Quick Wear Dream Qiqi

Chapter 437: Training the Prodigal Son 7

The next day, Fengluan Palace was brightly lit.

Meng Qiqi, wearing a moon-white blouse and skirt with gold weaving, sat beside Zhao Chengye, her eyes casually sweeping over the woman dancing in the center of the hall.

If it’s not Meng Wanqing, then who else could it be?

But compared to her brightness during the audition, the thick makeup on her face now could not hide the haggardness in her eyes. Her wide sleeves fluttered and the hem of her skirt swung around in an ill-fitting manner.

When the song ended, the whole hall fell into silence.

The old emperor frowned, took a sip of wine, and said lightly: "Beauty's dance is getting worse and worse."

Meng Wanqing's face turned pale instantly, and she knelt on the ground with a plop: "I am terrified, please Your Majesty..."

"Go away." The emperor waved his hand impatiently.

Meng Qiqi looked at Meng Wanqing's staggering back, with a hint of sarcasm on her lips.

The so-called legitimate daughter and the so-called imperial concubine are ultimately nothing but ants in front of imperial power.

After the banquet, the carriage slowly drove out of the palace gate.

Zhao Chengye suddenly grasped Meng Qiqi's hand and whispered to her in surprise, "Don't worry, my wife will never fall into such a situation."

Meng Qiqi wanted to pull her hand back, but he held it even tighter.

Outside the car window, moonlight shone on the bluestone road, casting the overlapping shadows of the two people.

She looked at Zhao Chengye's serious profile, and a ripple quietly arose somewhere in her heart, but it was quickly suppressed by reason.

At this moment in the cold palace, Meng Wanqing curled up on the cold floor tiles, looking at the mottled shadows on the wall, and finally burst into tears.

She couldn't understand why all her careful planning ended up like this?

Little did she know that this was just the beginning of her even more tragic life in the abyss of the harem.

The autumn night wind carried the fragrance of osmanthus and blew through the window lattice. Meng Qiqi leaned against her dressing table, holding a goat's hair brush in her fingertips, casually sketching orchids on the rice paper.

Meng Wanqing's embarrassed look at the palace banquet during the day was still vivid in her mind. She couldn't help but chuckle, but didn't notice that the door had been quietly pushed open.

Zhao Chengye leaned against the door frame, his eyes greedily tracing her profile.

The moonlight cast a soft halo on her. Her half-faded lilac-colored undershirt hung loosely on her shoulders, revealing a section of her slender collarbone. A few strands of black hair swayed gently with her movements.

His Adam's apple rolled, and he deliberately made his footsteps louder as he walked into the house.

Meng Qiqi paused with her pen and spoke without turning around, "When did the rules of the Duke's Mansion change? You don't even need to inform me when entering the inner room?"

"Madam, are you angry with me?" Zhao Chengye stepped forward, his hands on both sides of the dressing table, and trapped her in his arms. "In the palace during the day, I saw you staring at those dancers for a long time..."

His voice suddenly dropped, and his warm breath sprayed on her ears, "Are you thinking that they are more powerful than me?"

Meng Qiqi's ears instantly burned, remembering the words "looks good but not practical" she blurted out that night. In a panic, she grabbed the rouge box and threw it back: "Zhao Chengye! You..."

Before she could finish her words, he grabbed her wrist and pressed her on the dressing table.

The bronze mirror reflected the overlapping figures of the two people, and the dark current surging in Zhao Chengye's eyes made her breath stop.

"Madam, please don't regret it." His voice was hoarse as if it had been quenched by alcohol. His slender fingers untied the tie around her neck. "Tonight, I will make you..."

The words were cut off by the sound of swallowing, the gauze curtain swayed gently in the night wind, and the candlelight suddenly burst into a spark, casting entangled shadows on the wall.

Meng Qiqi didn't know what day it was.

Zhao Chengye's scorching palms seemed to be carrying a prairie fire, causing burning pain and numbness wherever they touched.

She grabbed his back and tried to push him away, but he grabbed her wrists and pressed her against the pillow. She wanted to bite him, but he held her lips and sucked on her.

In a trance, I only heard him whisper in my ear: "Say something soft..."

"No..." She turned her head away stubbornly, but was met with an even more violent attack.

The temperature in the house kept rising. The brocade quilt had slipped to the ground at some point, and the bed curtain embroidered with lotus flowers was pulled askew. The sound of the porcelain pillow falling to the ground and shattering mixed with heavy breathing seemed particularly ambiguous in the autumn night.

In the dim morning light, Meng Qiqi opened her eyes with difficulty.

My whole body ached as if it had been run over by a wheel, especially my waist, which felt like it was no longer mine.

She struggled to get up, but alarmed the people around her.

Zhao Chengye pulled her back into his arms, rubbing his chin against the top of her head: "It's still early, sleep a little longer..."

"It's all your fault!" Meng Qiqi weakly pounded his chest, "I have something to do today..." Before she could finish her words, she suddenly felt a tingling sensation in her waist, which scared her so much that she cried out softly.

Zhao Chengye chuckled softly, then rolled over and tucked her under him. The morning light shone through the window lattice onto his angular face, making his narrow, long, almond-shaped eyes even more alluring. "Didn't Madam say that I'm... all show, no substance?"

Meng Qiqi's face turned red instantly. She reached out to cover his mouth, but his fingertips were bitten and sucked gently.

She turned her head away, grumbling furiously in her mind – what kind of embroidered pillow is this! It's clearly a hungry wolf in sheep's clothing!

When Chuntao asked cautiously outside whether breakfast should be prepared, Meng Qiqi didn't even have the strength to speak.

Zhao Chengye smiled with great pride and responded loudly, "Tell the kitchen to prepare a hangover soup... No, a sobering soup. Madam is tired today."

The moment the door closed again, Meng Qiqi buried herself in his arms, her ears red.

She never imagined that the playboy whom she despised would actually spend an entire night making her completely retract those words that said "it looks good but is useless".

What made her even more anxious was that in this upheaval, it seemed that something was quietly breaking through the defenses of her rationality and taking root in her heart.

----

In just one month, the Duke's Mansion seemed to have been completely transformed.

The eldest young lady Liu Yihuan, who used to be in charge of household expenses, now has to report to Zhao Chengye even when purchasing rouge and powder; the keys to the warehouse and the deeds to the farm have also been transferred to Zhao Chengye one after another.

At noon that day, Zhao Chengxuan stood at the door of the study, watching his younger brother sitting on the armchair and flipping through the account book, feeling mixed emotions.

"Second brother, this move of yours is truly decisive." Zhao Chengxuan closed the door, his tone filled with resentment, "I always thought you only knew how to live a life of debauchery, but I didn't expect..."

Zhao Chengye didn't even look up, his fingertips stroking the numbers in the account book: "Big brother is also very good at hiding things. He has managed the business of the Duke's Mansion to death over the years, and he still pretends to be virtuous in front of the emperor."

He suddenly closed the account book and looked up at his brother, his eyes as cold as ice. "But some things are about to be revealed."

Zhao Chengxuan's heart skipped a beat, but he forced himself to remain calm and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"Twenty-two years ago, my father's first wife gave birth to a legitimate son, and that very night, news broke that the child had died." Zhao Chengye stood up and approached. "But in reality, the child had been swapped with a newborn illegitimate son."

He suddenly laughed, and Zhao Chengxuan felt a chill on his back. "Brother, am I right?"

The study was so quiet that only the sound of their breathing could be heard. Zhao Chengxuan's face turned pale in an instant, and his hands, which were holding the corner of the table, were shaking. "How...how did you know?"

"My mother told me this before she died." Zhao Chengye pulled out a jade pendant, a token of the prince's legacy passed down through generations in the Duke's Mansion. "I've been pretending to be a playboy all these years, just to make some people let down their guard. It seems to be working pretty well."

Zhao Chengxuan fell into the chair, his mind in a mess.

In order to make him the crown prince, his mother bribed the midwife to switch the baby. He has been living in fear all these years, fearing that the matter would be exposed.

He suddenly raised his head and asked, "What do you want? Kick me out of the Duke's Mansion?"

"It would be so boring to kick you out." Zhao Chengye slowly sat back in his chair, picked up the teacup and took a sip. "From today on, I will be fully responsible for the business of the Duke's Mansion. As for you... just be a quiet and idle young master."

He put down the teacup and said in a warning tone, "If you dare to play any tricks, I don't mind letting the whole capital know that the eldest son of the Zhao family is a fake."

Zhao Chengxuan clenched his fists, but then had to release them. He finally understood that his "brother" was no straw bag at all, but a wolf hiding in the shadows, now baring its fangs.

After Zhao Chengxuan left the study in a daze, Zhao Chengye leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

After all these years of enduring humiliation and pretending to be crazy and stupid, I finally waited for this day.

He touched the sachet Meng Qiqi gave him in his arms, and the corners of his mouth rose unconsciously - with her around, the world of the Duke's Mansion would change completely.

After Zhao Chengye took control of the Duke's Mansion, he pestered Meng Qiqi every night as if to make up for the time he had wasted.

Every day before dawn, Meng Qiqi would wake up with back pain. Looking at the man who was still sleeping beside her, she would mutter to herself, "I can't live like this anymore. If this continues, I'm going to be tormented and broken."

After finally waiting for Zhao Chengye to go out to do something, Meng Qiqi quickly called Chuntao and insisted on going out for some fresh air.

The carriage swayed as it drove into the busiest market in the capital. She lifted the curtain and looked out. The shouts of the street vendors and the storytelling in the teahouse made her feel a little more open-minded.

As I was walking around, I suddenly heard a cry of crying coming from the corner of the street.

Several children raised stones and threw them at a dirty woman in the corner: "Crazy! Ugly!"

The woman's hair was as messy as grass, her face was covered in scars, and her tattered clothes were covered in mud. She was curled up on the ground, shivering.

Meng Qiqi's heart skipped a beat. This figure and these features were clearly Meng Wanqing!

But she still pretended to be surprised and asked the vegetable seller next to her: "What's going on?"

The old lady sighed, "What a sin! I heard he came from the palace. I don't know what he did wrong, but he was poisoned and his voice was made mute, and his tendons were cut. After being thrown here, he became crazy and begged for food every day."

Meng Qiqi walked up to the woman and squatted down. The woman suddenly raised her head, staring at her with cloudy eyes for a long time, and suddenly screamed "Ahhh" and reached out to grab her face.

Chuntao screamed in fear, but Meng Qiqi calmly dodged backwards, took out a few coins from her sleeve pocket and put them in front of the woman: "Let's go quickly, don't be annoying here."

The woman stared at the copper coin, then looked up at Meng Qiqi, and suddenly burst into tears.

She babbled and gestured, as if she wanted to say something, but only unclear sounds came out of her throat.

Meng Qiqi looked at the scar on her face and thought of the original owner's tragic death at her hands in her previous life. She sneered in her heart but pretended to be reluctant on the surface: "Chun Tao, give her a few more buns."

After leaving the street corner, Chun Tao was still frightened: "Miss, that woman looked really scary."

Meng Qiqi didn't say anything and touched the jade bracelet on her wrist - it was given to her by Zhao Chengye a few days ago.

Thinking of the energetic man at home, and then thinking of Meng Wanqing who was in such a mess just now, she couldn't help but sigh: "Let's go, it's too late to go back, and I'll be scolded again."

The carriage slowly drove away. Meng Qiqi looked back through the curtain and saw Meng Wanqing grabbing the steamed buns on the ground with her dirty hands and stuffing them into her mouth, while several children were making a noise beside them.

The once glorious daughter of the prime minister has now ended up like this. It really proves the old saying: things change with time.

She leaned against the wall of the car, thinking silently in her heart that she could not let Zhao Chengye do whatever he wanted in the future.