Noble Lady

"Yu'er, weren't you going to the Duke of Chen's mansion for the wedding banquet? Why did you invite Princess An Ning and these other girls back?"

Although Mrs. Xue knew that her daughter had attended a wedding banquet today, she couldn't help but be surprised when she saw that her daughter had "kidnapped" back so many young and beautiful girls.

"Mother, just think of it as me being charming." Xue Chenyu said half-jokingly.

"Hello, Madam Xue, did we disturb you?" Princess An Ning rarely took the initiative to come forward and say hello.

"What are you talking about, Princess? I'm glad you don't mind the simplicity of our house." Mrs. Xue was also a polite person.

After a brief greeting, he invited the guest in.

Xue Chenyu had tea and snacks prepared, then asked Yuzhu to take Xia He on a run, and then she came out with a few maids, holding a box of eight-treasure dried fruits.

More than a dozen kinds of dried fruits are laid out in the box, which is both exquisite and beautiful.

It makes people happy to see it.

Of course, in the end, Princess An Ning and her companions each picked out their favorite dried fruits and took away a small bag.

Xue Chenyu wanted them to take more, but they felt embarrassed and said they would pay for it.

This really made Miss Xue Er angry. "We are not that stingy. We charge money for giving guests some dried fruits. This is not a business."

The little girl put her hands on her hips and looked so aggressive that Princess An Ning and the others felt embarrassed to mention money. Afterwards, Xue Chenyu and Xue Luoyan sent them out the door.

Apart from her initial appearance, Mrs. Xue then went about her business, treating these girls as ordinary guests without showing any excessive hospitality or flattery.

It was because of this incident that Princess An Ning brought the two sisters to visit Marquis Wu'an's mansion whenever she had nothing to do.

For no other reason than to crave this delicious food.

Of course, they were all very polite and brought gifts, but they were not too expensive. They were nice for a little kid like Xue Luoyan to play with.

But that’s another story.

……

The Duke's Mansion, the wedding night.

Chen Mingxuan was forced to drink some wine, and he felt dizzy when he returned to his room.

Looking at the woman sitting in the bed curtain under the lamp, his pace unconsciously slowed down a lot.

"Sir." The attendant thought he was drunk and quickly reached out to help him.

Chen Mingxuan waved him away and said, "I don't need anyone to serve me here, please get out."

As soon as Du Jingyuan opened the door, she smelled the aroma of alcohol drifting in with the night breeze.

Seeing Chen Mingxuan's attendant being dismissed, Du Dan looked at her nervously, "Miss, do you want to call for help?"

"It's okay, you go down first." Du Jingyuan said softly.

Soft-spoken.

She is so different from her usual self.

In order to give Chen Mingxuan a "surprise" tonight, she asked Du Juan to avoid Chen Mingxuan in advance.

As the door closed, the room became extremely quiet.

Chen Mingxuan stood there for a long time without saying a word.

Du Jingyuan also kept holding the fan and did not put it down.

"Miss Du, I have something to tell you." Chen Mingxuan said slowly, his voice no longer drunken.

Du Jingyuan thought to herself: This kid is so cunning, he is really pretending to be drunk.

"Mr. Chen Wu, please speak." Du Jingyuan said softly.

"This marriage with the General's Mansion was arranged by my parents and the matchmaker. I didn't resist before because I thought I would never meet someone I like in this lifetime."

"But later I realized that God likes to play tricks on people. It was only after I got engaged that I realized my true feelings."

"What do you mean by saying this, Master Chen Wu? Do you think that the legitimate daughter of my general's mansion is not worthy of your illegitimate son from the Duke's mansion?"

Du Jingyuan's voice was slightly deep, across the embroidered fan with the sound of a phoenix and a crane singing in harmony.

"Miss Du, you have misunderstood. I definitely did not mean that," Chen Mingxuan explained.

"I just don't want to hide it from you, so I have to let you know that I have someone else in my heart. For the rest of my life, I can only treat you with respect. I hope you can understand."

Du Jingyuan's voice slowed down before she asked, "Master Changwu, since you have someone you love, why don't you take her into your residence? It's not that I don't have the ability to accommodate others."

Chen Mingxuan smiled bitterly upon hearing this and said, "She has a free and unrestrained personality, so it's absolutely impossible for her to become a concubine. Besides, she also said that it's enough for me to let down one woman, but I can't let down two women."

"Then Mr. Chen Wu is indeed a gentleman." If you listen carefully to these words, you can't help but notice a hint of gnashing of teeth.

Chen Mingxuan smiled bitterly again, "I don't deserve it."

Du Jingyuan didn't respond to his words. He paused and said, "If Miss Du is unhappy, I can go to the study to rest tonight."

"You went to the repair room to rest on your wedding night. How do you expect the people in the Duke's Mansion and the outside world to view me?"

"If you do something wrong, no one will say a word against you. They will just put all the blame on me."

Chen Mingxuan's legs stopped before he could turn around. "I'm being stupid. I just asked the servants to prepare hot water for bathing."

Since you are going to rest in this room, you can't smell of alcohol.

Du Jingyuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Afterwards, Chen Mingxuan called his attendant and asked him to prepare hot water.

After Chen Mingxuan took a bath, Du Jingyuan also took off her heavy headdress. If she had known this would happen, why did she sit there for so long?

She took off her crown, hairpins, rouge and powder early on.

Behind the screen, Chen Mingxuan was taking a bath in the cabin while Du Jingyuan was washing her face outside.

They complement each other.

The red candles with dragon and phoenix patterns were shining brightly, but there was no ambiguous atmosphere at all.

When he came out, the bedding on the couch was already made for him.

Chen Mingxuan: Is the efficiency too high?

Nothing happened on this wedding night.

The groom didn't even get to see the bride's face before he was sent to sleep on the couch.

morning.

Chen Mingxuan was awakened by a knock on the door.

"Miss, uncle, we are coming in."

"Come in." A soft voice came from the bed. Different from the gentleness of last night, it was familiar.

Chen Mingxuan quickly packed up his bedding and hid it in the cabinet.

The young man pushed the door open and walked in.

"Hello, son-in-law." Du Juan came in with her people and was the first to salute Chen Mingxuan.

When they met, Chen Mingxuan was stunned. "You, why are you here?"

Du Juan was also stunned: "I don't understand what you said, Master. Where should I be if I'm not here?"

Chen Mingxuan was about to say something when he suddenly remembered something and turned to look at the red bed curtains.

Du Jingyuan slowly poked out her furry head and said, "Dujuan, come and help me. My shoulders are so sore."

As soon as he finished speaking, he met the stunned Chen Mingxuan.

His eyes widened, as if he was still dreaming. He rushed forward in two steps, "You, you..."

He pinched the cinnabar-colored bed curtains, but couldn't utter a word.

There were emotions of surprise, astonishment, shock, etc. intertwined in his eyes, and his smile was overflowing with joy from his heart.

Du Jingyuan raised her hand and covered his eyes. "I was here last night, but you didn't want to see."

Chen Mingxuan's heart was beating wildly, and he blurted out, "I, I didn't do it on purpose... No, I, I didn't know..."