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The drumbeats began to quicken, and some of the military generals, not understanding poetry, simply downed a large cup of wine. Su Peijiu watched as only two people remained before her, so she obediently filled her own cup, since it was just tea, and it didn't matter how much she drank.
The last drumbeat landed on the position of a man in a dark green patterned robe across from her. She instinctively glanced at Qi Che, but saw that he was merely watching the beauty in her arms with great interest, not looking this way. Suppressing her strange feelings, she turned her gaze back to the opposite side.
"This lord is not skilled in words; I shall punish myself with a cup of turbid wine." The man opened his eyes, which were pitch black. Su Peijiu suddenly felt as if she had seen this person somewhere before.
"The Marquis is too humble; who doesn't know that back in the day, Lord Yuan Canghou was a Duke Qi with both literary talent and martial prowess..." Someone, fueled by wine, began to ramble.
Duke Qi... Qi Shen?
During Yuan Cang's time, she had mostly interacted with Qi Rong, Qi Mo, and Qi Che... As for the other candidate for the throne, Duke Qi, she had met him a few times, but unfortunately, her impression was not deep.
She saw Qi Shen smile slightly: "You flatter me, my lord. To avoid dampening everyone's spirits, how about this? I will play a tune; may the Emissary's beauty dance impromptu?"
Who would have thought that the one to ignite the fire towards Qi Che would be Qi Shen! This silent and low-key prince from the previous dynasty.
"Why not?" Qi Che pushed the beauty in his arms forward and leaned back against Eunuch behind him, appearing lazy.
The beauty was also poised and casually stepped into the center of the dance floor, smiling sweetly: "Please instruct me, Marquis."
Qi Shen pulled out a bamboo flute from his sleeve; it was mottled and looked like it had been stained with tears. He brought his lips to the flute and began to play.
The melody was melodious and calming. The beauty danced freely; by the time her dance ended, the ministers were losing interest, and the drumbeats resumed.
This time it struck once before landing on Su Peijiu's side. She gripped her hairpin tightly, veins standing out on her hand. Clearly, someone was targeting her! The drummer looked back at her expressionlessly. She suppressed her anger and smiled brightly, raising a jug of wine: "As a mere woman, I truly have no talents; why not finish this jug as punishment?"
"Prince Ping'an is being a bit evasive," said the beauty who had just returned from the dance floor upon seeing Su Peijiu about to down the jug of wine.
Su Peijiu raised an eyebrow: "Why is that, miss?"
"Who doesn't know that back in the day, the Legitimate Daughter of the Su Family stunned everyone with her performance of Soul of the Samurai? Who doesn't know that today's hot topic Prince Ping'an is none other than that same Legitimate Daughter of the Su Family? The Soul of the Samurai performed before Emperor Yuan Cang back then cannot be performed before Your Majesty today? If that's the case, merely that jug in your hand is insufficient; you should at least be punished with a whole jar..." The beauty covered her mouth and laughed playfully; though it sounded like a joke, those with intent took note.
Su Peijiu casually tossed her hairpin into Zhang Cheng's arms and then walked over to stand in front of the beauty. Suddenly smiling sweetly but with an underlying malice in her expression, she mocked: "What do you think you are? Dare to come here to teach This King a lesson on behalf of His Majesty?"
She pinched the beauty's chin forcefully and wrapped her arm around her waist while holding the wine. With a wicked smile, she said: "Or are you deliberately trying to attract This King's attention? It's just too bad; This King wasn't born with such things and cannot make beauties wish for life or death..."
The people inside the grand hall were all frozen in place, stunned by the sight of this woman dressed as a man. They had always thought Prince Ping'an was an ice beauty, but they never expected the prince to be so wicked after drinking.
The Eunuchs waiting in the corner looked at Su Peijiu's enchanting expression, their faces turning slightly red. Even the beauty in her arms trembled unnaturally for a moment.
"Ahem..." Jun Ye Su cleared his throat. "Prince Ping'an is drunk; let's go outside to sober up before coming back."
Su Peijiu calmly withdrew her hand and casually bent down with the jug of wine. "I would rather obey than disrespect."
The wicked smile had vanished without a trace; it turned out this girl was forcing him to give her a way out. Jun Ye Su smiled helplessly and waved his hand, signaling her to leave.
As Su Peijiu turned around, she noticed the Chancellor looking at her with an inscrutable gaze from behind his wooden mask, causing her heart to tremble. Her steps out of the hall became somewhat hurried.
Once she finally left the oppressive grand hall, she exhaled a breath of stale air and began to ponder that unsettling gaze.
The Chancellor of the Crimson Kingdom seemed to have... She furrowed her brows. What did that look mean? Did they know each other? Why was he looking at her like that?
That gaze... made it seem as if she were a lifeless object!
Did the Chancellor want to kill her?!!
Cold sweat broke out on Su Peijiu's back as she hurriedly walked away, only realizing how desolate her surroundings were when she forgot where she had come from.
She looked around in confusion... Was there such a dark place in the palace?
"Black Crow? Are you there?" she called softly but received no response, causing her brows to furrow even more.
Forget it; she'd better find a Eunuch to ask for directions. She turned around, planning to retrace her steps, which was undoubtedly the most effective method.
However, as she walked, her frown deepened further, and the surroundings grew darker. Her subconscious resistance made her reluctant to continue forward. Under the pale moonlight, the mottled shadows of trees danced in the wind, appearing somewhat sinister.
In this deep palace, where lonely souls and wild ghosts were most prevalent, could she have encountered a ghost blocking her path?
Cold sweat that had just subsided now returned as she took two steps back. Suddenly, she heard a whooshing sound coming closer, accompanied by faint footsteps...
In the deep palace, there are many female ghosts, most of whom died unjustly. Their lonely souls wander within the palace, seeking a living body to reincarnate, and they are mostly malevolent spirits...
Su Peijiu's mind was filled with ghost stories her master had told her, combined with her boundless imagination. She felt as if a cold breeze was blowing past her neck from behind, as if a female ghost was sticking to her back.
"Amitabha, Amitabha! Great compassion and mercy, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Tathagata Buddha Sakyamuni, Jade Emperor, Queen Mother, Barefoot Immortal..."
She wondered if it was the damned Chancellor's eerie gaze that frightened her; she felt almost absurdly timid today.
When she truly sensed something sticking to her back, her body trembled violently, and all color drained from her face... Could it be that? Last time she encountered a Yue Niang in a cave; what would she encounter this time in the deep palace?
"…Sister Ghost, I have no grievances with you… If you have something to say, please don’t come looking for me, okay? I can have someone burn you some paper money; would that work?"
"No."
Su Peijiu trembled all over, her eyes glistening with tears. Did she just hear something? Was someone speaking behind her?
"What do you want? I can… I can do anything for you; please don’t scare me… I might die of fright..."
In the pitch darkness, she had no firestick on her. The moon was obscured by dark clouds, and the shadows of trees swayed in the distance like human hands. All signs seemed to indicate that she had encountered a ghost!
"…Anything?" She heard that cold and light voice again and quickly nodded.
"Then turn around and look at me."
Su Peijiu froze... "Can we negotiate this?"
"What if I insist that you turn around and look at me?"
Su Peijiu slowly turned around while covering her eyes with her hands. Trembling, she asked in a quivering voice, "What was your appearance like at the moment of your death... oh no, how did you look in your last moments?"
"Won't you find out when you look?"
One hand slowly lowered down, then the other hand followed. She kept her eyes tightly shut and continued to struggle fiercely. A few twinkling stars glimmered at the corners of her eyes, making her look pitiful.
"Alright, open your eyes." The voice softened. "I won't scare you anymore."
Su Peijiu: "..." As her eyelids opened, she saw a handsome face filled with indignation—Qi Mo.
Her hand swung angrily toward that face but was blocked. She immediately swung her other hand, only to have it blocked again, then kicked! Caught!
Faced with the man's sly smile, Su Peijiu gritted her teeth and bit down on his chest. All that could be heard was a muffled grunt. She increased her grip, but it was too painful to maintain the position with her teeth, and she couldn't bite off that piece of flesh, so she could only mumble, "Let go of me!"
Qi Mo felt a sharp pain from the bite, but since it was her, he couldn't get angry. He could only appease her by loosening his grip. Then the furious beast in front of him finally released its sharp teeth and jumped a meter away, eyeing him warily.
"What? Not going to pretend to be your flirtatious Sixth Brother anymore?" The person in the court was Qi Che himself, but at the banquet, he had been swapped out for Qi Mo. Su Peijiu wiped her lips with the back of her hand, vaguely sensing the lingering scent of perfume in the air, which made her feel disgusted for no reason.
"This seems to have nothing to do with Prince Ping'an." Qi Mo noticed the flash of disdain in her eyes; his chest felt both stuffy and painful, and his tone grew colder.
Su Peijiu was taken aback by this statement. It seemed that Qi Mo had never spoken to her so harshly before. Even when they first met, he had never been this indifferent toward her... Her heart suddenly felt sour.
"Yes, it has nothing to do with This King." She pulled the corners of her lips into an impeccable smile and walked toward behind him, only to hear a bland remark from behind: "You've gone too far."
Her lips twitched slightly as she turned around and walked past him. In that moment of cursing him silently in her heart, her hand was gently yet stubbornly pulled back, causing her to stop... She didn't turn around but heard the person behind her hoarsely call out softly, "…I was wrong. Will you forgive me?"
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