Rebirth and Marriage: I am the Mistress of the Palace

Huayi's face suddenly turned pale, and she knelt down and kowtowed hurriedly: "Princess, please forgive me this time. I will obey you in everything! I will serve the prince well in the future!"

Princess Ning looked at her coldly, "A maid is a maid. If a family doesn't distinguish between the superior and the inferior and lets the maid ride on the head of the master, then the family is not far from destruction! You have been favored by the master and have forgotten your duty. The master has suffered so many injuries for you. I am selling you out, which is the least of my punishment! If this happened in another family, you would have been beaten to death long ago!"

"Why is mother taking out her anger on a maid? This matter has nothing to do with Huayi. It's just that the grudge between me and Gu Qianhan has implicated her!"

Xiao Qingyuan bent down and pulled Huayi up. He grasped Huayi's wrist tightly and said with great momentum: "I am responsible for my own actions! If mother wants to sell Huayi, then sell me first!"

Princess Ning looked at her son in disbelief. "She's just a maid. Is she worthy of your protection? Isn't Chu Yanluo enough? Why are you risking your life to fight against Hua Yi?"

"If mother hadn't forced Huayi, I wouldn't have to risk my life. I should have taken Huayi back to the yard to have a good rest instead of confronting mother here! It was the same with Yanluo in the past. If mother hadn't stopped me, how could I have done such rebellious things!"

Princess Ning's eyes were red. "So you think it's all my fault? So no matter what you do, I should just go along with you?"

"You want to marry a woman who is pregnant with a bastard, and I have to agree?"

"You held your wife hostage with a knife in order to save the maid. Shouldn't I care about such a cruel thing?"

"You came back from the Duke's Mansion covered in bruises, so I shouldn't hold your maid accountable?"

"Xiao Qingyuan, do you still have a conscience when you say such things?!"

"I am your biological mother, not your stepmother! The person who loves you the most in this world is not your concubine, not your maid who warms your bed, but me!"

Xiao Qingyuan opened his mouth, and his momentum finally weakened: "I know my mother loves me, but sometimes she controls me too much. If you control me less, we can naturally have a loving mother and filial son. I'm not a child anymore, you have to give me freedom and let me make my own decisions on everything."

Princess Ning took a deep breath and calmed herself. She knew that it was impossible to sell the paintings, otherwise the relationship between her and her son, which had finally been eased, would fall apart again.

She couldn't bear the loss of her son becoming estranged from her just for a maid!

Her son's tone softened, and she forced herself to soften her tone as well: "You are right, you are not a child anymore, you should make your own decisions on everything, Huayi will stay and continue to serve you."

Xiao Qingyuan finally relaxed: "Thank you, mother."

"but--"

Xiao Qingyuan's heart was lifted again: "Mother, do you have any other instructions?"

"Since you are already an adult, you should act like an adult and take on your responsibilities."

"My responsibility? What is my responsibility?"

"The responsibility of the prosperity of the palace."

Princess Ning said calmly, "From now on, you will stay in the Crown Prince's wife's room for at least ten days every month until she becomes pregnant. It's time for our Ning Palace to have a baby."

Xiao Qingyuan refused without a second thought: "I won't go! I have Huayi and that's enough for me. I don't need another woman!"

"The Crown Prince's Consort is your legal wife, she is not another woman! If you don't go, I will ask someone to sell the painting!"

"Shen Wantang was chosen by my mother herself. She has nothing to do with me. I have already given her the position of Crown Prince's Consort. I can't give her anything else!"

"Nonsense! If you can give it to Chu Yanluo and Huayi, you can give it to your Crown Prince's Consort!"

Princess Ning slammed the table in anger: "You put a knife to Tang'er's neck today and scared her! She was such a diligent and virtuous person, but now she is bedridden!"

Xiao Qingyuan was stunned: "This is impossible! When I left, she was still fine, as calm as if she didn't see the knife in my hand!"

"That's because she wants to save your face in front of others! If she panics and gets scared, not only will she lose face, but you, the culprit, will also be laughed at by the world!"

Xiao Qingyuan hesitated: "Is she really scared? Seriously?"

“Very serious!”

"Then...then I'll go see her?"

"Of course I'll go. If you don't go, who will?"

"Okay, I'll go then."

Princess Ning waved her hand and said, "Go ahead and comfort her. Apologize if you should, and admit your mistakes if you should."

"Well, I see."

Xiao Qingyuan breathed a sigh of relief. He could finally leave. If he had known that mentioning Shen Wantang would make his mother release the person, he should have mentioned it earlier!

He felt a little proud in his heart. He had just played a trick on his mother. He said clearly that he would go to see Shen Wantang, but he did not agree to let his mother stay overnight at Shen Wantang's place!

After leaving Princess Ning's courtyard, Xiao Qingyuan did not go to find Shen Wantang immediately. He took Huayi and went straight back to his own courtyard.

After entering the room and closing the door, Xiao Qingyuan had just sat on the chair when Huayi knelt at his feet in fear and trepidation: "I caused the prince to be injured and scolded by the princess. I deserve to die! Please punish me, prince!"

Xiao Qingyuan looked at the kneeling maid, and a gloomy look flashed across his handsome face.

If it were in the past, he would have stepped forward immediately and helped the person up himself.

But now, he just knelt there, looking at Hua Yi without moving.

She was still wearing his clothes, but her own clothes had been stripped off long ago.

Xiao Qingyuan recalled the moment when he rushed into the house and Gu Qianhan jumped out of the pool in dishevel.

Huayi was the most graceful and gentle woman he had ever seen. He himself was completely unable to resist the temptation of Huayi's nakedness, and he didn't know whether Gu Qianhan could resist it.

No matter how charming the women in Wanhua Tower were, Gu Qianhan never had any feelings for them and never touched them.

But those women were all vulgar, they were just entertaining guests, dirty and without true feelings. They were like zombies who only knew how to smile. Not only did Gu Qianhan not want to touch them, even he didn't want to touch them.

But Huayi was different from them, she was pure and had never been touched by other men. The only man who had touched Huayi was him.

He felt that Gu Qianhan might not be able to control himself in front of Huayi, otherwise he would not have soaked in the bathtub with Huayi in his disheveled state.

He stretched out his finger, lifted Huayi's chin, and said in a somewhat cold tone: "Did Gu Qianhan touch you today?"

Huayi immediately shook her head: "No, absolutely not! Your Majesty, please understand. Second Master Gu has never even touched a hair of my hand!"

"Really? You didn't lie to me?"

"How dare I lie to you, my lord? I swear to heaven that if I tell even a single lie, I will be struck by lightning!"