New Song Dynasty: My Wife is an Imperial Princess

"Qingmiao, where are you going again?"

Watching her daughter's hurried departure, Shen Xiangyue seemed not to have clearly heard what Ye Qingmiao had just said.

Sitting to the side, Qiu Linghua picked up her teacup and took a sip, indicating that she was about to see the guest out: "She said she was going to Youzhou to find Qian'er and ask her about it."

Immediately, the two looked at each other simultaneously, their eyes first revealing confusion, then shock. Before Qiu Linghua could show any fear, Shen Xiangyue had already lifted her skirt and rushed out, shouting loudly as she ran, completely abandoning the demeanor of the matriarch of the Ye family: "Qingmiao, don't you dare do anything reckless!"

Qiu Linghua shuddered, spilling the warm tea from her teacup, which scalded her and made her wince for a while. But at this moment, she couldn't care less about such trivial matters; the most important thing was to calm the crazy girl down.

Just as the two ladies had feared, the impulsive second young lady of the Ye family did indeed go home to pack her bags, intending to go to Youzhou to find Tang Qian. Fortunately, after Chu Xia's delay, Shen Xiangyue and Qiu Linghua finally managed to catch Ye Qingmiao in the house before she left.

After a period of chaos, the backyard of the Ye family mansion finally quieted down. The servants, who were already used to seeing the doors and windows of the young lady's room boarded up again by the master's orders, simply smiled and went about their business.

"Miss, please eat something. You've been hungry all day."

In a gap by a window where it was convenient to feed her, Chu Xia tried her best to comfort Ye Qingmiao, but Ye Qingmiao inside ignored her: "Chu Xia, I've always treated you well, haven't I? You actually betrayed me at this crucial moment. From now on, we're going our separate ways. I'm not your mistress, and you're not my sister."

"No, Miss!" Ye Qingmiao's words made Chu Xia outside cry anxiously. "Even if the two of us can get out of Guangling City, we don't even know where Youzhou is. The world is not peaceful now. There is war and chaos outside. There are bandits and thieves all along the way. I am really worried that we will not be able to find the young master alive."

If they encountered bandits along the way, it would be a pipe dream for the two young girls to die easily. Ye Qingmiao was unaware of the dangers of the world, but Chu Xia, when she was young, had personally experienced the terrible ordeal of being robbed by bandits.

“I don’t care about any of that. Since Tang Xiaoqi was able to return to Guangling safely from Youzhou, why can’t we go back along the same route he took? Go and find Tang Xiaoqi, and have him take me to Youzhou. Now the family should be at ease.”

Seeing that Chu Xia hesitated and didn't speak, Ye Qingmiao immediately suppressed her temper and put on a pitiful appearance, speaking softly: "Good Chu Xia, good sister, please help your sister this once, for the sake of the fact that I once rescued you from the slave trader."

Chu Xia's face darkened. Every time Ye Qingmiao was imprisoned by her family, she would use this trick to beg her to release her. But what Ye Qingmiao didn't know was that in the past, it was only because the mistress Shen Xiangyue gave her the order that she dared to help her. This time, the Second Miss had made too much of a fuss, saying that she was going to Youzhou to find Tang Qian. It was practically courting death! How could Shen Xiangyue possibly agree to let her go?

"Miss, please stop making things difficult for me. I'll be beaten to death by Madam." After her earnest pleas failed, Chu Xia's eyes darted around, and she suddenly thought of a solution. "We definitely can't go to Youzhou, but even if we can't go, we should be able to deliver the letter, right? Why don't you write a letter and have Tang Xiaoqi send it back to Youzhou, and then have him bring back the young master's reply? Wouldn't that be the same as us going to Youzhou?"

“This method won’t work. I must ask Tang Qian face to face how he intends to deal with me.”

“I heard from Tang Xiaoqi that the son-in-law will be coming to Guangling City soon. Why don’t we contact him by letter first, and then talk things out face to face when he returns to Guangling City? Anyway, the son-in-law has already married Princess Shunde. Even if we flew there now, it would be of no use. It’s better to wait for him to come back and give us an explanation.”

Chu Xia's words made a lot of sense. Ye Qingmiao pondered for a long time before finally calming down: "You're right, but now that my family wants to break off the engagement, how should we resolve this? Everyone says that marriage is arranged by parents and matchmakers. What if my mother and aunt hit it off and really agree to break off the engagement? I won't be able to wait for Tang Qian to come back."

“This matter is easy to handle. If the young lady and the young master are truly in love, even if the elders in the family want to stop them, they can’t. As long as Tang Qian states in his reply that he will not abandon her after starting something, then we can go all the way and elope.”

As she said this, Chu Xia's body trembled slightly. She unconsciously turned her head to look at Shen Xiangyue, whose face had turned ashen, and made a helpless expression, signaling to her mistress to suppress her anger.

Shen Xiangyue took a deep breath, trying her best to calm herself down, and kept reminding herself that no matter how naughty her daughter was, she was still her own daughter, whom she had carried for ten months.

She pointed into the room, then to the north, and made a gesture of parting ways. As clever as Chu Xia was, she naturally understood and immediately spoke again: "If the young master is heartless and forgets his old love after finding a new one, then we don't need to have any illusions about such a person anymore. Miss, do you think I'm right?"

"Alright, I'll do as you say. I'll write it now, and tomorrow I'll have Tang Xiaoqi send it back to Youzhou for me. I absolutely do not believe that Tang Qian is such a heartless and ungrateful person."

After Chu Xia's tireless efforts, Ye Qingmiao was finally persuaded to stay quiet, which made Shen Xiangyue, who had been eavesdropping from the side, breathe a sigh of relief. As long as her daughter didn't run around, she could do whatever she wanted.

Seeing the lady beckoning to her, Chu Xia jumped again, her face turning even paler: "Madam, this servant just now..."

"Alright, you don't need to explain. Am I the kind of unreasonable person?" Shen Xiangyue's face was full of helplessness. "I know my daughter's character very well. If it weren't for your persuasion, who knows how many absurd things she would have done."

"Miss is just being genuine, not entirely acting recklessly. This time she said she wanted to go to Youzhou, probably because she was extremely angry, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to persuade her at all."

Shen Xiangyue nodded: "Fortunately, Chuxia is here. You must keep a close eye on Miss during this time and make sure she doesn't do anything out of line again. As for the Tang family, we still need to come up with a solution that satisfies both sides."