Rebirth and Marriage: I am the Mistress of the Palace

Listening to his good brother's undisguised praise, Xiao Qingyuan couldn't help but glance at Chu Yanluo who was sitting on the stone bench.

There was a faint smile on the corner of her lips and her eyes were extremely clear. She was polite while maintaining her cold and aloof temperament. She was not at all complacent because of the praise, nor did she feel ashamed in front of his friends because of her status.

This fairy-like demeanor made Xiao Qingyuan's heart fall in love with her once again.

He loved her aloof and proud look, not vulgar, not cowardly, and her eyes looking at men were also open and frank, unlike those young ladies in the capital who were flustered and shy when seeing foreign men. They looked like they had never seen the world or seen men.

Especially when they saw him, the young ladies all looked at him shyly and timidly, always trying to talk to him, but they had to pretend to be reserved. Sometimes they pretended to have lost their handkerchief and met him by chance, sometimes they pretended to have lost their sachet and asked him to help find it, and sometimes they pretended not to see anything, bumped into him lightly, and then pretended to apologize.

He had encountered such scenes countless times during his years in the capital, to the point that he went from disgust to numbness.

When Chu Yanluo met him for the first time, she was not shy at all, nor did she want to talk to him. Even when he spoke to her, she was arrogant and ignored him.

At that moment, he felt his eyes brighten and felt that she was very different from other women.

And now, Chu Yanluo is still the same as before, not shy about or close to men. She is just being herself and she will not try to please any man.

Feeling very happy, Xiao Qingyuan, encouraged by Yuan Zheng, raised his head and drank the wine in the glass.

Seeing that he drank so happily, Yuan Zheng couldn't help laughing. He pulled Xiao Qingyuan to sit down at the stone table and poured him glass after glass of wine.

Xiao Qingyuan accepted all the drinks and drank one cup after another. Later, he almost forgot the purpose of calling these two people: "Yuan Da, Gu Er, you two, lend me some money!"

Gu Qianhan twisted the wine glass with his slender fingers without saying anything.

Yuan Zheng agreed immediately: "Sure, it's nothing. We are brothers. There's no need to lend it to others. It would be too unkind to ask for it. Tell me how much you need and I'll have someone send it to you tomorrow."

Hearing Yuan Zheng agree to give him the money so readily, Xiao Qingyuan barely sobered up a little: "Are you serious? Will you give me 10,000 taels?"

"Give it to me, why not? But how much do you want me to give you? It all depends on your ability."

Xiao Qingyuan's brain reacted much slower than usual: "What's that?"

"Drinking skills!"

Yuan Zheng smiled and brought a jar of wine in front of him: "If you drink a jar, I will give you 10,000 taels, how about it?"

Xiao Qingyuan laughed loudly: "Okay! You said it, I will drink until you go bankrupt today!"

Yuan Zheng still smiled: "With your little alcohol tolerance, you think you want to bankrupt my family? My mother got married with a real red dowry, which was so much that she couldn't spend it all in ten lifetimes! You can drink as much as you want. I, Yuan Zheng, lack everything except money!"

Xiao Qingyuan knew that he had no shortage of money, so he specially called him over. Seeing him so straightforward, Xiao Qingyuan was very touched: "Zi Shang, you are indeed my best brother. Cheers!" Zi Shang is Yuan Zheng's nickname.

After Xiao Qingyuan finished speaking, he picked up a jar of wine and drank it down in one gulp.

"it is good!"

Yuan Zheng clapped his hands and cheered loudly. At the same time, he did not forget to throw a provocative look at Gu Qianhan: "Did you hear that? Qingyuan said I am his best brother! Qianhan, do you have anything to say?"

Gu Qianhan just glanced at the drunken Xiao Qingyuan indifferently and ignored Yuan Zheng's words.

Gu Qianhan is twenty years old this year. As his name suggests, he is handsome and cold-tempered. He has a natural cold aura that keeps strangers away. His facial features are angular, his eyebrows are sharp, and his eyes are bright. Even if he sits there without saying a word, he is intimidating.

What's more, Gu Qianhan was born into the extremely powerful Duke Zhenguo Mansion. His grandfather and father were both great contributors who followed the previous emperor in conquering the world. His aunt is the current empress, his sister is a popular candidate for the Crown Princess, and his eldest brother was the Crown Prince's companion in his childhood. After he became an adult, he directly entered the Zhanshi Mansion and is now the Junior Zhanshi of the Zhanshi Mansion. He holds the fourth rank at a young age.

Gu Qianhan himself was a rare child prodigy. He could read the Four Books and Five Classics at the age of three, and could answer the emperor's questions fluently at the age of five. He took the imperial examination at the age of twelve and won first place in both the provincial and metropolitan examinations. He did not take part in the palace examination because he thought answering the emperor's questions was boring.

Any one of his halos could defeat Yuan Zheng, who came from a merchant family, in seconds.

But, just in front of Xiao Qingyuan, Gu Qianhan is always inferior to Yuan Zheng, and Yuan Zheng can only find a little confidence with Xiao Qingyuan.

Therefore, every time when Xiao Qingyuan praised him, he would provoke Gu Qianhan with a few words.

However, up to now, Gu Qianhan has never responded to him, and the only reason she drinks with him is out of consideration for Xiao Qingyuan.

After failing to make provocation, Yuan Zheng felt as if he had punched cotton, and was so depressed that he almost vomited blood.

Just then, Xiao Qingyuan was pulling him to drink again, so he picked up a jar of wine and poured it into Xiao Qingyuan's mouth, shouting, "Drink one more jar, and I'll give you 20,000 taels!"

Normally, Xiao Qingyuan had no shortage of money, and Yuan Zheng had money but had no place to show off. Now that he had finally gotten a chance, he was not going to let it go easily.

Mo Ji was so anxious. The master hadn't eaten a single bite of food, but he asked Yuan Zheng to drink so much wine. How could his body bear it? Chu Yanluo didn't even try to persuade him. He just sat there and ate his own food. He didn't feel sorry for his master at all. He was really a heartless bastard.

Mo Ji knew that he shouldn't go up and speak when his masters were drinking, because a servant like him had no right to speak here.

But he had followed Xiao Qingyuan since he was a child, and all the disciplines he received were to give everything for Xiao Qingyuan. The mark of protecting his master was deeply engraved in his bones. He felt sorry for Xiao Qingyuan and couldn't help but stepped forward and said, "Uncle Yuan, alcohol is harmful to the body, let our prince eat some meat and vegetables first!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yuan Zheng, who had no place to vent his anger, kicked him out fiercely.

Mo Ji fell to the ground with a pale face due to severe pain in his abdomen, but he clenched his teeth tightly and said nothing - this was the discipline he had received since childhood, no matter how painful it was, he must not make a sound.

Yuan Zheng seemed to be unsatisfied and was about to kick him, but was stopped by Gu Qianhan. He spoke in a calm voice, but his tone was unquestionable: "Yuan Zheng, stop it. This is Qingyuan's man, you shouldn't touch him."