Zhao Yan froze.
Even when that eerie voice had exposed the secret scheme she shared with her husband, she hadn’t cared.
So, what if they were caught? Taking a concubine was practically set in stone. Shen Tang had already married into the Zhuang family, so she would just have to let them dictate terms. But now.
Zhao Yan pointed an accusing finger straight at Zhuang Xin’s nose. “Do you have a little sweetheart tucked away in Spring Breeze Brothel too?”
Zhuang Xin scowled. He couldn’t fathom why on earth Zhao Yan had suddenly brought this up. “Of course not!”
His lips said of course not, but his eyes darted away guiltily.
Zhao Yan’s tone went frigid. “Zhuang Xin, look me in the eye and say that again.”
“I told you I don’t, and that’s that! Are you really going to make a scene in the middle of the street?”
“You have the nerve to say I’m making a scene?” Disbelief and betrayal choked Zhao Yan’s voice. “I married you when I was eighteen! I bore your children and raised your family, and now you dare say I’m making a scene?”
Zhuang Xin’s expression turned stony. “If you don’t care about dignity, I still have a reputation to protect!”
“To hell with your reputation!”
Her eyes wild with fury, Zhao Yan lunged forward, grabbed Zhuang Xin by the topknot, and dragged her nails across his face, leaving deep, bloody claw marks.
Subjected to such humiliation in broad daylight, how could Zhuang Xin swallow his anger? Rolling up his sleeves, he brawled with Zhao Yan right there on the flagstones.
Sure enough, unless the fire scorches your own skin, you never feel the burn.
While Zhao Yan and Zhuang Xin went at each other tooth and nail, Zhuang Chi panicked. “Father! Mother! Stop fighting! Tao Hong is still waiting to be welcomed through our doors!”
What a filial son!
Tong Anying mentally gave him a round of applause. His parents are beating each other senseless, and his only thought is still taking a concubine!
Hearing that commentary, Shen Tang couldn’t help but let out a quiet chuckle. She turned, swung onto her horse, and leisurely ambled over to the Marquisate’s carriage, catching Tong Anying’s eye.
Tong Anying’s eyes curved into sweet crescents as she beamed innocently. “Mother, this elder sister is so pretty!”
Now you know how to act like a sweet little angel.
Shen Tang had almost certainly heard Tong Anying’s inner monologue about swapping out a boy toy every day of the week.
Not wanting to blow her daughter’s cover, Su Zhouyue nodded warmly. “Indeed she is.”
Shen Tang bent slightly from her saddle, a faint smile gracing her lips. “You are quite lovely yourself.”
Turning her mount, Shen Tang galloped off, leaving the raucous spectacle and the entire Zhuang clan far behind in the dust.
Tong Anying watched her dashing, carefree figure recede into the distance, stars sparkling in her eyes.
“Eldest Brother, I want to learn horseback riding!”
“Hmm?”
Tong Yibin glanced down at his younger sister. Seeing the eager glimmer in her eyes, he remarked, “Didn’t you complain that riding was far too exhausting?”
When Tong Fengye had turned ten, he couldn’t wait to ride. Tong Yibin had stepped up to teach him, intending to instruct Tong Anying alongside him. But after a single lesson, she had wilted, whining about how painful it was, before giving up entirely.
Tong Yibin hadn’t forced the matter. With the whole family spoiling her rotten, it didn’t particularly matter whether she knew how to ride or not.
Tong Anying clenched her tiny fists with fierce resolve. “Where you fall, that’s where you must pick yourself back up! The harder something is, the more you have to grit your teeth and push through!”
Tong Yibin fell silent.
Su Zhouyue patted Tong Anying proudly on the back. “Well said! That’s my ambitious girl. If your eldest brother won’t teach you, Mother will!”
Tong Anying snuggled into Su Zhouyue’s embrace, rubbing against her affectionately. “Mother is the best!”
Tong Yibin: “?”
Right, so that makes me the bad guy here.
Tong Yibin coughed. “I never said I wouldn’t teach her.”
“Shoo, out of the way. Anying is mine to instruct.”
Tong Yibin: “?”
Gazing at his mother’s smug expression, Tong Yibin couldn’t help suspecting she was intentionally snubbing him, probably settling an old score from when she hadn’t been allowed to personally teach Tong Fengye how to ride.
Tong Baibo chuckled as he watched his wife and children bicker. Swept up in the mood, he offered, “How about I teach her instead?”
Su Zhouyue tightened her hold around Tong Anying as though guarding a prized treasure. “Keep dreaming!”
Tong Baibo fell silent.
Finding himself thoroughly shut down, he shrugged sheepishly.
Back at the manor, Tong Fengye was thrilled to hear that Tong Anying wanted to learn. “I’ll teach her! Let me!”
Little Tong Yi’an piped up after him, mimicking his cadence, “Me too! I’ll teach her too!”
The soft, babyish lilt brought laughter to everyone in the room, and Su Zhouyue couldn’t be bothered to scold Tong Fengye anymore.
In the end, they reached a compromise: each person would take a turn teaching her for one day, followed by a rest day in between, so as not to exhaust Tong Anying.
Tong Anying, suddenly burdened with six instructors: “?”
It was only then that she realized Tong Siyan and Tong Yi’an both knew how to ride. In the end, she was the only incompetent one in the house.
For over ten days straight, Tong Anying suffered unspeakable torment.
Her six instructors couldn’t have had more clashing teaching styles if they tried.
Today, it was Tong Fengye’s turn.
When Tong Fengye arrived outside her door to fetch her, he heard a despondent voice drifting through the wall:
Nothing in this world is truly difficult, so long as you’re willing to give up.
Is Fourth Sister planning to throw in the towel already?
Where you fall down is where you should just lie flat and take a nap.
Tong Fengye: “?”
Host, does that mean you’re skipping your lesson today?
Of course not! Giving up the first time was just a passing whim; giving up a second time would mean I truly lack any grit.
Tong Fengye nodded repeatedly in approval outside. Fourth Sister does make sense after all.
Without warning, the door swung open right in his face.
Tong Anying eyed him with clear suspicion before arching a brow. “Third Brother, were you eavesdropping outside my room?”
Tong Fengye hopped back onto the veranda railing. “Me? Never!”
Tong Anying: “?”
“Come on, let’s go! Third Brother will take you outside the city walls for a spring outing!”
At the prospect of heading outside the capital, her spirits soared. “Deal!”
Tong Anying’s mount had been hand-picked by Tong Baibo and Su Zhouyue themselves. It was a gentle, silver-white mare with a docile temperament, yet handsome and spirited when galloping.
Seeing Tong Anying approach, the mare waited patiently.
Tong Anying scrambled into the saddle and patted its soft mane. “Let’s go, Mingzhu.”
Mingzhu let out a gentle whinny and trotted her out through the courtyard gates.
Her astonishing knack for learning suddenly made Tong Fengye feel entirely redundant.
Yet once he stepped through the back gate, he discovered Mingzhu was simply carrying Tong Anying in slow, tight circles right outside the manor wall.
At the sight of Tong Fengye stepping out, both rider and horse seemed to visibly perk up.
Tong Anying called out, “Third Brother, I’m scared!”
Tong Fengye: “?”
Sighing, he took the reins from his sister’s hand and led Mingzhu forward at an easy, leisurely pace.
Along the way, they bumped into Feng Chu.
Feng Chu insisted on tagging along out of the city, an offer Tong Fengye firmly declined.
“I’m heading out to teach my sister how to ride. What business do you have coming along?”
“None of your business!”
“You!”
No matter how Tong Fengye tried to shake him off, Feng Chu stubbornly trailed behind. Just as Tong Fengye was about to scowl again, Feng Chu cut in, “What, did someone pave this road exclusively for the Third Young Master of the Marquisate?”
Tong Fengye ground his teeth in exasperation.
Bathed in the warm morning sun, the three youths made their way through the city gates in high spirits.
Outside the city lay an apricot blossom grove. Back in the third month of spring, Su Zhouyue had brought them here once before.
Sitting upon horseback now, however, was an entirely different experience.
Tong Anying tipped her chin up. A cluster of late-blooming apricot blossoms brushed lightly against her cheek. The delicate, pale petals brought out her ethereal air, while lending her features an endearing touch of girlish innocence.
“Your Highness, it is the Third Young Master and Fourth Young Lady of the Tong family, alongside the Second Young Master of the Feng family.”
Up in an elevated pavilion overlooking the grove, Xue Lin listened to Si Chen’s quiet report and cast his gaze downward. His eyes landed precisely on the moment the apricot blossoms caressed Tong Anying’s cheek, and his pupils flickered slightly.
Si Chen suggested softly, “Since Your Highness seems interested, why not go down and greet them? They are close to you in age, so perhaps Your Highness might find good company with—”
Before Si Chen could finish, Xue Lin cut him off cold. “No need.”
Si Chen let out a resigned sigh.
Down in the grove, Tong Anying grew tired, so the trio dismounted and led their horses leisurely through the sea of petals.
Feng Chu couldn’t help but sigh in genuine contentment. “This isn’t bad at all.”
“Of course it isn’t! Unlike you, wasting your days betting on roosters and crickets without a single ounce of decency to your name.”
Feng Chu fell silent.
Flushing red, he mumbled, “I had my reasons for doing that.”
Tong Fengye raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What reasons?”
Feng Chu stammered vaguely, “It’s complicated. In any case, I won’t fool around like that anymore.”
Tong Anying nodded solemnly, offering advice with comical gravity: “A prodigal son returning home is never too late.”
Tong Fengye: “?”
“Tong Anying, watch your tongue!”
“Oh.”
Ahead lay the deeper, denser stretches of the apricot grove. Concerned about potential dangers, Tong Fengye was about to suggest turning back when he caught sight of shifting shadows through the trees.
Without exchanging a word, Tong Fengye and Feng Chu moved as one, one grabbing Tong Anying’s wrist, the other pulling Mingzhu’s reins and swiftly ducked behind a low embankment nestled among the trees.
Initially bewildered, Tong Anying clamped her mouth shut the second she spotted the silhouettes. Three pairs of eyes peered out intently, fixated on the figures ahead.
Unfortunately, they were too far away to catch a single word.
Tong Anying prodded her mind: System, do you know what they’re doing?
Child’s play. Leave it to me.
A brief pause ensued before the System chimed back: They’re plotting an ambush to assassinate the Heir of Prince Yong!
Tong Anying’s eyes widened into saucers. !
This Prince Yong’s Heir again? Exactly what kind of walking jinx is this guy?
Tong Fengye: “?”
Little Sister, that is definitely not something you should be saying out loud in your head!