Chapter 3 The sky was slightly bright, and Xia Yu knelt on the mat precariously, his eyes bloodshot, a few strands of messy hair

The sky was slightly bright, and Xia Yu knelt precariously on the mat, his eyes bloodshot, a few strands of hair soaked with cold sweat and stuck to his face.

"Miss, Miss, it's daybreak, please get up quickly. If you keep kneeling down you might hurt yourself. The head of the family would be heartbroken when he knew." The housekeeper stood by with a look of heartache on his face. He didn't know whether to help her or not, so he could only persuade her in a low voice.

Only after hearing the notification in her mind that the system had completed the task did Xia Yu heave a sigh of relief. She hummed in a muffled voice, supported the hand extended by the housekeeper, and pretended to get up.

The piercing pain in his knee spread like a surging tide, penetrating the long-numbed nerves. Xia Yu hissed softly, subconsciously grasped the butler's arm, and then slowed down his strength in an instant.

Her stiff legs were like an old clockwork puppet, and she limped out. She was sweating profusely after just a few steps.

She did not let the system completely block her perception of pain, which made her feel comfortable at the moment, but relying on it for too long would not be good.

Xia Yu lowered his head and kept encouraging himself in his heart. As he walked, a black shadow suddenly appeared on the ground.

Before Xia Yu could react, the system in his mind suddenly screamed: "Chen Zheng, it's Chen Zheng, why is she here? There is no such scene in the novel."

"Could it be that she was so angry last night that she wanted to teach you a lesson today?"

Xia Yu raised her head stiffly, quickly putting away her grinning expression, and withdrew her hand that was supporting the housekeeper's arm as if nothing had happened. She slowly straightened up and stood up normally, not wanting Chen Zheng to see her in such an embarrassed state.

It was just a series of small movements that were intended to cover up the truth, like a cool little black cat baring its teeth at her, but making soft meowing sounds.

I don't know what touched Chen Zheng's funny bone, but the fatigue from dealing with trivial matters day and night was relieved and a smile appeared on her face.

The housekeeper carefully observed Chen Zheng's expression, and seeing that she was in a good mood, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief, just hoping that Miss Chen was not here to settle accounts with the young lady.

She respectfully called her Miss Shen, and took advantage of Xia Yu's pulling away of her hand to leave. It was obvious that she wanted to create some space for the two of them to be alone together, so that they could get to know each other better, so as not to be like enemies when they met.

Hey, don't go, don't leave her here alone. Xia Yu forced himself to keep calm, staring at the housekeeper's back as he walked faster and faster.

"Why, are you afraid of me?" Chen Zheng lowered her eyes and looked at her, raised her eyebrows, and said with a smile, but the slightly raised eyebrows always had a provocative meaning.

Xia Yu subconsciously raised her head, her tired drooping eyelids lifted, her eyes were like falling stars, the stars twinkled with pride, she raised her voice and replied: "You think too much, Chen Zheng."

Chen Zheng nodded nonchalantly, as if responding to her reply. As Xia Yu's breathing became heavier, she took out a small box of ointment from her pocket and threw it to Xia Yu.

"Wipe it off. The bruises won't go away in the next few days. Don't hide in a corner and cry secretly when it hurts in the next few days."

"Who are you talking about? I won't cry secretly." Xia Yu leaned forward and took the ointment. Due to the huge amplitude, he felt tingling and numb all over his body. Before he could even cry out in pain, he turned back to Chen Zheng without thinking.

Under Shen Zheng's gaze, she sat down on the chair and carefully rolled up her trouser legs, her white fingertips trembling slightly.

She seemed to have thought of something, raised her head and looked at Chen Zheng brightly, wondering: "But how did you know?" Chen Zheng glanced at Xia Yu's gossipy expression with a smile. Doesn't she hate her now?

Chen Zheng was silent for a while. Seeing Xia Yu's curious eyes almost glued to her, she looked into the distance and said softly, "When he was young, he was restless and tried to overshadow the eldest son of the Shen family and snatch the position of heir from him."

Chen Zheng clicked his tongue with extreme disdain, narrowed his eyes, and said in a cold voice: "The more they don't let me get it, the more I want to get it, even if I have to snatch it away. After all, I'm much better than that useless brother who is a dozen years older than me, am I not?" The originally strong and cold face seemed particularly unruly at this moment.

She obviously didn't want Xia Yu to answer, she just kept talking to herself, tilted her head to look at Xia Yu beside her, and seeing that Xia Yu still didn't have any special reaction, she twitched the corner of her mouth. But she didn't say anything else.

She is not really her daughter. She has done the most she can so far, and she will not interfere in what happens next.

Seeing that her fingers were stained with ointment and she was hesitant and didn't dare to start, Chen Zheng frowned. How long would she delay like this?

She sighed, and finally compromised, saying stiffly: "You can't even apply the medicine, come here."

Before Xia Yu could react, Chen Zheng grabbed her ankles and placed her calves on her thighs. One hand firmly restrained her moving thighs, and the other hand was covered with ointment.

The knee was swollen and red like a ripe cherry about to burst, with a dark black center and blue veins running through the swollen area. The injury was shocking to look at.

How could it be so serious? He is indeed a spoiled child, so delicate and pampered.

"Hold on, I won't comfort you if you cry."

Her bony fingers paused for a moment, then gently dropped the ointment, which spread on her fingertips and skin, slowly dissolving the bruise on Xia Yu's knee.

The slightly cool touch made Xia Yu shiver. She pursed her lips, clenched her teeth, and beads of sweat instantly oozed out of her forehead. The raised blue blood vessels on her temples throbbed violently. Her body trembled, and she tightly grasped the sleeve of Chen Zheng's clothes that fell from under her raised arm.

In the silent space, the only sound was Xia Yu's heavy breathing, as if every nerve in her body was telling her that she would not cry.

Not until Chen Zheng stopped did Xia Yu look up in a trance. Chen Zheng's originally clear face became blurred under the mist of sweat.

"Yeah, you didn't cry." Chen Zheng glanced at her lightly, slightly curved her eyes, as if praising her. Then, she walked out without looking back.

Xia Yu blinked and looked at Chen Zheng's back. She seemed to smell a faint sandalwood scent on her.

It was not until Xia Yu lay on the soft big bed and stretched comfortably that the system, which had disappeared since Chen Zheng appeared, reappeared.

"Host, it was so scary. I thought the villain was going to beat you up. I was afraid that making a sound would cause you to malfunction and cause the plot to deviate. Fortunately, thanks to the host's intelligence, nothing went wrong." The system breathed a sigh of relief in a humane way.

Xia Yu nodded perfunctorily. The system was unaware of it and was happily flying around in Xia Yu's mind, trying to attract his attention.

"Ding ding ding, let's calculate the degree of restoration this time. Punching the protagonist, making him feel angry and humiliated, the key task node is completed. The basic score is 80 points. ... I didn't say all the lines in the novel to the villain, making him furious, so I deducted 30 points... The overall score is 50 points."

The system reported the statistics according to the regulations. Seeing that the final score had reached the passing line, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

The system cheerfully said "yes". Xia Yu, who was drowsy after hearing her words, said softly, "The host must be tired. Go to bed early."

"According to the original book's plot, Chen Zheng and Shen Tingyu have been busy scheming against each other these days, so the host doesn't have a role to play. You can relax and get familiar with the surrounding environment."

According to the plot, Chen Zheng would have left the Xia family yesterday. Although there are some deviations, it shouldn't be a big problem.

Xia Yu buried his face in the quilt and mumbled in response.

Under the scorching sun, the girl was wearing a neat riding outfit: a slim white shirt with a red leather vest, black breeches that fit her legs, and shiny long riding boots.

She jumped onto the horse's back, gently lifted the reins in her hand, squeezed her legs hard, and tapped the horse's belly with the heels of her boots. The tall and mighty white horse raised its front hooves and neighed.

"Xiao Tongzi, is it really okay?"

"Host, rest assured. As the chosen one, you have a certain degree of similarity with the original owner. This similarity includes life, appearance, family background, life experience, etc. If you are proficient in riding, the original owner will not be bad either."

After the serious explanation, the system looked at the huge grassland in front of it with a bright look: "I haven't raced horses yet."

After getting a clear answer, Xia Yu smiled brilliantly, leaned forward, held the reins in one hand and whipped the horse with the other, and with a loud neigh, the white horse galloped forward like lightning.

The wind sprayed wildly on Xia Yu's face, and she laughed out loud.

"Xiao Tongzi, do you want it to go faster?"

“Yes, yes, yes, wow, this is so exciting.”

Upon hearing this, Xia Yu pulled the reins hard a few times and continued to run around the horse field at an irregular pace.

At the horse farm, several professionals were staring at the girl's figure, and the housekeeper in the front was looking gently at Xia Yu who was having fun on the pasture.

As soon as Chen Zheng stepped into the horse farm, she looked up and saw the red figure. The girl in red riding a horse galloped on the pasture, like a burning flame, instantly attracting all her attention.

That bright red against the backdrop of the green grass and the blue sky is like a brilliant flash of lightning, blazing with heat, setting everything in its path ablaze.

Under the scorching sun, beads of sweat the size of beans ran down her slender neck, soaking her white shirt. Her hair hung wetly on her cheeks, and the veins on her arms holding the reins bulged.

Chen Zheng seemed to see a vivid and colorful soul running happily on the horse field.

Xia Yu waved to the housekeeper. Her hands holding the reins were left with red marks from the intense friction, but she smiled brilliantly, wanton and fearless.

Chen Zheng blinked rapidly, and she took back her previous conclusion. Although Xia Qiyuan was a pedantic old antique, he had raised her very well. She was not squeamish. On the contrary, she was very... very...

Chen Zheng didn't know what words to use to describe her. At that moment, she felt as if her heart was being clenched by an invisible hand, astringent and swollen, but not unpleasant.

Boom, boom, boom, she actually heard her own heartbeat, swaying in the wind along with her high ponytail.

She thought vaguely that if she were to be raised by her, she would definitely be more brilliant.