Qingxia smiled as she accepted it, pointing to her chin and saying, “What free tasting? This should be a thank-you gift for me giving you Lian Zhou.”

“If anyone’s giving him, it’s not you,” Cheng Xiao laughed. “Isn’t the real master sitting right here?”

“Hey, hey, hey! You woman, burning bridges after crossing the river!”

Cheng Xiao retreated with a laugh, saying, “I won’t disturb you two lovebirds whispering sweet nothings to each other.”

Qin Zhiyan smiled and lowered his head, pouring two cups of fruit wine and handing one to Qingxia, saying, “Miss Cheng is straightforward and kind-hearted—truly a good woman.”

Qingxia frowned deliberately and pretended to be angry, “What? Speaking so well of her—are you planning to transfer your affections?”

Qin Zhiyan silently repeated the phrase “transfer affections,” saying it twice and finding it novel, “This phrase is good. Is it from your hometown dialect?”

“Yes, yes,” Qingxia said unkindly, moving her stool to sit beside him and staring intently into Qin Zhiyan’s eyes, “Husband, if you see a better woman in the future, will you not want me anymore?”

Qin Zhiyan’s voice rose questioningly, “Husband?”

“Don’t change the subject!”

Qin Zhiyan deliberately put on a stern face, saying, “Such a fierce woman—I really need to think this over carefully.”

“Hey!” Qingxia called out unhappily.

Qin Zhiyan laughed heartily, suddenly embracing Qingxia’s waist, burying his head in her neck, breathing in her fresh hair fragrance, and saying, “How could there be any woman in this world better than you?”

The formerly sharp, cold-blooded super agent said in a muffled voice, “But what if there were?”

“What if?” Qin Zhiyan’s voice was very soft as he gently kissed Qingxia’s forehead, saying softly, “Even if there were, I wouldn’t see them. Yima’er, there’s only room for one person here. You’re inside with the door locked tight—don’t let anyone else in.”

Qingxia placed her palm on Qin Zhiyan’s chest, her small head pressed against his heart, listening to the beating within. Suddenly she felt so happy she wanted to cry. She reached out to tightly embrace Qin Zhiyan’s waist, saying word by word, “Qin Zhiyan, don’t leave me, don’t leave me alone. I want to follow you wherever you go—never abandon me.”

After a long while, Qin Zhiyan’s warm kiss finally landed on Qingxia’s lips, along with his doting whisper: “My Yima’er…”

Years later, when those fragmented memories echoed in her mind again, Qingxia would still feel warmth in her heart. That day, that moment, amid all the noise and chaos of the mortal world, she was the happiest woman in the world.

The happiest.

They ate until the sky darkened. The main hall gradually quieted down, but the streets became increasingly lively. Suddenly there was a commotion. Qingxia pushed open the window and saw two groups fighting in the street market below. Immediately interested, she hurriedly called Qin Zhiyan to watch together. One group consisted of five or six burly, powerful men, while the other was just one person, shabbily dressed in rags, looking like a beggar. Most strangely, between these two groups were four blue-eyed foreigners, loudly exhorting everyone in broken Chinese to listen to God’s gospel and not fight. Unfortunately, the foreigners seemed to make things worse, and were finally mistaken by the burly men as being with the beggar, so they too got beaten up.

Many passersby gathered around, pointing and gesturing excitedly, but not one person thought to intervene and help.

“Hey! No fighting!” A clear female voice suddenly rang out. Qingxia looked down and saw Cheng Xiao standing in the street with her hands on her hips, shouting loudly, looking ready to rush forward.

But before she could step forward, she was suddenly pushed down by one of the burly men, her arm scraping against stones on the ground and leaving a long, bloody mark.

Lian Zhou’s face immediately darkened. He helped Cheng Xiao up and, filled with anger, walked forward.

Qingxia immediately couldn’t bear to watch, closing her eyes and covering Qin Zhiyan’s eyes with her small hands. Sure enough, there was a series of banging and crashing sounds, and the burly men immediately began crying out in pain. Lian Zhou was the personal guard of Great Qin’s War God—his martial arts skills were extraordinary. In all the time Qingxia had been here, apart from Xi Linyu whose abilities had mysteriously improved after his family’s destruction, only Lian Zhou had ever gotten the better of her. These ordinary country strongmen were no match at all. Soon they all fled in panic.

The people on the street immediately cheered. Lian Zhou glared angrily at Cheng Xiao, his face dark as he said, “Meddling in others’ business!”

Cheng Xiao ignored him and instead went forward to help the foreigners up, smiling and saying, “Are you all right?”

The foreigners, grateful for Cheng Xiao’s life-saving grace, chattered their thanks. Cheng Xiao was indeed very kind-hearted and actually invited them into the tavern. Father Cheng smiled as he instructed the kitchen to prepare food, and soon the foreigners could no longer pretend, falling upon the food to eat heartily.

Qingxia and Qin Zhiyan found it interesting and came out too. After the foreigners finished eating, they began chatting.

After listening to them chatter for quite a while, everyone finally understood that this group were missionaries who had come by ship from the West, wanting to spread God’s gospel to this fertile land. They had been on the Chinese mainland for over five years, but had encountered nothing but cold shoulders all along, achieving nothing. Today they saw people fighting on the road and, adhering to the belief that God loves all people, went forward to break up the fight, only to get thoroughly beaten themselves. It seemed God was sleeping now and not looking after his children.

Listening to them speak, Qin Zhiyan frowned slightly and suddenly asked, “You mean to say the world is round, and if you keep going east, you’ll return to your own country?”

Before the foreigners could answer, Lian Zhou already snorted coldly, “Ridiculous nonsense. Heaven is round and earth is square—this has always been so. I think these fellows are just a bunch of swindlers, barbarians from foreign lands spouting gibberish here.”

Hearing this, the foreigners immediately wailed loudly, wanting to argue with him, but their Chinese was truly poor, and after talking for a long time, they couldn’t find a single good counterargument.

“Don’t talk nonsense if you don’t understand. The world is indeed round. The sun rising in the east and setting in the west, day and night alternating repeatedly, the four seasons changing in order—these are the most powerful proofs. Keep going in one direction and you’ll eventually return to the starting point. This is science, you fool.” Qingxia suddenly spoke, patting the foreigners’ shoulders and saying, “You must keep trying. I support you, and God will bless you too.”

The foreigners were overjoyed. Since coming here, this was the first time anyone had been so friendly to them. Even more precious was that this well-dressed woman actually believed in their God—this was simply the most joyful thing that had happened since they’d arrived on this continent.

“Your country actually has an empress ruling? How strange indeed.”

Qingxia smiled and said, “Cheng Xiao, in their Western countries, men and women are equal. Women also have inheritance rights to the throne.”

“Oh my! This beautiful lady, have you been to our countries? This is the first time anyone has known about things in our land.”

Qingxia smiled and said, “Yes, I’ve been to many places—Portugal, Spain, England, France, India, many, many places.”

“Wow!” Their mouths fell wide open, their eyes full of exclamation marks.

Suddenly, there was a bang outside, and large fireworks immediately exploded in the sky. Qing’er ran in from outside, shouting loudly, “The Wine God Festival has begun!”

Cheng Xiao smiled and said, “Coming to Pengyang without experiencing the Wine God Festival’s excitement would be coming for nothing. Let’s go out and see.”

Everyone nodded and stood up. One of the foreigners suddenly caught up and took off a cross necklace from around his neck, handing it to Qingxia and saying, “Respected lady, please accept our friendship. You are a great navigator—we will work hard following your example.”

Qingxia giggled and made a proper sign of the cross on her chest, lowering her head to let the foreigner hang the cross around her neck.

Fireworks bloomed colorfully in the sky. Qingxia held Qin Zhiyan’s hand as they walked through the bustling crowds, looking up and pointing, laughing and chatting cheerfully. The fireworks filling the sky were brilliant and colorful, flashing like neon lights and resembling the flowing sleeves of heavenly fairies. All around were crowds of people laughing and cheering. The entire street was filled with the rich aroma of wine—zhilan fragrant herbs, fanggui wine god. This was a beautiful city, peaceful, tranquil, full of dream-like beauty.

Qingxia and Qin Zhiyan walked arm in arm, leaning against each other like two carefree children, gazing up at the fireworks in the sky. The killing once hidden in their lives, the bloodshed they’d experienced, the battlefields they’d galloped across, the souls who had died by their hands, the political storms and bloodshed of the court, the endless entanglements of grudges and love—all seemed to drift away from them in an instant. It felt as though they had been living in this small city together for many, many years, drinking tea and wine, appreciating flowers and touring the lake, bargaining while shopping, gossiping and joining the excitement, getting their blood boiling with excitement when seeing others fight, staying awake all night with joy over getting a small bargain.

So this was how life could be lived. So this was how days could be enjoyed. So this was how they could be simply and peacefully happy.

The bright, sparkling fireworks fell on their faces. Qingxia looked up and saw Qin Zhiyan’s face was so bright and gentle. In the dark night, he wore a long blue robe that danced lightly in the wind—elegant and carefree, floating like an immortal. She gripped his hand tightly, as if only this way could she feel his existence.

Qin Zhiyan lowered his head, looking into Qingxia’s eyes, and smiled with peerless gentle warmth. His smile was like a gentle breeze as he gently cupped her face, lowered his head, and then, under the sky full of fireworks for the Fanggui Wine God, gently kissed the corner of Qingxia’s lips.

Everyone was looking up at the sky. Everywhere was the rich, intoxicating aroma of wine. Fireworks bloomed brilliantly, colored lanterns hung high, and in the distant river, dragon boats swayed back and forth with continuous “heave-ho” sounds as powerful, burly men rowed with sweat pouring like rain, while people on both banks screamed with excitement.