AUTHOR: BING YUN

TRANSLATOR: MOKO-CHAN

PROOF READER: NancyC

Chapter 20: A taste of drowning

Hong Xiang felt that even if he rounded up all the females in his manor, they could not compare to Zi You. She was comparable to the fairies in heaven.

He wanted to see her. However, after that one time they met, she went to visit her own father and till now, there was no signs of her.

His mother had already questioned Yi Ping and she told his mother "You'er has to study a lot of things. Father would not let her play around."

Hong Xiang really wanted to see Zi You but he was no longer a young child. How could he possibly say "Get Zi You to come over, I want to see her."

If he dared to even utter a word about it, Zi You's family might treat him as a criminal and chase him out, never allowing him to visit ever again.

After walking around for half a day, he thought that it was impossible. Zi You was studying how could he meet her by walking around?

However, he could not enter the inner courtyard filled with ladies of the manor. If he was found out, he would get punished. He had heard of Old General Mu's nasty temple. It will be unimaginable if he got caught snooping around.

Hong Xiang was wavering between slipping into the inner courtyard to meet his 'beloved' and the punishment he would face if caught.

Hong Xiang was a pretentious and hypocritical coward.

He was afraid of death, selfish, shameless. The carbon copy of his mother Madam Chen. Sadly, his dad, the current duke wasn't able to see through his facade.

At this moment, Zi You was observing Hong Xiang from a Banyan tree. Seeing him walking around made her smirk. Beast! If I don't manage to torture you to death in this lifetime and make you suffer a fate thousand times worse than me, I will enter the depths of hell, never to be reincarnated.

Hong Xiang can never imagine Zi You hiding atop a Banyan tree secretly observing him. He walked round and round and actually walked towards the lotus pond.

At the lotus pond, he could not contain his boredom and picked up a stone and threw it into the pond.

The male servant currently at his side was Cheng Cai, the one that caused Zi You's death. Cheng Cai saw his young master sulking and instantly understood his thoughts. After all he grew up with Hong Xiang and could make accurate guesses about Hong Xiang.

Thus Cheng Cai moved closer to Hong Xiang and said "Young Master, why don't I sneak into the inner courtyard to take a look? If I see Big Miss, I'll let her know that you're waiting for her here. What does Young Master think about my idea."

Hong Xiang's eyes lit up and he nodded his head "Be careful, if you get caught, just say you got lost. Do not implicate me."

Cheh! That's just like you, pretentious prick. Zi You scolded in her heart.

After Zi You saw Cheng Cai sneak into the inner courtyard, she followed her mother's manual and started chanting and made a pushing action in the direction of Hong Xiang.

The anxious Hong Xiang felt a force from behind. Before he could retreat closer to land, he fell into the lotus pond.

It was August. Although the weather was not cold, the water in the lotus pond remained slightly chill; more importantly, Hong Xiang didn't know how to swim. After falling into the pond with a 'thud', he started struggling and shouting for help. In between his shouts, he drank several mouthful of dirty pond water.

Just then, a servant girl heard his screams for help and rushed over.

Recognizing that it was the Young Master of the duke's household, she too started shouting "Help! The Young Master of the duke household fell into the pond!"

Thinking that it was time, Zi You used her movement skills to escape. Not long after, she acted as if she had ended her studies and walked over as if she was a passer-by.