Qiao Jinniang reluctantly lived in Lu Chen’s Longquan Hall for the sake of the hot spring.

  They rested today, and the hunt would start tomorrow.

  However, some noble girls went to enjoy the hot spring in groups of twos and threes. Although this was a royal hot spring manor, there were hot spring pools open to the dignitaries.

  Like hot spring hotels outside, men and women were separated.

  There were large pools and several small pools.

  Tong Xuan and Fulu were soaking in a big pool, and Tong Xuan said, “My concubine-born sister is really annoying, but my father praised her, saying that if only I was like her! I’m really annoyed. As a woman, she took sides with a bunch of robbers instead of women, but was actually praised for this. That’s ridiculous!”


  Another girl said, “Do you know that your concubine-born sister has a reputation among literati now, which is that if you want a wife, marry Tong Yingying.” “Marry her? She’s plain-looking and full of absurd crap. Those men are blind.” Tong Xuan said angrily, “She seemed to have to quiet down in the past two years and stop fishing for fame, so I thought she had changed. … Who knew she was actually getting worse and worse.”


  Fulu said, “Are you stupid? If I were your concubine-born sister, I would not dare to be famous in the past two years either!

  At that time, my imperial cousin was lost, and Prince Mediocre seemed very likely to replace him. If Tong Yingying became famous, what if Prince Mediocre wanted to marry her?”


  “That’s right.” Tong Xuan suddenly understood. “No wonder my concubine-born sister attended the last crown princess selection banquet although she was already 19 years old, but my father didn’t let me attend it. It turns out that my father wanted to marry her off to His Royal Highness!

  “Hehe, I wanted to attend it. However, my father said that Zhou Sisi was very favored by the Queen, and she would definitely be able to marry into the East Palace in the future, so it was inappropriate for me to marry into the East Palace too! It’s inappropriate for me to marry into the East Palace, but it’s okay for my concubine-born sister to do that?”


  Fulu rolled her eyes at Tong Xuan. “Otherwise, why doesn’t your concubine-born sister get married at her age?”


  In Chang’an, although many girls weren’t married at the age of 18, most of them already had fiancés.

  Those who weren’t married at the age of 18 or 19 must want to marry into the royal family.

  Tong Xuan couldn’t figure out such a simple truth? She should interact less with Tong Xuan in case she would become silly.

  Qiao Jinniang lived in the main hall of Longquan Hall. This time she only brought three maids, Hongling, Yuyan and Nuomi, but there were imperial maids in the palace.

  She hardly had to move by herself, and was served everywhere she went.

  She had to admit that the service of imperial maids was very good. When she was soaking in the hot springs, there were sliced fruits, delicate pastries, and warm scented tea.

  Soaking in the hot springs, eating fruit, and reading a novel, she felt like in a fairyland on earth.

  “Your Royal Highness.”


  When Qiao Jinniang saw Lu Chen coming, she put down the novel in her hand. “What are you doing here?”


  Lu Chen waved the maids to retreat, undressed and entered the hot spring pool. “Of course I came to soak in the hot spring.”


  Qiao Jinniang picked up the novel and continued to read it. “Didn’t you say you went to deal with the person who dirtied my eyes? Why do you still have the time to soak in the hot spring?” Lu Chen said, “He is not as important as my honey.” When Qiao Jinniang saw Lu Chen approaching her shamelessly, she hurriedly took the book to block Lu Chen, so Lu Chen could see clearly what the novel was about.

  This book didn’t use gorgeous rhetoric but simple and easy-to-understand vernacular, so Lu Chen never liked Qiao Jinniang reading this kind of book.

  “Mr. Zhou turned around only to see his cousin who he hadn’t seen in more than three years, and his cousin was still so handsome and attractive. He hurriedly ran up to his cousin and clenched his cousin’s hands with tearful eyes. “Cousin”. “Cousin.” His cousin’s eyes were full of love and expectation… The bed curtain was slowly lowered, and the two…”


  “Qiao Jinniang, what the hell are you reading?!” Lu Chen’s forehead burst with blue veins, “How can there be such a disgusting book in this world?”


  Qiao Jinniang quickly took back her book. “Don’t let it get wet. Men’s love was so common in the previous dynasties. How could you say it’s disgusting? Besides, I heard from Fulu that there are quite a few handsome young men in Chang’an’s brothels who specially serve men!”


  Lu Chen pointed to the book and said, “Did you know that my cousin is also surnamed Zhou?”


  Qiao Jinniang touched her nose and put the book aside. Mr. Zhou hadn’t seen his cousin for three years. What a coincidence!

  “This book must be alluding to you.”


  Lu Chen thought so too. This kind of forbidden book was widely circulated in the market. If many people read it, it would inevitably make people think of him.

  Qiao Jinniang looked at Lu Chen up and down and said, “Honey, do you really love men as written in the novel?”


  “I don’t love men. I only love Jinniang.”


  With that, Lu Chen picked her up, wrapped her with a blanket and went into the bedroom not far away. The bedroom was warm, and before Qiao Jinniang could say something, she was pressed by Lu Chen on the bed…


  Before the veil on the bed fell, Yuyan shouted outside the door, “Miss, not good! The Qiao clansmen surrounded the Qin family’s manor, demanding Miss Ruoyun to give them justice.”


  Qiao Jinniang was about to get up, but Lu Chen held Qiao Jinniang’s hand and said, “Don’t bother with them.”


  This was already the second time. If Lu Chen didn’t care about his father’s reputation, he really wanted to directly execute those people to save trouble.

  Qiao Jinniang said, “Ruoyun won’t be able to handle them.”


  “Old Madam Qin, the Duchess and Qin Shu are there too!” Qiao Jinniang said, “You promised me to wait until the Lantern Festival…”


  Lu Chen let out a long sigh and bit Qiao Jinniang’s neck fiercely. “Then why did you call me ‘Honey’?”


  Qiao Jinniang covered her neck. “If you bite again, you’ll have to wait longer.”


  Only then did Lu Chen let go of her and put on the clothes that the imperial maids had prepared for him.

  Qiao Jinniang put on clothes and a purple fox cloak, and went to the Qin family’s manor.

  The Qiao clansmen who were causing trouble had already been invited into the manor by the Qin family.

  When Qiao Jinniang went in, she heard Qiao Laowu, Aunt Qiao and others saying, “Ruoyun, we are relatives after all. You have houses everywhere, but we are homeless.” Qiao Ruoyun said, “Didn’t I give you one thousand taels of silver? It’s enough for you to return to Lin’an.”


  Aunt Qiao said, “You gave the money to Ergou. We are all your relatives. You should give 1,000 taels to each of us!”


  Qiao Ruoyun was annoyed. “What are you talking about? For an ordinary peasant family, 10 taels of silver is enough for a family of five to live very well for a year!”


  Aunt Qiao snorted coldly, “I don’t care. Since we can’t get any benefits from Myriad Taste, you have to give us money. “Today, if you don’t give us money, we will simply stay at the door and let the people who come and go see how cold-blooded your Qin family is.”


  Qiao Ruoyun was so anxious that his eyes were

  red.

  Old Madam Qin said angrily, “When did you become our relatives?”


  Aunt Qiao said, “We are related to Ruoyun by blood. She can’t deny that, right? If you give each of us a thousand taels today, you’ll no longer be bothered, and we can stay in Chang’an and find a place to live.”