The moment she left the yard, Ye Lingyue saw Squeaky sitting by the gates with a plate of fragrant seeds.
This good little thing. After it got familiar with everything in Qiaochu Wing, it became more fearless. Although its character wasn't the best, its adorable appearance made everyone dote on it.
Even Ye Fengyu who never liked wild beasts would smile at the sight of Squeaky shamelessly bootlicking any of the adults.
At that moment, Squeaky was hugging a fragrant seed with its claws and was happily nibbling on it.
Not too far away, a big yellow dog was resting on the ground. It had a bright and shiny coat, and when it stood on all its four paws, it looked sturdy. That very dog was the same fierce dog Ye Lingyue had treated using the Qian cauldron before.
This fierce dog also had some emotions to it. The day Ye Lingyue saved it, it realized that Ye Lingyue had an incredible treasure on her.
After that day, it kept pacing outside of the quarry.
Seeing that Ye Lingyue was heading back home, it slowly followed her until they reached the Ye family estate.
Ye Lingyue had chased it away several times on the way home, but the dog would appear and continue following her from behind shortly after.
When the Ye family butler saw the fierce dog, he said in his amazement that the dog looked sturdy and probably descended from a wolf bloodline. It might as well stay in the yard to guard their manor.
Ye Lingyue thought about it and decided that she should get Squeaky another playmate. So, she kept the dog in Qiaochu Wing and called it Da Huang.
'Squea—' Squeaky threw the seed shell away after it had finished eating it.
Hearing the sound, Da Huang pounced over like a soldier who had gotten his general's orders and ate the seed shell.
'—eak!' Squeaky called out once more and Da Huang hurriedly ran back.
Running back and forth, they looked like something serious.
"I couldn't tell that you still have some leadership in you." After staring at it for a while, Ye Lingyue found it even more amusing. The little thing had no capabilities itself and only knew how to trouble Da Huang. In the last few days, she had seen Squeaky doing it several times already.
As if knowing that Ye Lingyue was going out, Squeaky hurriedly dived into her sleeve and went out with Ye Lingyue.
She walked to the quarry and ended up seeing someone familiar standing outside of it.
"Big Cousin, why are you here?" The person Ye Lingyue saw was Ye Sheng, who had been grounded for a month. Ever since the fake dark iron ore incident, Ye Sheng was made to reflect on his mistakes and wasn't even allowed to attend Ye Gu's birthday banquet.
"It will be Autumn Maple town's triennial mountain hunt in five days. This time, I will lead our Ye family members to take part in it." Seeing Ye Lingyue, Ye Sheng smiled. By then, he had already fully accepted her as his cousin. "Lingyue, prepare yourself too. I recommended you to go with us and take part in the hunt."
The 'Autumn Maple Town's Mountain Hunt' was what its name was. It was a hunting competition held at the Seven Stars mountain which goes on for three days and nights.
Any martial arts practitioner under the age of 20 years old in the town would be able to participate.
The mountain hunt was different from the training Ye Lingyue had in the mountain before. Autumn Maple Town's Mountain Hunt allowed one to enter the top of the mountain where there were many tigers, wolves, panthers, and many other carnivorous wild beasts.
Those wild beasts were ferociously strong and even ate human meat. Even a postnatal master would find it hard to escape if they came into contact with a group of tigers and wolves.
When the mountain hunt was first held, the town leader had suggested it with an intent to train the town's younger people.
However, ever since the rise of the Ye family and the Song family in the town, the original purpose of the mountain hunt changed. It was an unspoken reward that whichever party hunted the most wild beasts would be given the priority to mine in the Seven Stars mountain's mining area.
With this, the Autumn Maple town's mountain hunt appeared to be even more important.
They settled Ye Lingyue's participation in the mountain hunt very quickly. Apart from her, there were four other people taking part. They were Ye Sheng, Ye Qing, Ye Ning, and another member from the branch family, Ye Ying.
On the day of the hunt, Ye Lingyue rushed to the Seven Stars mountain.
Thud, thud, thud…
She had just arrived at the foot of the mountain when she heard horses' hooves running from behind her. It had rained yesterday, so the path was muddy. The horses flew by her and the mud splattered all over Ye Lingyue.
It slightly angered Ye Lingyue. When she looked up, she saw five tall and large horses running past her. Sitting on the horses were several fierce-looking young men, and they were all wearing the Song family badge on their front side.
It was the Song family again… Ye Lingyue huffed and slowly continued walking forward.
Those Song family members rushed their way through on their horses and then stopped at the foot of the mountain where Ye Qing, Ye Ning, and several other Ye family members were already waiting.
Seeing the pretty Ye Ning, a teenage boy about sixteen years old tightened his legs over the horse to slow it down, and he arrogantly dawdled over.
"Who do we have here? So, it's Ye Qing, you useless thing. I heard you lost to a fool during your inter-family competition, and yet you still dare to come to the mountain hunt?" Song Han, the youngest son of the Song family head, Song Wanshi, was the one who spoke.
This person used his sixth level of body tempering cultivation to bully boys and take advantage of girls in Autumn Maple town. He was a well-known bully.
Seeing that Ye Ning was pretty, he had disturbed her several times already. Knowing how he was the Song family's youngest son, Ye Ning did her best to avoid him. But she did not expect to bump into him again during the mountain hunt.
"Song Han, who are you calling a good-for-nothing?" After Ye Lingyue had defeated Ye Qing, the defeat was stuck in his mind. Not only so, since Ye Qing had some feelings for Ye Ning, being taunted like that in front of the person he liked made Ye Qing feel even more humiliated.
"Hey, are you not happy now? Ye Qing, if your older sister didn't protect you, do you think you will be where you are today? Ye Ning, how about you join my group instead? A good-for-nothing that can't even defeat a fool will only hold you back during the hunt." With that said, Song Han coyly leaned down, wanting to use his hand to caress Ye Ning's face.
In his fit of anger, Ye Qing hurriedly stepped out. With a crazy speed, he kicked Song Han's horse.
Seeing that, Song Han hurriedly jumped up and carried his horse, which was an easy 300 pounds, up with a hand.
Ye Qing never thought that Song Han would be able to do this, so his expression instantly changed.
"A good-for-nothing is a good-for-nothing. You can't even deal with an animal." Seeing this, Song Han laughed out loud.
However, right at that moment, Song Han's horse neighed loudly as a flying stone hit its knee.
The horse kicked its front legs in shock. Caught off guard, it kicked Song Han away and he fell on the mud least elegantly. Mud instantly covered his shirt and he looked horrible.
"Who?! Who dared to come up against me?!" Still shocked, Song Han shouted angrily.
"Hey, Song Second Young Master. Didn't you yap about how a person who couldn't even defeat a fool is also a good-for-nothing? Then, in that case, since you are kneeling in front of that so-called fool now, aren't you even worse than a good-for-nothing?"
Suddenly, there was a pair of small boots in front of Song Han.