Wine-scented Beauty

Chapter Twenty-Three: Cups and Vessels

With the funds and land secured, Ji Meiqing began arranging the fruit tree planting.

Widow Li also brought her son to work. She told them to start cultivating the land, and she even borrowed an oxcart to do so.

She went into the city and discussed the date with Mother Hu before returning. On the way, she happened to encounter the Hu people coming to pay tribute.

Ji Meiqing stood at the back of the crowd, watching them enter the small town in a grand procession. Their gold and jade ornaments were so dazzling they hurt the eyes.

She seemed to be bewitched, following them into the inn to rest. Ji Meiqing couldn't go in, so she could only sneak in and slowly follow them.

The inn had already been prepared, and no one noticed her unfamiliar face as she walked around.

A row of maids carried wine to the front hall. Ji Meiqing looked at the wine pot and wine cups decorated with gold, silver and gemstones on the tray, which were exquisite and luxurious.

She suddenly thought of the commonly used items she saw every day, which were nothing more than bronze wine vessels or white porcelain.

If these could be changed...

"Hey, you over there, what are you doing!" The guard walked towards her. Ji Meiqing's heart skipped a beat. She glanced at him and instinctively tried to run away, forgetting that she was dressed as a maid. If she hadn't run away, perhaps her identity wouldn't have been exposed. Now that she had started, there was no turning back. She could only use the greatest potential she had ever had to climb over the wall and leave.

There were still pursuers behind her, and it looked like a dead end. Ji Meiqing ran in and then stopped. Before they could catch up, she quickly climbed over the wall and jumped down.

The pursuers caught up, but hesitated when they saw a high wall.

"My lord, shall we continue the pursuit?" the leader asked the man beside him, who was dressed in golden armor, a suit reserved only for those appointed by the emperor.

And in the entire kingdom, only General Weiyuan, Zhong Zhiyao, is qualified to be such a person.

Originally sent to fight on the border, they were instead dispatched by the young emperor to welcome the envoy. This was originally a small, subservient country, yet now they were being treated with formal diplomatic protocol; it's truly baffling what they were thinking.

The thought of this made him furious, but he never expected that someone would sneak in right under his nose. This was simply unbearable.

Then he heard someone below asking if they should give chase, and he immediately glared at them, "Of course we should! No matter where you are, we must catch that person!"

"Yes!" The people behind swarmed up and climbed directly onto the wall, only to find that there was a cesspool behind them. The group jumped in, and the stench wafted away with them.

Ji Meiqing, perched on the roof, watched the scene below and almost burst out laughing. A large group of people were scrambling to carry things into the latrine; the sight was utterly hilarious.

"Thank you so much. If you hadn't arrived in time, I almost would have suffered the same fate as them." She looked at the person beside her. "By the way, Brother Lu, what are you doing here?"

“I heard that an envoy from Siam is coming today, so I came to see him.”

Ji Meiqing looked at the people below and asked in confusion, "You know qinggong (lightweight kung fu)?"

"Lightness skill?" He frowned. "What is that?"

"Didn't you just bring me up here?" she retorted. "Isn't that a form of light-footed skill?"

“I don’t know kung fu,” he said directly. “I just carried you up here.”

"Okay..." She was overthinking it. Ji Meiqing stood up, and the two of them stood on the rooftop. Looking down, her legs started to tremble involuntarily.

Lu Yu put his arm around her waist and said, "I'm sorry." Then he gently jumped with her, and the two landed on the haystack.

Brushing the weeds off her clothes, Lu Yu looked at her and asked, "Why are you dressed like that?"

“It’s a long story, let’s talk about it as we walk.” Ji Meiqing walked forward. “I’ve thought of something. Products not only need good content, but also good packaging. For example, the white porcelain cups we usually use look too plain. I want to change the style.”

"So, you have another idea?"

Ji Meiqing was a little embarrassed. "Leave this to me."

She thought of the shape of the wine glass, but didn't know how to cater to their aesthetic habits. Ji Meiqing thought a lot, but still couldn't come up with a perfect solution.

The two returned home one after the other. The land behind them had been almost plowed. Widow Li came up from behind, covered in sweat. Seeing her return, she immediately said, "I've done almost everything you asked me to do. If there's nothing else, my daughter and I will head back now."

"Hmm... get some rest early." Ji Meiqing smiled, then suddenly added, "How about we have dinner first before leaving?"

"Well, thank you, young lady." They smiled, and Ji Meiqing went to the kitchen to cook a table full of delicious dishes, and also took out the fried fish she had made a few days ago and reheated it.

The sky darkened before they knew it. After Widow Li and the others left, Ji Meiqing tidied up the things on the table and then thought heavily about how to make the cups.

When Lu Yu came out for a drink of water, he saw that the light was still on, so he went over and knocked on the door. "Ji Meiqing, are you asleep?"

"No. Please come in."

He hesitated for a moment before pushing the door open and entering. Ji Meiqing was sitting at her desk, holding a calligraphy brush in her hand, her expression quite troubled.

"Still thinking about it?" He walked closer and looked at the cup on the drawing, his expression peculiar.

"This is your design?"

She glanced at it and said weakly, "Um... more or less, it's like a regular glass cup that's been magnified several times."

Lu Yu looked at it carefully again, but he couldn't solve these problems for her.

"You should rest first. You'll be out around tomorrow," Ji Meiqing said helplessly, scratching her head.

Lu Yu was a little worried. "You're not fully recovered yet. You should rest early."

"I'm fine, Brother Lu, don't worry."

Seeing her insistence, Lu Yu didn't know what to say, so he could only leave her room. He lit the heater and then carried it to her room.

"It's cold at night, so I'll put this in the room to warm it up."

"Thank you, Brother Lu." She smiled, feeling a little better, though she was still yawning as she moved the pen in her hand.

Lu Yu went out, and the crackling sound of firewood could be heard in the room. Just as the candle burned out, Ji Meiqing finally slumped onto the table.

Her eyelids were too heavy, making her feel somewhat weary. The ink on the table was still wet, and there were still traces of ink on her face; the charcoal fire in the room was still flickering. She was unaware of any of this.

When she woke up, the ink on her face was impossible to wipe off. She could only look at herself in the mirror and try to wipe the ink off her face.