Chapter 21.1
Now, Zong Hongjiu with Zong Ruichen, had already entered the hunting ground ahead of schedule, yet the students from all the different schools of thought remained and still listened to Duan Junhao explaining the rules, and it seemed that it would take a while before letting them go.
Thinking of Zong Ruichen being taken away by Zong Hongjiu, and the servant specially picking a fierce horse that was difficult to tame, Zong Luo became anxious and angry, however he couldn’t leave at the moment, he had no choice but to stay rooted where he was.
With Zong Hongjiu appearing like this, it was obvious that he had already knew Zong Ruichen was pretending to be stupid.
If Xiao Ba couldn’t catch on to his move and continued to pretend, then he would definitely suffer a serious injury today. It would absolutely be something that couldn’t be considered too light, and if it was severe, his life may even be in danger.
After all, Zong Hongjiu for certain was not a kind child, he was even more terrifying than a man who had committed countless crimes and deserved to be judged before the court.
If Xiao Ba caught on to his trick……….it would simply be also equivalent to admitting his disguised of playing stupid for so many years.
This matter was actually neither small nor big, and being discovered by Zong Hongjiu was just in fact a trivial matter in itself. But supposing he’d already gone to Emperor Yuan, Emperor Yuan would naturally pursue the matter. Maybe he would then recall the bloody disposal of the Rong family back then, and then would wonder why Zong Ruichen knew how to pretend to be stupid at such a young age. Even if the wet nurse entrusted by Concubine Rong was found out, sooner or later the fire would still burn on Zong Ruichen himself.
Obviously, Zong Luo had a hard time diverting Zong Hongjiu’s attention last time, but now—
Sigh..well, all he did was now in vain.
“From today till tomorrow when the sun rises, is the set time for the hunting competition. Now……let the event begin!”
Duan Junhao picked up a drum stick and beat it on the big drum, heralding the opening of the hunting competition.
The students who had already been dressed neatly got on their horses, with bows on their backs, and a quiver holding arrows that hung on the saddles of each military horse. They were dressed up in Hu Fus and all looked valiant and heroic. As soon as the words fell, they urged their horses to run towards the forest, raising loess dust under their hooves.
After nodding goodbye to Gu Ziyuan, Zong Luo also left but at a leisurely pace.
He sat upright on the horse, firmly locking his eyes onto Ye Linghan’s back.
The latter stopped where he was, and let a servant help him tie up his leggings. All the equipment on his body was of best quality, radiating with cold light. It looked like he had put in a lot of effort for this event, and wanted to get a good ranking in the hunting competition. He was even riding a horse borrowed from the Xuan Cavalry.
After Ye Linghan left, Zong Luo looked back at the soldiers following behind him, turned his horse’s head, and then headed towards the depths of the forest.
What Zong Luo didn’t expect was that as soon as he entered the hunting ground, someone would come to him on his own initiative.
“Brother Gu.”
After seeing him, Gongsun You’s eyes lit up, and he hurried over on his horse.
His expression was still as arrogant as ever, but facing Zong Luo, it was slightly restrained for a moment, with a faint undetectable awkwardness.
Gongsun You looked at the emaciated figure of the swordsman caged under a white clothes, and frowned when his eyes fell on the other person’s pale and bloodless lips.
“Brother Gu didn’t go to the Baijia Banquet again a few days ago, thus I sent someone to inquire, and only then did I find out that Brother Gu was sick……..Are you feeling better now?”
If Zong Luo hadn’t arranged the attendant at the door of their station and reported back to him that Gongsun You had almost gone every day, Zong Luo might really be deceived.
“Thank you, Brother Gongsun, I’m feeling much better.”
Being entangled with Gongsun You, Zong Luo was impatient in his heart, but he couldn’t show it on his face, therefore he could only speak absent-mindedly to deal with it.
He couldn’t figure out the reason why Gongsun You came to check on him every day in the past few days, but now that he knew that Yu Beizhou had also been reborn, he didn’t even need to think about it, and the impulse came out by itself accordingly.
He really didn’t have the time to waste with one of Yu Beizhou’s henchmen here.
“If there’s nothing else, time is precious, so I will leave first.”
Zong Luo nodded to him, as if he didn’t want to say more, pulled the reins and was about to leave.
Gongsun You saw through his perfunctory attitude at a glance.
He was obviously quite enthusiastic during the Baijia Banquet, why did he suddenly change so much?
The maniac commoner man pursed his lips.
If other people gave him face like this, Gongsun You, who was arrogant in nature, would probably leave on the spot.
But it just so happened that it was this person.
Without even the slightest hesitation, he tightened his grip on the horse’s reins and chased after him.
“Brother Gu, wait…….Third Highness!”
Gongsun You deliberately lowered his voice, and only called out after waiting for the horse to get closer to the other, thus the volume was not loud, and the soldiers guarding the two of them didn’t hear it.
But he actually called out “Third Highness”.
Zong Luo stopped.
For no apparent reason, he felt a fit of being fed up.
I thought that in this life, I could learn from the experience of the previous life, and make a comeback from a desperate situation. I even plotted to escape death, while tossing and turning in uncertainty and causing myself physical and mental suffering.
However, to be only told in the end that his old enemy from his previous life had also been reborn with him. And was very likely that together with him, he had also awakened the memory of the previous life on the night of the “nine stars linked like beads” a year ago.
In other words, during the year when Zong Luo was on the run, Yu Beizhou had plenty of time to recruit troops and re-use this time to make arrangements. It was also because Zong Luo took the lead in setting up the game, but was instead exposed himself in the end and became the mantis stalking the cicada unaware of the oriole behind.
(t/n mantis stalking the cicada unaware of the oriole behind-the metaphor is short-sighted, only thinking of calculating others, but not expecting others to calculate him.)
Ironic?
Zong Luo only thought it was ridiculous.
In the previous life, I personally interpreted what kind of tragic end I would get if I fought against the protagonist. But would I want to do it again in this life? Are you kidding me!
He suppressed his anger. “Let Yu Beizhou pick up on these childish tricks.”
However, as soon as Zong Luo saw Gongsun You’s face, he couldn’t help but thought of something—
This advisor who followed Yu Beizhou in the previous life stood on the city wall coldly, and only watched the servant wrap Zhanlu with the imperial decree and drop it from a height. At that time, Gongsun You had already socialized with the several princes, and standing behind him was Yu Beizhou, his personally selected “wise monarch”. Like a fish in water in the Imperial City, being promoted step by step, and ranked as Jiuqing, even Zong Luo’s confidant Imperial Censor Xue was almost squeezed out of his position as part of the Sangong. It could only be said that he was extremely proud of his success.
(t/n Jiuqing- is the general term for a chief executive of the ancient central government in China.)
(t/n Sangong-traditionally refers to the three most important ministers who assist the emperor in governing the country.)
