By the sixth day of the month, the snow and ice had melted and disappeared on Zhang Xun Mountain. Spring had arrived and everything was coming back to life. It was a good time to go hunting.
Jing He Villa was constructed at the top of Zhang Xun Mountain. At the foot of the mountain, there was a road that led directly to front of the villa. At this time, there were carriages after carriages parked on this road. Starting from early morning, the guests had been arriving one after another to the villa. The villa’s steward was at the entrance to personally welcome the guests and orderly and properly arranged accommodations for them.
The area covered by Jing He Villa was expansive. The primary part of the villa was separated into two courtyards. The Rong Courtyard was for men and the Min Courtyard was for women.
Min Courtyard was divided into several smaller courtyards. Each courtyard had three open-space areas. The steward had analyzed everything thoroughly and arranged for five women to be staying in each smaller courtyard. These women were each assigned two servants girls to be at their side to serve them. When Wei Luo and Wei Zheng arrived, the steward assigned them to the inside of Xi Yan Courtyard. At this time, that courtyard already had three young women staying there. They were Liang Yu Rong, Song Hui’s sister, Song Ru Wei, and Li Xiang.
(T/N: Below is the approximate layout of the smaller courtyards. Unlike the picture below, the courtyard they’re staying in has sub-courtyards with its own gardens instead of only rooms that share the central courtyard spaces.
(T/N: If you look at the blue Chinese numbers in the picture below, it marks the three main open-space areas.)
Wei Luo moved into the eastern courtyard and couldn’t help thinking that this arrangement really complied with the saying that enemies and lovers were destined to meet.
The rooms inside the courtyard were bright and clean. The furniture had already been wiped free of dust. It wasn’t necessary for the servant girls to do any further cleaning. Wei Luo sat on a kaiguang
stool that was decorated with stylized blue flowers and had Jin Lu investigate which room Li Xi was staying in.
(T/N: Below is an image of kaiguang
stools and table.)
Soon, Jin Lu returned to room and answered,
Miss, Prince Ru Yang’s daughter is staying in the Western room.
Wei Luo nodded. After she thought about it, she said,
Pay attention to the situation over there. To avoid being found out, don’t be too obvious. If she does anything suspicious, tell me immediately.
Jin Lu nodded in agreement. Although she didn’t know what Miss was planning, since Miss had ordered her, she would do her best.
This translation belongs to FuyuNeko. Please read from the original source, mew.
The hunting competition would official begin early tomorrow morning. The young men had only come here in advance to get used to the environment, scout out the terrain in the mountain, and make a few marks for the trails in order to avoid getting lost. They didn’t want to get lost tomorrow when the competition officially started and become laughing stocks.
Wei Luo hadn’t sat down for a long time before Liang Yu Rong visited her.
Liang Yu Rong had come here with her older brother Liang Yu. Liang Yu was eighteen years old this year and had excellent martial arts skills. His physique was strong and muscular from studying martial arts for many years. He had been preparing for this year’s hunting competition for a long time. To be exceptional and stand out in this year’s competition, he had broken countless targets in home from practicing
Liang Yu Rong poured herself a cup of tea. Holding the colorful lid and cup in her hands, she said,
Mother and I often say that since he’s so obsessed with martial arts, it would be better for him take the imperial exam and be the military champion.
(T/N: The military champion is the person who scores the best in the imperial military examination.)
Wei Luo paused and looked at Liang Yu Rong.
Liang Yu Rong didn’t notice and continued saying,
My older brother also has this intention. He said that if he can’t win first place this time in the hunting competition, he will obediently take the imperial military examination.
Wei Luo tightened the hold she had on her teacup. With Liang Yu’s abilities, as long as he properly prepares, he shouldn’t have a problem with becoming the military champion…
In her previous life, Li Xiang had greatly admired the military champion. Back then, Wei Luo didn’t see the military champion’s face or wasn’t mindful about learning his name. Could it have been Liang Yu? Wei Luo tried to remember if she had heard anything about the military champion back then. But, she really couldn’t remember. In the end, she couldn’t be absolutely sure that Liang Yu was the person that Li Xiang liked.
But, Liang Yu really suited Li Xiang’s esthetics. He was a tall, handsome warrior with broad shoulders.
Could Li Xiang have already liked him by the time of this hunting ceremony?
Wei Luo supported her chin with her hand. She slowly turned and twisted the teacup’s small lid that had been on the table and didn’t pay attention to Liang Yu Rong’s other words.
After Liang Yu Rong had stayed in the eastern courtyard for an hour, she saw that it wasn’t early anymore, and stood up to leave.
Wei Luo walked her to the eastern courtyard’s entrance to send her off. They coincidentally met Li Song and Li Xiang in the central courtyard. Li Song had come by to talk with Li Xiang and was walking around in the central courtyard. They didn’t know /that Wei Luo was living in the eastern courtyard and as they strolled around, they somehow walked to the eastern courtyard’s entrance and ended up face to face with Wei Luo and Li Yu Rong.
Li Song suddenly stopped. Seeing Wei Luo, the expression on his face was slightly strange at first. Very quickly, his face became cold.
Why are you staying here?
Who would have expected that Wei Luo wouldn’t pay any attention to him? After she sent off Liang Yu Rong, she didn’t even look at them once before turning around and raising her eight treasure pattern brocade skirt as she walked back into her room.
The eastern courtyard’s wooden doors were closed in Li Song’s face. His face turned ugly. It first changed from green and then to white.
He had just spoken to her. It couldn’t be that she didn’t hear him, right? He and Li Xiang were standing right here. She would go so far as to not even say a single word of greeting. Her arrogance was too much! She considered everyone else beneath her!
He stood in front of her doors for a long time. He felt both angry and a little bit powerless in his heart. After he had returned home from the Spring Lantern Festival, he had thought about her for many days. He couldn’t but think about her appearance. He clearly hated her. He hated her to the point that he wanted to bully her every day and see her weak appearance as she cried. He impatiently wanted to see her again even though they would probably mutually taunt each other if they met. Who could have expected that when they met today, she wouldn’t even acknowledge him? This damaged his self-esteem and he didn’t come back to his senses for a long time.
Li Xiang pulled his arm and indignantly said,
Older brother, let’s ignore her. Who does she think she is? She’s so arrogant. Does she think she’s that amazing because she has a princess as a friend? Humph.
After saying this, she left with Li Song and they gradually walked away.
Chapter: 051.2 out of 171
This translation belongs to FuyuNeko. Please read from the original source, mew.
Inside the eastern courtyard, Wei Luo had Jin Lu and Bai Lan carry a short couch to underneath a tung
tree that was in the garden. She lied down on the couch and closed her eyes to rest for a bit.
She had deliberately ignored Li Song. Chang Hong’s engagement wasn’t resolved and she didn’t want to look at those two. In addition, Li Song had been rude to her last time, so she didn’t have show a pleasant expression in front of him. She was already being courteous enough by not rolling her eyes at him.
Wei Luo slept for almost an hour. When she woke up, a flower petal from the tong
tree had fallen on her nose. It felt itchy. As she was lifting her hand to get rid of the flower petal, another hand was quicker than hers and had picked it up instead. That other hand was pale and slender and it was followed by a smile and a gentle voice that said,
Did younger sister Ah Luo wake up?
(T/N: Below is a picture of a tong
tree’s flowers.)
For a moment, Wei Luo blinked and couldn’t tell what evening it was. After a while, she remembered she was at Jing He Villa. She looked around and only saw Song Hui standing by her. He was wearing a light green robe with a lotus pattern. Several tong
flower petals had fallen on his shoulders. She didn’t know how long he had been standing there.
Wei Luo sat up and with a sleepy voice she asked in surprise,
Why did older bother Song Hui also come here? Weren’t you at home studying?
She had slept underneath the tree for a while. Many flower petals had fallen on her head and body. When she sat up, they all fell down on the couch. The young girl’s cheeks were slightly red and her large eyes were wide open. She seemed like a completely different person from her peaceful sleeping self.
He hadn’t been here for a long time. Jin Lu said she was resting, so he thought about sitting next to her while waiting. Unexpectedly, as soon as he came closer, she woke up and opened her eyes.
Song Hui smiled and explained,
It’s too boring to always stay at home to study. So, I took this opportunity to come to the mountain to relax. Although I can’t win one of the top three spots, I can still hunt a rabbit for you.
Although he was a scholar, he had taken lesson on riding and archery and his skills were fairly good. It was only that during these past few years, he hadn’t been practicing much, so his skills had deteriorated. Tomorrow, he didn’t know if his hands would be able to do what his mind wanted like before.
Wei Luo pursed her lips. She slightly smiled,
Older brother Song Hui forgot. I’m allergic to small furry animals. It would be okay if you want to give me rabbit meat to eat, but I won’t be able to raise it.
Song Hui remembered this matter after she reminded him. When Wei Luo was two or three years old, she really liked kittens and puppies. Unfortunately, whenever she touched these types of animals, her body would have rashes that wouldn’t go away for several days. After the doctor figured out the reason, Wei Kun forbid her from having any contact with furry animals. There was one time when Wei Chang Xian brought back a filthy ba er
dog from outside. Wei Luo really liked it. She concealed the dog from Wei Kun, washed the dog clean, and slept for a night while holding the ba er
dog. The next morning, her entire body was covered in rashes. She could barely breathe and almost died. Wei Kun was scared out of his mind. Fourth master also heavily punished Wei Chang Xian.
(T/N: Below is a picture of ba er
dog to show how fluffy they are.)
(T/N: If you’re curious why Ah Luo didn’t have a severe allergic reaction to the hua tiao
puppy that she gave to Zhao Jie in chapter 37, that breed of dog isn’t fluffy like a cat or rabbit. Or, maybe the author just forgot about that chapter.)
Since then, Wei Luo was more obedient. She never touched small fluffy animals again.
Song Hui’s face was ashamed. He indulgently said,
You can do whatever you want with the rabbit.
Wei Luo said,
Okay, then I’ll wait for older brother Song Hui to hunt a rabbit to give to me.
On this side, there was a harmonious and comfortable atmosphere around these two people. But, they didn’t notice that a person had come through the courtyard’s entrance.
Since the imperial family originally built Jing He Villa, Zhao Jie freely moved about the villa and naturally, no one would dare to stop him.
He stood at the eastern courtyard’s entrance and watched the two people that were underneath the tong
tree.
The young girl’s face was pink from smiling and her two dimples could be seen. She was looking up at the man in front of her. White flower petals floated down from the tree and one coincidentally fell onto her eyelashes. Song Hui helped her pick off the flower petal with a gentle expression in his eyes.
