It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

Before he could think it through, he gulped down a glass of wine.

How does it taste?

Veronica asked, "This wine was a gift from Chairman Smith. It's said to be a treasure from his friend, called the Fruit of Life, which he rarely drinks."

I didn't expect that brat wasn't lying to me; it really is very expensive wine... Li Cheng nodded: "Very good."

Veroni smiled with satisfaction at the sight, raised her head, exposing her swan-like, snow-white, slender neck to the air, and quite boldly drank the amber liquid in her glass in one gulp.

After downing the glass, a faint blush rose to her face, which she then forcibly suppressed.

After finishing her drink, Veronica continued the conversation, but it seemed to have nothing to do with Li Cheng's question.

She said, "When I was a child, I always felt that although there were many problems in China, and the root causes were piled up together, it was still in a positive development trend, and everything would gradually get better."

"I'm not afraid to admit it, but back then I read too many chivalric novels and thought I might become a messenger of justice and sweep away all evil."

Li Cheng hadn't expected Veronica to have such a rebellious, chuunibyou (adolescent delusions of grandeur) side: "So what changed you later?"

"Of course it's reality... With the outbreak of the plague, no one wanted to take over the mess in London, and I felt this was an opportunity for me, so I took the initiative."

Veronica said slowly, "But after actually serving as the ruler for a year and a half, I found that many things were not so simple... Gradually, I changed my initial thoughts and felt that it didn't have to be so righteous, as long as the purpose was right."

After downing two cups of 'Fruit of Life', Li Cheng grew bolder and bluntly retorted, "So what does this have to do with you urging me to update?"

"Don't rush."

Veronica was also a little drunk and said nonchalantly, "That was what I originally thought, but after experiencing my father's death, my thoughts have changed once again."

"I've realized again that justice is still very important. If a person doesn't even have any principles, and everything they do is for the purpose of achieving their goals, and they'll stop at nothing to do it, then will I end up like Edward...?"

"So I started to recall and revisit, trying to experience the kind of dedication to justice that I first felt in chivalric novels—it sounds like something only a child would do, even a bit naive, but that's really what I think."

The more Li Cheng listened, the more familiar the words sounded: "So you've finally seen the light? Actually, there's a legendary three realms of life in the Great Yan Dynasty, which are somewhat similar to your ideas. Would you like to hear about them?"

Veronique: "You say it."

Li Cheng: "The first level: seeing mountains as mountains and water as water; the second level: seeing mountains not as mountains and water not as water; the third level: seeing mountains as mountains and water as water again."

This kind of profound philosophy of life, if it were the usual Veronica, she could understand it after careful thought.

But at this moment, her head was a little dizzy, and she couldn't make sense of these confusing things at all, so she asked frankly, "What do you mean?"

Li Cheng shook his head and explained, "In your words, it means 'after recognizing the true nature of life, one still loves it'... This sentence is a bit abstract, but you can roughly understand it as—accepting that there will be all kinds of ugliness in the world, and even knowing that everything cannot be changed, persisting in one's belief in justice."

"To recognize the true nature of life and still love it...that makes a lot of sense, but I'm not a philosopher, so I don't care about that."

Veronica shook her head and sighed, "Forget it, let's not talk about it anymore. How about another drink?"

As the conversation flowed freely, Li Cheng felt it difficult to refuse, and considering it was just sweet wine, he nodded and said, "Okay."

And so another glass was downed.

During this time, Veronica calculated her alcohol tolerance and found that she would get slightly tipsy after three drinks. Therefore, including the previous drink, she planned to stop after pouring two more drinks.

Even if it tastes amazing, I won't drink a single drop more than necessary.

Unfortunately, Smith was very modest when delivering the wine, only saying, "This wine has a mellow taste, you can't taste the alcohol, but the aftertaste is long-lasting," forgetting that the problem wasn't whether the aftertaste lasted, but that the wine had an unusually high alcohol content.

After three drinks, both of their brains were clearly starting to short-circuit, but they were hardly aware of the problem.

After putting aside the philosophical discussion, Veronica asked a more practical question: "United Textiles is doing very well, so why did you come all the way to Lincoln, which is so far from London?"

She seemed puzzled by Li Cheng's sudden departure.

Western politics differs from Eastern politics; it rarely involves thorough purges or the execution of entire families. Instead, there is a peculiar, unwritten rule. Even during wartime, if a noble is captured by an enemy state, their family is allowed to pay a ransom for their release.

Even Cromwell, after sending Charles I to the guillotine, did not eliminate Charles II completely, but instead sent him to Scotland to serve as an official.

Even when Charles II revolted again, which was subsequently suppressed, Cromwell only exiled him to the European continent, without exterminating him completely.

"Hiccup... Hehe, to be honest, I plan to make steel in Lincoln."

Li Cheng was completely drunk by this point. He usually drank little and his alcohol tolerance was only average—after these three cups, he was practically incapacitated, as if he had taken truth serum.

Veronica was even worse than him; she asked that question entirely based on residual impressions in her mind. If Li Cheng had taken a truth serum, then she had been brainwashed by some indescribable software.

"Hiccup... You can even smelt steel?"

"Of course, steelmaking is nothing. I can also... hiccup, make guns, guns that are ten thousand times better than those scrap metal ones we have now."

"Hiccup...you...you made such a powerful gun, what are you planning to do with it?"

"Hiccup... Do you even need to ask? What do you want to make guns for... Sigh, let's not talk about this, it's boring... Hiccup, I have a question for you, why do you always wear those gloves all the time... Hiccup, can you take them off and let me see?"

Chapter 194 The Room with the Best Soundproofing in the Entire Villa

"Take off your gloves?"

Under the influence of alcohol, Veronica's voice even carried a hint of coquettishness: "I don't want to, I really like gloves."

Li Cheng didn't give up so easily. As everyone knows, drunk people are very persistent and usually won't give up until they achieve their goal. Besides, he had thought about this matter for a long time when he was bored, and even imagined ten thousand different possibilities.

For example, if someone was injured in childhood, they might wear gloves to cover up the scars on the back of their hands.

For example, some people's hands are naturally not very attractive, with deep creases at the knuckles and palm lines that look like they have been cut into small pieces.

Therefore, Li Cheng did not believe that it was just a simple matter of liking gloves. He burped and said, "Burp, don't be so stingy... It's not like I'm asking you to take off your clothes, it's just taking off your gloves."

Veronica frowned, thought hard for a moment, and felt that what Li Cheng said made a lot of sense.

Okay, fine.

As she spoke, she slowly took off her clothes, revealing a pair of: "Look, there's nothing special about them."

"Ah...did you take it off?"

Li Cheng looked confused: "I can't see it very clearly... Let me get closer."

He brought his face close to the table, widening his eyes to try and make out what was in front of him, but Veronique's well-preserved hands were so white and delicate that, upon closer inspection, there was not even a trace of pores, like a beautiful jade that had been carved by a craftsman thousands of times.

Looking at her slender, delicate hands, which seemed no different from when she was wearing white silk gloves, Li Cheng, in his drunken state, couldn't tell the difference for a moment.

"Hmm...did you really take it off?"

Li Cheng blinked in confusion. Unable to tell whether the gloves were off or not, he boldly reached out his wicked claws and grabbed at... the gloves that had been taken off on the table.

This guy actually mistook the gloves he took off for his own.

"Aren't you still wearing them?"

Li Cheng held the gloves up to his eyes and studied them carefully for a long time before finally concluding that Veronica hadn't taken them off at all.

"Hiccup... Why have you suddenly become so stupid?"

Veronica gave a slightly exasperated rebuke, then held out her left hand to him, "My hand is here, what were you grabbing just now?"

Clearly, she was just as drunk as Li Cheng.

"Oh, here it is."

Li Cheng immediately tossed the glove aside, grabbed the hand offered to him, and rubbed it for a while. He felt that the touch from his palm was soft and delicate, with a real fleshy feel compared to silk. It was obviously a woman's hand, not a glove.

"Yes, yes, that's it."

I didn't lie to you, did I?

Having confirmed that the hand was indeed his, Li Cheng should have put it back, but a thought suddenly crossed his mind: 'Wait, should I give him a kiss on the hand now?'

Yes, a hand kiss.

It's hard to reason with a drunk person. They can connect two things unintentionally. Li Cheng, who had a sudden inspiration, was no exception. Without asking any questions, he lowered his head and kissed that jade-like hand with his rough lips.

Then, he gave it a light kiss before leaving, satisfied.

???

Veronica saw Li Cheng suddenly kiss the back of her hand. She blinked in confusion at first, then seemed to understand something and gave a strange smile: "Hiccup... Are you trying to become my knight like St. Tom?"

In modern times, a hand kiss is merely a courtesy prevalent in high society; however, at this time, it was a ritual used by subordinates to express loyalty and obedience.

"Ride... a knight?"

Li Cheng, recalling the somewhat inappropriate image, immediately put on a somewhat awkward smile: "Is that alright?"

Veronica laughed and said, "Ha, that's easy, I just need to nod."

Mentioning knights, Veronica vaguely remembered a question that had been bothering her for a long time and blurted it out: "By the way... hiccup, I've always had a question: is the male protagonist in your book based on you?"

Such dangerous questions are meant to be taken to the grave; how could they be revealed so casually?

So, relying on his superior sense of secrecy and with the negligible catalysis of alcohol, Li Cheng smiled smugly.

"Hehe, that's me."

He spilled everything out like beans from a bamboo tube, saying things he could and couldn't say: "Hiccup... I won't lie to you. The female lead is based on you. What man doesn't dream of sleeping with a princess? In chivalric novels, the one who's seduced is also a princess... hiccup, but I was afraid it would be too obvious, so I changed it to a countess."

Veronica, upon hearing the truth behind the scenes, suddenly realized... and let out a hiccup: "Hiccup... I knew it. You said you were from the Great Yan, and the male protagonist in the book knows Great Yan kung fu... hiccup, what a coincidence, hahahaha."

As she spoke, she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Li Cheng was also infected and laughed loudly, "Hahaha, of course, how could it be such a coincidence?"

The two chuckled for a while before Veronica stopped laughing first.

Even when Li Cheng was grinning foolishly, he was unconsciously playing with her left hand.

A strange sensation spread from her left hand throughout her body. Veronica blinked her eyes, which were even more watery from the alcohol, and looked seductively at the red-haired man who was constantly playing with her left hand: "Hiccup... You want to become my knight, could it be for this reason?"

Li Cheng didn't react immediately: "What's the reason?"

"that is......"

Veronica tried to think of a more tactful way to put it, using her intelligence which had already dropped to a dangerous level, but ultimately gave up.

"It's... imagining Saint Tom as a knight sleeping with me."

After giving her so-called reason, she felt another wave of intoxication, and her face became even redder. Veronica had no choice but to open her eyes wide and stare at Li Cheng's face, waiting for his answer.

"..."

Li Cheng was slightly taken aback and looked at the princess who had uttered such vulgar words.

Their eyes met. Veronica's moist, light brown eyes seemed to be telling a story, her beautiful face flushed with pink exuded endless allure, and her moist lips opened and closed as if speaking, or perhaps just unconsciously murmuring.

Veronica's usual allure, a charm usually reserved for mature women, was on full display in her drunken state, and Li Cheng felt as if something within him had been stirred.

A man who has just lost his virginity is often very sexually aroused. Moreover, earlier in the banquet hall, Annie had unconsciously rubbed her firm, shapely body against him for a long time, already igniting a fire within him.