Chapter 76 Must be punished
Xiao Chenglan took a glance and frowned slightly.
“This is not embroidered by you.”
"It was embroidered by my cousin. Her embroidery skills have been better than mine since she was a child. She will definitely catch your Majesty's eye."
Xiao Chenglan narrowed his eyes slightly.
Cousin...Xu Nianya.
After he ascended the throne, he had not had time to deal with her, but she found a way to fall into his trap.
Xiao Chenglan didn't even look at the embroidered handkerchief, and said indifferently, "Who told you that her embroidery skills are better than yours?"
Jiang Yingli lowered her head and mumbled, "Everyone says so. My mother said so too."
"I don't like it, and I don't think this handkerchief is outstanding. To be fair, in this palace, Zheng Baolin's embroidery skills are the best, and you are second. She can't even be ranked."
Jiang Yingli was slightly stunned. Does this mean that she is not interested?
But if she couldn't help her cousin enter the palace, what would her family do?
The words Xu Huiran said pierced her heart like needles, causing her chest to feel endless pain.
Jiang Yingli panicked and spoke faster:
"My cousin not only embroiders handkerchiefs, but also plays the piano. Everything a young lady from an aristocratic family can do, my cousin can do too! Although she comes from a merchant family, she has been carefully nurtured since she was young."
Xiao Chenglan's eyes grew darker, and his tone was very unhappy: "What did the Jiang family tell you that made you go to such great lengths to lobby for your cousin?"
Jiang Yingli was frightened by the harsh tone and stumbled. "No, I didn't say anything. It was my own idea. I thought that if my cousin entered the palace, I would have another companion."
"Really? Then do you still remember when your cousin pushed you into the water in the dead of winter? Did she enter the palace to keep you company, or to bring disaster upon you?"
Thinking of the old things, Jiang Yingli's face turned pale for a moment, but she was so sad that she actually laughed and her tone became relaxed.
"Those were all childhood events. We're all grown up now. How could something like that still happen?"
Xiao Chenglan stared at her, his eyes slowly filled with gloom.
With just a few words from the Jiang family, she could stop relying on them wholeheartedly.
It seems that blood ties cannot be severed by time.
It would be clean only if they were all killed.
Therefore, he had to force her and force her to hate the Jiang and Xu families.
After a long silence, Xiao Chenglan took the embroidered handkerchief from Jiang Yingli's hand.
"Okay, in that case, I agree. I will send someone to bring your cousin into the palace tomorrow."
The goal was achieved, and Jiang Yingli breathed a sigh of relief as if she had completed a mission, but her heart became more and more sad, as if it was being tightened and tied into a knot.
"Why are you crying again? Didn't you ask for this?" Xiao Chenglan's tone was indifferent, and his eyes were no longer on Jiang Yingli.
Jiang Yingli bit her lips hard and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand until they turned red.
"Yes, I asked for it myself. I won't cry anymore."
Xiao Chenglan glanced at her, cruelly looked away, stood up, and turned his back to her with his hands behind his back.
"Jiang Yingli, this is the second time you've pushed me away. I must punish you."
Jiang Yingli was stunned, her eyes filled with tears, she dared not blink, and hurriedly stepped forward to hold Xiao Chenglan's sleeve, and asked fearfully and sadly:
"How will Your Majesty punish me?"
Xiao Chenglan lowered his eyes to glance at the two hands that were pulling at his sleeves, and his heart softened for a moment, but after a long sigh, he held the two timid hands and put them aside.
"I will not come to Zhaohua Palace to see you for the next month. Please reflect on your mistakes."
This was like the sky falling for Jiang Yingli.
She suddenly rushed forward and hugged Xiao Chenglan's waist from behind.
"No, no! If your Majesty is angry, just beat me with a stick. I would rather be beaten with a hundred sticks than have your Majesty not come to see me!"
Xiao Chenglan closed his eyes and said, "Let go."
"I don't want it... Wuwuwu... Your Majesty is so cruel, you might as well beat me to death."
"Is that cruel?" Xiao Chenglan sighed helplessly, "Then change it to half a month and ten strokes of the cane."
"Twenty strokes of the cane, not half a month! No no no!"
Would she rather be beaten than have him not come to see her? The gloom in Xiao Chenglan's eyes dissipated a little, and his mood improved a little.
For a moment, he thought to himself, why not just forget it this time, but then he thought again, no, otherwise he would not learn his lesson.
"Half a month is just half a month, it's only fifteen days. No more bargaining, otherwise it will be three months." Xiao Chenglan forcefully pried her hands apart.
Jiang Yingli didn't dare to bargain anymore. She was so sad that she stood there rubbing her fingers.
Xiao Chenglan's heart softened in the end, and he picked her up and walked towards the inner hall.
"Starting from tomorrow, I will still be with you tonight."
Jiang Yingli finally felt better and sniffed in Xiao Chenglan's arms.
Thinking that she would have to wait for half a month from tomorrow for Xiao Chenglan to come, Jiang Yingli seized the last opportunity, hugged Xiao Chenglan's neck, and kissed him all over.
Xiao Chenglan's breath stopped when his Adam's apple was kissed, and his eyes dimmed a little in an instant.
"It's not night yet, behave yourself."
Jiang Yingli pouted and said, "I have behaved well. It was just two kisses."
Xiao Chenglan placed her on a chair, put his hands on the armrests, held her in his arms, leaned over, and stared at her with slightly narrowed eyes.
"Just two kisses? What else do you want?"
Jiang Yingli couldn't help but shrink her body, but there was the back of a chair behind her, so she had nowhere to retreat and could only look at Xiao Chenglan timidly.
"I want to...I want to kiss some marks on Your Majesty's neck. That way, even if Your Majesty doesn't come, when you look at the bronze mirror every day to straighten your clothes, you will see these marks and think of me."
Xiao Chenglan's mind went blank for a rare moment, and he couldn't help but lower his head to kiss her.
After struggling for a while, Xiao Chenglan placed his fingertips on the corner of Jiang Yingli's lips and rubbed them. He said in a hoarse voice, "No, I have to go to court. All the civil and military officials are watching. What kind of talk is this?"
Jiang Yingli puffed out her cheeks, "Okay."
Xiao Chenglan pinched her face and smiled: "I don't need to see Yin Zi, I will miss you every day."
After saying this, Xiao Chenglan paused before Jiang Yingli.
Words that he had never said before suddenly came out of his mouth.
After a moment of hesitation, Jiang Yingli's face became visibly happy.
In the past, His Majesty would only ask her if she missed him. Even though she could see that His Majesty missed her, he would never say it out loud.
"Your Majesty said he missed me! This is the first time Your Majesty said he missed me."
Jiang Yingli hugged Xiao Chenglan tightly, rubbing against his arms happily.
Your Majesty received too little love in his childhood. The longing and affection are an emotional void that is difficult to fill.
Even if he missed her and liked her, he would not say it out loud. He would only hug her, kiss her, and ask her if she missed him.
But she understood that every time His Majesty asked her if she missed him, it must be that His Majesty missed her first.
Fortunately, she said she missed him many times, and His Majesty finally learned to say he missed her.
She believed that if she said she liked him many times, His Majesty would also learn to say he liked him.
After Xiao Chenglan finished speaking about missing her, a strange and awkward feeling rose in his heart. However, these were all soothed by Jiang Yingli's happy tone and actions.
He opened his mouth several times, and finally said "hmm" softly, then hugged Jiang Yingli tightly.
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