Chapter 56 Chapter 56 He can even kiss himself, so kiss him...

"Master, Hua Chao has returned to Qinghe Court with four jugs of wine."

The brushstrokes on the memorial paused for a moment, leaving a bean-sized ink stain. Fu Huaiqing lifted his eyelids, glanced thoughtfully at Cheng Jin, and without a word, wrote down his unfinished instructions.

Cheng Jin, unsure of his meaning, exchanged glances with Jiang Yue before retreating.

Night deepened, and the candles in the study only dimmed near midnight.

During the morning court session, the Minister of Rites mentioned the ceremony of the Xilan Kingdom's visit. Just as he had spoken, the vast courtroom erupted in whispers. While the Xilan Kingdom's visit was now a done deal, some court officials, many of them military commanders, held differing opinions.

Some of them had experienced direct combat with the Xilan Kingdom, while others, though not, all believed that, given their wild nature, they would certainly monitor the Xilan Prince and Princess's visit to the capital. Firstly, to prevent them from causing trouble in the capital and slandering the Li Dynasty, and secondly, they still suspected they had ulterior motives; otherwise, they wouldn't have come at this time.

Fu Huaiqing listened to their arguments, remaining silent for a long time, allowing them to debate.

For a moment, the courtroom was as bustling as a bustling market, arguing furiously.

Some officials hadn't participated in the discussion. Fu Huaiqing's gaze flicked past Zhang Yan, who lowered his eyes and remained silent, for a brief moment before he fixed his gaze on Lin Yiqing, the head of the officials. His bony knuckles gently tapped the armrest of his chair. For a moment

, his peripheral vision fixed on the officials in the hall. They suddenly stopped talking, lowered their eyes, and dared not speak.

Fu Huaiqing didn't want to discuss the matter, letting them argue until their faces turned red, simply to gauge their stance.

Su Ci stepped out at the right moment to report on next year's imperial examinations.

"Why are they still arguing so fiercely about something that's already been decided?" Cheng Jin, standing outside the hall, rubbed his ear and whispered to Jiang Yue beside him.

"They're vying to express their views." Jiang Yue glanced sideways at the courtiers inside. Even the military commanders, those who could sit firmly within the court, were highly perceptive. They could see the undercurrents beneath the surface and were unwilling to get involved. Some were vying to express their opinions, while others stayed out of the matter. In short, they all had a different view.

He calculated, "They'll be here in less than ten days."

"The secret guards just reported that Her Royal Highness the Princess left for the capital three days ago," Cheng Jin said. "She'll arrive in two days."

Upon learning that Duan Hui had departed, Fu Huaiqing, who had been walking briskly down the stairs, slowed down a bit. His sister had always been uninhibited. She'd been away from the capital for nearly three years, never returning except for New Year's Eve. When she left again this year, she'd hinted she wouldn't be back until the end of the year. Now, she'd suddenly turned back, surely having heard something.

Cheng Jin: "The princess has learned of the Xilan Kingdom's marriage proposal."

Hearing this, Fu Huaiqing glanced back at Fu Mingzhan, who had silently followed after the court dismissal.

Fu Mingzhan: "..."

He hadn't expected his sister to act so swiftly. The letter should have barely been delivered to her when she'd already ordered her men to pack their bags and return to the capital, without a moment's hesitation.

Fu Huaiqing was naturally aware of their correspondence. "Have you mentioned anything else?"

"That's all," Fu Mingzhan said. He'd considered telling his sister about what happened that day at Prince Su's mansion, but he felt it wasn't appropriate. The girl seemed quite repulsive to his brother, and telling her wouldn't cause her any trouble. "I haven't mentioned the girl I met that day to my sister,"

Fu Huaiqing hummed, averting his gaze and quickly walking away.

Seeing he showed no sign of returning to the palace, Fu Mingzhan hurriedly trotted after him.

He'd been absent from the palace quite a bit lately, returning to Prince Su's mansion after court each day. Fu Mingzhan had never seen him like this before. The guards around him were so tight-lipped that he couldn't get any information out of him.

After much deliberation last night, Fu Mingzhan decided to follow him out of the palace.

He'd prepared himself to throw a tantrum if rejected, but unexpectedly, it went surprisingly smoothly. He was seated in the palace carriage without even having to ask, as if his brother had planned to take him back to Prince Su's mansion all along.

Fu Mingzhan followed him to the Prince Su's Mansion. As soon as he stepped into the mansion, he saw his brother walking towards the backyard. After a moment of confusion, he was about to follow him when he heard his brother telling Cheng Jin to take him back to the study.

Fu Huaiqing went to Qinghe Courtyard.

It was noon and the Qinghe Courtyard was extremely quiet.

Biezhi, who was drinking spring water to moisten her throat, heard the footsteps and looked in the direction with a sad face. A tall figure suddenly came into view.

Glancing at her frowning face and looking extremely uncomfortable, Fu Huaiqing thought of the four pots of drunken flower wine that were delivered to Qinghe Courtyard last night. It seemed that there was not a drop left. He frowned and asked, "Have you had the hangover soup?" Biezhi

stopped him from telling Jiang Yue to go to the kitchen to get the hangover soup, and muttered, "It's so disgusting. I'm going to vomit if I drink more." He didn't vomit after being forced to drink

the wine, but he almost vomited after drinking the hangover soup.

Upon hearing this, Fu Huaiqing couldn't help but glance back at her, knowingly asking, "You didn't seem to drink much last night?"

"I don't know," Biezhi blinked, pouting. "I don't remember drinking much either."

She counted on her fingers, slightly suspicious, "It seems less than ten."

Fu Huaiqing fell silent.

He stared at Biezhi, whose eyes were increasingly puzzled, his face darkening. "Have you forgotten everything about last night?"

"What happened last night?" Biezhi was stunned for a moment, then asked him blankly. "What happened last night?"

Fu Huaiqing, who had long expected this, pursed his lips. "About you and me."

Biezhi: "...?"

Her expression was a mixture of surprise and confusion, a touch of apprehension that came with belated realization. She denied it flatly, "Anything I did while drunk doesn't count."

Fu Huaiqing glanced at her, speechless.

Then he pulled out a piece of paper from his sleeve and unfolded it before her eyes. "You wrote this last night."

- I don't want to kiss you at all, it's you who wants to.

-Don't try to seduce me again, I don't want to kiss you!

-Okay, okay, you are indeed good-looking, and you look kissable.

-It's okay to assume that you are Ji Ran, but you can't settle scores later.

-It's a pity that I can't kiss you.

-Well, I'll kiss you next time! Kiss secretly!

Looking at the familiar handwriting on the huge paper, Biezhi's eyes widened little by little. She looked at Fu Huaiqing in astonishment, then at the words she had scribbled, and suddenly wanted to find a hole in the ground to crawl into.

Ah ah ah ah ah!

What should I do, what should I do!

The master only said that drinking would cause trouble, but he never said that drinking would leave behind unacceptable facts!

Fu Huaiqing's eyes reflected the girl's increasingly flustered look, and he held down her hand that was about to destroy the paper, "It's good that you recognize it."

Biezhi: "..."

She looked at the man whose expression was gradually becoming happy, hesitant to speak, and said with the corners of her mouth opening and closing for a while, "It doesn't count if it was written while drunk."

"People speak the truth when they're drunk." Fu Huaiqing, who had long guessed that she would act rogue, chuckled, glanced vaguely at the spread-out rice paper, and asked, "When do you plan to kiss secretly so I can prepare."

Biezhi took a deep breath, her earlobes flushed red.

The man's dark eyes looked at her with a half-smile, as if he was asking very seriously and wanted to know the answer.

After staring at each other for a while, she avoided his gaze and muttered softly, "I didn't say it was you I wanted to kiss."

Her voice was neither loud nor soft, just loud enough for Fu Huaiqing to hear. In an instant, the smile in his eyes faded a little, "If it's not me, who else do you want to kiss?"

Biezhi didn't know who she wanted to kiss, let alone what she was thinking when she put pen to paper last night. She was so drunk that she wrote such a rebellious statement.

She thought that she had written this just to agree to treat him as Ji Ran for the time being.

"Anyway, it's not you."

Fu Huaiqing laughed angrily.

A subtle chill crossed his face, and he nodded. "That's fine."

The man's indifferent, pleasant voice was tinged with a subtle chill that made Biezhi shudder and instinctively take a half step back.

His taut voice grew even colder as he said, "Kiss one, kill one."

Biezhi felt, rather unseemly, that he was quite nice.

He waited for her to kiss him before killing him, rather than forbidding her from kissing him.

She pursed her lips slightly. "Kiss anyone and kill them?"

Fu Huaiqing hadn't expected her to actually climb the ladder, but upon closer reflection, she felt it was something she could do. If she didn't climb the ladder, she wouldn't be Biezhi.

He glanced at her coldly. "Hmm,"

Biezhi nodded thoughtfully.

She pondered for a moment, then took two steps forward. Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around Fu Huaiqing's neck, pressed down a little, and kissed the corner of his mouth. She lingered for a moment, barely a breath, then, before he could react, she released him and quickly stepped back.

"Kill him." Bie Zhi raised an eyebrow.

Fu Huaiqing's pupils shrank suddenly with a hint of coldness, and he stared at the girl with a slightly provocative smile on her face, obviously looking like she would never admit defeat.

His eyes darkened, "You-"

"It's just a kiss, it won't hurt." Bie Zhi deliberately misinterpreted his words. Could it be that he was allowed to threaten himself, but he was not allowed to fight back?

Besides, he could kiss himself, so what if I kissed him!

One for another, very fair.

God knows how much Bie Zhi wanted to knock herself out and fall asleep again when she got up early in the morning.

Before her thoughts came back to her mind, the first thing that came into her mind was the scene of their lips and teeth touching each other last night. Everything was particularly clear, just like scenes from a picture album, constantly flashing before her eyes.

She couldn't remember anything else, except the last scene.

She remembered it clearly.

Even the details were not forgotten.

"My lords, please wait."

A sudden voice shattered Biezhi's thoughts. She subconsciously tilted her head slightly, looking past Fu Huaiqing's figure in the direction of the voice. Her gaze met the man's, slowly filling with surprise, and then silently retreated.

Fu Huaiqing's eyes flickered to the side, glancing at Qin Xiao, whose expression was growing stern. Then, he glanced at Su Ci, whose face was filled with astonishment, and casually withdrew his gaze. Biezhi scurried away.

Staring intently at her figure, Qin Xiao's brow furrowed in surprise. He instinctively took a half step forward, but the guards outside Qinghe Courtyard immediately raised their hands to stop him. He stopped, a mixture of surprise and confusion surging through him, nearly tearing him apart.

Su Ci hadn't expected to see Biezhi there. He glanced at Qin Xiao, whose expression was becoming increasingly uneasy, then glanced at Fu Huaiqing, who remained composed, and sighed.

Fu Huaiqing walked past with a calm expression, his eyes fixed on her.

Jiang Yue and Cheng Jin on one side had cold sweat on their foreheads. They didn't expect Su Ci and Qin Xiao to come to Qinghe Courtyard. They didn't care too much and hurried to catch up with their master.

In an instant, Qinghe Courtyard was empty.

Qin Xiao, whose eyes fell on Qinghe Courtyard, suddenly came to his senses and hurried to catch up.

Fu Mingzhan, who was waiting in the study, suddenly saw his brother's figure. Before he could walk up to him, he saw his indifferent and cold eyes. He moved to

the side and tried to disappear from his sight. Qin Xiao and Su Ci followed closely behind. Fu Mingzhan was stunned, wondering if something big had happened.

Especially his brother, there was no emotion on his face.

Fu Mingzhan was not afraid of his cold face or his angry look, but he was most afraid of his expressionless look.

The moment their eyes met, Fu Mingzhan swallowed and said, "I'll take a walk." Then, without waiting for him to speak, he walked out of the study.

Qin Xiao and Su Ci, who were rushing over, bumped into the little emperor who was jogging out and suddenly stopped to greet him.

Fu Mingzhan gestured for them to stand up while running out.

After thinking for a moment, he took a few steps back and looked at Qin Xiao's expression very seriously. He felt that his expression did not look quite right.