Seeing Second Prince standing there stiffly, the ever so considerate Seventh Prince quickly chimed in with a laugh, “We have been here for a good while now but had to come searching by ourselves since you haven’t even come to greet us with a toast. Drink up as your punishment! Drink up!” The Seventh Prince then orders three large cups to be brought over. 

The cups were brought out and they were as big as washbasins. Dumfounded, Feng Zhi Wei muttered while holding her forehead, “There is no need to punish me anymore, I will just jump in and drown myself.” 

The group laughed as they all entered the hall. After a reshuffle of seating, the new noble guests were naturally seated with Feng Zhi Wei. Those who originally occupied those seats knew they were not qualified to be seated with these princes and scholars so they promptly vacated the seats, exchanging worried glances with one another. 

Those who came today don’t seem to have come with good intentions. Official Wei is by himself, and now they’ve brought out the wine, how should he deal with it? 

According to Tiansheng’s rules, Scholar Hu who has been the princes’ teacher should be the most respected and be seated at the highest level. The next should be Prince Chu, the highest-ranking among the princes. However, if they followed the rules, then Feng Zhi Wei, who is the party’s focus, will end up way down the line. 

A smiling Feng Zhi Wei pushed Old Hu onto the honored seat but when it comes to Ning Yi, what he got was a polite bow and a slight extension of a hand, “Your Highness, please, please.” 

Ning Yi smiled, “You are the honored guest today, you go ahead, you go ahead.” 

Fearing that they could all forget about eating if the two of them keep going with their never-ending polite small talks, Old Hu rolled his eyes and then grinned, “According to decorum, the second seat belongs to Prince Chu. However, according to our empire’s rules, a sage is also a great guest. Lord Wei is a great sage for our empire. Therefore, for this feast, why don’t we have His Highness and Lord Wei sit together.” (The title of Lord came from our heroine’s title as a Marquis.) 

Everyone agreed. The second prince said with a smile, “Ning Yi could use this opportunity to bond a bit more with Official Wei.” 

A smiling Ning Yi gave Old Hu a glance, then looked at Feng Zhi Wei. 

Feng Zhi Wei let out a wry smile and said obediently, “Too much honor for someone like me.” (This sounds like a rejection but it’s a way of Chinese speaking where you put yourself down while accepting a gift or compliment.) 

Ning Yi laughed and was about to take her hand to go sit down when something green flashed by and a hand forcefully slapped away his hand. In a whirlwind, the second seat has already been seated. 

Gu Nan Yi and his little Gu Zhi Xiao. 

Sitting in the seat, Master Gu said in a matter-of-fact manner, “I am with her.”

Everyone exchanged silent looks with one another– Broken sleeves broken to this extent, something only the always shocking Master Gu could do. 

Ning Yi stopped, took a long look at Master Gu, and suddenly said with a smile, “Sure, you are with her.” 

Then pulls Feng Zhi Wei with him to the third seat. 

“……”

Master Gu was about to get up and give chase to the third seat but alas, his little Gu Zhi Xiao was unwilling and stubbornly refused to move as she yelled loudly, “Daddy with Zhi Xiao!” 

Sitting across, a smiling Ning Yi leisurely played with the wine cup in his hand and said “A seat can only seat a maximum of two people, do we really have to squeeze four people into it?” 

Feng Zhi Wei let out a resigned smile and made a gesture of “it’s okay” to Master Gu. 

Master Gu didn’t make another move. He is no longer the person who did whatever he wanted without any regard for anything. He has gradually come to understand how to give in and how to hold back. However, Feng Zhi Wei keeps having this feeling that it is not necessarily her safety that he is worried about but something else….

The feast was restarted, and the other officials spread out through the restaurant also came searching after hearing the commotions. A stream of people came flowing in, continuously. There were too many people, Feng Zhi Wei couldn’t remember most of them. She only knew there were officials from all six departments, and from nine military troops. She can actually hold her liquor quite well but she was gradually fading fast. Unfortunately, Seventh Prince didn’t forget the three washbasins of wine and grabbed onto Feng Zhi Wei, “Don’t think you can get out of your punishment, drink these first.” 

He grabbed Feng Zhi Wei’s sleeve. Feng Zhi Wei pulled away with a smile. Seventh Prince’s hand fell away unconsciously and felt the skin under his hand smooth and delicate. Surprised, a thought yet had the chance the form in his mind when a moon-white sleeve abruptly barged in, and Ning Yi’s smiling voice sounded “Seventh, you are bullying people. If you are saying you want to make a toast, then why aren’t you drinking first.” 

Feng Zhi Wei quickly stood up and protest with a laugh, “How dare I let His Highness give this lowly servant a toast, I will drink up first.” 

She happily went to take the cup, secretly planning to drink it all so she can “accidentally” throw up on Ning Yi, gloriously pass out in a drunken stupor, then everyone can go home. Perfect!

A hand once again appeared out of nowhere, firmly taking away the wine cup from her. Ning Yi laughed by her ear “Lord Wei enjoyed yourself greatly with the wine but this prince is slightly worried about my clothes…so this cup of wine, why don’t I drink it for you.” 

Feng Zhi Wei raised her head and thought to herself, you drink for me? You who would pass out after one cup of wine? Once you finish this cup, then it is my clothes that will be unlucky. 

She suddenly remembered that this person actually drank alcohol in her manor previously. He didn’t really pass out after one cup. Did he always take some sort of hangover medicine first before he drinks? 

While she was pondering all these thoughts, Ning Yi had already taken the wine cup from her. Seventh Prince was not willing to let the matter rest and reached out to grab the cup but Ning Yi promptly drained the cup and grinned “Seventh, if you don’t do this for me then I won’t be lending you my rare book.” 

Seventh Prince smiled ruefully “Sixth brother is good at threatening people.” 

Second Prince jeered with half of a smile, “Seventh, this is your fault for not reading the situation properly. Who in the world doesn’t know that our Sixth Prince and Official Wei are great friends? A friendship that was forged on the battlefield. You see, I don’t insert myself to meddle between them.” 

Ning Yi supported his forehead with one hand and laughed lazily, “Second Brother, you were obviously scared of this basin-like wine cup, afraid that you would fall in and drown.” 

The crowd in the room burst out laughing. Suddenly appearing as if he was overwhelmed by the wine, Ning Yi’s body leaned to the side, half falling on Feng Zhi Wei’s shoulder. 

Feng Zhi Wei immediately wanted to fall to the side as well but who knew under the table that person would grab hold of her waist tightly. His finger scratched her tickle spot, causing her to almost burst out laughing, with no energy left to dodge. 

She thought to herself that this person was crazy, even if he wanted to take advantage of her, it shouldn’t be in such a public place. She suddenly heard Ning Yi’s voice narrowly aimed straight into her ear, “Tonight, you must not go back to your manor.” (The way this sentence is worded, it is suggesting that Ning Yi used his internal energy to compress the sound straight into Zhi Wei’s ear so it would be difficult for anyone else to hear what he said.)

Feng Zhi Wei paused and quickly held up her finger slightly to stop Master Gu from making any rash action. Keeping a smile on her face while holding up a cup to hide her mouth, “Why?” 

“Don’t think today was a coincidence. Also, don’t think that coincidence is because of you.” Ning Yi took her cup of wine and play with it on his lips, “Even if they wanted to secretly slip you a piece of paper to ask favors they would not have chosen to do it here…listen to me, leave with me in a bit.” 

Feng Zhi Wei fell silent, thinking this person and herself are not on the same side, should she really leave with him like this?       

All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com

Related Posts