The system asked me to chase his wife

Facing Xia Mang's eager gaze, Qiao Yuandong completely forgot to blame her for her rude behavior just now.

She untied the bow and slowly unfolded the thin paper in her hand.

"It's indeed a good painting." Qiao Yuandong spread the painting on the square table, looked at it carefully, and gave a pertinent comment.

Xia Mang nodded proudly: "That's right."

Qiao Yuandong then changed the subject: "You didn't draw it, did you?"

This brushstroke looks so familiar. She still has a painting of it hanging in her room.

It was last year when Qiao Yuandong celebrated his birthday. Anger stayed in his room for half a month and worked on drawing this.

Seeing that he was exposed, Xia Mang smiled shyly and admitted honestly: "I am not good at painting, so the prince painted one for me."

Qiao Yuandong raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "You also painted it yourself?"

Xia Mang nodded. Although the painting she drew was not worthy of showing off, it was the result of her own hard work, so she still kept it.

Qiao Yuandong became interested and said to her, "Let me see it."

Xia Mang was naturally not polite when her leader appreciated her.

She took out the painting from her arms and handed it to Qiao Yuandong.

The painting was folded neatly, and when Qiao Yuandong held it in his hand, he could clearly feel the warmth on it.

She unfolded the painting and looked at the things on it without saying a word for a long time.

Xia Mang had been secretly observing Qiao Yuandong's expression.

The original body was only sixteen years old, three years younger than Qiao Yuandong, so Xia Mang was only at Qiao Yuandong's shoulder at this moment. When she tilted her head back, she could clearly see Qiao Yuandong's expression.

She was still as calm and composed as before, but Xia Mang felt that she was trying not to laugh.

A trace of warmth gradually rushed up his cheeks. Xia Mang stretched out his hand to grab his painting, but Qiao Yuandong dodged it with just a raised hand.

During the action, Qiao Yuandong could no longer hold back and instantly curved his eyebrows. A cunning look flashed across his eyes, like an elf hiding in the forest all year round, who inadvertently revealed his true identity.

In an instant, it was as if the light from the sky leaked in, and the walls of the room became brighter.

Qiao Yuandong saw Xia Mang staring at him blankly, her round eyes open, her pink little mouth slightly open, her eyes filled with undisguised amazement.

She happened to see Xia Mang on the day she first entered the mansion.

At that time, she was barefoot, ragged, and thin and small, but her eyes were big and bright, making people remember her at once.

After being raised in the mansion for a few months, she gained some weight and her face became whiter. With her hair tied in a bun, she looked so lively and cute.

Seeing Xia Mang with her mouth open for a long time and unable to come back to her senses, Qiao Yuandong reached out and lifted her chin with amusement to help her close her mouth.

Xia Mang came back to her senses and saw the barely perceptible smile in Qiao Yuandong's eyes. She felt a little embarrassed for once.

She is a grown-up girl, but she is actually obsessed with another grown-up girl?
Oh my! Will the lady think she is a pervert?

"Well." Xia Mang thought about what to say to ease the awkwardness.

Qiao Yuandong said nonchalantly, "I accept your festival gift. Thank you very much."

"Ah? Oh." Xia Mang naturally thought that Qiao Yuandong accepted the painting that Xiang Xiu'an had painted.

She looked at her painting, wondering if she should take it back and destroy it.

As a result, Qiao Yuandong spread the painting on the table, then picked up a pen, dipped it in ink and began to write on the paper.

Xia Mang curiously moved over to take a look. Qiao Yuandong's neat and beautiful small characters were arranged one by one, next to the black objects.

The style of painting is completely different!
Soon, Qiao Yuandong finished writing four short poems.

She asked Xia Mang: "Do you know him?"

Xia Mang is now much better at recognizing traditional Chinese characters. There were no uncommon characters in Qiao Yuandong's poem, so she tried to recognize all of them.

Every year when autumn comes, everyone looks forward to the bright moon.

It is so beautiful tonight, it is even clearer than last year.

"What a poem, what a poem!"

Qiao Yuandong asked Xia Mang: "What's good about it?"

Xia Mang choked. She didn't expect that after traveling through time, she would have to do ancient poetry appreciation questions!
She racked her brains to think of a good word: "The words are good, the meaning is good, the artistic conception is good, anyway, it's good!"

Qiao Yuandong looked at her with amusement and didn't intend to embarrass her anymore.

Xia Mang watched Qiao Yuandong finish writing the poem, then used his own small seal to stamp the painting with a red stamp.

Only then did she realize that the lady probably wanted to accept her painting?

That’s it!

My own paintings are not bad either!

Xia Mang guessed complacently in his heart: Maybe I am a genius?
Although she never saw Qiao Yuandong frame the painting and hang it in the house, Xia Mang didn't care about it at all.

Anyway, the madam has accepted the gift, so she has gained a place in her heart.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner, and the Duke's Mansion is busy early in the morning.

A few days ago, several baskets of large crabs and fresh large fish were delivered to the mansion. Fat chickens, ducks and geese were sent from the farm and all went into the kitchen.

The servants got up before dawn to sweep the courtyard. The flower beds were filled with colorful chrysanthemums in brilliant bloom, and pots of flowers were placed out to decorate each yard.

Everyone was busy, but everything was in order.

There was also a moon-viewing banquet in the palace in the evening, and the ladies of each family had to go to the palace to join in the fun, so the banquet in the mansion was held at noon.

Although it was the Mid-Autumn Festival and they were having a reunion dinner, there were only three masters in the Duke's Mansion, and they couldn't even fill up the table when they got together.

In order to make the old lady happy, Qiao Yuandong specially invited a troupe of actors to the house to perform, and the old lady chose the performance.

The old lady was also a straightforward person, knowing that Qiao Yuandong was just trying to please her. Since she didn't need to entertain anyone, she ordered all the plays she liked and dragged the servants to watch them together, and spent the day happily.

When evening came, Qiao Yuandong put on her royal attire and went to the palace for the banquet.

Although the lady dowager also had an imperial decree, she was too old to work hard, so the palace showed mercy and exempted her from traveling.

When Qiao Yuandong entered the palace, she was served by palace maids, so she only brought Rongzhu with her to serve her on the way.

The maids in the room had nothing to do, so they all went to the garden to watch the show.

Xia Mang is a person who has been bombarded with modern information and has no interest in this kind of babbling drama.

She didn't want to join in the fun, but Yunxiu dragged her along.

The stage was set up in the garden of the Duke's Mansion. The Madam and Xiang Xiu'an were sitting on the stands, and maids and servants were standing crowded together next to them, watching the show.

Yunxiu pulled Xia Mang to a good position.

Xia Mang accompanied her and watched for half an hour. Unable to bear it any longer, Xia Mang said goodbye to Yun Xiu, yawning continuously.

Back in her room, Xia Mang prepared to go to bed.

When he touched his belt, he found that his purse was missing.

Huh? When did you lose it?

Xia Mang pondered for a while and guessed that he had lost it in the crowd while watching the show just now.

There is no hope of finding it now. There are so many people in the garden, and who knows who might have picked it up.

Xia Mang paid He Lan to make the purse for her. It was embroidered with beautiful curling grass patterns. She usually used it to hold small items, and it was quite convenient to use.

Alas, what a pity.

Xia Mang decided to ask He Lan to help her make another one, and this time she wanted to embroider a cat on it!
Yunxiu watched the play in the garden for a while, then looked around in the crowd.

She saw Xiang Xiu'an sitting beside the lady, talking and laughing, while his servant Shuanglu was standing far away at the corridor waiting.

Yunxiu said goodbye to the little sisters around her and walked towards Shuanglu along the corridor.

Shuanglu was climbing on the edge of a pillar and standing on tiptoe to watch the excitement on the stage. Yunxiu called him from behind, which scared him.

Shuanglu stroked his pounding heart and turned around. Seeing that it was Yunxiu, he couldn't help but complain, "My dear sister, why are you teasing me?"

Yunxiu glanced at him with a half-smile: "Why, I came here to give you fate, are you going to chase me away right away?"

Shuanglu didn't understand at first, until Yunxiu took out a purse from her sleeve and handed it to him.

The purse was embroidered with curling grass patterns, which was unique and beautiful.

When Shuanglu smelled the faint fragrance coming from the purse, his whole face turned red all of a sudden.

"I, I only regard you as my sister, never, no."

Yunxiu said expressionlessly: "It's not mine."

Shuang Lu: “Oh, huh?”

Yunxiu stuffed the purse into Shuanglu's hand and said with a smile, "Do you know that there is a girl named Mangxia by Madam's side?"

Shuanglu nodded blankly.

The maids serving in the backyard generally would not come into contact with the boys in the front yard without the master's order, otherwise if they walked around too often, people would gossip about them.

Therefore, Shuanglu only knew that there was a person named Xia Mang by Qiao Yuandong's side, but he had never met him before.

"Here, this is made by Mang Xia herself, and she asked me to give it to you."

When Shuanglu heard this, he felt so hot that he was about to steam. The purse in his hand was so hot that he could hardly hold it.

He wanted to throw it away but couldn't bear to.

Shuanglu is one of the servants around Xiang Xiu'an. He is neither the best looking nor the most capable, but he is honest.

Who would have thought that an ordinary man like Shuanglu would one day be remembered by a girl!
After a while, Shuanglu asked, "Where is Miss Mangxia? I want to see her."

It wasn't that he wanted to offend the girl, he just simply wanted to see what the beautiful woman who had a secret crush on him looked like.

Yun Xiu had tied this red string tightly, so it was impossible for Shuanglu to see Xia Mang.

She acted as if she was being stupid and said unhappily, "The girl is shy and thin-skinned, why would she want to see you now?"

Shuanglu was scolded by Yunxiu, but he just kept grinning foolishly.

Yunxiu couldn't bear to see his stupid look, so she waved her hand and left.

After Yunxiu left, Shuanglu looked around, sneaked to where people were not around, spread out his five clenched fingers, revealing the purse inside.

When Shuanglu got the purse just now, he knew there was something inside.

He wondered if Miss Mangxia had put it there on purpose?

A token of love? !
Looking at the purse, Shuang Lu's heart beat like a drum and even his fingers couldn't help but tremble.

He carefully opened the purse and took out the contents.

Then Shuanglu got the remaining half of the mooncake.
hiss!
moon cake
The sleeping Xia Mang would never know that because of that half piece of mooncake, a pure virgin had his brain burned all night.

She picked up that half mooncake in the yard yesterday. She didn't know which little girl couldn't finish it and threw it away.

Seeing that the mooncake was still fresh, Xia Mang picked it up and stuffed it into her pocket in the spirit of not wasting anything.

There are many sparrows in the mansion. They are colorful, beautiful and smart.

Xia Mang planned to feed the mooncakes to the birds so that they would be closer to him.

If I could teach that mynah bird to say a few nice words, and then show it to my wife, wouldn’t that be wonderful! ?

(End of this chapter)