I AlwaYs havE AnD I AlwayS WiLL --PART-2-TimE & AgaiN" Ongoing.

CHAPTER 10 " Making Friends In the Past"...

Chapter 10

Making Friends in the Past

Penong Palace , 1858:

"Wuxian , relax!" said Haikuan as he fell off his horse for the fifth time.

"Haikuan , why don't you get up and show Wuxian ?" said Qing. She and YanZhang had stayed that day to watch Wei Ying ride a horse.

"There's no point getting up there with her, " ventured YanZhang, who'd not spoken more than ten words all day. " Wuxian must learn to ride on her own. Or else she will get used to having someone there with her."

He spoke quietly, without getting angry or frustrated, but all the same, Wei Ying felt an irrational fury towards him.

If only he would stop watching her!

But Every time, as Wei Ying mounted the horse, he felt YanZhang's gaze on him , assessing his actions, shaking his head almost subconsciously every time Wei Ying mounted, but not saying a word.

It made Wei Ying feel almost as though he was pitying him, and Wei Ying hated to be pitied.

Dusting himself, Wei Ying tried again, fiercely concentrating on not looking at YanZhang ( Lan Zhan ) again.

He looked at Haikuan's and Lady Qing's encouraging faces, braced himself for the fall as he clambered up clumsily. But surprisingly- Wei Ying didn't fall.

He managed to hold himself steady for a few minutes, and heard Haikuan cheering him on. Feeling a sense of triumph, Wei Ying looked at YanZhang , who smiled his approval- and Wei Ying lost his concentration again, which caused him to yank Krist's reins much more than necessary. So it wasn't Krist's fault, then, that he reared, neatly making Wei Ying slide off his back into a pool of mud, this time face down.

"Wuxian !" he heard YanZhang and Lady Qing shout together.

YanZhang reached him first, holding out a hand and helping Wei Ying to his (rather unsteady) feet, as Lady Qing arrived, and began wiping Wei Ying's face (as much of it as was visible, anway), cleaning it of the muck. Lady Qing was clearly holding back a small smile, but YanZhang remained as impassive as ever. If anything, he looked more pityingly at Wei Ying.

"Wuxian , you need to get this off," said Lady Qing, gesturing to Wuxian's veil. "It's wet and dirty."

Wei Ying moved inside the stables, checked and confirmed that nobody was looking, took out a spare piece of silk and made his veil again.

There was a snort behind him . Wei Ying whipped around to see Haikuan bent almost double, clutching his sides and howling with laughter. He didn't even attempt to cover it up.

"Stop it, Haikuan , look at the poor girl," began tge Princess , but Haikuan only howled more.

"Wuxian .....you....you...." he started to say again, but soon went off into hysterics again.

Wei Ying closed his eyes, trying to ignore him.

"I beg your pardon," said Haikuan at last, wiping his eyes. " Wuxian , you should have seen your face as you fell.....You bad boy Krist....( horse ) "

He went off into peals of laughter again, and Lady Qing stifled her mouth with her handkerchief.

Wei Ying glanced at YanZhang-- he was grinning at Haikuan now. As if sensing Wei Ying's gaze, YanZhang turned back to him.

"You know, that poor guy probably thought you were trying to throttle him," he said, and this time he didn't try to hide a smile. " You looked so.....lost..... What were you so engrossed in?"