stonecrandall Page 125
Page 125
"We're going to play something different now, called Truth or Dare. It's mostly based on luck, and there are no stakes. All you need to do is think of a few questions, write them down, and think of some fun little punishments."
"Pah! Brother Yu is up to no good again! He just said it was nothing. Now he wants us to think of some punishment... Humph!"
"No way! I already said this game is all about luck. If I lose, I'll naturally be punished too. My sister will write something like 'breaking a boulder on her chest,' and if I draw that, I'll have to do it."
Seeing that Xichun and the others' eyes lit up, Gu Yu's face darkened, and she quickly reminded them:
"Sisters, you'd better think this through carefully. After all, you'll still have to draw a prize even if you lose, and what if you draw something bad..."
Mengzhi nodded knowingly, then playfully pulled Daiyu to the table:
"Does Brother Yu mean we should work on the truth or dare? Sister Lin and Sister Bao are the most knowledgeable, we really need to think about this carefully!"
With just a little thought, they realized that there was a lot of skill involved in those words. If they asked the right questions, wouldn't they be guaranteed to win?
After all, if you were to ask Gu Yu a question like whether she likes someone, it would be a joke to her, but it would still make them a little shy.
But if you ask them who they like the most, it's a little embarrassing for them, but for Gu Yu it's a death sentence!
Seeing them discussing it with great interest, Gu Yu gestured to the maids to bring the dice, patiently waited for them to finish writing their notes, and then put them into the cardboard box.
"Are you all ready? Then I'll tell you the rules. You can't back out later."
Seeing that none of them backed down, Gu Yu chuckled inwardly. Did they think he couldn't see their little tricks? Too bad, he didn't care! He only wanted to die with them!
"We'll do it in turn. First, we'll roll the dice to select people. The person selected must demonstrate a skill within a specified time. However, those who were penalized in the previous round can be given some restrictions. For example, if you choose the zither, you can be restricted to playing with your left hand."
"If you succeed, you can assign this punishment to any person. The person assigned will have to choose between Truth or Dare, and then draw a slip of paper to complete the task. If you fail, you'll have to drink a penalty shot!"
"If the person called doesn't meet the requirements, the same thing applies! See? I wasn't lying to you, was I?"
It really does sound like a game of chance based on dice!
Daiyu and the others were all eager to "take revenge" and quickly chose their spots.
"Drinking alcohol alone can hurt your stomach. I think we should just have dinner like this! We don't need to follow the rules of not talking while eating or sleeping. Let's just have some fun!"
……
Chapter 82 Who is the mole?
After the women were seated, Gu Yu belatedly patted his head, looked around, and smiled:
"There's one more thing I forgot to mention. Since it's a game, it's not good to always use alcohol as a punishment. How about we set another rule that you can't drink alcohol twice in a row? So the girls should think carefully before they choose."
Isn't this an unspoken rule of gaming? What's the point of just drinking all the time? Is it really necessary to bring this up?
Baochai's almond-shaped eyes were full of thought. She subconsciously glanced at the cardboard box next to her, felt a little more at ease, and stopped thinking about it. She smiled and pulled Xiangyun and the others to talk.
Although they said they were all playing together, Xiangling, Qingwen, and Zijuan didn't have that much skill, so they just served from the sidelines, or chose whichever sister was participating in the competition, sharing both glory and loss.
After several rounds of polite refusals, Keqing was allowed to sit for the first time. Facing everyone's gaze, she stood up with a shy expression, but still gracefully extended her hand to throw the dice. Her elegant posture was like that of a goddess or fairy, leaving even Daiyu and the others somewhat stunned.
"How come I never noticed before that Sister Keqing was so beautiful..."
Now I'm naturally too embarrassed to call her my niece-in-law anymore. Although I've seen her a few times in the past few years, she always keeps quiet and lowers her head. She's beautiful, but it seems like something is missing.
Now that they meet again, seeing her smiling face and her charming beauty, even women can't help but be attracted to her. She truly deserves the title of "femme fatale"!
"Fourteen o'clock! One, two... It's Third Sister!"
Sister You was taken aback, not expecting that she would have such a good start. Mengzhi was unusually lively at this moment, and her laughter was much louder, leading the cheers.
"Hehehe~ Pick one quickly! You can't drink if you don't finish it, give that Truth or Dare game a try."
Now that she was truly part of Gu Yu's household, Sister You San felt more confident and naturally no longer felt intimidated. After thinking for a moment, she suppressed her hesitation, stood up briskly, and revealed a smile with a touch of heroism:
"I'll put on a sword dance to liven things up for the ladies!"
Xiangyun's eyes lit up, and she put down the candied fruit in her hand, watching intently as You Sanjie went to get the sword and twirled it. She loved this chivalrous style the most!
"My restriction is... since it's the first round, I won't add any restrictions."
Qin Keqing and the others had secretly planned it out, so how could they possibly fight amongst themselves? They casually found an excuse to sit down and quietly watch Sister You's sword dance.
Women's sword dancing is quite different from men's. It mainly showcases the supple waist and the sword movements are slow and dense, but occasionally interspersed with wide and sweeping sword moves, which also appear somewhat fierce in front of this group of girls.
Watching her third sister bend over at an angle that almost folded her back, Gu Yu didn't even notice the sword in her hand. Instead, she stroked her chin with a mischievous grin, her eyes thoughtful.
"So it can get this far... Looks like I'll have to try a few more times."
After the dance ended, everyone cheered. Sister You San's forehead was slightly sweaty, but her face was beaming with a smile. She was deeply moved by their support—she had originally thought these sheltered young ladies wouldn't be interested! Xiangyun even got up from her seat to go over and offer a few words of praise:
"Third Sister is truly a woman who is no less capable than any man. Her swordsmanship surpasses that of countless men in the world!"
Tan Chun nodded with interest and said:
"In ancient times, Gongsun's sword dance was highly sought after by the world. In my opinion, some of the movements that Third Sister just made really captured the essence of what was described in the book."
"Heroic as Yi shooting down nine suns, graceful as emperors riding dragons in flight. Although I've never seen Gongsun's sword dance, Third Sister's dance seems to have brought that scene to life, truly captivating!"
Daiyu smiled and praised them at the same time, quickly drawing everyone's attention back to her:
"Now that Third Sister has completed the sword dance, can we choose one of us to be punished?"
Even though she was mentally prepared, Gu Yu couldn't help but twitch her lips when she saw everyone staring at her so openly. Was the cover-up really that obvious?
"I choose the master!"
As expected, Gu Yu rolled her eyes helplessly, looked at Daiyu and the others' victorious smiles, and sneered herself:
"I choose dare."
You're celebrating too soon!
"Ying'er, you draw the ticket, so the sisters won't deny it later."
"Eh!"
Having received the order, Ying'er grinned and pulled a slip of paper from the cardboard box, holding it in her hand and loudly announcing the mission:
"Give...the third person below me a kiss?"
Halfway through her sentence, Ying'er's tone took eighteen turns, but she managed to finish what she had said. She quickly blushed and threw the words back in, looking at the table with a mixture of shyness and curiosity. Which young lady was so bold?
Counting down three from Gu Yu was Tan Chun. Before they could react, Gu Yu chuckled, took a few steps over, gave Tan Chun a light peck on the cheek, and then looked up and said:
"I finished!"
"..."
"..."
Tan Chun touched the wetness on her face in a daze, and the scene fell silent for a moment, until Gu Yu returned to his seat and tapped his bowl with his chopsticks. Xi Chun suddenly exclaimed:
"Brother Yu is cheating! We never wrote anything like that!"
"Oh? I didn't touch your notes. Ying'er read them to us. How could I have cheated?"
The quiet atmosphere was suddenly broken. Tan Chun blushed and dared not look at him, so she could only complain to Dai Yu:
"Did Sister Lin check it beforehand? Who wrote this method...it's really—oh dear!"
Seeing that even the usually generous Tan Chun was so embarrassed, Dai Yu pursed her lips awkwardly. She really hadn't looked at it carefully. After all, all the sisters had written it, so who knew who was up to no good?
But now they're proposing an investigation to eliminate any unfavorable punishments. Not only would Brother Yu not agree, but they themselves are also a little embarrassed. This is too blatant a trap!
"It's nothing! I think it's just one of the girls playing tricks. It's probably just one or two at most, anyway..."
As for the second half of the sentence, Daiyu glanced at Tanchun's blushing cheeks but was too embarrassed to say it aloud, so she just considered it an unexpected stimulus!
"It's my turn, it's my turn!"
Seeing that they had finally calmed down, Gu Yu casually shook her head, couldn't help but chuckle, and looked up at Daiyu who was looking over:
"It's Lin Daiyu!"
"Sixteen o'clock... truly Lin Daiyu!"
"Sister Lin, quickly think of what to use?"
Daiyu chuckled and slapped away the hand that was pushing her. She glanced at Gu Yu's calm and collected appearance and felt a little uneasy. She secretly blinked her eyes in a pleading manner, trying to get away with it by being cute.
"I choose to play the piano!"
Gu Yu laughed, a laugh that made Daiyu feel uneasy.
"In that case, my condition is—a backhand flick from behind!"
"..."
Baochai, as an observer, was the first to react and quickly came to Daiyu's rescue:
"Brother Yu's request is unreasonable and defies all reason. It's clearly a deliberate attempt to make Lin fail, so it doesn't count!"
Daiyu also snapped out of her daze, and gritted her teeth, feeling both ashamed and angry, and said:
"Brother Yu is not a good person! He deliberately made people look bad."
With a smile on her face, Gu Yu stood up and picked up the guqin that was prepared on the table next to her. She bent down slightly, put the guqin behind her back, pressed down on one end of the string with her right hand, and then plucked it smoothly and naturally with her left hand, producing a melodious sound.
"This is a masterpiece of high mountains and flowing water!"
They were all discerning listeners and could naturally recognize it as "High Mountains and Flowing Water." Now, no one accused him of making things difficult for them; after all, he had done it right in front of them!
"Did my sister lose the bet?"
After finishing a piece, Gu Yu leisurely put down the guqin and looked at Daiyu, who was staring straight at her, with a teasing expression.
This skill was originally a unique talent he encountered on his journey to study in the west, performed by an unknown master in an orchestra. After witnessing it, the talkative professor became very chatty and mentioned the Dunhuang flying apsara murals he had seen.
The three bored people even went to ask him for advice. Putting everything else aside, suddenly playing a few lines or two to show off was quite effective.
Chapter 83 Everyone is a Traitor
Now that things had come to this, Daiyu could only blush and glare at Gu Yu. After thinking for a moment, she chose to tell the truth.
What if they pull out another note with a kiss on it? That would be so embarrassing!
This time, Ying'er deliberately rummaged through the paper a few more times, as if trying to drive away any notes containing wicked intentions. Holding her breath, she suddenly pulled out a note, examined it closely, and read it aloud in a low voice:
What's the thing you regret most?
This question was serious enough that no one egged them on anymore. Everyone looked at Daiyu with great interest and suddenly realized the fun of this game—it's so much fun to watch the drama unfold!
"The thing I regret the most? I... I regret the most that I accidentally caused a misunderstanding and secretly altered Mengzhi's purse. Luckily, Mengzhi is kind-hearted and forgave me immediately."
After hesitating for a moment, Daiyu blushed slightly and told everyone about it, but she didn't dare to look at Gu Yu, who was smiling beside her. After all, the apology process was... not something to be told to outsiders!
"Mengzhi's purse? When did that happen?"
"When did it reach Sister Lin's hands again?"
"Ahem! We're still playing games right now. You can talk to them about these issues later. Let's continue!"
Seeing that the topic had indeed gone astray, Gu Yu quickly brought it back, and Daiyu hurriedly started shaking the dice, finally getting them to stop paying attention to the matter.
"Five o'clock...it's Brother Yu!"
"Great! What goes around comes around, it's time for Sister Lin to get her revenge! Hahaha~"
Unexpectedly, so many people managed to have Daiyu choose her by sheer coincidence. Looking at the sly, vengeful expression on the girl's face, Gu Yu helplessly shrugged and, without waiting for her to urge him, decisively admitted defeat:
"I choose poetry!"
As a scholar, he naturally had to speak based on his expertise.
But as soon as she said this, Daiyu couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh, a hint of slyness in her voice.
“Alright! My limitation is... Wang Wei’s poems contain paintings, and his paintings contain poems. Why don’t you write a poem about a painting with a touch of melancholy, Brother Yu?”
This isn't too much, Gu Yu nodded with satisfaction. It seems this girl is indeed a little proud and aloof, with a sharp tongue but a soft heart, and she can't bear to see herself make a fool of herself.
"In addition, Cao Zhi was known in ancient times for composing a poem in seven steps. Brother Yu is also quite famous for his poetry now, and we all admire him greatly. How about we try composing a poem in five steps today?"
"?"
Gu Yu's face stiffened, and she looked up in confusion. Seeing that Daiyu and the others were already looking at each other, ready to cheer for her defeat, she finally couldn't help but ask:
"Why do I feel like there are two restrictions? You're setting both the genre and the time limit. Isn't my sister deliberately making things difficult for us?"
"Huh? But... I heard that Brother Yu wrote the Night Snow Poem in a single breath at the poetry gathering that day, and even gave us five extra breaths today. Why are you deliberately making things difficult for us?"
"Could it be... that Brother Yu thinks his sisters are too ignorant and can't stand such talent?"