Pei Ye stared. "But you never told me."
Xu Chuo rested her cheek on her hand, her bright eyes shifting slightly. She extended a finger and smiled. "How about this? With such fine weather and such a lovely night, let's play a game. If you win, I'll pay your medical fee. What do you say?"
"I'm not competing with you at reciting poetry," Pei Ye said warily.
Xu Chuo rolled her eyes slightly and pointed. "This bottle's empty, just like water. There are two more in the cupboard. Go fetch them."
Pei Ye got up and went inside. Sure enough, he found two jade-yellow porcelain bottles deep in the cupboard. The clay seals at their mouths were already quite old. He brought them over and cracked one open. A rich fragrance of wine surged out at once, far stronger than that of the previous bottle.
Xu Chuo narrowed her eyes in satisfaction, then tapped lightly on the table. "Just drinking is no fun, either."
She raised a hand and pointed. "There should be a pitch-pot set deep at the bottom of that cabinet. Go see if it's there."
Pei Ye searched as instructed and indeed found an exquisite pitch-pot set that had suffered considerably from the passage of time. It must have been painstakingly made by a skilled craftsman back then. Despite sitting there so long, it had neither worm damage nor mold, though its dull color and thick coating of dust were unavoidable.
Pei Ye came over with the pot in one hand and a bundle of throwing arrows in the other. Xu Chuo frowned slightly. "Ah, it's gotten so dirty."
Pei Ye said nothing. With a flick of his finger, vermilion flames swept over the implements, cleansing away all the dust and age.
Xu Chuo's eyes lit up,