Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Xie Yun smiled slightly and said, “Since we met by chance, how about having dinner together with us, Your Royal Highness?”
Lu Chen nodded gently. “Okay.”
In the No.1 private room, it was very lively. Duke Anyuan was afraid that Qiao Jinniang was going to be rude to Lu Chen, so he served Lu Chen by side like a waiter.
“Your Royal Highness, you can taste the Magnolia Tofu in the Tasty Pavilion. It’s a very delicious summer snack. This is the first time I have seen it in Chang’an. It is very refreshing.”
Duke Anyuan introduced enthusiastically. As for Qiao Ruoyi and Qiao Jinniang, they could only stand beside Duke Anyuan.
Lu Chen said, “Thank you, Your Excellency. But Miss Qiao seems to not want to see me, so I won’t bother you.”
Duke Anyuan thought that there were all young people here and they might not want him to stay, so he said, “Your Royal Highness, I’ll take my leave soon. Jinniang, come out with me.”
Qiao Jinniang went outside with Duke Anyuan. Duke Anyuan found an empty corner and said, “Jinniang, you just came back recently, so you don’t know the difficulties our family is facing.”
“In the eyes of outsiders, our family is very prosperous, but do please remember, to be in the king’s company is tantamount to living with a tiger!”
“The Crown Prince is merciful, but it doesn’t mean that we, as ministers, can do whatever we want. The royal family can easily wipe out our family. If we’re disrespectful to them, His Majesty and His Royal Highness may doubt our loyalty.”
Qiao Jinniang: “…”
Duke Anyuan said helplessly, “You have to be respectful to His Royal Highness in the future. If it were another royal family member today, our family would have probably been accused of disrespecting the royal family.
“You have to remember not to offend His Royal Highness again. How could you let him say that he had offended you? The only people in the world who deserve this are only the Emperor, the Queen and the Empress Dowager.”
Qiao Jinniang took a deep breath, “I see, Father.”
Duke Anyuan said, “Good, remember to be polite to His Royal Highness.”
Qiao Jinniang nodded, thinking that fortunately, she didn’t tell Duke Anyuan the truth.
Otherwise, judging from Duke Anyuan’s loyalty to the royal family, he would probably pack her up and send her to the East Palace immediately!
Qiao Jinniang sighed. Anyway, there would always be a way out.
Back in the No.1 private room, she heard Princess Fulu say, “Miss Xie, why is there still an empty seat between you and my imperial cousin? Come on, sit next to him!”
Princess Fulu thought happily, ‘How beautiful a picture it would be if the two of them sat together!’ At the sight of them together, she would definitely be able to eat three more bowls of rice today!
Xie Yun said, “I can sit next to you and Jinniang. Let Jinniang sit there.”
Lu Chen gave Xie Yun an appreciative look.
After Qiao Jinniang came back crest-fallen, she found that there was only an empty seat between Xie Yun and the Crown Prince. Although there was some space between Qiao Ruoyi and Zhou Siming, there was no stool.
She had to sit between the Crown Prince and Xie Yun.
Fulu had thought that when Qiao Jinniang sat there, the beautiful picture would be ruined, but when she took a closer look, she inexplicably found that this was even better.
Jinniang was a beauty too. Whether she paired with the Crown Prince or with Xie Yun, it was very pleasing to the eye.
Those present, except for Princess Fulu, were well aware of the relationship between Qiao Jinniang and Lu Chen.
Junior Duke Rong said, “This is the first time I saw Miss Xie. She is really beautiful. It’s boring to just eat. Why don’t we play the drinkers’ wager game?”
Fulu was the first to agree. “Okay, what shall we play? No poem making, okay? With the girl best at poem making in Chang’an and the one best in the South, Jinniang and I will definitely lose.”
Junior Duke Rong said, “That’s true. There are also Lin Mo and Seventh Brother. They are both very good at literature, so we will definitely lose. How about playing the drum-and-pass game? Whoever loses shall do one thing or drink three bottles of liquor.”
Fulu was a little surprised. “Three bottles of liquor? Isn’t that a bit too much?”
Junior Duke Rong said, “We’ll drink Southern Yellow Wine. It’s not intoxicating. If there is no objection, may I call my servant to come in and play the drums?”
Lu Chen said, “Alright, call him in.”
Qiao Jinniang said, “Why don’t you guys play and I play the drums?”
“No.” Junior Duke Rong hurriedly said, “Just let my servant play the drums.”
Qiao Jinniang hadn’t played a game for a long time. Seeing that Fulu was very interested, she didn’t want to disappoint her, so she said, “Okay.”
The drums sounded, and the flower made of handkerchief was passed from one person to another. When Lu Chen handed it to Qiao Jinniang, he secretly held her hand. Qiao Jinniang frowned, shook his hand away and threw the flower to Xie Yun.
Xie Yun gave the flower to Fulu gracefully.
The drumming stopped.
Fulu said helplessly, “Why is it me? Miss Xie, you cheated. You passed the flower to me so slowly.”
Junior Duke Rong jeered, “Hey, Fulu, just admit defeat. Let’s think about what we should ask Fulu to do?”
Fulu said, “Humph, do you think I’ll be afraid of you?”
Lin Mo said, “How about having Princess Fulu feed the person next to her?”
Junior Duke Rong said, “That’s too simple. Wouldn’t it be too easy for her?”
Lin Mo glared at Junior Duke Rong. Come on, their target was not Fulu but Qiao Jinniang!
With Xie Yun and Qiao Ruoyi beside Fulu, Fulu certainly chose to feed the more beautiful one.
Junior Duke Rong asked the servant to start playing drums again, and this time Xie Yun happened to hand the flower to Qiao Jinniang when the drums stopped…
Seeing that it was Qiao Jinniang, Junior Duke Rong didn’t dare to mess around, but Lin Mo said, “Miss Qiao, just like Princess Fulu, feed the person beside you, okay?”
Princess Fulu glared at Lin Mo. “No way! Between the sexes there should be a prudent distance. My imperial cousin is not lacking maids. It’s okay for a woman to feed a woman, but what you suggest is not fun at all.”
Lu Chen gave Lin Mo a warning glance and said, “In this case, let Miss Qiao make us Magnolia Tofu!”
Qiao Jinniang replied coldly, “Okay.”
Fulu was interested in Magnolia Tofu and went to watch Qiao Jinniang making the dish.
Qiao Ruoyi went to help Qiao Jinniang with the dish too.
In the private room, Xie Yun said to Lin Mo crossly, “Young Master Lin, just because you’ve been serving as a gigolo for a long time doesn’t mean that you can treat Jinniang like a prostitute.”
Lin Mo hurriedly explained, “She and His Royal Highness are a couple. It’s normal for a woman to feed her husband a mouthful of food, right?”
Xie Yun glanced at Lu Chen meaningfully. “A couple? If they’re a couple, Jinniang should be the crown princess now. Where is the imperial decree?”
Lu Chen said to Xie Yun, “It’s not that I can’t get an imperial decree from my father to make her my crown princess. It’s just that she doesn’t want to forgive me now. Granting an imperial decree is equivalent to forcing her with imperial power. I don’t want to push her.”
Xie Yun drank a bottle of wine and said indifferently, “It’s too late to say how much you love her now.”
Lu Chen said, “It’s not late. I know I was wrong, but my love for Jinniang is true. I’ll make her willingly become my crown princess, instead of being forced by imperial power.”
Princess Fulu held the Magnolia Tofu to the private room, only to hear Lu Chen’s words. She was stunned and then glared angrily at Qiao Jinniang behind her.
“Very good, Qiao Jinniang, I don’t care about your background and treat you like my friend from the moment I saw you, but you secretly seduced Miss Xie’s future husband!”
What made Fulu even more nervous were the hundreds of taels of silver she had betted!
Qiao Jinniang was stunned. She didn’t expect Lu Chen to say that…
This jerk! How could he tell such a complete lie just to eat Magnolia Tofu?
Did he think that she would not do something to his Magnolia Tofu if he said that?
Humph, impossible!
