Female-male sex: Salted fish forced to rise to prominence

Chen Manli walked forward with light steps and asked, "My Lady Princess, how come you have so much free time today to come to my humble abode?"

Princess Ronghua has always regarded Chen Manli as her best friend, so she was particularly frank and honest during the conversation.

She smiled and replied, "I only lied to Mother and told her I was here to discuss poetry with you. I hope you can keep this a secret for me!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Princess Ronghua deliberately lowered her voice, quietly approached Chen Manli's ear, and whispered softly: "Hehe... To tell you the truth, I made a special trip out this time just to buy those delicious cakes!"

After hearing this, Chen Manli remained calm on the surface, but deep down she was already filled with contempt and disdain.

She thought to herself: This dignified princess enjoys the nourishment of delicacies from land and sea all day long, but she has a special liking for those foods that are eaten by ordinary people and are not worthy of being eaten in elegant restaurants. She really lives up to her noble status as a princess!

However, despite thinking this in her heart, Chen Manli's face did not show the slightest bit of strangeness. Instead, she said in a friendly tone: "In this case, if I am lucky enough to go out for fun in the future and come across any delicious food, I will definitely bring some back for you."

Upon hearing this, Princess Ronghua was overjoyed, her face filled with joy, unable to conceal it. She nodded excitedly, "Great, truly wonderful!" As if she had received the most precious promise in the world, her joy was evident beyond words.

Princess Ronghua thought silently in her heart, this way she wouldn’t have to sneak out so hard all the time, fighting wits and courage with those experienced and skillful old maids from the palace, it would be tiring!!!

In fact, it is not limited to the Princess's Mansion where the princess currently lives. Even the rules in Shangshu Chen's Mansion are extremely strict.

Chen Manli still remembers that when she was young, she sneaked out to play when no one was paying attention, but was unfortunately discovered by her grandmother.

After returning home, she was punished by her grandmother to kneel in the ancestral hall for a whole night. She was then invaded by the cold and fell ill for several months, almost losing her life. Since then, her mother has been more strict in disciplining her, so Chen Manli rarely has the opportunity to go out and play alone.

Normally, the only chances she had to leave the mansion were to attend various banquets held by the upper class, such as wedding banquets, tea tastings, flower viewing parties, and poetry competitions. However, at these banquets, there were always people who wanted to ask her questions about poetry, which made her feel extremely annoyed.

She knew nothing about poetry. The poems she circulated in the mansion were all written by her half-sister Chen Qingqing, who wrote them to gain a good reputation and hope to marry a noble husband in the future.

Ever since I started staying with the princess, there weren't so many ignorant people coming up to me and saying they wanted to compete in poetry, and the place became much quieter.

So she usually stayed with the princess, so that her reputation as a talented woman would not be exposed. And because she was a good friend of the princess, she was even more popular among the ladies in the boudoir in the capital. I think they all wanted to have some relationship with the royal family.

However, because of the princess's arrival today, she can't go out to play again. She has to get something back to make up for her loss of not being able to go out to play.

She looked at Princess Ronghua, whose hair was covered with hairpins and rings, and praised her, "Princess, your skin is fair and tender, and it will look even better with more hairpins and rings. Just like this finely crafted peony hairpin inlaid with oriental pearls, the petals are stacked and very beautiful, and the gold beads hanging on it make it look very lively and elegant.

And this round hairpin of yours, the center is inlaid with a top-grade ruby without a trace of impurities, and the brushed hollow craftsmanship on the side is extraordinary. It is also inlaid with a circle of small, round pearls of the same size, which really highlights your noble temperament.

As if that wasn't enough, he also praised Princess Ronghua's red agate and lotus-patterned gold bracelet, saying that the agate on the bracelet was as bright red as flames and was of the finest quality, and paired with the exquisite lotus pattern, it was truly an extraordinary piece.

Chen Manli kept talking, and Princess Ronghua was very happy to be praised. If someone else praised her like this, she would think that they were flattering her.

But she felt that what Sister Maner said was the truth because she was her best friend. After all, they had known each other for many years and they had even studied together with Old Tutor Zhao.

Princess Ronghua's eyes never left the red agate gold bracelet on Sister Maner's wrist. Seeing this, she took off the exquisite red agate lotus-patterned gold bracelet from her wrist without hesitation and gently put it on Chen Manli's hand.

At this moment, Princess Ronghua did not show any arrogance and arrogance towards strangers. Instead, she smiled brightly as a young girl and said, "Sister Maner, this bracelet suits you very well. You usually like pink clothes the most, and it should look especially good with this bracelet. Even the red plum and white dress you are wearing today will complement it."

Faced with such a generous gift, Chen Manli quickly refused, saying, "How can I take my sister's things? These are all priceless treasures. I can't accept them." Although she said this, her slender fingers kept stroking the precious bracelet on her wrist. Despite a lot of effort, she couldn't take it off.

This situation should be the unique culture of giving and taking among us Chinese, just like the red envelopes given to each other during festivals. One party keeps waving his hands and saying, "No, no," while the other party insists, "Take it, take it." In this back and forth and mutual shirking of responsibility, the red envelope has actually already fallen into the other party's pocket, and the so-called refusal is just verbal politeness.

If it were anyone else, seeing that the bracelet had not been taken off for a long time, they would have probably realized that it meant they wanted it. However, Princess Ronghua found it difficult to understand this kind of refusal. Normally, she would just give a reward and others would start to thank her. There was no such thing as refusal. So, at the critical moment, she had an idea, and the previous scene flashed through her mind, and she felt inspired.

On the side, when Miss Chen from the Shangshu family kept praising her princess's jewelry, the princess's maid Furong realized something was wrong. What was she interested in now?

If someone paid attention to her, they would find that she was really concentrating, staring at Miss Chen like a thief.

At first glance, she saw that the bracelet Miss Chen had chosen was actually a top-quality red agate lotus-patterned bracelet that the eldest princess had specially commissioned by a skilled craftsman and had even been consecrated at a temple. She couldn't care less and was about to speak up to stop him.

So, what did she see? She saw the maid named Furong, her eyebrows raised high, her eyes wide open, and her mouth opened so wide that it seemed like a whole egg could fit in it!

Jasmine, the maid who had always been indifferent and unmoved by anything other than protecting the princess, and whose face was so cold that it was difficult to detect any expression other than indifference, now had a look of shock in her eyes.

Bihe and Biluo, who were standing behind Chen Manli, simultaneously covered their mouths with their hands. Oh my god, they were completely stunned by what they saw! What on earth was going on? What could have happened to make these girls so shocked?