Transmigrated into the body of the vicious first wife of a fallen prime minister

In fact, Qi He regretted it as soon as she finished speaking.

Because it was too chaotic underwater at the time, she couldn't remember whether Shang Jue had stuck out his tongue or not.

It could also be her own illusion.

And more importantly, she was the one who pried his mouth open first; what if Shang Jue had only moved his tongue...?

Ugh, the more I think about it, the more annoyed I get.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was all Shang Jue's fault, so he picked up a soft pillow next to him, treated it as if it were Shang Jue himself, and smashed it over his head.

"Shang Jue, you're driving me crazy! It's all your fault!"

"What kind of bastard are you, sticking your tongue out at people like that!"

"He hasn't said a single kind word all day. If you don't want your eyes, you might as well donate them!"

"You pushed me off a cliff in my dream last time, I haven't settled the score with you yet!"

"My leg is injured and you still wouldn't carry me? Go to hell, go to hell—"

Qi He rolled around on the couch a few times, kicking the brocade quilt into a mess.

As it rolled to its last lap, its head drooped over the edge of the tatami mat, its gaze falling on the door that had been opened at some unknown time.

Shang Jue stood at the door with a change of clothes in his hand, his face expressionless.

Qi He: "..."

An awkward atmosphere filled the air, making one want to disappear on the spot.

She sat up casually: "Didn't you take Qi Lanlan there?"

Shang Jue: "After you've finished delivering, come back and change your clothes."

Oh, I remember now.

In order to maintain the illusion of a loving couple in front of others, Qi He and Shang Jue shared a cabin on the pleasure boat.

Qi He curled her fingers, fidgeted with the bed sheet, and forced herself to remain calm: "Then you can change it."

Shang Jue walked a few steps and arrived at the door of the clean room.

Just then, at midnight, the first birthday firework of the night "whooshed" into the sky, exploding in the night and illuminating the entire river surface with dazzling light. Then one after another, a hundred flowers bloomed, a blaze of firework.

Shang Jue placed his hand on the doorknob of the bathroom and glanced back at her.

His voice was cool and clear, almost drowned out by the sound of fireworks: "You look very beautiful today."

Qi He heard every single word.

Recalling the nonsense she had uttered in bed, she knew that Shang Jue was responding to her comment, "You haven't said a single kind word today."

Her ears suddenly turned red, but she still stubbornly maintained her arrogant demeanor and questioned, "Was I not pretty yesterday?"

"You look exceptionally beautiful today." Shang Jue paused, "Happy birthday, Qi He."

Hmph, even if you say that, I won't give you a raise, you bastard.

Qi He snorted coldly, but a strange sense of joy welled up inside her.

He does have some good judgment.

Let's forgive him for now... about one-third!

......

Less than seven days after her birthday, the two men who had attacked her on the pleasure boat that night were caught.

The authorities, through investigation, traced the mastermind to Qi Cheng, who turned out to be the culprit.

According to Qi Cheng's confession, his original target was not Qi He, but Shang Jue. Due to the conflict of interest in the job at Qingshan Stream, he went astray and hired two hooligans to teach Shang Jue a lesson at the banquet and throw him into the river to embarrass him in public.

He insisted that he had no intention of taking Shang Jue's life.

Knowing that the two rascals were useless and didn't recognize Qi He, they mistakenly threw her into the river.

However, since he almost killed Qi He, Qi Zheng naturally wouldn't let him off easily.

No matter how much Qi Youwei pleaded, he remained unmoved, his posture indicating that he was determined to kill Qi Cheng.

I heard that Qi Youwei has started selling off assets in order to smooth things over with his superiors and subordinates.

More than a month later, Qi Cheng was detained by the Ningcheng government, and Hu Ying learned of this.

That very day, she arranged to meet Qi He at a newly opened pastry shop in the east of the city. While fiddling with the pastries on a plate, she cursed, "How much truth can Qi Cheng ever tell? He was full of lies when he was trying to fool me. Now that he's in jail, he deserves it! He should be locked up for life!"

She patted her chest, still shaken. "Thank goodness you're alright. If anything had happened to you, I would never have let him off the hook."

Qi He used a silver skewer to poke a piece of pastry and ate it.

Lately, in order to maintain a good figure, Hu Ying only pretends to eat, taking a couple of bites before stopping.

Qi He occasionally tries a couple of pieces, but she's not very interested in anything too sweet.

As they ate, Hu Ying suddenly lowered her voice, winked, and leaned closer: "What happened to that thing you mentioned last time?"

Qi He looked away guiltily and coughed lightly, "Nothing, why are you so curious?"

Hu Ying was taken aback by her words, then pursed her lips and didn't press the matter further.

Ever since her birthday night, Qi He has always carried a knot in her heart, and she tries to avoid Shang Jue as much as possible.

More importantly, that experience of falling into the water that day made her realize a fact—

She hasn't mastered swimming skills at all!

So the next day she made the nanny give her extra practice, which made the nanny complain endlessly.

She couldn't afford to be too harsh on her, but if she dared to be careless, Qi He wouldn't let her off the hook.

So it wasn't just swimming; under Qi He's "coercion," they also had to do high diving and water rescue.

He worked many times harder than before.

After more than a month of hard training, the results were not bad.

Qi He's abdomen has developed beautiful lines, and she has overcome her fear of entering the water from a height. She can jump off a three-zhang-high stone platform without blinking.

Unfortunately, even the shortest cliff in Qingshan Ravine is ten zhang high, and her three zhang skill is far from enough to impress her.

"Sigh." Qi He sighed sincerely.

Autumn is approaching, and once the end of the year is over, Shang Jue will have to return to Yunjing. She has less and less time left.

Just then, Hu Ying's maidservant suddenly rushed over and whispered a few words in her ear.

Hu Ying glanced at Qi He, who raised her chin and said, "Go ahead and do what you need to do."

Hu Ying smiled sheepishly and returned about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Qi He asked her what was wrong, and Hu Ying said helplessly, "Isn't today Qixi Festival? The blind date my dad arranged for me last time sent me an invitation to go to the flower market tonight."

Is it already Qixi Festival?

Qi He was stunned for a moment, she really hadn't noticed what day it was.

But knowing this wouldn't help, since she wouldn't be able to celebrate Qixi Festival anyway. Was she supposed to go find Shang Jue?

It would be kind of them if Shang Jue didn't even let her observe the seventh day after her death.

Hu Ying had plans for the evening, so the two parted ways early.

With nothing to do in the afternoon, Qi He went to the martial arts gym for another session, only leaving when dusk fell.

Stepping outside, I realized that the atmosphere of Qixi Festival was already incredibly strong. The streets were full of couples walking side by side, and there were stalls selling lanterns one after another along the roadside, as well as vendors selling sugar figurines, sachets, and fragrant pouches.

Although Qi He has never seriously dated anyone, she has certainly been subjected to a lot of PDA.

Some men and women, seeing that she was beautiful and alone, wanted to approach her to talk, but her aura of "I am expensive, keep away from strangers" was too strong, and they backed down as soon as they got close.

The only one who stopped her was a little girl carrying a bamboo basket full of colorful sachets and pouches. She said that the girls from the academy were out earning some money for cosmetics and were selling some exquisite and pleasing little items on this auspicious day.

He was quite bold, and directly stuffed a purse embroidered with twin lotus flowers into Qi He's hand.

Qi He casually accepted the purse to get rid of it. The carriage that was supposed to pick her up was already waiting at the alley entrance. She casually stuffed the purse into her sleeve and forgot about it.

Back at Qianjin Tower, Qi He lay on the couch, bored and restless, so she took out the invitations from various mansions that day to pass the time.

Flipping through them, all I see are invitations to banquets from this mansion or visiting cards from some young master; it's all so boring.

She simply picked up her pen and began to annotate, her sharp language causing the maid beside her to gasp in astonishment.

A young master wrote on his letter, "Every day is a good day with you here." Qi He picked up his pen and wrote, "You're happy, but have you thought about how others feel? How selfish."

A marriage proposal read, "With you I've experienced all the flavors of life, sweetness and bitterness, this life is enough." Qi He commented, "Isn't there any salt in it? People can't live long without salt. I have no plans to remain a widow at the moment."

A young master wrote on his invitation, "You are a gift from heaven." Qi He replied, "According to you, I should go to the palace. Are you trying to keep heaven's gift for yourself? You've got some nerve. I'll remember this."

A certain gentleman's invitation read, "I only love one face in my life," to which Qi He commented, "Too old-fashioned."

Why is this scumbag pretending to be so affectionate?

He can change female companions three times in one morning; whoever gets stuck with him is unlucky.

After giving him a dressing down, Qi He felt much better. She then flipped through the few corny flattering words that Shang Jue had sent her a few days ago and thought that the bastard had actually become somewhat perceptive lately.

She took a silver note, wrapped it in an envelope, and had it delivered, with a note attached: "I'm in a good mood, this is a reward for you."

......

Shang Jue was reviewing the accounts in his shop when someone delivered a letter.

Upon unfolding it, one could see that it was Qi He's handwriting, along with a fifty-tael silver note.

Despite his seemingly ordinary demeanor, Shang Jue stared at those few lines of text for a long time for no apparent reason.

Just as he was about to leave with his pen, Zhao Niangzi, the shop manager, knocked on the door and came in.

Zhao Niangzi is efficient and usually the most diligent person in the shop, but today she arrived earlier than usual.

Shang Jue glanced at her: "So early today?"

Zhao Niangzi smiled shyly: "Manager, it's Qixi Festival today, I'd like to go home early."

Shang Jue was slightly taken aback: "Qixi Festival?"

Seeing his appearance, Zhao Niangzi was puzzled. The head manager was so young, surely he didn't even know about Qixi Festival?

Fortunately, Shang Jue didn't ask any more questions. He only paused for a moment before saying, "Then you should go back soon."

Zhao Niangzi smiled and thanked her, but was stopped again at the door.

Her heart tightened, fearing that she had made a mistake in her task.

Although Shang Jue was young, he was always cold and taciturn, and his subordinates were all afraid of him.

To everyone's surprise, after a long silence, Shang Jue finally asked, "What do you all do on Qixi Festival?"

Zhao Niangzi was taken aback at first, then suppressed the pounding in her heart and carefully replied, "Nothing special, just having dinner together in the evening, strolling through the flower market, or giving some holiday gifts..."

As if grasping at something, Shang Jue asked again, "Sending holiday gifts?"

Zhao Niangzi nodded: "Yes, men and women often exchange small gifts and such."

Shang Jue lowered his eyes thoughtfully.

So that's what Qi He meant when she gave him the silver notes?

......

Qi He felt sleepy after handing out the reward money. He had practiced martial arts all day and his physical strength was really depleted.

When she woke up again, the aroma of food wafted from the front hall, making her stomach rumble.

Why did Shang Jue come back so early today?

She stretched, put on her shoes, and dawdled into the front hall.

Shang Jue was setting out bowls and plates on the table, and several dishes, each with its own unique color, aroma, and flavor, were laid out on the table, making Qi He's mouth water.

That bastard has become quite sensible; he came back to cook as soon as he was given a reward.

Qi He asked reservedly, "Why are you back so early today?"

Shang Jue glanced at her, his gaze clearly saying, "Didn't you tell me to come back?"

Qi He didn't understand this meaning; her eyes were only focused on the food.

So much delicious food!

After finishing the meal, Shang Jue got up to clear the dishes.

Qi He was lost in thought as she watched him bustling about. If she had arrived earlier, before the original owner had to work on Shang Jue, perhaps her relationship with Shang Jue wouldn't be so strained, and they might still be friends.

But there's no use thinking about these things. I should just pity myself for not having much time left to live.

Qi He was about to go upstairs after finishing her meal when Shang Jue suddenly called out to her, "Qi He."

She stopped in her tracks, then heard Shang Jue speak, his tone casual as if he were asking, "Want to go see a play together?"

Listening to opera?

Are they the kind of people who can go to the opera together?

Qi He opened her mouth, about to say "I'm not going," but then it felt like something hit her head, and she belatedly realized that today was Qixi Festival!

The words of refusal reached my lips, but seemed to be blocked by something.

Seeing that she didn't move, Shang Jue sighed inwardly and, as usual, changed his question, lowering his voice slightly:

"I mean, would I have the honor of inviting you to the opera?"