Chapter 150

General Bai, who had spent the entire day digging for wild vegetables, felt rather helpless. To be honest, his luck today had actually been quite good, and he had encountered no shortage of large game.

It was just that His Majesty stubbornly forbade anyone from hunting them, under the noble-sounding pretext of animal protection, forcing a whole group of high-ranking ministers to go dig for wild herbs to improve their diet. As for His Majesty himself, just to show off, he had shot two pathetically small rabbits and a pheasant.

Consequently, after eating a stomach full of "grass" that evening, everyone had retreated to their tents to sleep.
……

When Bai Zhuo finally laid down the book in his hand, it was already very late. Aside from a bowl of wild vegetable porridge bestowed by the Emperor that a young servant had brought over during a particularly busy moment earlier, he hadn't eaten anything else. Honestly, His Majesty remained as stingy as ever.

Just as he was preparing to step outside to forage for some food, he caught sight of his younger brother poking his head out from behind the tent curtain.
Bai Zhuo raised an eyebrow.

After carefully checking to ensure their old man was nowhere in sight, Bai Jie slipped inside.
"Eldest brother, come with me," Bai Jie said, tugging at Bai Zhuo's sleeve to pull him outside.
"Little brother, where are you taking me?" Bai Zhuo asked with a puzzled expression.
"Don't ask, just come with me."

Dazed and bewildered, Bai Zhuo let himself be dragged along by Bai Jie.

Not far away, after the two of them entered the woods, Bai Zhuo discovered that a small gathering was actually taking place here. Fubao, Miss Chen, the two young masters of the Gong family, Gu Yun, and... Xie Lingyun were all present.

"Eldest Cousin, come quick, come quick, there's food here!" Fubao waved to him from afar.
"Well, well, you guys are actually sneaking out to eat?" Bai Zhuo said with a smile.
"It's not sneaking out! We weren't full from dinner, so we told Big Guy to go into the woods and hunt some game," Fubao explained as she tossed a piece of firewood into the bonfire.
"Big Brother Bai, please sit down," Gu Li said. Among this group of youngsters, Bai Zhuo was the oldest—excluding Xie Linghan, of course, and Xie Lingyun, who constantly harbored ambitions of becoming Bai Zhuo's brother-in-law.
"Right." Bai Zhuo took a few steps forward, intending to find a spot to sit, but Xie Lingyun zipped over from the other side in a flash and planted himself squarely on the exact place Bai Zhuo had chosen.

"Brother Bai should sit over there instead. It's too windy on this side, careful you don't catch a cold," Xie Lingyun said, spouting utter nonsense with his eyes wide open.

Bai Zhuo looked up at the star-studded sky and then at his own blazing bonfire, feeling somewhat speechless.

However, it didn't really matter; trading spots with Xie Lingyun turned out to be quite alright.

"I'm back." Accompanied by this voice, the figure of Xie Linghan appeared, followed closely by Gu Yun. Xie Linghan was carrying what looked like an entire mountain of a wild boar, while Gu Yun held a chicken in his left hand and a rabbit in his right. Yet, looking at the postures of the two of them, something somehow felt a little strange.

Bai Zhuo was utterly dumbfounded. What a formidable and fierce Miss Xie.

Completely oblivious to Bai Zhuo's presence, Xie Linghan put down her burdens, unhooked the bamboo tube from her waist, and took a gulp of water. When she turned her head, she was greeted by four pairs of adoring, worshipful eyes, accompanied by her own brother's look of utter despair and resignation.

Xie Linghan furrowed her brow. What is wrong with this guy again?

"Brother Bai, actually... my younger sister is quite gentle. Although her strength is just a tiny, tiny bit on the large side, as a person she's really quite good," Xie Lingyun turned around and explained to the jaw-dropped and tongue-tied Bai Zhuo, though this explanation was far worse than no explanation at all.

Xie Linghan thought to herself: *...* Why is Bai Zhuo even here? Surely he didn't witness what she looked like just now, did he?

"Ahem, Miss Xie is indeed... cough, quite out of the ordinary," Bai Zhuo offered with a light cough.

Desperately trying to earn some favorable impression points for his sister, Xie Lingyun chimed in, "My sister's temperament is still very gentle. Haven't you ever heard the saying? Girls with tough exteriors all possess a gentle heart."

Bai Zhuo: *...*
Xie Linghan: *...* This is too humiliating.

Consequently, after Xie Linghan forcefully shoved a pig's trotter directly into Xie Lingyun's mouth, he finally shut up completely.

Naturally, Xie Linghan also noticed that the person sitting right beside her ought to have been her brother, but somehow he had been replaced by Bai Zhuo. She glared fiercely at Xie Lingyun, who was currently gnawing on the pig's trotter, and was met with a deeply ambiguous, knowing smirk. At that moment, Xie Linghan completely gave up; what could she do when she had such a hopeless, trouble-making brother?

As for the situation over here, Fubao and the others were completely oblivious to it all, entirely preoccupied with eating.

"Delicious, simply delicious!" Miss Chen muttered around a mouthful of grease, paying no heed to the heat.

Fubao had originally wanted to grab some meat with her bare hands, but Gu Li stopped her. Using a small dagger, Gu Li neatly carved the meat into bite-sized pieces and handed them over to Fubao.

"Here, you can eat now." Fubao glanced at Gu Li, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Hurry up and eat, or it'll get cold in a moment," Gu Li said, gently pushing a large tree leaf piled high with meat a little closer to her.
"Okay."

Watching Fubao eat, the corners of Gu Li's lips curved upward, a trace of a smile flashing in his eyes.

Gong Shaoyu took a bite of meat, glanced back and forth between Gu Li and Fubao, raised an eyebrow, and suddenly felt that the meat in his own mouth was no longer tasty.

Xie Linghan looked over at the young master Bai beside her, who was struggling rather pitifully with the chunk of meat in his hands, feeling a tinge of helplessness. Even her own younger brother was more capable than this.

Sighing softly, Xie Linghan took over Bai Zhuo's share of the meat, sliced it up expertly with a few swift motions, and slid it across to him.

Bai Zhuo: *...*

This really couldn't be blamed entirely on Bai Zhuo; after all, his mind was solely dedicated to reading the sages' books. While he knew a little bit of clumsy martial arts, and his archery and horsemanship were passable, he had truly never engaged in the barbarian behavior of tearing into meat and chugging wine out in the wild.

"Ahem, many thanks, Miss Xie."
"Mm," Xie Linghan replied softly.

"I've decided! Xie Sister, you should become my eldest sister-in-law!" Bai Jie, now thoroughly stuffed and satisfied, decided to stir up some trouble.

*Spit—*
Startled, Xie Linghan turned her head abruptly and accidentally sprayed a mouthful of water straight onto Bai Zhuo's face.

Bai Zhuo: *...*
"I'm so sorry, Young Master Bai, I am so very sorry!" Without a second thought, Xie Linghan snatched the handkerchief handed over by her older brother and lunged forward to wipe Bai Zhuo's face.

Xie Lingyun thought to himself: *Hehe! Get to touch his face first!*

"Uh..."
"Ah..."
By the time they finally snapped back to reality, both Xie Linghan and Bai Zhuo were blushing furiously, their faces burning bright red.

In the end, Xie Linghan dropped the handkerchief and bolted away. *Eek, eek—this is too mortifying!*

"Keep it up, Brother Bai, I'm rooting for you!" Seeing his sister run off, the sister-sacrificing Xie Lingyun flashed an encouraging thumbs-up at Bai Zhuo before dashing off in pursuit of Xie Linghan.

"There's definitely a show here! Eldest Brother, you've got to work hard!" Bai Jie stood on tiptoes and patted Bai Zhuo's shoulder—mostly because his older brother was simply too tall.

Bai Zhuo: *...* That brat.