Meanwhile, inside Li Manor just beyond the wall.
Assistant Minister of Rites Li Gefei had just returned to his residence after court.
He removed his heavy, dark official robes, but his scholarly face was now clouded with sorrow and gloom.
Li Gefei walked into the main hall of Li Manor with heavy steps, sighing all the way.
Before the sandalwood table at the center of the hall.
Li Qingzhao rested one hand against her fragrant cheek while holding an exquisite white jade wine jug in the other, drinking alone as though no one else were present.
A simple, elegant pale-blue dress wrapped around her figure, and her brows carried a free-spirited, defiant air that yielded to no man.
Hearing footsteps from outside the door.
A flicker passed through Li Qingzhao's clear, slightly drunken eyes, and she hurriedly hid the white jade wine jug beneath her wide sleeve.
"Ah... Father, you're back from court?"
She rose to her feet, two intoxicating blushes on her fair cheeks, trying to laugh it off and muddle through.
Seeing his precious daughter secretly drinking hard liquor again.
Li Gefei's eyelid twitched uncontrollably twice, and a deep sense of speechlessness rose within him.
His face darkened slightly as he gave a soft rebuke, his tone full of frustration at her failure to live up to expectations.
"Zhao'er! Can you not change this habit of drinking as if your life depends on it?"
Li Gefei rubbed his brow in anguish. "You are already eighteen, long past the age when you should be married and settled down!"
"You spend every day drinking in the manor without the slightest care for your appearance. What will people say if word gets out?"
"If you keep acting like this, how am I supposed to find you a good match in the