This left Su Ke both laughing and crying, "What nonsense are you spouting? Not even the first stroke on the paper yet! I’m telling you, there’s no chance between her and . Hey! Why are you running off? Wait for ..."
Su Ke wanted to say more, but Xue Qian had already run off.
He felt truly helpless and had no choice but to chase after him, "Wait, Xue Qian, let tell you..."
"What do you want to say? Wait until you’ve caught up to , then you can say it!"
Xue Qian laughed heartily and briskly ran outside, with Su Ke reluctantly following behind.
Just as the two of them had run out one after the other from Yingtian Academy, they were imdiately surrounded by a group of classmates who insisted on treating them to drinks. This left Su Ke, who had planned to settle accounts with Xue Qian, with no chance to do so.
Having anticipated this scenario early in the day, they naturally wouldn’t refuse.
The group went to the First Floor in a grand procession, eating and drinking, playing guessing riddles, issuing drinking orders, composing poetry and verses—a veritable feast of romantic pleasures.
After the third round of drinks, everyone clamored for more and wanted to go for flower wine, "It’s said that the girls at Wentao Pavilion are all national beauties and heavenly fragrances. Moreover, there’s a rumor that Miss Hani has long admired you, Brother Su. During the top scholar’s Horse Riding Parade, she even handed you a bouquet of fresh flowers herself. Such special treatnt isn’t sothing ordinary people can receive. If Brother Su, you personally make the invitation, you’re sure to be able to invite Miss Hani over."
His words imdiately won unanimous approval from everyone.
The chaotic and noisy crowd echoed in agreent.
This made Su Ke wave his hands repeatedly, declining, "Everyone, don’t misunderstand! The reason Miss Hani gave flowers that day was simply because she happened to pass by and saw us during the Horse Riding Parade. She was grateful for the painting I gifted her before and happened to have a bouquet nearby, so she didn’t think much of it and handed it out. Strictly speaking, on that day of the Horse Riding Parade, there were so many girls giving out and receiving bouquets, you all received quite a few yourselves. It’s not as serious as you all make it out to be."
But nobody listened to his explanation, they collectively teased and made such a raucous commotion.
"Still calling it not serious? You’re actually exchanging tokens of affection, Brother Su, how can you keep her to yourself without introducing her to us all? That won’t do..."
Left with no choice, Su Ke earnestly and smoothly talked his way out of it, even willing to punish himself with three cups of liquor, thus quelling everyone’s grudges.
However, what he never expected was that, just as everyone was giving up, Miss Hani unexpectedly showed up uninvited!
With her arrival, Su Ke, even if covered with mouths, couldn’t clear things up!
The atmosphere on the scene instantly ignited, and everyone’s mood boiled over in excitent! They quickly surrounded Miss Hani in the center.
One by one, they were rubbing their hands together, as if they couldn’t wait to pounce on her and devour her.
Fortunately, everyone was a scholar, and on the surface, they all maintained their composure, each speaking gracefully with Miss Hani.
When the gathering ended, it was clear that everyone had drunk quite a lot.
Su Ke had also drunk his fair share, and his legs wobbled as he walked. Looking at Miss Hani in front of him, he couldn’t help but smile sheepishly, "Miss Hani, you you... stop swaying back and forth, it is making my head hurt terribly. I feel like I’m going to throw up..."
Before he could finish, he leaned to the side and vomited profusely.
Miss Hani, feeling very sympathetic, stepped forward and kept patting his back, helping him catch his breath.
After Su Ke had thrown up, a cool night breeze blew, making his head feel a bit clearer. He staggered to his feet, wanting to head back, while Little Shitou and Duan Yan, who were attending to him, quickly stepped forward to support him on either side.
"Let support Master Su," Miss Hani advanced, softly speaking, and extended her hand to take over.
Duan Yan and Little Shitou had been instructed before stepping out the door that they must ensure nothing untoward happened to their master. How could they dare toss their master into a tiger’s den now? They hastily kept declining.
"We can’t trouble Miss Hani, if the master wakes up and learns that we were so lacking in propriety, getting scolded would be the least of our worries. If this were to cause us to lose our positions by his side, that would be a real disaster. We beg Miss Hani to empathize with the difficulty of us servants."
However, Miss Hani stubbornly wanted to move forward to support him: "Never mind! I am not an outsider. If your master blas you, you can simply tell him that I insisted on taking over."
During this exchange, she wrapped her arm around one of Su Ke’s.
Duan Yan was on the verge of tears: "Please spare our master, Miss Hani! Master has to travel far away tomorrow. If he can’t get up and this causes a delay in the duties entrusted by His Majesty, that would be as serious as losing one’s head!"
"Your master is going on a journey?" Miss Hani imdiately seized the crucial point of the conversation.
Realizing he had misspoken, Duan Yan hastily denied it and quickly, along with Little Shitou, stuffed their master into the carriage: "No, nothing of the sort. Hahaha... Miss Hani, we must take our leave first."
Once they were on the carriage and before Miss Hani could say more, they made an escape-like rush with the carriage.
Miss Hani watched the carriage grow distant, her eyes revealing an indecipherable aning.
The drunk Su Ke, anwhile, remained clueless about the occurrences outside and fell into a deep sleep once back at his residence.
The next day, he followed His Majesty’s decree and, under the guise of "going ho to visit relatives", led several dozen strong and robust n assigned by His Majesty. Taking advantage of the darkness before dawn, they embarked on a canal boat, leaving the Capital City and heading directly to Luoyan Village.
His friend Xue Qian also accompanied him.
Xue Qian also received His Majesty’s decree to fully cooperate with Su Ke’s actions and ensure that his first official duty was a success!
Xue Qian was feeling relaxed.
He had originally thought he would need to toil in the Hanlin Imperial Academy for another two or three years to get ahead, yet here he was, assigned to a duty just the day after.
He understood even more that this opportunity arose from his association with Su Ke.
But that’s how officialdom was, where connections and luck were indispensable.
Compared to possessing either talents or romantic affairs, these two were the true foundations for establishing oneself in officialdom.
anwhile, Venerable Priest Liao Chen and Old General Cheng started their journey by land toward Luoyan Village.
Venerable Priest Liao Chen and Old General Cheng made a conspicuous trek to Deicide Mountain to draw people’s attention, thus allowing many parties to miss the opportunity to shadow Su Ke and Xue Qian.
By the ti everyone noticed, the canal boat carrying Su Ke and Xue Qian had already reached Huainan Prefecture and was continuing eastward.
Lei Yu, who had been determined to capture Xue Qian, was so furious upon learning of this that he smashed a set of highly valuable porcelain tea cups.
Furthermore, against his mother’s wishes, under the pretext of going "to visit his maternal uncle’s ho in Yongzhou for fun", he also boarded a southbound canal boat, following Xue Qian’s steps.
Another person also boarded the sa canal boat heading south, and her target was also Su Ke. This person’s cabin, however, was so distance from where Lei Yu and his servant stayed, and, suffering from seasickness, she spent her days hiding in her room without going out, so the two never t.
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