Zhi Wei sighs, and sits down on the opposite side and pulls out another crystal cup. Quickly pouring the last of the wine into the cup, Zhi Wei hands it to top “Wine!”

Master Gu takes the cup and the next instant hands back the empty cup with a single walnut inside.

I want! (Remember from the last post, Walnut= code for I want!)

Zhi Wei replies sorrowfully “This is the only bottle.”

“Master Gu, I still have half of a cup of wine left here, do you want it?” Ning Yi’s expression had darkened when Zhi Wei had handed off the wine so his tone was quite cold right now.

Master Gu’s only answer was a wormy walnut.

Ning Yi silently asks Zhi Wei with a questioning look what Mr. Gu meant by it. After peering at the worm for a while, Zhi Wei replies “Maybe he wants to say–Bah!”

A speechless Ning Yi raises a hand and turns the wormy walnut into dust.

“I say, Your Highness, is it worth it to you to leave for something so small as the south sea shipping?” Zhi Wei quickly puts away the precious grape wine that has come from the far west and asks “You trust the Capital so much? And distrust me so much?”

“You think too highly of yourself.” Ning Yi laughs “I am like you, ordered by the Emperor to be in charge of the armies both on land and sea.”

“The Cheng Clan might revolt?” Zhi Wei promptly guessed.

“Just in case.” Ning Yi says “The Chan Clan has had many years to cultivate their own people in that area so no one knows for certain how many soldiers they really have. The officials we have sent over there can’t outrank him so without sending someone there with some actual authority we have no hope of managing the situation if something happens.”

“If you leave, then what about the Capital?” Zhi Wei can’t see this is a good time for Ning Yi to leave.

“Second Brother has been sent far away on some mission in the mountains, Seventh has been sent off by the Emperor to take over what Fifth didn’t finish last time. The only one by the Emperor’s side is Tenth.” Not looking worried, Ning Yi assures her “There won’t be a problem.”

No wonder Ning Yi would agree to leave the Capital. The Emperor has actually sent all of his grown sons away on different assignments. With his trusty people still at the helm watching over his interest, Ning Yi doesn’t have to worry about the Capital. Moreover, Tenth has been close to Ning Yi since he was young so there is no worry there either.

 

Still, Zhi Wei thought of another question and asks with amusement “The Emperor sure feels quite confident of his own health. Does he not worry if he gets sick at this age and something happens while his sons are all far away, what he is going to do?”

“Perhaps he actually feels that he could live longer without his sons around.” Not mincing words, Ning Yi replies with a coldness in his tone.

Zhi Wei smiles and is about to say something when her sleeve begins to jingle and two golden creatures come out of them.

“The golden monkeys?” Stunned, Ning Yi asks “They are not dead? Where did you get them from?”

“That night after Fifth Prince’s assassination attempt, I found them hiding underneath the hallway before I left.” Gently stroking the golden fur, Zhi Wei explains “These two little ones were hiding in the gap beneath the hallway outside of the royal library. They would sneak out at night to lick the ink stone and had actually gained some weight. I’ve always liked these sort of things and knew if I handed them over to the palace guard they would only be killed, so I sneaked them out.” (I used the word golden monkeys to describe the monkeys but the official name for them is “ink monkey”. They are about the size of a person’s thumb and supposedly likes to eat ink. According to the Chinese wiki, the nobles back in the days likes to raise them as pets because the monkeys can be trained to help to use the ink pad. This species has long become extinct but in South America, there are Marmosets which I believe are about the same size as the ink monkeys.)

The two golden monkeys leaped back and forth on Zhi Wei’s fingers, their golden fur brushing against her hand. Staring at the monkeys, Ning Yi started to reach out a hand to stop her but gives up halfway.

Observing the whole thing, Zhi Wei hides a small smile.

When she first brought back the golden monkeys, Gu Nan Yi would not allow her to touch them but took them away for a bit before returning them to her. By the time the monkeys were brought back, their fur was back to their shiny self like when she first saw them. Someone had indeed done something to the monkeys. She had wondered if it was really Fifth Prince like everyone thought or if it was Ning Yi. Judging by Ning Yi’s action, it was him after all.

Gu Nan Yi didn’t explain but she guessed that the paper used during the feast were specially treated to make the monkeys violent.

If Ning Yi is the one behind the whole thing, then why did he stop right after the Emperor was poisoned? Ning Yi is not someone who would stop once he started something so why didn’t he push ahead but had instead backed way off?

“Father wasn’t poisoned.” Reading the question in her eyes, Ning Yi says with a trace of bitterness “Whoever jumps in to make waves…will end up on the list to pay dearly later.”

Zhi Wei’s heart dropped and felt like her body was plunged into a bucket of ice water– the Emperor was really pretending to be poisoned!

Thinking back to what the Emperor had said “Ning Yi, go investigate”, cold sweat broke out on Zhi Wei– a person who was just poisoned, how could he have expressed himself so clearly? And how full of maliciousness was in that sentence of “Ning Yi, go investigate”! If Ning Yi had not guessed the Emperor was pretending to be poisoned and jumped on the authority his father’s word gave him to do everything possible…then, what would be waiting for him now?

Being in the royal family is like walking on the edge of a cliff, one miss step is the end.

Lost in her thought, Zhi Wei suddenly felt her fingers captured by someone as Ning Yi’s low throaty chuckle immediately sounded by her ear “Your hand is so cold, are you worried about me?”

Snapping out of her trance, Zhi Wei smiles and say “Yes, I worry that I won’t be able to collect the money for the grape wine.”

“Such a heartless woman…” Ning Yi chuckles again by her ear, his warm breath tickling her. Pressing forward when Zhi Wei tries to lean back, Ning Yi whispers “You are heartless, but I don’t dare to be the same. What I said before (when he said that she thought too highly of herself) was a lie, I really can’t stop worrying about you…”

Irritated, Zhi Wei wants to push him away but worry that the guy above might notice and the carriage would end up with holes plugged by walnuts. However, the carriage is way too small and there is no place to dodge so a certain someone refuses to move his head off her shoulder. Now that a certain someone is away from Capital, he seems to be much more relaxed…which makes Zhi Wei worry how she is supposed to deal with His Highness on this long trip.

He is a better fighter than her, he is higher in status so she can’t win in a yelling match, he is better than at her conspiring, he is more ruthless than her…

Her eyes darting around, Zhi Wei suddenly grins and grabs a bottle of wine “Is that so? Then I will use this wine to toast Your Highness for worrying about me.”

Leaning against her languidly, Ning Yi is quite satisfied with the carriage’s small space and waves his hand to signal to Zhi Wei that she has his permission to serve him. Giving Ning Yi a fake smile, Zhi Wei suddenly pinches Ning Yi’s nose to make him open his mouth by reflex before promptly dunking the whole bottle of wine into his mouth.

Zhi Wei was quite fast and since Ning Yi was not expecting a certain woman to be so ruthless before he realizes what had happened, he had already drunk the whole bottle of wine. Coughing until he was teary-eyed, a red tinge brightened Ning Yi’s porcelain skin until it glowed dazzlingly, a sight that would’ve made anyone who was lucky enough to see dizzy.

Unfortunately, Zhi Wei has never been the normal sort. She is not dizzy nor dazzled. Not sparing the drunken beauty a glance, a smiling Zhi Wei toss up the “Three Days Drunk” wine upward and calls out “Walnut Powder.” (Code= Do as you wish.)

Master Gu exit out of the top of the carriage carrying Prince Chu and to the stun silence of all those present, promptly chose the most shabby looking carriage that carries the dry goods to stuff His Highness in.

Shocked that Prince Chu had shown up and confused why he is being treated in this manner, the crowd watches as Zhi Wei pokes out half of her body yelling “Master Gu, that’s Prince Chu, you can’t be rude to His Highness…”

Waving and stumping her foot, Zhi Wei’s expression is full of anxiousness…until Master Gu felt she was overacting and shot a walnut her way.

Jumping back into the carriage promptly, Zhi Wei lays down to enjoy her wine.

Ah! Everyone finally realizes that Official Wei wasn’t the rude one but it was Master Gu’s doing. Of course that makes perfect sense given that Master Gu is someone who even dares to beat up the Crown Prince, who could really stop him? Several people rush forward to rescue Ning Yi but a very excited Helian shows up to shoo everyone away “I’ll do it, I’ll do it!” Grabbing the precious Prince Chu, Helian has the biggest grin on his face as he carries Ning Yi to the second horse carriage. However, Helian didn’t set Ning Yi on the seat but stuffed him with all his might UNDER the seat.

Completely wiped out in one single instant thanks to the super wine, poor Ning Yi only had time to raise a finger to point at Zhi Wei’s direction before passing out completely.

 

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