Rebirth and Marriage: I am the Mistress of the Palace

Xiao Qingxi turned back suddenly: "Xiao Qingyuan!"

"Xiao Qingxi, you should call me brother, don't be too respectful."

"You still know you are my brother?! What did you promise me last night?"

"What did I promise you?"

"Didn't we agree that when you see mother, you would tell her that Shen Wantang went out to meet her lover?!"

"That's what you said, not me."

Xiao Qingxi pointed at him angrily: "You! You betrayed me! I will sever our brother-sister relationship!"

Princess Ning was afraid that she would be angry, so she quickly said, "Qingxi, your brother just told the truth, so don't make a fuss with him. Do you really want him to join you in framing Tang'er? That's what I taught you. You should be honest and trustworthy. How can you just frame someone?"

Xiao Qingxi pouted and puffed up her cheeks: "But I don't want to apologize to Shen Wantang in front of the maids and old women. That would be so embarrassing."

"So you framed her? You want to break your promise? Then why did you make the bet with her?"

"I……"

Xiao Qingxi was speechless. How could she know that she would lose? She never expected that it was Chu Yanluo, not Shen Wantang, who ran out to meet her lover late at night!

She hated Chu Yanluo so much that she couldn't help but curse, "Concubines are really bad! They killed me!"

Princess Ning took her daughter's hand and asked about her health in detail. Just when Xiao Qingxi thought she had gotten away with it and didn't have to apologize, Princess Ning said, "Since you are in good health, go ahead!"

"Ah? Where did my mother ask me to go?"

"Of course I'll go to Tang'er's yard and apologize to her."

Xiao Qingxi: “…”

Princess Ning let go of her daughter's hand and said, "Madame Quan, Madame Kang, you go with the princess."

It was rare for Xiao Qingyuan to see his sister being humiliated, so he wanted to watch the fun: "I'll go with Qingxi, too."

Xiao Qingxi shouted: "Mother! I won't go!"

"Qingxi, if it was anything else, it would be fine, but you wrongly accused Tang'er of secretly meeting a man. This is too serious. If you don't apologize, those maids under you might believe it. If the news gets out, how can Tang'er live like a normal person? How can she manage the household in the future?"

Princess Ning was very determined: "If you don't want to apologize to Tang'er, then stop talking nonsense. It's only because Tang'er is generous that she doesn't bother with you. If it were someone else, they would have come to me to complain about you and would have been made to cry several times by you."

"Go quickly. The two maids and your brother are with you. You have nothing to be afraid of."

Xiao Qingxi gritted his teeth and said, "I'm not afraid at all, I just feel ashamed!"

"We are all family, no one will laugh at you, especially your sister-in-law. Go!"

Xiao Qingxi muttered angrily, "Who is she family with?", and walked out reluctantly.

It took her a full quarter of an hour to reach Shen Wantang's yard. All the way, she kept cursing Xiao Qingyuan and Chu Yanluo, saying that they were useless and had caused her to lose the bet.

She thought that Shen Wantang would be very proud of herself after winning the bet, and would call a bunch of maids and old women to come and apologize to her, and ask the servants to laugh at her.

However, after she entered Wutong Garden, she found it very quiet and the maids and servants had disappeared.

After entering the house, Shen Wantang was as calm as usual. There was no one else around her except her personal maid and Nanny Chai.

Xiao Qingxi didn't know why, but he suddenly felt relieved.

Seeing that Shen Wantang was only drinking tea and ignoring her, she couldn't help but ask, "Hey, are you blind? Can't you see that this princess is coming?"

Shen Wantang raised his head and looked at her: "First of all, I don't say hello."

"Secondly, I am not blind. It is the princess who is too rude."

Xiao Qingxi glared at her: "Shen Wantang!"

"Princess, shouldn't you call me sister-in-law?"

"Shen Wantang, don't be so arrogant! I will never call you sister-in-law in my life!"

In fact, Shen Wantang didn’t really care what Xiao Qingxi called her. She just thought it was fun to tease Xiao Qingxi.

She looked at Xiao Qingxi leisurely: "What do you want to do here, Princess?"

Xiao Qingxi bit her lips and held it in for a long time, until her fair face turned red, and then she said stiffly: "I'm here to apologize to you! I'm sorry!"

Shen Wantang put her hands behind her ears, her palms slightly arched: "What did the princess say? I didn't hear clearly?"

Xiao Qingxi's eyes turned red now: "Shen Wantang, don't be so arrogant! It's true that you won the bet this time, but you can only win this time. I will definitely win in the future!"

Shen Wantang smiled slightly: "What did I win? Please explain clearly, Princess."

Xiao Qingxi turned his face away, unwilling to look at her: "Isn't it just that I made a mistake in judgment? You didn't have a secret meeting with your lover. The one who had a secret meeting with your lover was that damn Chu Yanluo!"

"Have you finally admitted that you wronged me?"

Xiao Qingxi stiffened his neck and said nothing, but he also agreed with Shen Wantang's statement.

Shen Wantang knew that it was not easy for her to achieve this with her proud personality, so she stopped forcing Xiao Qingxi and quickly gave her a way out.

"The princess is willing to accept defeat and has the courage to admit her mistakes. She is indeed responsible. Mother has actually raised the princess well."

When Xiao Qingxi heard her praising her, his tone softened, knowing that the matter was over.

She finally recovered from her discomfort: "Humph, you tell me!"

Xiao Qingyuan did not expect that Shen Wantang would be so easy on Xiao Qingxi. Just like his mother said, if it were someone else, they would not give up until they cried and made a fuss after being falsely accused of having a secret meeting with their lover.

A living example is Chu Yanluo, who cried bitterly yesterday.

As he was thinking about it, he saw Xiao Qingxi walking in and picked up a cloak that was placed in a brocade box.

The cloak was made of the finest fire fox fur, and was a dazzling red color, with only a circle of black on the cuffs and collar.

Xiao Qingyuan subconsciously asked: "Shen Wantang, when did you collect such fine fire fox fur? Did you make this specially for yourself?"

Shen Wantang nodded: "Your Highness is right. I made this for myself." As for how she collected the fire fox fur, she did not say.

Xiao Qingxi turned around while holding the cloak and said, "Shen Wantang, that's not what you said yesterday. You said you wanted to give me the cloak! Why did you change your mind today?"

"I did say I wanted to give it to the princess, but she refused. Since she didn't want it, I had to wear it myself."

Xiao Qingxi stroked the soft and smooth cloak, looking at the fiery red color, feeling delighted: "Who said I don't want it? I want this cloak!"

As she spoke, she put the cloak on herself.

She turned around and asked Aunt Kang, "Mammy, how is it, am I dressed beautifully?"

Nanny Kang knew very well that this was actually something Shen Wantang had prepared specially for the princess.

She smiled and said, "It looks good. This color suits you very well. If you wear this outside, you will be as dazzling as the sun! And this cloak is thick, so you won't be afraid of the cold when you wear it."

“I’m not afraid of the cold.”

Xiao Qingxi said this and walked out wearing his cloak.

Nanny Kang quickly bowed to Shen Wantang and said, "Thank you, Crown Princess!"

Xiao Qingyuan couldn't bear to see it, so he said, "This belongs to Shen Wantang. If you want it, I'll ask someone to make another one for you. You can leave it to her."

Xiao Qingxi glared at him fiercely: "You married a wife and forgot about your sister, Xiao Qingyuan, your heart is so biased now!"

After she finished speaking, she turned and left.

Xiao Qingyuan looked at Shen Wantang awkwardly: "Qingxi is used to being willful, don't take it to heart, I'll see if I can find some more fox fur for you so you can make a new one."

Shen Wantang shook his head: "No, I already have a white snow fox one, and this red fire fox one was originally for the princess."

The red one was not big enough because the fur was too sparse, and Shen Wantang was taller than other women, so it was not suitable for her.

Xiao Qingxi was a little shorter than her, so the dress fit him perfectly.

However, Shen Wantang had never worn the white one, because if she wore it, Xiao Qingyuan would easily mistake her for Chu Yanluo.

She planned to send it to her cousin and ask him to find the best craftsman to dye the white into other colors. Maybe it would start a new trend then!

However, Xiao Qingyuan felt that he still owed Shen Wantang something. She obviously liked bright and eye-catching colors the most and didn't like white, but she still gave the red one to her sister. She was really generous.

After he left Shen Wantang's yard, he couldn't help but start thinking about where to get some high-quality furs to give to Shen Wantang.

As he was thinking, a servant ran past him in a panic.

He frowned: "Stop!"

The servant hurriedly turned back and said, "My Lord, what do you want me to do?"

"Why are you running? What happened?"

"Sir, it's the county magistrate Ye Zhongli, who you just rescued from prison. He has been captured by the Jinyiwei again!"

"What?! Why this time?!"

"Master, I heard that the Jinyiwei followed County Magistrate Ye and dug up the silver he had buried in the underground passage of the other courtyard. It was a full million taels!"

Xiao Qingyuan's eyes went dark, and he said in a lost voice: "This is impossible!"

"Sir, it's true! The Jinyiwei's carriages pulled boxes of silver into the city, and many people saw it! I also heard that the court plans to use this silver to reward the soldiers who won the battle, and also to offer a reward. Anyone who can provide strong clues and evidence for the Xin family case can get at least one thousand taels of silver!"

The servant said excitedly: "This matter has spread everywhere, and now everyone is looking for clues to the Xin family case!"

Xiao Qingyuan's head was buzzing and he could hardly hear what the servant was saying.

He now had only one thought in his mind: it was all over, he had trusted the wrong person again. He took in the daughter of a corrupt official who had embezzled one million taels of silver, and even helped bribe the jailer to rescue the corrupt official!

He staggered.

Mo Ji quickly supported him: "Prince, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

Xiao Qingyuan turned around and looked at his servant, revealing a smile that was uglier than crying: "Mo Ji, I've been deceived again! Hahahaha, it's really good, one by one, they all deceived me! They all deceived me!"

Mo Ji sighed, "Prince, you were careless this time, so you trusted Miss Ye. You should be more careful next time. Miss Ye is still living in our palace. If you are angry, why don't you go and scold her?"

Xiao Qingyuan clenched his fists: "Yes, she is still in the palace, I will go and scold her now! Let's go!"

Mo Ji hurriedly helped him walk towards Ye Lingyun's yard, but when they were halfway there, they saw several guards pushing Ye Lingyun out.

As soon as Ye Lingyun saw Xiao Qingyuan, she immediately burst into tears: "Prince, save me! My father was wrongly accused!"

Xiao Qingyuan walked up to her, his face slightly green: "How long are you going to lie to me? The Jinyiwei has already dug out the silver your father embezzled, and you still dare to cry out for injustice!"

"He was framed! Someone deliberately placed money in my villa to frame my father!"

Xiao Qingyuan was furious: "Who would use one million taels of silver to frame your father, a small county magistrate? I see that you have no idea about silver. Do you know how much money one million taels of silver is? Who has the ability to take out one million taels of silver so quickly?"

"Prince Ning's Mansion is already rich enough, but it can't come up with so much cash!"

Ye Lingyun's face turned pale. She wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by the leading guard: "Sir, we are under the order of the prince to escort Miss Ye to the Ministry of Justice for trial. There is no time to delay."

Xiao Qingyuan knew clearly that the guards were afraid that he would suddenly help Ye Lingyun again. In the eyes of the guards, he was probably a fool now, as he even believed in someone like Ye Lingyun.

He waved his hand coldly: "Take it away!"

Ye Lingyun was immediately panicked: "Prince, please save me! You can't just watch me die without helping me. Isn't Prince the kindest person?"

When Xiao Qingyuan heard this, he finally understood that Ye Lingyun was actually using him.

She wanted to use Gu Qianhan at first, but Gu Qianhan was too cold and told her to get out.

Then she begged him for mercy, and later found that he was kind-hearted, so she persuaded him to move into Prince Ning's mansion.

Xiao Qingyuan's blood boiled in his heart, and he was so angry that his entire chest hurt.

He said coldly: "You and your father deserved to die, didn't you? Take her away immediately, I don't want to see her again!"

"Yes!"

The guards immediately took Ye Lingyun away.

Xiao Qingyuan clenched his fists and stood upright in the cold wind for a long time. He didn't come back to his senses until Mo Ji called him: "What did you just say?"

"My little one is saying, would you like to go for a walk on the street and see what the situation is with County Magistrate Ye?"

Xiao Qingyuan smiled bitterly: "Do I need to listen? I'm afraid half of them are scolding County Magistrate Ye, and the other half are scolding me. County Magistrate Ye deserves to be scolded, and I also deserve to be scolded... "

Seeing him like this, Mo Ji couldn't bear it: "Master, that's not necessarily the case. You helped Miss Ye out of kindness, but the prince also reported to the palace on your behalf, so the palace has long known that Miss Ye lives in our palace, which is equivalent to our palace keeping an eye on Miss Ye."

Xiao Qingyuan was stunned: "From what you said, could it be that... I still have merits?"

"You'll know if you go out and listen."

Xiao Qingyuan immediately walked out.

Once he got to the street, he was quickly recognized.

"Oh, Prince Xiao! I heard that you helped catch the corrupt official, County Magistrate Ye. You are truly amazing. Please accept my greetings!"