Chapter 321: Nobody Thinks They'll Have It Easy

Because He Jinghui barged in, the whole house fell silent.

Everyone stared at him in surprise.

He Jinghui grabbed An Qinghe's lapel and exclaimed angrily, "You two can never have a future!"

"There are plenty of flowers elsewhere! You kid, you fell in love on a whim, but when you later hit an insurmountable obstacle, you'll pat your butt and return to the Western Regions, where a bunch of Western Region beauties await you!"

"You'll kill her like this! Do you understand!!"

He Jinglan came to her senses and asked bewilderedly, "Brother, what nonsense are you spouting? You…… you didn't drink tonight, did you?"

She looked questioning at Mu Nan Zhao.

Mu Nan Zhao shook his head slightly, indicating absolutely not.

He Jinghui gently pushed his sister aside, pointed at An Qinghe, and said, "If you truly love a woman, you should consider her more, not just yourself! Take my advice—you two aren't suited!"

Looking again at An Qinghe, his face was stern, clearly he was angry too.

He Jinglan was about to offer a few words of advice, but An Qinghe sidestepped her and continued facing He Jinghui.

An Qinghe glowered at He Jinghui, "You've just met us—what gives you the right to say we're incompatible?!"

"And let me tell you this—I'm serious about her! Once I'm smitten, I won't change! You say I'll run back to the Western Regions when I hit a snag—that's insulting me! Insulting my feelings!"

He Jinghui, fuming, stepped forward and grabbed An Qinghe's collar.

"Go ahead and try to win her over again?"

An Qinghe was utterly resolute, "Being smitten is being smitten—I don't deceive others, nor myself!"

He Jinglan was completely bewildered, not stopping to sort things out, and rushed to break up the fight.

"Brother, let go!"

He Jinghui glanced at his own sister, feeling ever more heartbroken and angry.

He hadn't even done anything yet, and Jing Lan was already protecting this kid!

From now on, are we supposed to follow him off to the Western Regions?!

At this moment only Mu Nan Zhao remained aloof, sitting down to pour himself a cup of tea, as if he had seen through everything.

Everyone was busy and chaotic.

Gu Xixi stood up, smiled and glanced around, "All this noise—you must be thirsty; I'll borrow the kitchen to whip up some drinks for everyone."

As she left, she didn't forget to snatch He Jinglan along the way.

He Jinglan walked while looking back, "Surely they're not really going to fight, are they?"

Gu Xixi kept her smile, "Let them fight if they want to."

"With the Regent Prince present on both sides, no murder case will happen."

He Jinglan stared at Gu Xixi, sucking in a cold breath, "What's gotten into everyone tonight? One after another going crazy?!"

After a moment's thought, she wondered again, "What on earth is my brother saying to An Qinghe?"

"An Qinghe isn't smitten with you, so why is my brother so worked up? I can see he's almost crying as he speaks."

He Jinglan startled, then turned sharply, "My brother couldn't possibly also be……"

Gu Xixi's smile widened, "Jing Lan, what did you say? I didn't catch that."

He Jinglan felt a chill down her back at her laugh, and hastily shook her head, "Nothing, nothing—I'm just overthinking! How could that be possible, haha……"

It seems not only everyone else is crazy, but she herself isn't normal either.

Otherwise, how could such a nonsensical idea pop into her head!

Inside the pavilion, An Qinghe and He Jinghui shoved each other a few times.

Both retained some restraint, so they didn't actually throw punches.

An Qinghe suddenly frowned and said, "Why are you stopping me? Could it be that you also fell for Xixi at first sight?"

He Jinghui snorted coldly, "You still dare to claim love at first sight, you!"

He blinked, then belatedly realized, "You mean who?"

The young ladies weren't present, and even the maidservants had gone out.

At this point, there's nothing we can't say here.

An Qinghe shoved He Jinghui aside, puffed out his chest, raised his head, and declared proudly, "Xixi! Gu Xixi!"

"I've sworn my life to her—if you, this latecomer, want to compete, you'll have to see if you've got the chops!"

Having said that, he gave He Jinghui a contemptuous glance.

He Jinghui stood there like a wooden chicken, "Wrong, wrong, wrong—everything's wrong."

He lamented endlessly, head bowed, muttering, "I thought it was…… sigh!"

An Qinghe wondered, "What did you think?"

He Jinghui was too embarrassed to say, "I thought you and my sister were mutually smitten, so I wanted to beat you up."

He simply cupped his hands toward An Qinghe, "Sorry, Boss An—it was my misunderstanding."

An Qinghe's blue eyes lit up; he clearly realized why He Jinghui had caused this mix-up.

To keep him from speaking and adding embarrassment, He Jinghui hurriedly said, "Actually, you should be competing with him!"

He raised a hand to point at Mu Nan Zhao, trying to save face, "That's why I said I got it wrong—it's all a misunderstanding."

An Qinghe merely glanced back, expression indifferent, "Him? There's nothing to fight over."

"Xixi bought him home for a single cash—if she really liked him, they'd have married long ago."

He Jinghui actually found An Qinghe's words quite reasonable and couldn't help nodding.

But he no longer dared to read his close friend's expression.

All that was heard was a swish—a flash of silver light streaked across the wall.

"It's too noisy—I'll just help you shut up forever." Mu Nan Zhao's tone wasn't loud, but it was icy cold.

An Qinghe showed no fear at all, clattering out a dagger, "Perfect, when I go back I'll tell Zhang Shen you died of illness back home, so Zhang Shen won't still be worrying about arranging the marriage!"

……

Waiting for Gu Xixi, He Jinglan, and the four senior maidservants to return, laughing and chatting.

Only see He Jinghui stretching out his legs and sitting on the ground, while An Qinghe collapsed in the nearby chair, mouth wide open, gasping heavily.

Only Mu Nan Zhao looked somewhat better, sitting in the seat of honor with a dark face.

Seeing Gu Xixi, he stood up and said, "I'm going back."

Unexpectedly, Gu Xixi took the initiative to stop Mu Nan Zhao, "Don't rush off, you haven't had anything to drink yet."

Mu Nan Zhao gazed at her sweet smile, and for a moment he felt dazed.

However, his inner reason told him: something's off, he needed to run quickly.

But his feet felt as if nailed to the ground, unable to move.

The little maidservants filed in one by one, clearing away the leftover dishes from the table.

Then they brought in one after another large round-bellied porcelain jars filled with water.

Until the jars filled the table, so many that one couldn't count exactly how many there were at a glance.

In the dead of night, the silver light seemed like a dream.

Yet inside the hall of the Jade Bamboo Courtyard, they continued to bowl after bowl.

Gu Xixi said leisurely, "When drinking, don't forget to savor it carefully; after finishing, you must describe your feelings in detail, and cannot be careless."

Mu Nan Zhao, He Jinghui, and An Qinghe all wore frowns of worry.

He Jinghui looked pleadingly at his own sister, "Jing Lan, it's already the tenth bowl, can we…"

He Jinglan, who already knew the truth, gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes, "Brother, I'm opening a shop; you said you'd fully support me, right? You're just here to taste the dishes, this little favor—surely the three of you won't refuse to help?"

An Qinghe let out a belch and difficulty said, "Could we at least just take one sip of each?"

"No." Gu Xixi and He Jinglan said in unison.

He Jinglan said solemnly, "You love Xixi's sugar water the most—how could you waste it?"

"With just this bit of sincerity, do you still want to open the sugar water shop in Cloud Ridge County, all the way to the Western Regions, your hometown?"

An Qinghe, threatened, wilted.

While drinking, she stole glances at Mu Nan Zhao.

At the critical moment, an enemy can also be an ally.

The mighty Regent Prince—how many bowls can he endure?