Hibiscus as a Painting

Chapter 142

He's already here, yet he's cowering inside the sedan chair. Is he ashamed to be seen? Or is he ashamed to be seen by me? If he's ashamed to be seen by me, why bother going on the sightseeing with the group? My perverted brother is even more perverted than a pervert!

Zi Jin gave a self-deprecating laugh and turned to look at Jun Lin beside her: "The journey is long, how about we do something exciting?"

Jun Lin's eyes were filled with joy: "I'd risk my life to accompany you, my lord."

Zi Jin glanced at Jun Lin: "Your Highness is wrong on two points. First, I don't want Your Highness to risk your life. Second, I am not a gentleman, but a complete woman. To race a horse with a woman like me... does Your Highness dare to do it?"

Jun Linjun smiled broadly: "Why wouldn't I dare?"

"Since Miss Yu is in such a good mood, I will accompany the Crown Prince and Miss Yu for a while." Prince Anle glanced at Zi Jin, his eyes filled with undisguised coldness.

"There's no need for Your Highness to trouble yourself. This is a personal matter between me and His Highness," Zi Jin replied coldly, spurring her horse out of the ranks and turning back to say, "Your Highness, why aren't you coming soon?"

Jun Lin turned back to Prince Anle and smiled shyly: "Jin'er has been so ill-mannered since she was a child, I hope Your Highness will not mind."

The Prince of Anle, whose face was already ashen, suddenly turned dark: "Who are you to her...? I and her..." Before the Prince of Anle could finish speaking, Jun Lin laughed loudly and spurred his horse to chase after him.

"Pfft!" Dugu Xihui finally laughed out loud, then straightened her face and said, "You're still trying to get close to her now, don't you think it's too late... If you knew this would happen, why didn't you treat her better in the first place?"

Prince Anle stared at Dugu Xihui for a long time without speaking. After a long while, his eyes suddenly darkened: "You're trying to distance yourself from her now. Do you think I don't know what you're up to?"

Dugu Xihui's expression gradually turned cold: "Does Your Highness disagree with my thoughts? You should think carefully. Not everyone has the opportunity to choose again. Your Highness and the King should also know that one must be chosen. Which one will Your Highness and the King choose? I am truly looking forward to it."

Yinyuan Lake is located in a small basin in the middle of the Shenxian Mountain Range. Due to the influence of the mountain climate, this basin is like spring all year round.

Standing in the Marriage Lake and gazing into the distance, the mountains and peaks echo each other, and the shimmering waters of the Fairy Mountain Range reveal a landscape where the seasons change dramatically, teeming with rare birds and animals. A spring gurgles like a gentle breeze, and osmanthus blossoms and pine cones carpet the ground. Strange rocks stand like a forest on either side, and a waterfall cascades down a high cliff into the Marriage Lake.

The two of them used their cloaks as a cushion. Zi Jin, slightly out of breath, sat back-to-back with Jun Lin by the lake and said, "Guess what this lake is called."

To make Zi Jin more comfortable, Jun Lin straightened his back. He closed his eyes tightly and smiled, "I can't guess. Tell me, Jin'er."

"This is the Lake of Marriage. Legend has it that this lake is a bronze mirror that fell to earth by the Old Man Under the Moon. If a man and woman who are in love stay peacefully by the lake for one night, they will be bound by a predestined marriage." Zi Jin said casually, her gaze fixed on the distant waterfall.

"Does Jin'er believe me?" Jun Lin's voice was unusually low.

Zi Jin lowered her head and said, "I didn't believe it at first, but later I learned about... the arising and ceasing of causes and conditions... past lives and present lives... some things are really predetermined. From then on... I started to believe in some ghosts and gods."

Jun Lin's eyes dimmed little by little: "I know... you've suffered a lot... From now on, with me here... I will never let them..."

"Rely on you?" Zi Jin laughed out loud. "If you were reliable, pigs would fly... You have a bad temper, you're rude and cruel, stingy and vengeful... You almost killed me back then."

"That's not my fault..."

"I can't blame you? I only lightly slapped the back of your hand back then, and how many times have you retaliated in secret? The old Grand Tutor glares at me whenever he sees me, and you deserve all the credit..."

"But you still bit me, and the teeth marks are still on my hand." Jun Lin stretched out his hand with a slightly aggrieved expression.

"You deserved to bite me! My once beautiful face was turned into a bun by someone, and I don't know who made me late, so my delicate hands were beaten into buns by the old master." Zi Jin glared at Jun Lin and said angrily.

"Uh...tsk...as beautiful as a flower...tender little hands...haha...you were called as beautiful as a flower back then...hahaha...ouch!...why are you pinching me!"

Zi Jin pinched Jun Lin's tender waist hard: "I shouldn't have saved you, you pig-head! You deserved to drown!"

Jun Lin gradually lost the playful expression on his face, slowly turning his head to gaze at Zi Jin's profile: "I won't forget... I won't forget that you saved my life. Back then... after I found out... I wanted to be good to you, to be very good to you, but... I didn't know how... I didn't know how to be good to you, I didn't know how to show my care, I didn't know how to get your attention, so I was harsh with you, and sarcastic towards you... After returning from Lizhou... I knew that I shouldn't blame you for that. I've always been bad to you, always been very bad. It's understandable that you don't believe me, so..."

"Do you still remember Yunran?" Zi Jin lowered her eyes, interrupting Jun Lin's words.

Jun Lin frowned, a sense of unease rising in his heart: "...Is it that concubine?"

“Yunran… was the most beautiful woman in the palace, so beautiful that even the flowers would be ashamed. At that time, I was feeling sorry for myself because of Jun Chi’s manipulation, and she cried as she told me how to forgive those… who had to resort to tricks to survive. She smiled at me, gave me wine, said she would protect me, and asked me if she was beautiful… She said she liked you, liked you so humbly, liked you so much that she only asked you to turn around and look at her once… When I woke up… in just one night… everything changed… From then on, I was afraid of you, so very afraid of you…” Zi Jin slowly turned her head, gazing at Jun Lin’s profile, and asked softly, “How could you bear to treat her like that?”

Jun Lin's mouth suddenly felt incredibly bitter, and he spoke with difficulty, "I didn't know what she felt for you... I thought... I would never do this again... I..."

“They’re here. Let’s go hunting. I know a good place. Shall we go?” The horse caravan slowly approached from afar. Zi Jin hurriedly stood up, interrupting Jun Lin.

Jun Lin stood up nimbly, glancing meaningfully at the lakeside beside him: "I'll go tell them that we'll camp by the Marriage Lake tonight, and then we'll go hunting."

Zi Jin mounted her horse and coldly stared at Dugu Xihui and Prince Anle. The two seemed quite dissatisfied with Zi Jin's arrangements, but ultimately said nothing more, and had everyone set up camp. The carriage in the middle of the procession remained completely still, as if no one was sitting on it.

Jun Lin, carrying a bow and arrows, rode over with a look of delight in his eyes.

Zi Jin smiled gently: "Why bring such a big bow? Today you only need to hunt one pheasant."

A hint of surprise flashed across Jun Lin's face: "A pheasant?"

“Yes, it’s just the two of us. Isn’t one pheasant enough?” Zi Jin turned around and frowned as she replied.

"The two of us?"

"I'm in a good mood, so I'm giving you special treatment. Don't you want that?" Zi Jin curled her lip in disdain and said in a condescending tone.

"Hehe..." Jun Lin's phoenix eyes were filled with joy as he grinned sheepishly, "Really?..."

Ignoring Jun Lin's slightly foolish smile, Zi Jin abruptly turned her face away, impatiently tapped the horse, and angrily said, "Do you want to starve to death? Get out of here!"

Unresolved emotions and inescapable demonic obstacles, the cycle of cause and effect—when will we meet again? The vows of being like birds flying wing to wing, branches intertwined—made on that day. (Part Four)

The Wish of Two Birds Flying Together (Part 4) Several peach trees, the sound of flowing water, and the steaming hot spring gushing from the bottom of the pool, all shrouded in mist. In the pool, which is more than three meters wide and surrounded by several huge rocks, beautiful lotus flowers have bloomed.

Jun Lin squatted by the pond, his face contorted in a grimace, awkwardly washing the pheasant that was now completely naked in his hands.

A small pit had been dug by the lake, and there was a hole at the bottom of the pit where a fire had already been lit.

Zi Jin, holding a riding whip, stood impatiently beside Jun Lin and kicked him hard: "Do you know how pigs die? Does it take an hour to clean a pheasant?"

Jun Lin, who had just been kicked hard, looked at Zi Jin's expression pitifully and picked up the pheasant in his hand with trembling hands: "Is it clean now?"