Broken Jade - Chapter 123

Chapter 123

The bamboo token hidden in Sheng Zhaoning’s hand was beginning to feel more and more like a hot potato.

She did not even have the presence of mind to check the color of Wei Heng’s token. All she wanted was to get rid of this trouble as quickly as possible.

Sheng Zhaoning turned around to find Li Ji and exchange tokens with him.

But the moment she turned, she ran straight into a pair of dark, fathomless eyes.

Her heart clenched, and her whole body froze.

Sheng Zhaoning’s scalp prickled. Her hand loosened involuntarily, and the bamboo token fell to the ground with a sharp crack.

That conspicuous streak of green landed squarely in the eyes of the person opposite her.

“Your Highness the Heir, your bamboo token.”

Several people who had been chatting nearby gathered around and handed the token to Wei Yi.

He reached out and took it. His gaze fell on the colored tip, and he curved his lips with a dark look in his eyes. “What a coincidence, Lord Sheng.”

The two bamboo tokens faced each other from a distance, one held in a hand and the other lying in the dust.

Yet both swayed with the same deep green hue.

All the eyes around them turned their way. In full view of everyone, it was impossible for her to sneak off and exchange tokens with Li Ji now.

A flash of annoyance crossed her eyes, but she had no choice except to pick up the green token. Gnashing her teeth, she forced a smile. “Indeed, Your Highness the Heir.”

She bit down hard on the final syllable, her gaze practically capable of devouring him.

Wei Yi’s expression did not change. With a hint of provocation, he waved the bamboo token in front of Sheng Zhaoning, then tucked it into his sleeve.

Sheng Zhaoning clenched both fists.

Behind her, Wei Heng arrived at last.

“Lord Sheng.”

He came to stand beside Sheng Zhaoning. He paused slightly when he saw Wei Yi, but quickly recovered and gave him a polite nod.

Sheng Zhaoning glanced at Wei Heng and forcibly suppressed her anger, though her expression remained dark.

“What color did you draw?” Wei Heng lowered his head and asked.

She tightened her grip on the bamboo strip. Under Wei Yi’s mocking gaze, she reluctantly pulled out her token.

“Green.” Her voice was filled with restrained fury.

Wei Heng took out the token in his own hand. “Mine is blue.”

Sheng Zhaoning felt her vision go dark, then darken again.

She had been so close. So very close!

Why had she not exchanged tokens with Li Ji at the very beginning?!

Not only was her bamboo token green, but her face was practically green with rage as well.

Standing in front of the two of them, Wei Yi looked at Sheng Zhaoning with amusement and deliberately said, “I look forward to fighting alongside Lord Sheng during the hunt.”

With that, he curved his lips and cast Wei Heng an unreadable look.

Wei Heng’s brows tightened slightly. He lowered his eyes and watched Wei Yi walk away, his expression complicated.

“Lord Sheng and the Heir are in the same group?” Wei Heng’s fingers curled unconsciously.

Sheng Zhaoning lowered her eyes and answered in a low voice, “Mm.”

She did not want this either.

Wei Heng could not help glancing in the direction Wei Yi had left, his gaze dark and unreadable.

Once the groups had been assigned, everyone made ready to depart.

Since the hunting grounds covered a wide area, with dense forests surrounding them on all sides and hills and streams stretching into one another, most teams traveled in small groups of two or three and went their separate ways.

The Yulin Guard stood watch outside the hunting grounds, but the area was simply too vast to secure completely. There was still a risk of someone getting lost or being attacked by a wild beast.

Consequently, no one dared venture too far in.

Sheng Zhaoning had never intended to concern herself with rules of any kind. She was utterly unwilling to remain with Wei Yi, but the people in her group clearly did not share her thoughts.

Including her, there were a full twenty-five people who had drawn green tokens. When the drums sounded, a herd of fine horses set off together.

Sheng Zhaoning was surrounded in the middle and could only be swept along helplessly.

Before long, they had left the other groups far behind.

The deeper they went into the forest, the more traces they saw of birds and beasts.

People around her had already begun repeatedly drawing their bows and loosing arrows.

Sheng Zhaoning held a bow in her hand, but merely followed behind the others in silence, her fingers slowly stroking the curve of the bow.

She couldn’t even draw her bow anymore.

“Why hasn’t Lord Sheng made a move yet?”

A colleague beside her noticed that she had been motionless for some time and asked in confusion.

Sheng Zhaoning felt only the weight of the bow and arrows in her hands. All her enthusiasm had vanished.

“I’m not very good at archery. Please forgive me for making a fool of myself.”

Seeing her say that, the man kindly tried to encourage her. “Oh, it’s all right. Everyone has to try a few times.”

He offered her a few more words of consolation in a show of concern before turning away to search for prey.

Sheng Zhaoning watched the others gradually ride away. She made no attempt to catch up, merely keeping to the very back of the group.

Her horse ambled along at an unhurried pace, and she soon fell behind.

She didn’t want to ride too close to the others.

Especially Wei Yi.

Sheng Zhaoning deliberately chose a direction opposite to Wei Yi’s and rode deeper into the woods.

Perhaps because a spring rain had just fallen, the thick layer of rotting leaves on the ground gave off a damp, musty scent.

From somewhere in the distance came the soft sound of running water.

She secured the bow to the saddle and decided to treat the outing as nothing more than a spring excursion.

The farther the horse went, the clearer the sound of water became.

Sheng Zhaoning stroked the horse’s mane. “Come on. I’ll take you to get a drink.”

Man and horse soon reached a small stream.

The area was quiet. A long, crystal-clear stream flowed before her, its bottom visible all the way through.

Sheng Zhaoning had just prepared to dismount when a familiar voice unexpectedly reached her ears.

“Lord Sheng, what are you doing here too?”

She turned around and saw Li Ji.

In the short time since they had parted, Li Ji had clearly had a very fruitful hunt.

A rabbit and a pheasant hung from opposite sides of his horse, along with two birds of unknown species.

When Li Ji looked at Sheng Zhaoning’s empty saddle, he raised his brows, appearing rather pleased with himself.

“So Lord Sheng came all the way out here just to play.”

He dismounted with the rabbit in hand and offered it to Sheng Zhaoning. “Take this rabbit. Don’t go back empty-handed later.”

The winner of the hunt was whoever brought back the most prey. If Sheng Zhaoning returned without a single animal, she would likely become the object of ridicule.

“Thank you for your kindness, Lord Li.”

Sheng Zhaoning politely declined. “I, Sheng, have done nothing to earn it. I would feel unworthy accepting it.”

Even if it was only a rabbit, Li Ji had clearly gone to considerable effort to catch it.

She wasn’t shameless enough to claim someone else’s achievement.

Li Ji opened his mouth, just about to say something, when several more hoofbeats sounded from the opposite bank.

They both looked up at the same time and saw a group of riders heading toward them from across the stream.

The two groups faced each other across the water. Sheng Zhaoning immediately recognized the familiar face at the head of the approaching group and curved her brows slightly.

“Crown Prince.”

Wei Heng had clearly not expected to encounter Sheng Zhaoning here either. He froze for a moment, then smiled and nodded at her in greeting. Pulling on the reins, he began looking for a way across.

The stream was not particularly deep, but the water was high enough to reach over a horse’s back, making it impossible to cross directly.

Sheng Zhaoning glanced around and found a section where the current was relatively gentle. She turned her horse and was about to head there.

But just as they were nearing the calmer waters, the horse beneath her suddenly let out a long, terrified whinny. It reared violently as though startled, then bolted like a mad thing.

“Zhaoning!” Wei Heng shouted in alarm from behind her.

Sheng Zhaoning broke out in a cold sweat. She hurriedly seized the reins, struggling to steady herself amid the horse’s violent jolting and keep from being thrown off.

Wei Heng gave chase, but the stream blocked his path.

At the same time, a horse as black as night suddenly leaped from behind the crowd and raced after Sheng Zhaoning.

Someone in the group shouted, “It’s Your Highness the Heir!”