"Hmm?" Nan Luo arched his eyebrows. He glanced outside and saw that the ladies were already excited to catch the white fox and moved near the fox along with their servants. Seeing that, he was speechless.
Ladies, a fox was still a wild animal. You should just leave the task to your servant if you don't want to get hurt. How stupid of them.
And sure enough.
The fox disliked being close to others. However, its sharp nose smelled a familiar scent from a distance away.
"Come here, foxy!"
"Go away! This white fox in mine!"
"Scram!"
The ladies were all talked uncouthly as they wanted to have the white fox for themselves. Looking at the pure white fur, all of the noble ladies were tempted to have it. It was so beautiful!
Hiss!
The fox hissed. After circling around for some time, it suddenly pounced towards Long Xu Nian and then began to scratch.
Screams filled the field.
The soldiers quickly moved to help out. The clever fox naturally knew that it was in disadvantageous position as it quickly slipped away into the forest. No one knew where it went.
"Kill it! Kill that creature! Ahhhhhhhh, my faceeeeeeee!"
Nan Luo was watching as Long Xu Nian howled in grievances. He wanted to laugh but felt that it would be inappropriate. "To think that the fox would like Long Xu Nian too. How pitiful is that lady?"
Nan Hua didn't comment and only closed the window. Now that Long Xu Nian was angry, she would surely try to create trouble for everyone she saw. She didn't want to get involved when she finally managed to do something.
Of course, the fox disliked Long Xu Nian. After all, she had sprinkled some herbs powder to that Long Xu Nian when she splashed the soup. If the other party could do it, why couldn't she?
It was spring and naturally it meant that mating season would come soon. The animals were already sensitive enough and with the concoction of herbs that would attract it in Long Xu Nian's body, it would be a miracle if the fox was not attracted and attacked fiercely.
As for the merchant…
Nan Hua was not worried. The merchant would come to bring several white foxes to sell to the noble ladies. The one that belonged to the young master of the merchant family was still a small fox right now, so it shouldn't be the fox that created trouble just now.
But of course.
Nan Hua would never reveal this to anyone.
Time passed slowly.
Long Xu Nian's yell could still be heard as the young woman was so angry. There were not many medicine that could be used to treat her face and not leaving any scar. Even if there were any, would the Long Family spend the money to buy it for her?
She didn't know.
After the soldiers had finished settling the assassins, the carriages began to move back to the Capital City once more. Nan Hua turned to look at the forest in the middle of the route and noticed that the assassins who were hiding in the forest had long disappeared.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
It seemed that their target were really the noble ladies who came to Yi Shang Temple this time.
"Young Master, we're already at the gate right now. Soon, we'll be able to reach home."
"Good." Nan Luo looked at the gate and sighed. "The outside world is dangerous but the Capital City is also very dangerous. It didn't seem like there'll be any place where everyone can be save."
Nan Hua looked at the gate as the carriage entered the city.
Right, there was no place that would allow them to be save forever. The peace they have were all temporary. Soon, they arrived in Nan Family Residence and the carriage stopped.
Bang!
"Ah Luo! Hua'er!" Old Master Nan opened the door and called out. He had heard that there was an assassination in Yi Shang Temple. If not for the soldiers who restrained him, he would have long rushed over to the temple in order to look at his grandchildren's condition.
How could he possibly let them get hurt?
"Grandpa!" Nan Luo greeted as he jumped down the carriage. Just as he was about to get close, Old Master Nan bypassed him and crouched in front of Nan Hua, who had just walked out of the carriage.
Nan Hua looked at her grandfather who was looking at her worriedly and felt her heart warmed up for some unknown reason. It was only in this place did she ever seen anyone who would wholeheartedly care for her like this.
"I'm fine, Grandpa."
"Silly girl, you must have suffered." Old Master Nan's heart ached when he thought of what might happen to Nan Hua while she was staying in Yi Shang Temple. It was only now he felt that the decision to bring the two children to stay in the temple was actually a bad idea.
But in front of so many ministers, how could he say no? It was not like he was asked to give up his life and only asked to bring his children out of the Capital City during the purging and upheaval. Since the previous Emperor had only passed away, it was only right for them to start changing the officials at high ranking.
The problem was that the current Emperor was still too young, so the power of the court was not in his hand.
It made the situation a bit tricky and some officials had been suffering lately.
Old Master Nan proceeded to pick Nan Hua up. He carried her gently into the residence and closed the gate tightly. Upon walking inside, he then noticed Nan Luo who was sulking and crossed his arms.
"Grandpa is so biased! Are you not worried about me?" Nan Luo complained.
Old Master Nan narrowed his eyes. "Aren't you still standing perfectly well in front of me? Why should I be worried for you?"
Nan Luo was speechless.
Was he just a kid taken on the street while his twin sister was the real granddaughter of his grandfather? He felt that the treatment that Old Master Nan given to him was vastly different from his twin sister.
"Young Master, Young Miss is more frail than you, so Old Master is worried," Hou Liang tried to mitigate the situation.
"Hua'er is naturally frail but I protected her!" Nan Luo protested once more.
"Can you even protect her with that thin arms?" Old Master Nan narrowed his eyes once more. His grandson was still too weak, so he didn't really think that the brat would be able to do this task properly.
Nan Luo was speechless once more.
Fine, he was still too weak. He wanted to refute once more but upon recalling that Nan Hua had managed to kill two assassins while he only killed one, he felt that cold water was poured on his head. There was nothing that he could use as the base for argument.
"…I'll train."
"Rest." Nan Hua looked at her twin brother. He barely slept at all at night and now he wanted to train? They hadn't even slept in the carriage despite they were resting because it was quite dangerous out there.
Bletak!
Old Master Nan used his other hand to smack his grandson's head. "Go to rest. Do you really think I'll allow you to train in this condition? You should have some rest and train later."
"Fine." Nan Luo looked at Nan Hua. "Hua'er, you should rest too."
"Ok."
Nan Hua jumped down from her grandfather's arm. Old Master Nan was still feeling unwilling to let her go and wanted to carry her all the time. Even though he knew that the young girl was fine, he still felt heartache when he saw her like this.
It couldn't be helped, he wanted to have such a cute daughter but what he got was that… rascally daughter.
Now that he had such an obedient granddaughter, how could he bear to let her go?
"Hua'er, what kind of training do you want to do after waking up later?"
"Reading?" Nan Hua asked. She wanted to ask some questions regarding the scripture she had read before. There was no chance to ask previously.
Nan Luo nearly tripped on the air. He looked at his sister and felt defeated. "Ugh… I guess we can study together, then."
"Ok."
Old Master Nan watched as his two grandchildren returned to their respective quarter. He turned his head to look at Hou Liang. "Tell me everything that happened in my study."
"Yes."
In Old Master Nan's study, Hou Liang recited everything that occurred in the temple for the past three weeks. There was not even any detail that was missed out, including the arguments that the children have against Nan Family and Long Family.
There was even the episode where they clashed against Shangguan Family and also their brief meeting with Chi Song Lian and the conversation they had with each other.