20 A fool's dream
◎Princess, would you like to borrow my horse?◎
Cen Mengxia, the third daughter of the Cen family, is well-known throughout the capital for her superb horsemanship. Even the noble Ninth Princess in the palace has to sigh in admiration in front of her.
Cen Mengxia raised his hand and smoothed the hair on his beloved horse's neck. His eyes shifted from Xu Qinghe and the others to a forest in the distance, and then he looked back at Xu Qinghe, his eyes dim.
"How are the preparations going?"
The accompanying guard bowed and replied, "Miss, everything is ready."
Cen Mengxia nodded in satisfaction, tightened the reins, and drove the horse towards where the people were.
The horses were not moving fast, and the maid beside her was hesitant. Finally, she spoke hesitantly, "Miss, she is a princess after all. Wouldn't it be too reckless for us to do this?"
Cen Mengxia didn't say anything, just glanced at the maid with a squint.
The maid immediately shut her mouth, lowered her head and dared not speak again.
"With the Nan'an Palace gone, how can she be called a princess?" Cen Mengxia sneered. "Do you think His Majesty didn't trace the assassination back to the Cen family? But why didn't he express his stance, let alone blame the Cen family? It's simply because the orphaned princess wasn't treated as respectfully as we saw.
"She is of no importance in the eyes of the royal family."
What's more, the secret guard who was responsible for the assassination that day also told her after returning. Xu Qinghe had clearly guessed that it was the killer sent by the Cen family, but she did not make a fuss or seek an explanation.
She is so deep-minded that she could deceive Master Wei into losing his mind. There is no guarantee that she may not have some bad intentions in her heart.
The Cen family must get rid of such people as soon as possible to prevent future troubles.
She suddenly kicked the horse's belly, raised the whip and whipped it, then galloped towards the people over there, and finally stopped in front of Xu Qinghe and others.
"I heard that Princess Qinghe grew up in the southern border and is very good at horse racing. Why don't you have a race with me?"
Miss Cen San was dressed in a red dress as warm as fire. She looked at her with a smile, but in a condescending manner.
Xu Qinghe just glanced at her and then turned sideways to avoid the difference in momentum caused by the height difference.
The Cen family has already tried to kill her twice, but they are still not satisfied. Do they have to see her die?
If she continues to endure this, she's afraid there will be endless troubles ahead, and it would be bad if she missed out on her big plan.
She looked towards the Qushui Liushang from afar and said, "Miss Cen, if you have something to say, please speak up. If you are so condescending, someone who doesn't know you might think you are forcing me to race with you. I'm afraid it will damage your reputation."
Speaking of reputation, Cen Mengxia froze on horseback. Everyone said that the most rude woman in the capital was none other than the third daughter of the Cen family. She had a bad reputation for a long time. She was arrogant, domineering and overbearing.
She subconsciously looked at Wei Ming below, and the other party also showed surprise on his face. Wei Ming was a very polite person, and her reputation had already made him dislike her. Now if she was accused of such a thing again, it would make the situation of the Wei and Cen families even worse.
Cen Mengxia quickly dismounted, trying hard to put on a smile, and said in a gentle voice, "I was just enjoying the horse racing and was careless for a moment. I hope the princess won't blame me."
Xu Qinghe turned around and said with a forced smile, "That's not true, Third Miss Cen. Since Third Miss is still interested, Qinghe will run two more laps with her."
The corners of Cen Mengxia's lips were still curved, and she was still smiling. She looked at Xu Qinghe's smiling face, which was beautiful but made her feel infinite disgust and jealous. She was thinking in her heart: Laugh, laugh now, don't be so embarrassed that you can't even cry later!
"Qinghe," Princess Jing'an tugged at Xu Qinghe's sleeve, worried that Cen Mengxia might cause trouble again. However, since there were so many people here, she couldn't say it directly, so she gently reminded him, "It seems you didn't bring a horse from the palace this time, nor did you bring the proper riding gear."
Xu Qinghe had come out to ask Wei Che for help, so he had never imagined that he would actually be racing. Therefore, he hadn't prepared anything.
But she still took Jing'an's hand and smiled soothingly, "It's okay, just borrow a horse now, I'll just get used to it first."
In fact, no one had ever heard of or seen Xu Qinghe riding a horse. When Cen Mengxia mentioned it today, they realized that this princess who had lived in the deep palace for a long time was also good at horse riding.
Such a reclusive princess finally showed up in front of everyone today. As soon as she showed up, she had to race horses with Miss Cen San, who was an excellent equestrian. Everyone was a little curious.
Whether they were drinking and composing poetry by the river or riding horses on the grass, all the young men and women were attracted by Tokyo and gathered around them.
While taking the opportunity to show goodwill and lend his horse to the princess, he also wanted to catch a glimpse of the grace of this princess from the southern border.
In the past, they had only seen the princess from afar at palace banquets, but they didn't even know what she looked like.
Everyone said that this princess was as beautiful as an immortal. Now, seeing her, I could see that her black hair piled up like clouds, her eyes seemed to be smiling, and she was wearing a lake blue brocade dress, which made her look extremely beautiful, which was very suitable for today's outing.
"My lady, you may wish to take a look at my horse. It has strong limbs and will surely help you win the championship."
"Your horse is nothing. Look at mine, my lady. It's a horse specially made for women. It's very docile and will definitely not throw you off."
"Let's take a look at mine, Princess..."
......
Everyone was vying to show their goodwill, and Xu Qinghe was grateful for the kindness. Most of the people here were still carefree young boys and girls who had not yet married or entered officialdom. They acted freely and without asking for anything in return, which was what she had longed for when she was young.
"Thank you for your help."
Seeing this, Xu Qinghe did not hesitate and walked up to the horses and looked at them one by one.
After looking for a long time, he still couldn't find what he wanted. When he turned around, he saw a chestnut horse standing leisurely by the stream, snorting. The horse's hair was smooth and shiny, and Xu Qinghe fell in love with it at first sight.
"Which of you owns that horse?"
Everyone looked at each other for a while, but no one claimed it.
Finally, someone said with a smile, "Princess, that's my horse."
Although the voice was as clear as jade, it was also very casual and leisurely. Xu Qinghe knew who it was as soon as he heard it.
As she expected, a red figure suddenly stepped out from the crowd. Wei Che was still playing with a jade pendant on his waist. Seeing that everyone was looking at him, he did not panic. He just stretched out his finger and pointed at the horse and said to Xu Qinghe, "Princess, do you want to borrow my horse?"
The crowd, which was quite noisy just now, suddenly became silent.
No noblewoman in the capital dared to ride on the horse of the Prince of Fuguo. Furthermore, his family had clearly arranged a marriage for him, and the prince showed no sign of avoiding suspicion, which made many noblewomen stay away from him.
Sure enough, Princess Qinghe was no exception. Seeing this, she only thanked the prince and then looked at the horse next to her.
Wei Ming glanced at Wei Che with keen insight and found that he had already lowered his head as if nothing had happened, and seemed to have started playing with his jade pendant again.
But from his perspective, the man clearly had a smile on his face.
He couldn't help but feel dissatisfied. Not only Wei Che, but even those young masters from aristocratic families who were eager to give horses to Xu Qinghe made him unhappy.
Women are fine, but what are these men doing here? How can a man's mount be used by a woman so easily?
Looking at the sky, Wei Ming suddenly said, "If we keep picking like this, it will soon be dark. Why don't we race this horse next time?"
These words were said to Xu Qinghe, but made Cen Mengxia who was standing beside him dissatisfied.
It was she who had suggested the horse race, but now Wei Ming had flatly rejected her. Where would her dignity be? Furthermore, she had already arranged everything in the forest, ensuring that Xu Qinghe would be humiliated and never be able to climb the Wei Mansion's high branch again.
She was about to open her mouth to refute, but she heard a girl's sweet voice coming from a distance, followed by the sound of approaching horses' hooves.
"It's a rare opportunity to indulge yourself today, so why bother disturbing my mood, cousin?"
The Ninth Princess, dressed in a bright yellow riding habit, jumped lightly from her horse. She walked to Xu Qinghe's side, looked up and smiled, "Sister Qinghe, why don't you take a look at my horse? It's docile and easy to control, and it will definitely not hurt you."
The Ninth Princess's horse was also a tribute from a foreign country. It was gentle but not delicate. Instead, it often won the championship in horse racing games. Even many young men in the capital had long coveted this horse.
She lent him the horse because she obviously remembered the gift of riding clothes this morning.
Xu Qinghe thanked her, and later a noble lady of similar stature to her helped her to wear riding clothes, so that Xu Qinghe could get on the horse as Cen Mengxia wished.
She first rode the horse and tried riding on the nearby grass for about a quarter of an hour, and then told Cen Mengxia to start.
Jing'an asked hesitantly, "It's still early, do you want to get used to it a little more?"
Most of the noble ladies in the capital could ride horses, but Princess Jing'an, who had been very weak since falling into the water, was an exception.
Qinghe hadn't ridden a horse for a long time, and now it was a horse he was not familiar with. It was very dangerous to think about it if he wanted to race with Cen Mengxia in this state.
Xu Qinghe comforted her: "Don't worry, the Ninth Princess's horse is very good and docile. It won't fall me off. Don't worry, Jing'an."
Princess Jing'an was not reassured, but since Qinghe had said so, she could only give up.
Xu Qinghe pulled the reins and said "please" to Cen Mengxia.
Cen Mengxia said, "Using this as our starting point, we'll cross that small forest. Whoever returns first will win."
Xu Qinghe was not familiar with the forest, but all the young men and women present knew that it was just a normal small forest with not many trees and a small area. It would take less than half an hour to ride out on horseback.
In addition to seeing everyone's unanimous reaction, Xu Qinghe also saw Wei Che in her peripheral vision. He was still smiling and nodded slightly at her from the outermost part of the crowd.
Xu Qinghe knew that the forest should be normal, so he agreed.
The Ninth Princess swung her long whip in the air, making a crackling sound, and shouted, "Run!"
The two girls shot out like arrows.
Everyone was staring at the two figures, wanting to see how the winner would be decided.
Wei Che, however, swung the jade pendant on his hand and said, "What's so interesting about horse racing? It's not like I haven't seen it before."
Everyone thought that he was embarrassed because the princess had rejected his horse, so they just glanced at him and didn't pay much attention to it.
Even the dandies who usually followed him were staring at the two girls on the horses without blinking, and didn't pay any attention to him at all.
Wei Che stretched nonchalantly and said that he wanted to go back to the carriage to rest. The young masters heard this and responded perfunctorily.
When they got near the carriage, Fu Zongying, disguised as a servant, came to greet them.
"Your princess has only been on horseback for a quarter of an hour, and she's already having a race with someone, and you didn't stop her?"
Wei Che asked curiously, "Why stop him?"
Fu Zongying asked, "Didn't you say she's been in the palace for five years and hasn't ridden a horse, and when she did, it was someone else's. Isn't that dangerous enough? Besides, there's that Third Miss Cen. We tried to kill her twice but failed. Aren't you afraid she'll trip up your princess again this time?"
Wei Che looked at him for a long moment, then suddenly asked with a smile, "Do you know who taught Xu Qinghe horsemanship?"
Fu Zongying didn't know, so he asked again: "Who?"
Wei Che smiled. He raised his thumb, proudly tapped his chest, and uttered a word slowly:
"I."
Fu Zongying: ...
"Three months ago, she was injured, yet she mounted the horse so smoothly. What does a docile horse mean to her now? As for Cen San, I can't guarantee her safety in the palace. Now that she's outside, she should beg for mercy first."
Are you trying to trip up Xu Qinghe?
It's just a pipe dream.
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