“Nianxia, do you think Madam is up yet?”
“Definitely not. They called for water several times last night. Based on past experience, Madam won't be up until at least the beginning of the Si hour. Let's keep the porridge warm first, so she can eat as soon as she wakes up.”
“Oh, it's snowing!”
...
When Dai Li woke up, she didn't know if it was her illusion, but she felt much colder.
If she had to use a metaphor, it was as if she was enveloped in a ball of cold air, and the breath she inhaled was tinged with frost, cooling her all the way from her trachea to her lungs, dispelling the few traces of drowsiness she had left.
She was alone on the bed; the space beside her had long lost its warmth. Qin Shaozong was not one to sleep in; he got up before dawn every day for morning exercises, and then went to the study.
It was a good thing he made almost no noise when he got up, otherwise Dai Li would really have a reason to sleep in a separate room from him.
She sat up holding the quilt, which slipped down a little, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin with red marks. Dai Li lifted the quilt, looked down inside, twitched the corner of her mouth, and pulled the quilt higher, unable to bear looking.
Her belly band had slipped onto the footstool last night, and was later picked up by Qin Shaozong and hung on the wooden rack next to the bed.
The wooden rack was right next to her, not exactly close, but not far either.
Dai Li reached out to grab the belly band, only to find her whole body soft and limp, as if her bones had been taken apart and put back together again. She pulled her hand back, fell backward with a "plop," and even pulled a little of the quilt over her face.
She was done for, excessive indulgence.
She hadn't expected Qin Changgeng to be so sensitive to the word "old." She couldn't even say it; the moment she did, he got triggered.
Dai Li felt as if she was back to last night, with that heavy, hurried male voice close to her ear:
“I am not yet forty, in the prime of my life. I can draw a strong bow and tame a fierce horse. What does the word 'old' have to do with me?”
“It's only been once. Madam, don't pretend to be weak. Let's go again, don't sleep. Tsk, you don't even have to put in much effort, you're so delicate...”
“Put your legs up, squeeze tight.”
“If you can't finish eating today, continue eating tomorrow.”
...
Dai Li sighed heavily, “It's really killing me.”
Nianxia and Bipo, who were waiting outside, heard the sound and entered.
After washing up and putting on new clothes, Dai Li realized that her initial feeling wasn't an illusion. A cold front had indeed arrived, and not only that, it had brought a heavy snowfall.
A soft layer of white had fallen outside the window. The ground was white, the eaves were white, and the treetops were white. The sunlight reflected off it, creating a dazzling brightness, like a painting with well-arranged colors.
It truly lived up to the saying: wrapped in silver and white, exceptionally enchanting.
It was still snowing heavily at this moment. Dai Li couldn't help but push the window open to its maximum and reach out to catch the snow.
She was a Southerner. In the past, she had actually been to the North quite a few times for business trips and tourism. But it was truly rare for her to catch heavy snow during these trips.
Especially since modern industrial pollution was exceptionally severe, there was a lot of dust in the air. Much of the snow that fell on the ground was very dirty, and after the snow melted, the water was even more murky.
But it was different here.
In this era, even gunpowder hadn't appeared. The water was clean, many streams were crystal clear to the bottom, and rivers even had transparent sections of two to three meters.
Without dust pollution, one could look up at night and see the brilliant stars studding the sky. "The dangerous tower is a hundred feet high, one can pick the stars with one's hand," was most concretely realized here.
Now it was snowing, and the world was a radiant white, pleasing to the eye. However, Dai Li didn't dare to look too much; the snow under the sun was too bright, and looking at it for too long would hurt her eyes.
Just as Dai Li finished her breakfast, Qin Yanzhou came over.
“Mother, good morning.” The young man cupped his hands and bowed, greeting Dai Li.
After standing up straight, he carefully observed Dai Li's complexion. Seeing that her spirit was quite good, except for the lingering redness around her eyes, he felt a little relieved.
Dai Li was also observing him, noticing that her son was wearing thin clothes. She immediately frowned in disapproval, “Why are you wearing so little? Zhouzhou, you just had blood drawn, you are in a weak period right now, you should wear more clothes.”
Qin Yanzhou lifted a bit of his collar to let Dai Li see the clothes he was wearing underneath, “I have added clothes underneath, and it's not as cold when it snows as when the snow melts.”
Over the years, he had gradually become able to endure both cold and heat, getting used to it. If it wasn't because the treatment had just ended, he wouldn't have even planned to add that inner garment.
Dai Li was worried, always feeling that the child would be cold. She got up and moved the charcoal brazier a little closer to him, and nagged him a bit more to wear more clothes when he should, and not be afraid of being laughed at.
She knew that children of this age mostly cared about style over warmth.
Qin Yanzhou helplessly agreed.
Dai Li asked him again, “Has Zhouzhou had breakfast?”
Qin Yanzhou said he had eaten.
Dai Li looked out the door. Nianxia was sweeping snow in the courtyard, and Bipo was not there, seemingly having gone to the kitchen. Needless to say, Qin Shaozong was in the study.
Dai Li withdrew her gaze in satisfaction, but still lowered her voice a bit, “Qin Changgeng didn't hear our final plan last night.”
Qin Yanzhou nodded, wanting to ask something, but feeling it was inappropriate.
“But after what happened last night, he might take the winter hunt more seriously. When the time comes, Zhouzhou, you... play it by ear,” Dai Li reminded her son.
The bet was whether a tiger could be hunted within a single day, regardless of whether anyone assisted Qin Shaozong.
Later, when Dai Li thought about this matter over and over again, she realized she had missed a spot: she hadn't specified the number of people assisting the other party!
Two people assisting was assistance, two hundred, or two thousand people assisting together was also assistance.
Qin Changgeng was a proud man. Dai Li originally thought he wouldn't dispatch many people at the same time to search the whole mountain for a tiger. But after last night's incident.
Hiss, it was really hard to say.
She could clearly see that he was holding back anger.
And the loser of the bet had to agree to one thing for the other party. This matter hadn't been clearly specified yet, the flexibility was too strong, it was hard to guarantee that Qin Changgeng wouldn't get ideas about it.
Qin Yanzhou's eyebrows moved slightly, “Mother, I have an idea...”
Dai Li leaned in curiously.
The mother and son conspired in the room, while Nianxia outside continued sweeping the snow, completely unaware.
*
“Qin Yanzhou, oh, a rare guest! It's rare for you to come looking for me.” Qin Qinian was surprised and amazed to see Qin Yanzhou.
But after saying this, he seemed to remember something and took a slight breath of cold air, “Why aren't you staying in your own courtyard, what are you running out for?”
He knew that Qin Yanzhou had taken Mr. Nalan as his teacher and had to go for guidance every other day. Originally, Old Mr. Ding treated him every other day as well, perfectly staggering the two.
Now that the treatment was over, it was equivalent to having a free day. But based on his understanding of Qin Yanzhou, if this person had free time, he would mostly just stay quiet.
Qin Yanzhou: “Naturally, I came to find you.”
Qin Qinian tilted his head, “Why are you looking for me? Could it be that you've thought it through and are willing to have a good spar with me? But not right now, you just finished your treatment. If I won now, it would be an unfair victory.”
Qin Yanzhou asked, “Why are you always thinking about sparring with me?”
“Of course, because among those around my age, none of them can fight.” Qin Qinian didn't hesitate.
His several cousins from the Wei family often came to play with him, but he always felt that he couldn't play together with them. He liked wielding swords and spears, while they liked listening to little tunes or reading books. Even if his third cousin had some martial arts skills, it was only that.
As for the playmates from other families, there were indeed some who would spar with him, but they all held back their strength, terrified of bruising or bumping him anywhere.
Boring.
Only Qin Yanzhou...
This guy truly went all out when fighting him, his martial arts were exceptionally good, and he didn't have that annoying, fawning attitude.
"But what's the use of asking this? You won't fight me anyway," Qin Qinian turned his head and curled his lips.
The young man suddenly said, "It's not entirely impossible for me to spar with you."
Qin Qinian spun back around in a flash. "You agree? Not the kind where you only defend and don't attack like you're avoiding a plague god, but going all out."
Qin Yanzhou nodded. "Yes, going all out."
Qin Qinian was just about to rejoice when he heard the other party's second half of the sentence: "But I have a condition. I heard there will be a winter hunt in a few days. Why don't we have a small competition then? If you can beat me, I'll spar with you."
Winter hunts were not rare.
In Qin Qinian's memory, his father would hold winter hunts on a whim. As the third young master of the Qin family, Qin Qinian himself joined the field every time.
"Alright, what do you want to compete in? I've even hunted wolves myself in the past," Qin Qinian said proudly.
This was his highest achievement. At his age, being able to ride a horse and hunt wolves alone was already remarkable. After all, wolves are pack animals; if you find one, there must be a pack nearby.
"We won't compete in hunting fierce beasts. We'll compete in hunting rabbits," Qin Yanzhou said.
Qin Qinian almost thought he misheard. "What's so good about hunting rabbits? There's no difficulty."
Qin Yanzhou smiled faintly. "Not necessarily. This hunt won't purely compare the number of rabbits caught, but also the number of rabbit holes we find that have live rabbits inside."
Qin Qinian raised an eyebrow. "The number of rabbit holes? And they must have live rabbits inside?"
He still didn't understand what was so fun about hunting rabbits.
Rabbits don't need to hibernate; they always need to forage for food. Therefore, even when winter comes, there are still plenty of rabbits in the mountains. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they are all over the hills and plains.
Snow rabbits might not be that conspicuous. But ordinary grass rabbits are like targets on the snow; you can catch one with every attempt.
"The difficulty of hunting rabbits is indeed not high, but precisely because of this, it tests one's skills even more," Qin Yanzhou said calmly.
Qin Qinian was about to ask how it tested skills, but at that moment, he saw an orange silhouette turn the corner from outside.
He and Qin Yanzhou were just inside the door, less than twenty feet away from the newcomer, able to see each other just by looking up.
The dejected Shi Rongyue froze.
Seeing this, Qin Qinian waved at her. "Rongrong, come here."
"Young Master Qin, Little Cousin." Shi Rongyue walked over and curtsied to the two of them. She was carrying a round wooden bucket in her hand. As she curtsied, the jade pendant on her waist clinked against the small wooden bucket with a soft sound.
Qin Yanzhou: "Miss Shi."
Qin Qinian welcomed her into the room and asked, "Rongrong, what are you holding in your hand?"
"S-some tea snacks." Shi Rongyue placed the food container on the table, opened its lid, and took out the small boxes inside.
There were three small boxes in total, holding cheese, sesame cakes, and beef jerky respectively.
"Young Master Qin, Little Cousin, there's still some time before dinner. Why don't we have some tea snacks together?" Shi Rongyue looked at the two of them, her gaze shifting slightly to the left.
Qin Yanzhou and Qin Qinian had originally been sitting. When Shi Rongyue arrived, they stood up to return her greeting. Now that she had taken a seat at the table, it was obviously inappropriate for the two of them to remain standing.
Their conversation wasn't finished, so he couldn't leave. Qin Yanzhou sat back down.
Just as he lowered his eyes and took his seat, a sneaky shadow appeared at the top of his vision. Soon, a small wooden box filled with beef jerky entered his sight.
He looked up. The young girl sitting opposite him pursed her lips into a smile. As she smiled, her round cheeks revealed a pair of endearing dimples. "Young Master Qin, thanks to your quick reflexes in the passageway that day, otherwise I fear I wouldn't be here today. These small tea snacks are hardly enough to serve as a token of gratitude for saving my life, but I still hope you will kindly accept them."