When it was cold, he would warm my hands; when I was tired, he would carry me home; when I was hungry, he would buy hot sugar cakes. When I felt anxious about his identity, he would open up everything.
In my teens, I liked Yan Huo’s beauty; now, I love An Jin’s authenticity.
Chapter Forty-Five: Obediently Complying
I lowered my head melancholically and whispered, “There’s no need to bring up past events.”
Yan Huo stood behind me and said softly, “Come to Xi Liang with me, Thirteen. I will treat you well.”
“You?” I sneered and turned around, looking at him with raised eyebrows. “How are you any better than An Jin? At least he only has one wife on the surface. What about you? Should I harmoniously coexist with the Seventh Princess?” I shook my head. “Don’t you find this ridiculous?”
His expression turned somewhat obscure.
I smiled and took a deep breath. “Qian Zhi, stop saying those foolish words. If you still consider me a friend, just have a drink with me. These days, no one has been able to talk to me, and it feels suffocating to keep things bottled up.”
After three years, calling him by his courtesy name “Qian Zhi” felt somewhat unfamiliar. But he seemed quite happy and nodded after a brief consideration. “Okay, I’ll drink with you.”
At this moment, Que’er knocked on the door: “Madam, is it measured?”
I was slightly startled. Just as we were about to succeed, Que’er came to disrupt things…
Yan Huo’s expression remained calm, and he waved to someone behind him. I then noticed that Mo Qu, who had been following Yan Huo, was actually in the room, separated from us by a screen.
Mo Qu understood and opened the window, nimbly jumping out. I quickly looked at Yan Huo, who was also looking at me, smiling, “Don’t worry, I’ll just let her sleep for a while. When she wakes up, you’ll already be back.”
Shortly after Mo Qu left, Que’er fell silent. Mo Qu entered through the door and bowed, “Young Master, everything is arranged.”
“Good.” Yan Huo took me out the back door and went straight to a tavern. There were few customers in the tavern. Yan Huo ordered a private room and had Mo Qu stand guard outside.
A pot of plum wine, two white porcelain cups. One for me, one for him. I drank mine in one gulp, while he stared at the clear brew in his cup, looking somewhat hesitant.
I knew why he was hesitant. The Emperor of Xi Liang, Yan Huo, completely could not drink alcohol and would get drunk immediately. I had once given him a nickname: “One-Cup Drunk”.
This “One-Cup Drunk” was no exaggeration. Just a small sip would definitely make him drunk, which was why he rarely drank.
Of course, after ascending the throne, he inevitably had to drink sometimes. To maintain the emperor’s dignity, the imperial physicians had probably developed some medicine to prevent him from getting drunk, to be taken before drinking. However, this time coming to see me, he probably didn’t expect to be pulled here to drink, so he likely hadn’t taken any anti-intoxication medicine.
And I was betting on the word “drunk.” But Yan Huo was craftier than a fox. If I were to encourage him to drink, he might become suspicious. It was better to retreat to advance and let him drink willingly.
I said, “Oh, I almost forgot you can’t drink. No matter, just watch me drink.”
I poured myself another cup and drank it, murmuring, “Why do you—” I sighed. “Clearly, being sober is not as good as being drunk. Everyone is drunk, so why should I stay awake?”
Yan Huo, oh Yan Huo, don’t blame me for calculating against you. In fact, have you ever truly been sincere to me? Thinking too clearly is like a beautiful woman suddenly opening her mouth to reveal a worm’s tooth – it can’t help but feel disgusting.
He saw me wanting to speak but hesitating and suddenly grabbing my hand, saying, “Thirteen, why did you marry An Jin? Why didn’t you wait for me to come back?”
This question made me somewhat at a loss.
“Maybe it’s—” I frowned, thinking carefully. “Probably—because of age?”
He was stunned.
Yan Or was probably speechless, frowning and turning his head, actually grabbing the white porcelain cup on the table and drinking it down in one gulp, most likely treating the wine in the cup as tea. I was stunned. We hadn’t even used our full strength yet, and he had already obediently complied? He was not yet aware of what he was drinking, his brown pupils misty, tightly locked on my eyes: “Thirteen, some things are not as simple as you think.”
Before he could finish speaking, his expression became confused, and with a rapid flush spreading across his face, he softly collapsed. This time he was drunk, thoroughly drunk. He was drunk at an inopportune moment, seemingly about to tell me something important. His words were eerily similar to those from the Eastern Palace long ago, which was quite suspicious, but I had no time to think more. After scanning the surroundings to ensure no one was around, I quickly began to feel—no, search. Important items would definitely be kept close to the body. I reached inside his clothes, searching up and down thoroughly, only finding a dragon-patterned jade pendant.
Although valuable, it didn’t look like a confidential item. I was perplexed—could it be hidden in his shoes? After some internal struggle, just as I was about to act, my eyes inadvertently caught a jade ring on his hand. This blue jade ring had a unique design, with a slender ring body but a large jade lotus flower mounted on the ring base, giving an inexplicable sense of incongruity. Crucially, I had seen similar rings with this strange feeling on Su Hui’s hand, only hers was a peony flower. If I remembered correctly, Su Xi also had an identical ring.
Could the peony be a symbol of the Su family? But these similar jade rings didn’t seem to prove anything—maybe they just liked carving flowers on jade to wear. I placed Yan Or’s hand on the small table, carefully observing, then gently felt with my finger, discovering an extremely small protrusion on the right side of the lotus flower. My heart stirred, and I pressed force on the protrusion. The jade lotus flower suddenly opened, splitting into four petals in different directions. Inside was another world, hiding an exquisite small seal, carved with a drawn bow and arrow, with a small “Liang” character in the upper right corner. Undoubtedly, this was exactly what I was looking for.
I quickly took out the ink pad I had prepared, pressing the lotus seal deep into the ink, capturing its outline. After confirming no traces were left on the jade seal, I put away the ink pad, restored the ring to its original state, and placed Yan Or’s hand back by his side, preparing to call Mo Qu, who was standing at the door, to bring some sobering medicine.
Just as I reached the door, I heard a familiar voice that made my heart skip—it was Su Hui.
Whenever Su Hui spoke, I wanted to explode. “An Dage, are you here to find the madam? The madam seemed to have just entered with the Emperor of Western Liang, probably to drink and catch up… An Dage, please don’t be angry, don’t misunderstand the madam!”
I was desperate. Should I escape through the window? No, not feasible. This was the third floor!
What was going on? An Jin’s arrival was one thing, but why was Su Hui here too? Could it be—I glanced back at Yan Or, who was red-faced and slumped on the table. Could he have deliberately arranged this scene?
But that didn’t make sense. I proposed the drinking, so he shouldn’t have anticipated this. With Yan Or’s methods, he wouldn’t stoop to such a tasteless, underhanded trick.
I walked around her, looking dejected and contrite as I approached An Jin: “Husband, I shouldn’t have drunk with His Majesty and even got him drunk.”
An Jin seemed both amused and annoyed, glancing at Su Hui and Mo Qu before dragging me away without a word.
