With the way some people behave with lack of tact,it was no wonder why some people rather choose to live a single life.
She was worried that Song’yu would be upset by this, so she turned her head around and said, “Go and make a cup of hot tea for the Viscount.”
Song’yu obeyed and left the room. Oblivious, Xi Xingjiang responded, “I’m not thirsty.”
Lin Feilu ignored him, instead she asked him about a matter that piqued her interest, “So you’ve been on the battlefield?”
Xi Xingjiang began to speak with pride, “Of course, I lived with my dad in the borderlands for a few years when I was young. Do you know what it’s like there? It’s much colder over there than here. The river turns frozen with a thickness of three feet of ice, so soldiers can walk on the ice during winter.”
As he talked about his memories of living in the borderlands, he was full of joy. The way he spoke was more eloquent than a storyteller; it was uncertain whether he was simply feeling nostalgic, or he wanted to avert any attention from the topic that had scared her before.
“Yong Kingdom had always been eyeing that piece of land at the frontier, so they occasionally sent people to harass us from time to time. My father finally decided to teach them a lesson, so he led three thousand cavalry and set out to ambush them. So I hid among one of the supply cargoes, it was not until they began to set up camp that I was discovered by my father. By that time, it was too late to send me back, so Father told me to stay in the camp and to never leave the campgrounds.”
Lin Feilu chipped in and said, “I guess you must have done the exact opposite.”
Xi Xingjiang glared at her, “Don’t interrupt me!”
Lin Feilu: “…”
He continued, “In the middle of that night, the Yong army launched an ambush and raided the camp. They did not know that my father had deliberately thinned our defenses in the camp. He waited for the Yong army to walk right into our camp, by then the rest of the army was waiting outside the camp and we had them surrounded! In that battle, with just three thousand cavalry, we killed more than tens of thousands of Yong soldiers. Piles of corpses were strewn about, and blood was flowing all across the snowfields!
Lin Feilu: “Ew…”
In his excitement, Xi Xingjiang had been going on and on until he had forgotten about what happened just now. Seeing that she was so disgusted, he bottled up the rest of his excitement and stopped telling his story. Suddenly he thought of something and eagerly asked, “How about a trip to the hunting grounds? Have you ever rode a horse?”
Hm, I certainly never rode a horse before.
Lin Feilu asked, “Where are the hunting grounds?”
Xi Xingjiang said, “There’s one right here inside the Imperial Palace. It’s where your imperial brothers practice horseback riding and archery. So you’ve never been there before? Alright then, I will take you there! Just so happens I’m also rearing a young horse there, I’ll let you experience riding one.”
Lin Feilu had not been out for some time as she had been idling her time away inside her residence. She realized it was high time for her to be out and about to at least get some exercise, so she did not decline his invitation. She informed Xiao Lan of her afternoon plans, then she wrapped herself in a warm cloak and followed Xi Xingjiang outside.
Although it was not snowing anymore, cold winds continued to blow. With the cold weather and the incident at the year-end banquet, recently everyone has been reluctant to come out of their palaces, thus the entire Imperial Palace was very quiet. It was as if it had been deserted.