Chapter 166: A Beauty Like This

  After entering the city, Song Chuyi temporarily rested in the post house, waiting for King Shu to summon him "in the midst of a hundred busy things".

  Softly falls the evening rain.

  In the palace of Shu, the sound of silk and bamboo instruments filled the air, but what was being played was actually Chu music. The gentle melody of Chu seemed like a young girl's soft whispers, slowly stroking the deepest and most tender part of one's heart. Even the dancing girls with slender waists swaying to the rhythm of the Chu music appeared especially alluring.

  The throne had been removed, and a soft couch was placed on it. The luxurious clothes flowed from the couch to the ground. A middle-aged man with a goatee sat with his eyes narrowed, looking very pleased as he stared at the dancer's waist and hips. His short fingers tapped out the rhythm on the edge of the couch. This man wasn't born good-looking, even rough and powerful, but his body exuded an air of nobility, like the leader of a wolf pack, fierce yet elegant in every move.

  At this time a beautiful maid approached from one side, knelt down at his feet and said softly, "Your Majesty, Lord Ye has arrived."

  "Come over." The King of Shu patted the bed gently.

  The maid hastily got up, carefully climbed up. The Shu king gently stroked the maid's face, his fingers lingering on her tender lips, softly coaxing, "What did you say? Say it again?"

  The maid with butterfly-like black eyelashes said again, "Your Majesty, Lord Heng has arrived."

  The King of Shu smiled with pleasure, kissed the tender lips of his maid, patted her buttocks and said, "Go call him in."

  The maid's cheeks were slightly red, and she responded with a shy "yes" as she got up from the couch and ran out quickly from one side of the main hall. This maid was not an ordinary servant girl, but one of the king of Shu's beloved concubines, who thought her lips and teeth were extremely beautiful, so he used her to deliver messages, in order to delight his heart at any time.

  The King of Shu was fond of women. However, he treated each woman with extreme tenderness, as if he couldn't wait to offer her the best things in the world to win her favor, and never scolded or beat them. Yet no woman dared to indulge recklessly in this pampering, for she might be discarded and abandoned at any moment.

  Zhu Heng walked in with a smile on his face and paid his respects to the King of Shu, "Your Majesty, I have seen the Qin envoy!"

  "Oh?" The Shu king's tea-colored eyes did not leave the dancing girl.

  "The Qin state envoy was a 16 or 17-year-old young man, born weak and frail, looking like he could be blown away by a strong gust of wind. The clothes on the Qin envoy's body were made of hemp, and his black robes had almost been washed white. When the envoy saw the prosperity of the king's city, he looked like a wild man from the mountains. It was really interesting." Zhu Heng couldn't help but burst out laughing again.

  This description sparked a thread of interest in the Shu king, and his gaze finally returned. He looked at Zhu Heng and said, "Didn't they have Shang Yang's reforms?"

  "That desolate place," Zhu Heng said disdainfully, "I have been to the State of Qin before. Their women's clothes are not enough to cover their bodies, their men all die on the battlefield, the good fields are uncultivated, and are overgrown with weeds. The national treasury does not have enough food to supply the armies that go to war. Even if Du Yu were still alive, in a dozen or so years he would be unable to save such a declining country."

  The King of Shu said, "Now I see, why did Qin enter our Heaven's Shu?"

  "This... I couldn't have guessed." said Zhu Heng.

  The King of Shu lowered his head in deep thought. After a moment, he said, "Summon the Qin envoy at once."

  Zhu Heng was not surprised at all. Their king could do anything unexpected and it wouldn't be a big deal, let alone something as trivial as this.

  It was already night, and outside it was still drizzling with fine rain.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, after taking a bath, he sat quietly in his bedroom, the window was wide open, and the wind carried rain threads blowing in, falling on the ground with a wet spot. The firelight inside the house jumped up and down, illuminating that area brightly.

  "Sir, it's time for bed." Gu Han reminded from outside the door.

  "Also Hou." Song Chu said.

  What's going on?

  Gu Xing quietly waited for a moment, seeing that she didn't intend to speak again, he stood guard at the door with his sword.

  About two moments later, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the corridor. Gu Han listened to the sound getting closer and closer, clearly coming this way, and couldn't help but turn his head to look over. He saw an old man wearing a dark blue flower robe hurrying along, leading more than ten maidservants walking towards him.

  From the wide open window, Guxuan looked at Song Chuyi in surprise. She didn't know when she sat down in front of the table, with a white cloth spread out in front of her, intently drawing something with her head bowed.

  "Elder." The old man bowed to Gu Han and asked in Zhou language, "Has the envoy rested?"

  "Never mind. What brings you here?" Gu Han asked.

  "My king will receive your envoy." The old man replied simply. His tone was polite, but the content of his words was not veiled in the slightest.

  Gao Leng suppressed his anger and frustration, his face pale, as he entered the house and reported to Song Chu.

  " Envoy, please come in and wait for a moment." Gu Han said.

  The old man had originally planned to take someone and leave, but hadn't intended to linger here for long! He hesitated at the door for a moment before stepping inside.

  "The usher official Yu Cheng has met with the Qin envoy." The old man thought for a moment and then slightly lowered his posture compared to just now.

  Song Chuanyi returned the courtesy and said "please sit down", then he buried his head and continued painting.

  Yu Cheng saw this and couldn't help but feel anxious. If the monarch was unhappy with him, he would no longer be able to stay in Shu!

  Yu Cheng could not help but urge, "Our king attaches great importance to the diplomatic relations with Qin, so he decided to meet with the envoy immediately. I wonder if the envoy is available at this moment?"

  What's more important than diplomatic relations between two countries? Yu Cheng's words contained a veiled advice to Song Chuyi, putting aside those unimportant paintings for now.

  "Yu Jieying slightly calmed down and stopped being restless." Song Chuanyi finally put down his brush, blew on the ink marks on the white silk, "You come over and take a look."

  Yu Cheng raised an eyebrow, looking at her suspiciously. He got up and walked closer to the table, his eyes widening as he gazed at the white silk. On the silk, a distant mountain and water scene unfolded, with misty vapors rising from it, revealing a half-naked beauty. The beauty had her back turned to the viewer, her lotus-like face slightly tilted, her figure plump but not fat, slender yet without showing any bones. Her clothes had slipped down from her shoulder, hanging on her arm, exposing half of her beautiful back and half of her tender chest. Her black hair seemed to be wet, with a few strands stuck to her spine and cheek...

  "This...this is..." Yu Cheng looked at Song Chuyi with a surprised expression.

  The paintings of the Ba-Shu region are bright in color, but the lines are stiff and often exaggerate objects. This painting style was learned by her from an unknown scholar during her travels at the beginning of the Song Dynasty and further perfected by her.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, it was deeply understood that for men, a subtle and implicit approach is far more intriguing than being completely explicit. A fleeting glimpse of something vague can have a much stronger impact than directly seeing the real thing. Moreover, everyone's preferences are different, so even if Song initial one's painting skills were unmatched in the world, he might not be able to paint the kind that Shu Wang likes. Therefore, we can only grasp the basic aesthetic commonalities among all men, such as a beautiful neck and back, a waist that is not full of grasping, round and plump buttocks and chest.

  Song had never doubted the reliability of this conclusion, because its source was her own heart that loved beauty as much as a man's.

  "Let's go." Song Chuyi was very satisfied with Yu Cheng's reaction.

  Yu Chenghui came back to his senses and found that the painting had already been rolled up and put into a bamboo tube.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, a woman walked onto the corridor, and a maid held up a large Mengzong bamboo umbrella to shelter her from the rain, and then she was surrounded by dozens of people and got on the carriage.

  Gao Lishi put on his rain cape and rode a horse to follow him.

  The rain falls finely and densely, without a single sound, just like the current state of Song's heart, quietly changing but not revealing any clues.

  Since her rebirth, she has been cautious and calculated in every step. Even when saving Ruo Yu, it seemed like an adventure, but everything was actually under control. However, this time she had to take a gamble. There was no time for her to return to the Qin state and discuss with Ying Ji in detail. If Ying Ji didn't trust her, then all her efforts would be in vain, and might even lead to fatal consequences.

  However, for a longer pursuit, Yíng Zōu must be worth her pursuit. This is different from Gǔ Hán's test of her, as Yíng Zōu wants her to be his strategist, not just a sharp blade.

  "The Qin state envoy has arrived!"

  The sound of the carriage brought Song Chu'er out of her thoughts, she tidied up her clothes and handed over the bamboo tube with the beauty picture to Gu Han, while she herself held the token and national letter and got off the horse-drawn vehicle.

  In the rain at night, the maid held an umbrella for Song Chuyi to block the rain. She slowly stepped up the stairs, her black wide-sleeved robe slightly swaying with her movements, drawing a beautiful arc that was unique to scholars' elegance.

  Gao Leng looked at her from behind, that calm and composed demeanor, that elegant and leisurely attitude, all made him re-recognize Song Chuyi.

  This was the first time Gǔ Hán accompanied Sòng Chūyī to such a formal occasion, and also the first time he knew she had such a serious side. He had previously heard that strategists "have a mouth for every face, but no true countenance", and they would show completely different things when facing different people. Gǔ Hán originally didn't believe it, but now he did.

  She is well-versed in various subjects, proficient in the six arts, yet can be crudely abusive; she can calmly and lightly lead people to their deaths; she can frivolously see through everything; and she can also elegantly pretend to be ignorant while being aware.

  He didn't know which side was the real Song Chuyi, but it seemed that he could vaguely see the new look of a great Qin in the future from her.

  The grand hall was devoid of its usual lively sounds of silk and bamboo instruments, but instead echoed with the soft, alluring gasps and moans of a woman.

  A maid went in and announced, then came out with a red face and said, "The envoy is invited to enter."

  As soon as Song stepped inside, a thick perfume wafted over him. He then saw three naked women lying on the woolen blanket, while a middle-aged man with an open collar lay on his side on the couch, and a maid in thin silk was cutting wild game into small pieces to feed him with a small knife.

  The envoy of Qin State, Song Huaijin, had an audience with the King of Shu. Song began by sweeping open his large sleeves and bowing to pay respects.

  As soon as Song Chuyi entered the door, Shu Wang began to notice everything about her. Although, just as Zhu Heng said, she was wearing only the simplest hemp robe, but facing this scene, her expression didn't change at all, which was quite interesting.

  "The envoy sees so many beauties before him, yet he seems completely unmoved?" The King of Shu laughed.

  He mentioned a beauty in his first sentence, but used the language of Zhou, showing that he was not an uneducated and uncouth person. Song Chu raised his eyes to look at the King of Shu, paused for a moment, and said, "But she is just a common thing, how can she move my heart."

  "Oh?" The King of Shu listened to Song Chuyi's words, but he didn't get angry. Instead, he asked with great interest, "In your opinion as an envoy, what kind of woman can be considered a beauty? Daji? Bao Si?"

  "Daji and Bao Si are indeed beautiful, but they are also the evil spirits that bring chaos to the world. What I see is a beauty comparable to the Goddess of the Xiang River." Song Chu Yi intentionally lowered his voice, making it seem rather mysterious.

  The land of Ba and Shu has a belief in ghosts and gods that has reached an almost crazy level, they believe that ghosts and gods are everywhere.