Chapter 117 Raising a Cup to the Moon, Sweetness Turns to Bitterness
A banquet had already been set up in the hall, and the only guest was Yang Xiao.
Xiao Yan waved his hand to dismiss the servants, and then pulled Yang Xiao to sit down as host and guest.
“Come on,” she poured Yang Xiao a glass of wine, then raised it again, “From today onwards, our great battle is about to begin. Let’s drink this first to boost our morale.”
Yang Xiao frowned slightly, picked up her wine glass and glanced at Xiao Yan. Seeing that Xiao Yan was not paying attention, she lightly touched her lips to the glass and then put it aside. "What kind of great battle requires us to face each other? Do you also want to go to the battlefield to practice your skills?"
Seeing Yang Xiao's uninterested yet joking expression, Xiao Yan shook her head. "The officialdom is a battlefield. Xiao Yun and I have officially drawn our lines." She downed her drink in one gulp. "So? Which side are you going to choose?"
"What's wrong? Did you have a fight?" Yang Xiao turned her head to look at Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan was taken aback by his words. "I guess so." She couldn't help but laugh. "Are you treating me like a child? Why are you pretending not to know what's going on?"
"Hmm?" Yang Xiao also smiled and glanced at Xiao Yan. "I don't understand. Your relationship is more complicated than your chess game. I can't figure it out."
Xiao Yan smiled upon hearing this, "In short, the treacherous party must be eliminated. As long as they are not eliminated, the people in the camp will not have a day of peace."
"Since you know so much, don't try to probe my secrets. For the sake of the people, I can be your weapon, but I won't acknowledge you as my master until you've laid everything bare."
Xiao Yan poured another cup of wine into his glass. "Don't worry, you just need to state your position. I'm much more familiar with the ways of officialdom than you are."
"What," Yang Xiao sneered, "are you using me as a pawn?"
"Aren't chess pieces all reciprocal?" Xiao Yan downed his drink in one gulp and looked at Yang Xiao. "Any emotion, any relationship, is reciprocal."
Yang Xiao picked up the osmanthus cake from the plate and looked at Xiao Yan, "Could it be that in your world, there are no betrayers?"
Xiao Yan smiled and looked back at Yang Xiao, "Only fools who can't see through people's hearts will be betrayed. Those who betray are also those who are fatherless, rulerless, and faithless."
Yang Xiao held the pastries and stared at Xiao Yan for a long time without saying a word.
Xiao Yan was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "It feels like you're talking about myself, doesn't it?"
Yang Xiao smiled and shook her head, taking a bite of the pastry in her hand.
Soft and sweet, the rich aroma of osmanthus immediately filled her mouth. She seemed to understand why Bai Ming loved pastries.
Thinking of this, a smile unconsciously appeared on her face. She looked at the osmanthus cake in her hand with a smile in her eyes, and Bai Ming's voice and smile appeared in her mind again. She closed her eyes and sighed softly, as if to calm her restless emotions.
"What's wrong? Had too much to drink?" Xiao Yan turned his head to look at Yang Xiao. "What are you grinning like an idiot at a piece of pastry? If you like it, I'll have someone send you some."
“Okay,” Yang Xiao came back to her senses, leaned back in her chair and nodded, “Send more.”
Xiao Yan looked at Yang Xiao and smiled, "What were you thinking about just now?"
"I'm wondering, now that you've called me an idiot, should I still help you?"
Xiao Yan laughed upon hearing this. "When have I ever insulted you? You're just taking it personally." As she spoke, she was about to pour wine for Yang Xiao, but when she lifted the wine pot, she saw that Yang Xiao's wine glass was full. She clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. "Why is it full? Drink up."
After watching Yang Xiao down the wine in one gulp, Xiao Yan poured her more wine while saying, "You are naturally very smart, otherwise how could you have guessed my scheme on the battlefield back then?"
Yang Xiao smiled, resting her chin on her hand. "Even if I hadn't killed him back then, he would still be my enemy now, right? It's better that he died on the battlefield, saving me the trouble now."
“Cheng Feng is Xiao Yun’s confidant, and naturally he is also very vicious and greedy. He is always at odds with Yang Song, hindering my deployment of troops to secure the city and protect the people, and he is single-mindedly thinking about making Xiao Yun the emperor and dominate the world.” Xiao Yan turned his head to look at Yang Xiao, who was eating tea and snacks. “When you killed him back then, you didn’t know how many troubles you had brought to my life.”
“Your setup is much better,” Yang Xiao replied while munching on a snack, “much better than your brother’s.”
Xiao Yan chuckled a few times and took a sip of wine. "Be careful lately. You're about to clash with Bai Ming, and Xiao Yun might be on guard against you at every turn."
“Let him be wary,” Yang Xiao swallowed her snacks and took another sip of hot tea. “What, you don’t trust me either?”
"How could that be?"
Yang Xiao put down her teacup and let out a long sigh. "Thanks anyway."
The soft moonlight streamed through the window and fell gently onto the table, as if it were trying to tell a story.
Yang Xiao looked up following the faint light on her hand, and saw the full moon shrouded in a misty haze. The hazy light lingered on her fingertips, flowing with a story only she knew.
After their first meeting on the battlefield, they talked under the moon. Zhongli An stood on tiptoe to reach the locust blossoms under the moon, or Cen Xun danced with his sword as the flowers fell, or Zhongli Shuo wielded his fiery longsword in the night.
She nodded and chuckled softly, as if a touch of everyday life had touched the tip of her nose.
The fog thickened, and the moonlight falling into my palm gradually dimmed.
Perhaps due to the effects of the alcohol, Yang Xiao's heart tightened, and she quickly clenched her fingers, trying to gather the light in her palm. But in an instant, the barely perceptible light slipped from her fingertips and disappeared onto the table.
Her joyful mood vanished instantly. She looked up at the window questioningly, only to see that the once full moon was now just a shadow beneath the thick fog.
How could you not even hold onto this little bit of light?
She gazed wistfully at the moon, a bitter smile playing on her lips.
Those days of invincibility are long gone, and all the feelings associated with them have vanished.
The bright moon carries her longing. For Yang Xiao, the governor's mansion in Ji Province felt more like home than Chixiao Prefecture. Or rather, home was wherever they were.
Yes, this battle is not just for myself, for the world, and for my family. For my blood relatives, and for the family who have shared life and death with me all the way.
On the other side of this month, Cen Xun was probably still studying formations, Bai Ming was still fiddling with his spear, Qi Kun and Xue Chang were working on strategies for dealing with the enemy, and Zhong Li'an was dealing with a table full of official documents as usual.
So, how is this any different from usual?
The intermittent notes of Zhong Lishuo's first piano playing resurfaced in Yang Xiao's mind, and then she pictured Cen Xun, drenched in sweat, wielding his zither.
Perhaps the jade disc and silk ribbon that Bai Ming shot down on Qixi Festival are still hanging in his tent. If that's the case, how could they have parted ways?
As the thick fog dissipated, the moonlight tentatively touched Yang Xiao's hand again, but this time it was met with a disdainful yet slightly smug look from Yang Xiao.
So what? We won't break up. You can't take anything with you. What can you do to me?
Thinking of this, Yang Xiao couldn't help but chuckle. She sighed and rubbed her forehead, unable to believe that she had just been arguing with the moon.
"What a terrible drinker." She cursed under her breath, then glanced back at Xiao Yan beside her. She saw Xiao Yan slumped over the table, propping her head up and gazing at the moon, her eyes filled with loneliness and sorrow.
"Xiao Yan?" Yang Xiao called out, "Are you drunk?" She picked up the empty wine pot next to Xiao Yan and took the wine cup from his hand.
Xiao Yan stopped looking at the moon, buried her head in her arms, and let Yang Xiao do as she pleased. She murmured indistinctly, "After you finish this battle, I will tell you everything..."
Yang Xiao sighed softly and sat down next to Xiao Yan. "Aren't you afraid I'll harm you if you're so unguarded?"
"If I could die by your hand, I would have no regrets in this life..."
Yang Xiao paused, then reached out and patted Xiao Yan's back. She walked out of the hall and beckoned to the servants who had been dismissed by Xiao Yan, "Go and fetch Lu Qi for me."
"Yes." The maid bowed and hurried away.
-
A moment later, Lu Qi, dressed in white, lifted the curtain and entered the hall.
"How did you get so drunk?" Lu Qi closed his fan and frowned as he looked at the sleeping Xiao Yan.
“You’ve been with her for so long, you must have guessed it by now, right?” Yang Xiao stood up and looked at Lu Qi. “She seems so calm on the surface, but who knows how much she’s hiding. Go back and make her some soup with mung beans, ginseng, and dried tangerine peel. That should make her feel better.”
Lu Qi nodded. "No wonder she said you would understand her."
"What do I know? It's just human nature." Yang Xiao shook her head, then looked at the fan in Lu Qi's hand. "Today is Frost's Descent, and in a few days it will be the Beginning of Winter. Why are you carrying a fan?"
Lu Qi smiled and looked at the fan in his hand. "Don't you understand it either? I'll make one for you another day."
"Let's talk about it later," Yang Xiao looked at her arm guard, smiled and shook her head. "First, let's make some hangover soup for your prince, according to my recipe."
“Okay,” Lu Qi nodded, then turned to look at Yang Xiao, “But how do you remember this recipe so well?”
"Based on my experience," Yang Xiao waved her hand, "I'm leaving now. Go back and take good care of your prince."
As Yang Xiao spoke, she stepped outside, her head still spinning, but much better than the previous times she had drunk alcohol. A bleak wind blew in her face, and she dismounted her warhorse and stepped into the darkness.
Lu Qi watched Yang Xiao's departing figure, then tucked his fan behind his waist, gently helped Xiao Yan up, and sighed helplessly, "How come you're drunk before she is?" He then gently smoothed her furrowed brows, put her on his arm, and carried her towards the bedchamber.
Standing by the roadside, Yang Xiao watched the two help each other away, breathed a sigh of relief, mounted his horse, and rode away.
Her destination was not her sleeping quarters. Suppressing her drunkenness, she pressed the array diagram hidden in her sleeve and headed towards the last empty spot—the Imperial Guard camp.
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