Li Qingwu suddenly stopped talking here and didn't say anything more.
Facing Qiu Che's puzzled look, she lowered her eyes and took another sip of water.
Yaotai actually said more than that.
Li Qingwu was silent for a long time and said, "Thank you... but our situation is special."
Yaotai immediately became excited: "Special? How special? She can't do it? Or you can't do it?"
Li Qingwu was so embarrassed that his head was smoking: "Neither... you don't understand."
Yaotai shook her head and smiled: "No matter how special it is, as long as you want, there is nothing you can't do."
"Love and like, there are no restrictions."
"Even if you are both women," Yaotai said lightly, "as long as you are both willing, what's wrong with that?"
Li Qingwu was dizzy by her words and didn't come back to his senses for a long time. He didn't know whether she was just talking casually or really guessed something.
"It's already lucky to have someone to love in this life, so why bother about men and women..."
Yaotai murmured, tilting his head to look at her, "You don't know how much I envy you..."
Envy the couple in history who can break through the secular world and firmly choose each other in this pedantic and rotten era.
Envy that they obviously have a harder way to go, but in fact they are more sincere and loyal than most lovers in the world. So
sincere that after many years, people in later generations will immediately think of the other when they mention any one of them.
It seems natural and a perfect match.
Why does Yaotai remember their story so clearly? In fact, it is because of this envy.
There is no reason for her to travel through time, but she was hurt by love. Out of envy and curiosity, she studied the history of this couple of wives for three years.
Then on an ordinary night, she fell asleep on the book. When she opened her eyes, the dynasty had changed and she came to their era.
Only when you are here, can you truly experience the suffering and difficulty that those history books have mentioned in a few words.
The longer Yaotai stayed, the more she admired Qiu Che for standing up. After many twists and turns, she also wanted to open up a new era for women in the world.
It was this admiration that made her continue to secretly observe Qiu Che's growth.
When she heard that a guest named Qiu Che came to ask for a meeting and asked her for help, she did not hesitate to give up Yeming City, which she had worked hard for five years.
In the hands of a better owner, it can play a greater role.
Yaotai knew that she was insignificant. She could not achieve the same achievements as Qiu Che, but she could make herself a handy whetstone on the road to success for the other party.
Maybe it was because she had studied their historical trajectory for three years, so when she saw it with her own eyes, Yaotai was not as excited as she imagined.
She could even occasionally joke with Qiu Che, who was already an ally.
She didn't expect to become friends with Li Qingwu.
She thought that this pair should have known each other well by now, but she didn't expect that they hadn't opened their minds at all.
I don't know what Qiu Che thinks of Li Qingwu.
Thinking like this, Yaotai looked at Li Qingwu with interest, propping up her chin, letting her fall into deep thought.
Back to the present, Li Qingwu couldn't help but wander again.
She secretly glanced at Qiu Che, and thought absentmindedly: Yaotai said that two women can also... Is it true?
She has never seen it.
But what Yaotai said seems to make sense.
Qiu Che didn't know what she was thinking, and seeing that she didn't want to continue, he didn't ask.
Just at this time, a white dove landed on the windowsill.
Qiu Che observed Li Qingwu's reaction with his peripheral vision, and saw that she almost immediately tensed up, scanning this side without making a sound, as if hesitating about how to speak.
Qiu Che smiled faintly in his heart, pretended to open the action paused, and stretched out his hand to pass it over: "It should be Wu Yiqi's news... Do you want to see it first?"
Li Qingwu coughed, but still took it: "...Okay."
The queen sent her a letter at about this time last time to ask about Qiu Che's recent situation.
After the queen died, it became the eunuch general manager Fu Zi who delivered the message in the tone of the emperor.
What if the letter was asking her to monitor Qiu Che, and she saw it?
But Qiu Che seemed to not care about the content of the note. After handing it over, he sat back, looking down and thinking about something, unconsciously playing with the jade pendant on his waist.
Li Qingwu retracted her gaze, opened the letter and took a look, secretly relieved.
She handed it back naturally and said, "It is indeed Mr. Wu... He said that he was promoted too."
Qiu Che raised his eyebrows.
Wu Yiqi worked in the Jinyiwei and was promoted to the fifth rank of deputy thousand households. He proudly asked Qiu Che, the highest official, to treat him to dinner on the letter.
He heard the news that Qiu Che and Yang Qiu were promoted, and he couldn't sit still. After leaving the court, Wu Xiang went to ask his grandfather to promote him as well.
Wu Yiqi always thought that he was dissatisfied because he heard the news. After all, he was the runner-up among the three people. How could the other two be promoted while he was the only one standing still?
It would have been fine if Wu Yiqi had asked for it. If he hadn't, Wu Xiang might have thought he was possessed.
After all, he always loved to compete with all kinds of people, and was quite competitive. Wu Xiang was used to it.
What's more, he couldn't get over it either. When Wu Yiqi said he wanted to be promoted, he immediately waved his hand and said, "Promotion! A big promotion."
Then he went backstage and made a strong move, allowing him to be promoted to the fifth rank.
Qiu Che guessed that Yang Qiu might have a similar letter.
She crumpled the letter paper with disdain: "Who wants to treat him to a meal? I don't even have enough money to spend."
Li Qingwu smiled and said, "Didn't you just say that your monthly salary is 70,000 Wen?"
70,000 Wen is equivalent to 7 taels of silver.
Qiu Che said lazily: "It's different to have the money managed by you and to give it to them... They should treat us if they want."
Perhaps the words Yaotai said were too memorable to her, so Li Qingwu is now particularly sensitive to all of Qiu Che's words and deeds.
When she heard the first sentence, her heart skipped a beat and her ears turned red again.
She smiled as calmly as possible, not wanting Qiu Che to notice: "We have invested in Linglong Pavilion. The restaurant will reopen after renovation in a few days. Do you want to come and see it?"
Qiu Che said indifferently: "Sure."
"You can bring them along," Li Qingwu smiled. "After all, they are all your...allies. It's okay to bring them to my place for a meal. If you don't want to pay, just celebrate the opening of Linglong Pavilion. I'll treat you."
Qiu Che thought about it and nodded reluctantly: "Okay."
In fact, it's not that she was stingy and didn't want to treat. It was just that Wu Yiqi was too annoying, and there was nothing she needed to meet with them to discuss recently, so Qiu Che was too lazy to go out.
But at least it was the reopening of her own business, so it was okay to go and show support to Li Qingwu.
At this point, Li Qingwu paused and asked: "How is your calligraphy?"
Qiu Che realized something and said modestly: "It's okay."
Three days later, Linglong Pavilion, which had been closed for ten days, reopened.
Firecrackers were hung outside the door, and the red silk cloth was torn off the plaque. Three words, completely different from the previous dignified and solemn font, "Linglong Pavilion", came into everyone's eyes.
Elegant as the wind, flowing like clouds and water, one can see the grace of the person who wrote it.
Wu Yiqi stood at the gate and applauded with the onlookers. The three of them dressed low-key today. Except for Qiu Che, the other two wore masks in a formal manner.
ââ Yang Qiu's mask was of course forced by Wu Yiqi. He said it was to prevent being recognized, but in fact he just wanted someone to be with him so that he would not look particularly strange. At this moment,
Wu Yiqi stared at the plaque for a long time, and suddenly shook the fan against his face and said: "Strange, why do these words look more and more familiar?"
Of course they look familiar.
Because this is what Qiu Che wrote.
In fact, Li Qingwu's calligraphy is also very good, but she insisted that Qiu Che, the owner, should at least participate in the ceremony of reopening her own business.
Qiu Che did not refuse and really started writing.
Yang Qiu saw it, but did not say anything. He smiled and pushed Wu Yiqi's arm: "Let's go. There are too many people and it's crowded. Let's talk inside."
As soon as Qiu Che stepped in, he heard the sound of pipa.
Yaotai was wearing ebony clothes and sitting on the lamp-hanging chair on the stage in the lobby. She was holding the pipa, her lips were red, and she looked even more fascinating when she lowered her eyebrows and plucked the strings.
Not to mention the people who had just entered the stage were stunned, even Yang Qiu could not help but stop and stayed where he was like Wu Yiqi.
Wu Yiqi could not help but poke Qiu Che's arm, wanting to ask her if this was Yaotai.
Didn't they say that Linglong Pavilion was just invested by her and the eldest princess and reopened?
How could they invite this rare girl from Yaotai?
However, the action of poking over was in vain.
He looked up and saw that among so many people present, only Qiu Che took a simple look and then looked away without changing his expression.
Then she searched for something in the crowd of customers.
Soon, she stopped moving her sight and looked in one direction. The end of her eyebrows subconsciously raised, and she looked emotional.
Yang Qiu followed her gaze and saw only a touch of apricot-red figure, with an elegant posture and outstanding temperament.
Even with a thick veil on her face, she was particularly conspicuous among the group of waiters coming and going.
The other party was looking sideways, and a man the same age as a teenager at the counter was slowly instructing something. The other party had a handsome face, and his two fangs were exposed when he smiled, looking a little silly.
His eyes were almost hot and shy, sticking to Li Qingwu.
It was the boy's thoughts that anyone with a discerning eye could see.
Wu Yiqi poked Yang Qiu and whispered unconsciously:
"Hey, did you see it?"
Yang Qiu: "...I saw it."
Qiu Che looked for a while, and seeing that Li Qingwu had not turned his head, he retracted his gaze.
Then he saw the two of them staring at her with a slightly teasing look at the same time.
She was puzzled: "What are you doing?"
Wu Yiqi winked: "We all saw it... Jealous? If you want to go find your wife, go find her."
Qiu Che opened his mouth, knowing that they recognized Li Qingwu, but he said: "No."
"You are the wife!" Wu Yiqi was furious, "Why are you so cowardly?! Are you still a man!"
Qiu Che was silent for a moment, thinking to himself, I am really not.
...Wait a minute, the point is.
What can she be jealous of?
Although she did feel a little unhappy when she saw the two of them talking as if no one else was around, Qiu Che felt that she was just unhappy about Li Qingwu "clearly inviting her to come today to show his support but didn't care whether she came or not."
But this obviously doesn't fit their "couple" loving personality.
Qiu Che swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth and just said lightly: "Don't talk nonsense, it's just a few words with someone. I'm not that stingy."
Wu Yiqi: "...Okay."
Qiu Che turned and walked upstairs, without looking at Li Qingwu again, and said lightly: "Let's go, the box has been booked, do you want to eat?"
Wu Yiqi was still secretly looking at Yaotai:
"I'm coming."
Yang Qiu took a last look in the direction of Yaotai. His original intention was actually just to appreciate the beauty -
the two beauties in the capital, one is already married, the other is a famous prostitute, and it's hard to see her even if you pay a lot of money.
It's just that Wu Yiqi was staring at them in a trance just now, but Yang Qiu didn't dare to look at them any more. He adhered to some so-called gentleman's etiquette and restrained his gaze very much.
Now he couldn't help but take another look.
But I don't know if the other party noticed his gaze. When he looked over, he actually... threw a wink at him from a distance.
Yang Qiu stumbled on the stairs.
There was a wave of enthusiasm in the audience, and many people were still shouting: "Miss Yaotai, look at me! Look at me!"
Wu Yiqi turned his head when he heard the voice, and glanced at the suddenly enthusiastic crowd in confusion, and asked Yang Qiu: "What's wrong with you?"
Yang Qiu shook his head, and there was a little unnoticeable panic in his tone: "I tripped, it's okay."
Qiu Che sat down in the box. Not long after, Li Qingwu, probably because of what Yaotai said, also came up and poured tea for them personally.
Qiu Che said: "You don't have to worry about us, they are not without hands." Li Qingwu
smiled and said: "Just take it as a thank you for coming to support us."
Then he replaced the wine with tea and drank it all in one gulp.
Wu Yiqi said cheerfully: "Sister-in-law, you're welcome."
Qiu Che slapped him on the back of his head: "Who is your sister-in-law? This is His Highness."
Wu Yiqi grinned: "Oh, you are younger than me, isn't your wife my sister-in-law? What did I say wrong?"
Qiu Che rolled his eyes, but Li Qingwu smiled and said: "It's okay."
Then he whispered to Qiu Che: "Then I'll get busy first?"
Qiu Che nodded.
Li Qingwu bowed to the few people, turned around and was about to leave, but Qiu Che grabbed her wrist again.
She turned her head in confusion: "What's wrong?"
Qiu Che knew that Yang Qiu and Qiu Qiu were looking at this side. With the intention of confirming the rumors of their love, she said calmly: "It's okay."
Then she raised her hand, and her fingertips paused an inch away from Li Qingwu's cheek. As if she realized what kind of occasion this was, she withdrew her hand in an attempt to cover up.
Li Qingwu's heart was pounding at her ambiguous action, and he stammered, "Is there... something on my face?"
"No," Qiu Che said lightly, "I just saw some hair falling down on your temples, and I wanted to help you sort it out."
Then... why didn't you continue?
Li Qingwu asked for some unknown reason.
Qiu Che looked at her for a moment, then turned his eyes away and said softly, "Because it looks good this way."
Li Qingwu: "..."
Li Qingwu's face flushed.
Qiu Che was really trying to tease people, and it was really hard to resist.
She didn't quite understand why Qiu Che's words suddenly became so ambiguous, but in fact, looking at the expressions of the other two people, she could vaguely guess something.
She thought that she should be thankful that in order not to be recognized today, she wore a thick enough veil, and no one could see her blushing face under the veil.
This kind of ambiguous and unfathomable words made Li Qingwu more confused than the time half a month ago when they accidentally pressed their bodies against each other.
She tried her best to make herself look calmer, and in a natural tone, she said goodbye to Qiu Che again under the teasing eyes of the other two.
Qiu Che watched her leave, and when he turned around, he received a thumbs up of admiration from Wu Yiqi: "Master Qiu, you are this!"
"No wonder everyone says that you two are in love. These little love words, coupled with your face, any girl would not be confused after hearing them."
Qiu Che smiled, picked up the teacup, and concealed the look in his eyes.
In fact, the action just now was somewhat impulsive.
She said that she did it for others to see, but she knew how much of it was selfish.
Why was she so impulsive?
Qiu Che looked down at her hands, as if she could still feel the warm and delicate touch when she held Li Qingwu's wrist just now.
She thought, maybe, maybe, there is also some... possessiveness towards her partner?
Why didn't she have this problem before.
Qiu Che nodded to this guess in her heart, and then reflected: Li Qingwu is an independent individual, not her appendage.
It seems that she should be more careful in the future.
After a while of chatting, the maid brought them the new dishes with a smile.
"This is a new dish of Linglong Pavilion, called Kung Pao Chicken, please try it."
Wu Yiqi complained about what a weird name it was, picked up the chopsticks and took a bite, chewed it twice, and soon narrowed his eyes in surprise, and said with emotion: "... Well, well, it's quite delicious."
The other two naturally nodded.
The maid smiled and said, "Of course, this is a new dish researched by our new owner. We have invited many famous chefs from other places to cook it many times. You should take a look at the brand of dishes. There are many new ones..."
Wu Yiqi didn't know that Yaotai was also the owner. Hearing this, he smiled and teased, "Your wife is good at doing business. She even knows a little about dishes. Is there anything she doesn't know?"
Qiu Che shook his head and said, "It was Miss Yaotai's idea. We only paid the money."
Both of them were a little surprised. Just as they were about to speak, they suddenly heard a loud noise downstairs. The originally vague and noisy voices outside the private room stopped abruptly.
Soon, it suddenly became louder again.
The maid was stunned and said, "Sorry, you nobles, I have to leave for a while." Then she hurried away.
The three of them stopped talking at the same time and looked at each other.
Qiu Che stood up and said, "I'll go and take a look."
She pushed open the door and came to the corridor.
The second floor is a circular corridor. Looking from this position to the first floor, you can see the platform in the center of the lobby on the first floor, where Yaotai just played a song.
At this time, the chairs under the stage were scattered all over the floor. The guests gathered around, pointing at the men in brocade clothes in the middle and whispering.
One of the men was grabbing the collar of a girl who was crying so hard that she couldn't catch her breath, and said impatiently: "Why are you crying? I'm not asking you to die when I ask you to dance. Aren't you going to sell your body to bury your father? If you are not willing to dance, why are you burying your father?"
Qiu Che narrowed his eyes and saw the familiar figure next to the leader at the first time.
ââWho else could it be if it's not Qiu Zhe?
Take a closer look.
Oh wow.
The leader who has his hands behind his back and keeps silent, isn't he the current crown prince Li Hengmao?
After not seeing him for a while, she thought Qiu Zhe had settled down, but it turned out that he had found a golden thigh with the crown prince.
Is he here to... mess up the place?