Both Yu Chicheng and I were startled when we saw a young girl in red galloping towards us on a small mare. She shouted happily while waving the red whip in her hand.
"Brother Yu Chi, you're back!" the girl cried merrily. But Yu Chicheng slowed his horse, squinting at the approaching figure.
It wasn't until the girl rode closer and saw me that the joy on her face turned into shock and anger. Then she lashed her whip at me. "Brother Yu Chi, who is she?"
At once, Yu Chicheng wheeled his horse around to avoid the whip and shouted, "Ao Qing, don't act recklessly!"
Startled by the whip, the flowers in my hand fell to the ground. The girl glared at me, snorted, put away her whip, and wheeled her horse around to gallop away. I stood there, stunned.
"Who is she?" I turned to look at Yu Chicheng. He was staring at the receding figure, his eyes flickering. Then he said softly, "She's Princess Ao Qing."
"She seems to be your admirer, and she's probably angry because she misunderstood our relationship. Are you sure you don't want to go after her?"
Yu Chicheng leaned forward, his arm suddenly tightening around the reins. In an instant, we were much closer. My heart skipped a beat. Then I heard him say playfully, "Do you want me to chase after her while holding you like this?"
I fell silent. Yu Chicheng put some distance between us and chuckled. "There are so many who admire me. I don't care about her." He added, "Sit tight!"
"Giddyap!" With that, he pulled on the reins, wheeled his horse around, and galloped off in another direction.
I quickly asked, "Where are we going?"
Yu Chicheng replied, "The palace must be in an uproar right now. Let's wait until the crowd disperses before we go back."
"Then where are we going now?"
Yu Chicheng smiled. "In July, the flowers in the north are in full bloom. What you saw just now was just the tip of the iceberg. Flowers are truly beautiful only when they bloom in clusters. No matter how noble and pure a single flower is, it can't compare to a sea of them."
As he said this, I faintly felt his innate domineering aura. Later, when I recalled this moment, I always felt that his words were meaningful, but I never understood what he really meant. I still couldn't figure him out as always, so I could only enjoy the beautiful scenery he showed me.
I don't know how long the horse ran. All I knew was that gradually a vast sea of flowers appeared before me. The flowers were in full bloom in a mountain depression, a riot of reds and yellows. I suddenly felt the vastness of the world. Such a sea of flowers couldn't be contained in the imperial garden. Standing in front of this masterpiece of nature, we could only look up in awe and dare not desecrate it.
"Just stay here and enjoy the view. There are too many bees and insects in the middle of the flower sea. They'll bite you," Yu Chicheng said softly behind me as he reined in his horse. Then he dismounted.
I nodded and was lifted off the horse by him. We found a place to sit down. Yu Chicheng sat beside me and involuntarily reached out to pull the grass beside him. Just as I was about to laugh at his strange hobby, he said, "Xi He, I can't believe that one day you and I would be sitting here."
I said, "I can't believe it either. I thought you and I would be enemies for the rest of our lives, and in the end, I would defeat you."
He couldn't help but laugh. His hands kept rubbing the grass, but he frowned and asked, "Do I look so annoying? Why did you want to fight me the first time you saw me?"
I replied honestly, "I don't like anyone who is arrogant and thinks highly of themselves. You're not the first."
Yu Chicheng laughed. "So that's why. Don't you think I'm arrogant now?"
I thought for a moment and said, "Now, much better."
Yu Chicheng seemed to be lost in thought.
I asked again, "What about you? Why do you always like to tease me?"
A strange look flashed across Yu Chicheng's face. "I've explained the caterpillar incident to you. I didn't tease you about anything else, did I?"
I said, "That time in the lotus pond, you clearly knew I wanted to push you! And you knew I was pretending to be unconscious but didn't expose me. You... you're so bad!" I couldn't help but think of how he saved me that day. My face suddenly flushed.
He looked at my blushing face and suddenly laughed. I got anxious and tried to get up, but unexpectedly, when he sat down beside me earlier, he accidentally sat on my skirt. Seeing that my skirt was about to be torn under my own strength, Yu Chicheng quickly grabbed my hand and shouted, "Xi He, don't go. Your skirt..." I was pulled by him and lost my balance, falling directly towards him. At this moment, he was sitting. Seeing me coming towards him, he quickly leaned back and propped his hand on the ground. I also quickly propped my hand on the grass beside him. Now, although I didn't fall completely on him, the position where I was hovering above him made our eyes meet, only inches apart.
"Xi He, you..." Yu Chicheng looked into my eyes and couldn't say a word.
At this moment, with me on top of him, it really seemed like I was deliberately taking advantage of him. And the position where I was straddling him relied entirely on the strength of my palms and feet to support myself so that I didn't touch his body. But in this position, I really couldn't get up without touching him.
I blushed and whispered, "Brother Yu Chi, I really can't hold on anymore. I'm sorry." Then I knelt on his legs with my knees, pressed my hands on the grass on both sides, and used the strength to turn over and sit back beside him.
But when I pressed down on the grass for leverage, because I got closer, I clearly felt his body stiffen.
Then, Yu Chicheng moved a bit and pulled my skirt out from under him. I quickly tidied up my clothes and the loose hair on my face. For a moment, we sat there in silence, not saying a word.
Oh no, oh no. In his heart, I must have become a female hooligan who takes advantage of others. I wailed in my heart.
I blushed again, but saw Yu Chicheng continue to fiddle with the green grass in his hand. I secretly glanced at him and was greatly surprised to see that the green grass in his hand had been magically turned into a grass ring.
"You can make this?"
"Why can't I?" He smiled. His long and flexible fingers continued to weave the grass ring, looking extremely beautiful against the green grass. "I used to make them often."
After saying that, he put the grass ring on my head and looked at me tenderly. "It would look even better if we added a few flowers."
Hearing that he used to make them often, I thought he made them for Ao Qing. After all, girls would like this kind of thing more. So I took the grass ring off and gave it back to him. "You'd better take it to coax your Princess Ao Qing. If she knows you gave her something to me, she definitely won't let me off."
Yu Chicheng was stunned for a moment and then said, "I've never made one for Ao Qing..."
Suddenly, I felt that I was being petty, but I still couldn't bring myself to apologize. "It's better that you haven't. Now you can take it to coax her."
But Yu Chicheng shook his head, looked at me with a smile, and put the grass ring on my head again. "I only make these fun things for Xi He. If Xi He doesn't like it, just take it off by yourself."