Chapter 24
Ning Qingxi waved her hand: "It's still a long way off. We need to finish dealing with things here first. Let's talk about it later."
Huo Yanci wisely refrained from saying anything more, and simply asked, "Do you have anything planned for this afternoon?"
"Probably not, why?"
"Nothing much, I just want to ask you to go out and have some fun."
When it comes to going out to play, Huo Yanci thinks Ning Qingxi is more fun than others. To be precise, even just sitting next to Ning Qingxi seems much more fun than sitting next to other people.
Ning Qingxi wasn't one to spoil the mood, so he immediately chimed in. At the courtyard gate, Huo Yanci gave her the riding clothes as well.
Ning Qingxi: "..."
She flung the garment open with a whoosh and asked, "Were you out of your mind when you made this?"
Huo Yanci countered, "Don't you like it?"
Ning Qingxi: "...I like your grandpa!"
Huo Yanci burst into laughter.
Ning Qingxi gritted her teeth as she stared at the riding clothes.
The fabric is good, the size is tailored to her figure, and the style is also good, but there is one thing that is not very satisfactory.
This garment is grass green; you can imagine how difficult it must be to wash after rolling around in the dirt.
Huo Yanci, that inhuman thing, was still fanning the flames from the side: "Remember the green silk skirt, everywhere you look, you cherish the fragrant grass [1]."
As soon as the ten words left his mouth, a shoe print appeared on his pants, and Huo Yanci was completely satisfied.
In the afternoon, Ning Qingxi went out dressed in grass green, while Huo Yanci wore a dark gray outfit, which made her look even taller and made the red mole under her eye even more striking.
Ning Qingxi was momentarily distracted. When Huo Yanci came over, she asked, "Has anyone ever told you that you have an exceptionally good appearance, an exceptionally beautiful appearance?"
"Do you need to tell me?" Huo Yanci was beautiful and self-aware, and had a great deal of self-knowledge.
Huo Yanci strode forward, with Ning Qingxi following behind him, giggling, "What's wrong, are you shy?"
Huo Yanci remained aloof and unmoved, letting Ning Qingxi go crazy, until they left the work area.
The two horses stood side by side, their sizes indistinguishable. Ning Qingxi stood there, her entire body enveloped by the horses' shadows.
She turned to look at Huo Yanci: "Have you grown so much?"
Huo Yanci nodded: "Kids grow so fast, they change every day. Haven't you been wanting to ride a big horse for a while?"
Ning Qingxi wasn't particularly skilled at riding, relying entirely on the horse's good temperament. As a result, the two quickly got along, and in less than fifteen minutes, Ning Qingxi was already quite adept at it. With a "whoosh," she stopped in front of Huo Yanci: "How about it? Don't I have a natural talent for riding?"
Huo Yanci smiled and clapped his hands: "Miss Ning is indeed exceptionally talented."
"You're not bad either."
"Where are we going to ride?" Huo Yanci asked. "Back to the horse farm?"
“No, let’s go to the mountain behind us,” Ning Qingxi said, pointing to the barren mountain behind them.
The boundless green stretches all the way to where it meets the sky, with the green and blue clearly defined, clean and clear.
Huo Yanci spurred the horse's belly, and the horse immediately headed in that direction. By the time Ning Qingxi reacted, Huo Yanci had already run quite a distance. She angrily scolded Huo Yanci for his lack of martial ethics while hurriedly following him. The two walked in that direction one after the other until they could no longer see anyone around. Then, Ning Qingxi suddenly said, "Huo Yanci, I have something to tell you."
Huo Yanci was closing her eyes to feel the wind when she heard her speak. She opened her eyes and asked, "What do you want to say?"
Ning Qingxi waved her hand as if she had discovered some incredible secret: "Come a little closer."
Her heart was pounding like a rabbit, and she couldn't find peace as Huo Yanci walked closer with a reluctant expression.
Huo Yanci walked slowly to her side. He had seen her bright eyes early in the morning, so he deliberately walked slowly to test her patience. When they finally arrived, he said, "Can you tell me now?"
Ning Qingxi said, "Lower your head."
Huo Yanci lowered her head in disbelief, only to feel something soft brush against her cheek. Her eyes widened slightly, and she turned her head in disbelief, meeting Ning Qingxi's blushing face.
"you……"
"Huo Yanci, do you still mean what you said before about liking me?" Ning Qingxi was initially a little embarrassed to say this, but once she got started, she was willing to say anything. So she decided to go all out and blurted it all out, "Anyway, there's no one here. If you don't have those feelings for me anymore, just pretend nothing happened..."
Suddenly, Huo Yanci's face loomed large in her field of vision, and Ning Qingxi's unfinished words were all conveyed through her. Her mind went blank, and all she could see were Huo Yanci's closed eyes and the bright red mole under her eye.
By the time she remembered that she should close her eyes when kissing, Huo Yanci had already let go of her, rubbed her lips with his thumb, and said, "Don't hold it in."
Ning Qingxi then realized that she had not only forgotten to close her eyes, but also forgotten to breathe.
But she couldn't lose face, so she retorted, "Who's holding their breath? Am I not allowed to practice holding my breath?"
It would have been better if she hadn't said anything. As soon as she did, Huo Yanci turned her head away and laughed, showing no respect whatsoever. Ning Qingxi, a complete novice in love, felt like she had lost all face and dignity, and she turned around and ran away as if she were fleeing on her horse.
In the following days, Huo Yanci continued as usual, unhurried and calm, which made Ning Qingxi begin to wonder if her courage that day was all in a dream, and why this person seemed as if nothing had happened.
Ning Qingxi thought about it day and night, her heart pounding with anxiety, unable to sit still for a moment. Finally, one day, Huo Yanci saw Ning Qingxi walking towards him with a resolute look on her face, and she raised her eyebrows almost imperceptibly. Leaning against the gate of her courtyard, she asked knowingly, "Young Lady Ning, what brings you here?"
"Are you still pretending?" Ning Qingxi said in a low, menacing voice, "Are you doing this on purpose?"
Huo Yanci retorted, "What?"
"..." Ning Qingxi lowered her voice even further, "The thing I told you a few days ago."
Huo Yanci continued to feign ignorance: "What is it?"
Ning Qingxi gritted her teeth in anger: "Are you still pretending?"
Huo Yanci suddenly realized, "Oh, you mean that thing?"
Ning Qingxi looked at him expectantly.
Huo Yanci: "I already said I'll take care of the shop and the money. You just need to find someone to draw up the plans."
Ning Qingxi: "..."
That very day, Huo Yanci witnessed firsthand Ning Xiaoniangzi's skill in feigning ignorance and avoiding suspicion.
As soon as he approached, Ning Qingxi immediately stepped back, as if to sever ties with him, and said, "We are just business partners. I feel a lot of pressure watching me paint every day. Please go somewhere else."
Zhuo Miao looked at them with a puzzled expression, then slowly moved to Huo Yanci's side and asked, "What's wrong? Did you two have a fight?"
Huo Yanci touched the tip of her nose, somewhat embarrassed: "I caused it."
Zhuo Miao originally wanted to help him because they were good friends, but Ning Qingxi yelled at him from inside the house, "Zhuo Miao, where are you? If you don't want to work here, just say so! Hurry up and come back to do last month's bills!"
By now, everyone could see that anyone who spoke a word in support of Huo Yanci would be targeted with anger, and over time, although everyone wanted to help, they were powerless to do so.
Huo Yanci was helpless against Ning Qingxi, who was in a bad mood, until he returned with a roast chicken. Ning Qingxi, who hadn't eaten meat in a long time, finally looked at him properly.
Huo Yanci placed the meat in front of her: "Look how busy you've been these past few days, you've even lost weight."
Ning Qingxi stared at him.
Huo Yanci said, "Or I can take you horse racing another day as an apology."
These words triggered Ning Qingxi's key words. She was no longer angry, but face was more important than anything else. She was very angry, but then she made up with herself and went to play with Huo Yanci. How embarrassing would that be!
So Huo Yanci offered a way out, which Ning Qingxi readily accepted: "Apologize? What crime has His Highness Prince Jing committed that he needs to apologize to me for?"
Huo Yanci looked around: "Are you sure you want to say this in front of so many people?"
He couldn't figure out Ning Qingxi's thoughts, but he always felt that it was two different things whether others saw it or he told her. What if Ning Qingxi looked innocent on the surface but actually liked to do things secretly? Wouldn't that be counterproductive?
Ning Qingxi remained fierce: "Don't think I'm letting this go! Let me tell you, I'm still angry!"
However, she didn't realize that her momentum had actually weakened while she was speaking.
Huo Yanci readily agreed, saying, "You should eat first. You'll have the energy to be angry if you're full."
Ning Qingxi: "..."
Her stomach rumbled twice in perfect unison, just as the chef, sauntering over with a spoon in hand, pulled up a stool and sat down, saying, "Oh, sneaking a bite to eat?"
Ning Qingxi generously pulled off one of her legs: "Here you go, someone paid for this."
The chef happily accepted it, took a big bite, and his mouth was immediately filled with the sizzling aroma of roast chicken. He asked blissfully, "Who is it? Who invited me?"
Ning Qingxi pointed to Huo Yanci beside her.
The chef then noticed that there was another important figure sitting there, and he almost choked on his chicken leg: "You two... have made up?"
"We see each other all the time, how can we really have a fight?"
"Exactly! If you ask me, Miss Ning, you're talented and he's rich, you two are a perfect match. Isn't that what they say in the play? A handsome man and a talented woman, a match made in heaven!"
In short, Huo Yanci's face darkened after being coaxed.
The world's talented men and beautiful women have always been described as a perfect match, and it would be fine if it were changed to a perfect match, but saying it like that makes it seem like he only has a good-looking face!
However, Ning Qingxi simply put her arm on the table, propped her head up, and tilted her head to look at him: "Right? I also think that our Prince Jing's face is that of an unparalleled beauty, one in heaven and earth."
Chef: "Isn't that right? Everyone in the capital knows that Prince Jing is extremely handsome."
Ning Qingxi felt completely pleased by the flattery and became more and more satisfied with Huo Yanci. It was like seeing a stone that no one else would think much of, but only she knew that it was a beautiful jade.
...Alright, seeing that Ning Qingxi was quite happy, Huo Yanci didn't mind anymore. He sat down and peeled chicken off Ning Qingxi's bones while listening to the two of them praising him.
"Absolutely brilliant!"
"Extraordinarily handsome!"
"As handsome as Pan An!"
"Thump"
Huo Yanci explained casually, "It was a slip of the hand."
The chef saw the whole thing clearly. He was holding the chicken bone and about to throw it into the bone dish when his hand slipped, and his fist, which was holding the bone, slammed onto the table, making everyone's heart tremble.
Then, on a sudden inspiration, he stood up and said, "I just remembered that the water in the pot should be hot, so I need to go wash the dishes."
Ning Qingxi was overjoyed and gently kicked Huo Yanci's leg under the table: "You scared someone away again. Did you come here to play the good cop?"
Huo Yanci looked at her strangely: "No, didn't they say it was because the water for washing the pot was hot and they needed to wash the pot?"
Ning Qingxi bit into the meat that Huo Yanci had taken out for her. Her heart, which had been wandering aimlessly for the past few days, was like a kite that had lost its string and suddenly fell to the ground.
She asked, seemingly casually, "Huo Yanci, what is our relationship now?"
Huo Yanci paused, then said, "Your question sounds like that of an irresponsible scoundrel. You wouldn't happen to be someone who doesn't want to take responsibility for me, would you?"
"How could that be? I'll take good care of you later!"
Ning Qingxi, who had been single for two lifetimes, suddenly found love and became addicted to it. She didn't know what it meant to take things slowly. Every time she saw Huo Yanci, she couldn't help but look at his lips. Her roguish behavior disgusted even herself!
However, upon seeing Huo Yanci's face again, Ning Qingxi felt relieved.
Doing nothing is a waste of resources!
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