Chapter 7
On the day of spring plowing, all the officials followed His Majesty from the previous court. The families of the court officials made their own arrangements, and Xie Qinghong went out of the city with her mother by carriage. However, she had gotten up too early and was a little sleepy, so she leaned on her mother's shoulder and dozed off.
"Auntie, why didn't you sleep well last night?"
Xie Qinghong, still half asleep, replied, "I had a nightmare. I dreamt that I fell into a mud pit, and someone laughed at me."
Liang Yu chuckled, patted her head, and told her to sleep a little longer. When they arrived, he woke her up and said, "It's time to get up. Go for a walk to clear your head. There are a lot of people today, so don't go too far."
Xie Qinghong patted her face before getting out of the car. She happened to see Cui Luo and her two cousins standing not far away. When Cui Luo saw her arrive, she waved to her.
"Ah Yao, come here quickly! It's so lively today. I was wondering how to find you later, but luckily I saw you here."
Xie Qinghong called out "Sister A'Luo" and then snuggled up to her without moving. Cui Luo indulged her and led her to a less crowded area. She then whispered to her who had come today and what to be careful of. The last sentence was: "That Prince of the South is indeed outstanding in appearance. He is no less impressive than your brother."
Xie Qinghong snapped her eyes open, her gaze sweeping across the rice paddy. His Majesty hadn't arrived yet. The Prince of the South, Pei, stood on the edge of the paddy, still dressed in black, with narrow sleeves and long boots, making him appear tall, slender, and long-legged. Of course, Xie Qingzhou beside him wasn't bad either, well, but something seemed to be missing.
Xie Qinghong thought about it carefully and felt that he was probably lacking a bit of a halo. The halo of the invincible devil king he once was had been shattered.
The two stood together, attracting the attention of countless young girls. Then, two more passed by, the two young men from the Qin family, both outstanding and distinguished, some refined and gentle, others heroic and extraordinary.
Xie Qinghong's mind raced, and he quickly looked for Zheng Yingluo. He couldn't find her near Qin Erlang and couldn't help but sigh, "The rumors... misled me!" Wasn't that Zheng Yingluo wearing the Yingluo necklace near Qin Erlang? Wait, who's that young man in blue over there? Isn't that Song Lingxi?!
Song Lingxi, dressed as a man, looked quite handsome. Perhaps due to her improved skills, her attire today made her appear genderless, giving the impression of a somewhat naive young man.
Xie Qinghong then saw Song Lingxi and Zheng Yingluo standing together, chatting and laughing for a bit. Cui Luo thought that the seventh daughter of the Zheng family had fallen for a stranger and sighed, "It's good that she's moved on."
Xie Qinghong: ...
Before long, Emperor Xingde arrived at the Jitian field with his officials. The agricultural officials chanted prayers to Heaven and Earth, praying for favorable weather. Emperor Xingde personally plowed the field and walked back and forth in the field. Afterwards, it was likely that princes, dukes, and ministers who plowed the field.
But there were so many people today that Xie Qinghong was squeezed out of a good spot as soon as she turned around to straighten her skirt. It turned out that after the kings and nobles, many young men from aristocratic families had gone to work in the fields. They were all young men in their prime, and their every move was elegant and unrestrained, attracting everyone's attention.
Xie Qinghong tiptoed to look, but didn't see Cui Luo; there was a huge crowd in front of her. She looked away and was about to move to another spot when the crowd in front of her suddenly moved backward. Someone stepped on her shoe, and she quickly followed suit, only to find herself in a mud puddle. Although she didn't step into it, her skirt got covered in a large patch of mud.
She frowned, seeing so many people around her, and had no choice but to leave the crowd to find a nearby stream to wash off the mud. At this moment, most people were gathered around the arbor or on the viewing platform, and she was the only one walking towards the stream.
Xie Qinghong took a closer look and recognized that the person in front was Prince Pei. Yes, Prince Pei was personally plowing the fields on behalf of the Prince of Nan, which put him on the same level as princes and nobles. He should be washing his hands by the stream now that he has finished. But in principle, after spring plowing, princes and nobles are served water and handkerchiefs by their guards. Why is this person not using them?
Seeing that Prince Pei had squatted down by the stream and started washing his hands in the flowing water, Xie Qinghong thought about his annoying deeds, and a surge of old and new grudges welled up in her heart. She changed her mind, saw that there was no one downstream, and walked a few steps upstream from Prince Pei. Then she put her muddy skirt into the stream and let the water wash away the mud. The muddy water flowed downstream.
While washing herself, she secretly glanced at Pei a few steps away out of the corner of her eye. Sure enough, she saw him frowning and putting one hand on his knee, refusing to wash.
Xie Qinghong felt relieved and slowly washed the skirt clean. She wasn't in a hurry when she heard no one around her. Anyway, she would be changing the skirt back in the carriage soon, so she was going to scrub it to pieces here!
"Oh no, there's a snake in the water."
Xie Qinghong didn't hear clearly and turned to ask, "What's in the water?"
In that instant when she turned her head, she caught a glimpse of a long, thin, and crooked water snake struggling to swim upstream in the crystal-clear stream!
"Water snake!" Xie Qinghong exclaimed in surprise, so startled by the sudden scene that he couldn't even squat down properly. His legs buckled, and his knee hit a rock by the stream. He cried out in pain, "Hiss—"
Pei, who was standing nearby, actually went down into the stream wearing long boots and bent down to catch the snake.
Xie Qinghong imagined that the snake would be thrown at him as soon as he grabbed it. Ignoring his embarrassment, he quickly covered his face with his hands and warned, "If you dare to throw the snake at me, I'll call my brother to beat you up!"
Pei spoke slowly, "Didn't we already beat him up?"
"That's my elder brother. Call me elder brother this time. My elder brother's swordsmanship is exceptional!"
"Ah... what should I do? My brother is an uneducated and incompetent man."
"Ha, then you just wait! My elder brother is a man of great learning, skilled in both literature and martial arts!"
"Alas, I cannot compare. My elder brother is frail and illiterate."
Xie Qinghong felt the comparison was off, and suspected the man was doing it on purpose. She slowly peeked out half of her face; it was backlit and hard to see clearly, but she could see that Pei was holding a long object. She gasped. How dare this man?
Just as she was about to take a closer look, she saw the person raise their hand as if to throw something at her. She didn't have time to dodge and only felt some water droplets splash on the back of her hand, and some water droplets landed on her eyelashes and slowly trickled down her cheeks.
Upon closer inspection, the long object was still in Pei's hand; he had clearly just deliberately flung water at her to scare her!
Xie Qinghong jumped to her feet, glaring angrily at Pei. Pei looked at her with some surprise: "Why are you crying?"
"You're the one who cried!" Xie Qinghong squatted down, scooped up a handful of water, and splashed it on Pei Shizi's face. The water soaked Pei Shizi's temples and dripped down his eyelashes, eventually flowing down his chin.
This splash made her realize that what he held in his hand wasn't a water snake at all, but a hemp rope. She had actually been fooled by a hemp rope.
"You! You liar!" Xie Qinghong was furious. "Your evil deeds are outrageous!"
Pei casually tossed the hemp rope onto the shore, strolled ashore, his clothes and boots soaking wet, yet he remained nonchalant.
Intimidated by his imposing presence, Xie Qinghong quietly took two steps back, preparing to run if things went wrong. However, there should be guards nearby, and if she shouted, someone would surely come... Before she could finish her thought, a voice rang out from somewhere, "Assassin! Protect the Emperor!"
She instinctively turned around to find the source of the sound, but because the stream was far away, she could only hear the sound of swords clashing in the distance, and could not see anything because the forest blocked her view.
"Be careful." Behind her, Prince Pei took out his longsword from somewhere, stepped forward, and held the sword in front of her to stop her subconscious steps. His voice floated lightly in her ear, "Your parents are both guarded, your elder brother and your cousin are both highly skilled in martial arts, but you only have me by your side now. You need to take good care of yourself."
Xie Qinghong calmed down and followed him quickly toward an open area. But today was clearly not as simple as encountering a villain. An assassin saw the two alone, a thin-looking young master from a noble family and a frail girl, who looked like hostages from head to toe.
The assassin swung his knife, but Pei Du parried with his sword, kicked the assassin away, and grabbed Xie Qinghong's wrist as they ran. Xie Qinghong's skirt was slightly in the way, causing her to stumble and fall, panting heavily. After running for a while, she looked back and saw that the assassin, unwilling to give up, had chased after them again with his knife!
"Phew, does this assassin...do you have a grudge against him?"
Pei, without even breaking a sweat, replied, "I've only been in Wangjing for half a month, how could I have made enemies?"
Seeing the assassin about to catch up, Pei Du pulled Xie Qinghong behind him to shield him, grabbed the scabbard with one hand, drew the blade with the other, and thrust it forward, severing the assassin's throat in one strike. The black-clad assassin fell to the ground, his eyes filled with resentment, the blood trickling from his neck staining the tips of the newly sprouting grass blades in the soil.
Xie Qinghong's eyes widened until a hand gently covered her face. "Don't look."
With her view obstructed, only one thought lingered in her mind: No wonder my brother lost the sword fight, he really couldn't win...
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