"I, I..."

Qing Xia spoke incoherently, stuttering.

He asked nothing but said quietly, "How dare you."

At the same time, Xie Zhen came out of the room empty-handed. Originally, she didn't want to take anything, but just to draw out Qing Xia. She stood outside the pavilion and quietly watched the scene.

Qing Xia turned back to look at Xie Zhen, then realized that she had fallen into a trap and revealed a pitiful expression: "Empress, why did you set me up..."

Xie Zhen was somehow amused. This was the first time she had seen someone who could turn black and white around. "Who are you? Do you think I'm trying to set up you?"

If it wasn't that she harbored evil intentions, how would she be caught red-handed?

Then, Qing Xia looked at Yan Yu and kneeled on the ground, holding onto his robe while begging for mercy, "Your Highness, please listen to my explanation ...When I saw you sleeping in the pavilion, I was worried that you would get cold, so I wanted to test the warmth of your hand. Please, your highness, spare me this time!"

That's a good reason.

It was a pity that Yan Yu didn't want to waste too much time on her, so he got someone to invite the steward here.

Steward Zhao arrived not long later, and he heard someone explain what was going on. Once he arrived at the pavilion, he knelt down before scolding Qing Xia, "You truly ate the guts of a leopard and didn't know what was good for you!"

Qing Xia drooped her eyes and said nothing.

Yan Yu called out to him, "How should we deal with this, you decide."

He got up and walked out of the pavilion, pausing to look at Xie Zhen as he passed. Then, sullenly and expressionlessly, he took her hand and led her into the room.

Xie Zhen felt guilty. She knew she was using him, so she let him pull her along.

Only the servants were left in the pavilion. Steward Zhao stood up and glared at Qing Xia without mercy, his face full of sarcasm, "You don't even look at your own identity, how dare you do such a thing in front of the empress' eyes! Now that you have such an ending, you can't blame anyone else."

Both of Qing Xia's hands were on the ground, her palms clenched into fists. She was extremely unwilling to accept this outcome.

No matter what Steward Zhao said, she insisted that she wanted to test out Yan Yu's temperature.

In the end, Steward Zhao was annoyed by her. Originally, he only wanted to lower her to a low-level maidservant and let her sweep the courtyard, but now he temporarily changed his mind. He wanted her to go to the southwest corner of the backyard to clean the closestool.

In the past, Qing Xia was still the private maidservant who served her master. It was good fir her food and shelter. If her master was happy, she might even be bestowed one or two pieces of gold and silver jewellery, making her look much better than the other maidservants. Suddenly, she was told to clean the closestool, which was even worse than sweeping the yard as a low-level maidservant. Her face was green and white as she tugged on Steward Zhao's clothes, begging for mercy, "No ...Steward, I don't want to go..."

Steward Zhao waved her hand away without any hesitation, "Either clean the closestool or sell you again. Pick one."

Most of the maidservants that were bought home and then sold away were not good choices to the rich families. Almost every day, they would be scolded by traders, and she had seen this before. What was even more terrifying was that they would strip her of her clothes ...

She couldn't help but cringe as she thought of that scene. With tears in her eyes, she said in a humiliated tone, "I'll do it."

Steward Zhao said indifferently, "Since you want to go, then go back to your room and pack up your luggage. I will bring you to where you will stay in the future."

Qing Xia stood up and swept her gaze to the side, only to realize that there were many people looking at her, including the good sisters she had known in the past. Cui Shan didn't say a word, who turned around and talked to Lv Ao, pretending not to see her.

Her heart was dead, and she walked past them with her head bowed.

Inside, Xie Zhe stood in front of Yan Yu with her hands behind her back, looking like she had admitted her mistake.

Yan Yu was very angry, but when he was angry, he would not show it. His face was cold, so dark that it was like the bottom of a pan. He would only glare at her fiercely.

If one looked closely, they would see resentment in his eyes.

Xie Zhen looked up at him, caught his eye, then lowered her head in panic, and continued to stand properly.

Yan Yu waited for a long time, but before she could speak, he purposely asked: "Where are the things you took?"

Xue Zhen took nothing. She'd been looking for something to make do with, but as she rummaged through the room, there were only some hairpin bracelets the girls loved at home, and she would have been disdainful to give them to him. So she gave up and came back empty-handed.

Now that she was asked, she could do nothing but take her hands from behind her back and hold them up in front of him. "I have a heart of my own here."

Yan Yu was really to be angered to death by her. He glared at her big, watery eyes, wishing he could teach her a lesson. He had never seen anyone spout such nonsense. What did she mean by that? Did she take him for a fool? Annoyed, he asked, "Don't You have anything to tell me?"

Xie Zhen quickly answered, "Yes, I do."

He looked slightly better. "What's it?"

She pursed her pink lips and her eyes blurred before finally looking at him. "I'm sorry."

Yan Yu was stunned, and all his anger vanished in an instant. However, he still did not want to let her off the hook. "Sorry for what?"

She knew what she had did, very well. "I didn't tell you in advance that I used you.I'm sorry, but don't be angry."

Unlike Yan Yu, she knew how to make amends and apologies, and unlike someone else, who didn't want to say "I'm sorry" even if he would be beaten to death.

Yan Yu opened his mouth, wanting to say that it was not only so. Not only did he mind this, but she had pushed him into someone else's arms. Even though he knew it was a trap, he still couldn't let go of it. Didn't he have a tiny bit of weight in her heart?

But he ignored one thing that if he didn't have a bit of weight, why should Xie Zhen be so upset about Qing Xia?

It was a fundamental question, but neither of them found it.

Xie Zhen was trying to curry favor with him. She went forward and tugged his sleeve, "Do you still want to eat?"

He was already full, full of anger. How would he could eat any more? Yan Yu stared at the small hand on his sleeve and snorted coldly. But his words changed the way as he spoke out, "It's windy outside. Get the maid to bring the dishes into the house."

Xie Zhen smiled and her eyes curled. "Okay."

His face was stern, but he did not take his eyes off her.

The meal on the table did not been eaten for much. Shuang Yu and Shuang Yan brought them up after they warmed them up again. Xie Zhen and Yan Yu sat on either side of the table. Seeing that she liked to eat liquor saturated shrimps, but she was too lazy to peel them herself, Yan Yu quietly peeled shrimps and gave them to her, "It's done, you eat it."

"Aren't you going to eat?" she asked.

He used a towel to wipe his hands before lowering his eyes and saying, "I don't like eating shrimps."

She replied with an "oh" sound and moved automatically to sit beside him. Picking up a piece of shrimp meat and dipping it in the sauce, she placed it in her mouth and tilted her head to look at him. "It's very delicious."

She had a smile in her eyes and a slight smirk on her lips. When she spoke, her eyes were all on him.

Yan Yu suddenly wanted to try the taste of the shrimp in her mouth.

He held himself back, but unfortunately, his mind was not on the food. For the whole meal time, he did not even move his chopsticks a few times. When Xie Zhen asked why he didn't eat, he said he was full.

Even though he was full, he wouldn't like to stand up and accompanied her all the way to the end of the meal.

The next day Yan Yu left before dawn.

As soon as Xie Zhen got up, she sat in front of the brass mirror and listened to Shuang Yu talk about Qing Xia's fate. When she had finished, she asked Shuang Yan to tell other servants that if anyone did not behave, they would end up in the same way as in Qing Xia.

Shuang Yu had finished combing her hair and were about to leave to prepare breakfast when they heard someone from the front courtyard say, "Empress' family member wants to meet you."

When Xie Zhen heard it in the inner room, she came out and asked in surprise, "Who's here?"

The servant said, "It's the sixth Miss of Xie Family."

Ah Xun?

She was overjoyed. After changing her clothes, she walked out. Not waiting for anyone, she walked in front like a gust of wind. At the door of the living room, she saw Xie Xun was sitting there and drinking some tea. When she saw her, she smiled and said, "Ah'Sis!"

She stepped forward and sat beside Xie Xun. "Why are you here? Father, and mother know it? Why you didn't tell me before you came?"

Xie Wei shrank her neck and whispered in her ear, "I sneaked in here, father and mother don't know."

"Ah Xun, you are getting more and more daring. What if you are in danger?"

Xie Xun had no choice but to say, "I have something to say to elder sister ..."

Judging from her worried expression, it must not be a small matter. Reluctantly, Xie Zhen forgave her, taking her out to the backyard to talk to her at Spring Flowers Castle, and showing her around the yard.

Xie Xun was overjoyed after looking around, just like she was on that day. She sat side by side with Xie Zhen under the flower rack. "My brother-in-law was so nice to you!"

Xie Zhen was not used to the term "brother-in-law", so she only realized that she was naming Yan Yu after a long time.

She went straight to the point. "Say it, what's the matter?"

Xie Xun pursed her lips and frowned a little, looking like being an adult. "It's about father."

"What's wrong with father?" Xie Zhen got to be serious.

"Father has been idling at home for several months, and there's no news from the supervisor. The supervisor only said that he should wait for the Han Lin Academy's idleness. Our eldest uncle's career has gone smoothly, just like the sun in the sky. So does third uncle's career. Only our father has a bleak path ahead of him. He's in a bad mood recently, so both me and Mother are worried for him." Xie Xun had lost some weight in the last two days, exposing her pointed chin. Xie Zhen hadn't noticed it until now. Now she looked up at her eagerly, and she realized it. She continued, "Father and mother discussed it yesterday. They wanted to invite brother-in-law to say something nice in front of His Majesty so he could quickly take on the role ...Later on, father and mother felt that you had just married and that it would make you trouble if they did this, so they gave up on this plan."

With that, Xie Xun felt a little embarrassed. "But ...If it was me, I wouldn't find it troublesome."

The last sentence was almost soundless. "Is elder sister thinking the same as I do ..."

"Of course it's the same," Xie Zhen touched her hair, and said with a smile.

Her eyes lit up, and she put her arms around her. "That's great!"

After a moment of silence, she finally remembered to ask, "Will Brother-in-law not agree?"

Xie Zhen thought for a moment, and felt it was not impossible. After all, Yan Yu was very unpredictable. No one knew what he was thinking all the time... But she would try to convince him.

After the court dispersed, Yan Yu and several other ministers went to the imperial study.

After defeating the Western Yi's army, the border towns needed to use up a lot of financial resources to rebuild. Recently, Emperor Yuan Hui had been hesitating over who should supervise the rebuilding matter. The Crown Prince Yan Tao had only been there a few years ago, and Emperor Yuan Hui planned to slowly hand over the government to him, so it was not appropriate for him to do it. Among the remaining princes, only the First Prince, Third Prince and Sixth Prince could carry out such a heavy responsibility.

As for the Sixth Prince, he had just gotten married and was already able to break up the couple even before the they got emotionally attached to each other. It didn't seem to be too kind ....

The emperor and his officials had been discussing all morning, but they had yet to come to a conclusion.

Emperor Yuan Hui waved for everyone to leave, and let them return home.

By the time Yan Yu came back, Xie Zhen was not sure how to say.

She helped him wipe his hands for the first time, then she cleaned the handkerchief herself and handed it to him. "Have you eaten at the palace yet?"

He said no and looked at her again. "You have something to say?"

She nodded, realizing at the last moment how difficult it was to speak. "I... I have something I want to trouble you with. "

Yan Yu asked straightforwardly, "What's the matter?"

It was as if he would say yes to anything she said.

So she told him about Xie Xun's visit today, and about what Xie Liqing was going through in official circles. In the end, she lacked confidence and said, "Can you help my father?"

Originally, she thought that he definitely wouldn't agree. He didn't have much hope, but unexpectedly, he happily nodded his head and said, "Of course."

Xie Zhen wondered if she had heard wrong and kept asking, "Really, really?"

He said yes, having no intention of making things difficult for her.

In fact, Yan Yu originally intended to do this, not only because of Xie Zhen, but also because of Xie Liqing's ability. In just a few short years, he managed Qingzhou so it was completely changed. If it wasn't for being impeached by others in the government, it was likely that he wouldn't have ended up in the same situation today. It just so happened that a few border towns needed to be rebuilt. He could recommend Xie Liqing to the Emperor. If he did well and won the favor of the Emperor, he would definitely have boundless prospects in the future.

He didn't tell Xie Zhen that, and it wouldn't be too late to wait until everything was settled.

"I have a condition," he said, suddenly changing the way he looked at the shining eyes of Xie Zhen.

Xie Zhen withdrew her smile, and became serious. "What condition?"

He looked away uncomfortably and said dryly, "Give me a kiss."

Xie Zhen hadn't expected that he would make such a request, so she was first stunned, then nervous. "W...why?"

Everything was fine, why did the topic change so suddenly?

For a moment he couldn't think of a good excuse, but it was true that he wanted to kiss her. Ever since the first day he married her, he had been coveting her tender lips, not daring to utter a single word. Now that he finally had the chance, he couldn't let it go.

But what excuse?

Should he tell her that he had been secretly fond of her for a long time? He couldn't say.

Yan Yu noticed that she did not move. He frowned and pressed, "will you kiss or not?"

The two of them had a small, unreadable feeling in their hearts, so neither of them said anything. Even though Xie Zhen knew his request was unreasonable, she still said, "Then...then you can't go back on your word."

"I won't," he said.

The maidservants had long since tactfully retreated. She walked in front of him. He was too tall, so she simply couldn't reach him.

"Lower your head." she said.

He bent down and gave her the side of his face, his chest pounding.

She closed her eyes and pecked him quickly in the face. Then she took a few steps back, turned, and ran into the inner room.

Yan Yu froze on the spot, touching the spot where she had kissed him.

It lasted for a long time.