The Mute Wife Who Brings Prosperity-Chapter 528 - 495: Beating You Until You Don’t Recognize Your Own Kin
Song Yuanbao only learned riding and archery for two years, and his skills were not considered exquisite, but he excelled in having sensitive ears.
As he pounced toward the rabbit, he heard the sound of arrows coming from behind.
Evidently, the other person’s target was also the rabbit.
He was torn between "capturing the rabbit and getting hit by the arrow" and "giving up the rabbit."
Just then, there was a thudding sound from the nearby pine tree trunk, as another arrow came from the side, knocking the previous arrow off course.
Song Yuanbao stood up holding the gray rabbit, and opposite him, there were two people on horseback, Ye Rong on the left, Yun Huai on the right.
He could easily guess who shot each arrow.
Ye Rong looked at him, directly frowning, "Little Yuanbao, are you out of your mind? In riding and archery, of course you have to shoot your prey from horseback, where’s your horse? What are you doing here? Don’t you know, if Yun Liulang had been a bit slower, your life would be over!"
"Afraid of what?" Song Yuanbao said nonchalantly, "Brother said before, wherever I go, you’ve got my back."
As he spoke, he walked towards him holding the rabbit.
That calm demeanor, he didn’t take the previous incident seriously at all.
Ye Rong wanted to scold him a bit, but found he had no ground to stand on, so he had to hold back, "Is it worth it for just a rabbit?"
"As long as someone likes it, it’s worth it." Song Yuanbao looked up, with a bright smile on his handsome young face.
Yun Huai said, "There are many stray arrows in the hunting ground, you could accidentally kill someone, it’s too dangerous. Young Master Song, you’d better not run around alone, otherwise, if something happens, everyone will worry."
"Isn’t it said a rabbit is hard to keep alive?" Song Yuanbao said with difficulty, "I just caught one, I still need to catch one more."
The horse under Ye Rong started to buck, and Ye Rong finally calmed the horse down, looking at Song Yuanbao with a very complicated expression, "Young Master Song, are you okay? We’re here to hunt, compete, why are you catching rabbits?"
Song Yuanbao raised his eyebrows, "To give to the Chang’e under the Guanghan Palace."
Ye Rong watched him walk away, cursed a profanity.
Yun Huai said, "Let’s go, there are no prey here."
Song Yuanbao returned to the outskirts of the hunting ground with the gray rabbit, where Xue Yinhuan and Ye Ling had just collected firewood.
Seeing the little rabbit in Song Yuanbao’s arms, Ye Ling quickly stood up, looking curious.
"Here, this is for you." Song Yuanbao handed the rabbit to her.
The little thing was a young rabbit, not yet fully grown, with soft, fine fur, relatively short ears, round eyes, a circle of white fur on its belly, and when held, it felt soft.
Being held by Ye Ling, it wanted to run but couldn’t, wilted completely, lying motionless as if sulking.
Xue Yinhuan reminded, "A rabbit is hard to keep alive."
Ye Ling had never raised a rabbit, didn’t know these things, upon hearing this she said, "Oh, what to do then?"
"Let Young Master Song catch another one then."
Ye Ling looked at the young man, "Young Master Yuanbao, could you..."
"Can, of course I can." Song Yuanbao looked at her, his gaze full of laughter, "Earlier your brother asked who I was giving it to, I said to give it to the Chang’e under Guanghan Palace, based on that sentence, however many you want, I’ll catch them for you."
"What Chang’e, you’re just talking nonsense!" Ye Ling stomped her foot, turned around with her back to him, her face blushing red.
Song Yuanbao raised an eyebrow, chuckled lightly, and dashed back into the woods.
Before long, shouts could be heard from the forest, "Running around wildly on two legs, Little Yuanbao you’re courting death!"
"You surnamed Song, you scared off my roe deer!"
"Where’s my rabbit? Just found the target, who the hell saw my rabbit?"
The group clamored and cursed in the forest, turning into a mess, while Song Yuanbao holding a little white rabbit, strode out lightly from the other side.
Ye Ling, sitting by the firewood, looked up and saw him.
The youth today wore a snug round-neck riding outfit fit for hunting, a jade belt at his waist, his black hair half tied, with loose strands fluttering in the wind. Unlike Zhao Xi’s sharp cold beauty, he was a radiant and charming youth, exuding a lazy pride in his every move.
Ye Ling looked a little dazed.
Inexplicably, she thought of that day at the Minister’s Mansion, where he lay drunk among the flowers on the green stone, asking her to paint him.
Xue Yinhuan, sitting under the tree drinking water, looked at Song Yuanbao, then at Ye Ling, eyes shifting between them, but saying nothing.
Song Yuanbao soon squatted down beside Ye Ling, "This one is for you too."
Ye Ling saw it was a white rabbit and asked, "Why is the fur color different?"
The little girl’s lashes fluttered slightly as she looked down at the rabbit, making her appear soft and cute, even cuter than the rabbit.
Song Yuanbao said, "How boring if the fur colors are the same, they need something the other doesn’t have to attract each other and live in harmony for a long time."
Xue Yinhuan nearly sprayed out a mouthful of water.
Ye Ling clearly didn’t understand the deeper meaning of the remark and nodded in agreement, "You’re right, let it be one gray and one white."
Song Yuanbao saw she was afraid the rabbits would run away, so she held them closely in her hands, and asked, "Did you bring a cage?"
"I did."
"Then put the little critters in the cage."
Ye Ling asked curiously, "Wouldn’t they be upset being caged right after being caught?"
Song Yuanbao: "They need some time and space to be alone, otherwise how would they develop feelings for each other? Otherwise, wouldn’t they start fighting as soon as we get home?"
... Xue Yinhuan silently put down the water pouch and went back into the woods to gather firewood.
When Ye Ling got up to get the cage, she realized Xue Yinhuan was missing and wondered, "Where’s Sister Huan?"
Song Yuanbao saw Xue Yinhuan go into the woods and casually said, "Maybe Miss Xue thinks we’re rabbits."
"Huh?" Ye Ling couldn’t wrap her head around it.
"No worries, go get the cage, I’ll watch the rabbits for you."
When Ye Ling returned, she saw the white rabbit had a tiny flower crown on its ears, "Wow, it’s beautiful, did Young Master Yuanbao make it himself?"
Song Yuanbao nodded, asked if she liked it and if she wanted one.
Ye Ling shook her head, "I won’t fight them for it, could you make one for the gray rabbit too?"
Song Yuanbao shook his head and said it wasn’t suitable.
"Why isn’t it suitable?"
Song Yuanbao clasped his right hand into a fist by his lips and coughed, "This is a dignified gray rabbit; it doesn’t like flower crowns." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Although Ye Ling couldn’t see where the dignity of this rabbit was, she followed Song Yuanbao’s advice and caged the little critters.
Song Yuanbao stood up, cut some fresh grass and stuffed it inside.
The two critters initially stayed in separate corners unwilling to move, but soon began nibbling on the grass.
Song Yuanbao turned his gaze back to Ye Ling and said, "Rabbits shouldn’t eat wet grass; you must feed them dry grass, otherwise they’ll get sick."
Ye Ling felt he was amazing, like he understood everything, and asked if he’d raised rabbits before.
Song Yuanbao nodded, "I raised them back home."
Ye Ling: "Wow, besides rabbits, what else have you raised?"
"Many things." Song Yuanbao didn’t feel embarrassed talking about home, "Raised pigs, fed chickens, even went up the mountain and hunted for tigers."
"So impressive!"
"I went with my grandfather; he’s the top hunter in our area, every time he went up the mountain with others, his catch was the best and the most."
Ye Ling realized, "No wonder Young Master Yuanbao knows everything; it’s because you have an amazing grandfather. I’m really jealous of you."
Song Yuanbao looked at her, suddenly said, "I’m not someone who knows everything."
Ye Ling blinked, "What don’t you know, Young Master Yuanbao? Would you mind talking about it? If I know about it, I surely won’t keep it from you."
Song Yuanbao’s lips curled slightly, "For instance, I don’t know how to win a lady’s affection."
... Ye Ling held back for a long time, her little face turning red, "You’re teasing me again."
Seeing the little girl flustered and blushing deeply, Song Yuanbao timely said, "I was joking, actually there are countless things I don’t understand, otherwise I wouldn’t be staying by the Prince’s side for learning."
Hearing this, Ye Ling’s heart slowly calmed down, she thought of certain rumors, "Young Master Yuanbao topped the scorer list at fourteen, many people outside praise you as a young genius, already very impressive."
"Really?" Song Yuanbao smiled, "Maybe I was lucky last year, but my dad was right, knowledge doesn’t necessarily equate to character, if one doesn’t follow the right path, then even if they’re brimming with knowledge, it’s all in vain. Therefore, I still have much to strive for!"
...
An hour passed, and the hunting youths returned to count their game.
Zhao Xi and Yun Huai looked down on small animals, only hunting valuable ones, resulting in lesser quantity.
The rest of the youths didn’t have many valuable game, but fortunately, they had more small animals.
They set the rules before hunting, one mink could be exchanged for ten rabbits, and so forth.
The youth responsible for counting the game couldn’t match the Eldest Prince’s team no matter how much he added, so he scratched his head in frustration, "If we had two more rabbits, our teams would tie."
Upon hearing this, everyone simultaneously looked at the cage beside Ye Ling.
Inside the cage were one gray and one white rabbit.
Song Yuanbao glared, "What are you looking at? They’re not game, I caught them alive."
Ye Rong came over and raised his fist, "You little scoundrel, I wondered why I didn’t see you during the hunt, turns out everyone’s risking their lives in the woods while you’re here lounging. Let me beat you until you don’t recognize your own relatives!"
