Sun Yuandao is confused now.
It was true that he had a crush on Xie Wangzhi, but the Xie family in Chang'an was too confident. Xie Wangzhi had a pretty face, and was said to be proficient in all arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. His konghou playing was so good that even the national masters of the Foreign Teaching House nodded their heads. Sun Yuandao also knew his own limitations, and did not expect to marry this young lady from the Xie family home to serve her. He just wanted to take advantage of her in some way to satisfy his cravings.
Therefore, he didn't mind Xie Wangzhi deliberately tormenting him. As soon as she said that, he immediately ran over to get the fruit plate himself. The fruit plate was still frozen, and it was full of fruits. After walking all the way, his hands were so cold that they didn't feel like his own.
It's okay to be cold, it's worth it to be attentive and win a beautiful woman's smile. But just as he came over with the plate, before he could talk to Xie Wangzhi, an arm directly pushed him away by a foot. The person who pushed him was indifferent and didn't take him seriously at all: "Excuse me, please make way."
Sun Yuandao thought to himself, which young man is so ignorant of the rules? He became angry, but when he saw who it was, his anger quickly died down, and only a bubble came out of his throat.
Li Qishen seemed to be completely unaware, or to be deliberately mocking him. He held the peach blossom in his hand diagonally in front of Xie Wangzhi, but he was looking at Sun Yuandao, and his smile was actually a bit bright and sunny: "Why, what else do you want, my dear?"
"Nothing." Sun Yuandao wanted to hit him, but was afraid of being hanged by Li Qishen on the spot, so he forced a smile and said, "Thank you, Madam, for asking me to get the fruit plate. I'm delivering it now."
Xie Wangzhi said: "That's true, thank you, my dear."
Sun Yuandao was delighted and put the fruit plate on the table. Just as he was about to squeeze in between the two of them and find a place to sit down, he was met with Xie Wangzhi's slightly surprised look.
She seemed to have no idea what Sun Yuandao was going to do. "Well, is there anything else, my dear?"
Facing her clear eyes, Sun Yuandao felt cold from his fingertips to his heart, and experienced what it meant to be a wedding dress for others. He was in a dilemma whether to sit or not, and after holding it in for a long time, he turned around and left.
Seeing the gloomy figure walking further and further away, Li Qishen glanced at Xie Wangzhi with a smile: "I think this man seems to like you."
"That's not called love." Xie Wangzhi was not stupid, "He is a playboy and just likes my face."
"Then I'm different. I still like the food you cook." Li Qishen answered casually without any other meaning. He felt something was wrong after he said it. He paused and continued casually, "Come to think of it, it's rare for me to go back to Chang'an City. When will you make snacks for me again?"
Xie Wangzhi was stunned by the word "like" just now. She took a sip of tea to cover it up, but then she thought it was wrong. They were friends after all. It was just a word of love. It was not right to be so secretive. She suppressed the feeling in her heart. She always felt that the feeling was sour and sweet, and there was a bit of inexplicable shyness, which made her heart tremble and she didn't know what to do with her hands and feet.
She thought for a moment, coughed lightly, and deliberately said, "Okay, then tell me, do you want to drink Tremella and Lotus Seed Soup, or Milk and Almond Yogurt?"
It would have been better if he hadn't mentioned it. As soon as the two sweet soups came out, the memory of pinching his neck and forcing him to drink them suddenly came back to him. Li Qishen's throat quickly felt sticky and slightly hairy. He was afraid that he would spit it out, so he blurted out, "Then I might as well eat this peach blossom."
"Okay." Peach blossoms can make a lot of snacks, but Xie Wangzhi was a little too excited and picked a peach blossom at random, "You eat it."
The slightly cool peach blossoms touched his lips, and Li Qishen was slightly startled.
Xie Wangzhi was also stunned.
The two of them stared at each other stupidly for a while, and Xie Wangzhi suddenly realized what he had done. He shuddered all over and was about to stop. Before he could even say an apology, Li Qishen moved first.
He lowered his eyes slightly, his dense eyelashes covering half of his pupils, his expression calm and gentle, as if he didn't know what he was doing. Facing Xie Wangzhi's surprised eyes, Li Qishen slowly opened his mouth, revealing his sharp canine teeth in an instant, and bit the peach blossom into his mouth.
He used his fangs to break open the petals and stamens one by one, chewing until the peach blossom fragrance came out. The touch on his tongue was soft and smooth, like the skin of a peach blossom fairy.
Xie Wangzhi's heart trembled for no reason: "You... why are you really eating it?"
"It's okay, it won't kill you." Li Qishen savored it, "It's a little sweet."
"... Hey, next time I'll make you peach blossom cake." Xie Wangzhi thought about it, and felt that it was not right, a little distressed, "No, you don't like sweet food, but peach blossoms are not like cherry blossoms, so they can't be pickled with salt..."
She really remembered it. Li Qishen sighed slightly, avoided the hairpin, and gently touched the top of her head: "Don't think about it. I don't like it anyway. Eat the fruit, don't waste people's kindness."
There were several seasonal fruits in the fruit bowl, very fresh, with tiny water droplets, not sure if they were frozen or condensed from the alcohol. Xie Wangzhi had never drunk much alcohol, and she was alone, so she shouldn't touch these things when she was out, but now that Li Qishen was sitting next to her, she felt at ease, smelling the fruity aroma and the faint aroma of alcohol, she couldn't help but pick a small bunch of mulberries.
Mulberries are sweet in nature, and after being soaked in wine, they absorb the aroma of the wine and become even sweeter. Xie Wangzhi rolled over it with the tip of her tongue and vaguely tasted the flavor of fermented glutinous rice. She thought for a moment and thought that maybe it would be a good idea to make some mulberries according to the method of making osmanthus fermented glutinous rice while mulberries are in season and store them for cooking dumplings in winter.
After all, he was in the Imperial Food Bureau when he was young, so he had this idea in mind, so he had to try the others one by one, from star fruit to loquat. After trying them all, Xie Wangzhi felt that mulberry was the most suitable.
Just as she had made up her mind, someone came over to the table. It was Wen Qiniang, with a slightly round face and a smile on her face. "Prince, forget it. Now that we have some free time, why don't we play a round of Qushui Liushang?"
The rules of the noble ladies' circle are that if you are invited, you have to go, otherwise it will seem that you can't afford to play. Xie Wangzhi wanted to stay with Li Qishen for a while, but there was no way. She gathered her skirt and stood up: "Okay, where is it?"
"I'm going too."
Xie Wang was stunned and glanced at Li Qishen: "Are you going too?"
"Could it be that you think that I am a rough man in the army and not worthy of playing with you guys?"
"How could that be!" Even though Xie Wangzhi knew he was joking, he couldn't bear to hear him say that, "Don't say that."
Li Qishen smiled and said nothing more.
"The prince hasn't been back to Beijing for many years. Maybe he feels restrained at first. He will be fine after playing for a few times. Just take the prince with you." Fortunately, Wen Qiniang is good at smoothing things over. "Come with me. It's in the back yard."
The three of them walked for a short distance and crossed the courtyard gate. What they saw in front of them was lush forests and bamboos, a winding canal that had been specially built, and peach blossoms floating on the water.
Qushui Liushang was popular in the previous dynasty, and was almost worn out in the hands of Xie. Xie Wangzhi was not interested and led Li Qishen to sit on the empty mat: "The water flows from top to bottom. Later, the host will place a feather cup filled with wine, which will float down. Whoever the cup stops in front of will have to write a poem."
Li Qishen had never played this game before, and thought to himself that you guys are quite free. He rubbed the tip of his nose with the back of his hand and said, "What if I can't make it?"
"Just drink the wine." Xie Wangzhi answered blankly. Thinking that he was worried about not being able to write a poem, he quickly said in a gentle voice, "It doesn't matter. The wine is not strong. After all, it's ugly to be drunk. Besides... you can also ask someone for help."
"Ask someone to help you drink?" Li Qishen teased her deliberately.
Xie Wangzhi was furious: "Let someone help write a poem!"
"Okay, okay, write poetry, write poetry." Li Qishen quickly comforted her.
Xie Wangzhi glanced at him, turned his head away, and stared at the water, looking angry. She had a fair complexion and long eyelashes, and when she got angry, her face turned red, from the corners of her eyes to her cheeks, like a newlywed's makeup.
Thinking about her sudden shout just now and the fruits she had eaten earlier, Li Qishen guessed that Xie Wangzhi might be a little drunk, but he didn't say anything. He stretched his legs naturally and waited for the cup to float over.
The host was the one who placed the feather cup. Zheng Hanyuan filled the cup to six-tenths with wine, put it into the water, and as soon as he let go, the ears on both sides of the feather cup floated up, holding the cup and flowing downstream.
The canal is winding and the water flow is easy to collide. The cup may occasionally turn a few times as it flows down, but as long as it is moving, it does not count. Only if it stays in front of someone or turns around for a long time can the cup be fished out.
The cup continued to move down, and everyone present stared at the cup. The cup stopped and moved, and finally stopped in front of Xie Wangzhi and Li Qishen, being swept around by the water.
The position of the cup was quite clever. The two people were sitting not too far from each other, and it was just stuck on the line. It didn't matter whose cup it was. But it was a legitimate daughter of the Xie family and a legitimate prince. The people present didn't dare to make a fuss, waiting to see who would reach out first.
Xie Wangzhi really wanted to reach out his hand, but was afraid that Li Qishen would feel uncomfortable. After hesitating for a moment, the man next to him had already reached out and picked up the cup.
She was stunned: "Why are you..."
"This is my first time playing this, and the cup stopped in front of me. I guess it's my luck. Let me get lucky." Li Qishen looked at Xie Wangzhi, his tone brisk, and then turned to look at the others, "What should I do next, write a poem?"
"Yes, write a poem, otherwise you will have to drink as punishment." Zheng Hanyuan was a little nervous, not knowing whether Li Qishen could write the poem, but he couldn't break the rules, so he paused and said, "Please go, Prince."
Li Qishen glanced at the Yu cup. The wine in the cup looked quite clear, it must have been filtered, and the aroma that floated up was mainly rice aroma. He was used to drinking strong liquor on the grassland, and this wine was really not good enough. Let alone a glass, drinking a jar was just to moisten his throat.
He was used to writing manifestos in the army, but was too lazy to compose poetry. Just as he was about to say he should just drink, a young man suddenly stood up opposite him.
"After all, the prince has been in the army for a long time, and this is Fengzhou. He has never played this game before. Why don't we try something else today?" The speaker was Xiao Ruishi, who was very tall and had a big frame. Seeing that no one objected, he continued, "Why don't we change it to a martial arts show today, and the loser drinks?"
Xie Wangzhi recognized that this was one of the twins who had ridiculed Xudar back then. He was startled and turned to look at Li Qishen.
Li Qishen was not in a hurry. He looked at Xiao Ruishi and smiled slightly: "Okay, it happens that Tiance Mansion has a garrison here, please send someone to borrow a gun."
The author has something to say: Changsheng doesn't write poetry because his mother can't write, but that doesn't mean he can't. He is very good at it, but he just hates the slightly extravagant upper-class game of Qushui Liushang (.)
I won’t write about the fighting scenes, I’ll skip them. Without a horse, you can’t gallop. It’s just a thump thump thump (…) Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angel who cast [mine]: hxy123 1;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:
6 bottles of Bala Wawa; 5 bottles of Luohan; 3 bottles of Ganlu; 2 bottles of Wangzai Milk; 1 bottle of Meanhua;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!