The spear drew a half arc from top to bottom and hit the ankle hard. The move was fast and fierce, causing a whistling sound in the wind. Even if the spear tip did not touch the ankle, it would probably break the ankle.
Xiao Ruishi didn't expect Li Qishen to use this trick. He was startled and immediately raised his foot to dodge. He just breathed a sigh of relief, and his knees hurt. He didn't have time to react, and he knelt down with a dull thud. Xiao Ruishi felt the pain and frowned. He was about to get angry, but when he looked up, he saw the tip of the gun pressing against his eyebrows, and the blade was cold.
"Thank you." The man holding the gun looked nonchalant, obviously not intending to kill. He just smiled and said, "It's just a feint to the east and attack in the west. How about that?"
"Your Majesty, you have great martial arts skills." Xiao Ruishi was beaten to his knees, with the tip of a spear pressed against his forehead. What else could he do? No matter how much he hated her, he could only get up, clasp his fists, and try to save face for himself. "Ruishi is being arrogant."
He was tall and had broad shoulders. It was impossible for a man with this appearance to be gentle and graceful or romantic, so he could only be bold and good at martial arts. The dynasty valued martial arts, and although Xiao Ruishi's appearance was not that outstanding, he could attract the attention of many young ladies when he wielded a knife.
However, now there came Li Qishen, who had a cold and beautiful face and knocked over Xiao Ruishi, who was famous for his martial arts in Chang'an City, in just a few moves. The noble ladies couldn't help but look at Li Qishen, and some of them were even eager to take this opportunity to talk to him.
Zheng Hanyuan would not let them get ahead of him, so he immediately stood up and held up a glass of wine: "The prince is really amazing, it can be seen that his reputation is not in vain. Hanyuan admires him, and hereby offers a toast to the prince."
Li Qishen looked at the woman who spoke, and was stunned for a moment. He didn't react to where this person came from. After thinking twice, he realized that this was the host of this Qushui Liushang. He had no grudges against Zheng Hanyuan, and he didn't care. He smiled at her, handed the borrowed gun to the servant waiting beside him, and turned back.
"Thank you." He still understood the rules. The host was standing, but he did not sit down. He picked up the feather cup, gestured, and drank it all in one gulp.
"The prince is generous and of true character." Seeing him take the wine, Zheng Hanyuan jumped for joy. He drank the wine himself and sat back with a smile.
She started it, and the ladies and gentlemen present, whether they were happy or not, stood up and toasted Li Qishen. Li Qishen was so annoyed that he really didn't want to deal with it, so he simply kept silent and just drank.
After a round, all the toasts were made, and at least a small jar of wine was drunk, but Li Qishen was not drunk at all. He looked calm and his eyes were clear, with only a slight redness at the corners of his eyes. He looked at the canal leisurely, and the wine cup was still playing. The feather cup was tactful and did not float over again.
There happened to be a young man writing a poem at this moment. It was very conventional and didn't sound like it was improvised. Instead, it sounded like a practice poem in front of a teacher. There were even some stuttering. Li Qishen found it boring and turned his gaze to the girl next to him: "What do you think?"
Xie Wangzhi was in a daze. When he heard Li Qishen's voice, he was startled and turned his head blankly: "...Ah, what?"
"I'm talking about this young man's poem. What do you think of it?" Just after he finished speaking, the young man had already sat down. Li Qishen was too lazy to repeat, "Forget it. Let me ask you, they all toasted just now, why didn't you toast?"
Xie Wangzhi was puzzled and looked at Li Qishen in surprise.
The man sitting next to her was also looking at her, his dense eyelashes drooping slightly, his light amber pupils flickering under his eyelashes, reflecting the afternoon sunlight, and his eyes seemed to be filled with shimmering light. He was slightly drunk, and his collar, which was originally folded into a lapel, was pulled loose a little, revealing the white skin under his neck and a little bit of collarbone.
The most terrible thing was that face, with a light red dot at the end of the eye, like a carefully drawn eye makeup, it was simply brilliant. But Li Qishen was completely unaware of it, and looked at Xie Wangzhi with a smile, and the whole person was relaxed, just like a dandy lingering in Pingkangfang.
There was nothing wrong with his expression. If you insist, there was nothing wrong with his eyes. He was just looking at her. However, Xie Wangzhi suddenly had a subtle feeling, as if she was being teased. But she knew it was impossible. Li Qishen would never do that. She thought about it, pulled her shawl tightly together, and said guiltily, "Why are you toasting me..."
"I just won, didn't you see?"
"... Hmm." Xie Wangzhi remembered, and by the way, she also remembered the wine that Zheng Hanyuan had ordered, each glass was toasted by the young lady. She felt a little uncomfortable for no reason, but she knew she shouldn't lose her temper at Li Qishen, so she put her hand on the wine glass and rubbed the pattern on it from time to time.
Li Qishen didn't know what this meant. After guessing for a while, he leaned over and asked, "It was so noisy, could it be that you really didn't see it?"
"... I'm not blind!" Xie Wangzhi didn't know how good Li Qishen's martial arts were, and she was sweating at the time. She glared at him, then lowered her eyes, and said in a muffled voice, "Then let me ask you, do you want me to toast you a glass of wine?"
"What else?" Li Qishen quickly climbed up the pole and said in a low voice, "It's not a congratulation for my victory, but just a toast to an old friend, how about that?"
"There are so many ladies congratulating you on your victory, could it be that the prince still needs a glass of wine from me?" Xie Wangzhi said this deliberately, but then he thought it was not good, paused, picked up the half-full wine glass, smiled at him, "I can't drink much, so half a glass, please."
Without waiting for Li Qishen's reply, she covered her mouth with her sleeve and drank it all in one gulp.
As soon as the glass was empty, Li Qishen knew that Xie Wangzhi was not lying and her alcohol tolerance was really not that good.
This wine was not strong, at most it had a three-point stronger wine flavor than the flower and fruit wine popular among noble ladies, and the main flavor was still rice. To Li Qishen's taste, this thing was more like wine. But Xie Wangzhi had obviously never drunk like this before, and after drinking a glass, his face quickly turned red, adding another layer to the original blush, like a haze on his cheeks.
Li Qishen thought it was not good, but Xie Wangzhi did not notice it. He put down the wine glass and said in a vague voice: "I toast to you, an old friend returning home... Logically, we should drink from the wine jar."
"There's still the wine jar. I'm afraid you'll get drunk to death." Li Qishen said in a low voice. When he spoke again, his voice was a little louder, but his tone sounded soft, and it was completely coaxing. "Okay, next time I'm free, I won't come back until I'm drunk."
Xie Wangzhi instinctively said no, but she was drunk and dizzy, so she nodded randomly and said in a low voice, "Okay... But I'm not a good drinker."
This was the truth, not just words. After this round was over and the Qujiang Banquet was almost over, the afternoon breeze blew, and the smell of alcohol that Xie Wangzhi had previously taken to her stomach all came up, making her feel dizzy, and her legs were shaking when she stood up.
The banquet was over, and everyone who was supposed to leave had left, but she came alone, without even a maid, and of course no one came to pick her up. Li Qishen couldn't just leave her here alone, so after a little thought, he helped Xie Wangzhi up, half supporting and half holding her to help her stand up.
Xie Wangzhi was not drunk to the point of passing out, but her legs and feet were weak, and her body was stuffy and hot, but she was not sweating, and it was all red, and even her skin was slightly pink, as if she had specially dyed it red. She half leaned on her husband's shoulder, but then thought it was not good, so she supported his shoulder: "I can walk..."
"I don't think so." Li Qishen held the girl who was about to collapse and led her out.
Although no one noticed and Li Qishen didn't care what others thought, Xie Wangzhi was, after all, a noble lady from an aristocratic family, so it was not appropriate to pick her up in public. He found a quieter road and went around the peach blossom forest, intending to find the deputy captain of Tiance Mansion whom he had talked to before and ask her to help take her there.
His plan was good, but Xie Wangzhi was not very cooperative. She could vaguely hear voices at the banquet before, and she roughly knew where they were. It was okay for Li Qishen to support her, and she obediently let him lead her. As soon as they arrived at the peach blossom forest, the voices disappeared from all directions, and she felt something was wrong.
The smell of alcohol came back, and Xie Wangzhi was really a little intoxicated. The peach blossoms were in full bloom at this time, and when the warm breeze blew in the evening, the forest was filled with the faint fragrance of peach blossoms. The peach blossoms that had bloomed to their fullest fell down, and Xie Wangzhi opened his eyes hazily, and there was a layer of light pink in front of him, like a dream.
She made a subtle sound unconsciously: "Hmm..."
Li Qishen thought she was feeling unwell, so he stopped and leaned closer to ask, "Why, are you feeling unwell?"
Xie Wangzhi actually felt that it was okay. She drank little wine, most of which was soaked in fruits and vegetables, and with the food from the banquet, her stomach was not upset, and her head did not hurt, but she was a little dizzy. She felt that the person who was supporting her was not a girl, and she was instinctively nervous, but she did not have the strength to push him away, so she just turned her head slightly to look over.
"... Changsheng?" She looked at him for a while, not quite sure who the man with the blurred face was. "Is it... Changsheng?"
He had only heard this before when he had just come back. After that, Xie Wangzhi always avoided calling her by name intentionally or unintentionally. If he really wanted to call her, he would call her "Prince" in a teasing way. Now the girl was drunk and her voice was as soft as if it had been soaked in wine, with a hint of tipsiness. Li Qishen's heart softened and he was unusually gentle: "Yes, it's me."
"… It's you." Xie Wangzhi replied stupidly, "That's great."
It was Li Qishen, so she felt relieved, although she herself didn't know where this inexplicable sense of relief came from. But Xie Wangzhi completely gave up the struggle, followed the instinct of his body, and slowly leaned back.
She was half a head shorter than Li Qishen, and her body was soft, so when she leaned like that, her cheek just rested on his shoulder.
Li Qishen lowered his eyes and could clearly outline Xie Wangzhi's face. The girl was drunk and confused, her eyebrows were relaxed, her eyelashes were drooping obediently, and she looked particularly well-behaved. Her face was red, and the skin below was also slightly red, like a piece of rouge jade, with a faint blush from the core.
Her face was so red, and her lips were even redder. They looked fresh and juicy in his sight, slightly parted, like a flower opening to the spring breeze, but her breath was tinged with an almost imperceptible aroma of wine. Her lip balm had a floral scent, and her collar was naturally also scented, which was carried up by her body temperature and floated faintly.
Li Qishen sniffed it and it seemed to be peach blossoms.
His throat tightened and he swallowed for no reason.
The author has something to say: Sooner or later, Changsheng will be arrested and thrown into Jingzhao Prefecture Prison because of his hooligan mind (…)
Changsheng: Haha (cold and indifferent)