The system asked me to chase his wife

How could Xia Mang not hear such an obvious step?

Seeing that Qiao Yuandong's attitude softened, she immediately climbed up the pole, clenched her hands into small fists and gently massaged Qiao Yuandong's legs. Her movements were as flattering as possible.

"I have embarrassed my wife in front of so many people. I will never joke with her again."

Qiao Yuandong pursed his lips and said, "You make it sound as if I am such a petty person, Madam. How could you be angry over such a small matter?"

Xia Mang didn't want to let the words fall on the floor, so she changed her words immediately.

"Our Madam is the most tolerant person. It's only because I followed her that I would be like her. If it was any other master, I would have been beaten three times a day!"

Qiao Yuandong glared at Xia Mang lightly, and when she met Xia Mang's sparkling gaze, she took the book to cover her face.

Xia Mang came over and pulled down Qiao Yuandong's book, just in time to see the corners of her lips raised.

"Ma'am, do you forgive me?"

Qiao Yuandong tapped her forehead in anger and amusement, "You are really unruly. Go now and stop bothering me."

Seeing that she had made Qiao Yuandong happy, Xia Mang was also happy. She bared her white teeth, bowed to Qiao Yuandong, and left happily.

Watching Xia Mang's back as she happily left, Qiao Yuandong smiled helplessly, took out the full moon picture he used as a bookmark, rubbed it for a while, and then put it back.

What a heartless girl.

It was a fine day and the Duke's Mansion received an invitation from the eldest princess. The eldest princess Xiao Yun invited Qiao Yuandong to visit the princess's mansion.

Qiao Yuandong has a good relationship with the eldest princess, so naturally he would not refuse the invitation.

After receiving the invitation in the morning, he took Xia Mang to the princess's mansion at noon.

The princess hosted a small banquet in the warm room to entertain Qiao Yuandong. The maid led Qiao Yuandong into the warm room, while Xia Mang, who was accompanying her, was invited to sit in the side room and have tea and snacks.

Xia Mang waved goodbye to Qiao Yuandong happily. This was the most relaxing and pleasant experience she had ever had since she accompanied her leader on a business trip.

When Qiao Yuandong entered the warm room, the eldest princess was already sitting at the table waiting. There were flowered felt blankets around the room to keep warm, and there were floor heating to provide heat.

The whole room was as warm as spring. The eldest princess did not wear a fur coat to keep warm, but her multi-colored flowered skirt with gold and jade decorations was particularly eye-catching.

Different from the majesty she usually had when she wore the princess phoenix dress, the eldest princess now looked more charming and seductive.

"You're here. I've been waiting for a long time." Seeing Qiao Yuandong, the eldest princess complained slightly.

Qiao Yuandong just smiled and said nothing. A maid came up and untied her cloak, revealing the smoky silk dress underneath. The light golden willow-leaf drapes on her shoulders were immediately seen by the eldest princess.

She carefully examined the delicate shoulder and said, "You made this very unique. Come closer so I can take a closer look."

Qiao Yuandong sat down next to the princess as she said and leaned closer to her. Suddenly, he smelled a faint scent of alcohol on the princess.

Qiao Yuandong: "Your Highness is drunk?"

The maidservant who served the eldest princess could not help but said, "Madam, you don't know, our prince has been sober for a while, can you help to persuade him?"

Qiao Yuandong looked at the eldest princess in surprise, only to see that the corners of her narrow eyes were already bright red. He wondered how much she had drunk before he arrived.
The eldest princess was quite dissatisfied with the maid's gossip and said, "Stop making up rumors about your master. I will punish you carefully!"

The head maid opened her mouth but said nothing. Qiao Yuandong saw everything and had some guesses in his mind.

A while ago, the princess's lover disappeared. Because of this, the princess almost turned the capital upside down, but she still couldn't find the lover.

Now seeing the eldest princess’ dejected look, I’m afraid she is still sad.

Thinking of this, Qiao Yuandong suddenly understood the purpose of the eldest princess calling him here.

This is to ask her to come here to complain and relieve her sorrow.

It seems that I have to drink this wine today.

After seeing Qiao Yuandong's shoulder strap, the princess praised it again: "It's really beautiful. I will make one for you later."

Qiao Yuandong's eyebrows jumped, knowing that he couldn't continue with this sentence, so as not to touch upon the eldest princess's sad memories.

She pursed her lips and smiled, "Your Highness, the skirt you are wearing today is really exquisite. I think the craftsmanship is from Jiangnan, right?"

The princess' attention was diverted, so she pulled Qiao Yuandong to introduce the pattern to her: "Look, this is flowers and plants entwined, and this is butterflies fluttering, symbolizing the eternal love between me and you."

Qiao Yuandong: "Haha, really? Your Highness, why did you think of inviting me today?"

The princess put aside the matter of the skirt and said with a look of reminiscence: "Today is your birthday, and I feel lonely. After thinking about it, I found that you are my best friend, so I invited you to come."

"."

I don’t know if it was because of the heat, but sweat was dripping down Qiao Yuandong’s forehead.

There was nothing much to talk about that day. No matter what was talked about, the eldest princess always ended up talking about that young lady.

Well, what can I do? Drink!
Qiao Yuandong was very clear about his position at this moment, which was to accompany the eldest princess to relieve her boredom.

Since we can't continue chatting, we can only drink.

From drinking Qingluxiang to drinking Yuquangong, and from drinking Zuiqingli to drinking Ganmeng, you drink a cup and I drink a cup.

The eldest princess seemed to have some deep hatred for the wine glass. She couldn't bear to see the glass full of wine. As soon as the maid filled the glass with wine, the eldest princess picked it up and drank it all in one gulp.

Since Qiao Yuandong was there to accompany him, he had no choice but to drink it all.

The princess was very pleased with Qiao Yuandong's cheerfulness. She said proudly, "Pour more!"

At the end of the drinking, Qiao Yuandong felt that she was being marinated by the various drinks. She estimated that she had really had enough.

For noble ladies from aristocratic families, drinking is a compulsory course since childhood, and it is an essential skill for future interpersonal communication.

Therefore, Qiao Yuandong thought that her alcohol tolerance was still acceptable. At least she had never been drunk after attending so many banquets.

Except today!

Seeing that the princess was about to order the maid to go to the wine cellar to get her own private collection, Qiao Yuandong could no longer sit still. She didn't care about the rules and regulations and directly grabbed the princess's raised hand.

"What's wrong?" The eldest princess had almost finished drinking, and she looked at Qiao Yuandong with hazy eyes.

Qiao Yuandong didn't even want to say anything. He just held the eldest princess' hand and shook his head. His meaning was obvious.

Seeing Qiao Yuandong surrender, the princess was relieved: "Fortunately you don't drink anymore, if you drink more I will crawl under the table."

Qiao Yuandong: "Are you competing with me in drinking capacity?"

You should have told me earlier. Does she have to suffer so much?

The princess was stunned for a moment, then she smiled, her eyebrows flying, but a mischievous light flashed in her eyes: "How can that be? Since I invited you to be my guest, I must make sure you enjoy yourself!"

Qiao Yuandong glanced at the princess and said with a half-smile, "I thank your Highness for your hospitality."

The princess propped up her head and looked at Qiao Yuandong lazily: "You only behave like you used to when you're drunk. You're always so hypocritical on weekdays."

Qiao Yuandong was drunk and looked at the princess with her beautiful eyes half-closed without saying a word.

Seeing that Qiao Yuandong was not angry, the princess began to tease him even more. She tapped the table with her knuckles, keeping a beat to accompany her singing.

"The beauty hides the present and the past, the lotus is ashamed of the jade face, the white teeth are hard to open, and the blue clouds are deep in thought"

It was a very common folk tune, but the eldest princess sang it with a unique flavor, and with her deliberate affectation, her narrow and long eyes revealed a hint of evil teasing.

Qiao Yuandong used an ivory chopstick to push the princess's head away in annoyance. He was too lazy to care about her feelings at this moment. "Look carefully, I am not your lover."

When the princess heard the word "Qingqing", it was obvious that something was touching on her mind. Her eyes, which had been full of smiles before, suddenly became silent and she leaned sullenly on the table.

She poured herself a glass of wine and drank it, then she said in a depressed tone: "Really? Where do you think she went?"

Seeing that he couldn't avoid the topic, Qiao Yuandong said directly, "She is deliberately avoiding Your Highness because she doesn't want to embarrass Your Highness and His Majesty. So why don't Your Highness accept her favor?"

The princess said dissatisfiedly: "Am I, Xiao Yun, afraid of embarrassing Your Majesty?"

For Qingqing's sake, she is almost making His Majesty feel very embarrassed!
Qiao Yuandong: "A person of her background would never think of this. She is only trying to sympathize with Your Highness."

"That's what makes me angry!"

As the princess spoke, she slapped the table, causing the wine jug on the table to fall over. The wine spilled onto the ground and was steamed by the earthen dragon, emitting a fragrant aroma.

"She was so cautious in the mansion of Marquis Cheng Yi before. She endured this and that and almost lost her life. Later, she followed me. I gave her honor and favor and granted her status, just to make her not have to endure and be afraid. But she still hid, hiding for such a trivial matter!"

The eldest princess was so emotional that she even started swearing without caring about her status.

She looked at Qiao Yuandong with red eyes and said, "She just doesn't believe that I can't protect her! In other words, she just doesn't trust me!"

Seeing that the princess was getting more and more extreme and was about to get stuck in a dead end, Qiao Yuandong quickly advised, "Your Highness is obsessed. Miss Yu Qing is hiding from you because she believes in your feelings for her."

The princess just didn't believe it: "You are talking nonsense!"

Qiao Yuandong waved away the maid who was guarding the warm room, helped the eldest princess to sit on the soft couch, and took a silk cloth to wipe her hands.

"Your Highness, think about it carefully. Miss Yu Qing believes in your feelings for her, so she is afraid that your Highness will become estranged from His Majesty because of her, so she is hiding from your Highness, right?"

The princess was silent for a long time after hearing what was said, but after being enlightened by Qiao Yuandong, the depression that had been in her heart for many days was finally resolved. She couldn't help but think of the person she missed day and night.

She, who had always been strong-willed, suddenly burst into tears.

"But where can I find her? This is such a big world, I don't even know if she has enough food or warm clothes. What if she gets bullied again?"

The eldest princess fell on Qiao Yuandong's shoulder and cried wildly without any image.

"I, Xiao Yun, have always been able to get whatever I want. But why is it so difficult for me to like a girl?"

Qiao Yuandong tried his best to support the princess. After hearing her crying, he couldn't help but sigh: "In this world, love between men and women is the right way. Most women are not tolerated by others."

The eldest princess cried bitterly. Now she was no longer the honorable eldest princess, but just a poor child who had lost her beloved treasure.

"What's the right way or the wrong way? Whatever I like is the right way!"

Qiao Yuandong was amused by this overbearing and arrogant statement. She asked, "Is Miss Yu Qing really that good that His Highness would disregard the world and etiquette for her?"

"Of course!" The princess spoke with more confidence. She wiped away her tears and said, "My Qingqing is the best Qingqing in the world. I even scolded His Majesty for her. What is this? This is love!"

Seeing Qiao Yuandong remained silent, she asked, "Didn't you marry your husband because he was the best husband in the world? Wasn't it because of love?"

Qiao Yuandong stared at the princess in a daze, and after a while he said uncertainly, "His family background is similar to his, he is a young talent, and I am also considered outstanding. I have no aversion to marrying him. This can probably be considered love, right?"

The eldest princess suddenly raised her head and looked at Qiao Yuandong with a strange look.

If we have to say what was in those eyes, it would probably be pity.

"Oh, I knew it." The princess looked at Qiao Yuandong, shook her head and sighed, and said in the tone of a person who had experienced it: "When I was your age, I had the same idea about my husband."

"The consort chosen by my father is a well-known gentleman in the capital. He treats me with great respect, and I treat him with the same kindness and courtesy. At that time, I thought that was love. As long as a few years pass and we have a child, this love will deepen."

At this point, the princess looked at Qiao Yuandong with more pity in her eyes: "But Dongniang, after I met Qingqing, I realized that the love I thought of before was not love at all. It was all the principles taught by "Female Rules" and "Female Virtues". My husband never loved me until his death, and I never loved my husband."

When Qiao Yuandong faced the eldest princess's eyes, he felt a little flustered in his heart. It was a kind of helplessness that the routines he had established since childhood were disrupted.

She shook her head stubbornly and denied, "No, you are wrong. I have guarded the Duke's Mansion for him for so many years, supported his grandmother, and taught his younger brother. If there was no affection, how could I have done this?"

The princess smiled and said, "Is it love or responsibility? Have you figured it out, Dongniang? If you were not his wife, would you do this for him?"

Qiao Yuandong remained silent, feeling depressed and an answer was about to come out.

will not!

(End of this chapter)