Xie Xuan accompanied the new crown prince to inspect the Divine Machine Great Camp in the suburbs of Beijing today, and just returned from outside the city. He was strolling along the street on horseback when he unexpectedly ran into Qin Miao.

  At that time, she was standing by the street, intimately chatting with a young man. The warm sunlight gently poured down from their cheeks, giving people an illusion of being a perfect match like Jin Tong and Yu Nu. This made Xie Xun on horseback quite displeased.

  Before this displeasure had been expressed, the woman turned her head and met his gaze, only to look away again in an instant.

  Qin Miao noticed Xie Yan just as she had finished saying goodbye to Qin Lang, and turned around to head towards the horse carriage. There, she saw Xie Yan standing tall on the other side of the carriage, still wearing his red official robes and black leather boots, his gaze drifting sullenly between her and Qin Lang.

  She got into the carriage with Zi Xuan's hand, and a curtain blocked out the people outside. The annoyance that had just arisen was slightly alleviated.

  After Zi Xuan's "return to the mansion", the carriage wheels rolled over the bluestone slab, swaying forward. But after running for a while, the horse-drawn carriage stopped. Qin Miao was about to lift the curtain to ask what was going on when he bumped into someone who had just entered.

  Xie Xun took advantage of the situation and wrapped Qin Miao in his arms, holding her back to the carriage seat, but he didn't relax his grip for a moment, so that Qin Miao was leaning against his chest.

  "Let me go!"

  This posture made her quite embarrassed. If it were in the past, perhaps without Xie Xuan's intervention, she would have already scurried into his arms like a rabbit or mouse. But now...

  "You're my wife, why can't you let me hold you?"

  Xie Yun's words were stuck with acid and vinegar, saying that even he himself felt inexplicable and mysterious, his hair standing on end.

  Qin Miao pouted and struggled a bit in her lap to get comfortable, then ignored Xie Yan.

  The carriage arrived at the gate, and a young servant had already come forward to present a footstool. Xie Yan got out of the carriage first, and this time he naturally stretched out his hand to help Qin Miao down.

  Qin Miao crouched beside the carriage, suddenly catching sight of the slender jade hand stretching out, her heart felt a little itchy. However, she gritted her teeth and got down from the carriage by herself, stepping on the footrest. The jade hand hovering in mid-air was left empty, and it slowly clenched into a fist before withdrawing back into its sleeve.

  Xie Xuan watched as Qin Miao quickly flashed into the mansion at her feet, and the embarrassing scene just now also made the servants at the door take a cold breath.

  A surge of unnamed fire welled up from within him, and Xie Yun flung off his robe and strode straight to the Listening Rain Studio in the front yard.

  That night, Xie Yun did not return to the Chao Lu courtyard and did not send anyone to tell her a word. The dinner was only warmed up twice, and Qin Miao took it upon herself to eat first. After finishing, she still felt bloated in her stomach, so she brought people to the flower garden to take a walk and digest, unknowingly arriving at the lotus pond by the half lake.

  It's already nearing the end of summer, and the lotus flowers in the pond are no longer as lush as they used to be. Only a few stems remain, swaying gently in the breeze, looking somewhat desolate.

  Qin Miao picked up a round stone and sat silently by the pool, lost in thought. The scene of that day unconsciously flashed through her blank mind. Boating among lotus leaves, the fragrance of lotus filled the garden, with beautiful men and elegant young masters, holding a jug of turbid wine with tears streaming down.

  "How can I enter your heart?" Recalling the uncontrolled emotions after drinking that day, Qin Miao felt a pang of melancholy in her heart. But with beautiful people, scenery and wine before her, it seemed that even melancholy was worth letting go of for a moment.

  Her gaze passed over the lotus pond, drifting further away, and the unintentionally swaying fan brought waves of lotus fragrance. Perhaps "troubling oneself" refers to myself at this moment.

  She let out a soft sigh, shook her head, and got up again. She walked around the lotus pond where the leaves were still lush, and returned to the Morning Dew Courtyard. She slept until dawn.

  On that day, the farewell at the gate of the mansion between Xie Qin and the two people was not pleasant, and on the second day, it was passed down to the lower officials. Three days later, Xie Fen brought Xinxiang into the mansion, which made the gossip in the mansion even more popular.

  "Do you know that not long after Madam entered the house, Master Hou brought someone into the mansion. Isn't this openly making things difficult for Madam?"

  "Who knows? I've never heard that Master Hou was a womanizer before, but now he's just married one and already wants to take in another."

  "Don't spread rumors, the newcomer is not a concubine. She's just a guest, probably similar to Second Mistress Sun's status, temporarily for now."

  “……”

  “……”

  Xiang entered the mansion, but Qin Miao didn't see her personally. Instead, she had her personal maid, Zi Xuan, lead the way to the Yu Suo Pavilion.

  This Rainy Mist Pavilion is located on the northeast side of Hou Mansion, not far from Qin Miao's Dewy Morning Courtyard. It is somewhat distant from the front courtyard. If one wants to go from Rainy Mist Pavilion to the front courtyard, they must pass by the entrance of Dewy Morning Courtyard.

  Qin Xiang gazed at the scenery in the Hou Mansion, and her mind became more convinced that her plan was correct. A place with such grandeur and elegance was truly the best, far surpassing that of Zi Wei Lane.

  As she passed by the Chao Lu Yuan, she involuntarily stopped in her tracks and asked Zi Xuan beside her in a low voice, "Miss Zi Xuan, I don't know where this place is, it's so magnificent?"

  These past few days, the rumors in the mansion had also reached Zixuan's ears. Although her own young mistress kept saying it was nothing, just a guest. But Zixuan still felt somewhat uneasy, and now she slightly raised her head with a hint of pride: "This is the courtyard of Madame Hou, named Chao Lu Yuan."

  She pointed to the three powerful characters at the entrance of the courtyard and said, "This plaque was also written by Hou Xian's own hand."

  Madam Hou... personally carried the sedan chair... Yes, that was his legitimate wife, the proper one.

  Qin Xiang looked again at the plaque illuminated by the red lantern, and didn't say another word, but was discontent in her heart.

  Passing by the flower wall of Chao Lu Yuan, turning over a small path, you can see a piece of black tile high wall, which has gradually lost the fragrance of flowers. Along this high wall, walking up for a while, you will arrive at her Yu Su Ge.

  A small courtyard with three wing-rooms and several miscellaneous rooms, although it is much better than the Ziwei Alley, but compared to the Chaoyu Courtyard just now, it is simply a difference between heaven and earth.

  At night, everyone had retreated to their rooms, and under the dim candlelight in the house, only she and Liao's mother were left. The cicadas that had been noisy during the day had also stopped chirping, occasionally fluttering their wings.

  "Mother, I knew Master Hou earlier than she did, why did she become the mistress of the Hou Manor while I can only be a guest here? She's just the daughter of a merchant, why is she monopolizing Master Hou?"

  Lao Mama had been serving by her side since she was still a young girl, and over the five or six years, the two of them had developed feelings for each other.

  It was that year when Qingxiang was about to be sold at the auction on her first night, she met Xie Houye. The chaotic scene that day left a deep impression on Liao Yiniang.

  Due to Xiangxiang's heavenly beauty and national color, the guests who came to hear her name were endless, and they surrounded the main hall so that it was impossible to get through. The guests' noise and laughter, even physical contact, scared Xiangxiang, a young girl, into crying and hiding in the corner.

  The beauty cried, the hero buried. That night, Xie Yunhao spent thousands of dollars and used his powerful influence to rescue the girl from the building. At that time, Qin Xiang's thoughts were simple, she saw Xie Houye as a god who had descended from heaven to save her from water and fire, so she devoted herself wholeheartedly to Xie Yunhao.

  "Miss, since Master Hou has already brought you into the manor, it's a good start." Lao Tai Tai naturally knew Xiangxiang's thoughts. Which girl in the building didn't want to get rid of that shameful status and meet a good person to live a life of luxury?

  But whether Xie Houye was the girl's good man, even Liao Mama, who had been rolling in the red dust for many years, couldn't grasp it accurately. At first, she bought the girl out of prostitution, after all, not because she had feelings for the girl...