Chapter 317 terrified Tang'er

Hua Yi's face turned pale instantly, and she hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed: "Please forgive me this time, Your Highness! I will do whatever you say! I will serve the Prince well from now on!"

Princess Ning looked at her coldly: "A maid is just a maid. If a family doesn't distinguish between superiors and inferiors, and allows maids to ride on their masters' heads, then that family is not far from destruction! You've gained your master's favor and forgotten your duty, causing your master to suffer so many injuries for you. Selling you is too lenient! If this happened in any other family, you would have been beaten to death long ago!"

"Why is Mother taking her anger out on the maid! This matter has nothing to do with Huayi; it's just that my feud with Gu Qianhan has dragged her into it!"

Xiao Qingyuan bent down and pulled Huayi up. He gripped Huayi's wrist tightly and said with great force, "I will take full responsibility for my actions! If Mother wants to sell Huayi, then she should sell me first!"

Princess Ning looked at her son in disbelief: "She's just a maid, is she worth protecting like this? Isn't Chu Yanluo enough? Why are you now risking your life to fight against Huayi?"

“If Mother hadn’t forced Huayi, I wouldn’t have had to risk my life. I could have taken Huayi back to the courtyard to rest properly instead of confronting Mother here! It was the same with Yanluo before. If Mother hadn’t stopped me, how could I have done those rebellious things!”

Princess Ning's eyes reddened: "So you think all of this is my fault? So whatever you do, I should just go along with it?"

"You want to marry a woman who's pregnant with an illegitimate child, and I'm supposed to agree?"

"You took your wife hostage with a knife to save your maid. Shouldn't I be allowed to interfere with such a heinous act?"

"You came back from the Duke's mansion covered in wounds, shouldn't I be holding your maid accountable?"

"Xiao Qingyuan, do you have any conscience saying such things?!"

"I am your biological mother, not your stepmother! The person who loves you the most in this world is not your concubine, nor your bed warmer, but me!"

Xiao Qingyuan opened his mouth, but his imposing manner finally weakened: "I know my mother loves me, but sometimes she is a bit too controlling. If you were less controlling, we would naturally be a loving mother and filial son. I'm not a child anymore. You have to give me freedom and let me make my own decisions."

Princess Ning took a deep breath to calm herself. She knew that selling the painting was impossible, otherwise the relationship she had finally managed to improve with her son would collapse again.

She couldn't let her son become estranged from her just because of a maid!

Her son's tone softened, and she forced herself to soften her tone as well: "You're right, you're not a child anymore, you should be able to make your own decisions. As for Huayi, we'll keep her to serve you for now."

Xiao Qingyuan finally felt relieved: "Thank you, Mother."

"but--"

Xiao Qingyuan's heart tightened again: "Does Mother have any further instructions?"

"Now that you're an adult, you should act like one and take responsibility."

"My responsibility? What responsibility do I have?"

"The responsibility for the prosperity and flourishing of the Prince's Palace."

Princess Ning said in a calm tone, "From now on, you will have to stay in the Crown Princess's room for at least ten days every month until the Crown Princess becomes pregnant. It's time for our Ning Prince's Mansion to have a new member."

Xiao Qingyuan refused without even thinking: "I'm not going! I have Huayi, that's enough for me, I don't need any other women!"

"The Crown Princess is your legal wife, not some other woman! If you don't go, I'll have the painting sold off!"

“Shen Wantang was chosen by my mother herself, it has nothing to do with me. I have already given her the position of Crown Prince's wife, I can't give her anything else!”

"Nonsense! If you can give Chu Yanluo and Huayi, you can give your Crown Princess!"

Princess Ning slammed her hand on the table in anger: "Today you held a knife to Tang'er's neck and frightened her! She's such a diligent and virtuous person, and now she's bedridden!"

Xiao Qingyuan was stunned: "This is impossible! When I left, she was perfectly fine, as calm as if she hadn't even seen the knife in my hand!"

"That's because she's saving face for you in front of others! If she panics and is afraid, not only will she lose face, but you, the culprit, will also be ridiculed by the world!"

Xiao Qingyuan hesitated: "Is she really terrified? Is it serious?"

"Very serious!"

"Then...then shall I go and see her?"

"Of course we're going! If you don't go, who will?"

"Okay, I'll go then."

Princess Ning waved her hand: "Go, comfort her properly, apologize if you should, and admit your mistakes."

"Okay, I understand."

Xiao Qingyuan breathed a sigh of relief. He could finally leave. If he had known that mentioning Shen Wantang would get his mother to release her, he should have mentioned it sooner!

He felt a little smug. He had just played a trick on his mother. He had said he would go to see Shen Wantang, but he hadn't agreed to let his mother stay overnight at Shen Wantang's place!

After leaving Princess Ning's courtyard, Xiao Qingyuan did not immediately go to find Shen Wantang. He took Huayi with him and went straight back to his own courtyard.

Once inside and the door closed, Xiao Qingyuan had barely sat down in his chair when Huayi knelt at his feet in a state of utter fear and trembling: "This servant caused the young master's injury and the young master's reprimand by the princess. This servant deserves to die! I beg the young master to punish me!"

Xiao Qingyuan looked at the kneeling maid, a dark look flashing across his handsome face.

In the past, he would have immediately stepped forward and personally helped the person up.

But now, he just stared at Huayi kneeling there, motionless.

She was still wearing his clothes, while her own clothes had long been stripped off.

Xiao Qingyuan recalled the moment he rushed into the house, when Gu Qianhan, disheveled, jumped out of the pool and left.

Hua Yi was the most graceful and gentle woman he had ever seen. He himself was completely unable to resist the allure of Hua Yi's naked body, and he didn't know if Gu Qianhan could resist.

No matter how alluring the women in the brothel were, Gu Qianhan was never tempted and never touched them.

But those women were all vulgar and ordinary. They were busy welcoming and seeing off guests, unclean, and without any real feelings. They were like walking corpses who only knew how to sell smiles. Not to mention that Gu Qianhan refused to touch them, even he was unwilling to touch them.

But Huayi was different from them; she was pure and had never been touched by other men. The only man who had ever touched Huayi was him.

He felt that even Gu Qianhan might not be able to resist Huayi, otherwise he wouldn't have been soaking in the bath with Huayi in such disheveled clothes.

He extended a finger, lifted Hua Yi's chin, and asked in a chilling tone, "Did Gu Qianhan touch you today?"

Hua Yi immediately shook her head: "No, absolutely not! Your Highness, you are wise enough to know that Young Master Gu has not even touched a single hair on my head!"

"Really? You're not kidding me?"

"How dare this servant deceive the young master? This servant swears to heaven that if I have uttered even half a lie, may I be struck by lightning!"