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: The Way of Favors Chapter 15\n
: The Way of Favors Chapter 17\n
Fu Rong did not notice that Fu Wan and Liang Tong had looked at each other briefly, because she was listening carefully to Liang Yingfangâs words about what to pay attention to during swimming, and she was in a good mood. The weather was sunny and a little breezy, and the kind of freedom she felt traveling with good friends had never been experienced since she married at fifteen.\n
But it was as if someone had specifically opposed her and had to pour a bucket of cold water onto her.\n
The moment Qi Ceâs voice arrived in her ears, Fu Rong clenched her hands.\n
Why was he here?\n
After she calmed down, Fu Rong remembered.\n
Ziwei Mountain was southeast of Xindu City, and it had beautiful scenery. Many wealthy people from both far away and nearby had built manors in the mountain. Large households in the city, such as the Qi family of the prefectural manor had occupied the place since very early on. Fu Rong knew that the Qi family had a manor here, but she never expected to meet Qi Ce at the foot of the mountain. The coincidence was incredible.\n
âZhengtang (Liang Tong), Shaoqu (Fu Chen), why are you guys here?â Qi Ce, dressed in a moon-white summer shirt, stood upright under the shade of a tree on the side of the road, the white hairpin on his head shining brightly under the sunlight that fell through the gaps in between the leaves, making his features even more outstanding.\n
Fu Chen glanced at the escort beside him, saying after he got off his horse, âWeâre accompanying our young sisters to take a stroll in the mountains. Seeing your easy steps, youâve arrived here much earlier?â\n
Qi Ce laughed, and walked toward Fu Chen and Liang Tong, âThe temperature is hot. I was impatient at home and didnât want to study, so I came here. I arrived here yesterday, and I suddenly wanted to take a walk in the morning, but I didnât think that I would bump into you guys. We have fate.â\n
Liang Tong said, âYes, itâs really very coincidental. Then you should continue to relax, and weâll get settled first. Our two manors are close, and if Boyu (Qi Ce) has time, you can come over. We senior and junior brothers havenât had a good conversation in a long time.â\n
After Qi Ce nodded and asked when the group would return to the city, he smiled, telling them to go first, never having looked at the carriage.\n
But Liang Yingfang was secretly looking at him. After the carriage started to move forward, she pouted her lips, saying quietly to Fu Rong, âWeâre always able to bump into him. I donât know if Qi Zhu is here or not. Nong Nong, Iâll say the bad words first. If Qi Ce has brought Qi Zhu with him, I wonât teach you if you pay attention to her!â\n
Fu Rong was a little surprised, and she asked suspiciously, âI know you dislike Qi Zhu, but why do you dislike her brother? Could it be that Older Brother Qi has offended you?â\n
Fu Wan quietly listened to the two of them saying what they knew, only smoothing the curled corner of the curtain. She turned back to hear Liang Yingfang complain, âQi Ce is a hypocrite. If he is not able to beat my older brother, he will cheat. He purposely distracts my brother, making my brother lose to him. I know that soldiers are used to fraud, but he still cheats even when itâs a small competition. It shows his true personality, and my grandfather even praised him for his intelligence!â\n
Fu Rong now enjoyed listening to people say bad things about Qi Ce, especially in front of her older sister, and immediately echoed, âLooking at that gentleman, I didnât expect him to have such bad sportsmanship. It really is true when people say that we might know the face but not the heart.â\n
No matter who the person was, Fu Wan didnât want her younger sister to say bad things about someone, and persuaded softly, âYou guys are not clear what his true personality is. Since Old Master Liang has praised him, he is certainly talented. Letâs not judge him. Yingfang, continue to talk about the trick to holding your breath. It sounds interesting to me.â\n
Liang Yingfang blinked her eyes at Fu Rong.\n
Fu Rong smiled silently. If her sister was a man, she would be a real gentleman.\n
The three horse-drawn carriages moved slowly along the road on the mountain, and after a few turns, they finally reached their destination to only see the white walls and gray tiles hidden among the lush forest, like a beautiful paradise.\n
Fu Rong leaned against the window and said with emotion, âThis place is really nice. There are ancient wooden pavilions and beautiful birds and trees in the forest. We can go take a stroll in the mountains if we are bored and go back to the house to soak in the hot spring when we are tired. This is simply the life of the gods.â It was a pity that they came later. The good places had already been occupied by many families of Xindu City, so it was fine that they didnât buy any other remote corners.\n
Fu Wan also liked the quietness of the place, and couldnât help but look around with her younger sister until Fu Chen shouted for them to get off the carriage. Fu Wan blushed, sat down hurriedly, and helped her sister tidy up her dress.\n
Outside the carriage, Liang Tong stood next to Fu Chen nervously, secretly celebrating the fact that his younger sister was also inside because she gave him a reason to get close to Fu Wan.\n
He was half a head taller than Fu Chen and very tall, making him more eye-catching. Fu Chen didnât think much about it, because the two of them had to deal with each other every day. They were like brothers, and he also understood Liang Tong. It wouldnât be right to say that he wasnât attracted to females, but rather his head was lacking in roots. He was infatuated with martial arts, so he naturally wouldnât fall in love. When the two were combined, Fu Chenâs evasiveness towards him faded.\n
Using her sister going down the carriage as an advantage, Fu Wan peeked outside to see a figure, and she frowned.\n
She was negligent, because Liang Yingfang often went out alone, and she had forgotten that her older brother might accompany her when she came to the manor this time, so she didnât prepare a weimao.\n
âOlder Sister Wan, you can get off the carriage. Iâll help you.â Liang Yingfang said very cheerfully.\n
Fu Rong also turned around to help her older sister, and when she saw Lan Xiang and Bai Zhi get down from the carriage behind them, her gaze darkened.\n
Bai Zhi was her older sisterâs most trusted maid. Without real consent, she couldnât order her around easily. Now, Bai Zhiâs duty was extremely high, and no one would be able to fault her for her actions. If she makes a mistake and wrongs her, Bai Zhi will start to cry, and no matter how much her sister loved her, she would make it difficult for her.\n
âYingfang, come on, bring me on a stroll, the scenery is good here.â Fu Wan hurried gently as she held her younger sisterâs hand. Her voice was soft with a hint of excitement, the reaction of a girl seeing something new.\n
No one noticed her abnormality.\n
Besides Liang Tong.\n
From when the curtain was up, he had always been secretly paying attention to Fu Wan. When Fu Wan frowned, he thought she was uncomfortable from being on the bumpy road. He was just about to ask when Fu Wan walked over to Fu Rongâs side silently, and he couldnât see her. At first, Liang Tong thought that it was unintentional, but after he realized that Fu Wan had never looked him in the eye, Liang Tong had realized it a little.\n
The girl noticed his peeping and was avoiding him because she didnât want him to look at her.\n
Thinking that Fu Wan could be cursing him as a bastard inside, Liang Tong was so full of regret that his intestines were all green. Why was he so stupid! Anything girl would hide in this situation, so why did he stare at her?\n
But, it wasnât his fault that she was so good-looking, right? He couldnât control his eyes, and also couldnât control his heart.\n
Liang Tong touched his nose, watching the three girls walk briskly to the backyard, and temporarily suppressed his frustration and dismay, then asked Fu Chen to go to the guest room to rest.\n
~\n
As they drank tea and chatted, exhausting themselves, Fu Rong couldnât wait to go soak in the hot spring. The last time she had soaked in one was three years before when she was in Jiangnan.\n
Liang Yingfang immediately put on the cheerfulness of a host, taking the two sisters over to Clear Spring Pavilion, the three maids behind them carrying clothing.\n
Clear Spring Pavilion was exclusively for the women of the Liang family. There were three bamboo houses for bathing and relaxing in the front and behind the bamboo houses was a hot spring. The hot spring was next to a small natural foothill, the foot of the mountain surrounded by quiet green grass and a plethora of flowers, everything wild and fun. As for the secret, Clear Spring Pavilion was surrounded by walls the height of two people stacked on top of each other, and all four corners of the hot spring were guarded by maids, so Fu Chenâs previous worries were unnecessary.\n
After they bathed individually, the three girls gathered together again.\n
To soak in the spring, thinner clothing was necessary. Fu Rong slipped on a light pink one-piece gauze dress, the inner clothing, and pants inside of the same color. When they arrived at the edge of the spring, Fu Rong simply threw the dress onto the white marble side and slowly sat into the water. The water was shallow, warm, and comfortable, and Fu Rong raised her head comfortably, closing her eyes and releasing a long sigh, then looked back at the person behind her.\n
Fu Wan wore a piece of light green gauze clothing, her inner clothing of the same color slightly visible. She was the most oblivious out of the three of them, wearing this in the day. Not only was her face red, but her neck and shoulders were also slightly pink.\n
Fu Rong stared at her older sisterâs plump chest with a sort of jealousy, then moved her gaze away before her sister could discover her, and went to check on Liang Yingfang.\n
The family of the Liang family all had darker skin, and Liang Yingfang was not an exception. Her wheat yellow skin was even more obvious when she was next to Fu Wan.\n
In Fu Rongâs eyes, no matter if one was a man or a woman, one could only be beautiful when his or her skin was light, but she had never thought that Liang Yingfang was ugly, even when she had less clothing on. When she walked, Liang Yingfangâs legs were slender and well-proportioned, without a trace of fat. They were beautiful but not thin. On the contrary, they gave off a strong sense of powerâŠâŠ\n
Fu Rong was admiring her so much that her eyes were red.\n
She was good in every aspect, but she was just a little too short. Even her younger sister was taller than her in the later years, not to mention her tallest older sister.\n
As a thirteen-year-old girl, with a chest not as plump as her older sister and legs not as long as her best friend, Fu Rong bit her lip. When the two girls approached, she suddenly raised her hands to splash water onto them, then scrambled far away to hide, afraid that the two of them would work together to attack her, though she was also proud that she took advantage of the situation, so she was laughing as she was hiding.\n
Fu Wan and Liang Yingfang were dumbfounded. They only saw that the girl in the water had skin as white as snow, with a slender waist and long legs, her black hair floating between the waves, making her shoulders appear even cuter. The most beautiful was her looking back and smiling, her eyes cunning and playful, the silk band on her forehead glamorous. Her beauty could not be compared to any other.\n
Fu Wan didnât have much of a reaction, as she was used to this, but this was Liang Yingfangâs first time seeing Fu Rong in such a way, and her eyes couldnât help but stare straight, âNong Nong, how are you, you, no wonder older brother always calls me a tomboy. When Iâm compared to you sisters, Iâm simply a piece of coal!â\n
Fu Rong laughed at her, âCoal, come over here and teach me how to float!â\n
Liang Yingfang jumped over with a âsplashâ, splashing water everywhere, and soon the two of them were chasing and fighting in the spring.\n
Fu Wan was sitting at the side, laughing as she watched them mess around.\n
Over there, Fu Chen and Liang Tong were also soaking in the spring. After all, they had a long trip, and they wanted to make the most of it.\n
After swimming two laps in the spring, Fu Chen went over to the side to rest, and glanced at Liang Tong, who was sitting across him and seemed to be in a daze, then curiously asked, âSenior brother, is there something on your mind?â\n
Liang Tong shook his head, swiping water onto his body casually, water droplets trickling down his firm chest, reflecting some light.\n
Fu Chen stared at his face, even more curious, âWhy do I feel like youâre different today?â He was dumbfounded.\n
Being asked questions, Liang Tongâs face reddened.\n
It would be strange if he was fine. All he thought about on the way here was to see Fu Wan one more time. When they arrived, he had heard that Fu Wan had also gone to soak in the spring, and he couldnât help but think of another solution. He knew that this was the behavior of a beast, and he didnât want to be a beast, but he just couldnât help it.\n