There weren’t many people who even understood the Dongying language in Tingzhi City, so Xiao Chengjun ordered his men to send the two pirates to Rong City with all due haste and hand them over to the Minzhou Justice Department for questioning. The Jingnan Hou had left quite a number of his people behind in Minzhou, and there were some talented ones who could speak the Dongying language. These people had all been hired by the Min Wang residence in Rong City.
Tingzhi was not peaceful anymore. When the sky brightened, Xiao Chengjun headed back to Rong City with Lou Jing. Lou Jing’s back was injured and he had to sit behind Xiao Chengjun on the horse, wrapping his arms around his husband’s waist.
Xiao Chengjun patted the great hairy head resting on his shoulder. “Tell me if your wound hurts, okay?” he said.
“Nn,” Lou Jing agreed. He nuzzled the back of Xiao Chengjun’s neck, then yawned. Even though there was a sea breeze blowing in, it still felt uncomfortably hot and humid. On top of that, he was nursing injuries, and as a result, he hadn’t slept well.
Xiao Chengjun put a hooded silk cloak on Lou Jing to prevent him from getting a sunburn under the intense sunlight, then shook the reins gently. The horse started cantering toward the Min Wang mansion.
When they returned to Rong City, Xiao Chengjun’s officials had already been waiting for them for quite some time. The first thing they saw when Min Wang came into view was him carrying a person wrapped in pale blue silk on his back and disappearing into his houyuan. They all looked at each other in surprise. When they saw that the person in the silk cloak was a man with a gorgeous face, they were even more astonished. That person might have a beautiful face that could launch a thousand ships, but he was still very clearly a man!
“Is that why Wang ye has refused all the girls that we’ve tried to give him…?” the gathered officials asked, looking at each other in confusion. Last month, they had followed the usual custom of offering beautiful women to Min Wang to obtain his favour, but the latter had exploded in anger on seeing the girls, scolding them for not focusing on their jobs and instead trying to curry favour in this underhanded manner. The Minzhou officials suddenly became much more honest during that time, but now, it seemed that…
“Wang ye seems to bat for the other team.”
“Say, do you think we should…”
“Let’s continue observing first, and take action when we’re certain, or we might end up in trouble again.”
The Dongying pirates had been fully interrogated, and it transpired that they were not actually pirates, but assassins hired by the pirates to scout ahead.
Xiao Chengjun thought deeply for a few moments, then ordered his men to guard the beaches that could accommodate large boat moorings. He also sent some men to protect the fishermen who went out to cast their nets in the sea.
Every year, when the pirates attacked, they always wantonly killed the innocent fishermen. This round, Xiao Chengjun intended to make ample preparation before the pirates made landfall. He instructed all the counties to send Imperial soldiers on boats to guard the spots that the fishermen always fished in, so that if the pirates came, the fishermen could be protected quickly.
“Dianxia, navy patrol is more dangerous than land patrol, and the soldiers will definitely want to be compensated for this. Chen is of the view that we should perhaps get every fisherman to contribute one wen for this protection,” the Head of the Revenue Department said, bowing as he spoke. When the fishermen went out to sea, they could easily sell the fish they caught for forty or fifty wen, and it wouldn’t be difficult for them to come out with one wen. This would also save Xiao Chengjun’s side quite a bit of money. If the Min Wang residence was the one that came up with this amount, they would be out of pocket by a very large sum.
“Do the rest of you hold the same view?” Xiao Chengjun asked, his eyes sweeping across the gathered officials of his fief. Some people wanted to speak up but eventually thought the better of it and kept their mouths shut, lowering their heads. Xiao Chengjun’s brows creased. The Minzhou officials were all mostly mediocre individuals who weren’t very capable and just wanted to coast.
“Chen… Chen is of the view that this isn’t appropriate…” a small, thin-looking young official stammered.
Xiao Chengjun looked at him. This man was likely a minor official in the Revenue Department. He had passed the Imperial Examinations and filled a vacancy for a minor official in this fief when it opened. “Why?” he asked.
“A-asking the fishermen for… for one wen… this… this this… when it reaches those… p-people’s hands, it will… will end up as three wen… and after some time… it it it will eventually b-become thirty wen…” that young official was so nervous that his whole face was covered in a sheen of sweat, and his stammering became even more pronounced.
Wljb Jtfcupec’r fsfr ila eq klat jqqgbnji. “Qtja’r sbeg cjwf?” tf jrxfv.
“Chen i-is called F-Fan Jie,” Fan Jie said, not daring to raise his head. His neck actually shrank back into his shoulders with every word he spoke.
“Mjc Alf, sbe jgf cbk qgbwbafv ab atf obegat-gjcxfv Crrlrajca Lfjv bo atf Efnfcef Gfqjgawfca,” Wljb Jtfcupec rjlv vfmlrlnfis, j ojlca rwlif qijslcu jybea tlr ilqr. Lf’v ilrafcfv nfgs mjgfoeiis jcv qjalfcais ab atf rajwwfgfv kbgvr bo atlr Mjc Alf jcv tjv yffc nfgs qifjrfv klat ktja tf’v tfjgv.
Fan Jie raised his head, looking at Xiao Chengjun in disbelief. He originally thought he was going to get punished – why had he been promoted instead?
“Stammering Fan, say your thanks, quick!” one of the officials urged.
“T-thank you, Dianxia,” Fan Jie said, hurriedly getting on his knees.
“This collection isn’t written down in hard law, so there’s no telling how much the lower officials will add to it later on,” Xiao Chengjun said, his eyes serious. He didn’t look specifically at the Head of the Revenue Department, but that man’s face still turned the colour of a cooked lobster. “I will personally foot the expenses for the Imperial soldiers’ navy patrol.”
After the meeting ended, the low-ranked official Fan Jie who had suddenly been promoted to a fourth-ranked official still couldn’t believe he wasn’t dreaming.
“Stammering Fan, you really got shit-ass lucky this time,” the Shanghu of the Revenue Department said sourly.
Fan Jie’s stammer had made him the butt of many of his colleagues’ jokes. Everyone called him “Stammering Fan” – even his superiors used that very unflattering nickname to address him.
Fan Jie smiled and clasped his hands politely at his superior. He didn’t say anything in reply.
[The Zhao Residence in the Capital]
“Pfft!” Tea sprayed out of Zhao Xi’s mouth and made the front of his Fifth Uncle’s robes all wet.
The Zhao family’s Fifth Master leapt up from the chair he was sitting on immediately, and the maid standing at the side quickly took a handkerchief to wipe him off. The Fifth Master glared fiercely at Zhao Xi. “What do you mean by this?” he said angrily.
“No, no,” Zhao Xi said, swallowing hard. “Fifth Uncle, what did you just say? Chen Guifei wants me to marry the Third Prince?!”
“Hmph! They must really think our Zhao family is so weak that they can bully us willy nilly!” the Third Master sniffed derisively. He wasn’t a Court official, but he was the one who managed the Zhao family’s business, and he knew exactly how much power and influence his own family had. He wasn’t the least bit afraid of the Chen family.
“This poisonous bitch wants to use this to wreck Ji Ming’s future, so that our Zhao family will have no one to succeed it!” the second furen exclaimed. Tears of anger stood in her eyes.
“Stop making a ruckus,” Zhao Duan said, stroking his beard. “We must come up with a strategy right now.”
Zhao Xi was an exceptional talent that the Zhao family hadn’t had since ancient times. No matter what, the Zhao family would never let him marry into the palace and wreck his bright future! Moreover, that stupid Third Prince was never going to become the Crown Prince to begin with.
However, it was a very bad thing that the Chen family had designs on their Zhao family jewel. When they thought this, everyone couldn’t help looking at Zhao Xi. Who knew…
“Hahahaha!” Zhao Xi held his sides and laughed fit to kill himself, falling over on the wide chair he was sitting on.
“Has he gone mad with anger?” the second furen wondered, going over to press a hand to Zhao Xi’s forehead.
“Hehehe,” Zhao Xi laughed, doing his best to force down the laughter bubbling up within him. He took the second furen’s sleeve and used it to wipe tears of mirth from his eyes. “I have a plan.”
“What plan?” the second furen couldn’t help asking.
“I am going to attend Court with my uncle tomorrow morning, and I’ll run at one of those golden dragon pillars at top speed, saying that the Third Prince is forcing me to marry him and I’d rather die…” Zhao Xi hadn’t finished speaking when Zhao Duan slapped the back of his head hard.
“It’s not so simple,” Zhao Duan admonished angrily, his white whiskers flying askew. “It’s extremely unwise to rile up the Chen family these few days. When you’re done with work, come home immediately!” He swished his sleeves in annoyance after saying this and left to go and look for his students and strategists. He had originally thought that there was no hurry to set Min Wang’s plan in motion, but now, it looked like he had to get that moving as soon as possible.
Zhao Xi rubbed at the back of his head, which was still smarting from Zhao Duan’s smack. “Maybe the Emperor will feel like I’ve been wronged and promote me to a second-ranked official like Lou Jing,” he mumbled.
The second furen rapped Zhao Xi’s head. “You make sure you don’t take any action on your own, you hear me? Let your uncles deal with this,” she said.
Zhao Xi held his head in his hands and nodded obediently. “Got it,” he said.
The next day, after Zhao Xi finished his work at the Hanlin Academy, he didn’t return home, but instead slunk off to the Northern Barracks to look for the second son of the Guanxi Hou, Zhou Song. “Ah, Zhou No. 2, do you know how I can meet the Third Prince?” he asked.
“The Third Prince?” Zhou Song said, scratching his head. “I probably can set up a meeting for you, but why are you looking for him?”
“It’s best that you don’t know,” Zhao Xi said, giving him a secretive smile and showing him a row of white teeth.
Two days later, the young noblemen of the Capital got together for some drinks.
Zhao Xi went with Zhou Song to get in on the excitement. He saw the Guangcheng Bo’s Shizi and his second brother there. “Who’s that?” he asked Zhou Song quietly. He usually didn’t mix around with the young noblemen, but he had a good memory, and if he’d met them before, he would definitely have remembered who they were. The Guangcheng Bo’s sons were completely unfamiliar faces.
“That’s the Guangcheng Bo’s second legitimate son, Luo Pei. He’s the one who nearly got married off to the Crown Prince instead of Lou Jing,” Zhou Song said, raising his eyebrows as he looked at Luo Pei. The Guangcheng Bo family had really declined in this generation. Last year, the Guangcheng Bo Shizi had tried to forge a link with the Fourth Prince, and the family’s status had risen somewhat at the time, but now that the Fourth Prince was no more, their family had no backer to count on at all.
Zhao Xi understood. His gaze shifted to Luo Pei, and he studied that fellow’s delicate, feminine-looking face carefully.
Last winter, Luo Pei had accidentally offended Lou Jing, and he became persona non grata with most of the other nobles in the Capital as a result. Even now, when everyone was chatting amongst themselves, Luo Pei and his elder brother were sitting awkwardly by themselves on one side.
After a round of drinks, a servant came in to report that their honoured guest had arrived. Everyone got their feet in unison, and before long, Xiao Chengduo walked in, dressed in the dark yellow robes of an Imperial Prince.
Everyone bowed respectfully to the Third Prince. The Luo family brothers were particularly assiduous about this greeting and nearly bowed themselves onto Xiao Chengduo’s robes.
Xiao Chengduo was someone who appreciated male beauty, and when he saw Luo Pei’s effeminate good looks, the smile on his face deepened.
Luo Pei shamelessly sat next to Xiao Chengduo despite his lower social ranking, and when Zhou Song saw this, he couldn’t help sniffing coldly. He exchanged a meaningful look with the Qingyang Bo Shizi. When the young noblemen got together for drinks, their seating positions were usually fixed in order of their rank and status. Luo Pei had neither the rank nor status to sit right next to the Third Prince.
“Eh? Isn’t this Zhao Sanyuan?” Xiao Chengduo asked in surprise. He hadn’t noticed the looks the young noblemen were exchanging and looked directly at Zhao Xi, who was sitting a little to the side behind him. His first-place score in all the three major examinations was simply too outstanding, and the ones who couldn’t remember Zhao Xi’s name all called him Zhao Sanyuan.
“Third Dianxia, if you say it that way, this humble official will be public enemy no. 1,” Zhao Xi said, smiling merrily as he got to his feet and raised a toast to the Third Prince. “I only came here to have some drinks with my friends and didn’t think I would meet you here today. Now that we’ve met by chance, I must drink a toast to Dianxia!”
Xiao Chengduo’s brows creased slightly as he thought back on what his mother had said. It seemed that Zhao Xi still didn’t know. He set his heart at ease and raised his winecup in response.
“Dianxia, since you have drunk a toast from Zhao gongzi, I will also drink a toast to you,” Luo Pei said from his position next to the Third Prince. He didn’t want to lose out, so he raised his winecup as well.
The toasts went on and on after that. Everyone took turns to drink toasts to the Third Prince, and before the food arrived, the Third Prince had drunk toasts from every single person there and was up to his eyebrows in wine.
Zhao Xi watched the endless toasts, then picked up the wine jar and walked over to the Qingyang Bo Shizi. “We played together with Big Lou when we were young, so even though the Zhao family isn’t part of the Zanying nobility, I hope you will let me call you Big Brother on account of our childhood friendship,” he said, smiling at the Qingyang Bo Shizi.
“Don’t say that! Big Lou treats you like his own blood brother, so of course you are also my brother,” the Qingyang Bo Shizi said, smiling broadly as they clinked their winecups together.
Zhao Xi smiled as he filled the Qingyang Bo Shizi’s cup.
Nobody noticed initially, but after three rounds of drinks, they started to realise how powerful Zhao Xi’s eloquent mouth was. His tongue was so glib that once he poured wine and spoke to you, there was no way to refuse his toast, and they all drank cup after cup after cup.
“Ji Ming, spare me, please,” Zhou Song groaned. He’d drunk so much that his tongue was about to wither away, and when he saw Zhao Xi grinning as he walked over, he shivered instinctively in fright.
“What are you saying? I apologise if I’ve proposed too many toasts to you. How about this – I’ll toast to your elder brother having children soon!” Zhao Xi said, smiling as he filled Zhou Song’s cup.
“Huh?” Zhou Song was so drunk that he couldn’t think straight any more. What did this have to do with his big brother? However, this was about his older brother having children, so it seemed that he had to drink it… he pinched his nose, gulped down the wine, then collapsed onto the table and started snoring.
There weren’t many people who even understood the Dongying language in Tingzhi City, so Xiao Chengjun ordered his men to send the two pirates to Rong City with all due haste and hand them over to the Minzhou Justice Department for questioning. The Jingnan Hou had left quite a number of his people behind in Minzhou, and there were some talented ones who could speak the Dongying language. These people had all been hired by the Min Wang residence in Rong City.
Tingzhi was not peaceful anymore. When the sky brightened, Xiao Chengjun headed back to Rong City with Lou Jing. Lou Jing’s back was injured and he had to sit behind Xiao Chengjun on the horse, wrapping his arms around his husband’s waist.
Xiao Chengjun patted the great hairy head resting on his shoulder. “Tell me if your wound hurts, okay?” he said.
“Nn,” Lou Jing agreed. He nuzzled the back of Xiao Chengjun’s neck, then yawned. Even though there was a sea breeze blowing in, it still felt uncomfortably hot and humid. On top of that, he was nursing injuries, and as a result, he hadn’t slept well.
Xiao Chengjun put a hooded silk cloak on Lou Jing to prevent him from getting a sunburn under the intense sunlight, then shook the reins gently. The horse started cantering toward the Min Wang mansion.
When they returned to Rong City, Xiao Chengjun’s officials had already been waiting for them for quite some time. The first thing they saw when Min Wang came into view was him carrying a person wrapped in pale blue silk on his back and disappearing into his houyuan. They all looked at each other in surprise. When they saw that the person in the silk cloak was a man with a gorgeous face, they were even more astonished. That person might have a beautiful face that could launch a thousand ships, but he was still very clearly a man!
“Is that why Wang ye has refused all the girls that we’ve tried to give him…?” the gathered officials asked, looking at each other in confusion. Last month, they had followed the usual custom of offering beautiful women to Min Wang to obtain his favour, but the latter had exploded in anger on seeing the girls, scolding them for not focusing on their jobs and instead trying to curry favour in this underhanded manner. The Minzhou officials suddenly became much more honest during that time, but now, it seemed that…
“Wang ye seems to bat for the other team.”
“Say, do you think we should…”
“Let’s continue observing first, and take action when we’re certain, or we might end up in trouble again.”
The Dongying pirates had been fully interrogated, and it transpired that they were not actually pirates, but assassins hired by the pirates to scout ahead.
Xiao Chengjun thought deeply for a few moments, then ordered his men to guard the beaches that could accommodate large boat moorings. He also sent some men to protect the fishermen who went out to cast their nets in the sea.
Every year, when the pirates attacked, they always wantonly killed the innocent fishermen. This round, Xiao Chengjun intended to make ample preparation before the pirates made landfall. He instructed all the counties to send Imperial soldiers on boats to guard the spots that the fishermen always fished in, so that if the pirates came, the fishermen could be protected quickly.
“Dianxia, navy patrol is more dangerous than land patrol, and the soldiers will definitely want to be compensated for this. Chen is of the view that we should perhaps get every fisherman to contribute one wen for this protection,” the Head of the Revenue Department said, bowing as he spoke. When the fishermen went out to sea, they could easily sell the fish they caught for forty or fifty wen, and it wouldn’t be difficult for them to come out with one wen. This would also save Xiao Chengjun’s side quite a bit of money. If the Min Wang residence was the one that came up with this amount, they would be out of pocket by a very large sum.
“Do the rest of you hold the same view?” Xiao Chengjun asked, his eyes sweeping across the gathered officials of his fief. Some people wanted to speak up but eventually thought the better of it and kept their mouths shut, lowering their heads. Xiao Chengjun’s brows creased. The Minzhou officials were all mostly mediocre individuals who weren’t very capable and just wanted to coast.
“Chen… Chen is of the view that this isn’t appropriate…” a small, thin-looking young official stammered.
Xiao Chengjun looked at him. This man was likely a minor official in the Revenue Department. He had passed the Imperial Examinations and filled a vacancy for a minor official in this fief when it opened. “Why?” he asked.
“A-asking the fishermen for… for one wen… this… this this… when it reaches those… p-people’s hands, it will… will end up as three wen… and after some time… it it it will eventually b-become thirty wen…” that young official was so nervous that his whole face was covered in a sheen of sweat, and his stammering became even more pronounced.
Wljb Jtfcupec’r fsfr ila eq klat jqqgbnji. “Qtja’r sbeg cjwf?” tf jrxfv.
“Chen i-is called F-Fan Jie,” Fan Jie said, not daring to raise his head. His neck actually shrank back into his shoulders with every word he spoke.
“Mjc Alf, sbe jgf cbk qgbwbafv ab atf obegat-gjcxfv Crrlrajca Lfjv bo atf Efnfcef Gfqjgawfca,” Wljb Jtfcupec rjlv vfmlrlnfis, j ojlca rwlif qijslcu jybea tlr ilqr. Lf’v ilrafcfv nfgs mjgfoeiis jcv qjalfcais ab atf rajwwfgfv kbgvr bo atlr Mjc Alf jcv tjv yffc nfgs qifjrfv klat ktja tf’v tfjgv.
Fan Jie raised his head, looking at Xiao Chengjun in disbelief. He originally thought he was going to get punished – why had he been promoted instead?
“Stammering Fan, say your thanks, quick!” one of the officials urged.
“T-thank you, Dianxia,” Fan Jie said, hurriedly getting on his knees.
“This collection isn’t written down in hard law, so there’s no telling how much the lower officials will add to it later on,” Xiao Chengjun said, his eyes serious. He didn’t look specifically at the Head of the Revenue Department, but that man’s face still turned the colour of a cooked lobster. “I will personally foot the expenses for the Imperial soldiers’ navy patrol.”
After the meeting ended, the low-ranked official Fan Jie who had suddenly been promoted to a fourth-ranked official still couldn’t believe he wasn’t dreaming.
“Stammering Fan, you really got shit-ass lucky this time,” the Shanghu of the Revenue Department said sourly.
Fan Jie’s stammer had made him the butt of many of his colleagues’ jokes. Everyone called him “Stammering Fan” – even his superiors used that very unflattering nickname to address him.
Fan Jie smiled and clasped his hands politely at his superior. He didn’t say anything in reply.
[The Zhao Residence in the Capital]
“Pfft!” Tea sprayed out of Zhao Xi’s mouth and made the front of his Fifth Uncle’s robes all wet.
The Zhao family’s Fifth Master leapt up from the chair he was sitting on immediately, and the maid standing at the side quickly took a handkerchief to wipe him off. The Fifth Master glared fiercely at Zhao Xi. “What do you mean by this?” he said angrily.
“No, no,” Zhao Xi said, swallowing hard. “Fifth Uncle, what did you just say? Chen Guifei wants me to marry the Third Prince?!”
“Hmph! They must really think our Zhao family is so weak that they can bully us willy nilly!” the Third Master sniffed derisively. He wasn’t a Court official, but he was the one who managed the Zhao family’s business, and he knew exactly how much power and influence his own family had. He wasn’t the least bit afraid of the Chen family.
“This poisonous bitch wants to use this to wreck Ji Ming’s future, so that our Zhao family will have no one to succeed it!” the second furen exclaimed. Tears of anger stood in her eyes.
“Stop making a ruckus,” Zhao Duan said, stroking his beard. “We must come up with a strategy right now.”
Zhao Xi was an exceptional talent that the Zhao family hadn’t had since ancient times. No matter what, the Zhao family would never let him marry into the palace and wreck his bright future! Moreover, that stupid Third Prince was never going to become the Crown Prince to begin with.
However, it was a very bad thing that the Chen family had designs on their Zhao family jewel. When they thought this, everyone couldn’t help looking at Zhao Xi. Who knew…
“Hahahaha!” Zhao Xi held his sides and laughed fit to kill himself, falling over on the wide chair he was sitting on.
“Has he gone mad with anger?” the second furen wondered, going over to press a hand to Zhao Xi’s forehead.
“Hehehe,” Zhao Xi laughed, doing his best to force down the laughter bubbling up within him. He took the second furen’s sleeve and used it to wipe tears of mirth from his eyes. “I have a plan.”
“What plan?” the second furen couldn’t help asking.
“I am going to attend Court with my uncle tomorrow morning, and I’ll run at one of those golden dragon pillars at top speed, saying that the Third Prince is forcing me to marry him and I’d rather die…” Zhao Xi hadn’t finished speaking when Zhao Duan slapped the back of his head hard.
“It’s not so simple,” Zhao Duan admonished angrily, his white whiskers flying askew. “It’s extremely unwise to rile up the Chen family these few days. When you’re done with work, come home immediately!” He swished his sleeves in annoyance after saying this and left to go and look for his students and strategists. He had originally thought that there was no hurry to set Min Wang’s plan in motion, but now, it looked like he had to get that moving as soon as possible.
Zhao Xi rubbed at the back of his head, which was still smarting from Zhao Duan’s smack. “Maybe the Emperor will feel like I’ve been wronged and promote me to a second-ranked official like Lou Jing,” he mumbled.
The second furen rapped Zhao Xi’s head. “You make sure you don’t take any action on your own, you hear me? Let your uncles deal with this,” she said.
Zhao Xi held his head in his hands and nodded obediently. “Got it,” he said.
The next day, after Zhao Xi finished his work at the Hanlin Academy, he didn’t return home, but instead slunk off to the Northern Barracks to look for the second son of the Guanxi Hou, Zhou Song. “Ah, Zhou No. 2, do you know how I can meet the Third Prince?” he asked.
“The Third Prince?” Zhou Song said, scratching his head. “I probably can set up a meeting for you, but why are you looking for him?”
“It’s best that you don’t know,” Zhao Xi said, giving him a secretive smile and showing him a row of white teeth.
Two days later, the young noblemen of the Capital got together for some drinks.
Zhao Xi went with Zhou Song to get in on the excitement. He saw the Guangcheng Bo’s Shizi and his second brother there. “Who’s that?” he asked Zhou Song quietly. He usually didn’t mix around with the young noblemen, but he had a good memory, and if he’d met them before, he would definitely have remembered who they were. The Guangcheng Bo’s sons were completely unfamiliar faces.
“That’s the Guangcheng Bo’s second legitimate son, Luo Pei. He’s the one who nearly got married off to the Crown Prince instead of Lou Jing,” Zhou Song said, raising his eyebrows as he looked at Luo Pei. The Guangcheng Bo family had really declined in this generation. Last year, the Guangcheng Bo Shizi had tried to forge a link with the Fourth Prince, and the family’s status had risen somewhat at the time, but now that the Fourth Prince was no more, their family had no backer to count on at all.
Zhao Xi understood. His gaze shifted to Luo Pei, and he studied that fellow’s delicate, feminine-looking face carefully.
Last winter, Luo Pei had accidentally offended Lou Jing, and he became persona non grata with most of the other nobles in the Capital as a result. Even now, when everyone was chatting amongst themselves, Luo Pei and his elder brother were sitting awkwardly by themselves on one side.
After a round of drinks, a servant came in to report that their honoured guest had arrived. Everyone got their feet in unison, and before long, Xiao Chengduo walked in, dressed in the dark yellow robes of an Imperial Prince.
Everyone bowed respectfully to the Third Prince. The Luo family brothers were particularly assiduous about this greeting and nearly bowed themselves onto Xiao Chengduo’s robes.
Xiao Chengduo was someone who appreciated male beauty, and when he saw Luo Pei’s effeminate good looks, the smile on his face deepened.
Luo Pei shamelessly sat next to Xiao Chengduo despite his lower social ranking, and when Zhou Song saw this, he couldn’t help sniffing coldly. He exchanged a meaningful look with the Qingyang Bo Shizi. When the young noblemen got together for drinks, their seating positions were usually fixed in order of their rank and status. Luo Pei had neither the rank nor status to sit right next to the Third Prince.
“Eh? Isn’t this Zhao Sanyuan?” Xiao Chengduo asked in surprise. He hadn’t noticed the looks the young noblemen were exchanging and looked directly at Zhao Xi, who was sitting a little to the side behind him. His first-place score in all the three major examinations was simply too outstanding, and the ones who couldn’t remember Zhao Xi’s name all called him Zhao Sanyuan.
“Third Dianxia, if you say it that way, this humble official will be public enemy no. 1,” Zhao Xi said, smiling merrily as he got to his feet and raised a toast to the Third Prince. “I only came here to have some drinks with my friends and didn’t think I would meet you here today. Now that we’ve met by chance, I must drink a toast to Dianxia!”
Xiao Chengduo’s brows creased slightly as he thought back on what his mother had said. It seemed that Zhao Xi still didn’t know. He set his heart at ease and raised his winecup in response.
“Dianxia, since you have drunk a toast from Zhao gongzi, I will also drink a toast to you,” Luo Pei said from his position next to the Third Prince. He didn’t want to lose out, so he raised his winecup as well.
The toasts went on and on after that. Everyone took turns to drink toasts to the Third Prince, and before the food arrived, the Third Prince had drunk toasts from every single person there and was up to his eyebrows in wine.
Zhao Xi watched the endless toasts, then picked up the wine jar and walked over to the Qingyang Bo Shizi. “We played together with Big Lou when we were young, so even though the Zhao family isn’t part of the Zanying nobility, I hope you will let me call you Big Brother on account of our childhood friendship,” he said, smiling at the Qingyang Bo Shizi.
“Don’t say that! Big Lou treats you like his own blood brother, so of course you are also my brother,” the Qingyang Bo Shizi said, smiling broadly as they clinked their winecups together.
Zhao Xi smiled as he filled the Qingyang Bo Shizi’s cup.
Nobody noticed initially, but after three rounds of drinks, they started to realise how powerful Zhao Xi’s eloquent mouth was. His tongue was so glib that once he poured wine and spoke to you, there was no way to refuse his toast, and they all drank cup after cup after cup.
“Ji Ming, spare me, please,” Zhou Song groaned. He’d drunk so much that his tongue was about to wither away, and when he saw Zhao Xi grinning as he walked over, he shivered instinctively in fright.
“What are you saying? I apologise if I’ve proposed too many toasts to you. How about this – I’ll toast to your elder brother having children soon!” Zhao Xi said, smiling as he filled Zhou Song’s cup.
“Huh?” Zhou Song was so drunk that he couldn’t think straight any more. What did this have to do with his big brother? However, this was about his older brother having children, so it seemed that he had to drink it… he pinched his nose, gulped down the wine, then collapsed onto the table and started snoring.
