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Chapter 52

Jin Lu was carrying a red sandalwood food box that was carved with begonia flowers. The food box contained cherries that Jing He Villa had sent to every courtyard. These fresh and plump cherries were grown in the villa and had just been picked from the trees. There were still dewdrops on top of the cherries from last night.

As Jin Lu was walking towards the eastern courtyard, she thought about what yummy food she should make for miss. Cherries and milk with or without sugar would be good. Since miss liked to eat sweet things, it would probably be best to add more sugar…

As she passed through the courtyard’s entrance and was about to go to the kitchen, she almost hit someone’s back! Fortunately, her reflexes were quick and she promptly stopped her next step. She patted her chest and then looked up to see who that person was.

The person was wearing an indigo brocade robe that was horizontally weaved with a river pattern, ink-colored boots with golden embroidery, and a jade belt. He had a peerless elegance that couldn’t be compared.

Jin Lu gulped. She thought that it was fortunate that she managed to not bump into this person, “Your Highness Prince Jing…”

However, the person in front of her didn’t respond with word or movement. His eyebrows were bleak as he watched the two people below the tong tree. Jin Lu followed his line of sight and only saw that Wei Luo and Song Hui hadn’t noticed that other people had come to courtyard. They were probably talking about entertaining anecdotes from their childhood. Wei Luo was softly smiling and her two dimples were revealed. Song Hui was standing next to her with his hands behind his back. His eyes showed his desire to pamper her. Standing side by side, this golden couple was truly a match made in a heaven

Jin Lu thought this sight was very harmonious and didn’t think there was anything strange. Why was his highness Prince Jing emitting a heavy and gloomy aura?

While Jin Lu was worrying about this, Wei Luo had turned around and finally noticed Zhao Jie’s presence. She called out with a smile, “Older brother Prince Jing!”

Zhao Jie finally unfroze. He put away his vicious aura and smiled as he walked towards Wei Luo and Song Hui.

Wei Luo looked at Jin Lu who was walking away while carrying the food box, then she looked at him. She tilted her head and asked, “When did older brother Prince Jing arrive? Why didn’t you say anything? Have you been standing there for a long time?”

Zhao Jie’s gaze landed on Song Hui while he lightly said. “Not long, I just arrived.” As he continued speaking, without any reason, he looked at Song Hui’s hand that had helped pick off the flower petals from Wei Luo. He curved his lips and said words that had a far-reaching implication, “I came here to see if you were comfortable staying here. Who would have expected that Sir Song Hui would be even more considerate than this prince by coming here earlier?”

Song Hui took a step back and bowed to salute, “Greetings your highness Prince Jing.” After saying this he stood up and went back to Zhao Jie’s line of sight. He could clearly feel Zhao Jie’s hostility towards him.

Although Song Hui spent most of his time at home studying, he was still aware of things that happened outside his home. At this time, he couldn’t help but think about certain rumors. The rumors said that Prince Jing favored and spoiled House Ying’s fourth miss without limits and often gave her gifts. Outsiders all thought that this was because of Princess Tianji. Wei Luo had a very good relationship with Princess Tianji and their ages were similar, so Zhao Jie probably thought of her as a younger sister and that was why he spoiled her. Song Hui also thought this was the reason originally, but from what he saw today, this didn’t seem entirely true.

Men understood other men’s way of thinking the best. Perhaps, Zhao Jie’s feelings toward Ah Luo weren’t as simple as what outsiders thought.

Song Hui smiled. His words were neither servile nor overbearing, “Ah Luo is delicate and this is also her first time staying overnight on a mountain. I was worried that she wouldn’t be used to staying here. It’s only natural that I should come here to check up on her.” He paused and then continued, “Besides, Ah Luo has been close to me since she was a child. Since she won’t be at uncle’s side these two days, as her older cousin, I should naturally be more attentive towards her.”

Zhao Jie looked at him without saying any words. There was clearly a smile on his lips, but his eyes were cold and held a swift and violent wind.

In a short while, he nodded as if he had a sudden thought. He changed the topic by asking, “This prince heard that Sir Song will also participate in the hunting. It’s unexpected that scholarly Sir Song also knows horse riding and archery. How is your archery skill? Would you be willing to compete with this prince tomorrow?

Hunting had always been a way for men to compete with each other. There was no reason for him to refuse. Without the slightest fear, Song Hui confidently accepted Zhao Jie’s challenge. “I’m honored that this prince thinks so highly of me. I’ll definitely accompany the prince to the very end, but my archery skill isn’t very good. I hope that the prince will be merciful tomorrow.”

Zhao Jie moved his hands behind his back and thought-provokingly smiled, “Sir Song must be joking. It wouldn’t be logical to surrender a prey that you fancy to another person in the hunting area.

Song Hui was blocked. He didn’t expect that Zhao Jie would be so frank. He didn’t have any words to say in response for a long time.

It went without saying whom he was referring to as prey. These two men were well aware and neither of them was willing to back down. After all, they had watched her grow from a young girl to a slender, elegant, and charming young woman. No one would be willing to give her up to another person.

However, this highly desired prey didn’t see the hidden emotional turbulence between these two men. She thought they were only talking about tomorrow’s hunting. As she ate the cherries covered in sweetened milk, she said, “Older brother Song Hui hasn’t used a bow in a long time. Are you sure that you’ll be okay?”

Hearing her being concerned about him, the melancholy in Song Hui’s heart was completely swept away. He rubbed her head and said, “Ah Luo, don’t worry. Older brother Song Hui won’t cause you to lose face.”

Wei Luo wasn’t worried about being humiliated. She was only worried about whether or not he would be able to cope with tomorrow’s hunting. He and Chang Hong’s level of horse riding and archery skills were about the same. If he couldn’t handle it, then Chang Hong probably wouldn’t be able to either. In the end, she was only asking because she was worried about Chang Hong.

She sincerely said, “You have to be careful. Don’t get hurt.”

Song Hui enjoyed her words and smiled as he said, “Okay.”

She also wanted to ask Song Hui to take care of Chang Hong, but before she could say those words, she saw that Zhao Jie was looking directly at her. The smile on his lips had become faint and his eyes were dark and gloomy for an unknown reason. Wei Luo was startled for a moment. Could she have said something wrong? Why was his expression so ugly? After she carefully thought about it, she added these too late words, “Older brother Prince Jing, don’t get hurt.”

Zhao Jie’s expression didn’t improve. She only paid attention to him after she was done being concerned about Song Hui. Was his position actually inferior to Song Hui’s?

Wei Luo didn’t have the slightest idea about his current thoughts. Seeing that he didn’t acknowledge or appreciate her words, she pursed her lips and lowered her head to silently eat the cherries.

Song Hui asked her if she was comfortable living here. She nodded and said she was. In addition, he asked her a few questions about her food and accommodations. She replied that everything was good. After he had asked her everything that should be asked, Song Hui didn’t have a reason to stay any longer, so he said his good-bye, “Since there isn’t anything else, I’ll go back to my own dwelling. If you need anything, tell me and I’ll send someone to do it.”

She nodded and expressed her thanks, “Older brother Song Hui, you’re busy with your own matters. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Song Hui turned around to leave. When he passed by Zhao Jie, he asked, “It’s not early anymore. Is the prince not leaving?”

Zhao Jie looked at him with a fake smile, “Liuli asked this prince to pass along a message to Ah Luo. This prince will leave after speaking to her.”

Song Hui didn’t have any words to say in response. He said his good-bye and left.

Ah Luo had already eaten half a small dish of cherries, so her lips had the sweetness of sugar. Hearing Zhao Jie’s words, she curiously asked, “What did Liuli want to say to me?”

They were finally the only two people in the garden. Zhao Jie walked closer to her, took a handkerchief from his sleeve to wipe the corners of her mouth, and answered her question with another question, “Do the cherries taste good?”

Wei Luo wasn’t sure she understood, so she blinked a few times before nodding and saying that the cherries tasted good.

Zhao Jie stared at her beautiful pink lips and quietly said, “This prince also wants to taste.”

She thought that he wanted to eat the cherries, so she pushed the small dish towards him, “Then eat some.”

The young girl had indeed grown up. When she was a child, she would innocently handfeed him candy. Now, she would only say, “Then eat some.” In the end, Zhao Jie didn’t eat. He stood up and said, “Ah Luo, you’re an adult now. You can’t let men freely enter your courtyard.”

Wei Luo froze for a moment, “Liuli asked you to tell me this?”

He smiled at her with some helplessness, “What do you think?”

She was so clever. It would be impossible for her to not understand his words.

Indeed, Wei Luo understood his words. He had used Liuli as an excuse. The important point was the words that he had just said. Her eyelashes trembled. For the first time ever, she didn’t agree. She refuted, “Older brother Song Hui isn’t another man. We’ve been engaged since I was a child.”

The hand that Zhao Jie had placed on the stone table tightened. He stared into her eyes.

If she wasn’t here and he wasn’t worried about her reaction, perhaps, he would have flipped over the stone table in the next moment.

——-

Early next morning, the hunting competition official began.

Before dawn had arrived, the sound of bugle horns could be heard on the mountain. There was a vast momentum and ear-splitting loudness as several dozens of fine horses rushed deeper into the mountain.

Wei Luo couldn’t fall back asleep after she was awaken by this noise, so she simply sat up and got out of bed to wash up. After she finished breakfast, she went to look for Liang Yu Rong. Ling Yu Rong had also woken up early and was preparing to go to the rear courtyard’s Zhan Yue Building to watch the hunting. Zhan Yue Building was at the back of the Jing He Villa and had a total of five floors.

(Note: Here’s what that type of building would look like.)

Standing at the fifth level, one could see the entire landscape of Zhang Xun Mountain. The field of view was excellent there, so it wouldn’t be a problem to watch the hunting from there. Accordingly, many young women went there to watch the outstanding young men.

Liang Yu Rong pulled her along, “Let’s go look. You might even be able to see your older brother Song Hui!”

Wei Luo embarrassedly smiled at her and didn’t say anything.

Yesterday, Zhao Jie had left after she said those words. When he left, there wasn’t the slightest trace of a smile on his face. He wasn’t in a good mood. She didn’t know why she had blurted out those words to him. When she had returned to her senses, it was to late.

As they walked, she suddenly remembered something. She said to Liang Yu Rong, “Oh right, could you let me see your older brother’s handwriting?”

Liang Yu Rong was quite puzzled, “My older brother’s style of writing is cursive script. Why do you want to see it? Aren’t you learning regular script?

Wei Luo had already thought of an excuse to say, “Recently, Teacher Xue has been teaching me how to write cursive script. I haven’t been able to write it well and I didn’t dare to ask the teacher for further instruction. I heard that Liang Yu is very skilled with cursive script, so I wanted to borrow something that he wrote to use as practice.

Most erudite people knew how to write in several different scripts and would teach their students these different scripts, so Wei Luo’s justification was reasonable enough. Liang Yu Rong had an expression on her face that showed that this request was difficult for her, “I didn’t bring anything when I came here this time. I can only give you his writing when I go back…”

Just as she finished saying this, she suddenly remembered, “My older brother had brought “Six Secret Strategic Teachings” here and he happened to have left it with me. It’s marked up with his handwriting on the margins. You can take it back with you to look!” As she said this, she had a servant girl go back to her room to get the book.

(Note: This book was one of the seven classical military books during ancient China.)

Soon, the servant girl came back with the book. Liang Yu Rong handed the book to Wei Luo, “You can take the book to look. Since he’s not in a hurry to read the book, you can return the book whenever you’re done with it.”

Wei Luo thanked her, handed the book over to Bai Lan, and had Bai Lan bring the book back to her room.

No one cared about this small incident.

Side by side, the two young women walked to Zhan Yue Building. There were already many young women upstairs. When they looked around, there were many familiar faces. In the center of the fifth floor, there were snacks on a small lacquered table inlayed with gold and decorated with spirals.

A fine rug covered the upper floors so that it was possible to sit on the ground. They could also stand behind the railings to see how the hunting was going.

There were intense and fierce struggles in the hunting ground. The sound of the horses had startled the animals in the forest. The animals were wildly fleeing everywhere. With smooth actions, a young man had lifted up the bows in his hands, put the arrow into the bow, aimed the arrow at his chosen prey, and suddenly let go of the arrow.

The arrow left the bow. There was a whizzing sound before it successfully hit the distant prey!

Liang Yu Rong said in surprise, “My older brother is amazing!”

There was a young man not far away from the sika deer. It was indeed Liang Yu Rong’s older brother, Liang Yu. The clothing that Liang Yu wore made him seem even taller and sturdier. He had been practicing martial art for many years, so his skin had darkened into a wheat color. His smile was bright and cheerful. Liang Yu had his horse walk forward, picked up his prey, and handed it over to a servant that was behind him. He clamped down on the horse, held onto the reins, and quickly disappeared into the forest. His heroic figure’s departure left behind unlimited fanciful thoughts and daydreams.

Wei Luo took back her line of sight and secretly looked at Li Xiang who was wearing an autumn colored dress.

Li Xiang didn’t move her eyes away from the direction that Liang Yu had departed. She didn’t even have any reaction when the young woman next to her said something. When the young woman had called her name three times, Li Xiang finally came back to her senses and asked, “What did you say?”

The young woman angrily scolded her, “Look. Look. Look. You only care about looking at him…”

Li Xiang swiftly stuffed a pea pastry into that young woman’s mouth so that she couldn’t continue speaking. That young woman was also someone that knew what appropriate behavior to show. She chewed the pastry, swallowed it down, didn’t continue her scolding, and went back to their previous topic.

Wei Luo returned her line of sight. A smile flashed through her eyes.

It didn’t matter if the military champion was or wasn’t Liang Yu in her previous life. Li Xiang was already interested in Liang Yu now.

——-

The first day of hunting didn’t end until 3-5pm.

One by one, the men came back from the forest. Every man had different successes with deer and rabbits. Since they still had to continue the competition tomorrow, the steward had prepare a banquet for tonight, so that everyone would eat and drink their fill and be able to make an all-out effort tomorrow.

The banquet would start at 5-7pm and would be held at the villa’s receiving room.

Wei Luo went to see Chang Hong. She was relieved when she saw that he wasn’t injured. She returned to her own courtyard, took out the book “Six Secret Strategic Teachings” that Liang Yu Rong had given her, and flipped to a page that had Liang Yu’s handwriting. She sat down on a bench, carefully looked over handwriting for a short period of time, had Jin Lu bring her a brush, and followed Liang Yu’s handwriting for a model as she imitated his handwriting to write…