Chapter 139
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Seeing the relieved expression on the warm baby’s face, Xue Yao knew that his previous persuasion had been in vain. This guy simply couldn’t listen!
“I was worried that you already had Seventh Brother in your heart, but fortunately, fate is fair,” Lu Xiao firmly said, “Unless you already have someone in your heart, I won’t give up on you, A’Yao. Let’s wait and see. I’m not as fragile as you think. Only Seventh Brother needs extra care from others.”
Xue Yao had no choice. When he looked at the warm baby, it was as if he was looking at his past self.
Men at this age think that only strength could earn admiration. Since words couldn’t explain, he had to gradually understand himself.
“This medicine was prepared for your Mother Consort,” Xue Yao said as he handed over the antidepressant he exchanged at the system apothecary last night to the warm baby.
“Medicine?” Thinking he was deliberately changing the subject, Lu Xiao declined with some displeasure. “Mother Consort is not ill.”
“Your Mother Consort’s mood is always not good. It’s a condition of liver qi stagnation and poor blood circulation,” Xue Yao coaxed. “This medicine is mainly a liver-nourishing and blood-activating formula. There’s no harm in taking it. If the Noble Consort takes it, it might benefit her too…”
“Even if it benefits her, she won’t thank you.” Lu Xiao’s expression suddenly turned cold, his clear eyes drooping as if suddenly shrouded in a layer of gloom.
For twenty years, most of Lu Xiao’s life had been spent trying to please Mother Consort, but the responses received were all impatience and various dismissals, nothing more.
When emotions were repeatedly trampled upon, they could turn into bitterness.
Disguising emotions as hatred could protect Lu Xiao from repeatedly falling into the same trap and courting humiliation.
Lu Xiao harbored a strong resentment towards the Noble Consort.
“I don’t need your Mother Consort’s gratitude,” Xue Yao smiled, softly persuading, “Once you leave the palace, the Noble Consort will be quite lonely. If her mood improves a bit, she might enjoy watching plays with other consorts to pass the time.”
Lu Xiao remained silent.
Xue Yao knew he was touching a sore spot, but he couldn’t help it. As someone who had been through similar experiences, he understood that Lu Xiao’s real issue lay in his birth mother’s disdain.
Only by treating the Noble Consort’s depression could the power of a mother potentially heal the wounds in Lu Xiao’s heart.
“She won’t take the medicine. Don’t waste your efforts.” Lu Xiao, with a self-protective, indifferent expression, adopted a demeanor he had learned from his mother – the same expression that hurt him the most.
He detested his mother’s use of indifference as a weapon, having sworn a thousand times in his heart never to become someone who trampled on others’ emotions like his mother.
Yet, whenever he felt hurt, the knife his mother used to wound him would perfectly reappear on his face.
This made him detest himself even more.
“She doesn’t need to agree,” Xue Yao, in the gentlest tone, eased Lu Xiao’s resistance, grabbed his hand, and placed the medicine packet in his palm. “Just have the kitchen add a portion to the soup every day. It’s a small amount and won’t affect the taste.”
Meanwhile, in a corner of the martial arts training ground, Hero Gu was also confiding in his Junior Brother.
“I won’t allow you to eat! Have you no shame!” Gu Qingyuan mimicked the little trickster’s pitiful look, vividly recreating the scene for Lu Qian.
“Impossible,” Lu Qian couldn’t believe Sixth Brother would be so rude to his Senior Brother.
“I’m not lying to you!” Gu Qingyuan spilled the beans about the incident where Lu Xiao wolfed down all the food and then ran away.
Lu Qian couldn’t imagine why his usually well-behaved Sixth Brother would do such a thing. “You two had a fight, so why is he still taking your side?”
“Taking my side?” Gu Qingyuan laughed. “What did he just tell you? Did he ask you to take care of me?”
Lu Qian nodded.
“Hahahaha!” Gu Qingyuan, unable to contain his joy, explained to his Junior Brother, “I tricked him into thinking I paid for his meal, that I sold myself to the palace as a servant. Now he’s feeling guilty and wants to make it up to me. Don’t tell him I’m your Senior Brother. This guy is so amusing!”
When Xue Yao returned to the practice field with the warm baby, from a distance, he saw the two martial brothers laughing heartily with mischievous smiles, discussing who knows what.
Lu Qian stopped smiling as soon as he saw Sixth Brother walking with the little reader-in-waiting. He got up and sternly walked over.
Suddenly aware, Xue Yao took a few sideways steps, maintaining a distance from Lu Xiao. However, Lu Xiao caught up in a few strides, grabbing his hand and intentionally exchanging glances with Seventh Brother, speaking with laughter in his eyes.
Xue Yao felt that the warm baby had turned into a little devil now!
【Warning: Lu Qian acid level reaches 99. Please find a sturdy and reliable cover nearby to avoid unforeseen events!】
Xue Yao: “……”
This was bad, very bad!
Helplessly watching as the Long Aotian cub approached with a cold expression, Xue Yao wondered whether he or the warm baby would be the one to get beaten up…
However, Lu Qian only bent down to pull the little reader-in-waiting’s hand out of Sixth Brother’s grip, meticulously checking Xue Yao’s fingers one by one, allowing only his own presence to linger on the little reader-in-waiting’s body.
After wiping his hands, Lu Qian didn’t say a word. He just pulled Xue Yao along, not bothering to greet Sixth Brother.
“A’Yao,” Lu Xiao stopped him. “Don’t leave the palace tonight. Stay in my quarters. I have something to tell you.”
At these words, Lu Qian halted and let go of Xue Yao’s hand.
【System alert: Acid level at maximum. Host, take immediate intimate contact measures to reduce the danger level!】
Xue Yao: “……”
Intimate contact?
What kind of weird suggestion was this!
When Lu Qian turned to walk towards the warm baby, Xue Yao tugged at his sleeve.
“Not going,” Lu Qian rejected Sixth Brother on behalf of the little reader-in-waiting.
“I didn’t ask you. Let A’Yao make his own decision.”
The two brothers simultaneously turned their heads to look at Xue Yao.
Xue Yao: “……I have something to attend to tonight and can’t stay in the palace.”
“Then tomorrow, the day after tomorrow is fine too. Whenever you have free time, come to my quarters,” Lu Xiao persistently pressed.
“If there’s free time, stay at your grandpa’s quarters,” Lu Qian suggested.
“Let A’Yao decide for himself.”
Thus, the two young men’s gazes once again fell on Xue Yao.
“A’Yao, do you want to stay with Seventh Brother or with A’Xiao?” Lu Xiao leveraged his familiarity to gain an advantage.
“I’m not comfortable staying in the palace…” Xue Yao wanted these two young men to understand that he didn’t want to be the protagonist in a love triangle.
He simultaneously eliminated both contenders, turning the competition between Lu Xiao and Lu Qian into an internal rivalry.
“Then let’s have a man-to-man duel.”
“A duel?”
“No!” Xue Yao immediately halted the potential self-destruction of the two, or rather, stopped the Long Aotian cub from unilaterally attacking the warm baby. “No fighting allowed!”
“Then let’s have an archery contest.” Lu Xiao chose his strong suit. “Shooting at fixed targets is boring. We release live targets, twenty pigeons in one round. Whoever shoots down more wins. One round to determine victory or defeat.”
Lu Qian: “Deal.”
Lu Xiao’s skill in shooting birds was outstanding, while Lu Qian had little training in mounted archery even against fixed targets. Theoretically, Lu Xiao had a higher chance of winning.
However, Xue Yao knew very well that Lu Qian’s innate archery ability was an unbeatable advantage, even blindfolded, he could shoot more accurately than others.
This should be a contest without any suspense.
Xue Yao followed the two brothers to the mounted archery field.
The “live targets” were pigeons bred in the palace, typically released in groups of ten. Shooting more would be impractical, as they would quickly fly away in the blink of an eye.
However, Lu Xiao’s arrow release speed was extremely fast. With twenty pigeons released, by the time the last one disappeared into the sky, Lu Xiao had managed to shoot more than ten arrows.
Lu Xiao’s reader-in-waiting often practiced this archery technique with him. Holding the quiver in one hand, he rapidly pulled out arrows, aligned them, and handed them to Lu Xiao.
The master and servant collaborated perfectly. At the end of one round, Lu Xiao had shot down eight of the twenty pigeons, with two pierced by the same arrow.
After finishing, Lu Xiao confidently smiled at Seventh Brother. “Please, Seventh Brother.”
Lu Qian stood up and walked to the center of the archery field, with Xue Yao holding the quiver anxiously by his side.
He hadn’t expected the warm baby’s archery skills to have progressed to this level.
It was no longer a matter of accuracy. The warm baby’s drawing and aiming were completed almost in the blink of an eye.
Without giving him much time to think, the attendants were already prepared to release the pigeons. Xue Yao quickly imitated the warm baby’s reader-in-waiting, took out an arrow, adjusted the angle, and handed it to Lu Qian.
Following that, the sound of flapping wings, and the gray-white pigeons, scattered away, urged into the sky.
Lu Qian shot arrows while chasing after them.
It was at this moment that Xue Yao realized the key to success wasn’t just in Lu Qian’s speed of shooting arrows but in whether he could catch up and hand over arrows at the same pace.
Everything happened in an instant. Just witnessing the seamless coordination between Lu Xiao and his reader-in-waiting made Xue Yao unaware of the difficulty in this cooperation.
Chasing after Lu Qian’s footsteps, Xue Yao frantically grabbed arrows, too rushed to align them as the reader-in-waiting did. Before he knew it, Lu Qian had taken the arrow away.
Initially, watching Lu Xiao shoot arrows and thinking the domestically raised pigeons flew quite slowly, now in his turn, everything felt like it was fast-forwarding. Xue Yao regretted not letting Lu Qian carry the quiver himself. It probably would have been more efficient than this attempted synchronization.
Sometimes when Lu Qian’s hand reached out, Xue Yao hadn’t even taken out the next arrow, sweating nervously. After finally getting the arrow out, his nerves got the best of him, hands fumbling, and he handed the quiver to Lu Qian.
Lu Qian didn’t waste words. He picked an arrow from the quiver and shoot it himself.
Based on this level of synchronization, the result was easy to predict.
The Long Aotian cub only managed to hit four pigeons in the end.
Xue Yao was utterly baffled, never dreaming that Lu Qian would lose to the warm baby.
Undeniably, he himself played a significant role in the loss.
Lu Xiao was overjoyed, comforting Seventh Brother in a triumphant manner, then flaunting his victory, waiting for Xue Yao’s praise.
Helplessly watching, Lu Qian stood silently on the side, head lowered, wearing a despondent expression.
Xue Yao, feeling heartbroken to the point of being crushed, temporarily ignored the warm baby, turning to console Lu Qian incessantly, “It’s all my fault for being too slow in handing over the arrows.”
Lu Qian remained silent, exchanged a bitter smile with the little reader-in-waiting, then turned and walked away to a corner.
He sensed if the little reader-in-waiting followed him by the flow of air around him.
Lu Qian attempted his Senior Brother’s approach. Would the little reader-in-waiting, out of guilt, show extra care for His Highness just like Sixth Brother did for Senior Brother?
Under the questioning of his conscience, Xue Yao persisted for half a minute, then immediately turned around to catch up with Long Aotian’s steps, softly comforting with a guilty face, “Your Highness, don’t be sad. It’s my fault for being slow with the arrows. How about I quietly stay in the palace with you tonight?”
Lu Qian turned away in silence, not letting the little reader-in-waiting see the curve forming at the corner of his mouth.
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