They looked into each other's eyes for a long while.
"All right, I'm a child. This child will go catch a fish for his hungry mother", he joked as he walked past her.
"Who are you calling your mother?" Lingxi looked furious as she raised her hand to hit his back. He dodged.
"I mean I will catch fish for my little wife", he changed the joke. Lingxi knew at that moment that He Yu was the only one capable of making her lose her composure.
Was he indirectly calling her a child too?
She ran after him till they reached the lake. She missed a footing and He Yu turned to catch her before she fell but before he could reach her hand, she directly fell on top of him and their forehead hit each other.
Lingxi winced in pain as she touched her forehead. He Yu was no better but that didn't stop her. She directly hit his chest.
"Ouch, it hurts", He Yu winced.
Lingxi was trying to lift herself up, "you deserve it", she said as she tried to stand up.
However, He Yu pulled her back on him, "Zhizhi, my head hurts badly. How about you kiss it and make me feel better"
"Is my head any better?"
"Then... in that case, I can kiss you back"
Lingxi couldn't take any more of He Yu's shameless attitude. She directly stood up and turned to go.
He Yu sat up, "where are you going?" he asked.
"To get firewood. We need to grill the fish, don't we?" she answered and turned to go with the lantern in her hand.
"Be careful", He Yu said but she did not answer.
He watched her back. She was dressed in plain white and her hair without any adornments but yet looked like an angel.
Meanwhile....
Sang Xue'er had already changed her clothes to a light blue dress for sleeping.
She was standing by the window of the inn when she saw a paper lantern in the sky. It was not too far ahead from where she was.
She turned to Qingtong, "you may leave and make sure no one disturbs me", she ordered.
Qingtong bowed and left. Sang Xue'er on the other hand, turned off the lights and jumped over the window so smoothly without a sound as soon as the door was closed.
******
Lingxi was walking quietly for a while with her eyes and ears on high alert. A short gust of wind passed by. Lingxi stopped for a second and in a flash, took two steps backwards in circles.
A hand was about to hit her from behind. The hand in question reached for her face but she blocked it and twisted it round. They both turned around but before the hand could attack again, Lingxi already had her hand crossed at the owner's neck.
The hand in question belonged to Sang Xue'er. They looked at each other.
"Your win again..... Sister", she said.
Lingxi's lip curved up into a smile as she removed her hand from Sang Xue'er's neck.
"Xue'er, long time no see", Lingxi responded.
"You knew I'd be here?" Sang Xue'er asked.
"When you start something, you can never wait till you finish it", Lingxi answered.
"It seems Sister is still as good as reading people as ever", Sang Xue'er said.
Lingxi walked past her and bent down to pick little sticks, "I won't beat around the bush. You are being sent into the Capital for a marriage alliance with any prince of your choice. Who is your pick?"
"I have investigated every prince. The grand prince and Prince Cheng are already married. Prince Jing..." she paused in thought.
Lingxi noticed her thinking. She picked up another stick, looked at her and smiled, "what? Has Prince Jing melted your ice cold heart"
"If my heart is ice cold then yours is a frozen rock", Sang Xue'er said.
Lingxi laughed lightly as she stood up, "I was only joking. There is no need to be so serious"
"From the court struggles I've heard, Prince Jing is not a good choice, Prince Ning is a territorial prince - lazy and useless, away from court struggles...."
Lingxi laughed lightly at her assessment of He Xuan which was, of course, true.
"....Prince Wen is a young general guarding the borders. I've met him before. As for Prince An, he is still studying at Feixun academy and will soon graduate. He is younger than me", she finished her analysis.
Lingxi set down the little bundle of sticks down and walked up to her, "so now you have only Prince Ning and Prince Wen on your list. Who are you choosing?"
"Which one does Sister think I'll choose?"
Lingxi thought for a second, "Prince Ning is indeed infamous for his carefree attitude while Prince Wen is famed for his achievements on the battlefield. As someone who has spent most time in the midst of soldiers, you would surely want to take a breather. However, Prince Ning is not exactly a typical choice of a husband. You have a difficult journey ahead of you", Lingxi said.
She went on to pick the sticks she had gathered and walked back to meet He Yu.
Sang Xue'er watched her back, "that's it? You're leaving like that?" she asked.
Lingxi did not turn back but waved her hand. Sang Xue'er watched her leave and turned to leave.
********
Lingxi soon returned to meet He Yu who had just caught two fishes but there was no knife to cut them.
"You're back", He Yu said without looking up at her.
Lingxi stopped for a second before moving forward, "how did you know?" she asked.
He Yu turned to her, "your scent", he answered.
"My scent?"
What Lingxi did not know, however, was that after she slept every night, He Yu had a habit of smelling her hair before sleeping.
"Your scent is difficult to notice at first but leaves a lingering fragrance afterwards", he explained.
Lingxi studied him for a moment and took a step closer to him, "you do pay a lot of attention"
"As long as it's you, I'll definitely pay attention", he replied.
Their gaze paused on each other for a long moment and Lingxi suddenly placed her leg on top of the rock next to them and lifted up her dress. She paused for a moment to look at He Yu.
"Don't you have any sense of decency? Shouldn't you turn around?" she asked even though she knew there was no point in asking.
He Yu leaned downwards to properly meet her gaze, "I'm looking at my wife not another woman. Why should I turn away?" he asked.
Lingxi's hand reached for the knife that was strapped round her leg and lifted it up. The blade flashed across He Yu's eyes and his eyes darted to the knife and he obediently straightened up.
She stretched the knife towads him, "here"
"For what?" he asked.
"To cut open the fish", she answered. He Yu took it and proceeded to remove the organs of the fish.
Lingxi watched his hand movements as he cut the fish and couldn't help but think they looked familiar.
"Have you grilled fish before?" she asked. He Yu smiled, "it's another area of expertise I am proficient in"m
Lingxi watched more closely. His hand movements did not seem like that of a typical fish griller. His hands, though not very noticeable, did not look like only that of a fish griller or an archer. It looked a bit like that of someone who practiced martial arts. She thought of the way he walked silently and at his hand movements. And what was more baffling was that she found it familiar but could not quite understand or recall why or if she had met him before.
He Yu noticed her watching him, "does Zhizhi enjoy looking at me?" he interrupted her thoughts.
"Who enjoys looking at you? I'm thinking about something else", Lingxi denied.
"If you love watching me you can just say so. Your husband is quite handsome", He Yu teased.
"I've recently noticed that you have a very unrealistic high opinion of yourself", Lingxi said.
He Yu smiled as he flipped the knife.
"This knife..... or dagger is quite pretty", he observed as he admired it. It was slightly curved and looked very sharp.
"My father gave it to me on our wedding day. He said if anyone were to bully me, especially you, I could use it to solve my problem", she said.
"Of course, He Yu knew she was joking, "so this is what you use for self-defense? I have to be more careful now", he joked back.
Lingxi tried not to laugh and suddenly remembered something, "oh, right, I just remembered we were supposed to have an archery competition. We haven't done that yet. How about we do it tomorrow?" she asked.
"Sure", He Yu agreed and added, "I also remembered I told you to run five laps. Had you run it?"