Huai Zhi had very low alcohol tolerance. When she was just past ten years old, she was tricked into drinking a small cup of wine. That night, when she got up to relieve herself, she lost her footing—she had just stood up and pulled up her trousers when she fell to the ground. No one found her until the next morning when someone came to use the latrine.
That incident had been quite dangerous. Fortunately, she had fallen backward onto the ground. If she had fallen the other way, headfirst into the cesspit, she would have died.
When her father found out, he gave her another beating, saying she had insisted on sneaking a drink.
Huai Zhi covered her head and cried, "Father, you're the one who told me to drink!"
Today, she had downed three cups of wine in a row, and she had completely forgotten that she was married. Her surroundings were unfamiliar—carved beams and painted rafters she had never seen before, a place of wealth and splendor she had never set foot in her entire life. It seemed to be in some kind of garden. There was no one around, and even if there were people, they wouldn't be able to see her sitting on the ground in the corner where she had stumbled.
To Huai Zhi, this place felt like an uninhabited wilderness.
Where was this? How did she end up here?
Huai Zhi was a little scared.
She needed to go home. She needed to get home early, before dark, or she would get a beating.
Huai Zhi tried to stand up from the ground, but for some reason it was so difficult—no matter what, she couldn't seem to get up.
It wasn't until later that she didn't even notice a shadow falling over her.
Liang Qisheng's tone carried a hint of surprise as he looked at Huai Zhi on the ground and said, "Why are you sitting here?"
Huai Zhi stared at him blankly.
Liang Qisheng let out a sigh and said, "You seem to be drunk."
When Huai Zhi heard him say she was drunk, she nodded and gave a silly smile. "Just a little drunk."
Liang Qisheng hadn't expected her to say that. His pupils flickered twice, and then he laughed quite hard, probably thinking she had something wrong with her head. He said, "Can you stand up on your own?"
Can I?
Hearing someone ask if she could, Huai Zhi nodded vigorously and said, "I can!"
Huai Zhi braced herself against the ground to stand up again, but ended up falling back down.
Except this time, just before she hit the ground, someone caught her. Without any hesitation or concern for propriety, he supported her and said, "It looks like your family isn't taking care of you anymore. Let me help you go rest somewhere first."
And so Huai Zhi let him support her as they walked away.
Liang Qisheng didn't take her anywhere else—he brought her back to his grandmother's place.
The old lady had gotten up early for her birthday celebration and was tired by now. After returning from the banquet, she had taken advantage of the crowd dispersing to lie down and rest for a while.
When she woke up, she heard that the Cui family's young master's wife had come back, and she found it strange. But when she saw that it was Liang Qisheng who had brought her back, it no longer seemed strange.
This grandson of hers—with so many sisters and female cousins in the family, he had a flirtatious nature and was used to having no sense of boundaries.
She came out from the inner room, looked at Liang Qisheng, and said irritably, "This is the Cui family's daughter-in-law. Why did you go and get involved with her?"
Liang Qisheng immediately said, "Grandmother, you're really wronging me here. She was drunk and abandoned by the Cui family. I was worried about the summer heat outside—if she got sunstroke, that wouldn't be good."
The old lady looked at Huai Zhi and thought that Liang Qisheng's words probably weren't false.
After considering the way Cui Jingci's stepmother conducted herself, she stopped pursuing the matter and said, "Fine, leave her here for now. Have you sent word to the Cui family?"
Liang Qisheng shook his head, smiling, and teased, "What's the matter? Brother Xuan Shuang realizes his wife is missing—surely he can find his way here? Speaking of which, it's been a long time since he's attended one of these gatherings, and a long time since I've seen him."
Old Madame Liang scolded him, saying, "Stop your nonsense! Have someone send word to the Cui family at once."
Liang Qisheng stopped her, "We can just deliver her back ourselves. Brother Xuan Shuang is ill—why would you trouble him to come all this way?"
When the old lady heard he was ill, she thought it over and found it reasonable.
"Then have your sister come—hurry and send her back."
With the propriety between men and women, he was not suitable.
Liang Qisheng said, "My sister is also drunk and in no state to be of use."
His sister had also suffered from a lack of learning—after three rounds, she'd failed to answer two.
What about the others? What about the other sisters! Was the whole family a bunch of useless drunkards, only good for toasting at a Flying Flower Poetry Game? The old lady couldn't be bothered to argue with him, and turned her gaze to Huai Zhi. Seeing her sitting there quietly without a word, not making a fuss even in her drunkenness, she said, "Drunkenness reveals a person's character best. She is a child of good nature."
Liang Qisheng didn't believe it. He deliberately pinched Huai Zhi's cheek, which had grown a bit of flesh, and Huai Zhi slapped his hand away with a sharp smack. He winced in pain, frowning with a smile, and said, "She's alright, I suppose."
"Aiyaya! You're asking for it!"
The old lady couldn't help but launch into another round of scolding.
By around dusk, Cui Jingci still saw no sign of Huai Zhi returning home. Jiang Li went to make inquiries and discovered that Madam He and the others had already come back long ago.
Cui Jingci immediately guessed that they had likely abandoned Huai Zhi at the Liang residence.
Cui Jingci set out and went straight to Lianxin Courtyard, where he found Madam He having dinner with Cui Linzhi.
When Madam He saw Cui Jingci arrive, she knew at once that he had come to demand an explanation.
Cui Jingci sat down at the table directly and looked at Madam He with cold eyes. "Where is Huai Zhi?"
Caught off guard by the question, Madam He froze for a moment, then said without changing her expression, "She got drunk outside on her own and couldn't walk, so she refused to come back."
Refused to come back?
Hadn't they done the same thing to him before, deliberately leaving him outside? In the end, she'd put on her loving mother act, wailing and carrying on, and everyone had gone along to comfort her—while Cui Linzhi turned around and scolded him for running off. So many years had passed, and it was still the same trick. Thinking no one was there to protect Huai Zhi, she'd started up her old games again.
She said Huai Zhi refused to come back? He didn't believe it.
Cui Jingci rose, walked over to Madam He, picked up the chopsticks, and placed a dish on her plate. He leaned down beside her ear and said with a light laugh, "You already used this trick before, didn't you? I was only a few years old then. Now I'm twenty-seven, and you're still using it on Huai Zhi—do you think she has no one to protect her?"
Before Madam He could react, she saw Cui Jingci set down the chopsticks. Whether deliberately or not, he knocked over the bowl she was holding in her hands.
When she realized he was about to act, she scrambled in a panic to hide behind Cui Linzhi. "Jingci, what are you doing?!"
Seeing Cui Jingci so disrespectful, Cui Linzhi's brows shot up in fury. He slammed the table and rose to his feet, rattling the entire spread of dishes with a clatter, and roared, "Have you lost your mind?!"
Cui Jingci said coldly, "She left Huai Zhi at someone else's house."
Cui Linzhi said, "Just send someone to fetch her back—there's no need for you to deliberately knock over your mother's bowl!"
Madam He hid behind Cui Linzhi, whether from grievance or because the bowl had hurt her, she actually began to cry, saying, "How is it that I'm the one being blamed now!"
Cui Jingci smiled and said, "Oh, I didn't bump into it on purpose either."
He flicked his sleeves and left the place, having intended to send someone to the Liang residence to bring her back, but then remembered Madam He saying that Huai Zhi had been drinking, and ultimately decided to go himself.
Cui Jingci went to the Liang residence and was led to the main hall. Before he even entered, he heard a woman's crisp laughter—not unfamiliar, it was Huai Zhi's voice.
His brows furrowed tightly.
The hanging curtain was lifted, producing a series of crisp sounds as the beads clattered together. After the servants announced his arrival, Cui Jingci entered the room.
Upon entering, he saw Huai Zhi seated with Liang Qisheng on her left and Liang Qisheng's younger sister on her right. The two of them had Huai Zhi sandwiched between them, and whatever they were saying was making Huai Zhi giggle.
Cui Jingci looked at Huai Zhi for a while, then finally walked further in. He first paid his respects to the old madam.
Though this was ostensibly to pick someone up, since he had come in person, he naturally couldn't arrive empty-handed, and some polite exchange was unavoidable. He presented the gifts to the old madam, who exclaimed in surprise after receiving them, "Why have you come yourself? And besides, when picking someone up, why bring gifts at all?"
Judging from his complexion alone, Cui Jingci's body didn't appear particularly frail—only a slight pallor was visible. But when he spoke, his tone was heavy and gloomy, lacking the vigor of former days. It seemed he truly was somewhat ill.
Cui Jingci exchanged a few pleasantries with the old madam, but as he spoke, his gaze kept drifting, neither warm nor cold, toward Huai Zhi, who was sandwiched between the two others.
Seeing his gaze repeatedly fall on Huai Zhi, the old madam thought he might have misunderstood something, and said, "This child—she was playing the Flying Flower Poetry Game and drank too much wine. Afraid she'd be bored, Sheng'er and Ming'er were just keeping her entertained."
Hearing this, Cui Jingci's lips curled into a smile, though it did little to brighten his plain, pale face. He said, "Very well. My wife has been troubling you, old madam. I'll take her home now and won't disturb you further."
As he spoke, Cui Jingci had already risen and walked over to stand before Huai Zhi.
The two Liang siblings greeted him, addressing him as "Brother Cui," and Cui Jingci nodded in acknowledgment.
An hour or two had passed by now, and Huai Zhi was no longer as drunk as before. She seemed to have vaguely heard the sound of Cui Jingci's voice.
But when Cui Jingci first called out "Huai Zhi," she looked up at him, still not quite registering who he was.
"Huai Zhi, do you not recognize me anymore?" Cui Jingci bent down slightly, looking at Huai Zhi as he asked.
Cui Jingci's face—so handsome it defied any fault—was pressed extremely close to Huai Zhi's. That face, so near before her eyes, had been this close to her through many days and nights. Huai Zhi remembered now—she was married, and the man before her was her husband.
"Xuanshuang!" Huai Zhi tightly wrapped her arms around the neck of the person before her.
It wasn't just the others who were stunned—Cui Jingci was too, all of them taken aback by her sudden movement.
They had rarely seen someone as forthright as Huai Zhi, and such an action, in their view, was quite improper. In short, no proper lady of a respectable household would do such a thing. But if Huai Zhi did it, it somehow didn't seem strange at all, because she was never a proper lady of a respectable household to begin with.
Cui Jingci wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her to her feet, saying, "Let's go home first."
"Mm!" Huai Zhi obediently responded.
He supported Huai Zhi for half the way, then thought of something, turned around, and suddenly said to Liang Qisheng and the others, "Thank you, Miss Liang and Young Master Liang, for looking after my wife."
Liang Qisheng couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth. What did he mean by saying that?
She watched the two of them walk away. Cui Jingci's back was slender and tall, while Huai Zhi was almost entirely leaning against him, clinging firmly to his side.
They looked like they were quite fond of each other.
The two left that place, and Cui Jingci half-carried Huai Zhi onto the carriage.
He was quite strong—even though Huai Zhi had put on some weight, he lifted her up effortlessly.
On the carriage, Huai Zhi kept leaning against Cui Jingci's chest. Cui Jingci sat upright with no expression on his face, and Huai Zhi had nothing to say either.
In the end, it was Cui Jingci who spoke first. His face still bore no extra emotion as he asked flatly, "Huai Zhi, did you have fun today?"
Huai Zhi shook her head, but then nodded, and finally said, "It was alright."
Alright?
You were bullied, you were abandoned, and you still say it was alright.
Cui Jingci was genuinely curious—what exactly was "alright" about it?
Being made a fool of, laughing and chatting with other men—so that's what made it alright?
Cui Jingci didn't ask further. Seeing that he wasn't speaking, Huai Zhi tugged at him twice and asked, "What's wrong?"
When Cui Jingci heard Huai Zhi's voice, he thought of her laughter in the Liang family's main hall earlier, closed his eyes, and said no more.
The two returned home. Huai Zhi fumbled her way into the room and collapsed onto the chaise lounge, ready to sleep.
Cui Jingci scooped her up from the couch in one motion.
He said, "You're dirty. Wash up before you sleep."
Cui Jingci fed Huai Zhi some hangover soup, and once the bathwater in the washroom was ready, he stripped off her clothes. He lifted her up with one arm, supporting her by the hips as he carried her into the washroom. Before Huai Zhi even knew what was happening, she was already pressed into the water.
Huai Zhi was oblivious to everything around her. Once in the water, she began playing with it carelessly, completely unaware of Cui Jingci's gloomy gaze.
Cui Jingci scooped up a handful of water and poured it over Huai Zhi's body. He said, "Huai Zhi, I waited for you at home for a long time."
Huai Zhi tilted her head up to look at Cui Jingci. Her face was filled with pure innocence, yet carried such natural charm that it stirred unbidden thoughts. At this moment, Cui Jingci's expressionless face was reflected in her clear, clean eyes.
Cui Jingci looked at the rouge on her face and found it irritating. He cupped water in his hands, covered her face with it, then took a cloth and wiped away those bothersome traces before he felt at ease. His movements weren't particularly gentle, and they hurt Huai Zhi a little. He rubbed her face several times, and she felt like her skin was about to be rubbed off. She finally began to protest and struggle, saying she didn't want any more, that she was already clean.
"Don't want it?" Cui Jingci said as if he'd heard something novel.
Good children now know how to say no—truly, alcohol gives courage to the timid.