The Fugitive's Wife (14) — That Day's Events (1)
The game was truly bizarre.
“Hmm… thirty-one.”
“Haha, you’ve lost again, my lord.”
This made it four matches and four defeats. Liu Bang grimaced at the bitter aftertaste even as a part of him felt relieved. He lifted his cup with a wry smile.
Still don’t get it. The rule that the loser of a contest has to drink this delicious liquor as punishment is completely backwards.
The fourth cup he drained was just as fragrant and clean as the last. Liu Bang held the liquor in his mouth for a moment, rolling it across his tongue, then swallowed it in three slow, deliberate gulps. Lady Cao watched him intently before asking, her voice tinged with curiosity.
“No matter how many cups you drink, you still smile, my lord.”
“Because it’s that good.”
As soon as Liu Bang set his empty cup down, Lady Cao leaned forward as if she had been waiting and refilled it. He watched her for a moment, then spoke softly.
“Lady Cao, are you really okay with this?”
“With what?”
“The liquor. Is it truly fine for me to drink all this fine, precious wine by myself?”
“……”
Her hand, which had been steadily pouring, paused for the briefest moment. But she quickly recovered, the corners of her eyes crinkling in that familiar, skillful way, and finished filling the cup as though nothing had happened.
“Are you already feeling the effects, my lord?”
Her playful tone made Liu Bang shrug and chuckle.
“Not at all.”
He reached out and gently wrapped his large hand around her slender one, still holding the wine jar.
“I just feel a little sorry. You went through so much trouble to bring this liquor, and here I am, drinking it all by myself.”
“……”
Lady Cao did not pull her hand away. Instead, she stared down at her own untouched cup, its surface shimmering. After a brief moment of hesitation, she spoke.
“…All right.”
Her voice sounded strangely like an excited child. She straightened her posture, smiled brightly, and lifted her cup.
“Then let’s do a simple ‘cheers’ this time.”
“Cheers?”
“It’s the sound people make when toasting. It mimics the clink of cups meeting.”
“Ohh…”
It did sound quite similar to the actual noise of clinking cups. Liu Bang marveled at her wit, then found himself tilting his head in confusion.
“By the way, Lady Cao.”
“Yes, my lord?”
“Who taught you all these things? The old madam of the Ye family I know doesn’t seem like the type to teach drinking games.”
Lady Cao had turned twenty this year. She was certainly old enough to enjoy alcohol, but in this era, a woman’s drinking companions were inevitably limited. It was unthinkable that the cherished daughter of the Ye family would have been carousing in some tavern on the street. The only people she could possibly have shared drinks with were her own family.
“……”
She did not answer right away. Her expression suggested he had struck a sensitive spot. After a long pause, she averted her gaze slightly and spoke.
“I learned from my older brother.”
“The one who married out?”
“Yes. The eldest, Brother Ze.”
Lü Ze. As far as Liu Bang knew, he was the eldest son of the Ye family and held a minor post in the Sishui commandery office. Liu Bang nodded with interest.
“He must visit his family home often, then. I thought you said he left when you were very young.”
“Ah… yes. He is deeply devoted to his family. Whenever there is any family event, he always returns home.”
“I see. I’ll have to go pay my respects next time.”
Liu Bang nodded as if convinced. It made sense. The eldest son of a prestigious family like the Ye clan would have attended countless drinking parties.
So that’s why she knows how to make the loser drink. To people like that, the very concept of liquor being too precious to waste probably doesn’t exist.
Liu Bang once again felt the vast difference between their two households. And just how much Lady Cao had given up for his sake.
“All right, let’s toast. Cheers.”
Whether she knew what he was thinking or not, Lady Cao offered another bright, innocent smile and raised her cup. Liu Bang smiled faintly and reached out to meet it.
Clink—
The clear ring echoed. The liquor they drank together tasted far sweeter and deeper than before. Lady Cao savored the flavor with a blissful expression, then her cheeks flushed a delicate pink.
“My lord.”
“Hm?”
“The thirty-one game… it’s not very fun for you, is it?”
“No, it’s fun. There’s a lot to think about.”
Liu Bang answered immediately.
“Of course, I’m not as quick with numbers as you are, so it does feel like I’m just getting crushed one-sidedly.”
“Which means it’s not fun.”
Lady Cao shrugged as if she had expected that answer.
“Then shall we move on to the second game?”
She held up three slender fingers.
“The next game is 3-6-9.”
“Three-six-nine, huh.”
Lady Cao calmly explained the second game. The simple rule was that whenever a number containing three, six, or nine appeared, you stayed silent and clapped instead.
“Sounds fun. Let’s start right away.”
Liu Bang grasped the rules without difficulty. Lady Cao began the second round without hesitation.
“One.”
“Two.”
Clap.
“Four.”
The match proceeded smoothly. Unlike the thirty-one game, 3-6-9 had no guaranteed winning strategy; it was a pure battle of concentration. Both their expressions grew serious at once.
“Twelve.”
Clap.
“Fourteen.”
“Fifteen.”
Clap.
The pace gradually quickened. Liu Bang felt a genuine competitive spirit flare up for the first time in a while. As the numbers flew back and forth, Lady Cao’s voice grew louder and her claps more lively.
Clap.
“Twenty-four.”
“Twenty-five.”
……Clap.
“Hehe, you’re quite good. Twenty-seven.”
Lady Cao continued the game with a relaxed expression. Once the clapping hell that began at thirty ended, the contest entered the realm of pure focus. And the one who ultimately lost this round was—
“Sixty… ah.”
Surprisingly, it was Lady Cao. At her small gasp, Liu Bang threw both hands into the air.
“Haha! I won!”
His first victory of the day. A boyish grin spread across his face. Lady Cao let out a deep sigh and asked,
“Your concentration is impressive.”
“Counting people is part of my job, you know. I’ve got that down to an art.”
Liu Bang smiled brightly and picked up the wine jar.
“Come on, the loser has to take the penalty. Drink it all in one go.”
“…Haa.”
Lady Cao lifted her cup with clear reluctance. Liu Bang kept grinning as he continued,
“Of course, since you’re a woman, you can drink it in two—”
Thud!
Before he could show any consideration, Lady Cao emptied the cup in a single gulp and slammed it down on the table with surprising force. Her eyes shone with determination as she spoke.
“A man does not sip. My lord.”
“Uh…”
But Lady Cao, you’re not a man?
Still, when she declared it so fiercely, it would have been unmanly to argue. Besides, if he were honest…
That’s my wife. She really has guts.
Liu Bang actually preferred this bold side of her. He quickly smoothed out his startled expression and hurried to refill her cup. Lady Cao stared down at the steadily rising liquor for a moment, then spoke in a much more serious tone.
“My lord.”
“Yes?”
“From now on, I will go all out.”
Her voice carried the fire of a competitive spirit that had finally been awakened.
“Haha, good. We’ve got all night anyway.”
Liu Bang laughed heartily and nodded in agreement.
And so, some time passed.
“…Damn it, we’re out of liquor.”
It was late into the night; even the chirping of insects had died down. Liu Bang shook the second empty jar of Shangyang wine with regret, then set it down roughly on the floor.
Clang—!
“Hic…”
Lady Cao, who had been dozing with her eyes closed, reflexively hunched her shoulders. Her head lolled forward and her body swayed.
Oh no.
Feeling guilty, Liu Bang quietly placed the jar beside the desk and carefully leaned toward her.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“…No, no… I wasn’t sleeping… really…”
She blinked her large eyes and shook her head. But ever since her fifth cup of Shangyang wine, her condition had been far from normal.
She’s weaker to alcohol than I thought.
From the seventh cup onward, Lady Cao had kept losing the games, so they had eventually abandoned the complicated drinking rules and simply chatted while sharing the rest of the liquor. Liu Bang had been watching her flushed face with open amusement when he suddenly clapped his hands together.
“All right, then for tonight we should probably—”
“My lord.”
But his attempt to end the gathering was cut short by Lady Cao’s suddenly much more serious voice. She rested her chin on her hand and gazed at him with hazy eyes. Then, without warning, she puffed her cheeks out like a balloon.
“My lord, you are truly despicable. Cowardly, even.”
“……?”
The sudden, completely out-of-nowhere accusation made Liu Bang’s eyes widen. Lady Cao continued to glare at him with her cheeks still puffed out, then stretched her legs out comfortably.
“Any proper man should take care not to let a woman become drunk… Just where did you sell off your chivalry?”
Her toes poked at his knee. Poke. Poke.
Liu Bang stared at her blankly for a moment, then let out a helpless laugh.
“What’s chivalry?”
“……”
Lady Cao narrowed her eyes and stared at him. Then, as if explaining would be too much trouble, she turned her head away with a huff.
“Anyway, it’s too much. To let your own wife… get so… completely drunk like this.”
“Ahaha, was it too much after all?”
Liu Bang scratched his head awkwardly.
“Sorry. It’s just… you looked kind of cute when you were drunk.”
“…My appearance?”
“Yeah. Usually you’re such a frighteningly perfect woman. You face down hardened merchants, hold difficult conversations with Xiao He, and never show the slightest sign of being intimidated.”
Liu Bang smiled honestly.
“So seeing you let your guard down like this… I liked it. It made me feel like, at least right now, I might be someone special to you.”
Special person. Saying it out loud felt a little embarrassing. But Liu Bang did not take the words back. Instead, he smiled even more brightly and looked straight into her eyes.
Lady Cao’s face was already red from the alcohol. She slowly averted her gaze and mumbled,
“…Aren’t you already my special person, my lord?”
“…Huh?”
It was an honest confession he had never imagined hearing from her lips. Liu Bang let out a dazed sound without thinking.
“Why? Did I say something wrong?”
Lady Cao narrowed her eyes at him. Liu Bang shook his head in a fluster.
“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant…”
“Then what?”
“It’s just…”
Liu Bang searched for the right words. He wanted to give her a cool, husbandly reply that would satisfy her.
…My head is completely fogged up.
But he was already quite drunk himself. The smooth tongue he usually used to coax his younger siblings refused to cooperate. In the end, instead of some grand rhetoric, he decided to confess exactly what he had been feeling.
“I still think I’m not good enough.”
“…Not good enough?”
“To stand by your side.”
Liu Bang gestured around them—at her, at himself, at the entire situation that surrounded them.
“As you know, I’m a penniless rogue, and you are the daughter of a noble house.”
A small smile rose to his lips.
“So I thought I had to become bigger before I could truly be a man worthy of you. That’s ultimately why I decided on this… foolish fugitive life.”
He continued without pausing, speaking of the reason he had been able to endure that cold and desperate winter on the run. Of the sincerity he had felt toward her right before he cut the Qin law that had bound the people of Peixian like a snake.
“The reason I didn’t stop you from drinking tonight is an extension of that. Every time you smiled loosely while drinking, every time you laughed brightly while toasting with me, I could feel how much you wanted me to be someone special to you. How much I… long for you.”
When he finished speaking, a warm smile he himself had not expected lingered on Liu Bang’s lips. Lady Cao, who had simply been staring at him in a daze, finally seemed to come to her senses. She bit her lip and lowered her head.
“Is… is that supposed to be an excuse?”
“Ah, ahaha… maybe I went too far?”
“Yes, you went way too far. A husband who feels a sense of conquest watching his wife get drunk? That’s completely perverted.”
“P-perverted is a bit much…”
Liu Bang scratched his head in embarrassment. A brief, quiet silence fell between them.
“…My lord.”
It was Lady Cao who broke the silence. Her toes poked his knee again. A little harder this time.
“Yes?”
When Liu Bang answered, she lifted her head and met his gaze properly. Then her small lips slowly parted.
“About that… boil treatment earlier.”
“…Yes?”
“Did you enjoy it? Was the young maiden’s skin soft?”
“…Huh?!”
The completely unexpected change of subject made Liu Bang’s eyes fly wide open. Lady Cao puffed her cheeks out again.
“You talk about being each other’s special person, yet your actions were busy sucking on a young woman’s thigh. Don’t you think that’s contradictory?”
“Ah, no, that was purely for medical treatment…”
“So for the sake of treatment, you can suck another woman’s thigh?”
“C-could you choose your words a little…! The inner thigh is where blood vessels gather, so you can’t just cut into it recklessly.”
“If that’s the case, you could have asked someone else. If it was just sucking, Soso could have done it.”
“That’s… well…”
He had no rebuttal. Even if the danger of using a blade was a valid excuse, simply extracting pus was something anyone could do.
“……”
In the end, Liu Bang squeezed his eyes shut and lowered his head. After a moment, Lady Cao’s calm voice continued.
“My lord.”
“…Yes.”
“I’ll give you a chance to make up for it.”
“…Make up for it?”
Liu Bang carefully opened his eyes and looked up. And then—
“…Eh?”
He froze on the spot.
“Lady… Cao?”
In front of him, Lady Cao was gripping the waistband of her trousers with trembling hands.
“Watch carefully.”
Without the slightest hesitation, she pulled them all the way down.