Yue Er furrowed her brows, feeling a bit wistful.
"Mother, please don’t bring it up!"
"Oh? What happened?" Xia Ruqing couldn’t help but laugh.
Yue Er thought for a moment and then explained the situation.
"My brother and the others go hunting every day, and they always take Shih Shaoling with them. I went twice and couldn’t be bothered to go again!"
"As for Yilan and Wei Yu, well... Wei Yu is fine, but Sister Yilan is about to get engaged and marry, so she doesn’t really hang out with us anymore!"
"With just the two of us, there’s nothing much fun to do!"
Yue Er was a bit uninterested.
Xia Ruqing sensed something was off and quickly asked.
"That shouldn’t be the case!"
"Even in the Capital City, getting engaged doesn’t mean she can’t play with her friends. Why does she..."
Yue Er shook her head, not wanting to say more.
Xia Ruqing didn’t press further.
They drank some tea and ate some wild snacks together, and then the mother and daughter parted ways.
...
Back in her room, Yue Er lay on the bed feeling sulky, chatting idly with Ying Luo.
"Yilan seems to have gone crazy!"
As soon as she said that, before Ying Luo could respond, a shadow suddenly flashed in from outside.
"I think she’s crazy too!"
It turned out to be Wei Yu, and Yue Er breathed a sigh of relief.
"Why are you here?"
Chen Weiyu shrugged.
"I just couldn’t stay any longer!"
"The person she used to be is completely gone! It’s like her soul has vanished!"
Yue Er gave a helpless smile.
"The books say that young girls fall in love! I didn’t believe it before!"
"Now I see...it’s true after all! Young love truly is terrifying."
She looked at Chen Weiyu cautiously.
"You won’t be like that in the future, will you?"
Both of them were of an age where they weren’t ready to be betrothed, so they didn’t really understand what it meant to fall in love.
Chen Weiyu shook her head.
"Hard to say!"
"Right now, I just want to have fun!"
"Yue Er, let’s go horse riding, I really feel like hunting too!"
Yue Er didn’t really want to go, but deep down she did feel a bit tempted.
Unable to refuse, she just went along with it.
Palace attendants brought their horses.
They prepared their quivers, carried their bows and arrows, and rode into the forest.
Yue Er always had hidden guards and bodyguards with her, so there was no worry about their safety.
Along the way, they wandered around, each managing to catch some wild chickens or rabbits.
There weren’t many deer or roe deer, probably because the hunting teams had reduced their numbers.
Yue Er wasn’t very interested; they spent half the day and then came back.
...
Just as they entered the Temporary Palace Annex, they saw Yilan leading her horse out.
The three of them exchanged glances, feeling a bit awkward.
"Oh, you went horse riding without inviting me!"
Yue Er and Wei Yu were somewhat speechless but still explained.
"We thought about you being ready to marry, so we didn’t want to bother you!"
Yilan felt a bit guilty, blushing and letting it go with just a comment.
"I’m just going out for a bit, I’ll be back soon!"
With that, she hurriedly mounted her horse and left.
Yue Er and Wei Yu were stunned.
"In such a hurry?"
Chen Weiyu remarked casually.
"We used to invite her, and she would say she was waiting to marry. Now we don’t invite her, and she rushes out alone!"
"Could it be she’s going... to meet someone?"
Their eyes met in realization with thoughtful silence, each returning still pondering.
...
Meanwhile, with Yilan.
Shortly after having breakfast, she heard the maid reporting.
Her fiancé, Nan Yunze, hadn’t gone hunting today but was fishing not far in front of the mountain.
She felt excited and overwhelmed, having an inexplicable urge to see him.
The maid paled with fear.
"County Princess, that won’t do!"
"If Master Prince and the Imperial Concubine find out, even nine lives wouldn’t be enough to apologize!"
Even as childhood sweethearts, when betrothed, they should avoid suspicion.
Besides, they don’t know each other yet.
If people knew the County Princess was throwing herself forward, it would be scandalous and ruin her reputation!
"County Princess, please show mercy and spare this servant’s life!"
Yilan was impatient.
"I’m not deliberately pushing forward, I just want to ’accidentally’ run into him, understand?"
"It’s not deliberate, it’s an accident!"
A deliberate accident.
The maid didn’t understand but knew it wasn’t proper. She didn’t know how to persuade her, so she stubbornly refused to agree.
And then...
County Princess Yilan knocked her out.
"Sorry!"
"Just seeing him isn’t enough; I want to say a few words to him!"