Chapter 7: Playing Go

“How is this Go playing style any different than from when they were in their twenties and fifties in the previous life?!”

Li Rong quietly looked at him.

Twenty year old Pei Wenxuan was much more handsome than the person in her memory, but the arrogance in his bones had not changed at all.

She knew that Pei Wenxuan was angry just by looking at his eyes. When he used to be Left Prime Minister Pei, he would argue with her when he was angry, which was understandable. Now that Pei Wenxuan was an eighth-rank minor official, where did he get the confidence to go against her?

Li Rong smiled gently. She stood up and looked at Pei Wenxuan who was kneeling on the ground and gently said: “Alright, Bengong’s words have their weight, and there is a clear distinction between merits and grievances. You may talk to me, but before that, what should be done about your wrongs?”

“But this humble official does not know what he did wrong?”

“You tore my book.”

Li Rong pointed to the book he had torn on the table: “Also, as for why the Heir of Ning suddenly fainted and the others could not come, perhaps Pei gongzi already knows the reason why?”

Hearing this, Pei Wenxuan’s heart thumped. He didn’t expect that Li Rong to be that sharp.

Did she send someone to keep an eye on him?

Pei Wenxuan had quite a few conjectures in his heart, but he remained calm on the surface: “How does the Princess wish to punish this humble official?”

“Jump into the lake.”

Li Rong lifted her chin. Pei Wenxuan pressed his lips tightly and said nothing.

Seeing that he refused to do so, Li Rong knew that he must be furious inside, so she smiled and said, “You want to be my Prince Consort, but you feel wronged already?”

“The Princess knows that this humble official wants to be your Prince Consort?”

Pei Wenxuan brought his eyes up to look at Li Rong. Li Rong felt that this was funny: “Why else would you be here?”

Having said that, Li Rong didn’t want to mess around with him anymore and bluntly said: “Either jump down there and talk or get out. I just want to remind you that once you leave, it won’t be that easy to return.”

Pei Wenxuan clenched his fist. His face turned pale with anger.

He seemed to be back in his previous life in an instant. He and Li Rong quarreled. Li Rong had always had sharp and clever words that made his blood boil in anger every time.

He was always calm when it came to everyone else, even when they humiliated him in the imperial court and came to his door to scold him. Most of these things would make people angry, but he rarely lost his composure. It was only with Li Rong that the moment he quarreled with her, he felt like he had lost ten years of his life.

When this woman quarreled, she was headstrong and unreasonable. He once thought that perhaps life after marriage changed her. Now it seemed that there was no such thing. It was clear that once she got married, she covered it up so well that he was completely in the dark.

This woman was a shrew in her bones, arrogant and unreasonable.

Pei Wenxuan saw that she didn’t like him, and he had had enough. He knew that Li Rong must definitely keep someone back today, and that person would most likely be her husband in the future. Out of the handful of people, there was no one as suitable as him, and now she could only ask him to help.

Pei Wenxuan took a deep breath and only said: “Then this humble official will get going.”

Then he kowtowed, got up and turned around to walk out.

Li Rong didn’t expect him to walk away so decisively and was a little taken aback. She quickly said: “You don’t want to talk to me?”

“Not talking anymore.”

Pei Wenxuan declined aloud without even turning his head. Li Rong lightly tapped her golden fan in the palm of her hand and meaningfully blinked at Jing Lan. She raised her voice and said to Pei Wenxuan who was walking on the promenade on the lake: “But Bengong wants to talk to you.”

“Please…”

Before he could say “please forgive me”, a shadow guard suddenly appeared next to him, catching Pei Wenxuan off guard and pushed him straight into the lake!

There was a round of laughter from the surrounding area. Li Rong looked at him from a distance, smiled and slowly walked towards the place where Pei Wenxuan had fallen in.

Pei Wenxuan knew how to swim. Although he was a bit panicked when he suddenly fell into the water, he quickly reacted, adjusted his posture and lifted his head out of the water.

Then he saw Li Rong standing at the edge of the upper corridor in her red phoenix embroidered palace robes, smiling at him: “Alright, let’s just talk like this. Bengong is very satisfied.”

Pei Wenxuan didn’t speak. He stared at Li Rong up above.

The servants nearby were all whispering to each other, and some of the servant girls laughed softly at something.

Li Rong looked at Pei Wenxuan who was soaked from head to toe and that Immortal-like face with some algae stuck on it. Such an embarrassing state, yet it gave him an indescribable beauty.

He seemed to be a water demon that had emerged from the lake. His face and pair of eyes were enough to enchant people.

It was just that there was no false affection or temptation in those eyes. Only indignation and displeasure burned like flames in Pei Wenxuan’s eyes.

When those emotions emerged, Li Rong’s excitement from earlier slowly dissipated.

She suddenly felt that this was meaningless. After all, the Pei Wenxuan of today was not the same person he was later on. She was just bullying him like this now, bullying him like a child.

She looked down at Pei Wenxuan from high above, and her expression turned into indifference. After some time, she turned her head and calmly said: “Alright, no more playing around, come up.”

She proceeded to calmly instruct Jing Lan by her side: “Take him to change his clothes.”

Once she had given her orders, she turned and left. She looked back and saw Pei Wenxuan swim to the shore and was pulled up.

The water in the lake in spring was still rather cold. He was shivering when he went ashore, and a servant near him quickly gave him a cloak. He thanked everyone who helped him in a low voice and did not miss a single person. His cautiousness made people feel a bit of pity for him.

After all, no young master of a prominent family would be as anxious as he was.

Li Rong’s fixated stare caught Pei Wenxuan’s attention. Pei Wenxuan turned his head and saw Li Rong watching him. His eyes suddenly became cold, then he turned away and quickly walked off.

Seeing him glare at her, Li Rong’s lips curled up.

So young yet he had quite a temper.

Li Rong sat by the lake and had people prepare tea while she read a book and waited for Pei Wenxuan. After waiting for a while, Pei Wenxuan finally came back.

He changed into white robes with rolling cloud patterns, and his hair was put up in a jade coronet. When he walked towards her from afar, it seemed as if he was walking out of a painting.

Li Rong watched without moving her eyes away for some time. When Pei Wenxuan arrived, she moved her eyes away without leaving a trace. Pei Wenxuan bowed and saluted her. Li Rong simply said, “Sit down.”

Pei Wenxuan got up and went to kneel beside Li Rong. Li Rong looked down at her book and did not speak. Pei Wenxuan waited for a while and heard Li Rong say: “If you have something to say, then say it.”

What should he say?

He originally came to discuss the pros and cons with Li Rong and let her know that he was her best choice, but after making things difficult for him time after time, he already understood that Li Rong already knew everything in his heart.

“You already know what I want to say.”

Pei Wenxuan’s tone of voice was flat, and after a moment of silence, he continued: “If there is anything to add, this humble official can only tell the Princess that if Your Highness the Princess is willing to marry me, this humble official will treat you with sincerity.”

When Li Rong heard this, she raised her head and looked at Pei Wenxuan rather playfully: “With sincerity?”

Having said that, Li Rong leaned against a small table beside her, propping up her chin: “Then you tell me, how do you define sincerity?”

“Everything at home will be according to the Princess’s wishes.”

“Should they be according to your wishes instead?”

“In this lifetime, there will only be the Princess by Wenxuan’s side.”

This was true, but he did not keep himself pure like jade for her but rather for the former fiancee in his heart who had married.

Li Rong smiled even wider: “Isn’t this how it’s supposed to be?1 Not only can you only have me by your side, you should also only have me in your heart.”

Pei Wenxuan stiffened for a moment.

He was not a liar, or rather, when it came to feelings, he could not lie. As long as he was willing to lie a bit, she would not have known that there was another person in his heart, and perhaps she could have been deceived for a lifetime.

Such honesty, should it be praised or scolded?

[1] An Imperial Princess’s Prince Consort is only supposed to marry her and her alone. Read more here.

Li Rong picked up a cup of tea. She thought that Pei Wenxuan would be no different than in his previous life and frankly admit that their marriage was nothing more than an alliance. She waited for Pei Wenxuan to speak with a smile, but after some time, Pei Wenxuan said, “The Princess means that Wenxuan cannot think of others in the future.”

Li Rong was a little startled. Afterwards, she couldn’t help but cynically laugh. She suddenly discovered that she was not angry but disgusted to be deceived.

She put the cup of tea down on the table and coldly said: “Hurry up and eat all of these eggs for me.”

Pei Wenxuan was a little dazed. He turned his head and looked at the plate of white, jade-like eggs. Li Rong sneered, “Didn’t you say that you do anything according to my wishes? I spent a lot of effort peeling these eggs, but you don’t even want to eat them?”

Pei Wenxuan didn’t speak. He frowned, and then a while later, he said: “There are too many.”

“Well finish them all!”

Li Rong slightly raised her voice in anger. The servants around them had long retreated from the scene and watched them from a distance. Pei Wenxuan didn’t know what kind of temper she had, but he didn’t want to come off as a joke to others. After hesitating for a bit, he decided to bear with her and only said: “I just ate something now. I will eat again in a bit.”

Li Rong coldly scoffed, thinking that there was still an old fox in the palace waiting for drama today, so she beckoned to Jing Lan and said, “Bring the Go board.”

Go was a way for them to get along, regardless of their emotions, because all the disputes and battles were placed onto the board.

Jing Lan brought the board out, and Li Rong called Pei Wenxuan over to her side: “Sit down and play Go.”

Pei Wenxuan was a bit suspicious. He actually thought that if the atmosphere was too awkward, then they should play Go, but for some reason Li Rong thought of this method before he could even mention it.

It seemed like she already knew how they could get along better.

While Pei Wenxuan’s doubts lingered in his heart, Li Rong directly began the battle with a black piece and started with the same move.

She still liked to start at a star point2 just like in her previous life. Pei Wenxuan saw that she had put a playing piece down. He did not intend to yield to her and immediately followed his usual playing strategy and placed a white piece on a star point across from Li Rong’s black piece.

[2] star point — a position on Go board marked with a solid dot

The two of them played Go very attentively.

In Li Rong’s mind, she probably had a chance to win against twenty year old Pei Wenxuan, but she should give in a bit and give him some face, so she won’t be accused of being a grown woman and yet bullying a child.

In Pei Wenxuan’s heart, he should still give in a bit against eighteen year old Li Rong. Li Rong was used to being arrogant. He feared that she would cause trouble again if she lost badly.

So the two of them had the mentality of letting each other win as they continued to play Go as usual. They had yet to reach a third of the game when both sides noticed that something was wrong.

What was the difference between this Go playing style, this move, or this setup, compared to when they were in their twenties or fifties in their previous life?!

The author has something to say:

Hahaha are you having fun

Let’s play again when there is a suitable scenario～

The Princess and Dog Pei are secretly fighting!

I beg you to give more points and leave messages. Thank you!!