Chapter 6 Horseback Riding
But he overlooked that the girl on his back would not be so easily obedient.
“Hey!”
A young man's cry of pain suddenly rang out in the corridor.
"Let go!"
Lu Qian was in pain and angry, and his steps began to stagger involuntarily.
"No! You go first!"
Song Lingyi grabbed his ear with one hand and strangled his neck with the other.
Neither of them was willing to give in, and the situation remained deadlocked.
"Lingyi?"
Until a puzzled and surprised voice sounded behind them, both of them stiffened their backs slightly, stopped moving, and slowly turned their heads to look back.
Where the long corridor met the gravel path, a crowd of people stood. The first person Song Lingyi saw wasn't Pei Zhao, but the man next to him, wearing a crimson jacquard brocade robe.
The man was dignified and tall, his figure standing tall. His brocade robe was embroidered with intricate python patterns in silver thread, and most of his long, jet-black hair was tied up high with a jade crown, giving him the appearance of a gentle and elegant gentleman. But Song Lingyi was very familiar with that face; it was clearly the bandit leader of Hutou Village!
Their eyes met.
It's quiet all around.
Song Lingyi didn't know whether Shen Wuhui recognized her or not, but at this moment she really wanted Lu Qian to carry her away, so as to avoid exposing her past as a beggar after a confrontation.
From a distance not too far away, Xiao Mingyi looked at the girl with a calm expression. When his eyes passed over the boy, he became a little interested.
The young man's jaw was taut, his brows were as cold as ice, and he stared straight at the person he was looking at, revealing an inexplicable hostility.
The atmosphere inexplicably became weird.
Pei Zhao coughed lightly and bowed to the Crown Prince, apologizing, "Your Highness, please do not blame me. These two are the young master and cousin of the Duke of Jin's residence. We did not know that the Crown Prince would be passing by, so we behaved inappropriately."
After that, he said to the two people in front of him, "A Qian, Ling Yi, why don't you come over and pay your respects to the Crown Prince."
Your Highness the Crown Prince?
Song Lingyi was completely petrified.
It was absurd enough that she met the bandit leader in Pei's house, and now she was told that the bandit leader was the prince. It was simply ridiculous.
Lu Qian patted Song Lingyi's arm that was around his neck and said calmly, "Let go."
Song Lingyi came to her senses and withdrew her hand, and Lu Qian also knelt down and put her down.
In contrast to the girl's panic, the young man slowly brushed off his slightly wrinkled sleeves and bowed, "Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince."
"No need to be so formal."
With the presence of his ministers, Xiao Mingyi naturally didn't care too much. He smiled gently and said, "So it's the young master and his cousin from the Duke's Mansion. They have a good relationship, but they still need to be careful in public."
When the word "brother and sister" was mentioned, Lu Qian's eyes turned slightly cold and he said, "Your Highness, don't worry about it."
Xiao Mingyi glanced at the girl who was looking down like a quail, and said with a curled lip, "This cousin looks familiar. I think I've seen her somewhere."
“…”
Song Lingyi was shocked and slowly raised her eyes, thinking secretly in her heart, what should she do if Shen Wuhui pointed out that she was a beggar in public.
As for Xu Er's death, I don't know if Shen Wuhui found out that it was related to her.
After two moments of silence, Pei Zhao spoke first: "Lingyi has just arrived in Kyoto. Perhaps His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has made a mistake."
"Oh?" Xiao Mingyi raised his eyebrows, his tone meaningful. "Before I entered the capital, I met a woman and took her with me. Unfortunately, she set fire to the house in the dark and windy night and ran away. This girl bears some resemblance to her, but her temperament and dress are much better. I must have made a mistake."
These few words made everyone fall silent.
The ministers were astonished that the prince, who had always been pure and unselfish, said that he had had a woman by his side; Lu Qian glanced at Song Lingyi and thought of the first layer of the dream. The opportunity for the two of them to get together was earlier than he thought; Pei Zhao heard the deep meaning in the prince's words, his eyes dimmed and no emotion could be seen.
Song Lingyi's lips were slightly open, her pupils were trembling, and she was completely frozen in place.
I can't figure out whether Shen Wuhui is holding a grudge against her for running away, or is just trying to spread rumors. She was in Hutou Village, clean and honest, diligent, working like a slave, and their relationship was not so ambiguous!
"Since you have admitted your mistake, Your Highness the Crown Prince, if you have nothing else to say, we will take our leave first." Lu Qian's face was even colder than his tone. He held Song Lingyi's arm with one hand and took her away from this dangerous place.
…
The horse farm of Pei Mansion is about the size of a football field, and there are several chestnut horses in the stable.
The little episode just now disturbed Song Lingyi's mind. She followed Lu Qian absent-mindedly and didn't even hear what he was saying.
Suddenly, my forehead pressed against a warm wall of flesh.
Song Lingyi looked up in a daze, and met Lu Qian's deep gaze.
"What are you thinking about?" He frowned slightly.
"...Nothing." Song Lingyi lowered her eyes and pursed her lips.
Looking at her face, she doesn't look like anything is wrong.
Lu Qian took a deep breath, knowing that given their current relationship, asking her to be honest with him would be like a fantasy, so he didn't intend to force her to get the truth.
She pressed her thin lips into a straight line and said calmly, "Pick one."
"What do you want to pick?"
Song Lingyi had just regained consciousness and was clearly not in the right state of mind.
Lu Qian drooped his eyelids and looked at her expressionlessly, as if to say, "Are you kidding me?"
At that moment, a low humming sounded beside her ears. Song Lingyi tilted her head and noticed that there was a stable next to her. No wonder she kept smelling a strange odor.
"I don't know how to ride a horse. Is there anything docile?"
The horseman patted one of the horses and said with a smile, "This mare is the most docile. It was tamed by the Second Young Master himself. Miss Song can ride this one."
Without waiting for Song Lingyi to agree, Lu Qian raised his hand and pointed at another chestnut horse, "Bring that horse out."
"Didn't you let me choose?" Song Lingyi frowned unhappily.
Lu Qian tilted his head slightly, his lips curled lazily, and his tone was leisurely: "So what? I'm the one teaching you, and I have the final say on what horse to choose."
"..." Song Lingyi curled the corners of her mouth downwards.
What do you mean he has the final say? It's obvious that he knew that the horse was trained by Pei Zhao and deliberately didn't let her choose.
"Small-minded." She muttered under her breath.
The servant had just led another chestnut horse out of the stable when he heard a burst of laughter and noise not far away.
Song Lingyi turned her head and glanced over casually.
Five or six well-dressed young men came together, looking relatively young. The leader was waving a folding fan and walking with a swagger. It was obvious that he was of the same ilk as Lu Qian, but without his handsome features.
"Yo."
The young man, waving a folding fan, whistled softly and said, "That's the young master. I didn't see you in the East Courtyard just now. It turns out you brought the girl to the stables."
As soon as he finished speaking, the group of people burst into laughter for no apparent reason.
"Young Master, you don't even bother with women in Jinzun Tower, so how come you're still interested in riding with me today?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? She's the young master's cousin." One of them had seen Song Lingyi at the Lu family banquet and had some impression of her.
"Oh~ cousin."
Seeing them making intriguing expressions, Song Lingyi frowned slightly and felt instinctively disgusted.
Lu Qian didn't respond, still looking indifferent. He lowered his eyes to glance at the girl's face, knowing that she didn't like being discussed like this. He put his tongue in his cheek and glanced coldly at the group of young men.
Without saying a word, he told them to shut up.
"Let's go." Lu Qian stuffed the reins into Song Lingyi's hands, drawing her attention back. "Get on the horse, I'll take you for a ride."
Song Lingyi nodded, planted one foot firmly in the stirrup, and began to clumsily climb onto the horse's back. By the time she was there, she was exhausted, with beads of sweat dripping from the tip of her nose.
In contrast, Lu Qian jumped onto the horse easily without even breaking a sweat.
The two of them rode their horses in circles along the edge of the horse farm.
With her back pressed against the boy's warm chest, Song Lingyi felt her spine tighten and she didn't dare to move.
They rode three laps in total. During the ride, apart from talking about some key points of horse riding, Lu Qian didn't say anything else irrelevant, as if he really wanted to teach Song Lingyi how to ride a horse.
A quarter of an hour later, Lu Qian pulled the reins to a halt and asked, "Do you understand?"
"I hear... you understand, right?" Song Lingyi answered hesitantly.
In fact, she had ridden a horse a few times. She was fine at a slow pace, but she would be scared if it went faster.
"Then try riding it."
Lu Qian is not the kind of "parent" who is unwilling to let go when teaching. When he asked her to ride a circle by herself, she immediately jumped off the horse without any hesitation.
"Ah?" Song Lingyi panicked and pulled the reins tighter, "What if I fall?"
"Don't worry, the horses in the Pei Mansion are all tamed and won't get angry easily. Besides, I'm here to watch over them, so what are you afraid of?"
Lu Qian said it calmly, but Song Lingyi had no idea at all.
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