The servant laughed. “It’s not, Young Master. We only need to clean up the meat before cooking. Also, we can’t drink the blood and have to dispose it far away because it can attract other beasts such as wolves.”
“Ah.”
Even though some people hunted wolves, many chose not to. After all, wolves usually stayed in a pack, so it would be hard for them to fend the wolves if they have to face against so many wolves at once. No one wanted to die so quickly.
Wei Liuying and Wei Yijun returned back when the servants had finished cooking. By this time, Wei Xiao Hua and Concubine Chou had already calmed down. By the side, Wei Zilin’s face was dark as she knew her mother was always targeted, yet she couldn’t help in the slightest bit.
“Let’s eat,” Wei Hong said with a tired face.
“Yes, Father.”
Wei Xiao Hua was in good mood because Wei Hong acknowledged her request. On the other hand, Concubine Chou looked like she was constipated as her face was pale. Despite her tries to attract Wei Hong’s attention, she failed miserably.
“It’s just a few weeks, but her complexion is no longer the same as before,” Wei Liuying commented.
Wei Yijun nodded. He was sitting not far from Wei Liuying since the two young masters were arranged to stay close with each other. “First Sister often nitpick Madam Chou. It seems that Madam Chou had entered First Sister’s bad book and couldn’t get along with each other at all.”
“I see.”
Wei Liuying was not too interested with that. She knew that the reason why Wei Xiao Hua targeted Concubine Chou first was because Wei Hong was very fond of Concubine Chou. It was to the point that he spent most of the nights with her and neglected some concubines.
But now that Wei Hong listened more of Wei Xiao Hua’s demand, it was clear that Concubine Chou would fall out of her grace soon. Just because of their clashes, Wei Liuying could see that the trace of aging had appeared on Concubine Chou’s face. She was still wearing makeup, but it had grown even thicker to make sure that it could hide everything that made her look older.
“That’s just how women are,” Wei Yijun said with distaste. “Father is having too much women.”
“He needs them to expand his influence. After all, having connection here and there is important for Father,” Wei Liuying said.
“Yes. The easiest would be to have ties through marriage, but it just ended up with chaos in the household. With more than 10 women to take care of, the expenditure is just simply too large.”
“You’re right, First Brother.”
Wei Yijun scoffed lightly, still feeling annoyed. However, he knew better than anyone that the reason why this method exist was in order for some men to have better influence than others. The more powerful one person was; the more women would they have in their residence.
Though, Wei Yijun himself didn’t like it that much because he only saw them as troubles. Just by looking at how his father was getting headache every day because of them was already more than enough as evidence.
The two sibling no longer talked and enjoyed the food. Wei Liuying felt satisfied when she tasted the rabbit meat that she ate. It tasted much better than any other food that she had ever eat. Probably, it was because there was a sense of achievement.
“Young Master,” Huo called out when Wei Liuying headed back to her horse.
“Yes?”
“Please pay more attention to your conduct. You’re not that close with First Young Master.”
Wei Liuying was silent for a while. She knew that the two brothers were not close when they were in front of the others. But what about when they were just alone? From the way Wei Yijun acted, she knew that he was merely having fun and asked Wei Hong Zheng out of politeness most of the time.
“Should I reject his invitation?”
“Most of the time.”
“Alright. I understand.”
It seemed that Wei Hong Zheng was much more prideful than what Wei Liuying thought. She was actually having fun with being near Wei Yijun who was a bit easier to read. He might be a bit submissive in front of others, but when he was alone, he would be doing whatever he wanted to his heart content.
Of course, his priority was still his study.
The group no longer stopped and the angle of the road turned steeper. As they entered the mountain area, the sun was setting down. Soon, they have to walk with only the lantern’s help as the group proceeded to climb higher.
Wei Liuying was learning how to control her horse when he was climbing up. It was a bit hard, but she managed to do it after a while. The shift in the balance made it a bit more difficult, but she was still fine.
“Young Master, we’ll arrive in a while.”
“Really?” Wei Liuying asked in surprise. Looking up, she could see the light from lanterns not far from them. There were also several servants who were standing there as different carriages were going inside too.
She was still sitting on the horse back as she watched Wei Hong took out his token to identify themselves. There were several servants in the area who blocked the way and only when the servant had confirmed who they were would they move away.
“Let’s get in.”
Wei Liuying looked at the buildings in front of her with astonishment. It was built very high up on the ground with beautiful scenery. She genuinely wondered how Prime Minister Xie managed to do something like that.
“Prime Minister Wei, welcome to my humble place,” Prime Minister Xie came out and greeted. He was dressed in neat black robe and cupped his hand politely.
“Prime Minister Xie,” Wei Hong greeted back and cupped his hand to show his respect too. “This is a good place. You’re lucky to be able to have it.”
Prime Minister Xie laughed. “It’s already late, let’s go and have rest. I’m sure that you are tired after the long journey.”
“Then I won’t stand on the ceremony.”
Wei Liuying watched from the side as the group entered the building. There were a lot of people present in the place, but they were mostly the servants. With so many nobles in this place, there were even more servants around the place.
“Xie Jing.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Take the two young masters to their rooms.”
“Yes.”
Xie Jing turned to look at Wei Yijun and Wei Liuying. “The food for your dinner will be delivered to the room later, so please follow me.”
“Alright.”
The three of them walked on the corridor towards the inner building. Wei Liuying was astonished by the complexity of the design, but she kept her mouth shut and merely looked around with her eyes. Wei Yijun was much calmer as this was not the first time he saw exquisite buildings.
The inner buildings have several rooms that was separated with sliding door. First, Xie Jing took Wei Yijun to his room then it was Wei Liuying’s turn.
“Oh, right. Second Brother Wei, this is your first time coming out to hunt, right?”
“Yes.”
“There are wolves out there, so you might hear the sound at night time. However, you don’t have to worry as they will never be able to get close to the building at all. The guards will make sure that they all die horrible death,” Xie Jing said in leisure tone.
Wei Liuying blinked her eyes. She cupped her hand. “Many thanks for Young Master Xie for the reminder.”
Xie Jing glanced at Wei Liuying and frowned. Most young masters would tremble in fear when they heard that there were wolves. However, ‘Wei Hong Zheng’ was exceptionally calm. She merely treated the news as if it was something that was so natural.
Was this truly his first time going out?
Xie Jing was utterly confused, but he chose not to dwell too much. Probably Wei Yijun already warned his brother before they came here.
“This is your room. If you need anything, you can tell the servants.”
“This is enough. Thank you for your hospitality, Second Young Master Xie.”
“Alright. I’ll be going now.”
With Xie Jing leave, Wei Liuying turned to look at Huo. He was following them from a distance away as to not disturb the young masters when they were conversing with each other.
“Young Master, I’ll be guarding on the door,” Huo informed.
“I understand.”
Wei Liuying closed the door and cleaned up herself. There was a bathroom connected to the room, so it was easy for her to attend to herself. Since she clearly didn’t want Huo’s help, she simply did everything by herself and only asked him to change the water when she was done.
Relying on Huo to protect herself was clearly out of the question. She knew that he would be the happiest person after her mother to see her got hurt in this place. Rather than relying on him, it would be better for her to rely on herself.
The servants delivered food after she had cleaned up. Wei Liuying ate to her fill then she stretched a bit before going to sleep.
She put her sword on her bed. It was her brother’s sword that he borrowed to her because she would go while disguising as him. The bow and arrow were placed not far from the bed, ready to be used whenever it was necessary. It was only after she had made the preparation that Wei Liuying lied on her bed.
‘Time to sleep.’
…
Wei Liuying surprisingly managed to sleep well even though it was her first time sleeping outside her home. Looking at the sky brightening, she pushed her body up and took the basin that Huo had left behind last night. The water was cold, but Wei Liuying’s expression remained the same.
She changed her clothes by herself before bundling her hair to form a bun. Her hair was much longer than Wei Hong Zheng, so the only hairstyle that she could use would be to form a bun in order to hide her hair.
“Young Master, are you ready?” Huo asked from outside.
“Yes. Has the hunt started?”
“Not yet. It’s only His Highness the Fourth Prince and His Highness the Crown Prince outside, competing on their archery skill.”
Wei Liuying arched her eyebrows when she heard the news. At this time, Huo came in to bring the food, so she started to eat while her brain was still thinking of the news that he brought to her.
The crown prince is the first prince, Prince Ji Tian. He was already 21 years old and known to be a very capable person. It was known that he was talented in both martial arts and knowledge. As he was born from the Empress, it was already a given that he would be the next Emperor, but there were many who thought that this might change.
Wei Liuying herself was not sure.
She had never seen them.
When she had finished eating, Wei Liuying turned to look at Huo. “Are they still competing?”
“Yes. They’re on the backyard.”
“Let’s head there.”
Huo scrunched his face, feeling that it was unnecessary. However, he didn’t have any solid reason to refuse Wei Liuying because Wei Hong Zheng himself would be curious. In the end, he shut his mouth as he followed Wei Liuying to take a look at the competition between the two princes.
The back courtyard was located not far from the inner building. After a few turns, Wei Liuying came across a large field. Looking at the place, Wei Liuying was surprised. How did Prime Minister Xie managed to build such a large field on the mountain’s side? He was amazing.
Dzing!
At this moment, the sound of arrow splitting the air entered her ear.
