Chapter 133: Chapter 119, Barbecue_1
“`
“Daohua will be okay, right?”
Zhou Jingwan constantly glanced toward Daohua and Xiao Yeyang, her face full of concern. She hadn’t expected the Little Prince to fan Daohua right from the start; and to make matters worse, her brother had taken the opportunity to pull her away, leaving her in a quandary over whether to go over or not.
Seeing his sister’s worried face, Zhou Chengye also looked helplessly up at the sky, mimicking De Fuku’s expression.
That look in this sister’s eyes really does no good!
Can’t she see the Little Prince is just joking with the Yan girl?
That’s the way the Little Prince shows his closeness.
Alright, this method indeed may not be quite appropriate for use on young girls.
“Come on, stop looking already. The Little Prince is just teasing Miss Yan!”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Jingwan’s eyes widened as she looked at her elder brother.
“What’s the matter, got something on my face?” Zhou Chengye felt uncomfortable under her stare and involuntarily touched his cheek.
Zhou Jingwan looked around and, seeing that everyone was some distance away from them, spoke in a low voice, “Elder brother, since when have you and Daohua become so familiar to call her ‘Miss Yan’ like that?” she finished, curling her lip.
Zhou Chengye immediately tapped Zhou Jingwan’s head, “I am good friends with the Yan brothers, so what’s wrong with calling her ‘Miss Yan’?”
Zhou Jingwan curled her lip, “You change too quickly. Not long ago, you were still calling the Yan family’s eldest daughter by her formal name.” With a huff, she added, “You’re just like those other people, buttering up because the Little Prince is close to the Yan family.”
Zhou Chengye again tapped Zhou Jingwan on the head, “With other matters, you’re as clueless as a blockhead, but when it comes to criticizing your own brother, you’re quite articulate!”
Saying so, a trace of pride appeared on his face.
“Buttering up? Does my Zhou family need to butter up the Yan family? I am close to the Yan family simply because I befriend the three Yan brothers, and also because Uncle Yan is relatively incorruptible, so I have grown closer to them.”
Zhou Jingwan voiced her skepticism, “Really? But before the Little Prince showed any affection for the Yan family, I never saw you getting that close to them!”
“You…”
Zhou Chengye was so exasperated by Zhou Jingwan, “I can’t be bothered to talk to you anymore, go have fun by yourself.” With that, he walked away briskly. If one looked closely, his retreat bore a sense of flight.
Zhou Jingwan pouted, “I didn’t say anything wrong, did I?”
Meanwhile, Daohua saw that Zhou Jingwan was alone and wanted to come over to find her.
But when she started moving, Xiao Yeyang followed her as well.
Zhou Jingwan and Xiao Yeyang were not familiar with each other, and when they were together, they didn’t know what to talk about.
Seeing the two in awkward silence, Daohua felt a bit uneasy and, thinking it over, pointed at the cliff and suggested, “Let’s sit in the pavilion.”
Xiao Yeyang was indifferent, “Then you need to be careful, that cliff is somewhat steep.”
Daohua laughed, “Don’t worry, Jingwan and I are quite agile.” With that, she pulled Zhou Jingwan towards the pavilion.
To reach the pavilion, they had to go up a rather steep stone staircase. Xiao Yeyang, worried that Daohua and her companion wouldn’t make it, hurried in front to be ready to lend a hand at any moment.
“No need!”
As they were ascending the stone staircase and Xiao Yeyang reached out to help Daohua up, Daohua briskly swung her arm and climbed up by herself with ease.
After all, she practiced martial arts with Wang Manman on a daily basis, so climbing a slope was nothing to her.
Xiao Yeyang’s hand froze mid-air, taken aback for a few seconds before he awkwardly withdrew it, also forgetting to attend to the following Zhou Jingwan.
Zhou Jingwan, who was accustomed to a life of luxury, panicked slightly seeing Daohua climb up so easily. Without paying attention, she lost her balance and her body leaned backwards.
“Be careful!”
As Zhou Jingwan was about to cry out in alarm, a steady hand braced her back, steadying her.
“Thank you!”
Turning her head, Zhou Jingwan saw that it was Daohua’s third brother, it seemed his name was Yan Wentao.
After stabilizing her, Yan Wentao scratched the back of his head and gave an embarrassed smile, “It’s nothing, just be careful. These stone steps are rather steep.”
Zhou Jingwan nodded.
Hearing the commotion, Daohua quickly looked over and asked, “Jingwan, are you alright?”
“I’m fine, I’ll be right up.”
Once Zhou Jingwan climbed up, Daohua let go of a sigh of relief and cast a somewhat reproachful glance at Xiao Yeyang.
Xiao Yeyang touched his nose, “I didn’t notice.” He was accustomed to others looking after him; it was a rare occurrence for him to tend to someone else, so how would he know Zhou Jingwan was so feeble?
Zhou Jingwan didn’t dare to blame Xiao Yeyang and quickly said, “It’s my own carelessness.”
By then, Dong Yuanxuan and a few others had also arrived at the pavilion, and the subject was dropped.
From the pavilion, the view was even better, with the entire Dayuan River in plain sight. Daohua leaned on the railing, looking down, almost wanting to let out a shout.
“`
Thinking about the commotion it would cause if she really did that, she couldn’t help but want to laugh.
“What are you laughing at?”
Xiao Yeyang walked over to her side and looked down, but couldn’t figure out why.
Daohua shook her head, “Nothing!”
Seeing everyone sitting in the pavilion with nothing to do, Dong Yuanxuan thought for a moment and suggested, “How about we play a game of linking poetry?”
“No!”
“Don’t!”
Daohua and Zhou Jingwan refused in unison.
Dong Yuanxuan was startled for a moment, but then he smiled and said, “Let’s not go for the difficult ones, just simple five-character quatrains will do.”
Daohua still shook her head repeatedly.
Reading and recognizing characters were doable for her, but composing poetry would literally be the death of her.
“You all play, I’ll sit this one out.”
“Me too,” Zhou Jingwan also raised her little hand, not being fond of reading herself and naturally lacking the gift of composing poetry.
Seeing Dong Yuanxuan slightly embarrassed, Yan Wenxiu quickly took over the conversation, “The two younger sisters are still small, let’s do it then.”
At first, Xiao Yeyang did participate and composed a few lines, but soon he found it uninteresting. Every gathering it was the same old thing, extremely boring.
When he lost interest, naturally it didn’t feel right for the others to continue.
Thus, the pavilion fell into a brief silence.
It was only Daohua and Zhou Jingwan who were still enthusiastically pointing at the scenery around them, chatting nonstop.
After a while, Daohua sensed the silence in the pavilion, turned her head and saw everyone watching her and Zhou Jingwan; even with her thick skin, she couldn’t continue laughing and speaking loudly.
“That… I prepared a way to pass the time for this outing, would you like to give it a try?”
Seeing everyone sitting there in awkward silence, Daohua couldn’t help but speak up.
Xiao Yeyang was interested, “What way?”
“Barbecue!” Daohua immediately explained to everyone what barbecue was.
Xiao Yeyang and the others had never played with this before and all looked interested.
“Then what are we waiting for, let’s barbecue!” Xiao Yeyang immediately decided.
Daohua’s face suddenly fell.
Xiao Yeyang, “What’s wrong?”
Daohua, “I forgot to say, the tools and ingredients are all on the boat at the foot of the mountain.”
Xiao Yeyang thought it was not a big deal and said indifferently, “What’s the problem? I’ll have someone go down and get it; it’ll be quick.”
Seeing him say this, Daohua immediately called for Wang Manman to follow Xiao Yeyang’s people to get the things.
….
When the things were brought up, Daohua found that the tools were still there, but the ingredients had all been switched out.
Daohua was startled for a moment, then seeing Defu personally cleaning the tools, she immediately realized the reason was it for fear of poisoning, or out of concern that the freshness might cause stomach upset?
Imperial family members sure are cautious with their lives!
It was switched out, so be it; the ingredients prepared by Defu were much more lavish than those she had prepared.
There were maids to thread the barbecue skewers and young servants to light the charcoals; all they needed to do was to grill.
“Don’t just sit there idle; barbecuing is fun only when you do it yourself. Come and give it a try,” Daohua handed over a meat skewer she had threaded to Xiao Yeyang.
Xiao Yeyang hesitated for a moment, then took the skewer from Daohua, and under her guidance, he managed to cook it decently.
“When it comes to food, I think you’re quite talented,” Xiao Yeyang quipped to Daohua during the process.
Daohua didn’t respond and took it as a compliment to herself.
There were two barbecue grills; one was used by Xiao Yeyang, Daohua, and Zhou Jingwan, while the other was for everyone else.
Dong Yuanxuan and the others were also excitedly grilling their own food, but either they used too much seasoning or too little; many even burned theirs, ruining both the look and taste.
But even so, it was the first barbecue for everyone, and they were all full of enthusiasm.
“Next time we go out to play, I will also prepare this.”