Chapter 37

Chapter 37 – Competition (1)

Getting off the horse, Ye Zhen went with Lu Xiangzhi to fetch the gray rabbit. Her twin and her were quite different normally. However, the two shared one attribute– they were both afraid of blood. As she neared the rabbit, she called out.

“Brother, please pick it for me!”

“Why haven’t you overcome your fear of blood?” Liu Xiangzhi teased her, looked her up and down and whispered in her ear. “Yaoyao, I found you look a lot better today. It seems that you are indeed suitable to be called as the monkey of the capital.”

Ye Zhen shot him an angry look. “I am a great beauty!”

Lu Xiangzhi burst into laughter and shook his head. He tapped her temple, who appeared to be sulking, and said, “Come, I’ll take you to hunt with me!”

“Ahem!”

Lu Lingzhi’s gentle cough reminded them not to be too complacent and forgetful, while others were watching them.

His eyes rested on Ye Zhen. The younger Miss Lu seemed to have never smiled at him like this. The genuinely happy smile from the bottom of the heart made her look bright. Even though her skin was not fair enough, she still made people reluctant to peel their eyes off her face.

“Eldest Brother, you are here.” Lu Xiangzhi paid a courtesy. “I’ll take Yaoyao to hunt there. We won’t disturb you any longer.”

“Lingzhi, she’s your cousin… eh?”

Tang Zhen’s calculating eyes fell on Ye Zhen. He couldn’t be mistaken, the little girl called Lu Xiangzhi her brother which made her a relative of his pal, Lu Lingzhi!

Lu Lingzhi just remembered at this moment that he had yet to introduce Ye Zhen.

“My fourth brother and third sister just came back from the border town.”

“Sister?” As soon as Tang Zhen heard it, his eyes lit up, he immediately looked at Ye Zhen with a laugh. “Miss Lu is good at riding and archery!”

The smile on the corners of Ye Zhen’s mouth narrowed a little, and she gave him a courtesy.

“Many thanks.” She  timidly replied.

“Third Sister, shall we have a competition?”

Ye Zhen threw a withering look towards Tang Zhen, making it obvious that she was not impressed by his audacity to call her his sister.

Instead of answering, she turned her head towards Lu Xiangzhi. She was only a girl raised in a boudoir. Faced with such an invitation, she naturally asked her brother to intervene and let his opinion be heard.

Regrettably, Lu Xiangzhi’s impression of Lu Yaoyao was that she never cared about the vulgarity of these competitions. He only thought his sister wanted to join but was too afraid of being scolded by their mother. He deemed the look she gave him as not a helpless one but rather, a yearn for approval!

“It’s all right. Brother is with you. Let them see what you can do!”

Lu Xiangzhi winked at Ye Zhen, thinking that he just did her a favor where in fact, it was the other way around. When they were in the border town, they often went out to hunt with others without telling Pei Shi. This would not be different, he thought.

Ye Zhen stared at him, absolutely frustrated. She didn’t mean that at all! She had no interest in spending time with these people, let alone participating in a competition instigated by a man driven by his pride!

“By all means, let Yaoyao compete against him,” Lu Lingzhi said encouragingly.

Ye Zhen glanced at Tang Zhen lightly. She was not blind. Naturally, she saw that this Tang Zhen wanted to please her intentionally and so, he approached her.

“It’s all right to have a competition, but what is the prize for the victor?”

“What do you want, Third Sister?” asked Tang Zhen in his sly voice.

Ye Zhen couldn’t take any more of his boldness. She found him repulsive, his bearing hardly reflecting his docile and pleasant appearance.

“Don’t call me Sister so casually. My brothers are here.”

Tang Zhen was not at all upset. Instead, he grinned.

“Lu Lingzhi and I are sworn brothers, and his sister is naturally my sister too!”

Ye Zhen looked at him coldly and noticed something. A silver whip which glinted from catching the rich rays of the sun was pinned to his waist.

“If I win, you will lose that silver whip to me.”