By the moat, willows swayed gently. After the dragon boat race ended, willow shooting was about to begin.
Those who could display their martial skills before Emperor Yongchang were all outstanding young military officers from the Imperial Guard and the Four Great Camps, as well as royal and noble sons led by Prince Kang and Prince Qing.
When Prince Kang and Prince Qing left their seats to go prepare in the field, both princes coincidentally glanced at Prince Hui in his wheelchair.
Prince Kang thought that if Second Brother’s legs hadn’t been injured, this year Second Brother would certainly have taken first place again.
Prince Qing thought that having been overshadowed by Second Brother for several years previously, now that Second Brother wasn’t participating, it was finally his turn to shine.
Two figures flashed past before Zhao Sui, while he merely sat there expressionlessly, not knowing whether he was looking at the distant trees or the sky. Not until a voice from Second Princess suddenly rang out from the women’s seats across the way calling “Second Sister-in-law” did Zhao Sui’s eyelashes, still for so long, finally move slightly.
Second Princess seemed merely to want to show off to Yao Huang about her second brother’s divine archery. Her cheerful voice carried abundant pride: “Second Sister-in-law, Second Brother has participated in the annual Dragon Boat Festival willow shooting since he was fifteen. Excluding last year when the palace didn’t hold it and the times when he wasn’t in the capital, Second Brother has participated a total of five times. Guess how many times he’s taken first place?”
Yao Huang looked at Second Princess’s naively beautiful, smiling face and thought about how malicious this princess was—overtly praising Prince Hui while actually deliberately rubbing salt in his wounds.
She could see this malice because when alone together, Consort Du and her daughter hadn’t concealed their callousness toward Zhao Sui. But seeing Emperor Yongchang’s expression first show pride then regret, Yao Huang guessed that Second Princess absolutely showed a different face before Emperor Yongchang normally, so the old emperor hadn’t thought much of it at all—he probably even thought Second Princess was truly just praising Prince Hui.
Yao Huang: “Sister is so happy—could it be that His Highness won first place all five times?”
Second Princess: “Wow, Second Sister-in-law is so clever—you guessed right on the first try!”
The fifteen-year-old girl looked with shared glory toward her second brother. Only then did the radiance in her eyes dim. She lowered her head and said sadly: “What a pity about Second Brother…”
Consort Du: “What’s there to pity? Your second brother only injured his legs—his hands are perfectly fine. As long as he’s willing to participate, this year he can still take first place. Isn’t that right, Your Majesty?”
Consort Du blinked at Emperor Yongchang, putting on the appearance of a loving mother wanting His Majesty to cooperate with her method of using this to spur her adopted son to rally.
Emperor Yongchang knew that Consort Du had little affection for Second Son. In earlier years when she could only rely on Second Son, the consort treasured him. But once she had Fourth Prince, Second Son became dispensable to Consort Du. However, Emperor Yongchang had never heard Consort Du ridicule or mock Second Son, so at this moment he merely assumed Consort Du was trying to make up for Second Princess’s slip of the tongue.
Regardless, the consort had already spoken these words. If Emperor Yongchang didn’t respond, it would appear he didn’t believe his son could still maintain his previous divine archery.
He could only look toward Second Son and ask consultingly: “Want to give it a try?”
Zhao Sui was already in this state. He wasn’t afraid of spoiling Father Emperor’s interest or of others thinking he was timid and afraid to compete. As long as he didn’t want to, no one could force him.
He was only curious whether his princess consort hoped he would participate to win glory for her, or hoped he would stay here obediently and not cause more discussion about the Prince Hui couple due to his participation.
Due to the seating arrangement, Zhao Sui couldn’t conveniently look toward the women’s seats. Just at this moment, three eunuchs brought over the three prizes for the willow shooting competition: first place could receive one hundred taels of gold, second place fifty taels of gold, third place ten taels of gold.
To make the prizes look impressive, all three portions used five-tael ingots. The first tray was packed full with twenty gold ingots.
In that instant, Zhao Sui seemed to see the princess consort’s bright, sparkling eyes curved in a smile.
“I am willing to make a fool of myself for Father Emperor.” Zhao Sui said.
Qing Ai immediately pushed the wheelchair outward. Fei Quan followed behind holding the wooden boards. There were many thresholds here—rather than constantly putting them away and taking them out, better to just keep holding them.
Emperor Yongchang watched his second son’s wheelchair, his vision actually blurring. “Willing to make a fool of myself for Father Emperor”—Second Son was going to please him!
On the other end, with Zhao Sui’s participation, Yao Huang couldn’t sit still. She left her seat and walked to the railing at the front, gazing at the moat bank below. When the familiar wheelchair appeared, Yao Huang’s gaze never left that wheelchair again.
Seeing this, Consort Du teased: “Look how anxious you are—you’ve even forgotten propriety. Aren’t you afraid your sisters will laugh at you?”
Yao Huang looked directly at Emperor Yongchang, her appearance nervous and anxious: “Father Emperor, His Highness is my husband. I want to witness with my own eyes his heroic archery form. Does this also count as breaking propriety?”
Emperor Yongchang only felt Second Daughter-in-law was frank and lovable. He laughed: “If you want to watch, then watch. Today counts as our family banquet—where are there so many rules?”
When he was young, he had also liked having beauties watch him display his heroic form, much less a properly married young couple.
Having said this, Emperor Yongchang also walked to the railing.
Once His Majesty moved, Empress Zhou, Consort Liu, and the others all followed over. Consort Du had brought trouble upon herself and secretly glared at Yao Huang several times.
Yao Huang had already continued watching below.
The moat was about forty to fifty paces wide. Over a hundred gourds were tied to willow branches on the opposite bank, all at the same height. Today was clear and windless, but the pigeons stuffed inside the gourds would occasionally struggle, causing some gourds to sway with small movements, severely testing the archers’ eyesight.
Originally, Prince Kang and Prince Qing occupied the two willow trees closest to the pavilion. After Qing Ai pushed the wheelchair down, seeing this, Prince Kang voluntarily gave his position and bow and arrows to Second Brother.
Zhao Sui knew Prince Kang wasn’t skilled at archery and went with the flow in accepting.
Up in the pavilion, Princess Fucheng Chang started joking with Consort Liu: “Prince Kang’s archery has never been very good. Prince Hui has given him a good excuse to exit.”
Consort Liu said with gratification: “It’s rare that he has this self-awareness.”
Princess Fucheng Chang’s punch landed like hitting cotton—she had vexed herself for nothing.
Consort Du gloated as she watched Prince Qing below. Prince Kang wasn’t pleasing to look at and had no talent. Everything he did relied on Consort Liu giving him advice from behind. His Majesty had long since looked down on his eldest son, so Prince Kang wasn’t a concern. After Prince Hui’s legs were crippled, Prince Qing was Fourth Prince’s greatest opponent in the succession struggle.
Consort Du had provoked Prince Hui to participate precisely to make Prince Qing lose face. If he couldn’t even compare to a second brother with crippled legs, what did he have to be proud of?
While His Majesty still pitied Prince Hui, might as well let Prince Hui occupy a few more years of His Majesty’s favor. When Fourth Prince grew up, Prince Hui would truly have no more use.
At this moment, Consort Shen, Princess Fucheng Chang, and Zheng Yuanzhen had all seen through Consort Du’s true intention in urging Prince Hui to participate.
Consort Shen was the most nervous, very afraid her son would truly lose to Prince Hui and lose face before His Majesty, the Princess, and his fiancée.
Last time Prince Hui participated in willow shooting, her son had only been sixteen. Losing to Second Brother could be excused by young age. This year her son had already matured, and Second Brother had gone a whole year with crippled legs without touching a bow and arrows…
Thinking of Prince Hui’s circumstances, Consort Shen suddenly gained confidence again. Prince Hui had been despondent for a year and was sitting in an inconvenient posture for exerting force. Today her son’s chances of victory were still very high.
Yao Huang wasn’t worried about her prince’s arm strength. What she worried about was his accuracy.
On the bank, Qing Ai secured the wheelchair, then lowered the backrest. Only this way would it not hinder His Highness from drawing the bow.
Prince Qing glanced this way and with peripheral vision peeked at the pavilion above, saying with good intention: “Second Brother hasn’t touched a bow in a year, right? Why don’t you fire two arrows into the air first to find your feel?”
Zhao Sui: “That’s good.”