With that, Zhao Si kissed Yun Qing a few more times.
“You!” Yun Qing made a motion to strike, but when her fingertips reached Zhao Si’s cheek, she playfully and coquettishly tapped Zhao Si’s brow instead, scolding, “You have such a glib tongue, though I have no idea where you learned it.”
“It must be, it must be learned from Wife right here.” Zhao Si bent her elbow, leaning over Yun Qing, and said with great earnestness, “Ever since I can remember, you are the only one I have spoken with this much. If Wife is unaccustomed to hearing it, it must be because I stole the words you wanted to say.”
“And so what if you did?”
“Then Wife can only quietly listen to me speak.” Zhao Si plucked the golden hairpin from Yun Qing’s hair to remove her head ornaments, and in the gaps between, she recounted every detail from the wine-toasting process to Yun Qing word for word, also laying bare her intention to attach herself to the Prince of Duan and the Crown Prince.
As Zhao Si spoke, she kept a close eye on Yun Qing’s expression. Thus, Zhao Si noticed that whenever she mentioned the Prince of Duan, Yun Qing’s beautiful eyes instantly shone as bright as the stars, but whenever she mentioned the Crown Prince, the radiance in those beautiful eyes vanished in an instant.
Surmising that Yun Qing held a favorable impression of the Prince of Duan, Zhao Si immediately followed Yun Qing’s lead in placing her bets, saying, “When the Prince of Duan arrives, I will go seek him out for a drinking contest. What does Wife think of that?”
“Pfft you fool!” Yun Qing reached out and stroked Zhao Si’s cheek, petting it over and over again.
Assuming she had made a fool of herself once more, Zhao Si blushed instantly.
To her surprise, Yun Qing’s eyes curved into two crescent moons as she smiled softly and said, “Husband truly is full of clever schemes. It’s a pity that the Prince of Duan does not love to drink.”
“Then how could he become the Wine Immortal?” Not forgetting the old man’s words, Zhao Si immediately handed the wooden token over to Yun Qing. “Could it be that the owner of this wooden token speaks untruthfully?”
Yun Qing took the wooden plaque, raised it high to inspect it, blinked her pretty eyes, hesitated for a moment or two, and finally explained to Zhao Si, “This is a precious item. In the future, Husband must not swagger with it or casually hand it to others.”
“What is this?” Zhao Si looked at the wooden token thoughtfully.
“It is a token of the Mo Family Winery. If I am not mistaken, the old man Husband saw just now should be Mo Chou, the master of the Mo Family Winery.”
“Mo Chou? That doesn’t sound like a good name.”
“Indeed. People say his surname is Mo (none), yet everyone under heaven calls him ‘Ghost-Fear-None’; they say his given name is Chou (sorrow), yet he brews the world’s most outstanding famous wine, ‘Worry-Forgetter.’ Making his acquaintance this time, Husband, it is truly hard to tell whether it will be a blessing or a curse.” Yun Qing let out a soft sigh and tucked the wooden token back into Zhao Si’s hand.
Zhao Si put the token away safely and teased, “Wife, fear not. At worst, he’s just someone who brews wine. The next time he comes, I’ll just share a few more cups with him.”
“As for the Prince of Duan… a Prince of Duan who dislikes drinking—how did he become the Wine Immortal?” Zhao Si steered the conversation back to the Prince of Duan, whom Yun Qing favored.
Yun Qing smiled faintly.
“The Wine Immortal? That is a long story. Yun Qing and the Prince of Duan did not know each other from childhood. However, I previously had a bosom friend who once engaged in a drinking contest with the Prince of Duan at the Prince of Duan’s residence. The Prince of Duan himself declared that alcohol harms the body and that he dislikes drinking.”
Zhao Si made a logical deduction: “Then Wife’s little sisterly friend must have defeated the Prince of Duan.”
“No, Husband guessed wrong. Xueru lost.”
“Oh.” Zhao Si figured Yun Qing was just teasing her.
Yun Qing shook her head, the smile reaching the corners of her eyes as she said, “Who would have thought that although the Prince of Duan is weary of drinking, he is an expert at it? With their royal family affairs and brothers turning against each other, Yun Qing only learned after hearing it from Xueru that the Prince of Duan possessed strategy from a young age and feared that getting drunk at a banquet would cause him to slip up, which was why he acted fiercely and ruthlessly at a tender age to forge an invincibility technique against drunkenness.”
Zhao Si wanted to understand her own wife even better. According to the capabilities of Zhao Si’s current little brain, the best way to understand someone was none other than to learn more about the people they kept on their lips.
Thus, Zhao Si chose to pursue the question.
“And what about Xueru?”
Yun Qing’s smile froze on her face. After looking a bit closer, Zhao Si vaguely sensed that Yun Qing was about to cry.
Great! She had poked a hornet’s nest!
Realizing and remembering that tonight was her and Yun Qing’s wedding night, Zhao Si was filled with endless regret.
Fortunately, Yun Qing’s precious tears only spun around in her eye sockets before settling back where they belonged.
“Xueru is the young lady of the Liu family. If Husband asks where she is now, Yun Qing does not know either. However, Yun Qing has heard that she is already the Crown Prince’s Imperial Noble Consort.” (Note: actually translated from the text as Secondary Consort / Concubine)
“To be so illustrious!” Zhao Si clenched her teeth, holding back a breath as she said, “Wife is a bosom friend of the Crown Prince’s Secondary Consort, Liu Xueru. And now that Liu Xueru is a secondary consort, she might well become the Imperial Noble Consort in the future… Won’t Wife feel stifled, having married me, a mere Zhao Si, and causing a bright pearl to be covered in dust?”
“Pfft you’re spouting nonsense again.” Yun Qing was amused and disarmed by Zhao Si’s petty jealousy. “Xueru can be her imperial consort as much as she likes; what does that have to do with me, Yun Qing? It’s you, Husband you look like a wooden stump from afar, yet up close you have so much to say.”
“I’m only saying this to Wife.” Zhao Si straightened her mood, focused her attention to gaze affectionately at Yun Qing, and planned to complete the most important part of the wedding night.
Understanding her intent, Yun Qing drew a three-inch-long illustrated picture book bound in brocade from beneath the pillow and handed it to the hesitant Zhao Si.
Taking it and looking it over, Zhao Si instinctively felt that the two large, dark characters on the cover were “Spring Palace” (erotic manual).
Hehe. Wife really dotes on me.
Happily opening the page, Zhao Si furrowed her brow slightly.
Turning to the next page, she furrowed her brow more tightly.
Turning another four or five pages, her brow locked into a deep frown.
Flipping straight through to the end in one breath!
Unbelievable!
Zhao Si’s brow twisted into the shape of the character for “river” (chuan).
“Yun Qing, have you ever flipped through this book?”
“Never.”
“Then… let’s go to sleep early. I’ll warm up the bedding for you.”
“Why?”
“Because. Sigh.” Zhao Si searched for phrasing for a moment, then struggled out, “Because this book depicts matters of yin and yang. It is not, um, quite suitable for you and me.”
“How could it not be suitable? Aren’t Husband and Yun Qing husband and wife now?” Curious, Yun Qing reached out to take the brocade-bound book from Zhao Si’s hand.
Chuckling, Zhao Si raised the brocade book with one hand to a height Yun Qing couldn’t reach, while blocking Yun Qing with the other, repeating urgently, “No you can’t! Yun Qing! No, no!”
“Give it to me, Husband! Give it to me!” Her interest piqued, Yun Qing mustered all her strength to reach for it.
“No, no!” Dodging left and right, Zhao Si made sure the booklet never touched Yun Qing’s ten fingertips.
“Fine. Tomorrow I’ll ask Ying’er for another copy, then.” Feeling stifled, Yun Qing lay back down.
Panicking, Zhao Si hurriedly leaned forward to check on her.
“Good wife, don’t tell me you’re…”
Zhao Si meant well, but before the words “angry” could leave her mouth, Yun Qing suddenly bolted upright, reaching out to grab the brocade book Zhao Si had dropped.
“Hehe. Good wife, you were waiting for me right here!” Quickly dodging Yun Qing’s hand, Zhao Si rolled and flipped over purposefully to the corner of the bed where she could stand straight and maintain eye contact with Yun Qing.
As soon as Yun Qing’s gaze met hers, Zhao Si immediately shoved the brocade book in her hand straight into the nearby candlelight, letting the flame reduce the seemingly precious book to ashes, while patiently advising, “Wife, this book is truly not something you should read.”
Their gazes intertwined amidst the glow of the burning brocade book.
Realizing the game was up, Yun Qing simply feigned annoyance, raised her hand to block Zhao Si’s line of sight, turned over onto her side with her back to Zhao Si, and muttered aggrievedly, “Sigh, it really is so boring.”
For a long while, Zhao Si didn’t answer; she just suppressed a smile as she watched her wife throw a little temper.
After watching for a moment, Zhao Si felt that whether her wife was happy or angry, she was always pleasing to the eye even when acting spoiled like this.
Unexpectedly, before Zhao Si could watch for very long, Yun Qing turned back around, gently tugged on Zhao Si’s sleeve, and softly pleaded in a soft voice, “Husband, do tell Yun Qing what on earth is in this book that you are allowed to look at it, yet I am not?”