Chapter 23 Extra Extra Update Extra Extra Update

“How does Your Highness find the taste?” Qiu Shuzhi asked with a slightly drunken air.

Yue Guanyi’s face was as red as burning clouds, and he murmured sullenly: “Very good.”

Her thin lips curled slightly, her tipsy eyes inadvertently revealing a hint of allure, almost causing his heart to stop and forget to breathe.

Qiu Shuzhi was unaware of Yue Guanyi’s thoughts. She clutched her chest, criticizing herself for becoming increasingly useless, getting nauseous and wanting to vomit just from drinking a little alcohol.

If she hadn’t been holding herself together, she really would have vomited right then and there.

Seeing the atmosphere beginning to ease, Dai Yun, knowing it was Qiu Shuzhi mediating, thoughtlessly offered her another toast.

The clean, clear liquor poured into the cup, and the smell of alcohol that had just been suppressed rushed up again. This time, Qiu Shuzhi really couldn’t hold back anymore. Covering her mouth, she ran out and vomited by a tree.

Dai Yun was stunned on the spot.

Yue Guanyi hurriedly followed her out. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to give her a piercing glare with his chilling eyes. It was all this woman’s doing!

Qiu Shuzhi had downed a cup of strong liquor on an empty stomach, and had only eaten a piece of fried shrimp for dinner. There wasn’t much to throw up, she could only keep retching, even bringing up the acid from her stomach.

“Is Official Qiu feeling any better?” Seeing Qiu Shuzhi in such discomfort, Yue Guanyi finally cast aside all notions of male-female propriety, gently rubbing her back to try and make her feel better.

Qiu Shuzhi turned her head away, not daring to face him: “Your Highness had better keep away from this official. It’s dirty here, don’t lower yourself to look upon it.”

She had originally intended to help smooth things over, but ended up making a spectacle of herself. It was truly embarrassing.

Fortunately, there were no lanterns hung in this area, and in the pitch darkness, one couldn’t see clearly the filth she had vomited. But vomit was vomit after all, and the smell was particularly unpleasant. Yue Guanyi was, after all, a pampered prince. How could she let him suffer this indignity?

“There’s no lowering or not lowering. You are more important.” Yue Guanyi stayed by her side, not moving an inch. He didn’t find anything unusual about the things she had vomited or the surrounding smell. He only felt bad that he couldn’t bear this suffering in her place.

Qiu Shuzhi’s hand gripping the tree trunk unconsciously tightened. Yue Guanyi’s worried gaze could be felt clearly even in the unclear darkness of night.

After vomiting thoroughly, Qiu Shuzhi finally recovered her composure, but her head was still somewhat dizzy.

Looking at Yue Guanyi carefully accompanying her, she felt both embarrassed and apologetic.

“Is Official Qiu still feeling unwell anywhere?” Yue Guanyi’s expression was normal, not seeming to find it awkward at all. Instead, he was anxiously concerned about her.

Qiu Shuzhi fell silent. She didn’t understand what merits or virtues she possessed to receive the favor of the eldest prince.

Seeing Qiu Shuzhi not speaking, Yue Guanyi thought her intoxication hadn’t subsided yet, and hurriedly instructed Chang’an behind him: “Quickly have the kitchen prepare some sobering soup, hurry!”

“There’s no need.” Qiu Shuzhi hastily stopped him. “I just haven’t had such strong liquor in a long time. It’s nothing serious, just that my head is still muddled. I’m afraid I can only take my leave first.”

Yue Guanyi’s gaze seemed to stick to her: “Very well. Official Qiu should go back and rest early. I- This prince is also staying there. This prince will accompany you back.”

Dai Yun wanted to say something, but a cold glance from Yue Guanyi immediately silenced her.

On the way there, Qiu Shuzhi had insisted on riding in her own carriage, but on the way back, Yue Guanyi, citing that the bumpy ride was unsuitable for someone who had been drinking, had her board his own carriage.

It was Qiu Shuzhi’s first time seeing such a forceful side of Yue Guanyi. Moreover, her head was dizzy, and she was afraid she might vomit in the carriage if it was too bumpy, so she agreed.

Yue Guanyi’s carriage was extremely exquisitely and luxuriously decorated, with a thick layer of fur laid down below. Stepping into the carriage was like sinking into soft cotton.

At first, she was able to sit properly to one side, but gradually the effects of the alcohol overcame her, causing her to lose her strength and lean softly against the carriage wall.

Beauty in drunkenness, rosy cheeks flushed.

Yue Guanyi lowered his head, concealing his bobbing Adam’s apple.

“Official Qiu, have a cup of tea to suppress the effects of the alcohol.” He poured a cup of clear tea and handed it to Qiu Shuzhi. With one movement, he inadvertently closed the distance between them.

Qiu Shuzhi seemed to have truly had her clear-minded nerves paralyzed by the constantly surging effects of alcohol. As a cup of tea was presented before her, her eyes looked at him with a slight daze.

Slightly disheveled wisps of hair fell to one side of her face. Her hazy, drunken eyes, half-open half-closed beneath thick lashes, added a touch of bewildered and misty beauty.

“Official Qiu, please drink some tea.” Yue Guanyi’s ears were red and soft, and the hand holding the teacup was almost unsteady under her gaze. Half a cup of tea spilled out, and his fair fingers, wet with tea, became even more translucent and glistening.

“Mm… alright…” She seemed to have just reacted, her voice slow and tinged with drunkenness.

She took the tea and drank it in one gulp. The slightly cool tea didn’t clear her thoughts one bit, and her gaze still fell directly on him.

When sober, Qiu Shuzhi would absolutely not dare to stare at Yue Guanyi with such a blatant gaze. Such a naked look made Yue Guanyi momentarily uncomfortable, but more than that, he was nervous. Nervous to the point of not daring to breathe, even able to clearly hear the frantic beating of his own heart.

Being stared at by the one he loved, he subconsciously doubted himself.

Was his appearance not handsome enough, his makeup not proper enough? Even his loose official robes didn’t outline his figure, couldn’t show off his waist. When one loves someone deeply, it becomes self-doubt.

But even in his self-doubt, he still hoped the carriage would go a little slower, even slower.

He cherished every moment spent with Qiu Shuzhi. Her unrestrained gaze after drinking could make him have thoughts beyond mere shame – she liked him, perhaps she liked his looks, and that was good enough.

He at least had one thing that could catch her eye, and that was enough.

Qiu Shuzhi leaned against the carriage wall, her cool eyes carrying a hint of warmth under the influence of alcohol, but still as clean as clear water from a sacred mountain.

“Your hand…” Her voice was slightly husky after drinking the strong liquor. In the enclosed space that shut out everything outside, it sounded somewhat ambiguous.

Yue Guanyi looked at his own hand. Just now when handing over the tea, half of it had spilled. Now there were still water stains on his hand, dripping from his fingertips onto the fur laid out below.

She looked at the teacup, then at his hand, seeming to understand it was because of her.

“Let me wipe it for you.” Qiu Shuzhi supported her muddled body, about to use her sleeve to wipe his hand, nearly losing her balance and falling.

“Be careful, Official.” Yue Guanyi hurriedly steadied her, his fingers trembling almost instinctively when they touched her hot skin.

He had one arm around her waist and one hand supporting her arm. The heated temperature of her body after drinking almost burned his hand.

He should have let go immediately, but he couldn’t bear to.

When sober, Qiu Shuzhi was always cool and aloof, like a goddess from the edge of the sky. She looked at him the same way she looked at others.

But she would never be this intimately close to him like now. He craved this warmth, craved this moment of tenderness, even if it meant drowning in a honey pot like a greedy mouse.

But how would Qiu Shuzhi view him after she sobered up if he acted like this?

His already poor reputation would surely become even more lowly in her heart.

No matter how reluctant, he had to painfully let go.

The moment he let go, he seemed to hear a frantic cry and roar from the depths of his soul: Not enough, still not enough, don’t let go.

“Let me help you wipe it.” Qiu Shuzhi looked down at his still-dripping fingers, clean as a piece of white jade.

In her drunken state, she didn’t feel there was anything improper about her actions just now.

“There’s no need, I can do it myself.” He restrained himself with great effort, not daring to look at Qiu Shuzhi’s clear eyes. Her gaze was too pure, untainted by any impurity, making him feel ashamed of himself.

He took out a handkerchief from his bosom and wiped the water stains on his fingers. The slightly cool water stains imprinted on the handkerchief made the embroidered orchid on it even more beautiful.

Qiu Shuzhi blinked in her haze, staring at that handkerchief for a good while: “This is my handkerchief.”

The continuous wiping motion suddenly stopped. Yue Guanyi only then realized that in his panic, he had taken out the wrong handkerchief, exposing the one he had been carefully hiding, and thoroughly revealing his own dirty little thoughts.

He lowered his head, not daring to say another word, waiting for Qiu Shuzhi’s judgment.

What would she think of him?

A shameless, depraved man who secretly kept a woman’s handkerchief?

He trembled fragilely, his thin body at this moment slender and weak. He was the only flower in the wilderness, waiting for the impending storm.

Qiu Shuzhi tugged at his sleeve, looking at his long eyelashes trembling with fear, and asked again: “This is my handkerchief, isn’t it?”

Yue Guanyi stared at her blankly.

She was drunk.

He finally realized.

“No, it’s not.” For the first time, he lied to her, his heart pounding like a drum.

“Oh.” She responded faintly, and didn’t pursue the matter further, continuing to lean against the carriage wall, staring blankly ahead.

Yue Guanyi, borrowing courage from who knows where, asked: “If I say it’s not, you believe me?”

Qiu Shuzhi looked at him with clear eyes: “Mm.”

He swallowed, his slightly protruding Adam’s apple bobbing undisguisedly before her: “If I say this is indeed your handkerchief, and I want you to give it to me, would you be willing?”

Something flashed in Qiu Shuzhi’s eyes for an instant, and she stared at him without blinking. For a moment, Yue Guanyi mistakenly thought her intoxication had receded, that she had sobered up.

“I would.”

Yue Guanyi finally revealed without concealment the love in his eyes that had been suppressed for years, pouring out like a flood. He wanted to embrace her, but didn’t dare to profane her. He could only look at her like this, uncontrollably shedding bitter tears.