The Villain
The Villain
The arrow didn't stay in the bow for long as Gao Ling's finger released it.
Dzing! Jleb!
It hit right in the middle.
"Wow! Sister Gao is amazing!" Shi Lu Wen cheered from the side.
The guards were watching in silence. They all already knew that Gao Ling was capable of this much. Not only that, she was capable to do even more than this.
Gao Ling smiled and took another arrow and repeated the same process.
It hit in the middle again.
And again.
After she had shot 10 arrows, Wei Liuying had to pull the arrows back and then returned it all to Gao Ling. They continued to stay in the field for all morning until it was the time for lunch.
"Do you always practice this much?" Shi Lu Wen felt like she had bathed in sweat just from watching Gao Ling.
Gao Ling laughed. "This is nothing much."
In Gao City, she had to hit moving target because there was no way that their enemies would be kind enough to stop moving for her. This time, she was merely training her arm as she was bored. Learning etiquette and so on would be so boring for her, so it was clearly a big no.
"Let's go to the main hall."
"Yes."
They all walked with the soldiers following from behind. Gao Ling looked at the entourage with deep crease. "You all should go and eat too. I'm only taking Hai Yue, Soldier Du and Soldier Ying with me."
"But Miss…."
"If you're worried, should I bring Shan Yi along?"
Shan Yi?
Hearing that name, they all turned to the side where Shan Yi was standing while leaning to the tree. He was still wearing his usual getup, which was his tattered clothes that was very suitable as a bandit. Though, this kind of clothes made him looked a bit scarier in overall.
"What are you looking at?" Shan Yi asked back with a growl.
"it's nothing."
Gao Ling crossed her hands. "Scram now."
The soldiers had no other choice but to run back to the servants' quarter and watched Gao Ling and Shi Lu Wen from a distance away. Only Du Min and Wei Liuying stayed behind to protect the two of them.
"Now that the nuisances are away, let's go to the dining room. I'm already famished," Gao Ling said to Shi Lu Wen.
"Yes, Sister Gao!"
The two of them walked to the dining room. Shi Lu Wen clearly enjoyed her time here as she looked around in happiness. The food only consisted of vegetable and fruits because the monks were vegetarian and for Shi Lu Wen, it was Heaven.
"I can't believe the vegetables here are so fresh!" Shi Lu Wen said with a large grin.
Gao Ling forced a smile. Now that she thought about it, she had to eat only vegetables for the next few months during her stay here….
Shi Lu Wen was fine since the young girl also loved herbs a lot and only eat meat when it was necessary for the nutrition. But Gao Ling was different. She had gotten used with the food in Gao City and her favorite was obviously meat.
This would be a torture.
"Soldier Ying."
"Yes?"
"I would like you to sneak some food to the temple starting next week. Most importantly, it has to have meat," Gao Ling gave her instruction.
Wei Liuying was stunned then she nodded. "I understand, Miss! I'll do my best."
Gao Ling nodded in satisfaction as she ate the vegetables in front of her. Since this was only her first day, she didn't really have qualms eating the vegetables now. However, Gao Ling was sure that after a week, she wouldn't be able to last.
The two girls enjoyed their meal while Wei Liuying and Du Min had theirs in separate table. The menu was similar, but the quality of the vegetables was slightly worse compared to Gao Ling and Shi Lu Wen. After all, they were still categorized as servants of these two.
"Wouldn't it be better for you to assume different identity?" Du Min asked in a low tone.
Wei Liuying raised her head and lightly shook her head. She was picking the vegetables with her chopsticks as she muttered, "This is already enough."
There were many worse times when she didn't even have enough meal to eat and have to resort to eat the wild herbs. Some of them made her end up having stomach pain, but there was simply nothing else that she could eat. The only thing she could possibly do was to endure until it was the time to eat again.
Back then, she was still unable to sneak out of the residence because her skill was too poor. She had no other choice but to suffer in silence.
The meal was peaceful then they heard the sound of complaining from the right side of the hall. There were three young ladies there and from their appearance, it was easy to recognize them as Wei Xiao Hua, Wei Zilin, and the fake Wei Liuying.
"I can't eat this! This is worse than dirt!" Wei Zilin complained when she only saw vegetables on her plate.
"Vegetables are good for you," Wei Xiao Hua said unhurriedly. "Wouldn't you like to be healthy and well?"
Wei Zilin sneered. "I'm not a cow who eats grass."
"We're staying here for two days to pray for Father's child to be born safely. Would you last that long without eating at all?" Wei Xiao Hua asked again. "Look, even Wei Liuying is eating well."
Hearing that, Wei Zilin's face turned red. They were coming here under their father's order to pray for his child's safe birth. Concubine Chou has been trying all kind of means to prevent the child to be born, but Wei Hong was even faster. He sent the children away so that there was no one Concubine Chou could use.
The fake Wei Liuying raised her head. "If you think you're so great, why don't you complain to Father about this arrangement?"
"You! Who do you think you are to speak so rudely to me? You're nothing more than…."
Splash!
The fake Wei Liuying held the bowl of soup that belonged to Wei Zilin and splashed the content to Wei Zilin. There was a faint grin on her face. "Oh, sorry. My hand slipped. But since you didn't have any intention to eat it, it's fine, right?"
Wei Zilin's face turned red. Looking at the male monk, even though they were already devoted here, she still felt utterly embarrassed. Her wet clothes made her body a bit see through.
"Let's go!"
"Yes, Miss."
Wei Xiao Hua shook her head lightly and looked at the fake Wei Liuying. "Don't you think you're going too far?"
"So what? Even if you're the main daughter, it didn't mean I have to abide by the rules that you set," the fake Wei Liuying replied sarcastically.
The servants around had their head hung low, but it was not hard to guess what they were thinking. They must be thinking about how the third miss of Wei Family had no manners and the fact that she was nothing more than a disgrace.
"How vicious," Wei Liuying muttered.
Looking at how the fake Wei Liuying's eyes still held a trace of fear to Wei Xiao Hua, she could guess that she was acting according to the instruction of Wei Xiao Hua. It meant that the girl they sent to impersonate the 'death' Wei Liuying was someone under Prince Ji Shu who was tasked to help Wei Xiao Hua in taking care of the unruly concubines and siblings there.
At the same time, the fake Wei Liuying would be acting like a real troublemaker and villain to Wei Xiao Hua. That way, it would look as if she was trying to take over Wei Xiao Hua's position and in the end, Prince Ji Shu would have legitimate reason to kill her in the most miserable way.
'Tarnishing my name, making me act as the villain, and finally tossing me away.'
Wei Liuying held the chopstick in her hand. It was trembling due to the sheer power and anger that she was trying to hold back. Even though she had been telling herself that it was her mistake to leave the matter of her real self stayed unattended before, she never thought that they would use her name this far.
They even dared to change her personality and action so greatly just to increase Wei Xiao Hua's name and popularity.
Wei Liuying's expression turned dark and her light smile was cold. The temperature around her seemed to be dropping several folds as she muttered lightly, "If you truly wish for me to be the villain, fine. I'll be one. But this time, you better not regret your action, Wei Xiao Hua."
Because I won't play by your rules.