Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing's eyes lit up at the sight of the table full of dishes, their appetites roused.
Although Zhu Zhuqing had also dabbled in cooking, her timing always lacked that certain something, clearly indicating she hadn't received true instruction in this area.
Seeing everyone present, Jiang Yunzhou greeted them:
"Come, come, I just made a few home-cooked dishes. Brother Qinghe, please don't mind them."
"Yunzhou is too modest. These dishes look excellent, and they suit my taste perfectly."
"It's good that they suit your taste, otherwise I would be making a fool of myself."
"Hahaha—"
Xue Qinghe wasn't exaggerating; eating delicacies all the time inevitably gets tiresome.
Eating them occasionally is a treat, but eating them every day is her life. How could she not get tired of it?
These home-cooked dishes had excellent color, aroma, and taste, and most importantly, they were made by Jiang Yunzhou.
She couldn't help but take a few sips, nodding in approval.
It's the simple warmth of human life that truly soothes the heart.
With an outsider present, and one of such noble status, the three girls were noticeably somewhat reserved—except, of course, for Ning Rongrong.
After a brief moment of quiet, she started chattering again:
"Teacher~ You actually snuck out! Do you know Crown Prince Brother came looking for you twice?"
"Teacher, next time you go out, can you take me with you?"
"Teacher, did you go out with Crown Prince Brother? How come he walked in just as you arrived?"
Even though Ning Rongrong kept chattering non-stop.
Jiang Yunzhou didn't interrupt her, instead, he continued to smile dotingly.
Now, these three girls were his precious treasures, constantly filling the void in his heart.
Upon hearing her words, Jiang Yunzhou looked up at Xue Qinghe, not expecting that she had come twice, and the second time was almost back-to-back?
No wonder she said those things earlier. Was she perhaps eavesdropping outside the Moon Pavilion before?
No, what about being busy with a myriad of daily affairs? How did she have the leisure to spend time with him?
"I'm truly sorry, I didn't know Brother Qinghe would come."
"How about this, I'll drink a penalty cup as an apology."
"Yunzhou, you're too polite. It's I who felt a connection with you, which is why I specifically came to catch up."
Jiang Yunzhou was amused. They had only met once, and now they were catching up?
He knew it was mostly his charm quietly working its magic again.
He was aware of his considerable interest in Qian Renxue, so it was normal for her to have a high level of goodwill towards him.
Who said the system was reasonable?
The two exchanged toasts, barely eating any food, but drinking quite a lot of wine.
After the three girls had eaten their fill, they were unceremoniously sent away, so as not to disturb the two's emotional exchange.
He had intended to have just a few drinks and stop, but he couldn't resist the overwhelming enthusiasm from both sides.
One drink led to another, and they found it hard to stop.
As everyone knows, the more you drink, the more intoxicating it becomes, and the more you want to drink, making it impossible to stop.
They say alcohol doesn't intoxicate; people intoxicate themselves. Someone determined to get drunk cannot be stopped by persuasion.
Finally, neither of them held back, and they drank freely.
Jiang Yunzhou was easy to understand; he was on his own turf, so if he got drunk, he could just sleep.
Xue Qinghe, on the other hand, seemed to have come specifically to find a place to relax.
She hadn't truly enjoyed herself like this in a very long time.
"Yunzhou, it's been many years since I've been this... this happy, do you know?"
"I, of course I know... In this World, there's no one who understands you more than I do..."
"Hahaha~ I think so too! Otherwise, I wouldn't think of you whenever I have time."
"My life has been like treading on thin ice, never truly having friendship, but I feel... you can give it to me."
"I'm not afraid to tell you, I waited for you outside the Moon Pavilion for a long time... I only rushed back to wait for you when I saw you were about to leave."
"Is, is that so? So you... came specifically for me?"
"Well, we definitely need to have another one, come on, drink!"
Their eyes were blurry with intoxication, their words slurred. At this moment, they were arm in arm, a picture of 'deep brotherly affection'.
"De-definitely not! I just felt I had nowhere to go, so I just, just came over to sit..." Poor Qian Renxue, even when drunk, she didn't forget to be tsundere.
She could say it herself, but if someone else poked at her heart, her lips would be sealed.
"Ha~ So that's it! It seems I misunderstood. Come, have another one as an apology..."
"The, the sky is getting late, little Xue'er, aren't you going back?"
That address, 'little Xue'er', made Xue Qinghe pause slightly.
She shook her head, as if something had pricked her heart.
She tried to sober up, but once the alcohol took hold, no one could resist, and her eyes quickly became hazy again.
"Go back? What for, that cold, sterile place? Let's go, tonight we'll chat until dawn!"
"Alright~ Then I'll sacrifice myself to accompany little Xue... Come on, let's go to my room to chat. We can chat and sleep at the same time, it's warm under the covers..."
With that, the two, arm in arm and stumbling, shuffled towards Jiang Yunzhou's small courtyard.
Ning Rongrong and the two other girls lived next door. Hearing the commotion, they came out to check and, seeing the two looking completely drunk and about to go wild, quickly went to help them.
"Teacher, why did you drink so much?" Zhu Qing asked with concern.
"They drank from dinner until now? How much did they drink? Should we separate them first?" Xiao Wu asked.
"Okay, let's separate them first."
Ning Rongrong supported Xue Qinghe: "Your, Your Royal Highness, aren't you going back tonight?"
"It seems impossible to go back like this, doesn't it?"
The two were so drunk they were incoherent, unable to answer anything.
The three girls tried hard to separate them and send them to their respective rooms, but the two were hugging each other so tightly they couldn't be pulled apart.
"Damn, they're hugging too tight, we can't separate them!"
They exchanged glances and reached a consensus: since they were both men, sleeping together wasn't a big deal, right?
So the three 'clever ones' helped the two onto Jiang Yunzhou's bed, each gave them a cup of water, and then retreated to their own rooms.
As soon as they got into bed, a heavy drowsiness overcame them. Both had similar alcohol tolerance, and their states were about the same.
Unconsciously, they gravitated towards each other for warmth, eventually ending up in a full embrace, legs intertwined, arms wrapped around each other, and fell into a deep sleep.
They had planned to chat until dawn, but not a single word was spoken.
The two, however, slept soundly.
Another night of anxious waiting for Liu Erlong, whose method of falling asleep still relied on a 'hand chop'.
She had become very skilled at 'how to elegantly knock oneself unconscious'.
The next morning
Sunlight streamed into the room through the window lattice.
The three girls knew that their Teacher and the Crown Prince had been very drunk last night, so they tacitly didn't disturb them, letting them sleep until they woke up naturally.
The strong light made their eyelids tremble slightly, and their eyeballs moved. Almost at the same time, they woke up.
Feeling the other's warm breath on their faces, both immediately realized something was wrong... Never in their lives had they experienced such a thing.
Although a part of them didn't want to open their eyes, they couldn't suppress that damn curiosity.
Finally, both opened their eyes simultaneously, looking at each other.
There was no gasp, no shout. The next second, however, they simultaneously kicked out with an almost telepathic understanding.
After two "bang! bang!" sounds.
They both rolled off to opposite sides of the bed, falling onto the floor.
"Jiang Yunzhou! Why are you in my bed?"
"Xue Qinghe! Take a good look at whose room this is! Clearly, you're the one who climbed into my bed!"