Chapter 845: The Grace of Rice and Porridge
"it is good!"

Today, Tianji Pavilion welcomed the long-awaited bustle.

In order to cover Li Haitang's departure, Liu Xunyi went to the training ground in the name of practicing martial arts and lured away Chu Mao and others who were monitoring him.

With rounds of applause, more and more people were attracted. In the blink of an eye, three layers of people were surrounding Liu Xunyi, who was dancing with swords.

Liu Xunyi's moves were as smooth as flowing water, his sword flew like a dragon, and dazzling sword flowers danced in the sky, dazzling everyone and making them extremely excited.

As for these newly recruited Golden Sword Captains, they had only heard that Liu Xunyi was once the leader of the Ten Young Guardians of the Tianji Pavilion, with unfathomable martial arts and superb swordsmanship, but few had seen his true talents.

Today, Liu Xunyi, who was secretly thinking about something, only showed off a few of his skills, but they were enough to make these "newcomers" dumbfounded and open their eyes.

"What are you looking at?"

Accompanied by a question, Lan Qi, accompanied by several maids, pushed the crowd aside and walked towards the center of the parade ground in a dignified manner.

"call!"

When she couldn't wait to push away the maid who was blocking her way, a silver arc of lightning suddenly fell from mid-air, and at the same time a sharp and intimidating sword energy came down, instantly messing up her carefully combed three thousand black hair.

"what!"

How could the delicate and frail Lan Qi have ever seen such a scene? She was caught off guard and immediately became pale with fear. She closed her eyes involuntarily, let out a terrified scream, and subconsciously curled up tightly.

"Whoosh!"

Liu Xunyi had not expected that someone would be so reckless as to dare to rush out while he was practicing sword. His eyes changed involuntarily, and he turned his elbow and wrist with lightning speed. The Wuji sword trembled in the air and passed by Lan Qi's eyebrows almost brushing past her.

Amid the exclamations from all around, Liu Xunyi quickly sheathed his sword and bowed to Lan Qi to apologize: "Swords have no eyes, I'm sorry for scaring you!"

However, even when Liu Xunyi approached, Lan Qi still stood there motionless. She held her head and shrank her neck, her face was pale, her eyes were tightly closed, her red lips were slightly pursed, and her thin body was shaking like a sieve, as if she was still in shock and had not yet recovered.

"Miss Lanqi, are you... okay?"

"No...it's okay..."

Lan Qi gradually came back to her senses. She covered her chest tightly with her left hand, as if trying to soothe her wildly beating heart, and waved her right hand gently towards Liu Xunyi. Although she said "it's okay", it was not difficult to tell from her trembling and hoarse voice and the tears in the corners of her eyes that she was really scared by Liu Xunyi's sword just now.

If this farce happened to someone else, with Lan Qi's way of doing things in Tianji Pavilion, she would definitely eat that person alive to vent her anger.

However, the person who bumped into her today was Liu Xunyi, the person Qin Wei had repeatedly warned not to offend.

Therefore, even though Lan Qi was filled with shame and anger, she could only curse in her heart, and pretend to be generous and magnanimous on the surface, not even daring to say a word of blame.

"Next time..." Lan Qi swallowed hard, as if trying to calm down, "Lord Liu, remember to go to the training ground to practice swordplay, not here..."

"Madam, this is the training ground..." the maid beside her reminded in a low voice.

"Oh! This is the parade ground... this is the parade ground..."

Looking at Lan Qi who was in a trance and talking incoherently, Liu Xunyi felt embarrassed and guilty. Although Lan Qi was reckless and it was his fault, she was a woman after all, and she was frightened out of her wits. Even though Liu Xunyi did nothing wrong, he still felt a little guilty.

"Miss Lanqi, do you have something to ask me?"

"Oh! Yes, yes, yes..."

Liu Xunyi's words awakened Lan Qi from her dream and she suddenly realized what was going on. She nodded repeatedly, "The Marquis is looking for you."

When Qin Wei was mentioned, Liu Xunyi's mood became gloomy and complicated again: "Where is he?"

"You come with me."

Under the guidance of Lan Qi, Liu Xunyi, who was full of worries, came to Qin Wei's study, which was also Zhao Yuan's former study.

When he pushed the door open, he saw a small table in the room. Qin Wei was sitting upright with his eyes closed, pretending to be dozing off, as if he was waiting for Liu Xunyi to arrive.

It is worth mentioning that Qin Wei's breakfast was not as sumptuous as others expected. There were no cakes, lotus soup, or even side dishes on the table, only two bowls of yellow rice porridge, the kind of mediocre millet porridge that could not be more mediocre.

Being so "poor", not to mention being far from Qin Wei's current status, he was even far inferior to some wealthy people in Lin'an.

"My Lord, Lord Liu is here."

Lan Qi tiptoed to Qin Wei's side, leaned close to his ear, and spoke in a soft voice with an extremely gentle attitude.

"Brother Liu, please sit down."

Qin Wei's eyes slowly opened. He asked Liu Xunyi to sit down, then pulled Lan Qi into his arms and let her sit on his lap, completely ignoring the presence of outsiders.

Looking at Lan Qi, who was blushing, Qin Wei stretched out his hand and gently pinched her waist, which immediately caused a burst of screams. Qin Wei laughed and teased: "Liu Xunyi is my brother who lives and dies together, a friend who grew up together, and my only relative. Therefore, I never have to worry about anything in front of him, let alone avoid anything. If you want to be my woman, you must ask his opinion first." Qin Wei's words sounded like a joke, but in fact his attitude was very firm. At least to Liu Xunyi and Lan Qi, these words were no joke.

"Brother Qin, how dare I interfere in your private affairs with Miss Lan Qi?" Seeing Lan Qi's aggrieved face, Liu Xunyi hurriedly spoke to smooth things over, "Miss Lan Qi, don't worry, Brother Qin was just joking..."

"I'm not kidding!" Qin Wei, who was smiling, suddenly changed his expression and said seriously, "Brothers are like limbs, and women are like clothes. How can I ignore my brothers for clothes?"

Qin Wei's words of "righteousness" did not care about Lan Qi's feelings at all. It is not difficult to see that in Qin Wei's heart, Lan Qi may just be a delicate plaything, a slender beauty that all men in the world like, but not the sweetheart he has devoted his true love to.

At least in Liu Xunyi's mind, the woman he loves cannot be measured by anything in the world.

"Forget it! Forget it!" Seeing that Qin Wei was getting more and more outrageous, Liu Xunyi quickly changed the subject, pointed to the two bowls of rice porridge on the table, and teased, "You called me over so early in the morning, do you just want to treat me to porridge?"

"Of course!"

Qin Wei nodded solemnly and pushed the bowl of rice porridge closer to Liu Xunyi.

Seeing this, Lan Qi wanted to reach out for another bowl, but unexpectedly Qin Wei's eyes suddenly turned cold and he shouted sternly: "Take your hand away!"

Just these words not only frightened Lan Qi so much that her body trembled and tears of humiliation rolled down like broken beads, but also made Liu Xunyi terrified. She stared blankly at the moody Qin Wei, not knowing how to start for a long time.

"Do you know what these are?" Qin Wei grabbed Lan Qi's neck and said angrily, "Who do you think you are? What qualifications do you have to touch them?"

"Brother Qin, what are you doing..."

"Brother Liu, do you still remember that twenty years ago...you, me, and Yu'er were at the Xingyuan Granary in Luzhou...scrambling for porridge with those starving poor people? Thinking back on it now, it was really...really outrageous, haha..."

Qin Wei's attitude changed again and again. His eyes suddenly turned red and he spoke incoherently. Although he had a bright smile on his face, tears had uncontrollably filled his eyes.

Liu Xunyi was startled when Qin Wei brought up the past. Recalling the past, his expression gradually became as bitter, sentimental, and...tearful as Qin Wei's.

"I remember!" Liu Xunyi murmured to himself, with an extremely sad smile, "Such an unforgettable day, how could I not remember it..."

"That day, you were squirming under the feet of those people, being trampled all over, and you finally 'stole' a little bit from the porridge bucket... I still remember it clearly. That day, you held a small puddle of rice porridge with your two hands, just a little bit, just a little bit..." Qin Wei recalled while using his two hands to imitate Liu Xunyi's movements back then. His smile was the same as before, but he was still choking with sobs. "That little bit of rice porridge was almost all water, with only a few grains of rice in it... But just that little bit made us so happy that we thanked God and jumped up and down... Tell me, isn't it embarrassing? Haha..."

At this point, Qin Wei couldn't help laughing out loud. Liu Xunyi felt embarrassed and ashamed for a moment when someone reminded her of the embarrassing incident, and she laughed out loud with Qin Wei.

The two of them looked at each other, and relived their childhood memories in a conversation, but as they were laughing... they started crying.

"If it weren't for the rice porridge in your hand, I might have died..." Qin Wei's smile gradually eased, and he looked at Liu Xunyi, who was wiping her tears, with tears in his eyes.

“Eh!” Liu Xunyi waved his hands in displeasure, “You only drank one sip, it’s not even enough to moisten your throat…”

"It was that mouthful that gave me hope to live again." Qin Wei said confidently, "That mouthful of rice porridge is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted in my life! It is more precious than any delicacies from land and sea... Its taste is still sweet and warm when I recall it today... It's a pity that you lost Yu'er in order to grab that mouthful of rice porridge..."

At this point, Qin Wei's expression became extremely gloomy. He looked up at the sky, trying hard to hold back his tears, and said word by word: "Xunyi, I, Qin Wei, will remember for the rest of my life that my life... was bought by you, Liu Xunyi, in exchange for your own sister outside the Xingyuan Granary in Luzhou 20 years ago. I will never forget this!"

Having said this, not only was Qin Wei's voice shaking, his whole body was shaking.

"Brother Qin, stop talking..."

"Yu'er, I will definitely find it back." Qin Wei waved his hand and wiped his face randomly, and swore to the sky, "Even if you can't find it back, I will find it for you. If I can't find it back in one year, I will look for it for ten years. If I can't find it back in ten years, I will look for it for twenty years, thirty years, forty years... until the day I die, I will never forget this matter."

"Brother Qin..."

"Neither of these two bowls of porridge is mine!" Qin Wei was deeply moved and in extreme pain, his face was grim and he gnashed his teeth, "One bowl is yours, and the other bowl... is Yu'er's. Back then, I was the only one who drank a sip of the rice porridge in your hand. None of you drank it... This is what I owe you, and I must return it to you, otherwise I will die with regrets..."

Liu Xunyi stared at the rice porridge on the table with trembling eyes. Suddenly, he felt a tightness in his chest and throat. He felt sad and miserable, wanting to cry but having no tears, wanting to laugh but having no voice.

"Brother Qin, your words today... make me feel so heartbroken, I feel so ashamed..." Liu Xunyi was in a state of confusion, and asked meaningfully, "Do you... have something to say to me?"

"Yes."

"What's the matter?"

"The emperor has finally remembered your hard work and great contributions as the 'Song Dynasty Marriage Envoy' and has decided to make other arrangements for you. The days that you and I can work together as brothers... are numbered." Qin Wei took a deep breath, gradually freeing himself from his extreme joy and sorrow.

Liu Xunyi frowned and asked suspiciously, "Why do you say that, Brother Qin?"

"Take a look for yourself!" After saying that, Qin Wei took out an invitation from his arms and placed it on the table.

"This is……"

"This is the invitation from Prince Rong, inviting you to spend the Double Ninth Festival at noon tomorrow at the Jingyun Pavilion. At that time, important ministers from the East and West Prefectures and local gentry and celebrities in Lin'an will also attend the banquet, representing the emperor, the court, and the people of the Song Dynasty... to reward you for your contribution in escorting the bride and to welcome you."

……

(End of this chapter)