Chapter 16 A Beautiful Dream
The seventh day of the lunar month was a waxing crescent moon, hanging low in the sky. The Astrology Pavilion is located on the mountaintop, where the moon is always seen to be larger, brighter, and clearer.
On the table were more than ten exquisite wine bottles, each with a label around its neck indicating its name.
There was also a bowl of hangover soup prepared in advance. Shen Qingmeng felt that Chu Wangshu's alcohol tolerance might not be very good, so she prepared it in advance to avoid having to cook it later.
Shen Qingmeng picked up the wine and poured a small glass for Chu Wangshu: "I like this the most, it's very sweet."
Chu Wangshu held the wine glass, smelled it, took a small sip, and instantly found the taste quite good. She then drank it all in one gulp: "So sweet."
"This is lychee syrup, but I don't really like lychees and have never had it before," Shen Qingmeng said, pouring some for herself as well.
Chu Wangshu didn't dislike lychees, but he felt that they required peeling, which was really troublesome, and it was strange to have a servant peel them.
"It's also very sweet, but it seems a bit cloying compared to wine."
"Drink slowly, or you'll get drunk before you've even finished tasting it," Shen Qingmeng smacked her lips. Luckily, she hadn't poured too much, as she really didn't like the taste. "Here's something special for you, pure grain liquor. It's really potent. My dad started walking around after drinking just one jar. Pour a little and try it."
Chu Wangshu tentatively took a sip: "It's so spicy!"
“Hehe, this is what my dad and the others usually drink. He also said he buried a jar of Daughter's Red wine for me in the courtyard of the escort agency, and that we would dig it up and drink it when we got married,” Shen Qingmeng took Chu Wangshu’s wine cup and drank the rest of the wine. “But you still need to practice more.”
Will I get drunk by your senior brothers?
It seems that Chu Wangshu's alcohol tolerance is not very good, as he was already drunk after less than three cups, and his face was a little flushed.
"No way, let's see who dares to force my people to drink. Aren't they afraid my dad will come after them in his dreams in the middle of the night?"
Shen Qingmeng poured some more peach blossom wine for Chu Wangshu: "This is also delicious, very fragrant."
Plum wine, bamboo leaf green wine, osmanthus wine, rose drink...
Even though he only tasted a small bite of each item, Chu Wangshu's face was already flushed with drunkenness. He rested his head on his hand, smiling foolishly as he looked at Shen Qingmeng.
Shen Qingmeng put down the wine bottle, sat down next to Chu Wangshu, and patted her shoulder: "Come closer!"
Chu Wangshu obediently leaned on Shen Qingmeng's shoulder, but still gazed at her intently.
"Why are you staring at me like that all night?"
“It’s beautiful,” Chu Wangshu hugged Shen Qingmeng’s arm, rubbed his head against hers, and pointed out the window: “You fell from here that day, hehe.”
Hmm... just like today, her hair is tied up in a high ponytail, very dashing!
Shen Qingmeng laughed and said, "Are you heroic even when you're rubbing my butt?"
“A little bit of a mess,” Chu Wangshu said drunkenly, pinching a very small distance between her fingers, “but it’s cute.”
Shen Qingmeng touched her head: "You remember it so clearly, no wonder you've been combing my hair into a ponytail these past few days."
"Mmm!" Chu Wangshu completely lost her strength, collapsing into Shen Qingmeng's arms, closing her eyes, and hugging Shen Qingmeng tightly, "I missed you so much..."
Shen Qingmeng closed the window and gently stroked Chu Wangshu's head: "Didn't I write you a letter?"
"So few... just two letters," Chu Wangshu pouted, looking very aggrieved, her voice already containing a hint of nasal tinge: "I... I can recite them all."
"It's my fault, I should have written more for you."
"Actually, there are quite a lot, and also many little things," Chu Wangshu sniffed, trying to keep her voice from trembling, "but I... I don't know, I don't know if I can wait for you to come back, I just... I miss you so much..."
Shen Qingmeng gently wiped away her tears with a handkerchief: "I won't leave anymore, I'll stay with you forever."
“There,” Chu Wangshu pointed to the tree branches outside the window where leaves had begun to fall, “there used to be a nest of bluebirds that came to me every day to freeload, and they would even kick people with their feet. They were so clever… but they died, and I never even found their bodies… I used to think that birds were free, but even they couldn’t escape…”
Drunk people often talk nonsense. After saying all this, Chu Wangshu suddenly wiped away her tears and laughed: "I, I can fold frogs now, I'll fold one for you!"
“Okay.” Shen Qingmeng nodded and quietly watched Chu Wangshu find some papers, then lie back in her arms and concentrate on folding them.
He seemed to be doing something sacred, even more focused than when he was divining. Slowly, step by step, he folded the paper with great patience and precision, carefully pressing down each crease with his fingertips.
"Want me to flick it?" Chu Wangshu handed the paper frog to Shen Qingmeng: "My frog is amazing, it can swim!"
"Paper frog...can it swim?" Shen Qingmeng gently poked the little frog's bottom, making it jump slightly on the table.
“It should be like this,” Chu Wangshu said, propping herself up on the table and sitting up. She pressed the frog down hard, then flicked it away… It bumped against the rim of a wine glass, flipped over, and landed on the other side of the table. “Hmm, this one won’t do. Last time, I just pressed the one down like this, and… hehehe, it fell into the medicine bowl…”
"And then, Uncle Li made you another bowl?"
"No," Chu Wangshu shook his head, lay down on the table, and looked at Shen Qingmeng with blurry, drunken eyes: "He made me drink his bathwater, how awful!"
"That's terrible! Tomorrow when I make soup, I'll put frogs in Uncle Li's bowl too, so he can drink his bathwater," Shen Qingmeng said, putting her arm around Chu Wangshu's shoulder and coaxing him to drink the hangover soup. Then she asked, "Shall we go back to bed and sleep?"
Chu Wangshu nodded: "Okay."
Shen Qingmeng placed Chu Wangshu on the bed, took off his shoes, and removed his outer garment. Throughout the process, he appeared completely submissive and dazed. He would move slightly whenever Shen Qingmeng spoke, which was quite obedient.
She's quite cute when she's drunk.
But you really can't let him drink with other people; he looks too easy to be fooled.
Since she was being so obedient, Shen Qingmeng wanted to ask her some questions that she hadn't asked before.
"Chu Wangshu, did you make the medicine to cure my throat?"
The drunkard shook his head: "It was made by Uncle Li."
"Could this be related to the fact that you haven't taken the antidote for so many months?"
Chu Wangshu nodded subconsciously, then quickly shook her head vigorously: "No!"
Clearly, Chu Wangshu didn't want to continue this topic. He leaned forward slightly and put his arm around Shen Qingmeng's waist: "My head hurts so much..."
"Shaking your head so fast, it's no wonder it hurts. Lie down, I'll wipe your face and then you can sleep." Shen Qingmeng took a handkerchief, wiped Chu Wangshu's face roughly, and then got into bed.
There was no need to ask any further; she had already guessed the general idea.
Chu Wangshu, what a fool.
A slightly cool hug with the scent of wine.
Chu Wangshu hugged Shen Qingmeng and gently patted her back: "Here, go to sleep."
"Why are you taking pictures of me?" Shen Qingmeng reached out and scratched Chu Wangshu's Adam's apple.
"It itches," Chu Wangshu said, shrinking his neck and rubbing his forehead against Shen Qingmeng's. "That's how you always coax me."
"That's how you usually coax people, right? But you're the one who's drunk right now!"
“Is that so? Nobody has ever comforted me,” Chu Wangshu moved even closer to Shen Qingmeng. “It’s cold.”
"Hold me tighter," Shen Qingmeng scooted forward, this time almost touching Chu Wangshu. "It's okay, I can always comfort you from now on."
"Qingmeng..."
"Yes, I'm here."
"I...I like you so much..."
"Yes, me too."
The next day, Chu Wangshu was not scolded by Physician Li.
Physician Li said that a cheerful mood is much more effective than those medicinal soups. All medicines have some toxicity, and drinking too much is not good. It would be better to be coaxed by Shen Qingmeng to eat more every day.
It wasn't exactly coaxing; Chu Wangshu really enjoyed following Shen Qingmeng around the stove. Now that she could see again, she even took on the work of the head chef.
However, when the bowl of cucumber soup was placed in front of Physician Li, he regretted not having cooked something more bitter for Chu Wangshu that morning.
Shen Qingmeng carved a rather hastily shaped frog out of a cucumber and put the whole piece into the pot to cook.
So careless was it that Physician Li couldn't even tell at first glance whether it was a frog or a turtle. But after Shen Qingmeng said, "There's no other way. I promised Chu Wangshu last night that I would give Uncle Li his bathwater today as well," he suddenly realized that this was revenge for a grudge from three months ago.
Physician Li bit off the frog's head: "You little rascal, you've got a powerful backer now."
Chu Wangshu had just peeled a shrimp and fed it to Shen Qingmeng's mouth, then nodded with great satisfaction: "You have a strong backer."
After regaining his sight, Chu Wangshu began to draw a map of the city's defenses. That was the first time Shen Qingmeng had ever seen him draw.
Fast, with clear lines, and very neat.
"So amazing!" Shen Qingmeng picked a grape, wiped it, peeled it, and fed it to Chu Wangshu. "You look like you've been to the border."
"I haven't been there, but I laid out all the defenses myself. Even if there are any changes, they probably won't be too different." He seems to have a natural interest in these things. Although he rarely leaves his house, he has read many military books and his border defenses are all laid out in an orderly manner. He has never made a mistake over the years.
"Is it okay for everything you draw to be like this? You also drew the pattern on that hidden arrow, right? If it were any more extravagant, it would look like jewelry rather than a concealed weapon."
"It's alright," Chu Wangshu said, finishing a drawing and setting it aside. He dipped his brush in ink again and quickly sketched on another sheet of paper.
It is a hairpin, with a very intricate design, yet it is quite beautiful.
“I didn’t succeed. I was thinking of finding a craftsman to try, but… I haven’t had time yet,” Chu Wangshu put down his pen and handed the drawing paper to Shen Qingmeng: “Do you like it?”
"Let's open a shop."
"What?"
"Your design is even better than the most famous jewelry shops in the capital. I don't even dare to imagine how much money I could make if I opened a shop to sell it."
Don't you want to... have it all to yourself?
"Hey, I'd love to, but never mind, you're not short of money. I'll get someone to print it out for me later, and I'll wear it on my head every day."
The people from Cangning visited again in August.
At that time, Chu Wangshu was teaching Shen Qingmeng to play the guqin, and he was holding her from behind as he played "Phoenix Seeking its Mate".
Shen Qingmeng looked at Chu Wangshu with a smile: "Hey, why does this hand become more flexible after you hold it?"
“You’re naturally very perceptive,” Chu Wangshu said, gently rubbing the marks left on Shen Qingmeng’s fingers by the strings. “Does your hand hurt?”
"It doesn't hurt, my hands aren't as soft as yours..."
Outside the window, Yunmo captured another assassin.
The frequency wasn't high, after all, Shen Qingmeng had only met him twice.
Chu Wangshu looked at the woman's staggering step outside the window and couldn't help but laugh. He turned his head and asked Shen Qingmeng, "Are all the women in Cangning slippery?"
"Heh, I don't know..."
A few city defense maps were exchanged for a date: the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.
“No rush, let’s celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival first, then we can think about these things,” Chu Wangshu held the note close to the candle, watching it burn to ashes. “I want to eat jujube paste mooncakes, red bean paste ones would be nice too.”
On the fifteenth of August, the astrology hall wasn't crowded, but it was unusually lively.
As in previous years, Chu Wangshu granted leave to all those who asked to go home. However, this year, the astrology pavilion had more lanterns, the designs of which were drawn by Chu Wangshu and then pasted onto the frames by Shen Qingmeng and Uncle Li.
Chu Wangshu rarely ate in the courtyard in the past, and usually just sat alone in his little attic, lost in thought. He might have a meal with Physician Li during holidays, but this year he was dragged by Shen Qingmeng to have dinner in the courtyard.
Li Bo wanted to drink with him.
"No, I'll drink with you!" Shen Qingmeng snatched the wine glass and poured herself a full glass of wine.
If Chu Wangshu were to cling to Shen Qingmeng in front of so many people... it would be a bit embarrassing.
"No way, I want to see what old grievances this kid can bring up when he's drunk!"
At Physician Li's insistence, he and Chu Wangshu were both carried back to their room, completely drunk.
However, Chu Wangshu had made progress; even after drinking too much, he just smiled at Shen Qingmeng again and didn't complain about anything anymore.
That period was the most heartwarming and happiest time in Chu Wangshu's life so far. He was accompanied by a beautiful woman every day, free from the torment of illness, and even... he didn't have to take medicine every day.
If life could always go on like this, how wonderful it would be, even if we could never leave this astrology pavilion.
On August 16th, Chu Wangshu taught Shen Qingmeng to observe the celestial phenomena.
He said that celestial phenomena can only predict the weather, and as for things like the Purple Star, comets, or imperial stars, they are all nonsense. They are clearly just phenomena reflected by the movement of celestial bodies, and it is ridiculous for those in power to believe that they are the imperial star and that there are other omens for other celestial bodies revolving around them.
But Emperor Qing always firmly believed in these things.
What a coincidence, the celestial phenomena are quite auspicious today; it's time to find something for the emperor to do.
Author's Note:
Shen Qingmeng: What mischief is this guy up to now? I love him! [Starry-eyed]
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