These flimsy sheds could not block the mountain wind at all. The strong cold wind slightly ruffled Gu Yanfei's hair, and a few strands of hair blew into her eyes.
Gu Yanfei seemed unaware of it.
How did Yu Chaoyun come to the capital at this time? ! Yu Chaoyun is Fang Mingfeng's cousin and the niece of Lady Yingguo's wife Yu.
In his previous life, Yu Chaoyun arrived in the capital in February of the following year and went to the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion to pay his respects to Madam Gu.
At that time, Yu Chaoyun took the initiative to show her goodwill, saying that she had no sisters and that they hit it off right away.
Yu Chaoyun's maid secretly told herself that Yu Chaoyun lost her mother when she was one year old, and her father remarried. Outsiders only thought that her stepmother was virtuous, but in fact she was mean and harsh, and Yu Chaoyun had a hard life.
Back then, I felt that I shared the same suffering as Yu Chaoyun and regarded her as a close friend. However, I didn't expect that when I was finally able to take my seriously injured brother away from the cannibalistic hell of the Gu family, Yu Chaoyun would stab me hard, completely cutting off my last escape route...
The pain he had experienced in his previous life came flooding back at him. Gu Yanfei felt as if his heart was boiling like boiling water, and his eyes were tinged with blood.
"Miss Yu." Someone called Yu Chaoyun.
Yu Chaoyun looked in the direction of the sound and saw the pair of lotus seed-sized pearl earrings on her ears swaying. The red gold butterfly necklace inlaid with gems on her neck sparkled in the sun. The two pairs of butterfly wings inlaid with seven treasures and as thin as cicada wings trembled slightly, as if a pair of real colorful butterflies had landed on her shoulders.
Wei Jiaoniang, Lu Qin and others stared at this scene in a daze, without making any movement for a long time.
"Wow!" The girl in blue exclaimed softly, pointing at Yu Chaoyun's hairpin and saying, "The necklace she's wearing is the signature of Jinpinzhai this season!"
"And the material of her clothes should be brocade!"
“…”
"Look, the tea bowl she used should be a Jian kiln black-glazed rabbit-hair teacup..."
The girls gathered together and talked non-stop, and the young men couldn't get a word in.
Wei Jiaoniang frowned her delicate brows and whispered in Gu Yanfei's ear disapprovingly: "These so-called noble families love to put on airs!"
"You don't look like you're here to hunt when you're dressed like this."
"If you're not going to hunt, what are you doing in the hunting grounds?"
"Just wait and see. They will definitely be disgusted by the strong smell of blood and will say that we are vulgar and cruel. They will keep nagging us."
The bloodshot in Gu Yanfei's eyes had been suppressed, returning to their original clarity and brightness. His gaze lightly swept over those dignified and elegant ladies from noble families.
They were talking to themselves, and from beginning to end, they never looked at the other people around them, and they seemed to not care at all about the looks others cast on them.
Some people were whispering, some were burning incense, some were sharing tea, and some were annoyed by the strong wind and asked the maid to quickly bring a screen...
Against the backdrop of other young men in fine clothes and riding horses, these well-mannered girls stood out from the crowd, as if they had accidentally walked onto the wrong stage and looked out of place.
"If you want to share the tea, just go home and share it. Why are you being so fussy in this deep mountain forest?" Wei Jiaoniang couldn't help but mutter again.
"Jiao Niang, you don't understand this, do you?" The blue-dressed girl pulled Wei Jiao Niang over and started to whisper, "The drunkard's real intention is not to drink."
Several smart people nearby also sensed something from these noble ladies from aristocratic families. They exchanged meaningful glances with each other in groups of three or four, and smiled with pursed lips.
"Oh, right!" Lu Qin, who had been listless for a while, quickly perked up again, raised her index finger, and said crisply, "There's one more thing, you guys probably don't know, right?"
"The Third Prince of Yue, Baili Yin, will also be here today."
The little girl waited to see everyone's surprised looks, but she was disappointed again.
The young man in blue said "huh", and almost said it directly, that's it? Lu Qin was depressed again, and Wei Jiaoniang laughed heartily: "Don't worry about them, we will play our own games."
"How about it? How do you want to compete this year?"
These people come to Shanglin Garden for winter hunting every winter, which can be said to be a routine. It’s just that this year there are suddenly more girls from noble families who didn’t come in previous years.
"How about hunting wolves?" The young man in green Hu clothing swung his whip with a smile, eager to try.
"Wolf meat is too tough." Lu Qin objected, "Bear, I want to eat bear paws."
"Bear hunting is too dangerous. It's not good."
"Hunting tigers..."
Everyone expressed their opinions one after another, and it was lively.
Finally, it was Wei Jiaoniang who decisively slammed the table and said, "The tiger is the leader, and the wolf is the next."
In other words, whoever hunts a tiger will be the leader of this winter hunt. If no one hunts a tiger, then the wolf hunter will be the leader.
Everyone agreed, and then Lu Qin asked excitedly, "What's the prize?"
He stopped talking halfway.
Lu Qin's eyes fell on the front, and he rolled his eyes. He smiled and clapped his hands, suggesting: "Miss Jiao, why don't we let the eldest prince come and decide the prize?"
Everyone was startled, and then they heard an excited voice in front of them:
"It's the eldest prince who has arrived."
There was a commotion around at first, and then it became quiet.
From the direction where the sun was rising, a team of seventeen or eighteen people were riding their horses towards this side.
Among the group, the most eye-catching one was the young man riding a white horse at the head, who was Chu Yi.
The bright sunlight poured down, casting a faint golden halo around his body, making his temperament appear pure and elegant, bright as the breeze and as bright as the moon.
Chu Yi was wearing a moon-white riding suit embroidered with silver patterns. When he rode his horse at a gallop, his gleaming sleeves fluttered in the wind, making him look as graceful as a fairy, and the man and his horse seemed to come on a cloud.
Walking hand in hand with Chu Yi was a handsome young man in his early twenties, dressed in brocade clothes, with dark skin, broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He was wearing a royal blue Hu suit with a lapel and narrow sleeves, and was riding a strong black horse with four snow-white hooves.
The sound of horse hooves echoed through the mountains and forests, startling a flock of birds in the woods and causing a few feathers to fall occasionally.
Everyone in the open space stood up to welcome him.
Under the scorching gazes of the crowd, Chu Yi and his party got closer and closer, and finally tightened the reins more than ten feet away. The horses stopped one after another, neighing incessantly.
"Whoa." Behind, King Kang Chu You stopped his horse half a horse's length away from Chu Yi.
Chu You had been staring at Chu Yi, his face calm, cold and solemn, but from the slightly forceful back of his hands it could be seen that he was not as calm as he appeared.
The black horse under his crotch seemed to sense his master's emotions and was breathing heavily.
"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
The people in front bowed respectfully to Chu Yi and shouted in unison, startling three or five birds, which fluttered.
One of the sparrows spread its wings and flew quickly over Gu Yanfei's head, and one side of its wing seemed to lightly brush her bun.
Chu Yi on the horse immediately saw Gu Yanfei in the crowd and the corners of his lips curled up.
Today, Gu Yanfei was wearing a lilac riding suit with a lapel and narrow sleeves embroidered with wisteria flowers, and deerskin boots. Her thick, fluffy black hair was combed into a simple bun, and there was only a white jade plum blossom hairpin inserted diagonally in her bun. She had no other jewelry, and the two red plum blossoms at the end of the hairpin looked delicate and beautiful under the touch of the sunlight.
Chu Yi's gentle gaze fell on the plum blossom hairpin, lingering around it, and his eyes became more gentle.
Gu Yanfei gave Chu Yi a bright smile with a slight dimple, which served as a greeting.
Chu Yi raised his right hand, as if responding to something, and then said to everyone calmly: "No need to be polite."
Chu You followed Chu Yi's gaze and saw Gu Yanfei. He narrowed his narrow eagle eyes, and his eagle-like gaze was fixed on the white jade plum blossom hairpin on Gu Yanfei's head.
This is……
Chu You's pupils shrank slightly, and his eyes became deeper and deeper.
Others may not recognize this plum blossom hairpin, but Chu You does.
This jade hairpin is called "Qingmei Hairpin" and was carved by Emperor Taizu himself and presented to Empress Taizu. When the late emperor married Empress Liu, Empress Taizu gave this Qingmei Hairpin to Liu.
When Chu You was six years old, he once saw a portrait of Empress Taizu in the Cining Palace. In the portrait, Empress Taizu was wearing this Qingmei hairpin on her head. The lost expression on his mother's face at that time was deeply engraved in the heart of the young Chu You.
Chu You knew that his mother also wanted the Qingmei hairpin, but it had been given to his eldest brother Chu Qi before Liu passed away.
Obviously, Chu Qi passed it to Chu Yi.
And Chu Yi actually gave it to Gu Yanfei? Chu You's eyebrows twitched and he pulled the reins unconsciously.
The horses paced with their iron hooves and neighed softly.
Chu You was unaware of it, and couldn't help but think of the last time he was with Yuan Zhe, when he saw Chu Yi and Gu Yanfei together in the elegant room of Qiongfangzhai on the street.
He originally thought that the relationship between Chu Yi and her was at most "red sleeves adding fragrance, taking beauty out for travel", but Chu Yi actually gave away the things of the Empress Taizu.
Could it be that the relationship between these two people is not that simple? !
Chu You looked deeply at the girl in front of him whom he once disdained.
After a while, his gaze shifted from Gu Yanfei to Chu Yi, and his eyes became different again, with a bit of understanding, a bit of contempt, and a bit of thoughtfulness.
Thinking about what Meng'er told him at this moment, Chu You suddenly felt enlightened, as if some scattered beads were finally connected together...
There was a storm in his eyes, veins popped up on the back of his hands, and his body was tense.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, you've arrived at the right time." Wei Jiaoniang smiled and took a step forward, bowing generously to Chu Yi.
As the daughter of a military family, she remained graceful and unabashed even under the gazes of so many people.
Baili Yin, who was beside Chu Yi, glanced at Wei Jiaoniang casually.
When his eyes swept over the bright girl beside her, his brown eyes lit up, and his originally cold and boring eyes instantly became hot as fire.
Wei Jiaoniang said with great enthusiasm: "I just said that whoever hunts the tiger will be the champion today. It's a rare opportunity for His Highness to come here, so we would like to ask His Highness to come and set a prize..."
"I have another idea." Chu You interrupted Wei Jiaoniang abruptly, rode his horse to Chu Yi's side, and put on an ambiguous smile on his handsome face, and suggested, "Nephew, this person is a guest, and the prize should be decided by the Third Prince Baili."
(End of this chapter)
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