Kang, the royal capital, Fengluo City.
Shen Tang returned to the royal palace reeking of alcohol.
But inside her bedchamber, she saw someone who shouldn't have been there.
At first, she suspected she'd gotten drunk and gone to the wrong place. She took a step back and looked up at the plaque, confirmed she had the right door, then pushed it open. "At this hour, a man and a woman alone in the same room—is it safe to assume the High Priest is offering himself to my bed?"
If the censors found out Jimò Qiu had appeared in her bedchamber in the middle of the night, Shen Tang could imagine the scandalous rumors spreading like wildfire. The civil and military officials might even force Jimò Qiu into the palace. Even if he didn't enter the palace, he could forget about marrying anyone else.
Jimò Qiu still carried the chill of the night breeze.
In response to Shen Tang's drunken teasing, Jimò Qiu merely came forward and helped her sit down. Shen Tang sat cross-legged for a while, closing her eyes to suppress the heat brought on by the alcohol. Once her mind had settled, she opened her eyes—and saw Jimò Qiu's figure doubled, one solid head and two ghostly ones swaying before her. She shook her head, vaguely hearing the water sloshing around inside it. "I won't drink so much next time."
Jimò Qiu opened the cup of hangover soup.
Shen Tang stared at the thing for a long while, her right hand missing it twice. "...It's all Wei Lou and Luo San and those few... those few old geezers' fault. They're so old... and still so competitive. They... they could compete at anything, but no, they had to compete at drinking. I drank so much I feel like throwing