Chapter 73 I just remembered it because I was curious about the new things
"...What's wrong?" Yang Manyan looked confused.
She didn't care about her clothes and just let Xingyun Suyue and others prepare them for her.
She also didn't know that her daily food, clothing and other expenses far exceeded the empress's share, and most of the excess came from the emperor's treasury.
For example, the nearly one thousand South China Sea pearls adorning her body today were private collections of successive emperors stored in the imperial treasury. The emperor waved his hand and ordered everyone to send them to the Eastern Palace.
There was a long silence.
Yang Manyan's eyes widened and her fair cheeks instantly turned red with embarrassment.
"Yuan Er usually plays chess with Zi An. How does it go?"
Yang Manyan thought for a moment and replied in a thin voice, "I narrowly defeated His Royal Highness the Crown Prince a few times, but unfortunately I also lost a few times. Overall, it's a 50-50 split."
The emperor raised his eyebrows and teased her deliberately: "Yuan'er's chess skills are so good, I thought you could win every game against him."
Yang Manyan could sense the joking in his words, and her cheeks flushed even more, "Your Majesty is joking..."
The emperor added: "Just playing chess is boring, why don't we add some jackpot?"
"If Yuan'er loses, you have to do me a favor. If I lose..." He paused for a moment, "I will also do you a favor."
Yang Manyan didn't respond and looked alert.
"Don't worry, I won't keep you under house arrest anymore, and I won't force you to have sex with me."
He said such straightforward words in an extremely understated tone.
Perhaps it was because he was too calm and composed, which made Yang Manyan feel an indescribable shame, and her little face suddenly turned red as if blood was dripping out.
On the small coffee table on the other side of the couch, there was a plate of washed Donglai cherries. They were picked this morning and rushed to the capital as tribute. Each one was crystal clear, plump, bright red and ripe.
The emperor picked up a few of them, carefully twisted off the stems and fed them into Yang Manyan's mouth.
"Spring is coming, the grass is lush and the forests are luxuriant in Nanyuan, the scenery is beautiful. If I win, would you like me to go hunting with you in Nanyuan?"
Yang Manyan was slightly startled and couldn't help asking, "Are we just going to Nanyuan to hunt?"
"Yes." The man reached out to catch the cherry pit she spit out and continued to feed her another one.
How could Yang Manyan not accept such a simple request? Besides, the winner and loser had not yet been decided.
She nodded obediently, her lips stained with bright red and sweet cherry juice, looking so beautiful and tempting to be picked.
The emperor's eyes grew darker, and he couldn't help but tighten his grip on her waist, "But we have to slow down this game of chess for now."
At the same time, as soon as Xiao Yan left the Cining Palace, he strode back to the Qianqing Palace.
Chang Ying and others who were guarding outside the East Warm Pavilion did not dare to stop him. When he walked to the soft couch by the window, this was what he saw.
Xiao Qi frowned and stepped forward to stop him, "Father... please restrain yourself..."
He had just heard that Yang Manyan did not return to the Eastern Palace but was still staying in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, so he was worried that his father would not be able to hold back, and sure enough, it turned out to be true.
The emperor's body froze for a moment, dark and complex emotions flashed in his eyes, and finally he could only reluctantly let go.
In the past, he was a man who had the word "restraint" deeply engraved in his bones. Now, his son uses this word to dissuade him again and again. How ironic.
Xiao Yan took advantage of the situation and lifted her up from under her father. He stared at her with his dark eyes, "Yuanyuan, are you feeling unwell?"
Although he knew that Yang Manyan rarely felt uncomfortable during her period, he always believed that her body must be extremely fragile during the continuous bleeding for several days.
Yang Manyan blushed with shame, "No..."
She didn't even care about the unfinished chess game, she just carefully grabbed Xiao Yan's sleeve and whispered, "Let's go back to the East Palace..."
The emperor's face turned even darker when he heard this, and his eyes were filled with gloom and anger.
No matter how he tried to seduce and please her, she only had the prince as her husband in her heart.
And he was just a toy that she occasionally thought of when she was craving for something new.
"Since you've abandoned the game and left, you've lost and I've won." The emperor sneered, "You must agree to what I just said."
Yang Manyan was stunned, "It's not abandonment, it's just a pause..."
It was clearly him who stopped first and disturbed her!
Xiao Yan's eyes were stern, and he asked in a low voice, "Yuanyuan, what did the emperor ask you to do just now?"
He had an inexplicable bad feeling in his heart.
**
In late spring, the sky is clear, the air is fresh, and the weather is sunny.
Escorted by thousands of Yulin Guards, the imperial carriage left the palace through Donghua Gate and headed for the royal garden Nanyuan fifty miles away.
Yang Manyan and Xingyun were riding alone in a spacious and luxurious carriage. From time to time, they would lift the brocade curtain slightly and look at the bustling streets outside the window.
Originally, the emperor and the prince wanted to ride in the same carriage with her, but when she thought about how the father and son would always fight for space every time the three of them were together, she simply sat in the carriage alone and took Xingyun along.
Officials and common people from all over the place along the way lined the streets to welcome the emperor. There were crowds of people and they shouted "Long live the emperor". Yang Manyan watched quietly, lost in thought for a while.
Since she married into the Eastern Palace, the few times she left the palace were all incognito, and this was her first time experiencing such a grand scene.
Right in front of the carriage, two tall men were riding side by side on two tall horses. Their figures were upright and their bearings were extraordinary, like a crane standing out among a flock of chickens.
It was the emperor and the crown prince, father and son.
In the chess game in the Qianqing Palace half a month ago, Yang Manyan, who refused to admit defeat, stayed and continued to play against the emperor.
Unfortunately, she was interrupted halfway through, and with the prince watching the fight, she ultimately failed and lost.
When Xiao Yan learned that his father was going to take Yang Manyan to Nanyuan for hunting, he naturally wanted to go with him. However, the emperor wanted to take Yang Manyan out of the palace to keep him away from his son, so he did not allow him to accompany him.
The relationship between father and son was tense, and finally Yang Manyan was worried that if she went to Nanyuan, she would suffer the same fate as she had been imprisoned in Xiyuan last year, so she said that she would not go either unless the prince went.
The emperor was extremely angry, but there was nothing he could do.
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