Chapter 146 (1/2)

Ning Que deliberately chose the darkest and most unnoticeable position upon entering the courtyard. However, he did not expect Sangsang's drunken voice to give them away like a firefly in the night despite how low-key he was being.

He felt extremely uncomfortable facing the questioning and shocked gazes and even more so when he spotted the Princess's baleful glare. He thought to himself, ”Lee Yu, you idiot, don't drag me into these muddied waters. No matter what a genius I am, I cannot go against Prince Long Qing.”

Reality never does quite match up to ideals. There would always be a difference between the two. One would always attract something they are trying to escape from. The next moment, Ning Que heard Lee Yu's deliberately unconcerned question.

”Ning Que, are all the four bottles of wine beside you empty?”

Ning Que glanced at the four bottles and scratched his head, answering, ”It seems so.”

Lee Yu smiled, ”The bottles may look small, but there must be more than 10 bowls of wine in those bottles. This is really strong liquor, how did you manage to drink them all? You are indeed a drinker.”

Ning Que looked at her from afar and knew that Lee Yu was secretly happy even though she was scolding him by all outward appearances. However, he would flare up, leave and take Sangsang with him if she dared say anything else. He replied honestly even while he thought about that, ”Sangsang drank them all.”

”Sangsang is only a girl of 13, I did not expect her to be able to consume such strong liquor.”

Lee Yu twirled the little wine gla.s.s between her fingers as she said that with a spurious smile. She did not look at Prince Long Qing nor say anything against him. However, everyone in the crowd knew that there was an underlying meaning behind her words.

It is said that those good at combat will fight, and those who are good at drinking will drink. The girl had drunk over 10 bowls of strong liquor and was still not drunk. Is that considered being good at drinking? Your Highness, would you drink with a commoner?

Priest Moli looked at the shadows and focused on the two. He saw that Sangsang, who was behind Ning Que, was wearing the uniform of a handmaiden. He asked unhappily, ”Is the girl a student of the Academy?”

The truth will always prevail. The students from the Academy and Ning Que were mere acquaintances. In fact, there existed compet.i.tion between them. As such, no one would try to hide the truth. Someone answered, ”That is Ning Que's handmaiden.”

Priest Moli was enraged and yelled, ”This is an important farewell feast for the Crown Prince of Yan. It was difficult enough for us to allow the students of the Academy here. How could you let a little handmaiden in with you!”

This anger was not staged, but a revelation of his true feelings. The West-Hill Divine Kingdom had always been strict about hierarchy. Attending the same feast and drinking the same wine as a handmaiden was the ultimate insult to those who lived in the divine palace throughout the year.

However, this was Chang'an and not the West-Hill Divine Kingdom. Lee Yu looked at the a.s.sistant Headmaster of the Revelation Inst.i.tute indifferently and said blandly, ”I'm close to the young lady, she is a friend of mine.”

”The royal family of Tang is indeed gracious. They don't even care about etiquette and rules. However, Your Highness, there are two royals from the Yan Kingdom and myself from West-Hill. Did you not consider how we'd feel?”

Priest Moli said angrily, ”Is this how the Tang treats their guests?”

Lee Yu's face darkened at his words, ”The feast today is to bid farewell to an old friend of mine. Who knew that there would be people who would show up uninvited. Unless this is how West-Hill guests behave? There are two kinds of guests, good and bad. If someone thinks that the Tang Empire is a bad host, they should first think about which kind of guests they belong to. If they still do not know, they should show themselves out.”

This was the strength of the Tang Empire. Everyone, including Lee Yu, could bite their lips and bear it when they lost to reason. However, no one could compete with the Tang if they had the upper hand, or if pressed. Priest Moli turned red with rage but did not dare say anything to the Princess of Tang who looked ready to unleash her anger on him.

This battle of wits and words sounded more like a one-sided argument. Some had stopped their discussions upon noticing the change in the atmosphere. Prince Long Qing did not seem to have noticed Priest Moli's rage, nor did he feel any of that strength exuding from the Princess. He looked at the corner silently, smiled, and raised the bowl of wine to his lips.

The celebrations came to a halt as everyone looked towards the corner. Sangsang hid her face behind Ning Que and asked, ”Young Master, what's happening?”

Ning Que looked at his wine gla.s.s and the wine bowl that Sangsang used. He drummed his fingers on the table silently before saying, ”Is the wine good?”

Sangsang nodded, ”It is.”

”Do you want more?”

”...Yes.”

Ning Que raised his head, turned around and smiled at her, ”Then continue to drink.”

Sangsang looked a little shy and said, ”There are so many people looking, how I can sneak a drink?”

”You don't need to drink sneakily.”

Ning Que raised his head and smiled brilliantly. His left dimple was so deep, and it could hold bottles of liquor. He pulled Sangsang from behind his back and said, ”Sit beside me and drink openly. Drink as much as you wish until you can drink no longer.”

Sangsang hurriedly crossed her legs together and sat beside him. She smoothed down the front of her s.h.i.+rt and lowered her head to avoid the gazes. She spoke in a soft voice, ”How can I do that?”