"Hmph, let's head back first, then."
At his words, Dugu Yan finally stopped teasing Yu Tianming, and a barely perceptible blush crept onto her pretty face.
As she spoke, she withdrew the arm she had linked through Yu Tianming's.
Seeing this,
Ye Lingling hurriedly pulled her hand back as well.
Unlike Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling was cool, reserved, and thin-skinned. Out here in public, she really was afraid of being seen.
Inside the study
Yu Yuanzhen possessed powerful spiritual power and astonishing perception, so he knew exactly what was happening outside the door. After a long silence, he shook his head with a smile. "Children and grandchildren have blessings of their own..."
When Yu Tianming and the two girls returned to the guest courtyard, the last rays of the setting sun were falling across the stone table.
Shi Mo was idly tossing a Soul Tool coin, while Yu Feng dozed against a fork in a tree and Osler wiped his dagger.
"Oh, our esteemed young master finally deigned to return?" Yu Feng was the first to notice them. He leaped down from the tree, his teasing gaze moving back and forth between the three.
Dugu Yan glared with her beautiful emerald eyes. "Are you itching for a beating?"
She waved a fist,
and Yu Feng immediately shrank back.
Yu Tianheng walked out of the room. "Everyone's here? I had the cooks prepare a lavish banquet tonight."
Although most members of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan ate at home, the clan did have cooks.
Before long, fragrant dishes covered the entire stone table.
The most eye-catching was the centerpiece, "Thunder Dragon Emerging from the Sea"-made with deep-sea silver sturgeon and thunder dragon meat. It was exceptionally delicious and highly nutritious, helping with cultivation.
"Let's make this clear first: nobody leaves sober tonight!"
Yu Feng broke open a jar of aged Huadiao wine, its amber contents gleaming enticingly in the moonlight.
Dugu Yan took a bowl of wine and drained it in one gulp, her purple hair fluttering in the night breeze.
"You think I'm afraid of you?"
As she spoke, she turned toward Yu Tianming. "Tianming, are you and Tian Heng going home tonight? If you are, don't drink too much."
"No, we're not."
Yu Tianming shook his head with a smile.
Yu Tianheng smiled as well. "I already told Father and Mother. Neither of us is going home tonight. We'll go back tomorrow."
Mu Qingling was understanding. Although she missed her two sons dearly, she still let them spend a night with their friends first.
"Good!"
Dugu Yan smiled sweetly.
Everyone sat around the stone table as moonlight poured down like water.
Yu Tianming lifted his wine cup. Looking at the companions before him, he felt warmth well up in his heart.
"Come on, let's start with a toast!" Yu Feng raised his cup, the amber wine rippling in the moonlight. "To our friendship!"
"Cheers!"
Everyone answered in unison, their cups meeting with crisp clinks.
Ye Lingling sipped her wine, and a blush soon stained her fair cheeks.
Seeing this, Dugu Yan refilled her cup with a wicked smile. "Lingling, no backing out tonight. We agreed nobody leaves sober."
"I..."
Ye Lingling was about to decline when Dugu Yan interrupted her.
"Surely the successor of Nine Heart Begonia can handle this little bit of wine? Relax, I won't do anything to you." Dugu Yan slipped an arm around her waist and smiled wickedly.
There were plenty of guest rooms, but the two girls had volunteered to share one.
After three rounds of drinks, the atmosphere grew even livelier.
Shi Mo was already a little tipsy and was arguing about something with Osler.
Yu Feng found a guqin somewhere and began playing a cheerful melody.
"I didn't know you could do that," Yu Tianheng praised.
Yu Feng raised his brows smugly. "Of course. This young master has many talents~"
Dugu Yan suddenly stood, her cheeks flushed and her purple hair shining in the moonlight. "If there's music, how can there be no dancing?"
She held out a hand to Ye Lingling. "Lingling, come dance with me."
Ye Lingling's eyes widened in surprise, but under everyone's expectant gazes, she still rose with a blush.
The two girls danced gracefully in the middle of the courtyard, one passionate as fire, the other cool as the moon, yet unexpectedly harmonious and lovely together.
Yu Tianming watched, entranced, not even noticing that his wine cup had tilted.
When he came back to his senses, the corners of his mouth lifted. "Lingling and Yanyan have this talent too. Dancing... knowing how to dance is wonderful!"
Smiling, Yu Tianming admired the two girls' dancing figures and promptly drained a cup.
The moonlight flowed like water, and the guest courtyard had become an entirely different scene.
"One more cup!"
Yu Feng swayed as he stood with his cup raised, his face distinctly flushed. "If I don't get Tianming drunk today, I'll write my name backward!"
Shi Mo smiled good-naturedly, already slumped over the stone table, still muttering,
"Good wine... good wine..."
Osler leaned against the large tree, his slender fingers toying intermittently with a twig, his eyes already somewhat unfocused.
Yu Tianheng propped his chin on one hand, drunkenness showing in his blue-violet eyes.
The wine cup before him had long since emptied, yet he continued unconsciously tapping its rim with a finger.
"You lot..."
Yu Tianming shook his head helplessly. As the only person present who was still sober, he gently set down his cup. "I'll ask the kitchen to prepare some sobering soup."
After Yu Tianming left, Dugu Yan suddenly rose unsteadily, her purple hair glimmering in the moonlight.
She caught Ye Lingling by the wrist. "Lingling... come..."
Ye Lingling had never been able to hold her liquor, and by now her fair cheeks were already suffused with crimson.
In a daze, she let Dugu Yan pull her beneath the begonia tree in the corner of the courtyard. The delicate fragrance of begonias mingled with the scent of wine, lingering between them.
"Yanyan...?"
Ye Lingling's voice was incredibly soft.
Dugu Yan suddenly leaned close, her wine-scented breath brushing Ye Lingling's ear. "Lingling... I noticed long ago..."
"What?"
Ye Lingling blinked her hazy eyes.
"You like him..." Dugu Yan giggled, poking a fingertip at Ye Lingling's chest. "You can't hide... what's in here..."
Ye Lingling instantly flushed all the way to her ears. "I... I..."
"It's all right..." Already drunk, Dugu Yan's emerald eyes were thoroughly unfocused as she poured out her heart. "I like him too..."
"If I really have to share that fool... I'd rather it be with you..."
Ye Lingling's eyes widened, her red lips parting, but no words came out.
When Yu Tianming returned carrying the sobering soup, he happened to see the two girls nestled together beneath the moonlight. He faintly heard Dugu Yan's drunken voice drift over.
"But... we have to make him understand... we chose him... he didn't choose us..."
Yu Tianming smiled.
First, he helped up Shi Mo, the heaviest of them, and took him into the west wing.
Next came Yu Feng, who was still muttering "one more cup," and Osler, who had already fallen asleep hugging the tree.
"Brother, you should get some rest too."
Yu Tianming spoke to Yu Tianheng, who was reasonably clearheaded after drinking the sobering soup.
Yu Tianheng gave the two figures beneath the begonia tree a meaningful look, then patted his younger brother's shoulder. Without saying anything, he turned and went inside.
Beneath the moonlight,
Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling leaned beneath the begonia tree, their purple and silver hair intertwined.
Dugu Yan rested against Ye Lingling's shoulder, her eyes hazy with drink, while Ye Lingling's cheeks were also crimson and her gaze unfocused.
"Yanyan, Lingling, it's time to go back to your room," Yu Tianming said softly.
"You're here..."
Dugu Yan raised her head, a hazy gleam in her eyes. Suddenly, she reached out, grabbed Yu Tianming's collar, and pulled him close.
"Tianming, I really like you..."
Yu Tianming's heart skipped a beat. The two girls' scents mingled with the smell of wine around his nose as he carefully helped Dugu Yan up. "Let's get you back to your room first."
"No..."
Dugu Yan suddenly turned and hugged Ye Lingling. "I want to sleep with Lingling..."
Ye Lingling nodded dazedly, a delicate fragrance drifting from her as she moved, looking very cute. "Mm... sleep together..."
Yu Tianming did not know whether to laugh or cry,
so he could only support one girl with each hand and take the two drunken girls into the guest room.
Just as he laid them on the bed, Dugu Yan suddenly caught his wrist. "You're not allowed to leave..."