"Since we're at a critical juncture, why aren't you on the front lines? What are you doing here?" Zhao Xiheng wondered. Was he here to say a final goodbye?
Wei Li slammed the wine bottle down on the table, lifted his eyes to look at her, a flash of pain crossing his dark pupils. "Don't you remember what day it is today? Why don't you tell me I'm coming here instead of going to the front lines?"
Zhao Xiheng felt a jolt in her heart when she saw his reproachful gaze, and her thoughts immediately shifted away from the perilous situation in Pingzhou.
Is today some important holiday or anniversary? She couldn't even care less about her lingering anger towards Wei Li, and hurriedly searched her memory.
What was she doing at this time last year?
It was the end of November, when she had just arrived in Pingzhou, and it didn't seem like an important day.
The only thing worth mentioning is that there's only one month left until the Lunar New Year.
Is the situation so urgent that we don't know when tomorrow will come, and we have to celebrate the New Year a month early?
No, no, could it be that today is Wei Li's birthday?
But Wei Li didn't say anything.
Her brows were furrowed, and Wei Li could tell at a glance that she clearly didn't remember. He felt a surge of anger and sorrow welling up inside him.
Taking two steps closer, he grabbed Zhao Xiheng's wrist and said, "You don't care about me at all."
You can't even remember such an important day.
She instinctively took two steps back, but Wei Li pressed closer and closer until her waist hit the edge of the table, leaving her with nowhere to retreat.
Wei Li was still moving closer to her, but Zhao Xiheng pushed him away by bracing herself against his chest. "Don't go any closer, or I'll fall onto the table."
"Zhao Xiheng, today is November 30th, the day we first met last year."
Zhao Xiheng was stunned, "..."
The day we first met?
She thought about it carefully and it seemed so.
But he actually treated these less-than-pleasant memories as something worth commemorating? Is he out of his mind?
Now that Zhao Xiheng was in the right and had become more assertive, she took advantage of his momentary lapse in attention and forcefully pushed him away. "So what if I can't remember? How dare you say that? People usually meet during the Lantern Festival while watching lanterns, but you and I were on horseback in the freezing cold, the wind was making my face hurt."
Wei Li hesitated for a moment, then finally said stiffly, "Didn't I already cover you with a cloak?"
"I was cold too! Later, when we arrived at the prefect's mansion, you made me sleep on the floor, and I ended up with a fever the next day. How dare you mention our first meeting?"
So what if they bring up old grievances? Go ahead and bring them up! She's not afraid!
Who is Wei Li trying to impress by putting on this act of feeling guilty every day?
It's clear that he treats himself badly more often than not.
Wei Li trembled at her words. At that time, he thought he hated Zhao Xiheng, which was why he treated her so badly.
He wanted to apologize to Zhao Xiheng, including for what happened last time, but his mouth seemed glued shut, and he couldn't utter a single word of "I'm sorry."
He felt as if he had been stomped into mud, his features covered in heavy, sticky dirt, unable to breathe, his heart aching, his mind blank, buzzing.
After Zhao Xiheng finished speaking, she felt much more at ease.
However, the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Wei Li had treated her so badly before. If he hadn't brought up their first meeting, she would have almost forgotten about it.
Wei Li held back for a long time, and all that flashed through his memories were unpleasant scenes.
At times like these, he couldn't help but think of Xie Qingyu.
Xie Qingyu was a man who would never raise his voice to anyone, and even properly buried the beauties and envoys he had killed.
This kind of person probably never said a harsh word to Zhao Xiheng. Compared to him, Wei Li couldn't find any merit in himself that would make Zhao Xiheng like him.
Does she have no taste? Why does she dislike people who are good-looking, good at studying, or have good tempers?
A sharp shriek filled Wei Li's mind.
He finally broke the mud seal on the wine jar, poured two bowls of wine for the two of them, drank three bowls himself, and then gave the other bowl to Zhao Xiheng, saying, "Drink."
Zhao Xiheng looked at the fruit wine in the bowl. It was a translucent, rose-red color, like crystal, and emitted a sweet fragrance.
Wei Li drank three bowls in a row. Was this a self-punishment of drinking three cups?
He was thin-skinned and would never back down, so this was probably his way of apologizing. Zhao Xiheng barely calmed down a bit, clinked her bowl against his, and then drank the wine in one gulp.
It's sweet, with a slight hint of grape tartness, and a touch of astringency from the grape skins fermented with alcohol. It's mellow, sweet, and delicious.
"Where did you buy the wine?" she asked, noting that it was indeed very well-brewed.
"General Song's daughter is getting married next month today. This is the wine for the banquet. He dug it out of the cellar and gave it to me." Seeing that she liked it, Wei Li poured her another bowl.
In the past two months, Wei Li rarely went home. After drinking in the military camp, he would not mention how good Zhao Xiheng was to them. He always had a stern face. General Song, being an experienced man, naturally saw through him. So he gave Wei Li a jar of wine and told him to go back and have a good drink with Zhao Xiheng.
Zhao Xiheng nodded. General Song was a Han Chinese, and the Han people had a custom that if a daughter was born, wine would be buried underground and dug up when the daughter got married. Wine aged for more than ten years would naturally taste better than others.
However, if a fruit wine is weak and doesn't keep well, then it must be quite potent to last for more than ten years.
She enjoyed the drink, but unaware of her own alcohol tolerance, she didn't dare touch it again after two more bowls. She had already witnessed how bad Wei Li's drinking manners were last time, and Zhao Xiheng also stopped him, not daring to let him drink any more.
With the changing customs, Zhao Xiheng noticed that drinking habits had become rougher since she came to Pingzhou. For example, fruit wine, which used to be served in a glass cup in Jinyang, was now drunk directly from a bowl.
The two of them drank more than half a jar together.
The maid took the wine away and sealed it.
Perhaps because her stomach was empty and she drank too quickly, she was easily intoxicated. Zhao Xiheng felt the effects of the alcohol kicking in. Her cheeks were flushed, her forehead was covered in fine sweat, and she was weakly supporting her head, squinting her eyes, feeling drowsy.
Wei Li touched her forehead, but Zhao Xiheng brushed his hand away, saying, "Don't touch me."
Then she stood up to take off her clothes to go to sleep, but her body was too weak to stand, so she simply sat down.
"Zhao Xiheng, it's only just gotten dark, you haven't had dinner yet." Wei Li grabbed her hand as she was about to take off her clothes.
"I'm not eating anymore, I'm sleepy." Zhao Xiheng shook her head. She was still conscious, but her body was too weak, and she desperately wanted to sleep.
Her clothes were half undone, revealing a section of her collarbone, which appeared even more delicate and fair under the flickering candlelight, slender and bony, making one want to bite it.
The two had been estranged for two months, and Wei Li naturally hadn't been able to get close to her for two months. Seeing this scene, his throat went dry, and he felt that he couldn't hold his liquor. "I'm sleepy too, I'll stay with you."
Zhao Xiheng nodded, her vision blurred, and she could barely hold onto her clothes. She was so angry that she was about to cry.
Wei Li held her hand and tried to negotiate with her, "How about I help you?"
Zhao Xiheng nodded; it wasn't like he hadn't taken his clothes off before.
She is now gradually losing her senses and believes whatever others say. If she were in a clear-headed state, how could she not sense Wei Li's ill intentions?
Wei Li lowered all the curtains, then sat down opposite her, took her moon-white sash in his hand, and gently pulled it.
Zhao Xiheng was so sleepy that she leaned forward, resting her chin on his shoulder, her eyes narrowed to slits, and she was almost asleep.
The charcoal fire in the room was burning brightly, and Zhao Xiheng didn't feel cold at all when Wei Li untied the belt of her undergarment.
He lifted her up and placed her on the bed, then kissed her earlobe and tickled her, which displeased her. "I want to sleep," she said.
Wei Li's heart was pounding. Taking advantage of her drunkenness and unconsciousness, he whispered in her ear, "A-Dan, just once, okay? You can sleep after that."
He can now openly call her by her childhood nickname, and if she wakes up and notices, he can simply say that she was drunk and hallucinating.
Instead of haggling with him, Zhao Xiheng asked him, sounding quite aggrieved, "Will it be enough to fall asleep in one go?"
"Mmm." Wei Li kissed the corner of her mouth. "But you have to be on top."
Zhao Xiheng tried to put it into practice clumsily, but due to her lack of experience, she didn't do it well, and both of them were very upset.
"You're lying, just say it once." Zhao Xiheng cried and bit his shoulder. "I want to sleep."
“But you only did half of it, so you broke the contract and you have to do it again.”
Wei Li's upper body was bare, with large tattoos of Pan Geng on his neck, shoulders, back, and abdomen. Zhao Xiheng had been longing to see them, but she hadn't been able to see them when she was sober.
He intertwined his fingers with Zhao Xiheng's and pressed down heavily, the muscles on his shoulder blades taut into a line, the curve smooth and explosive. Fine sweat slid down his shoulder blades and dripped onto Zhao Xiheng's fair skin, a scene of bewitching eroticism, his eyes filled with a desire and madness that could devour a person.
Zhao Xiheng cried out in pain, "I don't want you anymore."
Wei Li's slightly upturned eyes were tinged with lust. Her words ignited his anger, and he freed one hand to grab her sharp chin, his smile twisting into a ferocious grin that revealed his pearly white teeth. "If you don't want me, who do you want?"
"Zhao Xiheng, you are mine, do you know that?" He channeled all his possessiveness and anger into his actions, and Zhao Xiheng's words were broken by his violent movements, unable to form a coherent sentence.
After drinking, Zhao Xiheng was as soft as water, allowing him to do whatever he wanted with her. However, she was crying very hard, and her pitiful appearance calmed Wei Li down a little.
He held Zhao Xiheng tightly in his arms and kissed away the tears on her flushed cheeks. "A-Dan, A-Dan, you are mine. Don't leave me. I'll take you with me even if I die."
The time was too long; this time it lasted almost from dusk until the next morning.
Men's words in bed are all lies; they don't even bother to think before they speak, and they can keep fooling you once, twice, three or four times.
When Zhao Xiheng woke up, her whole body ached—her head, legs, back, and knees all hurt.
Even if she had completely forgotten what happened last night, she could still guess most of it.
Grass (a type of plant)
Did she say she forgave him? Did she say they made up? How shameless of her age!
Liu Huan and Wang Zhiyao's troops should hurry in and kill Wei Li! They're about to lose their temper and do it if they don't kill her soon.
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