Xia Tong was peeling grapes. She paused unconsciously when she heard the words, then acted as if nothing had happened. The fact was that in the eyes of other people, having three wives and four concubines was the most normal thing.
The man beside him remained calm, and said, "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness."
Seeing that he really accepted it, Xia Tong pursed her lips, lowered her eyes and continued to feed the other person obediently.
Seeing that there was no jealousy on the woman's face, it was obvious that she didn't care. Xiao Jing also curled his lips slightly and continued playing chess.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the house fell into an eerie silence. Time passed by minute by minute, and as the sky gradually darkened, there was still no movement in the house.
Xia Tong didn't like to look at the chessboard either. She totally couldn't understand the moves of both sides. It was only when she had eaten who knew how many pieces of cakes that she suddenly heard movement beside her.
"Thank you."
Seeing that there was finally a result, Xia Tong hurried to check the outcome. At first glance, the situation between the two sides was extremely chaotic. On the surface, it seemed that the hero was being suppressed by the villain, but in fact, the hero was setting traps everywhere. As long as Gu Qin made a wrong move, he would be defeated. However, Gu Qin's victory in this game was somewhat unexpected, because he had no routine at all, he just attacked blindly, and then won.
The more Xia Tong watched, the more sad he felt. He felt that the villain was a little hard to figure out. If he really only knew how to attack, how could he have avoided the opponent's traps so cleverly?
Glancing at the chessboard, Xiao Jing's eyes flashed, and he did not feel ashamed. Instead, he laughed openly, "The Regent's chess skills are indeed well-deserved. This prince has also learned a lot from him."
It was getting dark outside. The two of them sat there for the entire afternoon. Xia Tong's waist was sore and her neck was stiff.
"It was just luck. Your Highness, you are too kind." Gu Qin's expression remained unchanged, and his voice was low.
Xia Tong had gotten used to the other person's cold face. Xiao Jing on the opposite side didn't seem to care either. It was getting late, so there was no point in talking. They just went back to their respective homes.
After leaving the teahouse, the sky outside was dark and small hailstones as big as beans were falling. They were cold and painful when they hit the neck. Xia Tong quickly covered herself tightly with the fox fur hat and helped Fang Yu step into the carriage first.
As soon as she entered the carriage, she could still feel a bone-chilling coldness floating around, but she did not complain about the weather. Instead, she leaned back and dozed off quietly.
As the man sat beside her, the atmosphere in the carriage became a little weird. Xia Tong said nothing as the carriage slowly started moving. But suddenly, her whole body was pulled into a warm embrace. When she opened her eyes, she was suddenly met with a pair of bottomless eyes.
"Are you trying to show me your displeasure?" He said in a low voice.
The hand around her waist was so tight that she almost shrank into his arms. Xia Tong lowered her head and looked unhappy. She said in a light voice, "Are you joking with me, Your Majesty?"
She just wanted to think quietly for a while, so she didn't dare to show her face to the boss.
Gu Qin frowned as he stared at this weird little face. He raised his hand and held her neck, his eyes burning. "You smile so attentively to other men, but you are just pretending to flatter me. Do you hate me for blocking your path to becoming the Crown Princess?"
His eyes widened as they looked at each other, and Xia Tong could only purse her lips tightly, puffing up her face as if she was very angry. She had just kept such a distance from the prince and hadn't even said a word to him. Was this wrong?
"I don't understand what Your Highness is saying. If you don't like me, just say so. Why do you have to accuse me of anything? Or do you think that in Your Highness's eyes, I, Xia Tong, am just a vain person?" She spoke in a clear voice and met his gaze with a burning gaze.
The carriage gradually became quiet again. The man's palms tightened, holding her neck, and his voice was cold, "I hope you are greedy for fame and fortune."
Xia Tong: “…”
She shut her mouth and simply said nothing, letting the other party talk, but a hint of indignation flashed in her clear eyes.
After returning to the mansion, Xia Tong did not say anything to the other party. Fang Yu, who was standing behind, was also very puzzled. Everything was fine before, why did the master and the prince get angry with each other all of a sudden?
The weather was getting colder, and Xia Tong went to bed early after dinner. She was still very angry. Every time she met the prince, the villain would cause trouble for her as if he was crazy. What did she do wrong?
This time she decided not to take the initiative to please him again. She had begun to trust him slowly, but Gu Qin did not believe her. It was obvious that he was just looking for trouble this time, and he had taken in those beauties, and she hadn't said anything yet.
After tossing and turning all night, Xia Tong waited for the day of delivery. She took her people to Ziyi Teahouse early in the morning. She didn't know whether her mother had been wronged or not, but the Grand Tutor seemed to be very arrogant, making her wait there for half an hour before he finally arrived.
"Where's my mother?"
Seeing the other party walking in with a cane, Xia Tong immediately asked impatiently, but the latter did not seem to be in a hurry. After slowly sitting down, he looked at her quietly.
Knowing what the other party meant, Xia Tong hesitated for a moment, but still took out the red square seal from her arms and placed it on the table.
Unlike his arrogance just now, the old man's expression became serious after seeing the thing. After taking the thing in his hand and looking at it for a moment, his face was still obscure.
It's impossible. The little beast is so vigilant, how could he let such an important thing be stolen so easily? But this seal is real.
"I hope the Grand Tutor will keep his word." Xia Tong stared at the other person closely.
After looking at it for a long time, the old man put the thing in his arms, looked at the woman opposite with a meaningful look, and smiled kindly, "Of course, but I am very curious, how did you get it?"
Facing the other party's question, Xia Tong frowned, as if unhappy, "Grand Master wants to hear it, but I am not willing to say it. If it weren't for my mother, do you think I would do such a thing to betray the prince?"
Although she didn't know Gu Qin's intention in giving her the thing, she believed that given his character of never suffering any loss, he must be plotting other conspiracies.
Their eyes met, a gleam of light flashed in the old man's eyes, and he suddenly smiled and clapped his hands three times. In an instant, several figures suddenly walked in from outside the house. When she saw her mother, Xia Tong immediately went to greet her anxiously.
Seeing her daughter, Liu quickly came over with red eyes, "You...why are you here?"
The people who were escorting Liu also stepped back a few steps at the old man's signal. After Xia Tong looked her mother up and down, she saw that she was not hurt, and she almost breathed a sigh of relief.
"I have always been hospitable. If the princess wants to visit my house one day, I will be very happy."
The old man, leaning on a cane, glanced at Xia Tong with a smile, and ignoring the other's cold expression, he left leisurely with his people.
At this time, Xia Tong pulled her mother and asked immediately, "Why did you go to the Grand Tutor's Mansion? Did they do anything to you?"
Her father didn't know yet that the Xiahou Mansion had taken refuge with the Grand Tutor's Mansion, so Xia Tong still felt that she should tell her father about it, so that she wouldn't be sold out without knowing it.
At this point, Liu seemed to be recalling something, her face was sad, "I wanted to go to your grandmother's house that day, but I suddenly encountered assassins on the way. I was knocked unconscious and appeared in another place. I don't know where it was. They didn't do anything to me, but..."
At this point, Liu seemed a little hesitant, "It's just that they once forced me to take a pill."
"Fang Yu!" Xia Tong immediately went to call the people outside.
After the others came in, she asked Fangyu to check on her mother, and a bad premonition inexplicably arose in her heart.
She stretched out three fingers and pressed on Liu's wrist. After a while, Fang Yu's expression became more and more solemn. She finally let go of her hand and looked at Xia Tong hesitantly, "It's just some medicine to calm the mind. Maybe she's afraid that Madam's loud noise will attract others."
After looking at each other, Xia Tong's heart sank. She pursed her lips and then took her mother's hand and said a few words of comfort.
Liu glanced at the two of them, a strange look on her still charming face, and then she asked about other things.
Xia Tong told her mother everything and asked her father to make plans early. Everyone in the Xia Mansion was crazy, and she would never care whether the people there lived or died in the future.
After letting Qing'er send her mother back home, she began to ask Fangyu about other things on the way.
"If I'm not mistaken, Madam has been poisoned by a poisonous substance. It won't take effect for a while, but over time it will damage all the organs in the body and lead to death."
Fang Yu's expression in the carriage was extremely serious. Seeing that her master's expression was extremely gloomy, she still said boldly: "Moreover... this kind of □□ should be made by the Grand Tutor's Mansion. I can only suppress it for no more than one month. If there is no antidote after one month..."
What happened next is self-evident. Xia Tong closed her eyes and rubbed her aching forehead unconsciously. She wondered why the old man let her mother go so readily. She didn't expect him to be so disgusting. Not only did he break his promise, he was clearly trying to trick her again.
"Master, do you want to tell the prince about this?" Fang Yu asked tentatively.
Xia Tong didn't say anything. She was very upset. It was bad enough that the Xia family was courting death, but they even teamed up with outsiders to trick her. It seemed that no matter what, her father had to draw a clear line between himself and that group of people.
After returning home, she still had a headache. If she compromised with the old fox again, there would be a third and fourth time. She absolutely could not be controlled by him, but she could not watch her mother only have a month left. But when she thought of Gu Qin, she still didn't want to bow her head first. After all, it was not her fault.
At night, heavy snow was still falling outside, and the ground was covered with silver frost. The house was warm as spring but pitch black. Under the quilt of the large carved bed, a figure was hunched over. The person inside seemed to be fast asleep, with long, weak breathing.
Xia Tong had a dream that she became an empress, surrounded by men and living a luxurious life. However, when she saw that one of the male favorites looked very much like Gu Qin, she was startled and woke up suddenly.
She couldn't see anything in the pitch-black darkness. She was just about to raise her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, secretly wondering why she had such a dream. This is why dreams and reality are often opposites.
She was about to turn over and continue sleeping, but when she realized that there seemed to be more than one person in the bed, she was so scared that her scalp suddenly went numb, and her nerves instantly tensed up and her heart felt like it was going to jump out.
"A nightmare?"
A deep, magnetic voice suddenly sounded beside her ear, yet it was so familiar. Xia Tong breathed a sigh of relief, until a pair of big hands suddenly appeared on her waist. She came back to her senses, blushing as she pushed the other person, "You...how could you climb into my bed in the middle of the night."
How can this be what a gentleman does!
He turned over and pressed the man under him. In the darkness, a pair of eyes as sharp as torches were staring at the man below him. He said in a hoarse voice, "Everything in this mansion belongs to me, and so do you."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
