In the pavilion.
The vibrant sunset hues stained the entire sky.
It was breathtakingly beautiful.
After Qin Yiqing sat down, before she could even speak, a cup of wine went down her throat.
"Good wine! A jar of wine costing fifty taels of silver, truly delicious!"
Yun Shu's mouth twitched slightly. She enjoyed a few drinks herself occasionally, but compared to Qin Yiqing, the latter was an outright drunkard.
Fortunately, they were sitting at separate tables.
After a large gulp of wine, Qin Yiqing couldn't help but let out a burp.
"Yun Shu, there's something I can't understand. Why did Ji Rong change his heart? How could he stop loving me? He clearly promised that he would only love me for this life, that his eyes could hold no one else. But he went back on his word!" Qin Yiqing downed another cup, perhaps tipsy, her words spilling out uncontrollably.
She hadn't wanted to mention Ji Rong!
The Ji Rong who betrayed her wasn't worth mentioning!
Just like today, she hadn't even spared him a second glance!
Yun Shu's gaze shifted. She hadn't had the chance to ponder Yiqing and Ji Rong's situation yet. Their entanglement was too complex.
It wasn't something that could be resolved with a single sentence.
If she told Yiqing the truth, Yiqing might never recover from the pain of losing Ji Rong.
Then, if Yiqing were to discover the truth by chance later in life, would she have any regrets?
Qin Yiqing didn't notice Yun Shu's momentary distraction. She continued speaking to herself, "I'm so angry! Yun Shu, I'm truly so angry! How could he just stop loving me when he pleased? Then why did he tell me before not to look at other men? When we argued, if I said I would marry someone else and not him, he would get angry and say I could only marry him in this life. But now he says I should find someone I love and marry them!"
"Are men's mouths just for farting? Do they forget what they say? I was so foolish to be deceived by him! I thought he was deeply devoted and would treat me well forever! Unlike my father, who promised every woman in his life, yet held no woman in his heart. In just a few years, he's become just like my father!"
The more Qin Yiqing spoke, the more dejected she became.
She drank one cup after another.
Until she became groggy.
Only then did she realize Yun Shu hadn't spoken and asked, "Yun Shu, say something! Tell me, am I bewitched? He's so heartless, he's forgotten his promises to me, yet I still can't forget him?"
"If one day, you discover that he..." Yun Shu lowered her head, gazing at the wine cup in her hand. She had just started speaking when Qin Yiqing interrupted her again.
"His complexion today didn't seem good, paler than the past two days, completely without color. Is he ill? Yun Shu, I have a bad feeling, as if he's hiding a secret from me." Qin Yiqing narrowed her beautiful eyes, a glint flashing within them.
She was always impetuous.
Rarely did she observe others meticulously.
Even though she had deliberately looked away from Ji Rong today, she still noticed his abnormality.
Yun Shu was slightly taken aback. She hadn't expected Qin Yiqing to be so perceptive!
To notice Ji Rong's peculiarity.
And her guess was quite accurate.
"Yiqing, since you've already guessed, then..."
Before she could finish speaking, Qin Yiqing, as if afraid of hearing something terrible, quickly covered Yun Shu's mouth. "Alright, alright, don't say it. I'm not an idiot. I can guess! If I still can't guess, I'm truly a fool. I won't be able to face anyone and will be mocked by Ruan Xi every day."
She suddenly became melancholic. "Men, they're all the same! I never imagined Ji Rong would be like my father, they are never satisfied with what they have. Yun Shu, you already knew, didn't you? You knew Ji Rong was already a father? Perhaps many women outside have given birth to his children, right?"
"I'm a super-duper idiot! He cheated my heart!"
Qin Yiqing was overwhelmed with grief and hated herself immensely.
Yun Shu's mouth twitched as she listened.
Did women who drank tend to overthink?
She had already imagined past lives, present lives, and countless women giving birth to Ji Rong's children in her mind.
Given how Ji Rong's eyes could hold no one else, how could any woman bear him children?
"Can you let me finish speaking?" Yun Shu looked at the now drunken Qin Yiqing with immense helplessness.
Qin Yiqing's cheeks were flushed red, her eyes hazy with drink, but she nodded obediently. "I've been listening to you, Yun Shu. I don't listen to anyone else but you. Before, Ji Rong could be your equal, but now, hmph! He's not even as good as Ruan Xi now. I'll listen to you! Yun Shu, you say I'm as beautiful as a celestial being, that woman can't compare to me. Ji Rong is blind to like her and not me..."
Yun Shu's mouth twitched uncontrollably again.
She looked at Qin Yiqing with utter helplessness.
"Let me speak."
Qin Yiqing completely ignored Yun Shu's words and continued speaking to herself, "Yun Shu, I won't get married anymore! All men are scumbags!"
"Quite a few men are indeed scumbags, but Ji Rong isn't." Yun Shu tried to speak with a bit more force, regretting drinking with Qin Yiqing. She had been preoccupied and forgotten that Qin Yiqing turned into a chatterbox when drunk!
And when she became a chatterbox, she wouldn't stop for a moment!
Sometimes she could talk from evening till morning.
Only Ji Rong could tolerate Qin Yiqing's garrulous nature. Sometimes he would listen from evening until the next morning, still with a gentle expression on his face.
Yun Shu pressed her temples and said, "If you keep talking, I'll knock you unconscious."
As soon as she finished speaking, Qin Yiqing's eyes suddenly welled up, and she looked at Yun Shu pitifully. "Yun Shu, even you dislike me now! You're all I have left, and you dislike me, you even want to hit me! Ji Rong, that scoundrel, didn't even threaten to hit me."
Yun Shu, being berated, felt utterly helpless. Finally, she grabbed Qin Yiqing's arm and leaped out of the pavilion, landing on the ground. "Come, I'll take you to see someone."
"Who? I don't want to see anyone. I just want to drink. Where's my wine? Only wine is the best to me! Wine is too delicious, drinking it makes everything hurt less! Yun Shu, you say my father liked so many women, was my mother the same in his heart as those other women? Just like me and that woman in Ji Rong's heart?" Qin Yiqing looked at Yun Shu with drunken eyes.
She desperately wanted an answer.
Her heart was truly aching.
Yun Shu took out a porcelain bottle from her sleeve.
Then, while Qin Yiqing was not paying attention, she dropped a pill into her mouth.
Qin Yiqing blinked her long, curled eyelashes and chewed the pill. "So sweet, are you giving me candy? Yun Shu, you're the best to me, you..."
Before she could finish speaking, Qin Yiqing suddenly couldn't utter a single word.
But she didn't realize it, her drunken state causing her to silently mouth her words.
At that very moment, a flustered figure appeared before Yun Shu, filled with anxiety.