Qing Ye had not left the palace since that day at Dali Temple. He sent Xiao Guizi to secretly bring her a message, saying that the State Advisor had discovered the Emperor's unauthorized departure from the palace, and had punished him by making him copy books in the ancestral hall every night for reflection, so he might not be able to see her for a while. Then, Xiao Guizi stuffed over a dozen copper coins into her hand, saying that these were the Emperor's repayment to her.
Looking at the dozen or so copper coins in her palm, Yang Ruoning felt speechless and somewhat apologetic.
Susu's injuries had almost healed. Hua Ma said she would be able to receive guests again in a few days and would select a few guests with good temperaments for her.
The missing person notices still appeared daily in the small capital newspapers, but without any success.
Luo Yuan was still very busy, occupied with drinking and socializing. In the eyes of others, he appeared to be a dashing, unambitious, decorative young master. But Yang Ruoning knew he was a crouching tiger, and the day he would roar and lead a hundred beasts was not far off.
Despite Yang Ruoning's efforts to pretend that nothing had changed, she knew her emotions were becoming increasingly difficult to control.
He was like a magnet, the lingering male pheromones in the air, allowing Yang Ruoning nowhere to escape. Thus, she often had to sneak out of Luo Mansion to Fan Lou late at night. She would pry open the wine cellar of Fan Lou, get thoroughly drunk, and then sneak back into Luo Mansion.
Accompanied by her increasingly late mornings and the hangover headaches that followed, Luo Yuan's brow furrowed deeper. He didn't seem to understand Yang Ruoning's recent decadent lifestyle, but he didn't ask her, merely ceasing to insist that she follow him and letting her do as she pleased.
That day, Yang Ruoning, as usual, snuck to Fan Lou at night to steal wine, only to find that the wine cellar had a new lock. Someone had probably finally discovered the frequently emptied wine jars. Yang Ruoning felt a pang of regret. She admitted that the alcohol content was truly too low for her, and her capacity was large, so she had likely drunk a bit too much.
After struggling with the new lock for a long time, Yang Ruoning sighed and gave up. She turned and walked towards the kitchen's backyard, hoping that if she were lucky, there might be some wine pots left by guests that hadn't been washed yet.
By chance, she found a wine pot on the cleaning basin's platform. The pot was full. Yang Ruoning took a sip first. The wine was rich in aroma and crisp in taste; it was a good pot of wine. She tilted her head back and drank it all in one go. She searched the kitchen inside and out but found nothing else. At this point, she began to feel dizzy. She thought that the pot of wine she had just drunk seemed to have a strong kick. She wondered what kind of wine it was and decided she must ask Susu about it next time. Thus, she gave up and returned.
On the way, Yang Ruoning felt her legs growing weaker and the entire world began to spin. She had to stop and lean against a large tree by the roadside to rest for a moment. It was so hot; she felt like she was burning up. Annoyed, she shed her clothes, leaving only her camisole and a pair of silk shorts she had cut herself. Fortunately, it was late at night, and there were few people on the street. She staggered back to Luo Mansion like this.
Unexpectedly, Luo Yuan, Uncle Zhong, and someone she didn't recognize were standing at the entrance of Luo Mansion. As they saw Yang Ruoning approaching, all three turned their heads in unison to stare at her.
Upon seeing her, Luo Yuan immediately took off his outer robe and rushed to her in a few steps, quickly draping the robe in his hands over her.
Yang Ruoning, feeling irritable, pulled the robe off herself.
"Are you trying to bake me to death? If you find me embarrassing, you can pretend not to know me," Yang Ruoning pushed him away and muttered.
Uncle Zhong and the other person rushed over. The latter said, "It seems Miss Yang really drank that pot of 'Extreme Joy Spring'."
Yang Ruoning glanced at them strangely. "Is one pot of wine worth all this nervousness? Haven't you seen a drunk woman before?"
Yang Ruoning pushed them away. She didn't want to waste time arguing with them here; she wanted to go back to her room to sleep. But Luo Yuan grabbed her wrist and, with a solemn expression, felt her pulse.
"How much did you drink?" he asked, sounding somewhat angry.
"Just one pot," she said, forcefully shaking off his hand.
Uncle Zhong said nervously, "Sir, I'll go and fetch a doctor now."
"It's too late," Luo Yuan said.
Before Yang Ruoning could react, her body became weightless. Luo Yuan had scooped her up horizontally. He left a single sentence, "No one is allowed into the Wisteria Courtyard without my permission," and then hurried away with Yang Ruoning in his arms.
Lying in his arms at this moment, Yang Ruoning felt her senses become unusually acute. Before she realized her actions, her hand had already reached out to caress his cheek.
Luo Yuan looked down at her, his voice filled with anxiety, "Ruoning, hold on a little longer."
Hallucinations, it must be hallucinations. Yang Ruoning saw countless beautiful flowers blooming from her body, spreading to cover the entire world; she saw naked little elves with white wings flying out of the flowers, giggling, whispering secrets in her ear, and instigating her with blushing words...
Yang Ruoning woke up in the faint light of dawn. She stared blankly at the disheveled bed and Luo Yuan, who was sleeping soundly beside her, for a while. She quietly picked up her clothes and returned to her own room.
Her memory was still somewhat fragmented. She couldn't recall how she had entered Luo Yuan's bedroom or what happened afterward, but she knew she had done something with him. The physical memory was so vivid that she felt as if she could still feel it now.
She guessed that the wine called "Extreme Joy Spring" might have contained some kind of hallucinogenic drug.
In just a few minutes, the brain would be controlled by the drug. Then, all reality would crumble, and extreme illusory pleasure would take over. And now, as the drug faded, she realized how exhilarated she had been then and how dejected she felt now.
Yang Ruoning sat on her bed, gazing blankly out the window. She felt as if all the happiness of her life had been exhausted last night, and now pain and despair surged like a flood, roaring and drowning her. She thought of Jason. She used to not understand why he kept relapsing between sobriety and relapse, but now she suddenly understood.
Suddenly, droplets of water fell onto her arm. She flusteredly touched her face and realized that tears were streaming down her cheeks, drop by drop. Coincidentally, at that moment, Luo Yuan knocked and entered. She hurriedly turned her head, not wanting him to see her pathetic state. But whether it was the drug that had ruined her tear ducts, the tears on her face only seemed to increase as she wiped them. And when Luo Yuan, flustered, wiped the tears from her face and held her in his arms, Yang Ruoning, weeping profusely, apologized, "I... I'm sorry, I don't know... what's wrong with me... I don't want to cry... absolutely... absolutely not because of you... it must be that damned wine from last night..."
"Shhh... it's okay, I'm here, I'm here with you," Luo Yuan gently patted her back, comforting her again and again until she cried herself to sleep, exhausted.
She slept for a full two days before getting up. When she woke, Yang Ruoning felt an unbearable headache. The doctor had just said that the toxins in her body had dissipated and she was out of danger.
Luo Yuan ordered dinner from Fan Lou. While eating, Yang Ruoning caught sight of three prominent red scratches on Luo Yuan's neck, and a sense of shame instantly washed over her.
She suddenly longed to go home and never appear in this world again. Yang Ruoning, her face flushed, buried her head deeply, not daring to look at Luo Yuan again.
As she slowly scooped a spoonful of congee to her lips, she heard him say, "Ruoning, that night..."
Yang Ruoning interrupted him, not wanting to burden him. "Thank you, General Luo. The doctor said if it hadn't been for your timely intervention, I would probably have..." Yang Ruoning thought, it was just a hallucinogenic drug, this doctor was really making a fuss, even saying she would die. "Thank you, General, for saving my life. General Luo, you don't need to worry about any responsibility. I'm not like other women here; I'm quite open about these things. I've had similar experiences when I was drunk before, hahaha... I won't make things difficult for General Luo, hehehe..." Yang Ruoning chuckled awkwardly, carefully observing Luo Yuan's expression. To her surprise, she saw Luo Yuan's expression grow increasingly stiff. She couldn't quite understand. She wondered, did he want her to take responsibility for him?
She awkwardly stopped laughing and said, "I know you enjoyed it too, so I detoxified myself, you... got pleasure... neither of us lost anything, hehehe..." With that, she quickly finished the rice in her bowl and left at lightning speed.
After that, Yang Ruoning, caught in an awkward and uncomfortable phase, found more excuses than ever to avoid being alone with Luo Yuan. Every morning, she would leave before he went to court, and every night, she would quietly return after everyone had gone to sleep.
She was not only avoiding awkward encounters but also her own growing, somewhat uncontrollable desire for him.
One night, she was half-asleep when she got up to go to the latrine. On her way back, she happened to glimpse Luo Yuan practicing swordplay in the backyard.
Luo Yuan's bare upper body glistened with sweat, appearing particularly lustrous. He was weaving sword flowers with his hands, unaware of her presence.
For a moment, she just stared at him blankly. Yang Ruoning felt as if countless butterflies were fluttering and beating their wings within her body, longing to fly out.
Yang Ruoning thought, either the toxic wine from that day had not been completely expelled from her body, or that damned toxic wine had damaged her brain. And also... and also, what the hell habit was this, practicing sword in the courtyard in the middle of the night?!
I'm going crazy, I'm truly going crazy. After Yang Ruoning finally managed to pull her gaze away from Luo Yuan, she clasped her hands on her head, tugged at her hair, and then quickly ran to a large vat where a few goldfish were kept. Without hesitation, she plunged her head into it, only then did she feel the entire world calm down.