Li Hua tossed and turned in bed for a long time before quietly getting up.
The room was pitch black, and the servants were all outside. He never kept any servants in the room.
He lit a candle, held it in his hands, and then slowly walked to the dressing table and sat down.
His long hair was loose, and he was wearing a traditional Chinese undergarment. He looked up, his bright, star-like eyes gazing at himself in the mirror.
He recognized that face.
But every time I see it, it feels so unfamiliar.
Li Hua stared at herself in the mirror for a long time before finally opening the drawer on the dressing table and taking out a bright green bottle.
Then I took a calligraphy brush, dipped the tip into the narrow opening of the bottle, and after wetting it thoroughly, I held the brush and slowly wet the area where my face and neck met.
He hadn't seen "himself" for a long time.
After being moistened, the side of her face slowly opened up a crack that was almost imperceptible to the naked eye.
Li Hua put down his brush, reached out and pinched the edge of the gap, slowly tearing off a piece of skin that was almost completely attached to his cheek and indistinguishable from human skin.
If Princess Duanrong hadn't suddenly developed feelings for him because of his undisguised eyes, he would have almost forgotten who he really was.
He looked in the mirror and was startled by his own reflection, so he immediately knocked the mirror away.
The sudden loud noise startled the people waiting outside.
"Young Master, what's wrong?" Sweet Corner's voice came through with a hint of nervousness.
Li Hua did not answer, so the people outside did not dare to come in rashly.
He sat for a while, then got up to pick up the bronze mirror that had rolled onto the ground.
He stood before the bronze mirror, looking down at the face reflected there, a face he was even more unfamiliar with, a face he had never dared to face before, and remained motionless for a long time.
Fortunately, after tonight... she received a response from the person she truly wanted, and she should no longer deign to have any inappropriate thoughts about him because of his eyes.
Princess Duanrong will definitely not come looking for him again.
Meanwhile, Gan Qiongying was attending a banquet in a pavilion on the famous Huishui River in Yindu City.
This is a banquet hosted by Zhong Li, the male protagonist of this book, which brings together all the royal relatives and noble families of the Nan Zhao Kingdom.
The purpose tonight is to appreciate flowers and compose poems.
Throughout the Huishui River, countless boats adorned with colorful ribbons lined up around the waterside pavilion; those were the girls from the famous brothel, Baijiaolou, from this book.
How could such a banquet be complete without singing, dancing, and beautiful women to add to the festivities?
However, Zhongli was a proper person and did not make the banquet a mess. The banquet guests simply watched the singing and dancing of the courtesans from across the water.
The group of young men were itching to see this, and they felt that the ordinary women they usually looked like were fairies descended from heaven, graceful and charming, when viewed through the water lanterns.
Music from string and wind instruments filled the air, laughter mingled with wine cups, and poets, inspired by the moment, wielded their pens with great flourish, their laughter echoing throughout the banks of the Hui River.
Gan Qiongying, who was seated on the right side of the head of the banquet, had a slightly pale face.
She had a sharp, stabbing pain in her chest.
This was after her condition had improved considerably; at the beginning... she was in so much pain that she was practically pedaling her bicycle on the ground.
The reason... was that she declined the invitation to the banquet.
She was perfectly content in the princess's residence, lying in her room, swinging her legs and munching on pastries.
They must have been living a very carefree and comfortable life.
But suddenly someone came to report that Zhongli Zhengzhen had invited her to a banquet on the banks of the Huishui River.
Gan Qiongying had been living in such a secluded and comfortable life that she couldn't even remember who Zhongli Zhengzhen really was for a moment.
But when she woke up, the first thing she felt was shock.
Zhongli Zhengzhen... he's the male protagonist of this world!
Why would the male lead invite a vicious female supporting character to a banquet?
It's worth noting that in the story, Zhongli Zhengzhen never showed any respect to Princess Duanrong, but Princess Duanrong didn't care at all. She was obsessed with chasing after him, but she couldn't even touch his hand. She ended up following his horse and fell ill and became bedridden.
However, Gan Qiongying knew that the original owner of this body had not fallen and become bedridden, but had died. Otherwise, she would not have been able to transmigrate here.
But Zhongli Zhengzhen suddenly sent someone to invite Princess Duanrong to a banquet. Something was definitely amiss!
Gan Qiongying is definitely not the type of person in TV dramas who would do anything to go and watch something just because they hear a certain sound.
She made a quick decision and sent Man Yue, whose health had improved somewhat and whose tongue was the most sharp, to refuse.
But unexpectedly, Gan Qiongying suddenly experienced heart pain a short while later.
She was in so much pain that she cried out in agony, her whole body covered in cold sweat, feeling as if she were about to die.
The royal physician was summoned, but he couldn't find anything wrong with her pulse. Her whole body felt like it was being pricked by a hedgehog, but it did nothing to alleviate her symptoms.
Gan Qiongying initially thought she had a sudden illness. She began to think about whether she had eaten something unclean, done something she shouldn't have done, or been poisoned.
However, her meals and drinks that day were quite ordinary, and she didn't even go beyond the princess's residence. The only unusual thing was that she had her maid refuse Zhongli Zhengzhen's invitation to a banquet.
When she thought of this, the pain in her chest actually eased a little.
Gan Qiongying opened her mouth and silently cursed, then closed her eyes and muttered incoherently as she began to try to recall the plot.
Then she finally recalled from her distant memories that this scene did indeed appear in the original plot.
However, in the original story, Zhongli was actually hosting a banquet for the newly appointed top scholar, Liu... what was Liu again?
Anyway, the rest of the princes and nobles went on their own initiative. Princess Duanrong only found out about it after the banquet started, and then she eagerly joined in.
Such banquets naturally include scenes that enhance the romance between the male and female leads. In the original story, the female lead is Zhongli Zhengzhen's honored guest, and there are also female relatives from other clans and noble families.
The people of Nanzhao are open-minded, and marriage and divorce between men and women have always been free. Even men do not need to avoid the gaze of others. Therefore, eligible men and women in the capital often attend various banquets together.
Of course, these clans and nobles might engage in promiscuous behavior, but they wouldn't marry indiscriminately, because love was the icing on the cake for them; marriage alliances between clans and even royalty were the real icing on the cake.
The tacit alliance was nothing more than a test between clans and power.
The female lead, Wen Xueling, is the apple of the eye of the King of Jingxi. Her purpose in coming to Nanzhao is ostensibly to find a suitable husband and pray for the emperor's bestowal of marriage. In reality, the King of Jingxi harbors wolfish ambitions and is not content with merely ruling and dominating Jingxi.
They attempted to use marriage alliances to expand their power and extend their reach to the capital of Yin, thereby stirring up trouble.
Of course, the pure and innocent female protagonist, Wen Xueling, was unaware of all these ulterior motives.
She genuinely came here to find a partner.
Countless men in the capital city pursued her, including but not limited to princes who had already been granted titles and fiefdoms but had not yet been assigned fiefs, as well as clan heads and newly appointed top scholars.
But the female protagonist is always different from others. She happens to like Zhongli Zhengzhen, the hostage sent by Jinchuan, which was defeated by Nanzhao a few years ago. Zhongli Zhengzhen is different from the others who coax and fawn over her. He has never been polite to any woman.
Zhongli Zhengzhen is currently rising to fame because... Princess Duanrong of Nanzhao Kingdom is so infatuated with him that she is obsessed with him. She not only uses all sorts of means to try to marry him, but also gives him countless precious jewels and silver coins, hoping that he will turn around and look at her.
However, how could a princess marry a hostage from an enemy country? Princess Duanrong's actions had brought shame to the royal family's dignity, thus angering the emperor. In a fit of rage, the emperor arranged for a lowly merchant to be Princess Duanrong's husband.
For a time, this matter became the most popular pastime among the powerful and wealthy in Yindu and among ordinary people.
But that's not all. After her marriage, Duanrong became self-destructive for a while. She didn't dare to openly disobey the imperial decree, but in order to humiliate the emperor's chosen husband, she ostentatiously recruited many male concubines to humiliate him and went against the emperor.
However, not long after, she began to try to get close to Zhongli Zhengzhen again. A few days ago, she even chased him to the hunting grounds. While chasing Zhongli Zhengzhen's horse, she accidentally fell and got injured...
It can be said that Princess Duanrong made Zhongli Zhengzhen famous, and also made the female protagonist Wen Xueling pay special attention to Zhongli Zhengzhen, so as to start a one-sided emotional output to "move that cold man", which is commonly known as a sadomasochistic relationship.
As for Princess Duanrong, Gan Qiongying, after sitting at the banquet for a while, she could already feel many people secretly looking at her and talking about her.
It's obviously not something nice to say.
She didn't want to come either!
She said, "There's no such thing as dying and coming back to life. Love is a plot you can't escape. I have to leave, or I'll be in so much pain!"
He's fucking bastard.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com