She had once so brazenly threatened him, pulling the tiger’s whiskers when he was at his angriest. No matter how one looked at it, Yin Gezhi should harbor resentment—once the threat was gone, he should at least flay her skin twice over, possibly even chop her up to feed to dogs. After all, royal dignity and face were extremely important.
Yet the person before her showed no particular reaction, and even offered her wine?
Swaying the wine jar in her hand, Feng Yue narrowed her eyes and smiled, “You haven’t poisoned the wine, have you?”
Snorting lightly, Prince Yin swept his sleeve and sat on the soft couch, glancing at her: “Life here is so dull—if I were to poison you to death, would you have me endure it alone?”
Her thoughts stirred. Feng Yue blinked, looking at him with genuine surprise.
He didn’t want to kill her? Given his earlier anger upon discovering her identity, she’d thought he would finish her off immediately! Could it be that the wolf had turned vegetarian, that Prince Yin had it in him to be tolerant?
Lowering his eyes, Yin Gezhi took a drink of wine, no longer paying attention to her.
Feng Yue narrowed her eyes, suddenly having a mischievous idea. Hugging the wine jar, she smiled and sidled up to him, asking, “Where did Your Highness get this wine from?”
Yin Gezhi said, “Stolen from the Grand Tutor’s wine cellar. He has quite a collection of fine wines.”
…He took advantage of the chaos to steal wine! Feng Yue clicked her tongue and said fawningly, “This bit of wine isn’t nearly enough to drink! Shall we go get some more?”
Giving her a sideways glance, Yin Gezhi declared righteously, “Theft is wrong!”
Then he got up, gently opened the door, and beckoned for her to follow him.
Staring dumbfounded at this master whose actions contradicted his words, Feng Yue tucked her long skirt into her belt and tiptoed after him.
The wine in the Grand Tutor’s mansion was potent. They were both slightly tipsy, and taking advantage of the mansion’s chaos and relaxed security, they easily made their way to the back courtyard and found the wine cellar.
So it was that Yin Gezhi stood guard outside with his jade-like bearing while Feng Yue, bent over with her bottom in the air, dragged jar after jar of wine out from the cellar.
“Know when to stop.” Looking back at her, Prince Yin couldn’t help but remind her, “Too many to carry.”
“Isn’t Your Highness here to help?” Feng Yue smiled as she pulled out eight jars of wine, “thump thump thump” running over to tie four jars to hang on Yin Gezhi’s arms, then “thump thump thump” running back to pick up four more herself. Like a farmer after the autumn harvest, she beamed with joy as she hung the wine ropes on her shoulders, then freed her hands to lead her “spouse” along, saying happily, “Let’s head back!”
Yin Gezhi’s face was full of disdain. Being the daughter of the Guan family, how could she be so unrestrained?
Thinking of Guan Canghai, Yin Gezhi pressed his lips together, allowing her to interlock their fingers, and even tightened his grip.
Feng Yue giggled, hugging the wine jars and heading toward the main gate. Yin Gezhi moved quickly, scooping up both her and the wine jars to fly over the courtyard wall, landing softly.
“Did you hear something?” A guard patrolling at the gate looked around curiously.
The other guard shook his head: “The wind’s too strong. Hey, the weather’s been strange lately, and the air is strange too—it even smells of wine, as if someone opened the wine cellar.”
“Nonsense, there’s no one around. Who would open the wine cellar?”
“True enough, let’s check over there.”
With her mouth covered by his hand, Feng Yue’s eyes darted around. After the two guards left, she pulled Yin Gezhi’s hand away and pouted: “Why is everyone here so stupid?”
“You think everyone in the world is as clever as you?” After saying this, he felt it sounded like praise, so he quickly added: “Full of schemes!”
Feng Yue grinned, casually opening a jar of wine to drink, making Yin Gezhi shake his head repeatedly before hoisting her onto his shoulder and walking away.
Being carried on his shoulder, Feng Yue was quite comfortable, propping herself up to pour wine into her mouth, smacking her lips contentedly: “I have five hu of precious wine, to trade for your drunkenness once around!”
“Recite poems more suitable for a young lady.”
Suitable for a young lady? Feng Yue thought seriously for a moment, then raised her pinky finger, hooked the wine rope, and sang: “I’ll undo my silk robe and jeweled belt for you, perform the songs of Yan and dances of Zhao for you!”
Showing half his face, Yin Gezhi opened the door and entered the room, putting the person from his shoulder down and pressing her against the door, using her body to help close it.
Her body falling back against the carved door, she looked up, her pearl-like teeth showing as she said: “Your Highness is so rough, so fierce, so ungentle with delicate jade!”
“What kind of fragrant jade are you?” Yin Gezhi looked down at her, saying flatly: “Clearly you’re a fierce blade from the battlefield.”
“Giggle giggle.” Poking his chest, Feng Yue said seductively: “A blade like this servant now can’t kill enemies, it can only kill the hearts of passionate men.”
Her poking at his chest made him irritated. Yin Gezhi pressed his lips together, his gaze lingering on her half-parted lips, very much wanting to bite them to stop her from saying such bewitching words!
However… just as he lowered his head, the person before him quickly turned her face away, saying as if carelessly: “The wine is so heavy. Shouldn’t Your Highness put it down first?”
“…” His hand slightly tightened, but he straightened up, watching as she slipped away from in front of him to run to the table and put down the wine.
Unable to describe the feeling, Yin Gezhi pressed his lips together, his jawline slightly tense, his eyelids half-lowered. After staying still for a while, he turned and went to put down the wine as well.
“Wine is such a good thing!” Greedily smelling the wine’s fragrance, Feng Yue smiled and asked: “Has Your Highness ever been drunk?”
“No.” Shaking his head expressionlessly, Yin Gezhi said: “I don’t particularly like drinking.”
Is it that he doesn’t like to drink, or that he can’t drink much? With mischievous laughter in her eyes, Feng Yue handed him a jar: “This bit of wine isn’t enough to drink! Let’s drink our fill today, no one holding back. If you can drink, then drink—it doesn’t matter if we get drunk.”
Yin Gezhi frowned, looking somewhat resistant, but the more resistant he appeared, the more enthusiastic Feng Yue became. She clinked her wine jar with his, saying brazenly: “This servant will drink first in respect.”
With that, she truly tilted her head back, gulping it down like water, finishing an entire jar of wine.
Yin Gezhi’s expression remained composed, but inside he was shocked. He couldn’t help but lower his head to smell his wine jar.
Was this wine?
“Your Highness?” Putting down the wine jar, Feng Yue looked at him with challenging eyes.
Yin Gezhi pondered, picked up the wine jar, and also tried to gulp it down, but after just the first mouthful, he choked.
“Hahaha—” emboldened by the wine, Feng Yue recklessly spoke the truth: “You’re such a noble man, yet you drink like a young lady!”
Who could take such words? Prince Yin’s face turned blue. He snorted coldly and lifted the jar to his mouth, and although he spilled quite a bit, he managed to finish a jar so quickly that Feng Yue couldn’t help but applaud: “Your face didn’t even change color?”
Yin Gezhi snorted lightly: “I can hold my liquor well.”
Feng Yue nodded, wanting to praise him along these lines. But seeing his somewhat misty eyes, she couldn’t help but ask: “Can you hold your liquor that well?”
“Really, truer than true gold!” To emphasize his point, the Prince nodded very seriously as he spoke. His face was still as handsome and well-defined as ever, but… looking at his manner, something seemed off.
Rolling her eyes around, Feng Yue smiled, lifting her skirt to squat on a stool, and like a hooligan harassing a proper lady, hooked his chin and asked: “Who am I?”
“Guan Fengyue.” He narrowed his eyes and said seriously: “A member of the Guan family.”
Was this considered sober or not? Feng Yue blinked and asked again: “Then who are you?”
“Crown Prince of Wei. Yin Chenbi.” He said seriously: “See, I know everything. I’m not drunk.”
Feng Yue’s face was full of sympathy as she muttered softly: “Answering so seriously proves you’re drunk. The Crown Prince’s alcohol tolerance isn’t very good at all. What a waste that I brought so many jars.”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing.” Turning with a smile, Feng Yue pushed another jar of wine into his hands: “Come on, keep drinking!”
Frowning at the wine jar, Yin Gezhi wanted to push it away, but the person beside him said gently: “Only good children finish their drink!”
Good children should drink this? Yin Gezhi snorted in derision, but his hands didn’t obey him and still lifted the jar, gulping it down.
“Ah, Chenbi is so well-behaved!” Feng Yue pinched her cheeks, trying hard not to let her face split from grinning, holding back her laughter as she coaxed him: “How is it? Does it taste good?”
Unable to sit straight, Yin Gezhi’s body swayed as he complained irritably: “Headache!”
“Good boy. Want your head to stop hurting?” Feng Yue asked with a mischievous smile.
After thinking seriously for a good while, Yin Gezhi nodded, looking at her with anticipation.
Stroking her nonexistent beard, Feng Yue said wisely: “The elders have a good remedy for pain. If your head hurts, just say ‘pain stupid pig,’ says it several times, and naturally it won’t hurt anymore!”
Probably feeling extremely uncomfortable, Yin Gezhi didn’t even think before rubbing his forehead and chanting: “Pain stupid pig, pain stupid pig…”
“Hahaha!” A string of piercing laughter rang throughout the Grand Tutor’s mansion. Yin Gezhi looked at her with confused eyes, still chanting, his expression extremely innocent.
Feng Yue felt quite sorry for him. After laughing enough, she reached out to hold his head against her chest and rubbed it: “Who would have thought Your Highness would be so easy to bully when drunk! Where’s that cold, unapproachable manner from usual? So cute! Ow!”
His hair ornaments disheveled from the rubbing, Yin Gezhi was quite dissatisfied, yet remained leaning against her chest without moving. His eyes were misty, and before long, he fell asleep from drunkenness.
Feng Yue laughed for quite a while, then carried him to bed and crouched beside it, looking down at him.
This person… if only he weren’t the Crown Prince of Wei, if only he had no connection to the Guan family tragedy, how good would that be…
She reached out to trace from his nose bridge to his lips. She chuckled softly, withdrew her hand, and let out a long sigh.
While the Grand Tutor’s mansion was in chaos, this small courtyard was filled with the fragrance of wine, carefree and at ease, as if they could continue living like this undisturbed forever.
However, being undisturbed was impossible. Early the next morning, just as the sun was peeking out, Yi Zhangzhu came rushing in crying, kneeling beside Yin Gezhi’s bed. She cried so heart-wrenchingly that when Feng Yue opened her eyes, she thought Yin Gezhi had passed away.