In her set of boxing moves, there was not only strength but also bearing.
It was the kind of energy and spirit that only ancient chivalrous warriors had.
It was time for the final pose. Li Qiyu pushed her palm forward, aiming straight at Li Xichi, who was already in a daze. The wind from her palm blew the fine hairs on Li Xichi's forehead. It was as if a turbulent wave had appeared in front of Li Xichi's eyes, scaring her to take several steps back.
However, Li Qiyu had already stopped her movement in time.
She still had her eyes closed and had no intention of attacking.
She withdrew her hand and took a breath.
Only then did she open her eyes, which were clean and clear, without a trace of impurity.
At this moment, the flower branch that had tied up her hair came loose, and her long hair fell down. The valiant female knight transformed back into the charming young lady.
Li Qiyu clapped her hands and said, "I haven't practiced for a long time. I'm a bit rusty. Please forgive me."
Could there be anything more "humblebrag" than this?
Li Xichi felt as if she had been trampled under Li Qiyu's feet and crushed several times.
She couldn't stay here any longer. She quickly packed up her yoga mat and didn't dare to mention exercise again. She slunk into the room.
Li Qiyu didn't even have time to call her back.
It was really strange. Didn't she ask her to teach her just now? Could it be that she was too rusty and made Li Xichi feel bored so she left?
It was a pity that she couldn't see how she had just performed. She saw Song Jiaye standing by the window.
He should have seen it.
She walked into the living room, pulled Song Jiaye and asked,
"How was it? How did I perform just now?"
Only then did Song Jiaye come back to his senses from the shock. He wanted to say it was great, but what came out of his mouth was,
"Not bad, I guess."
"Ah." Hearing Song Jiaye's tone, Li Qiyu felt a moment of disappointment.
Was it really because her skills had gotten rusty?
Seeing Li Qiyu dejected, Song Jiaye finally couldn't bear it. He added, "I mean, you did a great job."
"Come on, stop comforting me. I know I've regressed. If my father saw this, he'd scold me to death."
Li Qiyu hung her head. All the energy and spirit from before were gone. She walked feebly.
Song Jiaye chased after her and consoled her, "You misunderstood. You really did a wonderful job."
For Song Jiaye, this was actually quite a high compliment.
Words like "great" and "wonderful" rarely appeared in his life.
Unfortunately, Li Qiyu didn't know this. The more Song Jiaye explained, the worse Li Qiyu thought she had performed.
What was even more infuriating was that she had felt good about herself, thinking she had done a great job.
She gritted her teeth and thought that she would make up for what she had missed when Song Jiaye went to work.
This thought startled Li Qiyu. She remembered how she had learned to dance in the palace before.
At that time, a favored concubine had come to the palace. Her dance on the palm had amazed the world. Song Jiaye had spent every night in her palace. Li Qiyu had been extremely envious.
If it had been in the past, Li Qiyu would have looked down on such a dancer. She always thought that those who flattered and curried favor could only be favored for a while, not for a lifetime.
Moreover, she always remembered that she was the daughter of the Li family, representing the dignity of the Li family.
However, she could endure it for one or two days.
She could console herself that Song Jiaye was just being curious for five or ten days. After the novelty wore off, he would come back to her.
But after a month or two, she couldn't sit still anymore. The maids had presented her with the dance score of the "Dance on the Palm". On the surface, she had firmly refused, but secretly, when the maids were all asleep, she had held a candle and secretly flipped through it in her bedroom.
At that time, she didn't care about the dignity of the daughter of the Li family or the dignity of the queen.
Would he come back if she learned this dance?
Unfortunately, even after she had learned the "Dance on the Palm", Song Jiaye didn't look back. Not only didn't he look back, but he didn't even watch her dance seriously once.
Li Qiyu had only said, "Your Majesty, your servant has also learned a dance. Does Your Majesty have the...?"
Song Jiaye had interrupted her angrily before she could finish, "Li Qiyu, you are the mother of the country and the example for all women in the world. You should remember your identity. How could you learn such things? What, are you, the queen of the country, going to learn to charm men like a dancer in the dance hall?"
Li Qiyu was stunned by his scolding. After a while, she replied silently, "But I just want to dance for Your Majesty. Is that not okay?"
However, Song Jiaye didn't give her a chance to explain. He angrily flicked his sleeves and left. The next day, as if nothing had happened, he smiled and said at the palace banquet, "Concubine Xiang's new dance recently is really good. In high spirits, Concubine Xiang, perform one for everyone."
Throughout the whole process, his eyes were fixed on Concubine Xiang. He didn't even glance at Li Qiyu.
Thinking of this, Li Qiyu suddenly lost all her enthusiasm.
It didn't matter if she had performed poorly. It didn't matter if Song Jiaye didn't like it.
Even though this Song Jiaye in modern times only looked alike and had the same name as the one in ancient times and had nothing to do with him, she didn't want to cater to his preferences anymore.
She had once loved Song Jiaye so much that she had lost her dignity, integrity, and even herself.
Now, she didn't want to repeat the same mistake.
After gathering her emotions, Li Qiyu went to find Ming Yuexuan.
Ming Yuexuan was really nice. She praised her greatly.
"You don't know. When you were doing that set of boxing just now, it was so smooth, and each punch carried the wind. That Li Xichi was so scared that she took several steps back. I laughed so hard. Usually, we only saw her showing off. Today, let her see your strength."
The confidence that Li Qiyu had lost because of Song Jiaye's words came back a little. She asked, "Was it really that good?"
"Of course. I'm telling you, I didn't like Taijiquan before. But after seeing you boxing, I'm interested! That's how boxing should be! I feel that if you throw a punch..." When she got excited, Ming Yuexuan also waved her hands and gestured. "You could kill a tiger with one punch."
Li Qiyu: "..."
It was a compliment, but why did it sound so strange?
Ming Yuexuan pulled Li Qiyu and said seriously, "But you have to keep today's incident in mind. That woman clearly has bad intentions. Look, she dared to seduce Song Jiaye right in front of you. God knows what she'll do behind your back."
"Seduce?"
"Yeah. Dressing so scantily while doing exercise. What else could it be but seduction?"
"Really? In modern society, is that considered scantily dressed?"
Ming Yuexuan couldn't understand. Li Qiyu was quite conservative in other aspects. She would quickly cover her eyes and say it was indecent when she saw a kissing scene between the hero and the heroine on TV. Why didn't she care when this "fox spirit" had come to their home?