Chapter 47
Xie Qinghong felt that the yellow wine was really strong, burning her cheeks slightly. Her thoughts were also vague and she didn't know where they were. Finally, she rested her forehead on Pei Du's shoulder and muttered to him, "You're so annoying."
Everything is fine when you don't see me, but once you see me, you feel annoyed. Sigh...
Xie Qinghong found it hard to resist hitting him.
Pei Du held her shoulder with one hand and took out a folding fan, gently fanning her until her cheeks felt less hot. He then stopped.
Did you have fun today?
Xie Qinghong then had something to say: "Of course I'm happy. Zheng Yingluo invited me to the banquet just to see me make a fool of myself. I told her so many jokes, let's see if she listened to them or not."
Pei Du chuckled, then recalled the conversation with the Hu prince earlier, and his mood immediately sombered. He said unhappily, "I've never seen you dressed like this before." Xie Ayao was naturally beautiful, but her beauty was always natural. This lush, peach-like appearance was a different kind of beauty altogether.
She was more beautiful than Pei Du had ever seen.
Upon hearing this, Xie Qinghong looked up and scanned Pei Du from head to toe. Pei Du wasn't wearing his black robes today; instead, he wore a moon-white long robe, giving him the appearance of a refined and gentle young gentleman. His ever-present longsword was placed aside, making him look nothing like the legendary peerless war god.
As she scanned him back and forth, Pei Du straightened his back. After a while, he heard her sigh, "You're not quite the same as usual. You don't look very good to me today."
Pei Du, with a keen thirst for knowledge, asked, "Why?"
Xie Qinghong replied in a serious tone, "You look rather frail, more like a gigolo I forced upon you."
Pei Du: "...So this is what Madam likes?"
Xie Qinghong said disdainfully, "We're not even married yet, what are you calling 'Madam'? People will laugh their heads off if they hear you."
Pei Du chuckled: "She'll be my wife sooner or later, so let's call her that early and get used to it, so we don't get it wrong one day."
Noticing the carriage passing the street corner, Xie Qinghong suddenly realized: "What are you doing here? I haven't heard my father or brothers mention you, and there's nothing important going on in court. Why did you suddenly come to Wangjing?"
Pei Du then became more serious and said, "I have some important matters to attend to. I arrived a few days ago and have already paid my respects to Lord Xie."
Xie Qinghong asked in surprise, "Then why didn't my father mention it to me? If you hadn't shown up today, I wouldn't have known you were here."
Pei Du patted her head: "It's alright, it's not too late to know now. I have to go to the palace to pay my respects later, so I'll take you home."
Upon returning to the Xie residence, Xie Qinghong learned what Pei Du had come for. She looked at her father in shock: "The wedding date has been changed to the middle of next month? Why the rush? Why did you agree to it?"
Xie Wen was also reluctant to see his daughter get married, but after thinking it over and discussing it carefully with his wife these past few days, he felt it would be better to marry his daughter off to the south sooner rather than later, since no one knew what the winter would bring. Moreover, his daughter's dowry had already been prepared, and all the proper etiquette was in place, so even if it was next month, it wouldn't be too rushed.
After listening to her father's explanation, Xie Qinghong frowned and went back to her room. First, she took out her grudge book and wrote down ten grudges against Pei Du. Then she found the strange biography written in the Hu language. Now that she had a deep understanding of the Hu language, she could read the book without any difficulty.
After studying it carefully for a long time, she made the following guess: Assuming that the Hu language book records historical facts, then it is tentatively set as the first life of Qin Heng. After being defeated by the Sheng Kingdom, he surrendered to the Hu people and obtained the position of Minister of Literature. Then, when he had nothing to do, he wrote a book with himself as the protagonist, "Rebirth: I Reached the Rank of the Three Dukes by My Own Efforts". Perhaps in order to make up for his regrets, he made up a lot of illogical plots.
For example, before his rebirth, Zheng Yingluo disliked him, but after his rebirth, she was devoted to him. Another example is that if it weren't for the invasion of the Hu people, no matter how hard he tried, he would never have been able to become one of the Three Dukes.
Ironically, they should now be living in his fabricated book, and the course of the story has already deviated from the original plan since the drowning incident at the beginning of the year, after all, the origin of the extra Song Lingxi is a mystery.
In comparison, Xie Qinghong felt that dreaming about the contents of the book and then finding the book was not strange at all—the world is actually a book, what could be more bizarre than that?
Almost forgot, there are even more bizarre things, like this book can grant wishes, and last time her wish came true.
Xie Qinghong recalled Pei Du's face. She hadn't looked closely today, but the scar should have faded by now, so he was relieved that he hadn't become ugly.
She took out the book not to make a wish, but because she felt that Qin Heng was still a potential threat. After all, he had the potential to side with the Hu people. She thought to herself, if Zheng Yingluo found out that Qin Heng was having affairs and parted ways with him, would the foundation of the world in this book be broken?
Is it even possible for my marriage to go through?
Before she could figure it out, Pei Du came out of the palace and said that he had specially informed His Majesty that His Majesty had granted permission for the marriage to take place on the fifteenth of next month, so they should set off south at the end of this month.
Because Pei Du came to visit, the Xie family specially hosted a banquet for him that evening. Pei Du was forced to drink heavily by Xie Qingzhou, who disliked him, and in the end, both of them were completely drunk.
Pei Du was so drunk that it was not appropriate for his attendants to take him away, so he was left to rest in the guest courtyard for the night.
Xie Qinghong sneaked over when no one was around, expecting to see a drunkard lying unconscious on the bed, but to his surprise, he saw him practicing swordsmanship under the moonlight with his outer garments off.
The moonlight was like water, the sword's edge gleamed coldly, its sharpness intimidating.
Xie Qinghong was stunned and couldn't help but stay to admire him. After a moment, he realized that this man had actually been pretending to be drunk, and his brother had been fooled by him again.
When he stopped, she deliberately coughed lightly to remind him of her presence.
Under the moonlight, Pei Du remained calm, sheathed his sword, walked up to her, and suddenly leaned down to kiss her, saying, "It's getting late, why haven't you rested yet, Madam?"
Xie Qinghong was dumbfounded. This person was really bold. He dared to harass her in her own home and wasn't afraid that her father and brothers would come after him.
She took a step back and warned in a low voice, "Pei Du, this is my home!"
Pei Du blinked, then rubbed his forehead, as if he didn't understand what she was saying, and said aggrievedly, "Madam, I'm dizzy, please help me."
"Why are you practicing swordsmanship when you're dizzy? Go lie down on the bed!" Xie Qinghong frowned and helped him into the room. Once he was on the bed, she didn't want to bother with him anymore. How dare someone who was pretending to be drunk order him around?
Unexpectedly, the man grabbed her hand and asked, "Where are you going, Madam? It's time to rest."
Xie Qinghong was baffled, then realized that this person seemed to be really drunk. She narrowed her eyes and said with ill intent, "I'm angry and don't want to be with you. You know what you did wrong."
Pei Du seemed somewhat confused and thought for a moment before tentatively replying, "Is it because I didn't tell you about my amnesia last time and how I forgot you? Or is it because I still keep your ugly portrait in the study?"
Oh my, what is all this about? Xie Qinghong immediately perked up, picked up the candlestick and shone it on his face, pretending to interrogate him fiercely: "Tell me all the other mistakes you have made, or I'll torture you."
When drunk, Pei Du looked very honest. He smiled when the candlelight shone on him, and then began to whisper, "I bumped my head last time and forgot who you were. I thought you were the one my father had arranged to marry into the Xie family. My father even took advantage of my forgetfulness and deliberately lied to me, saying that he wanted to break off the engagement with your family."
Xie Qinghong hadn't expected the story to be so complicated; the Southern King didn't seem like a respectable person either.
She leaned over and touched his head, asking where he had hurt himself.
Pei Du looked at her and laughed: "I've been fine for a long time. I remembered after taking medicine for a month."
"What's the story behind that portrait?"
Pei Du stopped laughing: "I was wrong. My painting skills are not good enough. It doesn't resemble you at all."
"Are there any other mistakes?" Xie Qinghong asked again.
Pei Du pondered for a long time, then shook his head: "That's all. You know everything else. Are you still angry?"
Xie Qinghong was slightly disappointed. She thought she could find something to use against Pei Du, so she could only put the candlestick back. But as soon as she turned around, he grabbed her skirt again and said, "Where are you going, Madam? You should rest."
Xie Qinghong said helplessly, "I'm not your wife yet. You should rest by yourself. I need to go back to my room to rest."
Pei Du frowned in disbelief: "We're clearly married. You've married me, so how can you say you're not my wife? Did you take advantage of me while I was drunk?"
Xie Qinghong laughed in exasperation: "You know you're drunk? If you're drunk, lie down and go to sleep. Don't force me to really bully you."
Pei Du stubbornly refused to let go, so Xie Qinghong didn't hold back and pushed him away, but he couldn't budge him.
Pei Du reacted for a moment, then slowly fell backward with her force, saying, "I'm lying down."
Xie Qinghong didn't understand. Why was this person so clingy when he was drunk? He didn't seem like the rumored heir of the Southern Prince at all.
"Lie still and don't move," Xie Qinghong warned, glancing around before spotting a vermilion brush on the table. She picked it up and began applying it to Pei Du's face.
Pei Du was really easy to bully when he was drunk; he obediently let her scribble on him without making a move.
"All done." Xie Qinghong looked at his masterpiece with satisfaction. A crab with bared teeth and claws had been drawn on Pei Du's handsome face.
Her drawing skills were quite good; the crab looked lifelike. Satisfied, she stopped and deliberately said, "If you don't go to sleep, this crab will bite you."
Seeing that Pei Du had finally been coaxed to sleep, Xie Qinghong bumped into Pei's servant as she left the house. The servant paused, then immediately looked away, pretending that he hadn't seen anything.
Xie Qinghong felt guilty and dared not look him in the eye. She hurriedly returned to her room and added ten more grudges against Pei Du.
The next day, she woke up early and went to the guest courtyard, thinking that she should destroy the evidence as soon as possible before Pei Du got up. However, she saw the servant from last night standing at the door, looking at her with a resentful expression when he saw her coming.
Now Xie Qinghong couldn't pretend he hadn't seen anything, so he could only cough lightly and ask, "Has Prince Pei gotten up?"
The attendant said with a bitter face, "You've risen. Miss Xie, please go in and try to persuade her."
Xie Qinghong asked in surprise, "What are you advising me on?"
The attendant said, "The young master woke up this morning to find a huge crab on his face and decided not to wash it today. He's determined to go out with that crab on his face. I really couldn't persuade him otherwise."
Xie Qinghong was shocked and rushed in immediately. Sure enough, Pei Du was still wearing that crab on his head and hadn't washed his face. Although it didn't affect his appearance, where was she supposed to put her face?!
"No, hurry up and wash your face!" She wrung out a towel with hot water herself, wanting to wipe it off for him, but Pei Du was tall and had long legs, so he turned his face away and she couldn't touch it.
"Why should I wash it? This is evidence that Miss Xie bullied me. I have to go out and let Master Xie see it."
Xie Qinghong held onto his arm, preventing him from moving, and said angrily, "Don't even think about complaining to my father. He will only side with me."
Pei Du then pretended to walk out: "Let Lord Xie judge this. Someone drew a crab on my face and won't even let me file a complaint."
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