The prince is more stable

Chapter 993 Wine Tasting Commentary
People have many quirks, and Zhao Xiaoqian was no exception. For example, he really wanted to leave his magnificent image on a masterpiece of painting that was destined to be remembered for generations.

However, this did not diminish Zhang Zeduan's reputation. The emperor of the Song Dynasty was willing to have his paintings included, so the value of Zhang Zeduan's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is probably even higher.

If China's most talented woman were also depicted in a painting, even if she were just squatting in a slum picking up trash and vegetable scraps to eat, her value would be even greater.

It's a real headache for historians of later generations, who probably racked their brains but couldn't figure out why the greatest female scholar in Chinese history lived such a miserable life. It's considered the biggest mystery in history, on par with the question of whether Qin Shi Huang's tomb actually exists.

Li Qingzhao, still fuming, downed several cups of wine. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. So she picked up the wine pot, approached Zhao Xiaoqian, and without saying a word, forced him to drink several more large mouthfuls of wine.

"I told you not to be so foul-mouthed! I told you not to be so foul-mouthed! You're the one who picks up trashy vegetable scraps!" Li Qingzhao said angrily.

Seeing the two bickering endlessly, Zhang Zeduan couldn't help but smile wryly.

After careful consideration, Zhang Zeduan slowly said, "Brother Zian wishes to contribute to my humble work, and I am naturally willing to comply. Let us do as Brother Zian suggests..."

Then Zhang Zeduan turned to look at Li Qingzhao and hesitated, "As for Lady Li entering the painting..."

Li Qingzhao angrily retorted, "Don't paint me! I won't be included in any ghost paintings!"

Zhang Zeduan immediately breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had been granted a pardon: "Thank you."

Zhao Xiaoqian clapped his hands, the door to the elegant room opened, and Chen Shou appeared in the doorway.

Zhao Xiaoqian pointed at Zhang Zeduan and said, "Arrange a house for him in Zhouqiao, preferably near the Bian River, and make sure all his needs for food, clothing, and shelter are taken care of."

Chen Shou clasped his hands in acceptance of the order.

Zhang Zeduan rose with delight, bowed deeply to him once more, and then took his leave.

Zhao Xiaoqian watched his retreating figure disappear outside the elegant pavilion before sighing with a smile, "The Song Dynasty truly has many talented people; I wonder how many I'll be fortunate enough to meet in this lifetime..."

Seeing that Zhang Zeduan had left, Li Qingzhao immediately lost her desire to flirt with the beautiful woman beside her and casually sent her away. At this time, only Zhao Xiaoqian and she remained in the elegant pavilion.

She hopped a few steps to him, her brows furrowed with joy, seemingly delighted by this rare moment of solitude between the two of them.

"Brother Zian, we haven't seen each other for months. How about we make an exception and have a good drink together today?" Li Qingzhao stared at him expectantly, her eyes full of pleading.

Zhao Xiaoqian was startled, then his expression changed drastically.

Regarding the concept of "drinking heartily," Zhao Xiaoqian was certain that it was completely different from Li Qingzhao's.

This woman was not only a talented woman of the Song Dynasty, but also a gambling god and a wine god. The amount of "drinking heavily" in her mind would be the level of severe alcohol poisoning for Zhao Xiaoqian, requiring gastric lavage, vomiting, and electric shocks to restore his heartbeat.

"What a joke, of course not!" Zhao Xiaoqian resolutely refused: "It's very risky to drink with me. If you drink me to death today, it will be a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family. Even the gods can't save you."

Although it might seem a bit unmanly, in front of the Song Dynasty's Goddess of Wine, it's better to be a little cowardly than to drink yourself to death in a moment of bravado.

Li Qingzhao said angrily, "Fine, I'll drink heartily, you can sip, okay? I won't force you, I won't force you to drink, you just have to drink with me."

Seeing her drinking with such enthusiasm, Zhao Xiaoqian couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with you today? Why are you so in the mood for drinking?...Did your father get married again?"

"Pah! Your father just got married!"

"No need for you to worry about that, my father really is a groom every night..." Zhao Xiaoqian said sincerely.

Li Qingzhao rolled her eyes.

Although she was bold and forthright by nature, with the spirit of a man, she was ultimately a woman, and there were some thoughts she couldn't share or speak out about.

At the age when she was just beginning to experience love, and having not seen him for several months, she felt just like the poet Wen Tingyun described in his poem, "Do you know how deep my longing for you is?"

Zhao Xiaoqian may not have known, or he may have pretended not to know, but Li Qingzhao had so much to say but didn't know how to express it, so she could only pour out her feelings into her wine.

Actually, if you don't pressure him to drink, Zhao Xiaoqian would be willing to have a few drinks with her. He's already in his twenties and has lived two lives. He's long past the immature age of drinking to show off and compete. He does things as he pleases.

Adults who know how to compromise with their bodies and the passage of time, who are not overly competitive, and who do not do things beyond their capabilities, are taking responsibility for their own lives.

Inside the elegant pavilion, Li Qingzhao drank one cup of wine after another, while Zhao Xiaoqian accompanied her with sips here and there. The amount and speed at which the two drank were completely out of sync.

I don't feel ashamed in front of the goddess of wine. I'm going to lose no matter how much I drink, so I might as well be a little cowardly.

While drinking and chatting, Li Qingzhao suddenly remembered something, blinked her beautiful eyes mischievously, and said, "Brother Zian, I recently heard a poem about drinking. I wonder which master wrote it. Now I will recite it and ask you, the famous Zhao Banque, to give your opinion?"

Zhao Xiaoqian glanced at her.

Poems about drinking, ah! Of the more than sixty poems that Li Qingzhao left to posterity, at least half of them are about drinking. Otherwise, how did she get the title of Goddess of Wine?

It's amazing that there are words in this world that she admires so highly.

"Let's recite some poems to accompany the wine!" Zhao Xiaoqian said with a flick of his sleeve. Li Qingzhao cleared her throat and said, "I often remember the pavilion by the stream at dusk, so intoxicated that I forgot the way home. When the fun was over, I returned by boat late, accidentally entering the depths of the lotus blossoms. Struggling to cross, struggling to cross, I startled a flock of gulls and egrets."

After he finished reciting, Li Qingzhao looked at him expectantly: "How was it? How was it? Wasn't it a masterpiece?"

Zhao Xiaoqian's lips twitched slightly: "This poem... wasn't written by you?"

Li Qingzhao replied without changing her expression, "It wasn't written by me; I just overheard it by chance. Isn't it brilliant? Can it be considered a masterpiece?"

As she spoke, Li Qingzhao bowed towards the door of the elegant pavilion with a look of admiration: "I really want to meet the master who wrote this poem. To write about the joy of being drunk so exquisitely is truly admirable. I am no match for him."

Zhao Xiaoqian rolled his eyes speechlessly.

Sister, a thousand years from now, these are words that even elementary school students will have to memorize and recite in their entirety, okay? What are you showing off for?

Of course, since this guy was deliberately playing dumb to take advantage of her, Zhao Xiaoqian didn't mind satisfying her.

After pondering for a while, Zhao Xiaoqian slowly said, "This poem... is inappropriate."

Li Qingzhao's smile froze, then she took a deep breath and forced a smile, saying, "Really? But why do I find it so wonderful?"

Zhao Xiaoqian glanced at her and said, "That's because your skill level isn't high enough. You need to practice cooking more."

Li Qingzhao's face visibly turned green as she gritted her teeth and said, "I would like to hear your insightful opinion, Brother Zian."

Zhao Xiaoqian nodded and said, "First, let's look at the first line, 'I often remember the sunset at the stream pavilion, so drunk that I forgot the way home.' What does this line say? It means that I was drunk, so drunk that I couldn't even remember the way home."

"Tsk! This drunkard is so drunk. He must be a spoiled brat from an official's family, with no ambition and a dissolute life."

"Hehehe..." Li Qingzhao's voice trembled slightly as she gritted her teeth. "...Brother Zian, please continue. I'm all ears!"

Zhao Xiaoqian said leisurely, "Let's talk about the second line, 'When the fun was over, I returned by boat late, and accidentally entered the depths of the lotus flowers.' Tsk! Look, he really is drunk. Not only does he not remember the way home, but he actually took a boat and went out onto the water. What a drunkard's behavior, tsk tsk!"

Li Qingzhao: "…………"

Zhao Xiaoqian continued relentlessly, "And what fact did you discover from this sentence?"

"What...truth?" Li Qingzhao asked through gritted teeth, her face ashen.

"The fact is, this guy was driving under the influence! And he was driving a boat while intoxicated, which is extremely dangerous and must be reported to the authorities!"

"Don't drink and drive, don't drive after drinking. He doesn't even have basic legal knowledge. He's just a spoiled brat, used to being lawless. Let's find him and cyberbully him!"

Zhao Xiaoqian glared at her fiercely: "Do you know that lawless author? Tell me, and I'll personally report to the Kaifeng Prefecture and let him enjoy three years of a comfortable life with food and lodging provided."

Li Qingzhao's face turned from blue to green: "…………"

"The last line, 'Struggling to cross, struggling to cross, startling a flock of gulls and egrets'... Tsk! What does this line mean? It means that the alcohol is taking effect again, so he leans over the side of the boat and vomits again, vomiting... vomiting in this unknown body of water, scaring a flock of gulls and egrets into flying all over the place."

Zhao Xiaoqian sighed and said, "This guy not only drove drunk, but also vomited in the water, damaging the ecological environment and disturbing protected wild animals. He deserves an extra year in prison."

Finally, Zhao Xiaoqian concluded: "In summary, this poem describes the story of a spoiled brat returning home drunk. Although the poem is only three lines long, it has violated at least three laws."

"Hmm, you just said this is a masterpiece? Come on, tell me who its author is. I'd love to meet this esteemed person and, if possible, introduce the Prefect of Kaifeng to him for a chat..."

Li Qingzhao was furious, but Zhao Xiaoqian's twisted logic left her speechless.

After a long silence, Li Qingzhao said coldly, her face ashen, "I only heard about it secondhand; I don't know this master at all."

Zhao Xiaoqian winked mischievously: "This poem... you didn't write it, did you?"

Li Qingzhao was startled and hurriedly denied it loudly: "Of course it wasn't me! How could it be me! I would never do something so uncouth when I'm drunk!"

At this moment, her face flushed red, filled with shock, anger, and bewilderment, much like Kong Yiji's argument: "How can you slander someone's innocence like this? Stealing books is a scholar's business, how can it be considered stealing?"

Seeing her shocked and angry yet unconvinced appearance, Zhao Xiaoqian suddenly burst into laughter.

Li Qingzhao didn't laugh. Instead, she gritted her teeth and looked indignant, holding a pair of chopsticks in her hand and stabbing the table hard with each strike, looking quite ferocious.

Hearing Zhao Xiaoqian's grating laughter, Li Qingzhao grew increasingly furious. She lunged at him, grabbed a wine cup, and poured it down his throat: "Enough nonsense, drink! Today we must drink to our hearts' content, until we're completely drunk! You too can wander into the depths of the lotus blossoms!"

Caught off guard, Zhao Xiaoqian coughed uncontrollably: "You, you... you promised not to force me to drink!"

"I've changed my mind, is that not allowed?" Li Qingzhao said angrily.

He felt a pang of regret. He must have angered her. A beautiful poem that has been passed down through the ages and is a must-read for elementary school students was ridiculed by him, almost making it onto the TV show "Legal Report of the Song Dynasty". This kind of psychological gap is indeed hard for a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl to bear.

(End of this chapter)