the daily menu. After Mu Mingtang wiped Xie Xuanchen’s face and changed the medicine, the food delivery person came. After breakfast, Mu Mingtang walked outside to find a mirror for herself.

At the gate, she was stopped by the captain of the guard. After dealing with him yesterday, she was less afraid of him, so she even dared to bargain: “My lord, I know that you have official business and you must not let me go. But I am not going out of the house, I am just going to Qingxintang to find my dowry. Although the main hall of the palace is fully equipped, there was no mistress before, and there was not even a dressing table in it. Besides, my clothes and jewelry are all in the dowry. You can’t let me live on this set of clothes for the rest of my life, right?”

Yesterday Mu Mingtang couldn’t find women’s clothes, so she could only continue to wear her wedding clothes. She can’t be like this all the time, no matter what, she needs to get her dowry. Not only that, she has to fight for the right to pass freely between Qingxintang and Yulintang.

The head of the bodyguard was shocked by Mu Mingtang’s words, however, their guard object was King Qiyang, not the princess, so he let Mu Mingtang go without any hesitation. Yet he sent two soldiers to follow her and help her to carry the dowry.

Mu Mingtang looked at the two guards who stayed behind her, clearly guarding her, afraid that she might run away. Anyway, Mu Mingtang didn’t plan to run away, so she didn’t care about the tail behind her at all, but instead commanded the two soldiers confidently. She instructed two soldiers to move out several boxes of clothes.

The two soldiers carried out several boxes and kept them at the entrance of Yulin Hall. They were afraid of Xie Xuanchen, so they didn’t intend to go inside. Mu Mingtang was speechless and went straight to look at their leader, the head guard: “Sir, do you plan to let me move the boxes?”

The head guard also felt embarrassed, coughed, and said, “I dare not to be a lowly official. Excuse me. The princess leads the way.”

Mu Mingtang snorted, turned and pushed open the hall door. She took two steps and turned back impatiently to urge: “Come on, what are you doing?”

Mu Mingtang obviously saw everyone taking a deep breath. Only two pairs of furniture were lifted, and even a group of people drew their swords and escorted their comrades who were carrying things into the door. Mu Mingtang clicked his tongue and said in disgust, “Look at your courage.”

Everyone was embarrassed, however, no matter how embarrassed they were, they dared not put down the swords in their hands.

Mu Mingtang originally intended to put the dressing table in her cubicle, but after entering the hall, everyone walked in the direction of Xie Xuanchen’s room. Even though Mu Mingtang wanted to tell them to move her things to her room, she couldn’t do that. She was the princess, and she should sleep in Xie Xuanchen’s chamber. She could not let others know that she was sleeping in a separate room.

Soldiers placed things carefully they carried in Xie Xuanchen’s room and quickly ran out.

After the soldiers had gone, Mu Mingtang turned her head and continued to fix the unfinished bun, and then put it into the hairbrush, tassels, and bead flowers in sequence.

In the past, to imitate Jiang Mingwei, Mu Mingtang could only use jewelry such as silk flowers and ribbons, and the beautiful gemstone hair pins could only be seen but not touched. Now that she has a large box of jewelry herself, she can choose the shiny jewelry according to her preferences.

Mu Mingtang picked it seriously, and devoted himself to it later, completely forgetting the existence of the outside world. When she finished dressing, she was so happy in body and mind that she couldn’t help looking at herself in the mirror. At this time, she had completely forgotten about Xie Xuanchen.

After dressing up, Mu Mingtang was clearly in a good mood. She hummed a song and sorted the clothes in the mahogany box into her closet. Even when she was feeding her lunch, she was clearly in a good mood.

In the afternoon, when everything was over Mu Mingtang slowly thought how to take care of Xie Xuanchen’s body. Now I have some money which I got as my dowry, so I should find a way to take care of his food.

It’s a pity that she can’t leave the house, so the matter of going out to buy things has to fall on the guards outside. Although soldiers were controlled by military orders, money can do wonders, so she may be able to try it while the captain of the guard was not paying attention.

Mu Mingtang sat in the sun, slowly peeling almonds. These nuts were snacks that she had bought from certain guards.

The head guard did not let Mu Mingtang leave Yulin Hall, so Mu Mingtang quietly bribed the other guards while he was not paying attention, and asked them to buy snacks outside. Mu Mingtang only said that she was bored and wanted to eat some snacks to pass the time. She was only fifteen years old, and she was about the same age as their sisters, but she would spend the rest of her life in confinement. Even if the guards have military orders, they will inevitably feel sympathy.

This was how Mu Mingtang got the snacks outside. She also had another plan, it was to feed them to Xie Xuanchen, so she grinded almonds and hazelnuts to mix them into Xie Xuanchen’s porridge.

Xie Xuanchen had slept for a long time, and he had not seen the sun all year round, so he urgently needed supplementary nutrition. But Mu Mingtang didn’t dare to ask the guards to help her buy eggs, goat milk, etc. She was afraid that her behavior would be discovered by outsiders, so she could only start with nuts and slowly replenish Xie Xuanchen’s body.

Peeling hazelnuts and almonds requires patience. Mu Mingtang was knocking on the skins when she suddenly heard movement at the door. She thought it was the food delivery person, and without raising her head, she said, “Put it at the door, and I will come.”

After Mu Mingtang finished speaking, she was still wondering why the food delivery person came so quickly today. However, her voice fell behind, and there was no response at the door for a long time. Mu Mingtang suddenly felt wrong. She raised her head and found that Xie Xuanji had stood at the door at some point and was looking at her indifferently.

Mu Mingtang’s heart skipped a beat, but she didn’t show any fear. She wiped her fingers with the handkerchief, and then stood up unhurriedly: “It turned out to be King Jin. You don’t know who your concubine is, so you have lost your way.”

Xie Xuanji walked into the hall and observed the surroundings and secretly frowned. He didn’t know whether he was frowning because the place was deserted, or because Mu Mingtang was still at peace even in this environment. Even the guards were scared to death and dared not take a step into the gate.

He stopped in front of Mu Mingtang, looked at a large pill of nut shells in front of her, and asked, “Where did it come from?”

Mu Mingtang didn’t seem to panic at all, wrapped the peeled nuts with paper and said, “I stay indoors all day, and I can’t even go out to get some air. If I just want to eat some fruit, is it possible that I am breaking the law?”

Mu Mingtang just asked someone to go out of the house to buy some nuts. It was not a big deal to discuss carefully. Whether Mu Mintang live or not, it has nothing to do with Xie Xuanji and the emperor. As long as Mu Mingtang was carried into the Qiyang Palace alive, their purpose would be achieved. But when the housekeeper of the Qiyang Palace presented something to Xie Xuanji, Xie Xuanji came to see Mu Mingtang specifically today.

Seeing that Mu Mingtang was still confused, he endured his displeasure, took out something from his sleeve, and stretched out his hand in front of Mu Mingtang: “Then what’s going on?”

Mu Mingtang glanced down, yes it was the hairpin that she sent out by Mu Mingtang as a bribe. Sure enough, the guard pawned the hairpin. Mu Mingtang couldn’t directly give silver money, so he could only use jewelry to bribe the guards. Anyway, she doesn’t like these elegant and simple jewelry. Wouldn’t it be good to send them out as a favor?

Mu Mingtang only glanced at it and looked away, and said, “Yes, it’s mine. I deal with my dowry as a matter of course, and the King of Jin even takes care of this?”

Xie Xuanji held back his anger and said, “Even if you are angry, you cannot waste your dowry. You liked this hairpin so much before, but now you sell it cheaply just for a little food?”

“I don’t like it, I can’t sell it for food?

“You’re still stubborn.” Xie Xuanji looked at Mu Mingtang: “After you married him, you were so wrong to this point. It’s just a little bit of food, and you need to sell the dowry?”

“I really don’t like it. I said that I don’t like it, if it wasn’t for the difficulty of seeing craftsmen carving jade, I would have thrown it away, and it would be better if I could use it for a handful of food. I’ve used everything to the best of my ability. Besides, you married me to your brother, why can’t I go out, you don’t know?”

Xie Xuanji still didn’t believe it, he sighed and said, “You are still blaming me. It is adjacent to the Qiyang Palace, and you can enter the Jinwang Palace Garden from the small gate on the east side. If you want anything in the future, you can come to me.”

Mu Mingtang’s face sank all of a sudden, she fixed a look at Xie Xuanji, then suddenly sneered: “Yo, what do you mean by King Jin? Your sweetheart is back, and you are in high spirits when you meet your old lover again. Now you feel a little pitiful for the substitute you abandoned? I am your sister-in-law, and now your brother is seriously ill in bed, you…what do you mean by letting me go from Xiaomen to King Jin’s Mansion?”

Xie Xuanji seemed to smile, stepped forward, and immediately narrowed the distance between the two of them: “Sister-in-law? In the first half of your wedding, I was the salute.”

“Salute is also a substitute.” Mu Mingtang immediately wanted to retreat, but she did not escape Xie Xuanji and almost fell in a hurry. Xie Xuanji grabbed Mu Mingtang, Mu Mingtang found that the distance between the two was closer, she panicked, and as soon as she stood firm, she threw Xie Xuanji’s hand: “Damn, let me go!”

Mu Mingtang thought the sky was bright, and Xie Xuanji dare not do anything. But she looked up and saw that the door was closed at some point. The spacious hall was empty, only the two of them.

Mu Mingtang’s heart was cold, she quickly struggled out of Xie Xuanji’s hand, and took a few steps back: “Xie Xuanji, I’m your sister-in-law, do you want to ignore human relations?”

“Do you really take this marriage seriously? Xie Xuanji smiled lightly, “He is in a coma, and he is powerless to do whatever he wants. If you follow him, what will happen? If you are interested, you will know what to do.”

“What should she do?”

Both Xie Xuanji and MuMinTang were startled, they turned around quickly, and found the sound of something heavy hitting the edge of the bed in the innermost bedroom.

Mu Mingtang reacted immediately, it was the iron cuffs on Xie Xuanchen’s hands. The chain was made of black iron and was extremely heavy. Only the pair of handcuffs could make such a big noise.

End of Chapter 10