The slave behind him: “…”

Xiao Jue felt his eyebrows twitching slightly. He had just returned to Cui's house and had not had time to change his clothes when he heard Cui Jiao say that He Yan was dragged to the small garden by Ling Xiu. He knew what Ling Xiu was up to at a glance, but He Yan knew nothing about the affairs between him and the woman in the backyard. After thinking about it, he was afraid that she would suffer a loss, so he came to put out the fire first.

Who would have known that when they came over they would see her selling melons so smugly, and it didn't look like she suffered any loss, but this made those women so angry that their faces turned blue.

It wasn't that stupid. Xiao Jue was both angry and amused, so he simply didn't go forward. He just stood at the corner of the garden, looking at her coldly, to hear what other shocking and crazy words this person could say.

On the other side, the Second Aunt smiled knowingly and pointed at the figure at the corner of the garden: "Look, the one who protects his shortcomings is here."

"Really?" Fourth Aunt clenched her fists, "Second sister, you are still good at judging people. I admire you!"

"It's still uncertain who he will help," Third Aunt was unwilling to accept her own mistake, and said, "What if Master Qiao sees Ling Xiusheng's beauty and changes sides?"

Aunt Wei frowned: "If you can't speak, don't speak!"

The second aunt laughed with a gloating look on her face.

On the other side, He Yan was still talking, "So I tell you, sisters, you should learn the arts of music, chess, calligraphy and painting, but you only learn them to make yourself happy. If you just want to please a man, you might as well learn some techniques to seduce a man. Before I got married, I also loved romance, but after I got married, I felt that everything was nothing but clouds in the valley. Only the techniques of seduce a man are truly powerful."

"Really?" These girls were all relatively young. Although they were annoying at times, they were not very cunning. They were able to show their thoughts clearly on their faces, so they were naturally not scheming. One girl asked, "Then tell me, what is your secret to seducing a man?"

He Yan cleared her throat twice and answered in all seriousness, "I'm ashamed to say that I don't know what my method of seducing my husband is. My husband and I only met once at the Lantern Festival that year, and I didn't even know him. The next day, he came to my house to propose marriage and insisted on marrying me. I didn't want to get married so early, but he was so obsessed that he told me that he would marry me and that if I didn't agree to marry him, he would jump into the river and commit suicide. I thought that after all, it was a human life, so I just regarded it as a good deed. Besides, you all know the saying that a virtuous woman is afraid of a clinging man, and he was so persistent, so I married him."

"I thought about it, the secret of being a good husband is just one thing. First, you have to have a face that can make people fall in love with you at first sight and want to marry you." She combed her long hair that fell on her chest and said a little embarrassedly, "Of course, not everyone can do this."

"Secondly, your love for him must be less than his love for you. Between men and women, the strength is generally evenly matched. In small matters, someone always has the upper hand and someone always has the disadvantage. It's just like in a war. It's not a good thing for you to always take your lover too seriously. Be nice to yourself, and someone will naturally love you." He Yan made up a story that he almost believed himself. "I never tried to please husband Wan Mei, but he loved me like a pearl and a treasure. This is the result."

"Third," He Yan thought to herself, I can't make up a third one. She smiled slightly, "Good men are rare, so you should keep your eyes open and watch carefully. Instead of staring at what others have in their hands, why not keep your eyes open and get a new one now."

Fei Nu secretly glanced at his master. The second young master Xiao was standing against the wall, smiling slightly coldly, with a mocking look in his eyes. Fei Nu thought to himself, what is this Miss He saying about a strong woman being afraid of a clinging man? Is their young master a clinging man? And he is clinging to her and beating her? He is really good at flattering himself!

Second Aunt stopped eating melon seeds and stared at He Yan, surprised, "So I was wrong? I thought he was someone who didn't know much about the affairs of the harem, but he turned out to be an expert. Amazing!"

"Although I don't quite understand what she said," Fourth Aunt scratched her head, "but it sounds very powerful."

He Yan felt a little relieved, thinking that since he was reborn, he had seen a lot of the world with Xiao Jue, and even learned a lot about speaking differently to different people. Indeed, this nonsense scared these girls.

But among a group of people, there are always one or two who are not easy to deceive. Yan Miner looked at her and said sarcastically: "Do you really think anyone will believe what you said? Master Qiao dotes on his lover? And he is obsessed with you. Does Master Qiao look like this kind of person?"

After hearing this, the girls who were still in a daze just now suddenly came to their senses again when they thought of Qiao Xinqing's cold and lonely look. No matter how they looked at it, Qiao Xinqing didn't seem like the kind of person who would cling to Wen Yuyan, right?

"You must be lying!" said the loud-voiced girl.

"I didn't," He Yan said sincerely, "We have a very good relationship, better than you can imagine. Just a few days ago, during the Water God Festival, we walked across the Lover's Bridge. I'm afraid of heights, so I didn't want to go, but my husband heard that people who walk across the bridge together will be together for the rest of their lives, so he carried me across. If I hadn't sternly refused, he might have walked three times, destined to be together for three lifetimes."

Xiao Jue: “…”

He couldn't bear to listen any longer and found it unbelievable. How could there be such a person in the world who could tell such lies without blushing or breathing heavily, and was so serious that it was outrageous.

"What's the big deal?" The girl on the side said unconvinced: "So many people walk on the Lover's Bridge..."

"Let's look at the pictures together." He Yan said.

Ling Xiu was puzzled: "What picture?"

"spring……"

Before he finished speaking, a light cough sounded, and everyone turned around to see a young man walking slowly towards them. He was as handsome as a jade and as charming as a picture. It was not the first time they had seen him, but every time they saw him, they could not help but be fascinated by his appearance and praised him for his elegance.

He passed by He Yan, his beautiful eyes fell on He Yan's eyes, revealing a hint of warning.

He Yan forgot what he was talking about for a moment. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Xiao Jue say indifferently, "Yan Yan, what are you doing here?"

Yanyan?

Ling Xiu was stunned. It was not uncommon for couples to call each other by their nicknames, but they always did it in private. To do it in front of so many people was only possible if their love was so strong that there was no need to hide it.

He Yan's breath was stuck in his chest, and he didn't know what to say. Although he knew that Xiao Jue called Wen Yuyan "Yan Yan", it just so happened that she also had the character "Yan". Thinking of this, he felt that he should have called her "Yan Yan".

She answered blankly: "Just...drinking tea and chatting."

Xiao Jue nodded, staring at her with his sparkling black eyes, and smiled slightly, saying in a gentle tone that made people tremble: "Can you accompany me back to the house and sit for a while?"

"What are you sitting for?" He Yan was not used to him talking like this. She felt that the eyes around her were like knives, "swooshing" at her. It was really frustrating. She had just been bragging about how favored she was, but all she got in return was a "liar". Xiao Jue didn't say much, just looked at her with a gentle gaze, but she received so many jealous looks.

Who wouldn’t say that Mr. Xiao is amazing after seeing this?

"Practice the piano with me." The young man had a face as beautiful as jade and eyes as bright as stars. His long black hair, tied up by a jade crown, was soft and cool, hanging on his shoulders. He reached out and gently rubbed the top of He Yan's head, showing his infinite affection.

The people watching from the side wanted to push He Yan away and put their heads in the hands of this young man.

"Okay... okay." He Yan calmed herself down and stood up. When she looked up again, she had a shy expression on her face. "Sorry, sisters. My husband wants me to go back and practice with him." She sighed again and said in annoyance, "It's true that a strong woman is afraid of a clinging man."

He Yan turned around and walked away with Xiao Jue in his arms. The people behind him looked at each other in bewilderment. After a while, Ling Xiu threw away her handkerchief, bit her teeth, and wiped her face with her hands. Yan Min'er was startled: "What's wrong with you?"

Ling Xiu was so angry that she cried.

When the plate of melon seeds was almost empty, the fourth concubine clapped her hands and said with a look of regret, "Is that all?"

"If you want to watch it, go find the script yourself." Aunt Wei scolded, "Did Mr. Qiao show you the show?"

"Don't mention it, this is much better than the play by the Acacia Troupe," Second Aunt propped up her chin with one hand, "From a distance, the moment when Master Qiao protected his wife just now was quite touching. It made me want to..."

"What are you thinking about?" Aunt Wei said, "Don't cause me trouble."

"Good sister, I'm just saying that," Second Aunt smiled charmingly, "At our age, even if we want to be together under the moonlight, there's no one to support us."

Contrary to her usual practice, the Third Aunt did not say anything sour. She only muttered, "Mrs. Qiao is lucky to have found such a husband."

"How can you only see that Master Qiao is good?" Fourth Aunt rolled her eyes at her. "I think Madam Qiao is also an interesting person. If you were surrounded by people like this just now, you would have cried and jumped into the river. Look at her, what is meant by using a little force to move a thousand pounds. The tricks of controlling a husband are not simple. You should learn more from her, Third Sister."

…

At this moment, He Yan, who possessed the enviable "Secrets of Seducing Husbands", was on the way back to the courtyard with Xiao Jue.

He Yan didn't dare to utter a word along the way, nor did she look up at Xiao Jue, and didn't say a word. There was no doubt that since this person appeared at that time, it was obvious that she was not new, and she might have been standing behind for a long time. Her words that smeared Xiao Jue's image were probably heard by Xiao Jue.

It was all because those girls were so talkative and noisy that she didn't even notice Xiao Jue's footsteps. She made people excited for no reason. She didn't know what Xiao Jue was thinking at the moment. He must be very angry. How should she calm him down when she got back? Should she apologize before he got angry?

As they were thinking, the courtyard was already in sight. When He Yan and Xiao Jue returned, they saw Lin Shuanghe standing in the courtyard and talking to a maid. It was unknown what this frivolous Lin Shuanghe said to the new maid, but he made the little maid blush and laugh.

Looking up, he saw He Yan and Xiao Jue coming back. Lin Shuanghe greeted them: "Young Master, the Young Madam is back? Where did she go?"

He Yan replied awkwardly: "Drink some tea, we'll talk later."

She followed Xiao Jue back to the house. As soon as she entered the house, she bumped into Xiao Jue head-on and almost fell into his arms. Xiao Jue glanced at her indifferently, reached out his hand over her body and closed the door behind her.

He Yan: “…”

"Sit down." He turned around and sat down at the table. His calm tone made He Yan smell a hint of accusation.

He Yan quickly sat down opposite him.

"Why don't you say anything?" Xiao Jue raised his eyebrows and looked at her with a half-smile: "Weren't you quite talkative just now, heroic woman?"

He Yan was surprised, he really heard it!

She said, "Governor, you know they come to make trouble every now and then, and I am very annoyed. This is a temporary solution. Can I ask when you came and how much of what I said did you hear?"

Xiao Jue sneered: "What's the difference?"

"The difference is the content of my apology to you."

Xiao Jue turned his head and stared at her for a long time before he said, "Miss He, do you not take your own reputation seriously, or do you not take my reputation seriously?"

"I'm sorry," He Yan apologized sincerely, "but I think that since we are Mr. Qiao and Miss Wen now, it should be okay to describe our relationship as more intimate. After all, there is nothing wrong with being intimate between husband and wife."

Xiao Jue couldn't stand it any longer: "Are you talking about intimacy?"

"Isn't it?"

"If I hadn't come over just now, what would you have said? What did you and I see?" After all, he was well-educated at heart and couldn't utter those two words.

But He Yan was obviously not as particular as he was. Hearing this, he said straightforwardly, "You are talking about the Spring Picture!"

Xiao Jue pinched his forehead and said, "No need to speak so loudly."

He Yan lowered his voice and asked doubtfully, "We look at spring pictures together, which shows that we have a very good relationship. Is there anything wrong with that?"

Back in the military camp, the way the men showed their friendship was by sharing their treasured maps with their brothers. If the relationship was not that good, they would not lend it to each other even if they asked. It was even more so between husband and wife. How inseparable and harmonious were they when they looked at the maps together?

Xiao Jue's face was so gloomy that water was about to drip out of it. He slowly asked back, "Who told you that looking at pictures together means you have a good relationship?" Who is this person? It's natural for He Sui to say such things. This is how He Sui taught his daughter. She doesn't even know what to say and what not to say? Does she know that if he hadn't appeared today to stop her from saying the next thing, what she said would be enough to shock everyone in Jiyang City.

"I..." He Yan suddenly stopped talking, "That's what I think. And after you saw it, we had a good relationship and there was no rift between us because of it, right?"

"When have I seen it?" Xiao Jue's face turned pale.

"You did look at it at that time," He Yan insisted, "A look is still a look. We have already looked at it together."

He said angrily: "I didn't see it."

"You saw it."

"I didn’t."

"Forget it," He Yan said, "If you want to say you don't have it, then you don't have it."

Xiao Juedun felt a headache. It was obviously she who was talking nonsense, but why did it seem like he was being unreasonable?

"You are talking nonsense like this. Not only do you not take our reputation seriously, but you will also destroy the reputation of Qiao Qingqing and Wen Yuyan." He sneered slightly.

He Yan thought for a moment and said, "I understand. I will not tell outsiders about you and I looking at the Spring Picture together."

"I didn't watch it with you." Xiao Jue emphasized again.

"Then can I take a look at it myself?" He Yan was puzzled as to why Xiao Jue was still brooding over this matter.

"You are not allowed to look at it yourself," he raised his eyebrows and warned in a cold voice: "Do you know what kind of lewd words you just said? Heroine."

He Yan choked herself with a cough. She begged in a low voice, "Captain, stop calling me a heroine. It sounds like insulting me."

"Oh?" Xiao Jue said with a half-smile, "But I see you sound quite happy. I will marry you, and if I can't marry you, I will jump into the river. I never knew that Miss He is not tall, but she has so many tricks in her head."

"That's to prove that you have a rock-hard heart towards me." He Yan said helplessly, "I just want them to give up. Otherwise, they'll come to pick a fight with me every now and then. Who can stand this? You can certainly use your beauty to commit atrocities, but I'm the one who's unlucky, Governor. You have to have some sympathy."

"I have no sympathy?" Xiao Jue laughed in anger. If he hadn't just wanted to help her out and teach Ling Xiu and the others not to do useless things, he wouldn't have had to do those particularly disgusting actions in front of others. He still felt uncomfortable.

"Why should I have sympathy?" He said indifferently: "Don't you have the skill to control your husband? You can make your husband love you alone with just a snap of your fingers. It sounds like your husband is more sympathetic."

He Yan: “…”

"You have a face that makes people want to marry you at first sight," Xiao Jue's lips curled up slightly, with a playful smile, staring into her eyes and said slowly: "I love you like a pearl or a treasure, but you don't love him as much as he loves you. You are still obsessed with him and insist on being with you for three lifetimes. A brave woman, are you a little too ruthless?"

He Yan got goosebumps when she heard him calling her a "heroine". She hurriedly moved the stool closer to Xiao Jue, grabbed his arm, and flattered him righteously, "That's right! How could our governor, who is so beautiful and graceful, be the one who fought so hard? No one else is qualified to be called a heroine except the governor. If the governor wants to be with someone for three lifetimes, let alone cross a bridge, he will have to cross a mountain of swords! No one can be ruthless to the governor, no one!"

"That's not what you said just now," he said slowly.

"I was just lying, now I'm telling the truth." He Yan said, "You must believe me!"

The girl had clear and determined eyes, just like the wild cat he met in the yard, which would get angry if its tail was stepped on, but would become particularly well-behaved when it jumped up and was patted on the head.

A hint of smile flashed across his eyes, but it disappeared in an instant. He said calmly, "Read less messy things in the future." He paused and said, "Forget about this matter."

He Yan breathed a sigh of relief. This man was really hard to deceive. He got so angry just because she said he was a little... not so cool. It seemed that Mr. Xiao really cared about his image in the eyes of others.

Thinking of this, He Yan leaned over to him and said, "Commander, don't just look at these. Before this, I also said a lot of good things about you. For example... I said that you are proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and you can do anything in the world. Next time, you must show them a lot to prove that what I said is true."

Xiao Jue sneered: "Am I a street performer?"

"...That's not the case." He Yan scratched her head. She thought for a while and said to Xiao Jue, "But next time something like this happens, and there are such tactless people coming to cause trouble, Commander, you must cooperate with me and show that we are in love and affection. Maybe in this way, they will give up and stop looking for trouble?"

Xiao Jue raised his eyebrows: "Cooperation?"

He Yan nodded.

He glanced at He Yan and said, "If you beg me, I can consider it."

He Yan: "Please, Governor."

Xiao Jue: “….”

How could she say it so easily? He frowned slightly, a hint of mockery on his face: "How can you call yourself a heroine if you are so spineless?"

"I told you not to call me a heroine," He Yan said angrily, "Commander-in-chief, you are really childish."

"Oh." He raised his eyebrows and said word by word: "A heroic woman."

"childish!"

…

However, after the incident in the garden, I don't know whether it was He Yan's words that worked, or Xiao Jue's last appearance and his gentle expression of love for his beloved wife that caused the impact, for two consecutive days, the Cui Mansion was restless. No young ladies in Jiyang City wanted to come and have tea and chat with Madam Qiao.

Hong Qiao took out the "Tear Silk" from the box and said, "Madam will wear this when she goes to the palace today."

He Yan nodded: "Okay."

Princess Mengji held a banquet at the palace today and asked He Yan and Xiao Jue to attend, saying that a guest was coming, but no one knew who it was. Cui Yuezhi was still a little confused, "Why did His Highness invite you two but not me?"

He Yan knew it very well. In Mu Hongjin's mind, her and Xiao Jue's identities had been exposed. If Cui Yuezhi was also there, it would be inconvenient to talk. It was just that a distinguished guest came, but she and Xiao Jue were asked to accompany him. How come the other party was someone they knew?

But I couldn't think of it, I would know when I got to the palace. After Hong Qiao finished dressing He Yan, He Yan went out. Xiao Jue was already waiting outside, talking to Liu Buwang. In the past few days, Liu Buwang was not at home during the day and only came back at night. When he came back, it was too late and He Yan had already gone to bed, so she didn't have time to talk to Liu Buwang. Now that she saw Liu Buwang, she had to go out again.

"Master," she said.

In fact, He Yan wanted to ask Liu Buwang several times if he wanted to meet Mu Hongjin, but it was someone else's business and he couldn't interfere too much. Besides, only he knew what happened between the two of them.

Liu Buwang smiled and nodded at her: "Ah He, it's better to be careful."

He Yan nodded. There might be Wutuo people in Jiyang City now, and there might be people who have seen Xiao Jue. It is always a good thing to be careful.

Fei Nu and Chi Wu followed as the drivers, while Lin Shuang He stayed at Cui's house and did not need to go with them. He Yan and Xiao Jue got on the carriage, and He Yan asked, "Commander-in-chief, you said that today, Princess Meng Ji specifically asked you and me to go to the palace for a banquet, but did not ask Cui Zhongqi to come, which means she was concerned about our identities. But there is another distinguished guest coming, could it be that... the distinguished guest knows our identities? Who is he?"

Xiao Jue lowered his eyes, his emotions unclear, and his voice was extremely flat.

"Someone from Shuojing."

－－－－－－－A side note－－－－－－－

A day of exchanging cheesy love words.

Yanyan: Do you think I look like a dramatic actor today?