The system asked me to chase his wife

After some self-comfort, Xia Mang took on the tasks one by one, still feeling a little nervous at the end.

After all, Xiang Xiukai's tasks are like playing with fire, and Qiao Yuandong is not a stupid person.

If she mistakenly thought that Xia Mang was interested in her, then Xia Mang would probably not have to stay in the Duke's Mansion.

Xia Mang completely ignored the possibility that Qiao Yuandong would develop feelings for her after this series of actions.

Are you kidding? How could the lady be that kind of person?

Impossible, absolutely impossible!
Now that I have accepted the task, where should I start?

Considering that the stars and the moon can only be seen at night, Xia Mang decided to cook for his wife first.

Compared with the others, this task is much simpler in nature.

Anyway, the maids often brought food from the kitchen to Qiao Yuandong, so Xia Mang only needed to go to the kitchen to make something edible and bring it to Qiao Yuandong.

The process was reasonable and Xia Mang didn't need to explain much, and Qiao Yuandong wouldn't have any misunderstandings.

The only problem is that Xia Mang can't cook.

However, this did not pose any difficulty for Xia Mang. After all, the task only required cooking, and there was no requirement for what dish to make.

So, the clever Xia Mang boiled a pot of water in the kitchen.

Just tell me, does this count as cooking?
When Xia Mang was first transferred to Qiao Yuandong's courtyard, she was doing work in the tea room. When it came to boiling water, she had a lot of say.

In order to make the pot of water look less shabby, Xia Mang added some ingredients into it, and a cup of fragrant red dates and longan tea came out freshly.

Xia Mang took a red-glazed porcelain cup and filled it with tea. The reddish tea swirled in the cup, emitting a sweet aroma.

In this slightly cool October weather, this is the perfect drink. Xia Mang happily went to find Qiao Yuandong with the tea in hand.

Qiao Yuandong had no appetite for lunch, so he just ate half a bowl of glutinous rice with some freshly pickled side dishes.

After dinner, she leaned on the chaise longue and flipped through a book leisurely. Just as she was dozing off, she heard Xia Mang's voice outside the door.

When Qiao Yuandong heard the sound, he looked up at the door, but Xia Mang's men had not come in yet.

She heard He Huan, who was standing outside the door, say, "Madam is resting in the room right now. What do you want to see her for?"

Xia Mang's clear voice was filled with reluctance: "Ah! Are you asleep? Let me take a look."

Before He Huan could stop her, Qiao Yuandong saw a little head poking in from the door, and her eyes met Xia Mang's round eyes.

"Oh! Madam is still awake!" Xia Mang was obviously surprised by her discovery.

"Come in." Qiao Yuandong put down the book and called the person in.

Xia Mang came up to Qiao Yuandong with tea in her hand. Qiao Yuandong saw the teacup on her tray and frowned slightly: "I don't drink tea."

It is difficult for people to fall asleep after drinking tea, so Qiao Yuandong never drinks tea before taking a nap.

This girl has been with me for so long, yet she still made such a mistake.

Humph, he really doesn't care about his master at all!
Qiao Yuandong was depressed and didn't want to pay much attention to Xia Mang. As a result, Xia Mang brought the teacup to Qiao Yuandong and opened the lid for him to see as if he was presenting a treasure.

"Madam, I didn't add tea leaves to it. The farm sent me dates, and I cooked them with longan and some dried osmanthus. It warms you up and helps you sleep. Smell it, it smells delicious!"

Xia Mang always has a special ability: any food or drink always seems more delicious after she mentions it.

In the red-glazed cup lay a large fresh red date, and next to it was a crystal clear longan pulp. Although no osmanthus flowers were visible, the fragrance of osmanthus could be clearly smelled.

It was clearly just an ordinary cup of tea, but Qiao Yuandong still reached out to take it as he smelled the mixture of floral scent and the unique sweet aroma of red dates.

She took a sip and found the temperature to be just right. The warm tea flowed into her stomach and the heat made her eyebrows and eyes relax.

Seeing Qiao Yuandong couldn't help but take another sip, Xia Mang said happily, "Not bad, right?"

Qiao Yuandong said honestly, "Although they are all common things, they are still tasty."

Xia Mang was very happy to receive the recognition from her leader. After hearing the wonderful sound of points being credited to her account, Xia Mang was even happier.

She smiled with her eyes curved and said, "There is truth in the ordinary things."

"Nothing is more precious than having no desires, and nothing is richer than being content. You are very insightful." Qiao Yuandong said this while looking at Xia Mang, with a hint of admiration and appreciation in his eyes.

Xia Mang said: "It's all thanks to Madam's good teaching!"

Qiao Yuandong knew that Xia Mang was complimenting her, and she wanted to laugh but quickly suppressed it.

She put down the teacup, lowered her eyes and stroked the uneven fine lines on her fish-scale skirt, and said casually, "Why, you were so indifferent yesterday, but now you think of me?"

Xia Mang saw that Qiao Yuandong had been warm and gentle before, but now she suddenly returned to her distant attitude. After hearing what she said, Xia Mang finally understood where the problem lay.

Due to the sanctions imposed by the host some time ago, Xia Mang had no points to earn, so he was no longer as attentive as before, and he also spent less time around Qiao Yuandong.

Isn't this just a problem of laziness?

Isn't the leader implying that her attitude is not right?

Realizing the crux of the matter, Xia Mang immediately put on a drooling face and said, "Madam is kindhearted. I was just lazy and played around for a few days. I will never do that again!"

Qiao Yuandong was originally a little unhappy, but when he saw Xia Mang pounding his legs and pinching his shoulders to curry favor, that unhappy feeling had long since disappeared.

Hey! She's still a playful kid, why bother with her?

But the punishment still has to be imposed.

"Forget it, just read to me." Qiao Yuandong pointed to an embroidered cushion and asked Xia Mang to sit down.

Xia Mang sat on the embroidered cushion as she was told, and looked at Qiao Yuandong eagerly: "Madam, I can't read."

Last time, Xia Mang volunteered to read to Qiao Yuandong and made him laugh. This embarrassing thing still remains in her mind!
Seeing Xia Mang's reaction, Qiao Yuandong obviously thought of that incident. The corners of her lips curled up visibly. "It's okay. You'll learn it after reading more."

OK! The leader has spoken, what else can I do?

Xia Mang resigned herself to taking the book handed to her by Qiao Yuandong. This time it was not that damn "Zhou Ji". She immediately recognized the three big words on the cover.

"Tao Te Ching."

Very good! I've heard of this!

Xia Mang opened the first page of "Virtue". She glanced at it briefly. There were no complicated or uncommon characters. She could basically recognize them all. Her confidence increased instantly. She cleared her throat and began to read vertically from left to right.

"The highest virtue is not to be virtuous, so it is to have virtue; the lowest virtue is not to lose, so it is to have no virtue."

What do you mean?
Xia Mang had no idea, but that didn't stop her from reading seriously.

When Qiao Yuandong heard the first sentence, he fell silent.

As Xia Mang saw, all the books she had seen in this era had no punctuation marks, and she had no idea where to break the sentences.

This resulted in that after she had read for a while, even Qiao Yuandong could not remember the contents of the original book.

Listening to Xia Mang's clear and melodious reading, Qiao Yuandong couldn't figure out who he was punishing by asking her to read.

But how can you take back what you have said?

Telling this girl to stop studying now, isn't that telling her clearly that she is not a good student?
Qiao Yuandong endured it and continued listening, but Xia Mang's reading became more and more outrageous, and finally he couldn't stand it anymore.

When Xia Mang was stopped by Qiao Yuandong, his tongue was tied from repeating all these "de bu de bu de".

"Madam, don't you want to listen?" Xia Mang looked at Qiao Yuandong hopefully.

Qiao Yuandong rubbed his eyebrows and for a moment he didn't want to see Xia Mang.

But after listening to the messy Tao Te Ching, she felt that if she let Xia Mang go like this, she would not be able to sleep during her nap today.

"Come here, I'll teach you how to read." Qiao Yuandong glared at Xia Mang and said helplessly.

Xia Mang handed the book to Qiao Yuandong, who patted the couch and motioned for her to sit next to him. Xia Mang sat down calmly.

The two were reading a book together, so Xia Mang was very close to him. Qiao Yuandong saw her shoulders leaning against his and said nothing.

"When reading this sentence, if you read it in English, it means you have virtue." When she read, her voice had a little more pause than usual, and she seemed serious and solemn.

Xia Mang followed along obediently, even learning Qiao Yuandong's rhythmic intonation.

Qiao Yuandong watched Xia Mang reading seriously from the corner of her eye, and nodded when she saw some words that needed emphasis.

It’s really, really cute!

So, as if he had discovered something interesting, Qiao Yuandong taught her to read three or four pages in a row until he felt his mouth was dry.

She reached out and took a sip of the tea to moisten her throat. Xia Mang immediately said, "Madam, this tea is cold. I'll go get you a hot cup."

Now that the weather has turned cold, Qiao Yuandong also knows that he cannot drink cold tea, so he lets Xia Mang change to hot tea.

After drinking tea, Qiao Yuandong no longer felt sleepy, but she didn't take it seriously. At most she could just go to bed early at night.

However, Xia Mang would not let her go to bed early, as she still had to look at the stars and the moon at night!

When the moon is bright, the stars are sparse. If you look at the moon, you cannot see the stars.

Tonight the moon is dim but the stars are bright. After it gets dark, the stars appear one by one, gradually dyeing the night sky into a mysterious gray-blue color.

A faint Milky Way stretches across the sky, emitting a pearly luster, hazy and romantic, so beautiful that it makes people dizzy.

Qiao Yuandong washed up early and prepared to go to bed, yawning.

As usual, she would read a page of a book before going to bed. Qiao Yuandong was sitting by the window reading by the light. At that time, Xia Mang ran in to find her holding a book.

"Madam, look what I found?" Xia Mang's tone was filled with joy, as if she had obtained some rare treasure.

Qiao Yuandong put down the book and went to look at Xia Mang. Xia Mang was holding a copy of the Gan Shi Star Classic and was happily flipping the pages for Qiao Yuandong to read.

"Ma'am, I can understand this book!"

Are you happy about this?

Qiao Yuandong: ".Are you interested in astrology?"

Xia Mang nodded vigorously: "Yes!"

No wonder!
This was Xia Mang's idea to coax Qiao Yuandong out to look at the stars. Even this book was just picked up by her from Xiang Xiu'an's study.

Xia Mang led Qiao Yuandong to read the Ganshi Star Classic. She said, "Look, it clearly describes the movement patterns of each star and the meaning it represents."

Qiao Yuandong said indifferently: "I have already read that book."

Xia Mang's eyes lit up: "It turns out that Madam is very knowledgeable about this. I just don't understand something. Madam, why don't you explain it to me?"

It was rare for Qiao Yuandong to see Xia Mang so interested in books, so he couldn't bear to dampen her curiosity.

She looked at the numerous stars outside the window and said, "There are many stars today. Why don't you go to the yard and I'll show you."

Oh! my dear lady!

Xia Mang didn't even need to find an excuse now. She quickly picked up a cushion and spread it on the stone bench in the yard.

Qiao Yuandong sat down slowly. Seeing Xia Mang still holding a lantern to illuminate the sky, he hurriedly said, "Fool, you can't see the stars if you turn on the lantern."

Xia Mang, who had never admired the stars in her two lifetimes, put out the light and came over in the dark to sit next to Qiao Yuandong.

As his eyes gradually adjusted to the night, Xia Mang saw a sky full of stars, as if a handful of tiny crystals were sprinkled on the dark sky, bright and dreamy.

She exclaimed sincerely, "It's so beautiful!"

Qiao Yuandong looked at Xia Mang with amusement: "Why, you have never seen the starry sky?"

Xia Mang was too embarrassed to admit that she had never seen it, so she changed the subject and said, "Madam, I heard that if you see a shooting star at night, you can dream of Chen Zhen if you make a wish to it!"

"What meteor?"

After Xia Mang's explanation, Qiao Yuandong understood.

"You mean the flying star?" She smiled. "These words are mostly lies spread in the market. How can they be true? Not to mention that the flying star cannot be seen from time to time. Even if you do see it, it is just a dead thing without blood and flesh. How can it care about the wishes of mortals like us?"

Xia Mang: “.”

It’s confirmed, the lady has no romantic heart.

(End of this chapter)