Seeing that Qi Rong didn't return for a long time, Yun Xi secretly told herself not to care. However, in her heart, she cursed Qi Rong thousands of times. Without even seeing clearly what was on the table, she drank glass after glass.
"The princess has quite a good capacity for alcohol!"
Over there, Li An had just been drunk and was helped away. Seeing Yun Xi drinking alone, Prefect Cheng raised his glass and walked over with a smile.
"Wine?"
Yun Xi pinched the cup blankly. She felt that the things in front of her were slightly swaying, and her head also felt dizzy.
She thought this sweet stuff was a special drink in Lingchuan.
"Yes, this is called fruit wine. It is brewed from top - grade rice, mulberries and some local fruits in Lingchuan. Because of its sweet taste, it is very popular among women."
Prefect Cheng explained with a smile.
"However, although this fruit wine seems mild and not intoxicating at first, it has a strong after - effect. Your Highness, it's better to drink in moderation."
Hearing Prefect Cheng's words, Yun Xi immediately put down the cup and had no interest in touching it anymore.
"May I ask, Your Highness, where has the prince gone?"
Prefect Cheng glanced at Qi Rong's seat. He felt that it had been a long time since he last saw Qi Rong, and he didn't know where the man had gone.
"Don't know."
Yun Xi answered simply and crisply, but couldn't help grinding her teeth. She absent - mindedly tried to pick up the dishes on the table, but couldn't manage it.
Seeing this, Prefect Cheng winked at the maids. Immediately, two of them came over and wanted to help Yun Xi go down to rest.
"No need. I'll just take a walk in the yard and get some fresh air."
Yun Xi didn't want to make a fool of herself. She pushed away the two maids' support. But just as she walked a short distance, her feet went soft, and she fell forward.
The talented young men in Lingchuan, who had been eagerly staring at this side but had always been too afraid of Qi Rong's authority to step forward, instantly seemed to have got the chance to play the hero rescuing the beauty. They all rushed forward.
They thought that even if they couldn't win the favor of Princess Yongning, they should at least strive for a chance to get close to her!
However, just as a man's hand was about to grab Yun Xi's arm, a long, slender hand suddenly grabbed his neck and threw him backward violently! With a hook of his long arm, the next moment, he pulled Yun Xi into his arms!
"Your Highness?"
Looking at the young man who was thrown several meters away and almost fainted, everyone looked at each other in dismay. Meeting those sharp black eyes filled with anger, they all shrank back timidly.
Prefect Cheng also quickly stepped forward to explain:
"Just now, the princess was drunk. Your subordinate was going to send the princess to the guest room to rest, but the princess refused to be helped..."
So it was definitely not his negligence or disrespect.
"Don't touch me. I hate you."
Yun Xi pushed away Qi Rong's embrace. There was grievance and faint tears in her eyes.
Because she was very close, she could smell the faint fragrance of perfume on his clothes, which was exactly the same as Cheng Caijie's!
He had been gone for so long just now. He must have had a secret meeting with Cheng Caijie! Since he had found a new love, why did he come back to find her?
Did he think she was pitiful and wanted to show mercy?
The more Yun Xi thought about it, the more heart - broken she felt. She raised her weak hand and pounded on Qi Rong's shoulder one after another, but he easily defused her attacks.
Looking at the girl in his arms who was slightly drunk, with blushing cheeks but didn't realize her fatal charm, Qi Rong domineeringly confined her in his arms.
Because he didn't want others to see her like this, there was strong displeasure hidden in his black eyes.
Knowing that she was drunk and looked so pitiful, Qi Rong vented his anger on Prefect Cheng. With a sharp look in his eyes, he shouted coldly:
"Do you know your crime?!"
The sudden shout stunned Prefect Cheng, leaving him embarrassed and at a loss.
"Your Highness, your subordinate didn't know that the princess couldn't drink, so I didn't stop her in time."
It was obvious that the Prince of Xian cared about Princess Yongning in a special way, but he couldn't be punished just for this, could he?
However, Qi Rong's face darkened, and he didn't give the other person a chance at all.
"How dare you argue? Come on, tie up Cheng Yu for me!"
"Yes!"
As soon as Qi Rong's voice fell, many guards immediately rushed over from around. Before Cheng Yu could figure out what was going on, his hands and feet were quickly tied up, and he was forced to kneel in front of Qi Rong.
"Your Highness! You can't do this! Although your subordinate is only the prefect of Lingchuan, I'm also an official of the court. You can't humiliate me like this!"
Cheng Yu knelt on his knees, his head heavily pressed on the marble bricks by the guards. His eyes were shocked, and he shouted with a red face.
Everyone looked at each other in surprise. They were instantly stunned by the sudden change. Seeing this, the guards of the prefect's mansion rushed forward to rescue their master, but were instantly suppressed by Qi Rong's guards and couldn't move.
The accompanying officials all knew Qi Rong's domineering personality of being self - centered and doing whatever he wanted. No one wanted to provoke this evil god at this moment. But they had their duties, and they couldn't all pretend to be deaf and dumb.
After a quick whisper among them, one of them stepped forward tremblingly and said:
"Your Highness, do you have some misunderstanding about Prefect Cheng? The princess getting drunk is not Prefect Cheng's fault. There were simply too many guests to take care of everyone! Your subordinates can also testify..."
This man spoke very euphemistically. In fact, he also thought that Qi Rong's behavior of making things difficult for Cheng Yu just because the princess was drunk was really unreasonable.
Hearing this, Qi Rong sneered coldly with a gloomy expression:
"Idiot! Do you think I would get angry because of such a trivial matter?"
He just wanted to poke out the eyes of all the men who had seen Yun Xi's charming drunken state!
Ignoring Yun Xi's struggle, Qi Rong sat down on the chair with her in his arms. His black eyes stared coldly at Cheng Yu who was being held on the ground. He threw a stack of official documents accurately at Cheng Yu's face with a 'pop', which made Cheng Yu's face go numb.
"You have deceived the emperor! In order to achieve your own political achievements, you deliberately concealed the real situation of the Lingjiang Weir from the emperor. The situation is very different from the actual situation that I sent people to survey later. If we repaired the weir and built the embankment according to the previously designed drawings, only strengthening the dam and raising the bridge piers, the new bridge would be washed away again in less than two years. With the arrival of the flood season, the flood would rage and the embankment would burst. At that time, the lives of hundreds of thousands of people downstream of Lingchuan would be in dire straits!"
"However, you clearly knew the truth but kept it from us all the time. If I hadn't made preparations in time and stopped the repair of the weir, even if we completed the task within the time assigned by the emperor and everything seemed to be fine, two years later, we would face a catastrophe!"
Qi Rong's words were sonorous and powerful, which made everyone's faces change suddenly, especially the accompanying officials.
They quickly picked up the official documents on the ground and gathered together to read them carefully. It clearly recorded the on - site exploration of the Lingjiang Weir eight years ago, and even predicted that a once - in - a - century mountain flood might occur in the Lingjiang River ten years later, which would sweep across the middle and lower reaches of Lingchuan.
Ten years later? Counting the construction period, wasn't it just two years later!