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The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir
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Web Novel (CN)
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Rating(3.8 / 5.0, 518 votes)
5    53% (276 votes)
4    14% (73 votes)
3    10% (50 votes)
2    8% (42 votes)
1    15% (77 votes)
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2014
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Status in Country of Origin. One entry per line
260 Chapters (Completed)
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No
Completely Translated
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Release Frequency
Every 38.4 Day(s)
Activity Stats
[Graph]
Weekly Rank: #2982
Monthly Rank: #2078
All Time Rank: #272
Reading List
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On 5798 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #486
All Time Rank: #658

Description

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“I can’t accept this! I can’t! Even as a ghost, I’m going to spend eternity cursing that your relationship will shatter like glass! Break apart like a pair of mandarin ducks that fly away from each other!” With such a persisting obsession, it would be difficult for the vengeful departed spirit to move on.

Ji Man had only read a light novel to pass the time, but she was unexpectedly pulled into a very strange dream. She had become the novel’s most vicious villainess.

The novel rewinds to the beginning. The villainess that had been ordered to commit suicide reappears onto the stage and begins to follow the plot as she walks toward the novel’s ending once again, to a courtyard deep inside a marquis’s residence. A female lead that’s like the Holy Mother. Countless cannon fodders. The imperial family’s favor…

Associated Names
One entry per line
DSB
春闺梦里人
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Rebirth of an Abandoned Woman (7)
Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine (6)
His Transmigrated Cannon Fodder Fiancé (5)
Doomed to be Cannon Fodder (4)
To Be A Virtuous Wife (4)
Chongfei Manual (3)
Recommendation Lists
  1. all novel lesser than 1000
  2. Novels I have read and my opinions
  3. all the BGs i've read so far
  4. Absolute Fav Historicals
  5. Ancient is Gold!

Latest Release

Date Group Release
11/01/19 Fuyu Neko c510 (end)
11/01/19 Fuyu Neko c509
11/01/19 Fuyu Neko c508
11/01/19 Fuyu Neko c507
11/01/19 Fuyu Neko c506
11/01/19 Fuyu Neko c505
10/31/19 Fuyu Neko c504
10/31/19 Fuyu Neko c503
10/30/19 Fuyu Neko c502
10/30/19 Fuyu Neko c501
10/29/19 Fuyu Neko c500
10/29/19 Fuyu Neko c499
10/24/19 Fuyu Neko c498
10/24/19 Fuyu Neko c497
10/24/19 Fuyu Neko c496
123…34
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Review
187 Reviews


Avrohom
New Avrohom
Apr 22, 2021
Status: c400
This is a difficult book to praise or to recommend. It feels like it's about someone else's life, about someone else's family whose daily life is filled with cuckoldry, promiscuity and endless acts of betrayal inside of marriage. It forces you to be detached, because it is impossible to understand its protagonists and feel compassion towards any single one of its characters, not even the FL, no matter how awesome she is.

... more>>
Spoiler

The ML is someone else's husband, so the FL who is the spirit in the body of his wife whom he sent to suicide is not supposed to have a relationship with him, let alone love him. That is pretty much universal across all cultures, monogamous and polygamous alike: keep your eyes and hands away from someone else's hubby! Yet she does grab him for herself and even uses him as a gigolo of sorts, just for sex. I don't judge that man with his job in politics and government and his domestic life with many wives and concubines, mostly because I simply don't care - he is someone else's husband after all, why should we as readers be interested in him romantically or even as a person?

The story is well written and well translated and there is a thread of goodness that runs throughout - the spirit of our dreamer, our FL who in her dream is placed in a world from which there is no escape and the spirit has to keep going, no matter what happens, until the body of the dreamer awakens. So, this novel got the idea of nesting a story within a story to the extreme: it's a story not only about transmigration of a spirit from this world into another world, it's a book about characters in another book, and it's a story that takes place in the mind of a dreamer who dreams inside that dream and communicates with the spirit of the deceased owner of the dream body. All these factors force you to see it as unreal, yet the writer lures you into the trap of feeling that everything is as real as it gets and you can't help but feel the feelings and lose your sleep over the plot and the characters of the story. At least half of the readers find this dream to be a nightmare of sorts and forcefully exit that dream, stop reading the story. I had that impulse myself several times as I was reading. I gave up when the story reached ch.400 after the scene in the ox cart where he asks he whether she still hates him and she feels that not so much anymore. It's not that she forgave him, but she is slowly forgetting. I understand that love is unpredictable, we fall in love against our best intentions and this is a story of a decent woman falling in love with a serial killer, a murderer of his wives and children and his other relatives, let alone citizens and emperors of his country. But hatred is a different emotion and forgetting to hate takes more than just time and falling in love with your own murderer.

I liked mostly the great storytelling skill of the author, some domestic details, funny parts that made me laugh, The FL's background as a migrant worker in modern China, as a chemistry student in modern China, her work with clients and relationships with coworkers in modern China, her business acumen. She does feel thoroughly modern, there is that feeling in the book, that you are inside of a mind of a modern person. I disliked strange plot twists and behaviors, which are only justifiable in dreams, they are impossible in real life, like her interactions with the crown prince - her tireless killer. She is way too neutral towards him. And reading this caused me to experience too much disgust and aversion, pain and heartbreak. Another huge controversy is that in real life she dropped her boyfriend of 4 years after catching him with another woman in his bed, but in this dream life she is quite the opposite, she integrates into polygamous life and even wants to go back to it when she realizes she has that choice.

In the end, I became one of those readers who brought down this novel's rating on NU, because I love drama, even tragedy, but not senseless torture and sociopathy. This book is praised for being realistic which is of course a joke. The setting is not an ancient China, but a dreamland with no good people in sight. None. The author has no way of knowing what forced polygamy or even polyamory is like in real life to describe it for us either, all of this is but a dream within a dream, her aimless senseless fantasy about loving someone else's husband. And by describing polygamy/polyamory without knowing what it is like in real life, she makes a mistake, depicting it as a constant fight for a piece of d*ck and for the opportunity to be inseminated as if you were an animal kept for breeding purposes, not a person - a soul who thrives on love and loving.

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I loved the translation and the translator. She made me read this piece of stinky sh*t dressed up as a piece of noble chocolate and I am glad I spent some time in company of this particular translator. She is a very noble person and beautified that book by telling us this story in her own voice. What makes me wary is the reasons why she loved that book so much that she spent time translating every line of it and enjoying the process. I must be blind to something that she is seeing. <<less
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Euxine
New Euxine
Apr 22, 2021
Status: Completed
I don't know how could anyone like this novel. Granted, it's ancient Chinese culture of harem but come on, the male lead is the most inglorious bastard I'd encounter since I've started reading c-novels... And then the FL still ended up with him. It makes me sick to my stomach. Maybe we just have our own cup of teas we'd like enjoy. This one clearly isn't mine.
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Fuyuneko
Fuyuneko
Jun 13, 2018
Status: Completed
Caution: This review is just the parts that I liked the most about The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir. There's a lot more to this novel than what I mention below. At first, I like the novel because the premise was very similar to Doomed to be a Cannon Fodder ("DCF"). MC transmigrates into a novel's villainess. But, the execution of this story and MC and ML's personalities are very different. If the MC and ML from DCF is like a rabbit and a sheepdog wolf hybrid, respectively, then the MC and ML from Boudoir Dreams is like an independent cat and a sly fox.

Have you ever read a story with an amazing beginning, but then it goes downhill with recycled antagonists and the characters suddenly acting out-of-character in order to follow cliche plots? This novel suffers from the opposite problem. The novel's characters are initially introduced as shallow two-dimensional characters because the MC only views them as storybook characters. She believes that she knows the original novel characters really well because she's read the novel and knows the original actions they will choose. But, this is a mistaken belief! She doesn't actually understand the reasoning behind their actions. She's not completely wrong, but her view is very limited. At the beginning, she only sees them as two dimensional novel characters and as the story unfolds, she will realized they are three dimensional, multifaceted people.

Overall, I really enjoy reading about MC and her actions with the other people. I like that MC and ML's values gradually change because of their experiences. The side characters also change either from their interactions with other people in the story or time as they grow older and view things differently than when they were younger. They feel like real people who have their own hopes and motivations instead of supporting characters in MC and ML's love story.

Random things that I like about this story and thought it made it stand out from other novels.

- The knowledge that the MC remembers from the modern world isn't a ridiculous detailed amount that easily solves all of her problems. She doesn't have any magical powers or over-powered cheats.
-- Edited to add on 6/14: I didn't consider her future knowledge as an over-powered cheat because she only used it to increase a few people's favorable impression of her. These people already liked her to begin with or have ulterior reasons.
Spoiler

And there will be a consequence to using this knowledge

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- A more realistic slow burn romance between a modern women and a man from ancient times. They act and think like adults who are aware of their feelings. I really enjoyed reading their different views about love and how those views change during the story.
Spoiler

To be clear, ML is attracted to MC relatively early on once they spend more time together, but I don't think he's truly in love with her until later in the story. And MC will not wholeheartedly love ML until he places her as his highest priority

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- MC's transmigrated body isn't a child or teenager. The body she transmigrates into is 20 years old and by the end of the story, she's in her late 20's or earlier 30's. She behaves like an adult, including her interactions with the male lead. To be clear, there are plenty of cnovels that have female main characters, who are very competent. But, when they're face with the male lead, they act like infatuated preteens that don't call out the male lead's overbearing or jerky behavior. So, I love how this MC is different.

- ML has to be clever with his schemes. He's not a cold, powerful prince or general that can just order everyone into doing what he wants. - I love that the author shows that there are negative consequences to tampering with the original novel's plot. Occasionally unpleasant things will happen to the people that MC cares about because MC changes the events in the original novel. This isn't like other stories where X will happen and MC will figure out a cunning strategy, suddenly develop a magical skill, or ML saves her at the last minute. It doesn't reset to rainbows and puppies by the end of each story arc. But, I don't want to give the wrong impression of this novel. The sad parts of the novel only makes up about 5% or less of the novel.
Spoiler

There's one major devastating event and two minor events that's all linked to one motive. I really like how MC's emotions goes through the five stages of grief before moving on and figuring out the next step she will take. But, the last story arc of the novel is super fluffy, especially the cotton candy sweet ending.

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- MC has female friends/allies instead of only love interests.

- Not all villains are one-dimensional and some of the "villains" are swayed to MC's side. By villains, I mean characters that traditionally become cannon fodder in other cnovels.

- A cat-like creature will briefly appear in the story in the most ridiculous way possible.

Spoiler

- She will eventually leave the residence and travel on her own.

- After the second male lead marries someone, his wife is jealous about the attention he pays MC. Instead of acting like a typical c-novel villainess, she and MC have a calm discussion of how they'll stop his behavior.

- MC crossdresses later in the story for a short period of time and people start gossiping that ML is bisexual. It's very funny and I like that ML doesn't care about the gossip. It really shows how much he has changed since the beginning of the novel.

[collapse]

My thoughts about this novel as a villainess novel. Very spoilery.

Spoiler

At the beginning of the novel, the MC, who transmigrates into the villainess, is written as the underdog and its very easy for readers to like her. Even when she does slightly selfish things, its easy to overlook it. As a reader, you sympathize with her actions because she's only doing it survive. MC also does several chapters of nice things, but that doesn't instantly erase everyone's memory of what the original owner did. Unlike other novels, MC has to live with the original owner's long-established negative reputation.

At the beginning of the novel, she's able to remain objective by distancing herself and seeing everyone else as only a character in a novel. As the novel progresses, she gets attached to the people in this world and she becomes influenced by the world she's been living for the past few years.

Throughout the novel, MC thinks she's better than the other women who are born and raised in inner courtyard because she's a modern-day woman. And, she does sympathetically think these women can't fight against the indoctrinate they're raised under. One major moment is when the author leaves it ambiguous whether or not the MC stood by and did nothing when a baby is sentenced to death. At the beginning of the novel, it would be unthinkable for her to do this. But by this point in the novel, she's gotten so involved in playing her role, you could argue either way. She has unknowingly become like one of the woman of the inner court. And through this, I think the the author shows that the other women in the harem are not evil. They are also trying to make the best of their lives. It's zero-sum game, and unlike the MC, they don't have the option to not play.

The original heroine of the novel does become a two-faced white lotus, but the author makes it clear that this change occurred because of all the changes MC did. When the original heroine's character changes, its not becomes MC rips off her mask. She's just a person making different decisions based on how her life unfolds. (We also see the disastrous effects to other characters because of MC's actions/attempts at changing the plot.)

There is also an undeniable very selfless character, who eventually does something horrible because of the changes that MC makes. You can see that if one thing out of many things had changed leading up to that moment, it could have been avoid. Or, if there was no MC, that character could have lived out her life in peace. By having this character, I think the author is showing that good people do bad things, that doesn't erase all the good things and make them a bad person.

There's other female characters, and the author shows women as multi-dimensional people instead of purely as good or bad or s*upid or other simple stereotypes. The story is told mostly from the first point view of the MC, so when the author writes a point-of-view from another character, we get to see how skewed it is, and it makes you rethink what you previously read.

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P.s. This doesn't doesn't bother me that much when I'm only a reading a novel, but as I'm translating this novel, I really appreciate that

1) Excluding the beginning chapters, the author uses the other POV's to create an interesting world that's full of diversity and complexity instead of using them to excessively praise or criticize the MC. The other characters focus on their own lives and offer the readers a different perspective or new information that the MC won't find out.

2) The author isn't constantly saying that MC's transmigrated body is an incomparably beautiful white jade-like beauty at every possible moment and how her every action is utter perfection because of her beauty. MC's first thought was that the transmigrated body resembles a fresh corpse. There's a few casual mention that she's beautiful in the early chapters when she dresses up, then not much is said about her appearance throughout the novel.
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Dragon_Reader
Dragon_Reade
Jun 14, 2018
Status: Completed
Edit - I read the entire book in raw. This book, as per my personal opinion, is NOT romance. Though there is a MC and a ML who do fall in love and are together by the end of the book, this is a political intrigue novel. If you go in wanting to read a historical romance novel, then this book might be a tad disappointing coz ML is VERY TRUE to the time-line set.

I continued reading this book only for the political intrigue. Unlike most MLs in other books,... more>> this ML is not an all-powerful, all-knowing, even the king bows before him type. He is on his way to become one. So his schemes, sacrifices, ruthlessness and cunning was amazing. One of the most interesting political intrigue/mystery book I have ever read. So I suggest everyone to give this a try. Once you stop wanting romance or thinking of this as a romance story and start reading it for the dirty political intrigue that it is showing the progress of the ML and MC into becoming an OP character, you will definitely enjoy this! <<less
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Charlottexx
Charlottexx
Nov 17, 2019
Status: c490
So I completed this novel and honestly it was extremely DISAPPOINTING. I really wanted to drop it as it went on but kept preserving in hopes of it getting better, but it doesn't. In fact, I think the story got worse and worse especially in the epilogues the author wrote. I got so pissed I couldn't keep reading the epilogues. First off lets go with what went right. The translations are amazing! The translator translates at a consistent pace and includes helpful hints. Whenever an old character, event, or flashback... more>> is mentioned, she will kindly explain and include a link to the previous chapter (s) to help refresh our memory. Her comments at the end are also interesting to read. Secondly, the author's writing is not bad. There are moments when my heartstrings were pulled, but it didn't make up for what the author did for the majority of the book. There is no large plot holes and character's decision make sense for the most part. If you cannot handle injustice and mistreatment then this is not the book for you because it happens repetitively to many characters and is deemed as "okay" because it a patriarchal and ancient society.

People praise this book for its realism, but on the contrary I felt that it was not realistic at all. I know that its set in a different time period but honestly this book just illustrates all men are tr*sh and women are blinded in love.

There is also an extreme character flaw in our female protagonist Nie Sangyu/Ji Man. At first, her character is quite intriguing because she recognizes the fact that the male lead does not love her and naturally does not invest her true feelings. She sleeps with him, but as a form of manipulation to make sure she stay alive and well. But this starts to change as the story progresses....

Spoiler

First off her story is so tragic. She went through so much pain from ML starving her almost to death and her whole family dies because of the ML. She gets framed time and time again and her kid is kidnapped as soon as he was born then poisoned, but the ML basically never sides with her. She needed to solve all these problems herself. Basically she does not have a single good day. But in the end she decided to stay with him. IDK why! At first she laid down her guidelines with him that she will only stay with him if he is loyal to her (stop sleeping around/taking more concubines). Yet two chapters later, she things about how truthfully she doesn't really expect much from him as long as she is still treated as the "best" or be the one he "loves". She went from a strong woman to a dumb woman that knows the ML is a jerk but still stays with him.

[collapse]

On to our male lead Ning Yuxuan, his character is the most twisted I've seen and flawed throughout the book

Spoiler

The author keeps mentioning how intelligent and powerful he is, but he belittles the women in his harem to the point that he is clueless as to who kidnapped his son and poisons his son later on. How is this the same guy who can apparently plant spies in the palace and overthrow two emperors? You cannot be all knowing and powerful and yet be clueless about the true nature of the women you sleep with or WTF is happening in your own home. What a failure! And then he gets betrayed by his concubines, yet he doesn't kill her and continues to let her stay by his side which later causes more harm to Sangyu. WanWan betrays him and rats about Ji Man to the emperor and tried to kill Ji Man many times but apparently the best he can do is just let her live in a corner peacefully so she can continue to disturb our female lead. Yes this definitely shows that he loves Sangyu very much.... Oh and don't forget the Liu Huayuan concubine who he keeps praising as gentle who ends up kidnapping Ji Man and lying through her teeth then poision HaoHao (Ji Man's son) and lie about it even to her death refusing to give the antidote (which to the end he still believed her and even gave her a grand funeral). He seems so kind and gentle doesn't he, letting his enemies live well? But apparently he is the same minister that has killed his own unborn child multiple times in order to preserve balance in his harem. Okay he is heartless enough to kill an innocent unborn child but not one of his mistresses even when they've plot his beloved near her death?!?!?!

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This book is so contradicting because in the beginning the author stresses about how love is not everything and people can live without love, but then goes on to illustrate the dumbest crap ever all in the name of love. The side stories also piss me off

Spoiler

Zhu Yunrun a chubby girl who got together with a man Qiang Yunchen something unbeknownst to him because he was to drunk to remember that he initiated and gets pregnant. He hates her to the point he pushes her down the stairs and she loses the baby but all is fine. She does not even get mad at him and still loves him despite him treating her quite like tr*sh. WTF. Then the story shows how they get love dovey and I just want to vomit.

Don't forget about Pengxin and Mingjie though. I thought Mingjie would be an example of a good man in the story but nope epilogue ruined it. He marries Pengxin and she loves him very much and they sleep together too. She gets pregnant and he doesn't even know and he takes in like 2-3 more concubines who poisons her and mistreats her apparently without him knowing depsite her being a neighboring country powerful princess and the legally wedded first wife. All the hardships she suffered because he couldn't care less about her is all forgiven later when he later spends more time and starts to develop feelings for her.

[collapse]

So basically this book is about a bunch of tr*shy men constantly mistreating/abusing mentally and physically someone who loves them dearly, then realizing that they love them too and then all the females forgive them and they live happily ever after.! <<less
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autumnscarf
autumnscarf
Aug 18, 2018
Status: c113
I'm rating this a 4, but I'm not sure if that's the best way to rate it, because I'm not sure I want to keep reading the story. I'm a little less than halfway through, judging by the chapter numbers.

This is a good story, but it's extremely depressing. My understanding is that it gets less tragic, but I'm honestly too depressed to keep going from the point I'm at.

The MC is always on her back foot and can never quite catch her breath or get any real wins. She can't... more>> get ahead or stabilize her position because her family background is too dangerous, and she can't walk away due to the circumstances in the novel. Her only real 'out' is completing the task assigned by the former owner of her body (get the ML to fall in love with her) so she can go back to the modern era, but that task is honestly soul-crushing to read about.

This feels much more realistic than a lot of transmigration/rebirth into ancient era novels. But it's also extremely depressing because the original circumstances are just awful for the MC.

Spoiler

ML is a d*ck whose life embodies 'spoiling the concubine and destroying the wife', hence his inner courtyard being on fire 80% of the time. This seems to be a political calculation, but I honestly can't see how it gets him ahead in terms of the imperial court.

Pre-transmigrated FL was a b*tch, but the story basically goes into how the ML slowly drove her insane/destroyed her life because he never valued her to begin with. No wonder she went nuts and took things out on the concubines. Pre-transmigrated FL was apparently an easily-manipulated moron who was head over heels for him, so if the ML had spent the slightest effort he probably could have controlled her and prevented the utter disaster that was his inner courtyard.

Pretty much the entire story, I've been going, 'MC... you may as well forget going back to the modern era and just take your money and run away with the supporting ML.' But honestly, that isn't a solution for her situation either. She's backed up against a corner and has no outs because her own family is tied up in the struggle for the throne.

The point I quit reading was after she went through a huge struggle just to carry a baby on behalf of the original owner of the body, just for the story to go into a hugely depressing spiral. It was a tragedy conga and I finally gave up because I couldn't see how the situation could be turned around in the MC's favor.

The final goal of 'get the ML to fall in love with the MC' is just... I just find it depressing. The ML set his own backyard on fire, but the only possible happy ending for the MC is for the ML to also get a happy ending.

Nesting a spoiler because this was what made me quit reading:


After the MC goes through some insane struggles just to actually have the baby, the ML ignores the birth of the baby (he has good reasons for doing so) and the actual birth turns into a trap that destroys the MC's reputation and also results in said baby being handed to an enemy who wants her and her family dead. The ML is the one who personally hands the baby over. Again, he has his reasons for doing so, but honestly...

You can see this trap coming from miles away. The pregnancy itself is depressing enough, but it's very obvious during the pregnancy that things aren't going to get better when the baby is out of the womb.

(That said, I admit I thought it would take slightly longer in-universe for something to actually happen to the baby. I thought the MC would at least get one happy moment with her kid before it all went to shit.)

You'd think super awesome ML would have picked up on clues like 'the enemy who wants the MC dead showed up to stab her with a knife while she was pregnant because it looked like her husband was favoring her too much' and took some extra care with the birth process, right? Nope!

This dude can't decide on what he wants and he can't protect his own family. He also can't steel himself enough to clean out his backyard and instead runs around getting everyone he can pregnant. This is probably politically calculated, and MC's pregnancy was an accident he purposely tried to prevent, and like... I get it. I get why the ML acts the way he does, but I really do not like the guy.

I would honestly like the ML better if he had just killed off the original MC. At least that would mean he could make some hard decisions. Instead he's this guy who has one foot in one camp and the other foot in another camp, and the people who suffer for it are not him but rather his mother, wife and concubines.

ML probably has good reasons for ending up in this situation. It's the nature of the fight for the throne. But he has so few redeeming qualities made obvious up front, it's really really difficult to like him or root for him to get together with the MC in the end. So, I'm stopping at the point I'm at. Maybe I will pick this story back up later, after I work up my mental fortitude.

[collapse]
<<less
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ConquerWithin
ConquerWithi
Aug 26, 2019
Status: c341
I tried. I really tried. But I can’t go on. This story would’ve been wonderful... without the author’s dumbass decision to add such toxic romance. I love the realistically flawed main character, Ji Man. I love the drama ridden plot. But no matter how much the author irritatingly continued to shove the main love interest, NXY, in the readers’ faces, I still loathe him with every cell in my being. If I was stuck in a room with Hitler & NXY, and only had two bullets, I’d shoot NXY twice.... more>> For the 341 chapters I just pretended he was the novel’s villain but now that he
Spoiler

claims he’s “in love” with JM/NSY despite killing her entire clan, I can’t handle it anymore. Furthermore, he’s holding their own baby hostage because she won’t give him attention.

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He continues to do f*cked up sh*t because Ji Min won’t spare him romantic feelings. I’m dropping it know before the author’s attempt to redeem him ruins my view of this novel completely. Only giving the three stars for Ji Min and Ji Min only. <<less
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karwasama
karwasama
Jul 06, 2019
Status: c400
The reviews of this novel are pretty varied, so the first thing I want to say is that the rating really depends on what you're expecting from it. If you're looking for a novel like 'To be a Virtuous Wife' where the male lead is going to fall in love with the transmigrated main character almost immediately and the two of them will absolutely destroy their opponents from then on, the Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir is not going to be for you. However, if you're looking for a politically... more>> intriguing, gritty and realistic historical novel with the polygamy expected from the time period (at least for a while), this novel is going to be perfect. Another user already said this, but I want to repeat that it's better to read this not as a romance novel for like the first 300 chapters.

Basic overview of the plot: Ji Man (main character) reads a light novel about the love story between Wen Wan and Ning Yuxuan (male lead). in the light novel, Nie Sangyu is portrayed as an obsessive wife of Ning Yuxuan whom he hates, and Ji Man has the misfortune of transmigrating into her body. she has to fulfill Nie Sangyu's wish in order to return home, but Nie Sangyu doesn't tell her what exactly she wants so Ji Man assumes she wants Ning Yuxuan's love. The problem is, Ji Man transmigrates right when Ning Yuxuan marries Wen Wan, his supposed true love, and so the first thing she works on is restoring her reputation and gaining the respect from the other women in Ning Yuxuan's court. Then the rest of the novel builds upon the schemes of the other consorts and the tricks of the princes in the royal court as they all try to succeed the emperor.

What I like about the novel:

The translator is fantastic.

Seriously, Fuyu Neko has very good translation quality and uploads quite frequently (god bless!). They respond to comments quickly and thoughtfully, and they have interesting translator notes that either a) help you understand an implied segment of a chapter/a double meaning to a certain action or dialogue or b) get you thinking about whether or not a certain character is moral, immoral, or simply acting according to the time period. Really love them, and they deserve a shout out for their hard work!!

Everything that occurs is very (very) realistic.

This might just be a personal preference, but I personally can't stand when the male lead falls for a transmigrated character immediately. Like, you hated/ignored this woman forever and then you suddenly like her after one day because of her changed personality? That doesn't make any sense to me, so I enjoyed how Ji Man really had to work to regain Ning Yuxuan's trust and respect and vice versa (though that doesn't mean I think he necessarily deserved it but I'll get to that later). In the same vein I liked how Ning Yuxuan didn't fall out of love with Wen Wan immediately either, because even though there were (many) times where I felt Wen Wan deserved a good slap to the head, the original novel was built upon the romance between Ning Yuxuan and her, and it wouldn't have made sense for such budding love to have easily dissipated.

Also all the characters had pretty good reasons for their actions. No one was being an as*hole just to be unreasonable, and everything they (including Ji Man) did had a consequence, much like how things unfold in real life.

This might be a touchy subject for some readers (especially the ones that hate Ning Yuxuan to death) but I think the romance between him and Ji Man is very realistic as well. Again, I'll get more in depth as to why I and a majority of the readers dislike the ML later (but please don't let this dissuade you from reading this novel!!!) and I'm going to keep my reasoning as spoiler free as possible, but I'll put it in the spoiler bracket just in case.

Spoiler

Things are definitely tenuous at the beginning of the novel. There is no doubt that Ning Yixuan loathes the girl Ji Man transmigrated as, and even though there are actual reasons for his dislike (Nie Sangyu had originally forced their marriage upon him) this does not justify his cruel treatment toward her. However, as Ji Man slowly differentiates herself from the past Nie Sangyu and proves that she is smart and useful, Ning Yixuan begins to more or less respect her decisions/capabilities. He occasionally asks for her advice and actually tries to help her out in some sticky situations (for example he even saves her life from an attempted assassination). He doesn't actually 'love' her at this point, but it's a big step from the absolute hate he once harbored for her, and to go from loathing someone to loving them is a process that realistically requires many steps anyway. As the novel progresses, Ji Man continues to express her 'love' for Ning Yuxuan many times, demonstrating through her actions that she is willing to die for him (like when she took care of him while he had smallpox even though she was at risk of catching the illness herself) and that she cares (checking up on him and sending him food and what not). Of course, Ji Man is only acting like she loves him because she thinks she needs to gain his affections in order to return home, and Ning Yuxuan is well aware of this because Ji Man can't quite mask the indifference she actually feels toward him all the time (again this is realistic. Ji Man wasn't a professional actress when she transmigrated so it would be hard for her to perfectly act in love with someone), but he slowly begins to love her anyway. I personally think this development is sensible. Though this doesn't excuse his immorality, Ning Yuxuan is well aware that no one harbors any pure love for him, making it so that it is difficult for him to trust others. Even Wen Wan, who was supposedly his true love and destined wife, is easily reduced to scheming for favor at the risk of Ning Yuxuan's wants and needs. He is also in a position where he needs sensible people by his side, especially as a Marquis walking the fine line in between opposing royal factions. So when Ji Man shows how clever she is and demonstrates that she is willing to throw away for life for him, it's not unreasonable for Ning Yuxuan to fall in love, even if he knows it's likely not reciprocated. He may not show it well... but that's a whole other issue.

As for Ji Man, it is very realistic for her to remain apathetic throughout the majority of the novel. She doesn't get jealous when Ning Yuxuan sleeps with other women, doesn't really care that he doesn't love her, and most of the time she is just making fun of him in her head. In fact, she soon gains a lot of good reasons to actually hate Ning Yuxuan because, as mentioned earlier, he a questionable character who in turn does questionable and sometimes harmful things. So how does she fall in love with him at the end? Actually, the novel hasn't gotten to that point yet so I'll update once it finishes, but the way the winds are blowing show clear indication of how this romance is going to occur, and again I feel it's going down a pretty reasonable path.

[collapse]

No one is OP.

This is another pet peeve of mine. I hate OP male leads or main characters because the plot gets so boring and repetitive. Like, whenever conflict occurs, I know that the mere presence of an OP male lead is going to solve everything because his 'status is so high' and the opponents 'dare not offend him'. In this novel, the Ning Yuxuan is a marquis (though he has a lot of power, he still needs to appease the Royal Family) who has to walk a fine line in between opposing factions, and thus he doesn't have the freedom to act according to his whims. The knowledge from the future Ji Man uses to achieve her goals is minimal as well.

Main character might be black-bellied, but she has morals and sticks to them.

Okay, so I was hesitant to say this because there is an instance where she does something questionable, but in my opinion it was not as horrible compared to other novels so I still count it somewhat as a positive. What happened:

Spoiler

Ning Yuxuan gets drugged with an aphrodisiac (not by Ji Man) and she pushes him into her servant's room. There is very obvious dubious consent in this, but I just want to say that the servant was very willing to sleep with Ning Yuxuan. I can't say the same for him though.

[collapse]

Other than that, Ji Man is pretty ethical about her own schemes. She states early on that she will not involve innocent children and she doesn't, and while Ji Man isn't a particularly nice person all the time, she doesn't go out of her way to bully those who don't wrong her.

Main character doesn't fall in love with the male lead for a looooong time.

Not to be weird lol but my favorite part in any transmigrated novel like this one is the groveling that male lead has to do. It's such sweet retribution to watch as he falls in love with a woman who has 'fallen out of love' with him, which was 100% his doing. You should have treated her better, but what a shame you only realize that now. It's absolutely hilarious when Ji Man completely rejects or misinterprets all his romantic gestures, and there are a couple of reallly satisfying moments where she reminds him it's his fault she doesn't love him anymore. To be fair, the Ning Yuxuan takes this in stride and does admit it is his own doing that caused this, and in my eyes that redeems him slightly as it motivates him to try harder to win her affections.

What I didn't like about the novel:

The male lead kind of sucks.

As the other reviews do say, I have to agree that Ning Yuxuan is kind of the worst. I understand the reasoning behind his actions and personality, and I know he's supposed to be a black bellied male lead, but some of the things he does are really, terribly vile. I'm not talking about him sleeping with his consorts instead of Ji Man, because though I may not like it, he's simply acting according to the conduct of this setting. I'm talking about the other schemes, where he may have good intentions but his execution is so immoral that it makes you question whether or not it was worth it most of the time. For example:

Spoiler

Ning Yuxuan kills some of his unborn children through staged accidents for political reasons, which is obviously pretty horrible of him. Then, in order to 'protect' Ji Man, he keeps her separated from her child and tricks her to believing her child is another woman's, knowing all the while the amount of emotional pain he is putting her through (at one point she is borderline suicidal). Also, he lets Ji Man's entire family except her and her brother die in order to save her life. The list goes on.

[collapse]

I'm not really sure if I personally hate Ning Yuxuan or not, but I just want to note that I would have been perfectly fine if at the end Ji Man would have firmly rejected him and gotten together with someone else (like the second male lead).

All in all, I really like the novel so far. It's well paced and entertaining and you should definitely give it a chance. As of right now, I give it a 4.5/5 stars.

(This is just a personal side note but I don't think half the reviews are fair to the novel and author. If you read the tags, it clearly says 'late romance' and 'polygamy' and 'persistent love interests', which means you should have expected that Ning Yuxuan would sleep with the other consorts. And just because the male lead sucks doesn't mean the entire novel is horrible. A lot of reviews here already state that this isn't a picture perfect romance, so I don't know why you would go in expecting it to be so. I know you're allowed to have your opinion and I don't want to force you to like the novel if you didn't, but when I see the reasoning behind some of the low ratings it makes me a bit frustrated.) <<less
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KKristen
KKristen
Jun 28, 2018
Status: c25
So far so good! Read this if you're looking for a transmigration story with a level-headed and understated female main character, with an unusual setup -- where both the main character, "female lead, " and several other concubines are already married to the male lead.

Summary:

Ji Man was bored and reading an overly-dramatic novel about a kind-hearted common girl who marries a marquis. The margquis's official first wife, Nie Sangyu, was highly emotional, irrational, and overbearing, and after a series of obvious actions against the heroine, was put to death. "Wasn't... more>> it because the villainess was too s*upid?" she scoffs before going to bed. She hears a voice saying, "I can't accept this..."

When Ji Man awakes, she finds that she is now stuck in the body of Nie Sangyu, and what's more, everyone already hates her. She's informed by the ghostly presence of the former host that she can't return until she helps her accomplish her dream. “Why is it any of my business if you can’t reincarnate?” Ji Man rolled her eyes.

Review:

I really like the main character in this story. I really enjoy how, unlike many other reincarnated heroines, Ji Man doesn't care about schemes, power, revenge, fame, or fortune. She just wants to improve her living situation, stay safe, get along with others, and return home. She doesn't have any super powers, and even when she chooses to use her modern knowledge to create, it is basic knowledge that many normal present-day women would have.

The pacing in this story is also very good, moving along and developing quickly, without feeling rushed.

I will update this review later after the story develops more.

Translation:

Like Fuyuneko's other translation, Chongfei Manual, The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir was well-chosen and well-translated. The translation is smooth and error free, with chapters released daily. Fuyuneko includes notes, afterthoughts, and often participates in the chapter discussion comments. The website is very easy to navigate and the layout and font choices make this easy to read. Thank you for your hard work! <<less
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Mezhanos
Mezhanos
Jun 13, 2018
Status: c9
Prepared to be frustrated and amazed at the ingenuity of this story as this doesn't start out how most stories of this genre does. You have the main lead Ji man who just transmigrated into the body of the previously main wife and now a concubine of a marquis. Pretty standard stuff, you have the tragic start with a cold aloof ML who clearly doesnt see the superiority of our MC. BUT thats where the story takes a wild turn and presents you with something a lot of novels conveniently... more>> forget and sweep under the rug. The past actions of the original host and their consequences. THEY MATTER ! Who woulda guessed !?

So from the start our MC has a body thats absolutely hated by nearly everyone and she cant really do anything to change that in the short term. At first the readers are not given a clear story on the things what the original host and at times it can be frustrating to read how the MC is treated by those around her. But bear with it cos it gets better and this story is gonna be one of the greats. <<less
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Sinking Ship
Sinking Ship
May 21, 2019
Status: c300
Other people have covered how much of a scum the male lead is so I won't touch on that too much - just suffice it to say that even after 300 chapters he's still an unlikeable garbage human being who has no understanding of how human relationships work. The fact that he eventually comes around to "loving" the female lead actually makes his character worse not better since he is completely unable to give up any of his scumbag ways even after falling in "love". 300 chapters in and I'm... more>> not convinced he regards the female lead as a human being.

... but I digress. The most unlikeable part of this novel - for me - is that it's a novel from the losers POV. In the sense that everything the female lead strives for (at least up through chapter 300 chapters) she ultimately loses or fails to achieve. There are no victories. There are small little triumphs that are always, inevitably, walked back and swallowed up by the torrent of sh*t the author drowns the protagonist in. She muses multiple times in character about how the rival female character has an unbreakable main character halo that results in all of her little victories getting walked back and nullified. And then that is exactly what happens. Over and over again. Any time something good happens for her, anything she tries to accomplish, all of it gets walked back or subverted. She does things that seem good for her and then they come back a hundred chapters later to bite her in the ass in ridiculous and overblown ways. It just feels like she's always. always. always. losing.

all in all not a very enjoyable read <<less
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Lola.
Lola.
Sep 22, 2018
Status: Completed
Dont let the bad review of the ML fools you.. This novel is GOOD! The plot is at least believable and true to its ancient time. Yeah there’s a harem to it, but its setting is in faraway ancient china, do you really think its easy to find someone as committed as the other transmigration ML novel? They dont just miraculously become monogamous, I always find that plot repetitive and predictable.

the MC is smart and independent, not overly cold (aka not an assassin or military personel), no cheat (she only... more>> used her knowledge as a chemist major, unless you count the talking ghost who sometimes mislead her).

The villains are complex and have their own stories, they dont just do it because they are evil, sometimes people do evil stuff to survive

The romance is slow but sure, you can actually see the development from when ML pay special attention to the MC and when he realized that he might actually love her

back again to the ML, great character development, read until the end to understand him more, he’s powerful at the background, but still is vulnerable because in that era, the way to gain control is by offering harems. What I dont like is he’s kinda weak hearted to his harems, maybe he felt guilty, or still respecting their histories together, and you just wanna throw punches at him.

if you like Mistaken Marriage : imperial harem, you’d like this one. <<less
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Usas
Usas
Nov 05, 2019
Status: --
I have a strong aversion to this novel. So, I'm a little confused at the 5 star ratings.

-> The following review contains spoilers. Please proceed with the knowledge.

The first part of the novel made me very uncomfortable. The ML's excessive love towards the girl he bought back (the novel's heroine, our villainess c*ckroach), and his cavalier behavior towards our FL was bizarre. He can act gentle and manipulate everyone but for some reason he is okay being a douche to our FL. The FL was stoic and just did her... more>> job for the first half of the novel. But there were times where her decisions simply do not make sense. Despite knowing the turbulent conditions around her, she decides to become pregnant. WHY?

The ML starts falling in love with FL ever slowly without anyone noticing it, even us, the readers. But the worse part, he still doesn't care and sticks to favoring the books FL (Wen Wan, henceforth called WW). It goes to such extremes that it doesn't just make sense.

I also do not care for the extremely 2D depiction of the entire power struggle. What? So, all the power struggle is hinged on our ML? What about other influential families, and other factors? Some well developed characters start behaving ridiculously and mindlessly in the second half. It's not hard to see that the author simple lost the story a this point.

As we approach the ending, the FL returns to the modern world. Yay! She experiences a callous ML before she returns, but for some reason, she realizes that she loves him and doesn't care either way now and rushes to go back and miraculously does. Without any help from Nie Sangu now. How?

After she returns, she decides that she's okay with all the shitty stuff, because she has solutions now.

And without any preamble, our FL now sees pretty much like the books FL, WW. She is pampered, taken care of and loved by our douche of an ML. And, their first child who had to be sent away to a temple forever is easily forgotten by both of them and they are okay with that. No problem ladies and gentlemen. A two year old child out in the wild with a monk is a situation all parents are comfortable with apparently. The good concubines become rotten ruthless people, but still with a tinge of humanity. Oh how I wanted to laugh. I would if I wasn't so raging mad. The once good and nice concubine just casually plans to murder a child because she wants her son to have a better life. WTF? How does that make sense with her character setting. Ning Mingjie becomes okay with marrying someone else all of a sudden. The emperor is madly infatuated with our FL to such a degree that he loses his senses and ruins his career as the emperor. This was a guy who was once very capable and practical. But after working together with our FL, he no longer can pull himself away. Such Bull!

The Ning family members which include our first and second ML have helped change four emperors! Yet, they are considered loyal?! How?!

This s*upid novel gave me heart burn and made my stomach cramp at the sheer audacity of the bizarre and pit riddled story line.

And all the reviewers who said the ML isn't bad or the FL is good ought to reread this novel again. Every character in this novel is crap! A big load of crap! What a waste of time and energy. If it wasn't for my s*upid OCD~ish habit to finish everything I start to read, I wouldn't have flipped to the next page even with a 10 pole stick.

What a bunch of nonsensical story!

Save yourself some trouble and leave this story alone.

An additional note: The translator has done an excellent work translating the novel. Credit where credit is due. I just have a problem with the author and her bad story. <<less
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aovel
aovel
Nov 11, 2018
Status: c154
I have never read a male lead as hateful as the one from this story. By far this guy is the worst scum of the earth in my book. True there was one instance that I felt like he redeemed himself but after what happened after I feel like the author is crazy to keep him as the male lead. I mean there are better candidates!

I haven't finished the story and I will finish this not for anything but simple curiosity as to how the male lead will come out... more>> of this muck he's been wallowing into.

This story is interesting in a sense that it does follow a sort of real life development for the characters involved but it's frustrating when you're not thinking rationally and just want to read a good romance story. Another interesting point that I want to see is the future of the other soul. This story is weird to be honest. The good points are overshadowed by the bad but who knows I'm still 150+ in there might be some changes coming my way in the future chapters.",) <<less
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LeeEzekiel
LeeEzekiel
Jul 24, 2018
Status: c27
Deeper and more interesting than many other examples in the genre. Very interesting, and is shaping up to be an excellent novel that's full of intrigue and interwoven relationships.

PS: Make sure to skip the comments, lots of mad girls irrationally getting angry at a man for acting typical of his status during the time period. Read a shoujo manga if you want a monogamous, perfect prince.
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haruhi91
haruhi91
Jan 11, 2019
Status: c224
After re-reading the entire novel, I can safely say that this is one of my transmigration favorite novels. What I mostly like is how you get to a point where the characters seem real (excluding the white lotus character), they are far from being perfect, they make mistakes, regret it, try to improve the situation, fail again but persevere and that is what makes a story compelling and memorable.

At the heart of the story, for me, there is the transformation of a man who radically changes his way of thinking... more>> towards women. He starts as a man with a harem, which was the norm back then, he doesn't feel much towards his women, partly because he didn't choose most of them as they were forced onto him by political factions to control him, partly because he considers them as inferior, someone to protect and enjoy the night with. Slowly, very slowly, he changes thanks to Ji Man, he starts to respect her, see her as an equal while falling in love with her without realizing it. Does he change overnight? Obviously no, the road is very long, he often acts unfairly towards Ji Man because he is prejudiced against her which is kinda of understandable as he didn't want to marry her. On the other hand, there is Ji Man who, for the first half of the novel acts as a bystander, her new life is like a play, she plays along trying to fulfill what she believes was the previous owner's body wish staying detached and not caring about the ML's concubines. She is not the capable actress she believes she is, the ML sees as she fakes her love and attention to him and that's one of the main issues they will have to overcome, the lack of trust.

There are so many things to say about this novel, for example, how the author shows different types of love. The passionate love between the ML and his white lotus, which is strong and seemingly everlasting when the couple lives in their happy bubble but, gradually, dissolves when external factors come into the play. In this case, the problem is also the double standard the ML expects: a woman who completely loves him but at the same time happily accepts and welcome new concubines for him.

The mature love appears when two persons know each other and accepts their defects and differences. This is a type of love whose flame must be constantly taken care of.

In conclusion, don't read if you are of those readers who consider an unforgivable sin if the ML isn't devoted to the MC from the start; read it if you want a more mature and realistic story of a woman living half unwillingly half detached in a man's harem <<less
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Coricori
Coricori
Jan 01, 2019
Status: c212
This story is a must read!

Minor spoilers cuties~ I advise to keep reading~

I adore the MC, Ji Man. She’s sensible, smart, and doesn’t let her emotions hinder her thoughts for the most part. She’s cutely dense to a lot of plot points at times, and ‘references’ to the novel which is the world she transmigrated to. You can tell she cares about Nie Sangyu, the woman of the body she transmigrated into, and tries to help her fulfill her greviences before dying. Although it’s mainly because she has to and... more>> for self preservation. Gosh, her scheming is really satisfying though. It helps that after getting familiar with the world this story is set in, it feels really lived in. Like these characters are actually real people and have their own faults, lives, and stories.

I haven’t read the whole novel yet, so I don’t really know who is the ML. But it’s between Ning Yuxuan, the bad husband Sangyu pines for, or Ning Mingjie, the gentle one who sways for Sangyu after Ji Man transmigrated. Let’s keep note here that wether they fall for Ji Man or not, technically she’s Nie Sangyu because that’s her body and they don’t know anything about Ji Man. Personally, I don’t care who she ends up with. Throughout the 200 or so chapters I’ve read, I empathized with Sangyu, and since Ji Man doesn’t seem to care either, I want her to end up with Yuxuan although I like Mingjie more. Even though Sangyu knows that her husband treated her horribly she still loves him unconditionally, and the pain and happiness she feels just makes me wanna give her a happy end already. She’s just a fool in love.

I simply cannot believe how streamlined the characterization of the characters went in JUST 200 ish chapters. Especially for Yuxuan and the side characters. Even though Ji Man’s character is kinda static, it just emphasizes everyone else’s growth even more. Just... WOW. I love these characters.

Just a note, Sangyu doesn’t play an active active part in this novel, but it does hit hard sometimes.

BUT the best part of this gotta be the translator. Props because this translator made my reading experience 1, 000x better. Seriously. Towards the later chapters, the translator notes gives me a whole new perspective that made me think deeper about what I just read. Instead of just breezing through the chapters, I feel like I’m actually gaining something from this..? Is that even possible?

Just read it guys.
If you regret then I don’t know what to say man, you might’ve missed out on something great. <<less
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The Lazy Slug
The Lazy Slu
Oct 13, 2018
Status: c127
This novel is similar to DCF only because the FL was transmigrated into a once-villainous role. Hence, she had to find ways to break the original female protagonist's (let's label her OFL) halo to preserve her life. That said, I'd actually rather say that this feels like TBAVW, except characters are less privileged so more drama and schemes.

[Skip to end if you don't want to read too long reviews]

... more>>
Spoiler

To start off, let me clarify some of my points by introducing the characters:

[1] Female Lead's family is powerful.

Now, what do you think happens to an FL who has a powerful backing and then married to an equally powerful house but not a Wang? (1) She is an eye-candy politically, so (2) a lot of people want to manipulate/use her, have her killed or get her as an ally. ML-FL relationship isn't simple.

[2] Male Lead's

family is powerful but not Imperial.

Now, what do you think happens to characters that aren't Imperial but powerful? Their family hangs on a scale. Princes either wanting to recruit them or have them killed. So to this, the ML tried his damnest to balance things out.

This ML has layers upon layers of schemes of his own and really manipulative.

(1) He is not Imperial so (2) he has limited privileges, and (3) he is good in martial arts but not ridiculously good, but (4) it doesn't matter anyway because martial arts is not a central point in this thing. So he isn't OP.

Now, the reason I say it's similar to TBAVW is because it's more of a politically intrigue novel where characters are not what they seemed.

In character temperament, and the romance aspect, both novels followed the same formula:

In both novels, ML use their women to gain advantage.

[1] Except in TBAVW, because the ML is a Wang and FL bg is powerful, he only had to look at her and insta-support. No need to be antagonistic to FL. Moreover, FL transmigrated early so she immediately behaved herself. Hence, we don't have drama and ML is only loving to her. Readers love him and everyone is happy.

[2] Here in DSB, on one hand we have an FL background who is skewed to one faction (i.e. FL's aunt who is the favoured Imperial Concubine, say IC) and another hand the scheming crown prince's under the Empress. FL married the ML because of IC in the first place, so yknow. Anyway, ML hangs on a delicate balance. And since this is ancient setting, we don't have the privilege of seeing an overly-doting ML on the FL.

Instead, he used that "ancient setting sh!t" to his advantage by:

using his harem like 100% more than TBAVW

because (1) he needs to, (2) yeah, he still has a choice not to but why not anyway, and (3) original owner's behaviour (original owner of body before FL transmigrated) was very disagreeable at the start so they had a major fall out.

Imagine being in a tricky situation where you are trying not to offend people to preserve your life, then here goes a person waltzing in and cannot even understand what you're trying to do so unintentionally wrecking havoc in your plans? I think ML felt that way to original!owner and so she lost his favour. And rather than doting on her, his original actions is more on the negative end and being antagonistic by appearing not too biased on a faction.

I stand my ground that ML on both novels are scheming and manipulative (and both FL's know this). Just that, because of circumstances, ML on former is doting on his wife and ML of latter is hot-cold.

This is also the reason why I say both followed the same formula. Most other novels followed a different one (and one that readers loved best) : ML is black-bellied, FL may or may not be black-bellied, and ML is only doting to FL because they are both black-bellied anyway so they don't mind offending people. Case in point: DCF, PGC, BBM, all other novels with once-assassin/doctor female transmigrated to ancient times.

That aside, other things about this novel so far:

The FL's modern knowledge doesn't make her OP, and she is sympathetic to fellow women.

But that doesn't make her the holy mother, that role belonged to OFL (lol). It's just that... she's not vengeful, very tolerant but doesn't mean she'll just allow others to bully her. She understand why women have to do this and that, and so doesn't take it against them.

Her view on love is also very similar to TBAVW's FL: she really doesn't care about ML but also won't actively push him away. To live well, she has to pretend to still like him. She also knew ML's status and so behaved properly according to her role.

Also, like I said she's not OP (unlike in DCF perhaps where later on Nee Bai used her knowledge on bombs and stuff to gain leverage and help ML) which is something I appreciate 'cause hey, it's not like you can just randomly see formulas of bombs anywhere, remember it and use it. Instead, her "modern" knowledge comes in the form of production of beauty products (which is more realistic imo), having business skills despite being a woman, earning money, and being able to cook despite being noble.

The characters have depth, the OFL halo is strong and FL's life is not given on a silver platter.

The characters aren't 2D, enough said. Putting aside ML's asshol-ic personality, I'm hands down to author for not making him black-bellied but still someone who knows his sh!t nonetheless. I mean... I appreciate his character the most. He is not all-good 2D. He is scheming, manipulative, to a point I find him hateful, funny, but interesting (yes, I am weird).

Not just he ML, but basically everyone. Cannon fodders aren't just cannot fodders. They didn't become hateful just for the sake of being one, but because they were pushed that way (another example is the antagonist of Rebirth of an Abandone Woman), as opposed to say OFL of DCF where, tbh, she became hateful just for the sake of it: I don't understand her because she's just too s*upid. Something like that.

I appreciate smart antagonists, as oppose to plain unreasonable ones. And so far, the development here is good. Like, for example, the development of OFL to a true antagonist after her fall from grace is reasonable. There's a step-by-step process we get to see and I like that, and isn't because she's just inherently/became s*upid.

OFL's halo is strong. Unlike DCF where it was slowly but surely being clipped, here it isn't (at least not obviously), which I appreciate. A lot of people might hate ML because she dotes on her while being antagonistic to FL, but do remember FL

is

villainous and cannon fodder originally. So why would ML have his sights on her?

It's strange how people don't bat an eyelid when ML of other novels act harsh on antagonists, but flip heaven and earth when ML is harsh on FL who is (again) supposed to be an antagonist. You don't pity women antagonists on other novels who died and was tortured by MLs, but complain when ML here had FL be punished and ignored her in favour of OFL who is the original protag? lol

FL's life isn't given on a silver platter. Unlike in DCF or TBAVW where everything is smooth-sailing, here is obviously not. Not only because the OFL halo is strong and the tricky part of FL's background, but like... every action of FL really has consequences.

I read a bit later on (before MTL fried my brain) and, yeah, the consequences can be

heavy. It's heart-wrenching, but provided the realism I need that not everything is rainbows and ponies. Just because she is now the FL doesn't mean she now gets the express lane in everything. In fact, the things that happened just made me appreciate her character more, for being strong, independent and... just so far, I really like her.

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Summary: Read this if...

  • You love plot-driven stories (+ if political intrigue is your cup of tea)
  • You want characters that are neither 2D nor s*upid
  • You're not an extremely escapist/romanticist reader
  • You don't mind a manipulative ML not being monogamous majority of the novel
  • You appreciate that not all the time protags are right, successful, good, get what they want; hence,
  • You want to read a relatively warm novel with some occasional major heartaches
  • You don't mind non-OP/black-bellied protagonists
  • You love a spunky mother-in-law who is in full-support to our protagonist lol
The translations are also very good, and fast. And fuyuneko is responsive to her readers. Overall, a nice experience.

That said and done, the MIL takes the cake in this novel. lol Sorry for too long review and wtf is wrong with NU, the format is all over the place. I've edited this like 4 times but ugh, well, at least my point got across (hopefully), sorry for the sudden tabs and next-lines. <<less
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frostcrystal
frostcrystal
Jul 26, 2018
Status: c120
The story isn't too far in yet, but I really like it! I had been following along with Chongfei Manual and was thoroughly disillusioned due to the occasional petty heartlessness of both the male and female leads. This novel is the opposite - the MC is a cool-headed, intelligent, thoroughly down-to-earth adult woman, with a modern mindset. She isn't keen on dying for love and doesn't mind groveling a little bit to get to a comfortable place in life. So far the author has also been doing a great job... more>> of fleshing out the other female side characters, many of whom are not just allies or enemies, but actually people with their own thoughts and goals.

Meanwhile, the translation is smooth and clear, so no issues there at all. There is still quite a ways to go, so I'm looking forward to many, many more chapters! :) .

EDIT at Chapter 120: Man I am not a fan of the male lead at all. He's a product of his time, but it's quite unfortunate because he rather ruins the novel for me. <<less
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Saphie
Saphie
Jul 13, 2020
Status: --
this novel is depressing.

At first, I kinda liked it. Everything was true to the storyline- she really is a 2nd FL, ML is rlly the ML. MC is flawed, ML not OP. Kinda like, a slice of life if you ask me. Because of that I kept reading, I disregarded the ML because I thought he wasn't the ML, but- he really was. I also expected it because she was already married, but a part of me wants her to divorce this scum.

I was really really frustrated with ML but... more>> I kept on going, I thought it can't be that this ML will keep on frustrating me right? But boy, I was so wrong. I'm actually kinda ok with a scum ML because u know for ansgt sake. However, this bit*h of a man actually
Spoiler

caused the death of MC's family, caused her depression because of her child and became suicidal. even if its for a good reason that ML did that it wasn't right. When I saw the note of author at the end, when she admitted of purposely whitewashing scum ML I was like- dead omg... u can't white wash a man who caused the demise of MC no matter how /lovingly/ and /kindly/ he treated her!!!

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This novel would've been better off without a romance. I can't imagine a person still loving a person who caused her demise. On God I swear, she's nuts in the brain. All of them are.

The whole relationship is very toxic, I can accept if she stayed but without loving him.
Spoiler

Plus, she was already in the modern world but went back for a scum... I will never

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On a side note, translation is very good! And that's that. <<less
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rakusu
rakusu
Jan 30, 2019
Status: c142
I'm at 140 chapters now but I still can't get to like this novel. I picked this up because the plot summary is similar to Common Sense of Duke's Daughter and I wanted to see a Chinese novel's take on this.

It started good but turned boring, eventually.

The FL is likeable and is a rational character but the ML is deplorable. No matter how the author tries to justify his actions towards the FL, his character is beyond redeemable to me.

I think it started the first time he unreasonably punish her.... more>> Also, I'm disgusted at the way he actively sleeps with all his concubines.

Spoiler

When one get pregnant, he kills the unborn child because he doesn't want to get pulled on the crown prince's side.

(He could've just used contraception pills if he wanted to avoid troublesome issues. Or better, avoid sleeping with his concubines.)

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Really, so s*upid and undeserving ML.

As for the other characters, although they are described as this and that, they are not much focused on so they only became like an addon to the story. Or decoration with little to no purpose.

The plot is,... somewhat okay, but so slow. I don't feel that the antagonists are really antagonists when compared to the ML.

So, overall, I would say this is kinda decent novel to read. Not too bad but not to good either. <<less
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Fourthaid
Fourthaid
Dec 23, 2018
Status: c200
This is slowly moving further and further up my list of favorite web novels. The story seemingly is yet another harem intrigue novel where the MC transmigrates into the villain or secondary female lead, only to charm the ML into somehow becoming monogamous. And I do like those stories personally. However The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir isn't that.

It's not really a romance per say, at least it is not the main focus yet (200 translated chapters out of ~513 in). But rather, it's a political intrigue with a potential... more>> dash of romance down the road sometime. And the MC is not omnipotent either with some sort of cheat or attitude that allows her to instantly win every time someone challenges her, or to disrupt every scheme against her. The plotting behind the scenes is never spelled out for us, the readers, and instead we have to interpret the attitudes of the other characters based, in large part, only on what they say and do as we very, very rarely get an insight into someone else's mind.

Spoiler

I also have this strong desire for Ji Man, the MC, to be the first (at least that I've read) female protagonist to actually leave the ancient world behind when she has the chance to. Considering we're closing in on the half-way point and she still has no feelings for the male lead, I'd be pleasantly surprised if she never truly falls for him and just GTFO's, since she has a clear way back to the modern world.

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