Chapter 222: Chapter 204, Affections_1
“I’m done, I’m done, I can’t run anymore, Xiao Yeyang, can we call a truce, please?”
After chasing Xiao Yeyang for a while and then playing around with everyone, Daohua was a bit out of steam. Dodging Xiao Yeyang’s advances, she begged for mercy repeatedly.
Xiao Yeyang refused, “You want to talk peace now? What took you so long?”
Running and panting, Daohua retorted, “You started it, okay? I was just fighting back legitimately.”
Xiao Yeyang wiped his face, and seeing rouge on his hand, he complained frustratedly, “Fine, fight back, but why did you have to smear rouge on my face?”
Rouge is something for girls, isn’t it?
It’s quite embarrassing for a man to have rouge smeared on his face!
Daohua yelled, “…Because the only thing I had in my hand was rouge.”
Yan Wenkai was caught in the middle of the two, also running till he was sweating profusely. He hastily said, “Little Prince, if I may speak fairly, my older sister did nothing wrong. It was indeed you who teased her first, and her fighting back is fair.”
Hiding behind him, Daohua nodded vigorously, “Exactly, exactly.”
Xiao Yeyang glared at Yan Wenkai, “You better not talk.”
Truly unable to run anymore, Daohua kept backing away, saying as she went, “Big Brother Su, Jingwan, Sister Dong, you have to stop him, okay? I’m going to take a break.”
Daohua moved aside, not caring whether the ground was dirty or not, and plopped down to sit. Then she took out a handkerchief to wipe off her sweat.
Over here, Xiao Yeyang noticed Daohua’s red cheeks and sweaty head and knew she was genuinely exhausted. With everyone persuading, he gradually stopped as well.
Dafu came over with a quick trot, offering a wet towel.
Xiao Yeyang took the towel to wipe his face and then walked towards Daohua.
Seeing him approach, Daohua immediately became alert, “Xiao Yeyang, you messed up my hair, and I painted your face. We’re even now. If you keep chasing me, I’m going to get angry.”
Xiao Yeyang sat down next to her, somewhat speechless, “You really have a knack for turning things around.”
Seeing that he had no intention to continue, Daohua relaxed and started to fan herself with the handkerchief, feeling quite hot after running around.
After the two calmed down, everyone else laughed and walked to the barbeque stand, ready to get some food.
“Help me see if it’s all clean. Is there any rouge left on my face?”
Xiao Yeyang looked at Daohua and turned his head side to side.
Observing the faint red hue that dyed Xiao Yeyang’s face, lighter than usual and somewhat powdery, Daohua almost laughed. However, anticipating that it might provoke him, she forcibly held back.
Daohua examined closely and pointed near his ear, “There’s a bit left here.”
Xiao Yeyang started wiping with the towel again.
Seeing he was wiping the wrong spot, Daohua reached out her hand, “You’re not doing it right, give it here, I’ll help you.”
Xiao Yeyang glanced at Daohua and handed over the wet towel.
Daohua took the towel naturally and began to wipe carefully.
The rouge she made, which included a small amount of herbal medicine, wasn’t easy to rub off and proved quite hard to remove.
Watching Daohua earnestly wiping his face, a hard-to-describe tenderness spread in Xiao Yeyang’s heart, mixed with a touch of joy and a bit of embarrassment.
“It’s clean now!”
After checking Xiao Yeyang’s face and seeing no rouge left, Daohua returned the towel to him, patted her hands, and stood up, “Come on, let’s go eat barbecue. After running so much, I’m starving.”
Xiao Yeyang stood up too, nodding, “I am a bit hungry as well.”
…
This time, besides barbeque, Daohua had also prepared black rice porridge.
“This is black rice freshly harvested from my own farm this year. I’ve added some silver fungus, lily, and rock sugar to it. Try it and see if you like the taste.”
Black rice is not widely cultivated everywhere, and ordinary grain shops don’t sell it at all; it’s rather a rare delicacy.
“Quick, let me try some!”
Zhou Jingwan eagerly took the bowl of black rice porridge Daohua handed over and couldn’t wait to spoon a taste into her mouth. She then revealed an expression of enjoyment, “Mmm, it’s soft and glutinous, delicately fragrant and delicious.”
Seeing her like this, everyone couldn’t help themselves and began to eat the porridge in front of them.
Xiao Yeyang had several spoonfuls before nodding and saying, “The taste is indeed good.”
Daohua smiled, “I’ve grown quite a bit of it. If you like it, I’ll send you a cartload later.”
Xiao Yeyang did not refuse and smiled as he nodded.
Black rice used to be a tribute grain, and he often ate it in the Imperial Palace; but since he came to Zhongzhou, where it wasn’t for sale, he rarely had it anymore.
Next to them, Su Hongxin saw that Daohua had nice things but only thought of the Little Prince, and he immediately protested, “Sister Yan, you’d better not forget about us.”
Dong Yuanxuan followed with a nod, “Indeed.”
Zhou Chengye, on the other hand, didn’t speak, because he knew that with his own sister around, their family would never miss out. Whenever Sister Yan’s family had something tasty, his sister would always come looking for them.
Daohua said with a smile, “Don’t worry, I won’t forget.”
After eating skewers and drinking porridge, everyone sat aside and chatted to digest their food.
When Daohua saw Dong Yuanyao go to feed the newly acquired foal, she also took Zhou Jingwan with her to feed her own horse.
“Do we have to personally feed our horses every time?”
While placing the feed in front of the horse named Red Date, Daohua asked.
Dong Yuanyao, “It’s not necessary to feed them personally every time, but we’ve only just gotten these horses, right? Feeding them ourselves now can deepen our bond and make them more affectionate towards us, which will make them easier to control when we ride.”
Daohua nodded, “That makes sense.”
At this moment, the others also came over to feed their horses.
Xiao Yeyang led his Ferghana horse over to Daohua, “There’s a lake outside the horse farm with particularly lush grass. Let’s go there to feed the horses.”
Daohua, “Sure!” she said, and turned to Zhou Jingwan and Dong Yuanyao, “Let’s go together!”
Zhou Jingwan immediately shook her head, “I’ve eaten too much, I don’t want to move now. Sister Dong, you go with Daohua.”
Dong Yuanyao also shook her head, “I don’t want to move either.” With the Little Prince’s status there, she always felt constrained in his presence, and she certainly wouldn’t take the initiative to put herself in an uncomfortable situation.
Seeing this, Daohua didn’t insist further, and led her horse out of the horse farm, following Xiao Yeyang.
The lake was just a few hundred meters outside of the horse farm, not very large, like a blue pearl embedded in the earth.
When Daohua and Xiao Yeyang arrived at the lake with their horses, a breeze happened by, causing ripples to form on the surface of the water.
With the breeze, the swaying green grass, and the clear weather, Daohua felt extremely relaxed. She instinctively stretched out her arms, closed her eyes, and blissfully savored the tranquil moment.
Seeing her like this, Xiao Yeyang smiled silently, placed the horses aside to graze on their own, then picked up a stone and threw it into the lake before asking, “You’re not in trouble now, are you?”
“Hm?” Daohua opened her eyes in confusion and looked at Xiao Yeyang, puzzled, “What do you mean? Is there something wrong with me?”
Xiao Yeyang went silent for a moment, “Last time, your father gave his concubine a gift of food, and you weren’t angry?”
Daohua suddenly understood, “Oh, so that’s what you were talking about!” After saying that, she shrugged, “As long as my mother doesn’t mind, I have no reason to be angry.”
Xiao Yeyang was silent for awhile, looking at the lake with its rippling waves, and then said, “I’ve been thinking carefully these days, and I feel that what you said last time was very true. Aside from me, father has other children to honor him, so I should indeed protect my mother a bit more.”
Daohua blinked, tilting her head to look at Xiao Yeyang.
She kind of felt there was more to his words.
Daohua didn’t speak, and Xiao Yeyang turned his head to see her confused look. He smiled and said nothing more.