Chapter 31 What if Wu Yuegao were to indulge in a romantic encounter today?
Fu Sui had no idea how secretly pleased Han Zhenyi was or how she was gossiping about her.
When they reached the mountain pass, they saw a shop selling Five Poison Cakes surrounded by young women. Thinking that Fu Sui was also a young woman and might like this kind of sweet dessert, they asked the shopkeeper to pick out some of the best-selling fillings.
At this moment, Fu Sui was staring intently at Yue Shanling as he opened the oil paper bag, eagerly reaching out to take it.
"Ouch!" Fu Sui jerked her hand back, her fingertips turning bright red. The pancake was fresh out of the oven, and the summer heat wasn't too intense, so Fu Sui hadn't noticed and got burned.
Upon hearing Fu Sui cry out in pain, Yue Shanling grabbed Fu Sui's hand to check it without thinking twice. Seeing that it was only slightly red and there was nothing seriously wrong, he was relieved.
He was about to give Fu Sui a few words of advice when he looked up and met Fu Sui's bright eyes, which were filled with an undisguised smile. Yue Shanling felt a slight heat behind his ears, and casually let go of Fu Sui's hand, only lowering his head and silently opening the paper bag wider to let the heat dissipate as quickly as possible.
"General, you have caused my injury, you must apologize." Fu Sui condemned Yue Shanling without any politeness. "I'm hungry, why don't you treat me to lunch, General?"
As noon approached, Fu Sui was indeed a little hungry.
Putting everything else aside, Yue Shanling also felt responsible for taking care of the orphan of the Prince of Jin. Since Fu Sui wanted to eat, how could he refuse? "What would the princess like to eat?"
"I don't know, let's see how it goes."
Yue Shanling had only taken two steps when he noticed someone following him. He observed the person several times as they passed by, and realized that the person's tracking skills were poor, not like someone who had been trained. On the third occasion when he tried to observe the person, Yue Shanling saw a guard from the princess's mansion silently approach from behind.
Fu Sui was completely unaware of this, and was only interested in looking at the merchants on both sides.
"Anything fresh today? I guarantee you'll be pleased." A waiter dressed as a waiter was soliciting customers by the roadside, while the sound of string and wind instruments drifted from the hall behind him.
The waiter ushered the man inside, and as soon as he turned around, he saw a tall and strong figure. The waiter grinned and immediately called out "Master," showing great enthusiasm.
"Please come in, our food and drinks are of the highest quality, and there will be a song by Xiaobailan later..." Before he could finish speaking, the waiter noticed Fu Sui standing to the side, and his eyes lit up as he changed the subject: "There is a dance performance in the hall, with dancers specially invited from the Western Regions. You and your wife can enjoy some drinks and snacks, watch the dance and music, and relax a bit."
Fu Sui stepped inside. She could tell that the music playing in the back was meant to amuse men. However, these experienced waiters were very perceptive. The fact that he dared to welcome her into the hall meant that the music and dance in the front hall were pleasing to the eye.
All the private rooms upstairs were booked, so Fu Sui chose a corner seat in the main hall and listened to the waiter announce the dishes.
The food here is mostly snacks to accompany drinks and meat dishes, with few light soups or hot meals. The girl, being delicate, was worried that eating cold or greasy food at the end of the year would make her uncomfortable, so she gave the waiter extra money to buy a tray of mugwort wontons from the shop next door.
A few tambourine sounds rang out, and the Sogdian dancer leaning against the second floor unfurled her seven-layered pomegranate skirt, twirling down the slope while clapping the tambourine. Beneath the swirling skirt, a pair of bare feet trod on the intricately colored Persian carpet.
A customer tossed a few silver coins at the dancer's feet. The dancer stepped on one of the coins with her toes, drew a circle around it, then twisted her ankle and lightly kicked it. The coin spun up and flew into the air, where it was caught by the dancer.
"Bravo!" Cheers erupted from the hall. The dancer stepped off the stage to the beat of the music, flitting among the diners like a butterfly. Coins jingled and fell to the ground, and a short dwarf wearing striped trousers and a brightly colored headscarf quickly picked them up behind the dancer.
Seeing that there were young ladies at Fu Sui's table, the dancers did not come over there, but instead lingered among the male guests.
Fu Sui held the Five Poison Cake and took a small bite. Suddenly, a mischievous thought arose in his mind. He leaned forward and offered the half-eaten cake to Yue Shanling's mouth: "The lotus seed filling of this Five Poison Cake is excellent. General, would you like to try it?"
Looking down at the cakes so close to him, with tiny teeth marks on them, he could hear the shouts and laughter of the diners all around him. He only needed to glance to the side to see what was happening.
Yue Shanling's Adam's apple bobbed. He had seen women boldly professing their love to their lovers before in the borderlands, and back then they had teased the lovers for their good fortune. Now he knew how overwhelming a woman's passion could be. He pleaded in a low voice, "Princess."
Fu Sui didn't really intend to let Yue Shanling eat it. When Yue Shanling begged for mercy, he withdrew his hand and stuffed the Five Poison Cake into his mouth in a few bites. However, his eyes seemed to be fixed on Yue Shanling, making Yue Shanling's heart beat faster and his muscles tense up involuntarily.
"Your food and drinks." The waiter, carrying a large tray, broke the somewhat tense atmosphere between Fu Sui and Yue Shanling. "And also, my wife's mugwort wontons. The wontons are hot, my wife, please keep an eye on them. A few hot dishes will have to wait a while; this is our restaurant's signature Sanlejiang, the most mellow and sweet."
He had only seen Fu Sui drink once before, and he didn't trust her drinking capacity. He poured himself a cup first. It was smooth, with a light taste and a strong honey flavor. It didn't taste like a wine that would make you drunk. Only then did he push the wine pot to the center of the table.
Most of the dishes on the table were ordered for Fu Sui. Yue Shanling only ordered one meat dish and one noodle dish for himself, and quickly ate his fill while slowly drinking wine and waiting for Fu Sui to finish eating.
What kind of woman does the general like?
Fu Sui's question came suddenly, and Yue Shanling swallowed a mouthful of wine, choking him and causing him to turn to the side and cough.
Fu Sui ate her wontons slowly and deliberately, without even raising her head, as if she hadn't asked the question.
He swallowed the discomfort in his throat as he crossed the mountains and pondered Fu Sui's question with seriousness.
In his youth, he was only concerned with practicing riding and archery, and was determined to make a name for himself in history. He never considered love between men and women, and even thought that women were delicate and weak and needed to abide by etiquette, which was really troublesome.
After arriving at the border, all they faced every day was endless yellow sand, howling winds, and biting snow. They would either be on long marches day and night or be on guard duty all night long. There was no time to think about romance.
The first time he truly looked at a woman with the eyes of a grown man was when she lifted her from his arms on the Lantern Festival, revealing a pair of bright, clear eyes.
"I don't know," he answered vaguely. He himself couldn't explain his dream of Wushan, which stretched across mountains and valleys.
The grapevines on the Persian carpet framed the swaying dancers in concentric circles, allowing them to tread over and over again. The Sogdian dancer's tambourine was nowhere to be seen; she bent down, picked up a wine cup from a diner's hand, tilted her head back, and drank it all in one gulp, earning cheers from the crowd.
Someone stumbled and rushed into the front hall, knocking the door between the front and back halls askew, and nearly bumped into the Sogdian dancer. The Sogdian dancer took a few steps back to avoid it, but was pulled down by someone behind her and fell onto the lap of a diner behind her.
A waiter quickly came out of the back room and helped the drunken guest out. The Sogdian dancer and the guest tried to get up, and from the wide-open door, she sang, "I am grateful that my love is not ashamed, I turn around and embrace him."
Someone burst into laughter, and soon the entire hall erupted in knowing, knowing laughter. The Sogdian dancer, embarrassed and annoyed, shoved a diner, freeing herself from his embrace and continuing her dance. The dwarf closed the door he'd forced open, and the front and back halls were once again clearly separated.
Fu Sui buried her head in her food, pretending to be oblivious to the events unfolding in the hall, her delicate earlobes tinged with pink.
The alcohol churned within him, making his mouth dry. After hesitating for a long time, he finally picked up a Five Poison Cake and put it in his mouth.
The sweet lotus seed filling mixed with a slightly astringent taste at the back of the tongue, and a slight, dull pain came from the little finger, burning hot and searing into the bone.
After dinner, Yue Shanling accompanied Fu Sui on a slow walk along the street to digest their food. Someone had set up a gambling den for shooting rice dumplings, and seeing the excitement, Fu Sui joined in.
Several long tables were arranged in a winding pattern, with balls of powder, each marked with a red dot, placed on wooden trays at intervals. At the far end, a ball of powder hung by a thin thread—the prize for the day. Two or three specially made small bows hung on iron hooks for archers to use.
A woman was trying. She wasn't very skilled with a bow, drawing the string and nocking the arrow by feel, and several times the arrows landed crookedly at her feet. People around her cheered. The woman covered her face, put down the bow, hid behind her companion, and then pushed her to shoot. The woman with her wasn't good with a bow either; after several attempts, her furthest arrow barely landed on the table.
Several more men stepped forward. The powder was soft and slippery, and the arrowheads were blunt. Some arrows landed on the powder but slid to the side, failing to hit the mark.
A man was complaining that it was too difficult to shoot when someone next to him just hit one. He took the powder off the arrow and showed it off in front of the complaining man, which made the man yell and try to snatch the powder from him.
Fu Sui found it amusing, and seeing that the man ultimately failed to shoot the pink ball, he exclaimed, "What a pity!"
“These small bows are different from ordinary bows and arrows. The strings are loose and the arrows are light. If your bowing skills are not good enough, you can only rely on luck. He was indeed unlucky.”
The sound of Yue Shanling reached her ears, and Fu Sui turned to look at him in surprise. She saw that the man was serious and solemn, analyzing the reasons for the man's defeat as if he were deploying troops. Fu Sui couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle.
Yue Shanling cast a questioning glance, but saw Fu Sui laughing even more heartily.
“Look at those onlookers, is any of them lacking a piece of rice cake? This isn’t a competition of archery skills, it’s just hunting for romance.” After saying that, Fu Sui asked Yue Shanling, “General, you are skilled in archery and horsemanship, can you also hunt for romance?”
Yue Shanling didn't understand. Shooting rice balls was a common pastime during the Dragon Boat Festival, so why did Fu Sui call it a "romantic affair"? Before Yue Shanling could ask, Fu Sui had already parted the crowd, walked to the table, and picked up the bow to try it out.
This special bow is different from ordinary bows. The bowstring is loose and lacks tension. Coupled with the light arrow and bamboo arrowhead, it is not only difficult to shoot soft objects like powder, but it may not even be able to hit a target.
The people around, seeing that it was a young woman, cheered before the shot was even fired.
A voice rang out from the crowd, "Young lady, don't cry if you miss!" and everyone around burst into laughter.
Someone nearby said, "If you want to eat rice dumplings, I'll shoot them for you." Immediately, someone else retorted, "Don't listen to his nonsense, my lady. He shot ten arrows just now, and he missed the target once."
Ignoring their interference, Fu Sui aimed at the nearest pink blob and drew his bow to shoot.
The arrow had enough force, but its accuracy was far too poor; it didn't even hit the table.
When the beautiful young woman missed her first shot, some people sighed with regret, some clapped and laughed, and some shouted, "Shoot again! Shoot again!"
Fu Sui adjusted the angle based on the arrow's position and fired a second arrow. This arrow landed softly on the dough, then fell into the plate, flipped over, and tumbled off the table.
People are always more forgiving of young women. Although this arrow missed, many people praised Fu Sui's archery skills and coaxed him to shoot again.
Fu Sui calculated for a long time before shooting the third arrow. The arrow still landed where the second arrow had pierced, but this time the arrowhead broke through the soft and tough outer skin of the dough and embedded itself in the dough.
"Bravo!" someone shouted, and cheers rose and fell.
The stall attendant brought the plate to Fu Sui. Fu Sui took the rice dumpling off the arrow, turned around and saw Yue Shanling behind him. He reached out and pressed the rice dumpling to Yue Shanling's lips.
The sudden touch of food startled Yue Shanling, who instinctively opened his mouth to take it. Only after his teeth crushed the powder and the aroma of pine nuts filled his mouth did he realize that Fu Sui had just fed him.
A burning sensation crept up my spine. So this is what romance and pleasure are all about?
Several young men nearby, who had intended to ask Fu Sui whose wife she was, gave up the idea once the girl entered the Yue Shanling Pass.
"Sir, you ate your wife's rice dumpling, shouldn't you give her one in return?" Someone started the argument, and the scene became noisy.
"My lord, if you do not shoot, is it because your skill is inferior?"
"My lord, are you really willing to let your wife go without rice dumplings?"
Some even shouted, "I'll shoot for my wife!" and went to get the bow.
Yue Shanling frowned, feeling inexplicably that these people were overstepping their bounds and getting on his nerves. Fu Sui had no need for them to fawn over him.
He grabbed the small bow that Fu Sui had used, drew the string, nocked an arrow, and Fu Sui's words echoed in his ears as he raised the arrow in his hand by half an inch.
What's wrong with indulging in a romantic encounter today?
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