"Third Master... Oh, Third Uncle. Right, you do look a bit like Third Uncle. No wonder I said I'd seen you somewhere before. So you resemble Third Uncle," Luo Baochai said. She finally figured it out. Xiaoyao did resemble Third Master somewhat, but not so much that people couldn't tell them apart. Plus, his current attire made it hard to see at first glance.

"Speaking of which, you should be that clan brother who refuses to acknowledge Third Uncle..." Luo Baochai remembered who Xiaoyao was. She had occasionally heard people mention Xiaoyao's refusal to acknowledge Third Master.

"I wasn't his son to begin with. I think I look more like the old master from before," Xiaoyao replied.

"That's true. Father said Third Uncle does resemble Great-grandfather more," Luo Baochai nodded, but her eyes were looking at Xiaoyao's hands. She had something to say but didn't know how to begin.

"You definitely didn't come to me to acknowledge kinship, right? Say it—what else do you want?" Xiaoyao saw Luo Baochai's behavior and knew she had another purpose.

"I want your kite. May I have it?" Luo Baochai looked at Xiaoyao a bit embarrassedly.

"Oh, you want this kite. Here you go," Xiaoyao casually handed the wooden handle for winding the kite string to Luo Baochai.

"Thank you!" Luo Baochai said gratefully. She hadn't expected Xiaoyao to be so straightforward.

...

...

"No need to thank me. It's just a small thing. I can make another one anytime," Xiaoyao said nonchalantly. This kite had been made on the spot just now. The reason he made it on the spot was because kites were troublesome to carry around. Now that Luo Baochai wanted it, he gave it to her. Otherwise, he would have burned this kite as firewood later anyway.

Hmph, you're just trying to curry favor with Baochai!

Luo Baochai's companions thought Xiaoyao's generosity was only because he knew Luo Baochai's identity and wanted to curry favor with her. Even if it were something more precious, he might give it to her, let alone this worthless broken kite.

At this moment, they thought Xiaoyao should be teaching Luo Baochai how to continue controlling the kite on the side. They were already prepared to stop him when they discovered that Xiaoyao had no such intention at all. After giving the kite to Luo Baochai, Xiaoyao walked to a distant riverbank, as if looking for something.

If he had done something nearby, they would have thought Xiaoyao still intended to get Luo Baochai's attention. But Xiaoyao walked far away, and if one didn't look carefully, they might not even notice his existence. This undoubtedly showed that their speculation was wrong.

Was this playing hard to get? They could only continue watching to find out.

Soon, they abandoned this idea because they saw Xiaoyao find a place and jump down, and they couldn't even see his shadow anymore. If this were playing hard to get, at least people should be able to find him.

Speaking of which, what did he jump down to do?

The wealthy young ladies were somewhat puzzled but didn't pay much attention to it. After all, to them, although Xiaoyao might be Third Master of the Luo family's son and had good status, his image made them feel he wasn't worth paying attention to.

Besides, Third Master of the Luo family was already a thing of the past. Previously, he was much beloved by the old family head and was the old family head's direct bloodline, so his status and position were naturally very high.

But now there was a new family head, and this new family head wasn't his blood brother but a cousin. Although their relationship was still very good, it felt more distant after all, and his children would become branch family members.

Although anyone surnamed Luo with Luo family bloodline had a chance to compete for the family head position, currently Third Master's lineage wasn't strong—not as strong as Luo Junjie's lineage.

If they were looking for someone, they would go find that Fifth Brother or Eighth Brother. They might become another Third Master, but at least they were at Third Master's level. Compared to Xiaoyao, that was too far off.

Plus Xiaoyao's attire and image made them feel it really wasn't very good.

"Baochai, why are you holding such an ordinary kite? Look at mine—how beautiful it is!"

When Xiaoyao was flying kites, those people came to cause trouble, but when Luo Baochai flew this kite, those people came looking for opportunities to get close. She was a daughter of heaven, with status comparable to princesses of the Flowing Stone Kingdom. This time one or two princesses had also come, and they similarly had many suitors around them.

Soon quite a few young masters were standing around Luo Baochai. Fortunately, she also had many female companions who basically blocked them all. Luo Baochai easily aroused protective instincts in people, whether men or women.

"No, my kite is the cutest. Yours are all too ugly," Luo Baochai said directly, causing those young masters to fall into awkward silence.

Originally, those young masters wanted to compete with Luo Baochai in kite flying, but the problem was that the kite in Luo Baochai's hands was too high, preventing them from accomplishing this intimate activity. This made them very resentful—how could this broken kite fly so high?

Forget it, everyone play their own games. If they couldn't pursue Luo Baochai, they had to find someone anyway. Women should be married first, then kept at home.

These young masters' thoughts seemed similar to Third Master's—they didn't want to miss this opportunity and wanted to find a girl to date first. The girls here all had extraordinary status. Even if they weren't as important as Luo Baochai, they wouldn't be too bad.

Gradually, more and more couples were playing games together, whether flying kites, strolling through the fields, or...

In any case, more and more people were successfully catching each other's eyes. Of course, there were also quite a few who didn't succeed. Among these, perhaps someone would later find a desired partner, or perhaps they would just fail like this.

"Eh, where's Le Xiaoyao?" After playing enough, Luo Baochai put away her kite and thought of Xiaoyao.

"He's doing something over there. Why are you asking about him?" her companion beside her answered.

"I want to invite him to eat something to show my gratitude," Luo Baochai said. Since someone had given her something, she naturally should return the favor.

"Forget about inviting him to eat. Just saying thank you is enough," her companion replied. They didn't want to eat with Xiaoyao at all. If Luo Baochai invited him, they would have to eat together.

"But he gave me such a good thing. Just saying thank you doesn't seem right," Luo Baochai said.

"..."

This is called a good thing? My god, this kind of commoner-quality kite, and you're treating it like a treasure. But she did seem to be like this—inexplicably fond of certain things.

"Where is he? I can't find him," Luo Baochai had already begun taking action, searching for Xiaoyao's presence, but Xiaoyao was currently in one of her blind spots, so she wouldn't find him.

"Should we tell her?"

"Forget it, let's tell her. Otherwise she won't give up!"

"Right, she could search for three days and three nights without giving up!"

After the companions discussed for a while, they decided to tell Luo Baochai where Xiaoyao was. After hearing this, Luo Baochai immediately went to find Xiaoyao, and her companions could only follow.

"Le Xiaoyao, so you're hiding here! What are you doing?" Luo Baochai found Xiaoyao sitting on a relatively low patch of grass—actually sitting on a small stool, the kind that was portable and could be folded up for easy carrying.

For spring outing activities like this, such a small stool was also a very necessary tool. Who knew if there would be places to sit down and rest?

Xiaoyao sitting by the river wasn't daydreaming but holding a fishing rod and fishing. This fishing rod was also specially made by him and could be folded up.

"Shh, can't you see? I'm fishing!" Xiaoyao hushed, and at the same time, beside Xiaoyao, there seemed to be several large fish strung on a sword. The sword had a sheath, so people couldn't tell what quality this sword was.

"So you're fishing. Your harvest is quite good. Should I have the servants cook them?" Luo Baochai said. Although she hadn't brought many servants, she had some. Moreover, she and several companions together had basically brought along a kitchen. They had all kinds of cooking tools and ingredients, so making a few fish was no problem.

"That works. A full fish banquet wouldn't be bad either. You brought tools, right?" Xiaoyao nodded. Since someone was willing to do the work, he never refused.

"Just this little bit doesn't seem like enough," one of Luo Baochai's companions said. The fish Xiaoyao had strung on his sword might be enough for just the two of them, but adding them wouldn't be sufficient.

"How could it not be enough? Even adding you all, double this amount would be sufficient," Xiaoyao replied.

Luo Baochai and the others were puzzled. How was this enough? Did he have a very small appetite and was using his own standard to measure others? Perhaps this was the only possibility.

Soon, they understood. It wasn't that Xiaoyao ate little, but that they hadn't discovered how many fish Xiaoyao had really caught. In a place they couldn't see, behind Xiaoyao, they discovered a pile of fish, each one very large.

"Did you just catch these?" Luo Baochai and the others were stunned, asking Xiaoyao in amazement.

"Yes, and here's another one!" Just as Xiaoyao nodded, he caught another fish, then skillfully put down the fish, baited the hook, and cast the line.

"How is that possible? So many fish, and you seem to have been in this same position the whole time. Even if there were this many fish in the river, they couldn't all be here," one companion said, finding Xiaoyao's catch unbelievable. As she said, how could it be possible to catch so many fish in one place? Did these fish automatically swim over to be caught by you?

"I don't know. Maybe there's a school of fish migrating. Look, another one..." As Xiaoyao answered casually, he caught another fish, then repeated the same skilled movements.

"..."

Impossible, this must be a coincidence!

(End of Chapter)