By a twist of fate, the illegitimate son of the Marquis's family marries the county princess.

Chapter 103 Drunkenness

After drinking, Wen Zongji returned to Yunguang Courtyard drunk.

As soon as he approached, Pei Rujing smelled a strong odor of alcohol. She frowned and asked, "Why did you drink so much?"

Wen Zongji leaned back on the couch, pressing his forehead with his hand: "They both drank quite a bit, how could I possibly avoid them?"

Pei Rujing said with dissatisfaction: "When you men get together, is there nothing else to do but drink? My second brother did the same thing before. He got drunk at a party with his colleagues and didn't dare to go back to the Duke of Pei's mansion at night. He was afraid that my eldest brother would scold him, so he ran to the Princess's mansion instead."

Wen Zongji's face was flushed with drunkenness: "Socializing is unavoidable. And this is just the three of us. If there were more people, I'm afraid I would have to have Changdong carry me back."

"Do you really have to drink it? What can they do to you if you don't?"

The county magistrate has never cared about anyone's opinion.

Wen Zongji looked up at her, his mind still a little dazed, and chuckled softly, "It's nothing. It's just how things are between people; if you give someone face, they'll give you face in return."

Pei Rujing pouted but didn't refute. She simply instructed, "Granny, have the kitchen prepare some sobering soup and send it over to help this drunkard so he doesn't cause any more trouble later."

Although it was meant to be caring, the tone was full of disdain.

Wen Zongji smiled, raised his hand to hold Pei Rujing's hand, and kissed it.

Pei Rujing glared at him and didn't say anything more.

At this moment, Qinghe walked in carrying a hangover soup.

Then Granny Feng said, "This old servant had already asked the kitchen to prepare a hangover soup. Young master, please drink it."

"The old lady is very thoughtful."

Wen Zongji sat up and drank the hangover soup in one gulp.

The hangover soup was not effective immediately, and Wen Zongji still felt a swelling in his forehead; the feeling of being drunk was indeed unpleasant.

Wen Zongji rested his elbows on the low table on the couch, propped his forehead with his hands, closed his eyes, and massaged his forehead to relieve the soreness.

The next moment, a pair of soft little hands covered Wen Zongji's forehead and massaged the sides of his forehead.

Wen Zongji opened his eyes and looked up, and saw Pei Rujing standing beside him.

Pei Rujing sneered, "Now you know you're feeling unwell? You didn't even know to be careful when you drank. Don't you know you can't hold your liquor?"

"I really don't know."

Since he transmigrated, he has never been drunk. The original owner of this body only got drunk on his wedding night, which is why Wen Zongji had no idea about his alcohol tolerance.

"How foolish!"

Wen Zongji looked at her, reached out and pulled Pei Rujing into his arms, and without giving Pei Rujing time to react, he leaned in and kissed her.

Subconscious instincts reacted faster than her brain; the instant their lips met, Pei Rujing opened them to welcome Wen Zongji.

After kissing for a long while, Wen Zongji finally released the panting Pei Rujing. Their foreheads touched, and he whispered, "My dear wife, don't scold me anymore."

Pei Rujing's eyes shone, and her tone softened: "Are you still feeling unwell?"

Wen Zongji nodded, took Pei Rujing's hands and placed them on either side of his forehead: "It hurts!"

Pei Rujing had no choice but to continue massaging him.

After massaging for a while, and once the hangover remedy took effect, Wen Zongji's discomfort eased. He got up and said, "I'll go take a bath first."

Pei Rujing nodded and watched him leave before returning to her seat on the couch. Recalling how Wen Zongji had deliberately kissed her to avoid questioning, she couldn't help but secretly grumble that he always resorted to underhanded tactics.

But she just happens to fall for that.

Pei Rujing looked at Granny Feng and said, "Tell the kitchen to make tomorrow's breakfast lighter. He drank quite a bit of wine, so it's better for his health if he eats something light tomorrow."

Granny Feng smiled and said, "The county princess has considered everything very carefully."

Pei Rujing snorted, "He doesn't know his limits when he drinks; this is the only way to recuperate. Granny, are all men like this?"

"What does 'county princess' refer to?"

"He drinks without restraint! My second brother seems to be the same way. As for my eldest brother, I've never seen him drunk, but he lives in the Duke of Pei's mansion, so even if he were drunk, I wouldn't see him."

Granny Feng said, "Your Highness is overthinking it. The young master is a man of principle. Even when he has social engagements, he won't let himself get completely drunk. He drank a bit too much today, but he's still sober. As an official in the court, social engagements are unavoidable. Some things aren't up to him to decide."

Pei Rujing listened with growing annoyance: "This is really complicated."

……

The next day, Wen Zongji drank a bowl of white porridge to soothe his stomach. When he arrived at the Hanlin Academy, he saw Lu Nian'an and Wu Fengyuan sitting on the couch, both looking listless.

Wen Zongji raised an eyebrow: "What's wrong with you two?"

Lu Nian'an sighed, "I woke up this morning with a terrible headache, and I almost couldn't get out of bed."

Wu Fengyuan also said, "I drank too much. I had no appetite when I woke up this morning and didn't even eat breakfast."

Wen Zongji smiled and said, "You two had a very enjoyable time last night. Let's make another date next time."

Lu Nian'an waved his hands repeatedly: "No thanks. Unlike you two, I don't have anyone at home preparing hangover soup. I woke up with a terrible headache today, and I don't want to go through that again."

Wu Fengyuan said, "I still need to drink, but I should drink less in the future. I shouldn't make things difficult for myself."

As expected, it's better to sacrifice a fellow Daoist than to sacrifice myself!

Seeing the two of them like this, he felt much better.

Since it was their shift time, the three of them exchanged a few jokes and then went about their own business.

Over the next few days, Wen Zongji lived a very regular life, going back and forth between the Hanlin Academy and the Marquis's residence every day. On his days off, he would stay at the residence with Pei Rujing or go to Ruijin Hall to check on the preparations for the storytelling competition.

As the competition date approaches, all the authors who have registered for the competition have sent their eligible stories to Ruijintang.

The five authors who received Wen Zongji's outline have already written a portion of it for the competition.

Mao Zheng personally reviewed the photos and excitedly assured Wen Zongji that the five of them would definitely make it into the top ten.

With its novel premise and captivating writing style, Mao Zheng couldn't have imagined why this story wasn't popular.

Perhaps seeing a bright future, Mao Zheng seemed to have been given a second spring, and he was full of energy in everything he did.

Before we knew it, the day had come for the official selection of the top ten storybooks competition.

One hundred judges entered Xinya Garden one after another, went into the rooms arranged for them, and prepared to judge the storybooks.

Most of these people came for the reward, and they were all amazed to see such a large house.

"Although I know that Ruijintang is backed by the Marquis of Zhongyong, this is too extravagant. They directly offered us an entire garden to select storytellers."

"Didn't the person who led the way just say that we can only move around in this courtyard and are not allowed to go anywhere else?"

"It's already a great privilege for me to see such a large garden. But the reason they won't let us move around is probably because of those thirty female judges."

"That's definitely true."

"Gentlemen, stop chatting. Manager Mao has set a time limit. Don't let us not finish reading the story and not get our payment."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately lost interest in anything else and sat down at their desks to read the storybooks.