Chapter 261 - Provocation (2/2)

“Royal...Royal Prince, Xiaocao is only joking around, she doesn’t have any bad intentions…” The two of them suddenly heard a timid voice interject from the side.

Yu Xiaocao turned in the direction of the voice and couldn’t suppress her surprise, ‘Zheng Xiaocui, just how badly do you want to get the Royal Prince’s attention ah?! Are you trying to plead for clemency for me? If you want to do it correctly, you first need to disguise that seductive expression in your eyes first and also conceal your wild ambitions, okay?’

Zhu Junyang’s expression immediately chilled as he looked out of the corner of his eye at the blue-clothed figure. Uneasiness bubbled up in his heart and he frowned unconsciously. Disgusting! How come he had to come across another person who could influence his feelings?

Head Steward Liu understood the hint in his master’s expression and hurriedly hollered, “Outrageous! How dare you interrupt when the prince is speaking? Guards come! Take her away from here!”

The order was only to escort her away and they were only being so lenient for the sake of Miss Yu. If it had been another person in another situation, they would have already dragged her down and started lashing with the whip! Hmph! A vulgar girl from a fisherman’s family also had the guts to cozy up to the magnificent and glorious royal prince. Who gave her the confidence?

Zheng Xiaocui was scared witless at the sight of two large and burly imperial guards coming towards her. Her knees weakened as they escorted her out. Zhou Shanhu and the other three girls now saw a noble’s fickle temperament. Earlier, the prince seemed to be doing fine, merely having a small quarrel with Xiaocao. How did he suddenly end up becoming angry?

Yu Xiaocao didn’t attempt to intercede for Zheng Xiaocui, who had ulterior motives. A person needed to take responsibility for his or her own actions. Xiaocao merely looked at Zhu Junyang in the eye with a calm expression and said, “What are you being so mean for? You’ve scared the girl out of her wits!”

After Zheng Xiaocui was forcefully escorted away, Zhu Junyang immediately felt like the air had become a lot more fresh. He couldn’t help but warn Yu Xiaocao again, “That girl’s heart isn’t pure. You need to stop spending time with her!!”

‘Are you saying that someone who likes and adores you is someone who doesn’t have a pure heart? You can’t only blame the little girl ah, you have to look at that devilishly handsome face of yours too, right?’ Yu Xiaocao silently cursed the prince in her mind before she replied, “How bad can a girl of twelve to thirteen be? Don’t make other people more complicated than they actually are!”

‘How bad can a girl of twelve to thirteen be? Just wait until you see those supposed gently-raised maidens in the capital fighting and scheming against others! In order to gain a personal advantage, they are willing to plot against their own sisters, step on their supposedly good friends, yet still pretend to be gracious and loving to them while stabbing them in the back. Only after seeing that could you finally understand just how ‘bad’ twelve to thirteen year old girls could be!’

“Enough, let’s not talk about this anymore! This prince is going to enter the mountains…” Zhu Junyang waved the bow in his hands at Yu Xiaocao and turned to leave.

Yu Xiaocao looked up at the sky to observe the time and then advised him, “Young Royal Prince, you should eat lunch before you go! That way you won’t miss a meal.”

Zhu Junyang hesitated for a second before he nodded his head, “Okay! I’ll go with what you say!! This prince will go to the thickets at the foot of the mountain and try my luck there. Maybe I can hunt a few pheasants or hares and add them to our lunch!”

When Yu Xiaocao saw that Head Steward Liu was following along, she thought that everything should be fine now. She had already inquired earlier about Head Steward Liu. Apparently, he was very skilled at martial arts and was similar to those giant ‘bosses’ that guarded places in the dramas of her previous life. A lot of television dramas had head eunuchs that were very good at martial arts. Perhaps they had all practiced from the Sunflower Manual [1]?

When they saw Zhu Junyang leave, Zhou Shanhu and the three other girls, who were terrified by the previous scene, scampered over to Yu Xiaocao and exclaimed, “That was super scary! Zheng Xiaocui didn’t say much ah, how did she end up offending His Highness so much?”

“Aren’t all nobles with high rank and power temperamental?” Liu Yingzi had a better understanding of how the world worked, so she seemed to have sensed something more. She was feeling a bit displeased with Zheng Xiaocui.

No wonder Zheng Xiaocui, who usually didn’t spend much time with her before, always stuck around her whenever she was visiting the Yu Family. She wanted to get closer to the royal prince ah! Liu Yingzi didn’t know if Uncle Zheng knew Xiaocui’s inner thoughts but she needed to tell her father when she got home and have him subtly make some inquiries.

Yu Xiaocao smiled, “Alright, let’s go gather seafood now. If we get there later, all of the good spots will get taken by other people ah!”

Qian Yafang gazed at Yu Xiaocao with eyes full of admiration, “Older Sister Xiaocao, you are too awesome ah. You’re not even the tiniest bit afraid of that stormy royal prince and you even dare to argue with him.”

Yu Xiaocao pinched the other girl’s chubby little face and grinned, “Xiaofang, you’re wrong! I’m just a little peasant girl, how can I actually dare to argue with His Highness? I just have a better understanding of his personality since I’ve spent a little more time with him. As long as I don’t cross his bottom line, there won’t be any problems!”

Qian Yafang first nodded her head and then shook her head, “My mother told me that I’m very bad at judging other people’s expressions. In the future, I’ll stay farther away from the royal prince then!”

Zhou Shanhu also vigorously nodded her head in agreement.

[1] Sunflower Manual (葵花宝典) - An infamous martial arts manual written by an eunuch in Jin Yong's wuxia novel ”The Smiling, Proud Wanderer”. Any man who wishes to learn from the manual must castrate himself before he starts practicing the skills.