My wife has a secret

Chapter 252 Hide and Seek

Although Xu Qing figured out the structure of the clothes after some goings-on, he also fell into a new dilemma.

By pulling the collar slightly downwards, one could see the plump and round inner garment highlighting the outline. It was at this moment that Xu Qing suddenly realized that his aunt had only worn her bedtime clothes to meet him.

The snow-white skin was tinged with red and tenderness, which made Xu Qing's scalp numb and his cheeks sore and hot. He even wanted to cover his face.

However, it was at this moment that the noise coming from outside the hall brought him back to his senses.

"My Lord, are you inside..."

Xu Qing looked into the hall and found that Lianhua Jun had appeared there at some point, frowning and looking for any trace of Xu Qing in the hall.

At first she thought Xu Qing was somewhere else in Feishuang Palace, but after searching around she found that there was only light and candlelight in the inner palace bedroom.

After asking tentatively, he got a reply from Xu Qing.

"Here I am."

Xu Qing hurriedly put his aunt down, walked out of the inner room and said, "My aunt called me in to talk, but after lighting the incense in the room, she fell asleep without saying a word."

"Oh... this is an old problem of the saint."

Lianhua Jun had a look of relief on his face, and he responded as if nothing had happened: "The Saint has been busy with state affairs in recent years, and usually needs calming incense to help him sleep. According to the palace physician, because he has developed a certain dependence on the incense, the Saint will fall asleep after a while after lighting the incense."

"Sure enough, it's Auntie who has worked hard."

Lian Huajun, who was staying beside Queen Mother Xu, was deeply touched and nodded in agreement, "It is certainly not easy for a saint to be responsible for the people of the world... Since you can understand the difficulty of a saint, you should add less trouble."

"Cough cough."

When Lianhua Jun finished speaking, he glanced at him with his beautiful eyes, an expression that was indescribably sad.

But the other party was worthy of being someone close to the empress. He only thought about this emergency for two or three seconds and made arrangements.

"My Lord, please wait here for a moment. Lianhua will go to the room to help the Saint fall asleep. After everything is arranged, I will take you to the dining room for dinner... Don't worry, the chef in the palace has received the Saint's order and has been waiting there for half the night. My Lord, you can eat whatever you want."

Unexpectedly, my aunt even made arrangements for such a small matter. Xu Qing nodded and said, "As expected, my aunt loves me the most."

Lianhua Jun smiled and went into the room to help Queen Mother Xu put away her pajamas. He blew out the candles in the bedroom and replaced them with night-lights, signaling to the servants outside the palace that the saint had fallen asleep.

After doing all this, she closed the palace door and took Xu Qing to the kitchen.

……

When Xu Qing woke up the next day, he was frightened by his actions last night.

His mind was clear now, and he vaguely remembered that he almost took off his aunt's clothes, leaving a graceful and exquisite body on the bed.

If Lord Lianhua came and saw such a scene, the consequences would be disastrous and there would be no way to defend himself.

Fortunately, he was delayed because of the clothes, so this ridiculous thing did not happen.

"This is strange, why would I do such a thing last night?"

"What is the matter that the Marquis is talking about?"

When Xu Qing was thinking about a problem, he suddenly heard a clear female voice beside him and was startled.

When he looked into the room with a feeling of trepidation and curiosity, he found that it was a young palace maid who was arranging the dishes and chopsticks.

Almond tea, sesame cakes, pastry, assorted vegetarian dishes... a total of more than a dozen breakfast items were served on the table, forming a sumptuous breakfast.

The little palace maid was wearing a dark red palace maid's uniform. She turned around slightly and moved, causing the hem of her skirt to sway gracefully.

She suddenly realized that she had not yet introduced herself to the master, so she hurriedly followed the palace rules, wiped her hands, and bowed deeply to Xu Qing.

"My Lord, my name is Amber. I was originally a servant in Qifeng Palace. Because you were arranged to stay in the palace temporarily, Lord Lianhua transferred me from there to here to take care of your daily life."

"Ok?"

Xu Qing scratched his head, and after careful consideration, he realized that there was something wrong with this sentence.

"Who said I was going to stay in the palace temporarily?"

"Lotus-kun said so."

"What about her?"

"I am attending the morning court with the Saint."

Hearing his aunt's name, Xu Qingxing's determination to accuse him weakened a bit, but judging from his expression and attitude, he was still somewhat reluctant.

"How can you make decisions for others without permission, Lianhua-kun? Wait for me to pack up and leave the palace and go home today."

Amber curved her beautiful and unique eyebrows and smiled, "My Lord, Lord Lianhua and I have already told you that this matter cannot be considered as coercion. It is entirely up to you... If you are willing to stay in the palace, I will send three thousand taels of gold to the Guangping Marquis' Mansion at the end of the month."

"What?"

Xu Qing frowned and said disdainfully: "Just three thousand taels of gold, you want me to bow my head?"

Amber continued, "Because everyone knows what happened to you a few days ago, the Saint has ordered the chief clerk of the Ministry of Revenue to go to the Guangping Marquis's mansion and take away all the money. If there were no three thousand taels of gold, Lord Lianhua said that the second young lady who was newly taken in by the Marquis, the fourth young lady who governs the mansion, and the third young lady who needs a lot of medicine would all starve to death."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing knew that this was a way out given to him by Lord Lianhua.

The other party didn't have any ill intentions. He probably just wanted to confine me and found a tactful way to do it.

Otherwise, with so many ministers in the court writing letters to denounce me, it would be difficult for my aunt to do her job.

A wise man never suffers a loss in front of him. For the sake of my aunt, I will endure it for now.

What's more, there are delicious food in the palace and servants to serve you, so you can just treat it as a vacation in the imperial garden.

"This roast goose is good. Give me another serving."

Seeing that Xu Qing understood her situation, Amber sat down at the table obediently and ate heartily. She couldn't help but chuckle.

In my heart, I also have a better impression of this nephew of the saint, Marquis Guangping, who has a lot of rumors in the outside world.

……

The days in the palace are actually more interesting than you might imagine.

Because my aunt's emperor was a woman, there were very few eunuchs in the entire imperial city, and the majority were palace maids.

But in this huge palace, there was no concubine in the harem, which meant that most of the palace maids had nothing to do in their daily lives except cleaning and being on duty and night patrols.

But Xu Qing's arrival was like a rat dropping mixed in a pot of soup, turning the palace upside down and causing unrest in the palace.

In addition to playing cards and throwing stones, Xu Qing also gathered a large number of palace maids to play Cuju on the grass in the imperial garden. He divided the palace maids into the red team and the blue team, and let them work hard to score points.

The scale and grandeur of this activity were much larger. Originally, the palace maids were timid and did not dare to respond to him, but after they found that the saint tacitly agreed and Lord Lianhua turned a blind eye, their enthusiasm for participation increased.

The activity of Cuju was almost more popular than the small festivals in the palace and became a topic that everyone loved to talk about.

As for Xu Qing, of course he was enjoying it. He took great pains to set up this game, not just to relieve boredom, but for the intense physical confrontation on the court.

Just imagine, more than 20 young girls, full of energy and vigor, running on the court in trimmed short skirts. How wonderful it would be?
I was deliberately letting them run and accidentally bumped into them while they were running, and we both fell to the ground.

Even if you touch something you shouldn't touch, no one will suspect you, right?

One afternoon in mid-month, when he summoned the palace maids again, everyone was still talking about yesterday's competition.

Many people were disappointed to hear that Xu Qing was not here to play Cuju today.

"My Lord, isn't Cuju fun? The Red Team was only one point behind yesterday. It would be great if we could get the last point before dinner."

"We let you score the first two points. Do you really think your Red Team can win?"

There was no other work in the palace, and for this reason, the palace maids were obsessed with the Cuju competition organized by Xu Qing and took the victory or defeat very seriously.

Xu Qing coughed twice, interrupting the argument among the girls.

"Cuju is fun, but you can't play anything all the time, right? ... Coincidentally, I thought of an activity last night, it's very interesting, who among you wants to sign up?"

After half a month of getting along, the palace maids have figured out that Xu Qing is an approachable person.

The master-servant concept in the ordinary world is not so important to him. That is why the Cuju competition organized by the Marquis is fun. It is different from the football played during festivals in the palace in previous years, which is basically more about the situation than the game, and everything from the players to the score and the outcome is predetermined.

But many palace maids also knew that Xu Qing was the saint's nephew and their master after all.

Whatever he wants to play, everyone has to go along with it.

"What does the Marquis want to play?"

Xu Qing was waiting for someone to ask him, so he took out a piece of black cloth from his body and said with a smile: "This game is more interesting, it's called hide and seek."

After listening to Xu Qing's explanation of the rules, the palace maids looked at each other in bewilderment.

"My Lord, isn't this game of hide-and-seek just like a blind man's grope? It's common everywhere."

"This is hide-and-seek, not blind man's groping."

After Xu Qing said this in a mysterious manner, he could hardly suppress the ecstasy in his heart.

How could these simple-minded palace maids who were summoned into the palace know their true purpose?
Compared to the physical confrontation on the court, hide-and-seek is naturally easier to approach... Moreover, this trick is something he learned from his previous life. What man in the world doesn't want a group of good-looking women with sweet voices to call him "king"?
Moreover, this was the imperial palace. Xu Qing knew that he was not cut out to be an emperor, but he still wanted to be a tyrant.

"You are familiar with the environment in this palace, but I am not... Wait for a while, you hide well, and I will start wearing this black cloth and find a person. My Lord, I will confirm the other person's identity based on the impression we have had during these days of getting along with each other through various characteristics."

Xu Qing kept the characteristics a secret and did not explain them explicitly, so the palace maids did not think about it in detail and just agreed.

Xu Qing finished counting according to the agreed time, and the game of hide-and-seek officially began.

Because the distance had been agreed upon in advance and it was stipulated that the palace maids were not allowed to go beyond the approximate range, Xu Qing was not in a hurry and felt around with his eyes blindfolded.

After a while, Xu Qing realized that something was wrong.

He felt his way from one side to the other, and had already walked nearly a hundred steps... In this small circle, there were more than twenty palace maids. Even if these palace maids hid themselves, they would at least be able to let him know their footsteps and scent, right?

Why is there no movement around, only the sound of the cold wind?
"Where have you been hiding, you little rascals?"

Xu Qing suddenly turned around and tried to reach out and hug in the direction they came from.

As expected, although he failed again this time, he smelled a fragrance that lifted his spirits.

Xu Qing hurriedly stepped forward, stumbling forward and chasing after him.

I finally found one, how could I let it fly away?
Fortunately, the other party was not very fast. He had only taken a few steps when he was caught by Xu Qing and held in his arms.

As soon as Xu Qing touched the smooth and delicate waist, he couldn't help but feel happy and grateful for his good luck.

It seems that the palace maid in his arms is a top-notch one!

"Let me guess...you're Amber?"

Of course the other person couldn't be Amber, because Amber was responsible for taking care of Xu Qing's daily life. After half a month of getting along with each other, she could already smell Amber's general body odor.

Xu Qing said this naturally in order to be able to take advantage of the situation and have more reasons to investigate the other party's identity.

He didn't want to just pick a random name and guess it right.

"..."

Hearing the girl in front of him breathing softly but without any response, Xu Qing knew that he could go a step further.

He couldn't wait to continue touching her, only to find that her delicate body was soft and creamy, so tender that it was almost too tender.

After just touching it a few times, I couldn't let it go.

"Are you Xiangdong?"

"..."

"Are you Qinan?"

"..."

"Are you Le'er?"

"..."

Xu Qing said more than a dozen names in a row. When he had finished saying all the names of the palace maids he remembered, he felt satisfied. Then he pretended to be innocent and let go of his hands. He sighed and said, "I lost. Who are you?"

When Xu Qing took off the black cloth and saw the identity of the woman in front of him, the air fell into an eerie silence.

It is no exaggeration to say that the time before us is as if someone has pressed the pause button.

"I must have drunk too much and I'm still sleepy."

Just as Xu Qing was about to wrap the black cloth around his eyes and pretend to be stupid and move away, the woman in front of him snatched it away and looked at him coldly.

The woman in front of him was wearing a gorgeous brocade robe with dragon and phoenix patterns, an emerald green cape, and a golden phoenix jade hairpin inserted diagonally in her bun.

She wore gold jade pendants in her ears, a green jade necklace around her neck, and precious gold bracelets inlaid with bloodstone on her wrists. She had exquisite makeup, jewels and a face as beautiful as a flower.

Even without looking at the other person's face, Xu Qing could guess that, besides his aunt, there was only one person in the entire harem who was qualified to wear this dress.

That was Empress Gongsun.

"Oh... Your Majesty is really in a refined mood."

Faced with Empress Gongsun's sarcasm and ridicule, Xu Qing felt so ashamed that he had to quickly stand up and bow to complete the etiquette.

"Meet the Queen!"

He had been having so much fun these days, how could he have forgotten the existence of this young lady in the backyard of the palace?

"No need to be polite. Stop performing these useless formalities in front of me."

(End of this chapter)