Instead of blocking, Long Qian Xing tilted his body to the side and evaded Nan Luo's attack. his sword rested near Nan Luo's neck. He smiled faintly and said in a slightly annoying tone, "You still need a lot to learn, Young Boy."
Nan Luo grunted then moved his sword to push Long Qian Xing's sword away from his neck.
Clang!
"You win this time. I won't lose next time."
Long Qian Xing laughed. "You've great improvement. Did you encounter some live and death's battle lately?"
Nan Luo naturally would not answer and merely grunted.
Watching the young boy leave, Long Qian Xing arched his eyebrows. The improvement Nan Luo showed ever since the brat live with Old Master Nan had been very fast. Not only that, it seemed that for the past four to five months, the brat was also improving very rapidly.
For such a mischievous and easy going boy, it shouldn't have been possible.
"Would you like to have a spar too, Song Chuan?" Long Qian Xing asked in leisure tone when he saw Song Chuan was staring at them as if looking at a monster.
Song Chuan quickly shook his head. "You must be joking, Young Master. I'm untalented in terms of swords. I better not step forward to make a joke of myself."
"I see. That's too bad."
Seeing the smile on Long Qian Xing's face, Song Chuan swore to himself that he should never ever spar against the young man. He was sure that he would be beaten to pulp and probably ended up being unrecognizable.
"You're all having fun by yourself." Old Madam Long smiled when she saw them getting along. "The grapes I planted have recently bear fruits. Would you like to taste it, Ah Luo, Hua'er?"
"Yes!" Nan Luo nodded repeatedly. He didn't want to linger here anymore. Seeing that his improvement was still nothing in front of Long Qian Xing was a very deathly blow for him. He just wanted to erase this stain and filled his head with something else.
Nan Hua nodded.
"Come. Ah Xing, you should come to help us pick fruits too."
Long Qian Xing arched his eyebrows. He was sure that what his grandmother meant was for him to help plucking the fruits for the children. Some of them were at higher location, making it hard for the children to pick by themselves.
Soon, they walked to the separate garden.
Nan Hua had to admit that Long Family Residence was really big. She had been walking for some time and still didn't see everything. This garden was filled with fruit trees and several others. Some of them had started to bear fruit while some would need to wait until some more time later.
Their eyes landed on the grapevines that Old Madam Long showed to them.
"Woah, there are a lot of fruits!" Nan Luo exclaimed.
Old Madam Long nodded in satisfaction. "Of course there are a lot. You can eat as much as you want."
"Thank you, Grandma!"
"Thank you, Grandmother."
The two children walked closer and began to pick the ones that was at lower position first. The grape was sweet. When they bit it down, the juice would flow out, filling their mouth with the savory taste.
"Yum!"
Nan Hua ate slowly while Nan Luo was faster. She was enjoying the taste and soon, the fruits at the lower part was gone.
"It's too tall." Nan Luo looked at the fruits far above his head and felt a bit annoyed. When would he grew tall enough to be able to pluck fruits by himself. Should he just climb this? It would be a bit unsightly, though.
Pluck!
Long Qian Xing smiled faintly when he saw the two of them looking above. He took the one at the higher place and placed it on their hand. "Children shouldn't eat too much. You'll get stomachache if you do."
"It's not much…"
Nan Hua looked at the trash. They had eaten quite a lot….
"Grandmother, can we bring some for Grandfather?"
Old Madam Long snorted when she heard Old Master Nan. "Forget about that old fogey. He didn't deserve any of these fruits."
Nan Hua: "…"
Nan Luo: "…" I forgot that Grandpa's relationship with Grandma is very bad.
"It should be fine to share some, Grandmother," Long Qian Xing said helplessly. He looked at Old Madam Long with a faint smile.
Old Madam Long snorted. "Now you're also on his side?"
"My fiancée is his granddaughter. What would he think if she didn't think about him?" Long Qian Xing reasoned.
"You're right. In that case, you can bring as much as you want to that Old Fogey. But tell him that he's not allowed to eat any!"
Nan Hua was speechless.
Nan Luo looked at Old Madam Long and began to wonder just what was the point of them bringing a lot of fruits, then?
Long Qian Xing was also helpless at his grandmother's words. The older someone was, the more they would act like children again. He knew about this and naturally knew his grandmother would not want to make things easy for Old Master Nan.
"You can also bring for yourself to eat during dinner later," Long Qian Xing gave his suggestion.
"That's a good idea!"
"Thank you, Big Brother."
Hearing the way Nan Hua called him, Long Qian Xing's lips curled even more. It seemed that the little girl was quite sensible too.
Old Madam Long passed a look at Long Qian Xing. "I heard that you'll go again?"
"Yes, Grandmother. Aside from the wars at the frontline, the safety of the citizen within Fei Yang Kingdom is also important." Long Qian Xing nodded.
"When will you leave?" Nan Luo asked curiously.
"In around a week's time. Do you want to come?"
Nan Luo pursed his lips. "If I want to go to the battlefield, I'll go with my grandfather than with you."
As if he would want to travel with Long Qian Xing. Just seeing the young man's face already made him wanted to punch him on the face. If not because he had lesser skill than him, Nan Luo would have long already kicked Long Qian Xing and made the latter eat dirt.
The group didn't last there for a long period of time.
As they walked out, Nan Hua turned around to look back once more. She could see Old Madam Long chiding Long Qian Xing from a distance away.
The atmosphere was peaceful without Long Family First Miss.
It was a comforting place.
However, Nan Hua knew that it would be a wishful thinking for her to hope to be able to live normally in such a place. Even in this place, those who were weak didn't have any place and would eventually die because of their weakness.
"Hua'er?"
"Let's go back."
"Mhm." Nan Luo nodded he was carrying a basket filled with fruits for their grandfather.
The twins returned to their residence and naturally, it meant that having Old Master Nan asking them about their activity while they were staying in Long Family Residence.
"You should have asked more from that stingy old lady." Old Master Nan snorted when he saw the amount of fruits the two brats brought back.
Nan Luo was speechless. "Grandpa, you can just ask her by yourself."
"As if I'll ask that shameless old woman! I would rather stay here rather than going to their residence and saw that annoying person."
"…We'll return first, then."
"Grandfather, I would like to visit the academy," Nan Hua put up her request when she saw Old Master Nan took the fruits. Even if Old Madam Long said that he was not allowed to eat them, it didn't look like her grandfather had any intention to follow that arrangement.
"Academy?" Old Master Nan was surprised. "Why do you want to go there, Hua'er?"
"I would like to see the place Brother study," Nan Hua gave her reason.
In the shadow, Hou Lin's lips twitched. He felt that Nan Hua had gotten even better at lying now. She could even lie without pausing in her sentences at all.
"You want to see your brother's place of study?" Old Master Nan looked at Nan Luo then at Nan Hua. "There's nothing interesting at the academy…."
"I can't?" Nan Hua asked again.
Old Master Nan really wanted to say that it would normally be impossible. Everyone in the academy were males and they would naturally not allow any noble lady to get inside. Even he was not someone who could possibly change the regulation.
Sighing, Old Master Nan could only relent. "You can't be yourself when you enter the academy."
"Eh, Hua'er will really come?" Nan Luo was surprised.
Nan Hua nodded. She looked at her twin brother. "How about as your attendant, Luo?"
"My attendant?" Nan Luo blinked his eyes. It was not that weird to have attendant at similar ages, but their facial faces were too similar to each other. It wouldn't do them any good if there was anyone who noticed. What was more, if their enemies found out, they would target her too because they thought of her as his body double.
That would cause endless troubles.
Old Master Nan rubbed his forehead. "We'll need some makeup. Tong, you should prepare some items…."
"Yes, Master."
Nan Hua was first confused what kind of items that Old Master Nan meant. But the next day, she came to understand what he actually meant when she saw the stack of items in front of her.
It seemed that the ancient world really has unique method….