CHAPTER 151: CHAPTER 148: HOW MUCH LONGER DO YOU INTEND TO STAY DRUNK?

"You should focus more on your Crown Princess Consort."

Nangong Mo walked past Nangong Jue expressionlessly, picked up Yun Ran from the cane chair, and as he reached the door, he turned slightly, glanced at Nangong Jue, and coldly curled his lip.

"Oh, right, you don’t have a Crown Princess Consort yet. Maybe you should go to the temple more often and burn some incense; perhaps you might be blessed with one or half."

"??!!"

Shen Weixi looked shocked, glanced at Nangong Mo, then turned her head to look at the Crown Prince, curious about his expression.

Unexpectedly, a gentle and modest smile remained on the Crown Prince’s face, "Ninth Prince, you’re joking again!"

But Nangong Mo ignored him, carrying Yun Ran out of the elegant room.

Shen Weixi hesitated for a moment before realizing they were on the third floor, and since he couldn’t see, he hurried out after them.

"Prince Qin, wait a moment! Perhaps let me..." carry Yue’er downstairs.

However, before she could finish her sentence, she saw Nangong Mo holding Yun Ran and leaping straight from the third floor.

"Yue’er!"

Shen Weixi was so frightened that her face turned pale, and she rushed to the railing, only to see a wheelchair had somehow appeared in the lobby on the first floor.

Nangong Mo’s figure spun gracefully in mid-air, landing elegantly in the wheelchair, keeping Yun Ran well-protected in his embrace.

At the moment he landed, Shen Weixi’s heart finally settled back in place, and she couldn’t help but pat her chest, "This Prince Qin’s actions really... could scare someone to death!"

Nangong Jue stood by her side, looking down at the scene below, his deep eyes flickering with an uncertain light.

Shen Weixi turned her head to look at him, "Prince Qin is truly impressive! They say the blind have keen hearing and senses sharper than most people; it’s certainly true."

"It’s just a pity! I’ll never get to see Prince Qin’s elegance on the battlefield again!"

Nangong Jue glanced at her, and Shen Weixi belatedly realized her mistake, "I misspoke! I shouldn’t have brought up Prince Qin!"

Nangong Jue chuckled slightly and didn’t mind, instead comforting her, "Though you are a woman, Weixi, your ambition is no less than a man’s, and surely you will achieve your desire to become our dynasty’s female general, leaving your name in history."

"Ah? Haha... I don’t have such lofty ambitions, I only want to don armor and charge into battle, expand territory, and protect my country, that’s all. As for leaving a name, that’s something I don’t dare think about."

...

On the carriage returning to the prince’s manor.

Nangong Mo looked at the unconscious Yun Ran in his arms, his handsome brows tightly knit together, his thin lips pressed shut, showing not only worry but also heartache in his eyes.

"Feng Xuan, faster."

"Yes, sir!"

Feng Xuan responded, choosing a secluded path, urging the carriage to its fastest speed, nearly flying.

Nangong Mo held Yun Ran tightly in his arms, shielding her from some of the bumps.

At this moment, Yun Ran found herself enveloped in a thick white mist, unable to discern her location.

Looking around, all she saw was a blur of white, nothing else.

Moreover, it was eerily quiet, with not a single sound.

Yun Ran wandered in the fog, a puzzled expression on her face.

"Where is this?"

"Am I dead again?"

"Wasn’t I having tea with Shen Weixi at Yanyu Building? Then the Crown Prince... the Crown Prince came and mentioned Consort Lan..."

"Hmm? Could it be that scheming Crown Prince secretly poisoned me to silence me?!"

"But I should know how I died! Why can’t I remember a thing?"

Yun Ran furrowed her brows in deep thought, and suddenly the scene shifted, becoming a frozen landscape, with snow flying everywhere.

Yun Ran stood amidst the snowstorm, the layers of clouds above roiling, massive nebulae forming and dispersing in the winds, half obscuring that lone moon in the sky.

Amidst the wind and snow bloomed the solitary and cold Simurgh Tail Flowers, their cold fragrance drifting with the night wind.

Yun Ran blinked; was this... Tianyin Pavilion, Piaomiao Peak?

Was she back?

A fleeting melody of a zither pierced through the wind and snow, ethereal and melancholy.

Yun Ran’s eyes lit up as she followed the sound of the zither.

A figure in white entered her vision through the blizzard.

How best to describe the person playing the zither?

With the snow and wind as his soul and moonlight as his visage, each feature seemed meticulously crafted by the heavens, exuding grace and elegance.

His eyes, detached and aloof, were as cold as the flowing wind through snow, as if the bustling world and its splendors meant nothing to him or his heart.

He was like the bright moon above, a cold observer of the human world, solitary and ethereal, bearing the timeless solitude beyond the reach of the gentle breeze.

"Fourth Senior Brother!"

Yun Ran gleefully ran towards him.

However, she passed right through his body, embracing nothing but air.

Yun Ran paused, looking at her hand, somewhat incredulous.

"Really... dead?!"

She stood dazed in the wind and snow for a long time.

Until the music ceased, and Li Ye rose to walk into the distance.

Yun Ran numbly followed him.

Under the bright moon and vast winds, there stretched a Lotus Pond spanning a hundred miles, where countless red lotuses bloomed, the breeze gently lifting their fragrance.

A hand reached out from the lotus cluster, slender and jade-like, holding a Nightlight Cup between its fingers.

A swath of fiery red sleeves fluttered with the raised hand in the wind, almost merging with the red lotuses.

The person slightly tilted the Nightlight Cup, pouring the grape wine through the air in a radiant stream into his slightly opened red lips.

"Ha... excellent wine! Little Qi, it’s your turn!"

After drinking, the person flicked their hand, and the Nightlight Cup became a fleeting shadow falling into the Lotus Pond, splashing droplets of water.

"Chonghua."

"How long do you intend to stay drunk here?"

Li Ye stood by the lake, looking at the lazily drunken figure among the lotuses, frowning slightly.

The figure half sat up, his fiery red robe interwoven with ink-black hair flying in the wind, inadvertently captivating all eyes.

His skin was as fair as moonlight, his slightly upturned peach blossom eyes enticing and alluring, carrying three parts drunkenness and seven parts danger.

The blue lotus mark between his brows resembled an ancient Sanskrit or totem, mysterious and exotic.

His enchanting lips curved into a barely there smirk, like a seductive phantom, silently leading people into a trap woven of beauty, shattering them.

He gazed at Li Ye for a moment, lazily uttering three words:

"None of your business?"

Then lay back down.

After lying down, he added, "Go practice your zither, don’t disturb Little Qi and me drinking."

Li Ye sighed faintly, his voice as ethereal as the wind and snow, "The little junior sister wouldn’t want to see you like this."

Chonghua’s eyes flickered, a touch of dark sorrow crossing beneath, yet his lips maintained a carefree smile.

"You’re just jealous Little Qi prefers me."

"Who can blame me for being so charming! Jealousy won’t help you, go practice your zither."

Li Ye stood by the lake, gazing at the swaying, blooming red lotuses, his voice sounding like a sigh:

"We know you have never forgiven yourself, blaming yourself that if you hadn’t sought that Jiuli Mysterious Mirror, perhaps the little junior sister wouldn’t have had an accident, but..."

Before Li Ye could finish, a red shadow flitted past under the moon, as graceful as a startled swan, a wisp of lotus fragrance trailing, though the palm wind was fierce.

"If you don’t want to practice the zither, then spar a few moves with your senior brother."

Li Ye: "..."

Yun Ran stood by the shore, watching the red and white figures quickly engage in a fight, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"Third Senior Brother, Fourth Senior Brother, you’re both grown men; can you not start fighting over a disagreement like when you were children?"

But it was clear no one could hear her words.

Yun Ran knew that too, but she still couldn’t help wanting to say it.

Perhaps, one sentence might be heard?