In the end, only His Majesty became the proverbial loser—within less than two hours, His Majesty had lost so thoroughly he was in a daze.
Meng Fu glanced at him. At present, not even a single hair could be found at His Majesty’s seat—he furrowed his brows as he tried to calculate where all his money had gone.
She picked up a silver leaf [a form of ancient currency] and waved it in front of His Majesty’s eyes, asking: “Your Majesty, shall I lend you a little? Seven in, thirteen out.”
Li Yue cried out at that and exclaimed, “A’Fu, that’s way too greedy!”
Across from them, the little prince immediately said: “I’ll do nine in, thirteen out! Royal Brother, borrow from me!”
Li Yue didn’t feel any brotherly affection at all—instead, he felt like a knife had been stabbed into his chest. How old was the little prince this year? And he could already win money from him? Was his own paijiu playing really that bad?
In the end, Li Yue still had to borrow a pile of silver leaves from Meng Fu.
The little prince shook his head in disdain and said, “Imperial Brother doesn’t know arithmetic!”
Li Yue: “……”
He raised his hand and lightly tapped the little prince on the head. “What do you know?”
His private funds had long since been handed over to Meng Fu. Let alone nine in, thirteen out—even nine in, nine out, His Majesty wouldn’t be able to recover it. So tonight, His Majesty was prepared to repay her with his body.
The little prince was still too young and didn’t understand the treachery of the human heart.
Toward evening, after Li Yue and Meng Fu left Cining Palace, they changed clothes and left the palace. They bought two masks from a street vendor and put them on their faces. After glancing at each other, they inexplicably burst into laughter, then held hands and strolled slowly along the long street.
All around them, lanterns of various styles were hanging, lighting the streets so brightly it seemed like daytime. Fireworks blossomed in the dark blue night sky—brilliant bursts followed by falling meteors. The streets were crowded, with voices and sounds filling the air nonstop.
Meng Fu stopped in front of a riddle booth and guessed a few riddles, winning a small rabbit-shaped lantern. She turned, about to give the lantern to His Majesty, but when she looked back—His Majesty had disappeared.
The crowd in front of her bustled and hurried past. Meng Fu looked around, but His Majesty was nowhere in sight.
Suddenly, a pair of large hands covered her eyes. All the lantern lights vanished from view, and only a boundless darkness remained.
In that moment, Meng Fu felt as though time was flowing backward. She returned to the eleventh year of Wenkang, to that same Lantern Festival. A familiar voice whispered beside her ear: “Little girl, guess who I am?”
The corners of Meng Fu’s lips lifted slightly. Her thick eyelashes trembled gently, like a tiny fan brushing softly across the warmth of his palm.
She whispered, “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” the man sighed. “Then it’s over. If you don’t know, you’ll have to come with me tonight. I specialize in catching little girls like you.”
Meng Fu pressed her lips together, then suddenly turned around sharply. She stepped right up to His Majesty’s face—her movement was quick and abrupt, startling him. His hands were still suspended midair.
Meng Fu tilted her head up and asked, “Where are you taking me? Hurry, take me away.”
Above them, the fireworks had already fallen; only a single moon remained, casting its light over the noisy mortal world. Her eyes were like a pool of tender lake water, holding the reflection of the moon.
Li Yue slightly lowered his head and kissed her forehead through the mask. He took her hand and placed it on his own chest, softly saying: “I’m taking you to my heart.”
He held her hand as they walked toward the far end of the long street.
The moon shone for a thousand miles; the flower market was as bright as day.
—
In early May, Tang Mingqi and Ji Yun returned. The two of them had long been stationed in the northern frontier, often going an entire year without returning even once. Recently, since there had been no battles in the north, they were able to come back for a while.
Li Yue, having no official business, invited the two of them into the palace for a small gathering. On the way to the palace, Tang Mingqi lowered his voice and said to Ji Yun: “Let me tell you, the emperor definitely can’t drink anymore. A couple years ago, I drank with him a few times—there wasn’t a hint of alcohol in that wine. When I got back and thought about it, what wine? It was just plain water! His Majesty is such a good actor!”
Ji Yun, upon hearing this, became very interested—but he didn’t fully believe it. After all, when they were stationed in the north, even together they couldn’t outdrink the emperor. He squinted and asked: “Really?”
Tang Mingqi nodded. “Really, really. If you don’t believe it, let’s test him today.”
Test it then, let’s test it.
When Meng Fu came over, she saw Tang Mingqi and Ji Yun with flushed faces, waving their arms and stomping their feet—it was the complete look of being drunk. Li Yue seemed a bit better, but since Meng Fu had never seen him drunk before, she wasn’t sure whether his current state was normal or not. She turned to Gao Xi and asked, “How much did the three of them drink?”
Gao Xi pointed under the table and said to Meng Fu, “Those are all the empty wine jars left by His Majesty and the two generals.”
Meng Fu looked down—there were easily more than a dozen jars.
Madam Tang had forbidden General Tang from drinking, but now General Tang had completely forgotten that rule. When he got back, he would likely get a scolding again. Ji Yun’s family situation wasn’t much better than General Tang’s. Seeing the two of them still shouting “More wine, more wine,” Meng Fu raised her hand to press her forehead. When she saw the palace servants actually about to bring more wine, she quickly said to Gao Xi, “Replace it with hangover soup and send it over.”
When the hangover soup was brought over, Meng Fu worried they would notice something was off and start making a fuss again, so she stayed where she was to see how it would play out.
She saw Tang Mingqi raise the bowl of hangover soup and tilt his head back, drinking it all in one go. Then he sighed and said, “Good wine!”
Ji Yun followed right after, and after he drank the hangover soup, he instinctively furrowed his brows. Meng Fu was just starting to get worried when she saw him nod and say, “This wine has a unique flavor. It’s surely the kind only available in the palace.”
Meng Fu: “……”
These two were clearly very drunk.
Li Yue picked up the wine bowl in front of him, took just a tiny sip, and then set it down. He looked up at Meng Fu, the corners of his mouth lifting in a faint smile that was not quite a smile.
The two drunkards saw that Li Yue didn’t finish his hangover soup and clapped their hands, saying he couldn’t handle it. His Majesty really didn’t want to lower himself to argue with drunkards, so he quickly called the palace servants over to help the two of them to a nearby palace to rest.
While the palace servants cleaned up the mess, Li Yue tilted his head and downed the rest of the hangover soup in one go. Then he stood up, took his sword, and began to practice sword forms in the open courtyard. Meng Fu stood off to the side, watching him the whole time.
The moon hung just above the willow tips, and tree shadows swayed gently. The long sword in His Majesty’s hand carried a piercing, frosty light, drawing out sparks like stars in the air. With a sharp sound cutting through the wind, His Majesty leapt up and came toward Meng Fu. Just as he reached her, he retracted his sword in time and stretched out his other hand, which was clenched into a fist, and brought it up to her face.
Meng Fu lowered her head, and His Majesty opened his hand. In his palm was a pink magnolia flower—who knows when he had picked it from the tree?
Meng Fu looked closely at him for a moment and asked, “Are you actually drunk, or not drunk?”
“Of course not drunk,” Li Yue stepped forward and tucked the magnolia into her hair. With a smile, he said, “Just drank a little, how could I possibly be drunk?”
A little?
Meng Fu glanced at the pile of wine jars nearby that the palace servants still hadn’t finished cleaning up. His Majesty was really being modest.
“Let’s go back,” Meng Fu said to him.
His Majesty gave a soft “mm” in reply but stayed in place and didn’t move. Meng Fu asked him, “Why aren’t you walking?”
“A’Fu, you go ahead,” His Majesty tilted his head and smiled squintingly.
Meng Fu couldn’t figure out why he wanted her to walk ahead, but she didn’t press the issue. She turned and began walking toward Zichen Hall. She could hear His Majesty’s footsteps behind her—he was walking a bit slower, but his strides were long enough to keep up.
Meng Fu faintly sensed something was off. She stopped and turned back, only to see His Majesty holding both hands out, slowly trailing after her, clutching the long trailing sash of her robe that had nearly reached the ground.
He looked a bit silly, but he was still walking in a straight line.
When he noticed that Meng Fu was looking at him, His Majesty looked up and grinned at her.
Meng Fu felt puzzled. Was he drunk or not drunk?
Forget it—just go back and sleep it off.
His Majesty smoothly followed Meng Fu back to Zichen Hall. Meng Fu went outside to instruct the palace servants to prepare bathwater. But when she turned back around, she saw that behind the screen in the inner hall, His Majesty had already stripped off most of his clothes—outer robe, inner garments, all casually tossed onto the floor.
Meng Fu walked around the screen and quickly stepped forward, asking him, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
Hadn’t he just said earlier that he wasn’t drunk?
Thankfully, His Majesty had only started undressing after entering the bedchamber—if he had done that outside, the scene would’ve been unimaginable.
His Majesty was an honest man. He lowered his head and, in just a few motions, removed the rest of his clothes. Then, with a completely serious face, he said:
“It’s nothing. Back during the Lantern Festival, I still owed A’Fu some money. No day is better than today—tonight, I’ll repay you… with my body.”