Love
"Huang Ying, tell me, should I go or not? I really don't want to go! You know what? Last night she was yelling at me and said she was going to lock me up, and today she made me go to appraise calligraphy and paintings. I feel like she's my puppet, letting her do whatever she wants with me," Jiang Yan said, feeling wronged.
Upon hearing this, Huang Ying's eyes widened in shock: "Master, does the Princess Consort intend to confine you?"
"Yeah, she's going to put me in solitary confinement for a month! I'm speechless. I didn't do anything wrong, I just arrived a little late, and she wants to put me in solitary confinement for a whole month! Don't you think she's out of her mind?"
Huang Ying's expression changed drastically. She quickly lowered her voice and whispered in her ear, "Master, please don't say such treasonous things again! Be careful that someone doesn't overhear."
Jiang Yan nodded indifferently.
Huang Ying: "The Princess Consort's decision to confine you is certainly not just because you arrived late. There must be something else going on. Your Highness, please think carefully about whether anything else happened at that time."
Jiang Yan remembered.
“Nothing special happened at the time! They were all still sitting when I arrived. I was afraid that the prince would blame me, so I ran to the prince's side first, knelt down at his feet to apologize, and that was the end of it.”
Huang Ying pondered her description, and after a while, she suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
"My lord, have you had any physical contact with the prince?"
Jiang Yan thought back carefully: "No, I wouldn't dare touch the prince... Oh, I did grab the prince's leg in a moment of panic, but it was through his clothes, so it wasn't a big deal."
Huang Ying understood immediately.
"My lord, the princess must be angry because you touched the prince's body, and she thinks you are openly... seducing the prince. That's why she wants to confine you."
Jiang Yan was immediately stunned: "No way? What's wrong with that? I was just holding onto the prince's leg through his body, and that's considered seduction? Besides, I was terrified at the time, my voice was trembling, I wasn't thinking about that at all! She's just fantasizing, she's slandering me!!"
“Your Highness, not everyone thinks the same way you do! The Princess Consort has her own standards of judgment. If you want the Princess Consort to not blame you, you must be more careful in the future and not anger her.”
Jiang Yan couldn't help but laugh in anger.
"I made her angry? Humph, it's clearly her heart that's filthy and dirty, that she thinks so badly of others!!"
Huang Ying sighed helplessly.
"My lord, you are now living in the Prince's mansion. You have the Prince and the Princess above you. The Prince is busy with official duties every day, so let's leave that aside for now, but you must be extra careful with the Princess. The Princess must love the Prince very much, just like every wife loves her husband, and she certainly won't allow any other woman to have him."
Jiang Yan laughed dismissively.
"I would never like Shangguan Zeyu!"
Huang Ying looked worried: "Master, you shouldn't have such thoughts! Just like we said before, this is the Prince's mansion, and the Prince is in charge of everything. If you neglect the Prince and he notices, the consequences will be just as bad."
Jiang Yan grew impatient.
"Alright, Huang Ying, stop talking about this scheming for favor. I'm sick of hearing it!"
"But Master..."
Jiang Yan stood up and interrupted her.
"I know what you're worried about, but don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Rest assured, as long as I'm in this Zhou Kingdom, I will definitely find a way to seek justice for your young lady, and I will never break my promise!"
"My lord, that's not what I meant..."
"Alright, alright, I know everything. Come and have a cup of tea with me!" Jiang Yan smiled, glanced back at Huang Ying, and sat down at the round table.
Jiang Yan indeed did not keep her appointment with Xiao Yiqing, so when Shangguan Zeyu went to her Peach Blossom Village, she complained about Jiang Yan.
"...Your Highness, I invited several of my sisters to Peach Blossom Village to appreciate calligraphy and paintings at noon, but Sister Liu did not come. I wonder if Your Highness knows what happened to her?"
Shangguan Zeyu smiled faintly as he sipped the tea she poured for him and said...
"Has Your Highness forgotten?"
Xiao Yiqing paused for a moment, then asked with a smile, "Your Highness, what have I forgotten?"
Shangguan Zeyu put down the pale pink teacup in his hand, took her left hand in both of his, and gently stroked it. He smiled and said, "Your Highness, if I heard correctly, Your Highness wanted to confine her yesterday. Is that so?"
Xiao Yiqing's faint smile froze on her face.
Shangguan Zeyu released her hand and poured himself a cup of tea.
"Consort Liu looks rather foolish and seems to be inflexible. She's probably just following the Princess's orders."
Xiao Yiqing quickly smiled and agreed.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I was so foolish. How could I have forgotten about this? Sister Liu has only been at the Prince's residence for a short time, so I reckon she really doesn't know anything. I know I was wrong. I'll send someone to visit Sister Liu in a little while."
Shangguan Zeyu looked at her and smiled slightly.
"She really doesn't know any manners, so it's perfectly reasonable for the princess to confine her. There's no need for her to blame herself."
Xiao Yiqing was overjoyed: "Your Highness is very grateful for your consideration. I will certainly do my best to share your burdens."
Shangguan Zeyu smiled and pulled her onto his lap, asking seductively, "Does Your Highness like this tea?"
Xiao Yiqing, blushing and acting like a shy young girl, said, "I like it, I like it very much."
"Then I, the Prince, will offer a toast to the Princess." With that, she smiled and handed the cup of tea she had just poured to her lips, gently feeding her until she slowly drank it all.
"Your Highness, I thank you." Xiao Yiqing leaned softly against Shangguan Zeyu, blushing shyly.
Shangguan Zeyu naturally put his arm around her slender waist, a smile on his face, and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "What are you thanking me for, Your Highness? This is what I, as your husband, should do."
Xiao Yiqing became even more shy and buried her entire face in the crook of his neck.
Shangguan Zeyu suddenly sighed.
Xiao Yiqing instantly concealed the shyness on her face and looked at his jawline with concern: "Your Highness, is something on your mind?"
Shangguan Zeyu couldn't help but sigh again, glancing at her.
"Your Highness, you are truly my good princess! If only the other wives were like you!"
Xiao Yiqing slowly sat up: "Your Highness, what is it that you are worried about? I will definitely help you solve your problem."
Shangguan Zeyu hugged her tightly again.
“I never imagined that Consort Shen would be pregnant. I do not recall ever having favored Consort Shen. Perhaps I have been too busy with state affairs to remember. But my Queen, as you know, I am currently burdened with heavy responsibilities and have no time to attend to matters concerning offspring.”
He reached out his right hand and gently stroked her back, then said tenderly, "Even if I were to consider offspring, I would only consider your offspring first, and I would never give priority to any other lady."
Xiao Yiqing's eyes lit up with surprise, and she quickly climbed off him.
"Your Highness, please rest assured, I will definitely handle this matter well and will not let Your Highness worry about this matter again."
"She is truly my good queen!" Shangguan Zeyu was very pleased and hugged her tightly.
With nothing to do and no desire to sleep, Jiang Yan picked up a storybook that Huang Ying had asked someone to buy and began to read it.
She wore a bright pink dress, as vibrant as the first peach blossom of spring.
Instead of styling her hair in the ancient style, she had Huang Ying braid it into a single plait that hung down the back of her head.
She lay back in the rocking chair, and from a distance, she looked like a cluster of flowers, attracting attention.
Huang Ying sat on a stone bench in the corner, doing needlework. She glanced at her casually and saw her charming appearance, and couldn't help but exclaim.
"You look so handsome, Master!"
Jiang Yan heard it, but didn't take it seriously, casually saying, "Never seen a beautiful woman before, huh?"
Huang Ying laughed and said, "I've never seen a beauty as beautiful as you, my lady!"
Jiang Yan couldn't help but laugh, shifting her gaze from the book to Huang Ying's face: "Huang Ying, why do you think men always deceive women?"
Huang Ying was taken aback by her question. After a moment of silence, she said, "Why did you suddenly ask such a question, Master? I was just telling you how beautiful you are."
Jiang Yan laughed and said, "It's your master who's pretty, not me! But I was originally not bad-looking either, and the most handsome guy in the engineering department even liked me!" He chuckled as he recalled.
Huang Ying: "My lady, you are beautiful because of your beautiful heart. You are more beautiful than anyone else!"
Jiang Yan grinned from ear to ear: "I've never heard anyone say I'm pretty before. I have to thank you anyway."
Then she added, "Huang Ying, I'm serious. Look at the novel I'm reading! The male lead is so fickle and ungrateful! The female lead earned his travel expenses to go to the capital for the imperial examination with the money she earned selling tofu, but he fell in love with the prime minister's daughter at first sight. What a heartless man!"
Who is 'Chen Shimei'?
"This guy is a bastard who abandoned his wife, is a snob, and has no gratitude! He's no good person!!"
Huang Ying: "No wonder men all want three wives and four concubines! They want to have children and they're also philanderers."
Jiang Yan suddenly chuckled mischievously and lowered his voice.
"Huang Ying, do you think that other guy is also a womanizer and unreliable?"
Huang Ying guessed from her meaningful look who the "who" she was referring to was, and her expression immediately tensed up.
"Master, you can't look at it that way!"
"Why can't we see it that way?" Jiang Yan crossed her legs. "I think he's no different from any other man! A womanizer, and just as heartless!!"
"Master..." Just as Huang Ying was about to say something more to her, Chunhua's voice suddenly rang out from outside the courtyard. Jiang Yan was startled and sat up abruptly, looking down at Huang Ying with great fear.
The oriole was also quite frightened; her face turned deathly pale in an instant.
"Is Your Highness the Consort here? This servant has come to visit you on the orders of the Princess."
"What's going on?" Jiang Yan communicated with Huang Ying using lip reading.
"have no idea."
"what to do?"
Chunhua then said, "Your Highness, this servant has dared to enter."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan quickly hid the storybook under her bottom, closed her eyes, and pretended to be asleep.
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