Xiangxiang secretly ran back at some point, stood under the tree, and looked at them quietly.

He Yan stared at him blankly: "Is what you said true?"

"I see your sword skills have improved a lot, but why are you still the same as before?" he sneered lazily, "stupid and short."

These words seemed to pull He Yan back to the past. Unconsciously, the embarrassment and panic he had just felt disappeared.

There seemed to be a warm feeling in her heart, and all the anxiety was turned into ashes at this moment. She raised her head, unable to hide her smile, "But you are the same as you were back then."

Xiao Jue coughed lightly and turned his head away. He Yan was very angry and refused to let him go. He grabbed his sleeve and asked sideways: "You taught me this swordsmanship yourself. But I was still dressed as a man back then. Why did you take care of me so much? Did you already like me at that time?"

This was a shameless thing to say. Xiao Jue sneered, "I'm not a traitor."

"But you look like a traitor." He Yan suddenly realized, "No wonder Yan Nanguang always disliked me back then. He probably thought I was some kind of vixen who defiled the only genius he could consider a rival."

Xiao Jue stared at her in disbelief, "You're not sad now, are you?"

"I wasn't sad in the first place." He Yan said stubbornly.

"You were about to cry just now." He raised his eyebrows: "Are you so reluctant to leave me?"

He Yan couldn't hold back her anger and retorted, "How could I cry? You saw it wrong. Of course I can't bear to leave you. After all, we are classmates."

"Just a friendship between classmates?"

He Yan ignored him and approached him and said, "Don't change the subject. Tell me first, why did you teach me swordsmanship when we were in Xianchang Hall? You are not the kind of person who likes to help others. You must have fallen in love with me at that time. Xiao Huaijin, are you really a traitor?"

Xiao Jue's face darkened slightly, and he scolded, "Nonsense."

"Then tell me why."

He Yan had wanted to ask him this question a long time ago. At that time, she and Xiao Jue didn't have a very close relationship, but Xiao Jue was willing to teach her swordsmanship carefully for the last night in Xianchang Hall. No wonder Yan He couldn't understand it. Even she herself didn't quite understand it.

Xiao Jue smiled and said, "Do you remember when I first entered Xianchang Hall, it was the winter solstice and there was a competition at the Dongshan Hunting Ground in the capital."

He Yan was stunned: "I remember, what's wrong?"

She still remembered that it was at that time that she first saw Shen Muxue in her previous life. The aloof and elegant Miss Shen and the graceful and graceful Mr. Xiao stood together. Even from the perspective of this life, they were a perfect match made in heaven.

He Yan muttered, "At that time, His Majesty personally visited the hunting grounds, and all students of Xianchang Hall had to enter the field to compete. Students who obtained the most prey received rewards, and students who did not obtain any prey had no food to eat. Who on earth came up with this idea? It was freezing cold, and it was normal not to obtain any prey. How could you be so harsh on the students' food and leave others hungry!"

Talking about this matter, she is still angry now, for no other reason than that He Yan was the one who didn't catch any prey and was hungry.

Xiao Jue chuckled and said, "Isn't that your own choice?"

"What?"

"You've already hunted the rabbit, but you let it go," he turned his head and looked at He Yan, "wasn't that your own choice?"

He Yan was stunned for a moment, and asked stutteringly: "How...how do you know?"

"Because," Xiao Jue curled his lips, "I was the one who released the rabbit."

It was winter in Shuojing at that time, and the hunting grounds were all covered with snow. Nothing had happened to the Xiao family, and Xu Jingfu was not yet so powerful that he could cover the sky with one hand. Emperor Wenxuan suddenly had an idea and went to Dongshan to watch the hunting competition of the students of Xianchang Hall.

Originally, it was just a competition of archery and horsemanship in the academy, but because of the arrival of the emperor, more prizes must be added. In order to make the young men work harder and not bring shame to Xianchang Academy, some genius teacher in the academy came up with the strict rules. Those who fail to catch prey will have no food to eat today.

He Yan cursed the person who came up with this idea in his heart.

She was not very good at martial arts, and her horse riding and archery skills were even worse. She had no advantage when she was with these young men. There was no doubt that when she entered the hunting grounds, unlike her classmates who were excited and high-spirited, He Yan simply felt extremely helpless.

At that time, Xiao Jue was undoubtedly the most eye-catching among all the young men. He had a horse, a sable coat, and a beautiful face. But in a moment, a long string of prey was tied behind the horse.

As a weak young man who couldn't lift or carry anything, Lin Shuanghe followed Xiao Jue closely and gained many benefits. It didn't matter whether there was prey or not, because in the end, getting one or two prey from Xiao Jue would be enough to satisfy his mission.

The two were walking in the woods surrounding the hunting grounds when they suddenly saw a gray feather arrow flying from the side not far away and accurately piercing... a stone.

The two of them paused.

Soon, a short figure ran out from the woods. She ran to the rock, pulled out the arrow with all her strength, took a look, and sat down on the ground. She sighed and said to herself, "Hunting is difficult, harder than climbing to the sky!"

Xiao Jue, Lin Shuanghe: "..."

They all recognized that the man wearing the mask and sighing was Mr. He, the last-ranked man in Xianchang Hall.

Lin Shuanghe had previously "progressed together" with He Yan, and had developed a sense of sympathy for He Yan. Seeing this, he said, "My brother He is too pitiful."

Xiao Jue watched coldly, unmoved. In his opinion, the eldest master of the He family was often mentally ill.

"Look, his horse has no prey. He will be hungry when he returns. It's cold in the winter, and it's not easy to be hungry." Lin Shuanghe was a doctor with a caring heart, so he showed mercy. "How about we give him a badger so that he won't go home empty-handed?"

Xiao Jue sneered: "Go by yourself."

Lin Shuanghe really walked to Xiao Jue's horse and picked out the prey tied behind the horse. However, he was only halfway through when he suddenly realized, "No, although He Rufei is incompetent, he is very stubborn. If we give it to him like this, he will probably not agree and will refuse it with righteous words."

Just like he suggested that He Rufei take the last place in the exam so that he could strive for the second to last place, this man was very principled and could not be moved even by real money. Lin Shuanghe thought that he had a good eye for people. He Rufei would probably not accept such straightforward help.

"Here's how," Lin Shuanghe had an idea, "Huai Jin, you're good at archery, so shoot a rabbit and let He Rufei pass by. A wounded rabbit can't run fast, and if He Rufei can't shoot it, he might have a brain problem."

"What does it have to do with me?" The young man Xiao Jue frowned, "I'm not going."

"Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Look at this kid, he is so pitiful. We are all classmates, but it is just a matter of convenience... Huai Jin, Huai Jin?"

Lin Shuanghe was a man who was particularly patient when it came to trivial matters, and he knew that Xiao Jue was the most impatient person. Sure enough, after nagging for a while, Xiao Jue became annoyed, picked up the bow and arrow on his horse, and shot an arrow in one direction.

Suddenly a gray hare jumped out from the bushes.

The arrow was shot very cleverly, and it missed the hare, just grazed its leg. The rabbit slowed down, and the arrow fell into the bushes, unnoticed.

He Yan was leaning against the stone and sighing, when he suddenly saw a hare coming out of the forest. He was startled at first, then happy. Without saying a word, he grabbed his bow and arrow and followed it. He didn't know what was wrong with this hare. It moved much slower than the ones he had encountered before. He Yan guessed that it might be because the winter was too cold, and even the rabbits became less agile. But this was also a good thing. If you can't catch a fast rabbit, can a slow rabbit still fly?

Lin Shuanghe praised Xiao Jue in a low voice: "Great, Huai Jin, your help was so seamless and unobtrusive. This kid must have thought he got a great bargain. Let's go and take a look." He pulled Xiao Jue, who looked unwilling, and secretly followed He Yan.

The rabbit ran for a while, but it seemed to have run out of energy and moved slower and slower. He Yan thought about it, then put away the bow and arrow and put it behind his back. He felt that even if he didn't use the bow and arrow, the rabbit would probably not be able to run any more, so he could just catch it with his bare hands. In ancient times, people would wait for the rabbit to fall down by the tree. Today, people wait for the rabbit to faint. He Yan applauded himself in his heart. He actually had time to observe the rabbit carefully.

The rabbit was very thin, perhaps because it had no food in the winter and was hungry. It looked like even if it was fried, it would not have much meat. She wondered in her mind whether the prey could be shared among the students. However, the rabbit brought back to the He family was not enough for the whole family to get a piece of meat.

Not long after, the rabbit stopped and pulled aside some grass to reveal a hole. He Yan was quick-witted and grabbed the rabbit's ear and lifted it up before it could get in. He Yan said to himself, "It is said that a cunning rabbit has three burrows. The ancients were right." At this moment, something seemed to move at the hole. He Yan held the rabbit in one hand and curiously pulled aside the grass with the other hand. Three furry little balls were locked in the small hole, like three Yuanxiao dumplings, shivering together.

They were actually three baby rabbits.

He Yan was stunned for a moment, then looked at the grey rabbit in his hand that kept kicking and struggling, and suddenly realized that it was a female rabbit, and the ones in the cave were all her cubs.

He Yan fell silent.

Lin Shuanghe was watching the show with Xiao Jue from a distance. Seeing this, he was surprised and said, "He Rufei is really lucky. He actually found a rabbit nest. If he hands over this nest of rabbits, I think he won't be the last one this time. He will at least be the second to last. But... why is he holding the rabbit and staring blankly?"

The rabbit under her hand jumped silently. He Yan looked at the three sesame dumplings in the hole. After a while, she sighed and took out a small white bottle from her arms.

"He he he...what is he doing?" Lin Shuanghe was surprised.

The young man named He Rufei was holding Rabbit's ears and applying medicine to him. He even tore a piece of his robe to bandage Rabbit's leg that was scratched by the arrow. As she bandaged, she said, "Forget it. Who asked you to meet me? I'm a good person. I won't do anything to separate mother and child. I'll let you go."

She complained, "You little bastards, remember this: I'm hungry today because of you."

He Yan moved quickly, and in just a moment, he had bandaged it. He placed the gray rabbit in his hand at the entrance of the cave, and as soon as he loosened his grip, the rabbit was free and flew back into the cave.

"You didn't even say thank you?" He Yan sighed, "The world is really going downhill." Although she said so, she still spread out the stones near the cave entrance to prevent it from being discovered by other beasts.

Lin Shuanghe was stunned, "Is He Rufei's brain okay? Is he here to hunt or to release? Why is he acting like a girl when he shows mercy at this time? Does he feel sympathy for this rabbit?" He turned to look at Xiao Jue, "Huai Jin, look..."

Xiao Jue's gaze fell on the masked boy, and for some reason, he suddenly remembered something from his childhood.

That was before he came down the mountain, when he was learning martial arts from a master. The master was much stricter than the one in Xianchang Hall. If a task was not completed or was not done well, the punishment was severe and it was very hard to bear.

There was also a time when he was in the mountains when he tested his archery and horsemanship skills. At that time, Xiao Jue caught a deer.

This deer was very fat and was not as light and fast as other deer when running away. He caught the deer, and when he was about to raise his knife, the deer knelt down in front of him.

This is a pregnant doe.

He was only twelve or thirteen years old at that time, and was not as cold and heartless as he later became. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but feel sympathy.

The master stood by the waterfall, looked at him and said calmly, "Don't be soft-hearted."

The boy stood there, looking at the doe with tears in her eyes. After thinking for a moment, he half-knelt down, removed the rope from the doe in front of his master, and watched it escape into the jungle.

The master was not angry. He just looked at him and said, "You know what you are doing. You shouldn't be soft-hearted."

"I just want to protect what I want to protect." The young man, in his white robe as white as snow, answered calmly.

He was sentenced to three months of camping in the mountains.

Xiao Jue did not regret it. When he was young, he just simply thought that he did not want the doe to die. But now he saw He Rufei here, carefully bandaging the wound of a wild rabbit. This was not womanly kindness, nor was it hypocrisy. He suddenly understood what he wanted to protect back then.

A weak heart.

A person wants to become strong in order to protect the people he wants to protect. If he loses his original intention in order to become strong, it is tantamount to putting the cart before the horse.

"Huai Jin, I think He Rufei really has a problem with his brain. If he were not a man, he could be my 'sister'..." Lin Shuanghe was still chattering on and on, but the young man in white robe was stunned for a moment, lowered his head, pulled the corner of his mouth, and smiled.

That day, He Rufei really got nothing, and was the only boy in Xianchang Hall who didn't get any prey. The next day from that day, Xiao Jue got up at night and walked to the yard behind the bamboo forest to watch the clumsy boy wearing a mask "studying hard". From then on, his "unexplained fate" with the last one began.

He Yan was stunned when she heard this. She never thought that she and Xiao Jue had such a secret past. Xiao Jue's arrows were hidden at that time. She didn't realize that the rabbit with injured legs was shot by Xiao Jue. She just felt pity for the rabbit and had sympathy for it. She didn't expect that this would move Xiao Jue.

"Are you moved by my kindness?" He Yan shuddered. This sounded a bit creepy.

Xiao Jue seemed speechless, "It's not kindness."

only……

It's just that Xiao Jue at that time saw the shadow of his past self in "He Rufei".

He Yan was delighted. "Is that so? So you were paying attention to me when we were classmates? Then why are you pretending to be indifferent?"

Once this person starts to be heartless, it is really hard to resist. Xiao Jue changed the subject: "It's getting late, and you haven't returned home yet. Your father and brother must be worried."

"That's true." He Yan came to his senses and saw that it was already late at night. He estimated that He Sui and He Yunsheng should be home by now, and they might be looking for him everywhere. Fearing that they would worry, He Yan said, "Then let's go back first?"

Xiao Jue whistled, and Lu Er ran out of the woods and stopped in front of Xiao Jue. He Yan also climbed onto Xiang Xiang's horse, and the two of them trotted down the mountain together. He Yan rode his horse and hurried along. As he hurried, he gradually came to his senses and said, "So, Xiao Jue, you asked Chi Wu to ask me to get the sword today just to test me? Have you been following me all this time?"

The man did not show any guilt at all and answered slowly, "This is unbelievable. Of course I have to confirm it."

"You just want to force me to draw my sword, but you've gone through so much trouble." He Yan thought for a moment, "But what about Master Lu Daichuan? When I went to his villa, he seemed to know something and said that I already had a sword and couldn't have another one. Did you tell him about this?"

"No." Xiao Jue's eyes moved slightly, "Besides you and me, no one else knows about this."

"That……"

"Even if he knows something, it's not surprising. He is my master."

He Yan was surprised: "Master?"

"I have many masters, he is just one of them. It is not surprising that he can see your origins, but he is already an outsider, even if he knows, he will not make a fuss, you don't need to worry."

"This is not a question of whether to worry or not," He Yan didn't know what to say for a moment, "This man is your master, you should at least inform me in advance, luckily I didn't do anything rash, if..."

Xiao Jue glanced at her and saw that she was uneasy. He said with a smile: "What are you afraid of? Even if you really did something, no one would dare to trouble you with me here."

He Yan uttered a "tsk". "You mean I can walk around in Shuojing City now?"

“Do whatever you want.”