Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 103

After several dances, the Hu dancers bowed and withdrew.

“Mingxu! Come, Uncle Lin has not seen you in far too long. Let me offer you a toast to your great victory over the Tujue!”

Lin Feng approached under the influence of the wine.

Xia Heng promptly filled Cang Chuli’s cup. Cang Chuli stood, clinked cups with Lin Feng, and drained his “wine” in one swallow.

“Good! Mingxu is all grown up, and your tolerance has improved too. Another!”

Xia Heng signaled to Chuqing with her eyes. Chuqing hurried forward to pour for Lin Feng, and the two men drank three cups in succession.

Lin Feng seemed suddenly inspired.

“Mingxu, you are now the General of the Northern Pacification yourself. You have been back in the capital for so long that I wonder whether your skills have grown rusty. Since we are all in such high spirits today, why don’t we exchange a few moves and loosen up?”

Cang Chuli set down his wine cup, his tone even.

“Since General Lin has proposed it, I naturally have no objection.”

“Hahaha! That’s the spirit! Our hosts need not worry. We’ll stop at first contact,” Lin Feng told Wang Wenshan and Madam Wang at the head of the room with a loud laugh.

“General Lin can rest assured. We will stop at first contact,” Cang Chuli replied calmly.

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes, a smile hovering at the corners of his mouth. He looked as though he had drunk too much, but in the very next instant, he snapped his wrist and sent his wine cup shooting at Cang Chuli.

Cang Chuli neither dodged nor retreated. When the cup reached him, he flicked a finger lightly and sent it spinning upward. Then he surged straight toward Lin Feng.

Xia Heng’s gaze was still following the flying cup when Chuqing stepped forward twice, caught it with effortless grace, and returned it to the table.

Xia Heng immediately gave her a thumbs-up.

*What a move, Chu Fourth!*

Chuqing raised her brows smugly.

In that brief span, Cang Chuli and Lin Feng had already fought their way into the center of the hall.

The guests cheered one after another, and many of the women turned to watch as well.

Xia Heng thought she glimpsed a familiar figure, but before she could see who it was, the person vanished from view again.

Lin Feng threw a punch that hurtled toward Cang Chuli with a rush of air. Each blow looked fiercer than the last.

Cang Chuli remained perfectly unhurried. He scarcely seemed to move, yet not one of Lin Feng’s fists landed solidly on him.

“This is stopping at first contact?” Xia Heng asked Chuqing, turning her head. “When exactly do they make contact?”

This looked far more serious than the fights outside her school gates back in the day. And at least those fights had always ended with the participants being hauled away for a lecture by the police or the dean of students.

She had no idea who here could haul these two away and give them a lecture.

“Their blows are rather heavy,” Chuqing said uneasily.

Cang Chuli finally began to counterattack. When Lin Feng launched another punch, Cang Chuli’s right hand clamped firmly around his arm, preventing him from moving any farther.

At the same time, Cang Chuli swept a foot toward his legs. Lin Feng gave a short shout, summoned his strength, and leaped into the air. Just as he congratulated himself on avoiding the sweep, Cang Chuli followed with a straight left punch aimed squarely at his chest.

With no room to evade, Lin Feng could only yank both arms back and cross them before his chest.

Even so, the blow inevitably sent him flying backward. He crashed directly into the table of one of the officials.

That official actually sprang to his feet and applauded Cang Chuli, his face flushed scarlet with excitement.

“Excellent! General Cang truly is a young hero! What a splendid contest!”

Xia Heng stared at the official and tried to memorize his face.

*Sir, anyone bold enough to caper around like this right in front of Lin Feng is quite a character himself!*

Lin Feng remained seated in front of the table and simply stretched out his legs.

“Ah, I truly am getting old! My reactions are not what they used to be. Mingxu’s punch certainly caught me by surprise!”

Someone beside him reached down to pull him up.

“Hahaha, no need. I can still stand on my own!”

Lin Feng braced a hand against the floor and rose with a grimace.

“Ah, that really hurts!”

Madam Wang had been watching closely for some time. She hurried forward.

“Mingxu has never known how to restrain his strength! General Lin, are you all right? Mingxu, where are you? Come apologize to your Uncle Lin!”

Cang Chuli gave her a glance, then walked straight back to his seat.

Madam Wang’s face shifted from red to white.

“Hahaha! It’s nothing. Madam Wang, you needn’t scold Mingxu. This is perfectly normal in a spar!”

With that, Lin Feng returned to his own seat as well. He rubbed his chest, then resumed smiling and exchanging toasts with the people around him as though nothing were amiss.

Madam Wang cast Cang Chuli another look. Her expression livid, she returned to the head table.

Xia Heng and Chuqing retreated to their original positions too. The fight had been so nerve-racking that both of them had unconsciously edged several steps forward.

*Huh? Where did that maid go—the one whose wine jug I took, who had been standing behind us this whole time?*

After exerting himself, Cang Chuli reached out and tapped a finger in front of his wine cup.

Xia Heng hurriedly reined in her thoughts and stepped forward to pour him some water. Perhaps the maid had finally given up after realizing there would be no opportunity.

After a brief rest, Huyan Lie rose from his seat with a wine cup in hand. The moment Xia Heng saw him approaching, alarm bells rang in her head.

He slowly strolled over to Cang Chuli.

“Might Lie have the honor of sharing a cup with General Cang?”

Cang Chuli did not answer. He merely lifted his cup and drained it.

“The General of the Northern Pacification is refreshingly forthright! Allow Lie to offer you another toast.”

Chuqing hurried forward to pour.

“Ah—”

Huyan Lie pushed aside the jug in Chuqing’s hand and looked toward Xia Heng.

“Lie would rather drink what this young lady pours.”

He had noticed earlier that whenever someone came to toast Cang Chuli, every cup Cang Chuli drank was poured by Xia Heng, while everyone else’s wine was poured by the round-faced maid.

After drinking for so long, Cang Chuli’s face had not reddened in the slightest. There had to be some trick involved.

It was no great matter, but Huyan Lie still wanted to see Cang Chuli embarrassed.

*Just as I thought. He really is up to no good.*

With a smile on her face, Xia Heng lifted the lid of her jug for Huyan Lie to see.

“My apologies, Prince Huyan. This servant’s jug is empty.”

Huyan Lie looked inside. Sure enough, there was not a drop left.

Cang Chuli raised his hand and finished the “wine” in his cup, the faintest trace of a smile appearing at the corner of his lips.

The moment Xia Heng had seen Huyan Lie stand up, she had suspected he intended to cause trouble. She had emptied the shallow dregs of water left in the jug onto her personal handkerchief and put it into her system storage well in advance.

Unwilling to give up, Huyan Lie took the jug from her. He peered into it again, then sniffed at its mouth.

Xia Heng’s expression did not change.

She had instructed Chuqing from the very beginning to smear a ring of wine around both the mouth and the spout. Xia Heng was far too familiar with tricks like this.

*Go on, take a good sniff. I’d like to see what you can smell.*

Unable to prove anything, Huyan Lie had no choice but to return the jug to her.

Chuqing did not bother asking again. She simply filled his cup to the absolute brim, displaying the surface tension of the wine to its fullest extent.

Three faces looked at Huyan Lie, all conveying the same message.

*Enough talking. Hurry up and drink! You still owe us a cup!*

Huyan Lie emptied the wine from his cup, baffled in his heart.

Somehow, nothing good ever seemed to happen when he ran into these people.

Could it truly be as the shaman had said, that all things countered one another?

Forget it. What happened later was more important.

After finishing the cup, he did not linger. He returned to his seat to await the news.