Chapter 862: Empress, she has no righ (2/2)
Baili Yuanlong finally relaxed. He stood up with his wine and declared loudly, “Tonight, this general has already made arrangements for the guard work. Everyone, this is His Highness’s first time personally coming to the military barracks. All of you drink as much as you want. This general won’t forgives anyone who ruins His Highness’s mood!”
As he finished, he drained his cup dry and threw it on the ground until it shattered. “Drink! Don’t go back until you’re drunk!”
With that, a succession of broken cups followed his words as everyone cheered. The fine wine was delivered to the scene and the scene soon devolved into a rowdy, boisterous party. Long Feiye was in a good mood despite being one who rarely drank. He soon had his fill of cups from the various deputy generals who came to toast him. A few cooks grilled delicious food by the bonfire before presenting them reverently to Long Feiye in turns. He waved graciously and had the food divided up with between his troops. There was fragrant, fat lamb, roasted pork that was crispy on the outside and tender within, as well as fresh venison. Everyone was delighted with the feast.
Long Feiye called over a cook and told him, “Split the lamb with the brothers on guard duty tonight. They’re working hard!”
Everyone praised him after that. Despite seeming high and lofty, His Highness was still very sensitive to the people’s needs! The cooks cut up the lamb before Deputy General Zhao picked out the best part of the leg and delivered it to Xu Donglin’s hands. “Grandfather Xu, the shadow guards have been hard at work these few days!”
Xu Donglin was currently His Highness’s favorite, so who wouldn’t curry favor with him? He naturally accepted the gift and gave the best portion to Han Yunxi with an air of righteousness. “Here, a reward from His Highness!”
Han Yunxi was His Highness’s only woman! How could Xu Donglin have the guts to avoid winning her favor? And thus, Han Yunxi received Long Feiye’s reward after it passed through multiple hands. It was tender, delicate, and delicious. Long Feiye turned to look at her with a grin, very satisfied!
Once everyone had eaten their fill and drank multiple rounds, someone suggested a swordsmanship display. Without dancers to liven things up, Baili Yuanlong took the lead and unsheathed his blade first to dance via swordplay. A few soldiers ordered bells and drums brought to the scene and began to beat out a rhythm for Baili Yuanlong to follow. Soon enough, the deputy generals joined in the performance. Their dance moves were filled with strength and beauty!
Caught up in the moment, Long Feiye himself rose with sword in hand! Han Yunxi watched and grew excited at the sight. A line of poetry popped into her head:
Drunk, I brighten up the flame on the lampTo examine a fine sword with my name;In m'dream, from garrison to garrison,The horns a-blowing in unison.The troopers wolf down their barbequed beef bless'dWith sounds of string music in the wilderness. [2]
The bustling scene at the main barracks affected the surrounding camp. The entire military base was illuminated as bright as day, uncommonly lively…
It wasn’t until late night that the bonfire banquet finished. Everyone was drunk, especially Baili Yuanlong. It was a rare chance for someone as old as him to let loose after all these years. Baili Mingxiang supported her father back, but couldn’t help glancing behind her. She saw that His Highness didn’t look a bit drunk despite drinking all those jugs of wine. He was heading for his own quarters with Xu Donglin and “Feiyun” behind him. Baili Mingxiang should have left by now, but she couldn’t help but pause her steps. She watched as His Highness reached the main building and went in with “Feiyun” following, while Xu Donglin stopped to keep watch by the door.
Only then did Baili Mingxiang turn around and quietly led her father away. In the darkness, a single miserable tear streamed down her face, unseen by anyone else.
Your Highness, Mingxiang really, truly likes you. But that’s impossible, prohibited, unthinkable for Mingxiang…
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Han Yunxi followed Long Feiye into his main quarters before being overwhelmed by the splendor and domineering air of the interior. Just the sight of the complete tigerskin gracing his chair was already a priceless sight. Like her own tent, this one was divided into a inner and outer partition by a single curtain. Long Feiye’s bedroom laid within, while he dealt with business matters in the outer half. The only difference was that his public half of the tent was big enough to fill her entire quarters.
Long Feiye sprawled on a short couch on one side before arching his eyebrow at Han Yunxi dressed in men’s clothes. He hadn’t had a good chance to look at her yet until now. Han Yunxi ignored him. Tonight, she’d been so free that she even had time to count how many drinks he had. There was a total of eight large jugs, but drinking so much wasn’t good for his health. The best way to help him now was to give him some warm water. Enough of that should help him expel the alcohol from his body. Han Yunxi quickly went to pour Long Feiye some water, only to find that he was following her to the washbasin. Soon enough, he was hugging her from behind. She’d hardly touched the water when his hands closed over hers and pressed them against the basin’s edge.
“Don’t fuss. I’ll pour some water for you to drink. You drank too much wine tonight,” Han Yunxi was serious.
Long Feiye didn’t answer, but pulled her hand over and began to meticulously wash her fingers one by one.
He murmured in a low voice, “Do you think I’m drunk?”
1. Feiyun (飞云) - Together it means “flying cloud.”
2. 醉里挑灯看剑，梦回吹角莲营。八百里分麾下炙，五十弦翻塞外声。沙场秋点兵 － Translation credit here. This is a line from a poem by the famous Song Dynasty poet & military leader Xin Qiji (辛弃疾). I quite like his compositions!