243.2 – Bitter Wine

At this point, her face turned pale, and she said “what to do” repeatedly, bewildered. Seeing her appearance, Xue Qilin suddenly felt that it’s funny, and she ended up laughing inopportunely.

Qi Qiqi got up and glared indignantly at Xue Qilin.

“What are you laughing about! How disagreeable. It’s –”

Seeing her reaction, Xue Qilin realized that she misunderstood her, and thus said unhappily, “Calm down! What are you fantasizing about… he was –” Xue Qilin emphasized unconsciously, “Poisoned.”

“Eh… poisoned?” Qi Qiqi felt dumbfounded: “How did he get poisoned out of nowhere?”

Xue Qilin sighed and answered Qi Qiqi with “it’s hard to explain”. It would take too much time to explain from the beginning.

Qi Qiqi revealed an “unable to feel relieved” expression and gazed at Xue Qilin with eyes that seem tell her not to gloss over things.

The next moment, she realized something and grabbed Xue Qilin’s shoulders both emotionally and impatiently.

“What about Qing’er? Is Qing’er alright?”

“She’s physically fine, but mentally…”

Xue Qilin smiled bitterly.

Even though she didn’t spell it out, the clever Qi Qiqi will surely understand her meaning.

Sure enough —

“Qing’er… must be really sad…”

Looking down at Qi Qiqi, Xue Qilin uttered, “Little Seven, go to the Gong Clan. Little Qing needs you… go keep her company.”

“But…” Qi Qiqi hesitated, “What about you?”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you just cried! You’re always like this, you always like to put the unhappy things away! It was the same that time with Older Martial Sister Luo! You clearly want to cry, yet you won’t cry!”

Faced with the abruptly emotional Qi Qiqi, Xue Qilin is speechless.

Qi Qiqi restrained her anger and asked in a sad tone, “With you like this, how can I feel at ease and leave you?”

Aware that the other party is worried about her, Xue Qilin smiled bitterly.

“Aren’t you worried about Little Qing? Don’t look at me like that, I am much stronger than her!”

“That’s a really sly question!” Qi Qiqi’s voice suddenly became very quiet, “You know that I can’t answer…”

Xue Qilin doesn’t know whether it is Gong Tianqing of herself who is more important to Qi Qiqi.

But, Qi Qiqi appears to be quite hesitant, seems to be unable to choose between the two.

She needs a push.

Right at this time, the door was pushed open.

“– Older Sister Qi, you can go.”

A familiar gentle voice sounded.

Xue Qilin and Qi Qiqi moved their line of sight to the source of the voice, whereupon they saw a water-colored figure.

Shui Yun’er is standing at the door, looking their way with a smile on her face.

With her back to the sun, her outline is a little blurry. Xue Qilin mistook her for Luo Qing for a moment.

Shui Yun’er always appears in front of others when they need her most. On this point, Luo Qing and Shui Yun’er are subtly similar.

“Little Yun, are you a fortune teller?”

Xue Qilin asked helplessly.

Shui Yun’er sniggered twice, and then walked to in front of Xue Qilin and pulled away some strands of hair stuck to her face due to the tears.

“I don’t know what Young Teacher is talking about.”

Still playing dumb! If she hadn’t been eavesdropping on us, how could she be able to pick up the conversation as soon as she came back? Xue Qilin aimed a sulky look at her.

Pretending not to see it, Shui Yun’er turned to Qi Qiqi.

“Older Sister Qi, you can go.” Shui Yun’er shot Xue Qilin glance, “Leave Young Teacher to me.”

“Is that alright?”

Qi Qiqi widened her eyes in surprise.

“There’s nothing not to be alright. Older Sister Qi, Young Techer is my teacher, while I am your younger sister. If you say you think this is troubling to me, then even if it’s me, I will get angry.”

Hearing Shui Yun’er’s reply, Qi Qiqi fell into a protracted silence.

After a long time, she nodded and answered, “Okay, then I’ll be right back.”

“It’s okay to stay a few days.”

Xue Qilin, who doesn’t want her to run around out of the kindness, didn’t expect Qi Qiqi to glare at her in return.

“No! Of course you want me to stay a few days. If I don’t keep an eye on you, who knows where you’ll run to make trouble this time!”

“Hey hey, wait a minute! Why am I being labeled as a troublemaker?”

Ignoring Xue Qilin’s protest, Qi Qiqi said “I’m entrusting her to you” to Shui Yun’er, and then put on a cloak and left for the Gong Clan in a hurry.

After seeing her back disappear around the corner, Xue Qilin turned around, intending to take a seat. Unexpectedly, she discovered that there are now several more porcelain bottles on the table where only a tea set has stood before.

Did Little Yun — Xue Qilin looked at Shui Yun’er in a daze.

“Let’s have a few drinks, Young Teacher.”

Shui Yun’er shook a porcelain bottle with a smile.

Sure enough, she bought it. So when she went out just now, it was to buy wine… Xue Qilin smiled warmly. Shui Yun’er is familiar with her hobbies and knows that she likes to have a few drinks no matter if she’s happy or sad.

Perhaps she intended to celebrate me curing Little Yang.

Xue Qilin, who can’t help but smile wryly, sat down at the table and accepted a full wine cup from Shui Yun’er.

The fragrance dispersed by the wine lingered in the nose for a long time.

The limpid wine reflects a delicate face that looks like it’s both on the verge of tears and laughter. How unsightly! Xue Qilin sighed heavily.

“I’m afraid this wine will be wasted…”

The wine that was supposed to be used for celebration can now only be turned into something to drown your sorrows in — is there anything more disappointing in the world than this?

Probably not.

Xue Qilin closed her eyes and drained the wine cup in one go.

When the cool liquid flowed from the mouth into the throat, it made the throat burn. Yet Xue Qilin inexplicably felt a burst of bitterness.

Despite this, she continued to enjoy one cup after another.

That day, Xue Qilin drank until she was drunk as a fiddler.

She sang deep into the night, she sang until she fell into Shui Yun’er’s arms and fell into a deep sleep in the middle of the night. She didn’t hear the sounds of Gong Tianqing, who is staying far away, who threw herself into Qi Qiqi’s arms, bawling and grieving.

*

Southern Book Pavilion —

Located deep in the imperial palace, close to the Emperor’s private chambers, it is the place where the Emperor does his reading and collects books.

Qin Shiyu paid this place a visit this evening.

After the Emperor’s personal eunuch conveyed her arrival, Qin Shiyu was soon summoned to enter the room, which has become the place most heavily guarded in the whole Hua Dynasty due to the Emperor’s presence.

The Southern Book Pavilion is divided into the outer and inner rooms.

The outer room is full of bookshelves, which are filled with various books, some of which have supposedly been lost. While the inner room is the place where the Emperor does his reading.

They are separated by a thin curtain.

Two eunuchs and several maids stand on both sides of the thin curtain. They appear to be very cautious. Despite having no work to do, they still assumed an expression of concentration.

Because they don’t know when the man sitting behind the curtain will give them orders, they can only be focused at all times in order to respond to the Emperor’s demands in the first moments.

Behind the thin, bright yellow curtain, there is a fuzzy outline of a man sitting behind a desk.