Chapter 37 – Competition (1)
Ye Zhen got off the horse and went with Lu Xiangzhi to fetch the gray rabbit that had been shot. However, she shared one attribute of her sister Lu Yaoyao, they are both afraid of blood. As she neared the rabbit, she called out for Lu Xiangzhi. “Brother, please pick it for me!”
“Why haven’t you changed your fear of blood?” Liu Xiangzhi teased her, looked her up and down, whispered to her ear, “Yao Yao, I found you look a lot better today. It seems that you are indeed suitable to be called as the monkey of the capital.”
Ye Zhen gave him an angry look. “I am a great beauty!”
Lu Xiangzhi burst out laughing and shook his head. He tapped the temples of Ye Zhen who appeared to be sulking and said, “Come, I’ll take you hunting with me!”
“Ahem.” Lu Ling’s gentle cough reminded them not to be too complacent and forgetful, while others were watching them.
His eyes rested on Ye Zhen. The younger miss Lu seemed to have never smiled at him like this. The genuinely happy smile from the heart made her look bright. Even though her skin was not fair enough, she still made people reluctant to remove her eyes from her face.
“Eldest brother, you are here.” Lu Xiangzhi paid a courtesy on his trip. “I’ll take Yao Yao to hunt there. We won’t disturb you any longer.”
“Lingzhi, she’s your cousin,, eh?” Tang Zhen’s calculating eyes fell at Ye Zhen. He couldn’t be mistaken, the little girl called Lu Xiangzhi her brother which makes her a relative of his pal, Lu Lingzhi!
Lu Lingzhi just remembered at this moment that he has not yet introduced Ye Zhen. “My fourth brother and third sister just came back from the Border town.”
“Sister?” As soon as Tang Zhen heard of this, his eyes lit up, he immediately looked at Ye Zhen with a laugh, “Miss Lu is good at riding and archery!”
The smile on the corners of Ye Zhen’s mouth narrowed a little, and she gave him a courtesy. “Many thanks.” was her timid reply.
“Third sister, shall we have a competition?” This made Ye Zhen threw a withering look at Tang Zhen, showing that she was not impressed by his audacity to call her his sister. My, this man was a tough job!
Instead of answering, she turned her head to Lu Xiangzhi. She was only a girl raised in a boudoir. Faced with such an invitation, she naturally asked her brother to intervene and let his opinion be heard.
Regrettably, Lu Xiangzhi’s impression of Lu Yaoyao was that she never cared about the vulgarity of these competitions. He only thought his sister wanted to join but was too afraid of being scolded by their mother. He deemed the look she gave him as not a helpless look but rather, a yearn for approval!
“It’s all right. Brother is with you. Let them see what you can do!” Lu Xiangzhi winked at Ye Zhen, thinking that he just did her a favor where in fact, it was the other way around. When they were in the Border town, they often went out to hunt with others without telling Pei Shi. This would not be different.
Ye Zheng stared at him, absolutely a frustrated. She didn’t mean that at all. She had no interest in spending the festival with these people, let alone participating in a competition instigated by a man driven by his pride!
“By all means, let Yao Yao compete against him.” Lu Lingzhi said encouragingly.
Ye Zhen glanced at Tang Zhen lightly. She was not blind. Naturally, she saw that this Tang Zhen wanted to please her intentionally and so, he approached her. “It’s alright to have a competition, but what is the price for the victor?”
“What do you want third sister?” asked Tang Zhen in his sly voice.
Ye Zhen couldn’t take more of his boldness. She found him repulsive, his bearing not reflecting his docile and pleasant appearance. “Don’t call me sister so casually. My brothers are here.”
Tang Zhen was not angered either. Instead, he grinned. “Lu Lingzhi and I are sworn brothers, and his sister is naturally my sister too!”
Ye Zhen looked at him coldly and noticed one thing. A silver whip which glinted from catching the rich rays of the sun was pinned to his waist. “If I win, you will lose that silver whip to me.”