Chapter 21: Gift (V Notification)

Shen Ruo calmed his racing heart, and when he raised his head, he saw Wei Jing Mo about to open his mouth to ask further questions.

He glared at him somewhat embarrassedly and quickly said, “Don’t talk about me anymore! Let’s talk about you. What happened to you yesterday? I called you to come over to the Fifth Princess’s side. Yet you kept delaying and insisted on staying by the Seventh Princess’s side.”

“Tell me!” He looked at Wei Jing Mo with an imposing air, “Were you also captivated by her appearance?”

Shen Ruo narrowed his eyes and stared at him intently, as if he wouldn’t give up until he got a thorough explanation.

However, Wei Jing Mo didn’t want to say much about this matter. After all, he hadn’t even sorted out his own thoughts yet, so how could he tell Shen Ruo?

His cold jade-like face remained calm and steady, showing no trace of other emotions.

“Cousin is overthinking. I was just frightened and didn’t react in time.”

Shen Ruo stared at him disbelievingly for a few seconds, but seeing his ink-black eyes undisturbed, he finally withdrew his gaze.

Could it be that he really had overthought it?

But then, considering that yesterday they first encountered the startled horses and then met that enormous beast, it was normal for Wei Jing Mo to be scared.

Only then did he put aside his suspicions and didn’t ask anything more.

Wei Jing Mo had just gotten up and hadn’t had breakfast yet. He saw Dong Qing leading servants carrying meals over.

He looked at Shen Ruo and asked, “Has cousin eaten? Why don’t you join me for a meal?”

“No need, no need!”

Shen Ruo quickly waved his hand. He had mainly come to see if Wei Jing Mo was alright. If there was nothing wrong, he wanted to go to the hunting grounds for a stroll.

Thinking that he might encounter the Fifth Princess again, he couldn’t help but feel excited.

Seeing Wei Jing Mo pick up his chopsticks preparing to eat, he stood up to bid farewell, “Then, cousin, enjoy your meal. I’ll be going now.”

Wei Jing Mo watched him quickly walk out of the tent, looking at his disappearing figure. Recalling his expression when mentioning the Fifth Princess earlier, he couldn’t help but feel a bit worried.

He wondered if cousin had really developed feelings for the Fifth Princess?

Given the relationship between the Grand Tutor’s mansion and the Northern Garrison Duke’s mansion, if Shen Ruo were to fall in love with a princess, the future would inevitably be difficult. This wasn’t just because the old Grand Tutor had been upright and incorruptible all his life, never engaging in factionalism. Naturally, he wouldn’t want to see Shen Ruo marry a princess and thus take sides.

More importantly, given the current situation of the Northern Garrison Duke’s mansion, Wei Jing Mo could not marry anyone other than a few princesses. If Shen Ruo were to also marry a princess, the two families would inevitably be forced to stand on opposing sides.

This was a result that neither the Grand Tutor’s mansion nor the Northern Garrison Duke’s mansion wanted to see.

Speaking of which, for young masters of prestigious families like them, they seemed to have noble status and boundless glory. But who could know the bitterness inside?

From a young age, they had to be cautious in words and deeds, suppressing their laughter and anger, fearing to bring any trouble to the family. Even for a man’s lifelong matter, sometimes it was beyond their control.

Even for Wei Jing Mo himself, from the moment he was born, he was destined to marry into the royal family. Fortunately, the Northern Garrison Duke’s power was strong enough that although he couldn’t marry others, he could choose among several princesses. This could be considered making the best of a bad situation!

Wei Jing Mo suddenly stopped his chopsticks and instructed Dong Qing behind him, “Prepare brush, ink, paper, and inkstone for me. I want to write a letter to Second Elder Sister.”

“Yes, young master.”

——

Inner Circle of the Hunting Grounds

Feng Bai Su was leisurely riding a black horse, wandering in the dense forest.

Today, Cong Bai was following behind her, riding a brown horse and closely trailing her.

As before, there were no guards following them. At this moment, only the two of them were in the vast forest.

Seeing her mistress wandering aimlessly, not knowing what she was looking for, Cong Bai couldn’t help but ride up beside her and ask, “Princess, aren’t we hunting today?”

She was actually thinking of having her mistress hunt a huge beast to bring back, to make a good impression before Her Majesty.

However, Feng Bai Su had no such intention. Her peach blossom eyes were lazily half-closed as she spoke in a languid voice, “Hmm… wait a bit more. I haven’t seen any game I fancy yet, no rush.”

Cong Bai responded with an “oh”, but felt a bit depressed inside.

She wondered what kind of heavenly animal her mistress was looking for?

Three deer, five martens, and countless pheasants and rabbits had already run past them. She thought they all looked plump and strong. How could her mistress not be satisfied with any of them?

Feng Bai Su, unaware of Cong Bai’s thoughts, continued to ride her black horse forward unhurriedly.

At this moment, a faint animal sound suddenly came through the wind.

Cong Bai immediately perked up her ears and called out to Feng Bai Su, “Princess!”

Feng Bai Su pulled the reins to turn her horse towards the source of the sound.

Looking at the dense undergrowth below, she drew a long arrow from her quiver and bent down to part the yellowing dead grass.

There, she saw two fire-red foxes, one large and one small, cuddling together. The larger one had an arrow piercing its body and was lying there with faint breaths. It clearly wouldn’t live much longer.

The smaller one appeared to be its child, a thin and small ball of fire-red fur that looked like it had just been born recently.

After seeing this clearly, Feng Bai Su straightened up. A trace of regret flashed through her rippling peach blossom eyes.

What a pity the fur was dirty, otherwise it would have been a superior fire-red pelt.

She was about to turn away, somewhat disinterested.

Just then, the little fox let out another weak whimper. It slowly opened its eyes, revealing long, crystalline vertical pupils, pure and clean.

It turned its head slightly, its confused eyes full of mist, looking pitifully at Feng Bai Su.

Cong Bai, watching from the side, felt her heart soften: “Princess, why don’t we take this little fox back with us? It’s so small, I’m afraid it won’t survive even tonight.”

As if understanding Cong Bai’s words, it let out another low cry towards Feng Bai Su. The sound was soft and small, fragile and pitiful.

Feng Bai Su looked down at it and clicked her tongue, compromising, “Alright then, let’s take this little thing back.”

Seeing Feng Bai Su give the order, Cong Bai immediately jumped off her horse excitedly and wrapped the little fox, which was cuddling next to its mother, in her clothes.

Before leaving, she looked down at the mother fox who had already lost her life force. She was a bit conflicted: “Princess, what about this mother fox? Are we just going to leave her here unattended?”

After all, they were adopting this little fox, and this was its mother. Wouldn’t it be inappropriate to just leave her here?

Feng Bai Su glanced at it and casually said, “Then bury her. It’s the least we can do.”

Cong Bai immediately stopped hesitating. She nodded, handed the little fox in her arms to Feng Bai Su, and went to bury the mother fox.

Feng Bai Su looked down at the curled-up fox cub. The red fur on its body was pale, not a bright red but slightly yellowish. Its small body was soft and tender, like a ball of cotton.

She was originally a bit disgusted, but unexpectedly found that it felt quite nice to touch. So she kept holding it in her arms, even when Cong Bai returned.

The two of them roamed the dense forest for a while. Apart from bringing back a little fox cub, their horses were empty.

When they came out to the outer area, many people’s gazes towards them were somewhat disdainful.

Although these looks were subtle, Cong Bai still noticed them. She turned her head and glared at them fiercely.

In her heart, she thought: What do they know? It’s just that my princess didn’t want to hunt, otherwise she’d scare them to death!

After leaving the crowd with Feng Bai Su, the two headed towards the camp.

As Feng Bai Su walked forward, she was still stroking the little fox’s body. She ruffled its fur until it stuck out in all directions. Coupled with those confused eyes, it looked pitifully cute.

After personally sending out the letter, Wei Jing Mo unexpectedly ran into Feng Bai Su face to face.

He paused his steps and walked forward to bow: “Seventh Princess.”

Those cold ink-black eyes unconsciously fell on the little fox in her hands that had suffered her ruffling.

Feng Bai Su lifted her eyes to look at him, seeing his gaze fixed straight on her hands. She looked down and saw the little fox blinking its eyes, pitifully filled with moisture.

“Ahem… Young Master Wei.”

Her hand movements paused, and she felt somewhat embarrassed for once.

Wei Jing Mo raised his eyes to meet her pair of lazy peach blossom eyes. His eyelashes trembled slightly as he spoke again, “Jing Mo hasn’t yet thanked the Princess for saving my life yesterday. Thank you, Princess, for reaching out to save me yesterday.”

Seeing his solemn expression, Feng Bai Su felt somewhat guilty inside.

After all, she hadn’t intended to help yesterday, and saving him was purely accidental. To be honest, there was really no need for him to thank her so sincerely.

“…No need for such courtesy, it was just a trivial matter.”

After saying this, she was about to leave with Cong Bai behind her.

As she passed by Wei Jing Mo, she inexplicably thought of the way he had looked at the little fox earlier.

Perhaps due to her guilty conscience, she paused her steps, grabbed the little fox cub by the scruff of its neck, and stuffed it into Wei Jing Mo’s arms.

Seeing him look over in a daze, Feng Bai Su said with a somewhat evasive gaze, “This Princess sees that Young Master Wei quite likes this little thing, so you can keep it.”

With these words, not waiting for Wei Jing Mo to react, she strode forward with Cong Bai.

Feng Bai Su did not know that in this matriarchal world where men and women were strictly segregated, it was such an ambiguous thing for an unmarried woman to give a gift to a man.

She had been reincarnated into this matriarchal world, and because of her memories from her previous life, she had already formed an independent system of thought. So even though she had lived here for so many years, she had no understanding of certain aspects that she wasn’t interested in.

No wonder her reputation for being flirtatious was known to all. Apart from Liu Gui Jun’s pushing and prodding behind her back, another reason was that she did not grasp the appropriate distance between men and women. In her view, it was just simple conversation, but in the eyes of others, it might appear to be an intimate relationship.

Wei Jing Mo stood stiffly in place, his cold ink-black eyes rarely showing a dazed and bewildered look. He actually looked somewhat like a young gentleman now.

Dong Qing and Dong Gua standing behind him were also somewhat dumbfounded.

They hadn’t expected Feng Bai Su to be so bold, giving gifts so casually, it was simply unbridled!