The Northern Garden hunting competition was limited to one and a half hours, but if the military officials were satisfied with their scores, felt that staying longer would be futile, or if they were unlucky enough to get injured, they could leave early.
After about an hour into the hunt, more and more military officials began to emerge.
A pavilion had been set up to the left of the hunting ground exit. The military officials would hand their game to the palace attendants stationed there, receive their scoring tokens, and then go to another location to collect their reward silver.
Yao Huang, the Grand Princess, and the Second Princess, along with some accompanying young ladies, gathered around to watch the excitement. Meanwhile, Chen Ying, Zheng Yuanzhen, and other dignified, reserved, or timid princesses and young ladies who were afraid of blood remained at their original positions.
Consort Xian was not surprised by her daughter-in-law Chen Ying’s choice. Scanning the area beside the Duke of Zhenguo’s wife, Consort Xian asked in surprise, “Why didn’t Fuwei go?”
Li Fuwei was the beloved legitimate second daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo’s mansion, sixteen years old.
Unlike her gentle, reserved, and tragically short-lived elder sister, the former Princess Kang, Li Fuwei had loved martial arts since childhood. Her skills with swords, blades, and spears were first-rate, and she often accompanied her brothers on hunting trips to the mountains in the suburbs of the capital.
Li Fuwei’s original name was Fuwei, but when she was about ten years old, she changed it herself.
Two years ago, when Emperor Yongchang issued an edict to select consorts for the three princes, the candidates had to be of age. Li Fuwei, only fourteen at the time, was ineligible to participate. Otherwise, Consort Xian would have very much liked to select the Li family’s second daughter for her son, and she believed the Li family would have been willing as well.
Li Fuwei respectfully replied, “In response to Your Ladyship, Fuwei has seen many hunting scenes before, so I did not wish to join this particular excitement.”
Consort Xian thought nothing more of it.
After Li Fuwei sat back down, the Duke of Zhenguo’s wife quietly patted her daughter’s hand.
Originally, her daughter had also wanted to participate in this hunt. Noble sons could participate, and noble daughters with martial skills could naturally participate as well. However, when her daughter learned that both her brothers would be acting as assistants to Prince Kang, she lost interest. Her reason was that if she competed too hard and accidentally stole Prince Kang’s spotlight, what would happen? Since she couldn’t compete seriously, rather than going on the field half-heartedly, she might as well stay outside to watch.
At the pavilion, the Second Princess covered her nose with a handkerchief while observing the game brought back by the military officials. The Grand Princess, worried that other young ladies might accidentally bump into her second sister-in-law, insisted on holding Yao Huang’s left arm.
Yao Huang was helpless against her.
After watching for a while, the Second Princess suddenly called out, “Second Brother is back!”
Yao Huang immediately looked toward the hunting ground and indeed saw Prince Hui on horseback, followed by his mansion guards Zhang Yue and Wang Dong.
Their eyes met, and Prince Hui seemed to furrow his brow.
Glancing at the crowd of noble ladies beside her, Yao Huang knew Prince Hui was worried about her again. She smiled at him and, with the two princesses, moved to the side closest to the hunting ground exit.
When Prince Hui drew near enough, Yao Huang saw on Wang Dong’s horse a deer still kicking and struggling, while Zhang Yue had a half-grown wild boar about four feet long and a gray rabbit, both killed with a single arrow through the throat.
For prey destined to be killed, this method of death actually spared them some pain and torment.
Sitting on horseback, Prince Hui saw the delight in his princess consort’s bright eyes.
The Second Princess calculated the score from the side: “The deer is ten points, the wild boar five points, the rabbit one point—Second Brother has sixteen points total!”
Among over a hundred young military officials, foxes were difficult to hunt, and there were only thirty wolves and deer combined, not nearly enough to go around. Anyone who managed to kill one of them could be guaranteed a score in the upper-middle range.
Everyone knew that Prince Hui had crippled legs, yet even so, he could still surpass more than half of the young military officials. This was truly impressive.
Zhao Sui explained, “I just picked up what I could find on the mountain’s outskirts. Fortunately, my luck was decent.”
The deer was a highly sought-after ten-point prey. Zhao Sui suspected that the one he shot had been deliberately driven toward him by someone. He appreciated this gesture, but to prevent those inside from continuing to help him, Zhao Sui changed locations. Running into a wild boar that had escaped from the mountain was indeed pure luck.
Zhang Yue and Wang Dong unloaded the game. One took Prince Hui’s scoring token while the other went to collect the silver, also instructing that Prince Hui’s deer should be kept alive and temporarily sent to the Rare Beast Garden for the garden physicians to treat.
Yao Huang followed Prince Hui out of the crowd and asked in confusion, “Where’s my brother?”
Zhao Sui replied, “I let him hunt on his own.”
He could see Yao Lin’s anticipation for this hunt, whether for the reward silver or the glory. Zhao Sui didn’t want to delay him, and he truly didn’t need an assistant.
Yao Huang said, “With so many people and him without even a helper, how could he possibly get anything good? Why don’t you go back first, and I’ll wait a bit longer for him?”
Zhao Sui replied, “…Be careful.”
Yao Huang smiled and nodded, returning to the Grand Princess’s side.
When Prince Kang emerged, he caused quite a commotion because the game he brought back was truly abundant: one white fox, two wolves, two deer, and one full-grown wild boar, totaling one hundred and fifteen points—the highest score among the military officials so far.
The Second Princess whispered, “Why didn’t Eldest Brother go after the red fox? It’s a prize that others wouldn’t dare hunt even if they saw it, but if Eldest Brother found it, he would definitely be able to catch it.”
Since Prince Hui had no intention of competing for first place, Yao Huang didn’t care who took the top three overall scores and hadn’t thought about the red fox’s fate. Only now, hearing the Second Princess’s words, did Yao Huang realize—the Emperor was hosting this hunting competition and providing the reward silver, so naturally the military officials should be tactful enough to show the Emperor respect by leaving the greatest glory for the imperial descendants.
The Grand Princess thought of a possibility: “Could Fourth Brother have found it?”
The fourteen-year-old Fourth Prince had also participated in this hunt.
The Second Princess said, “…His archery skills might not even match my chuiwan playing. Unless the red fox ran headlong into a tree near him and lay there motionless for him to shoot.”
Just as she finished speaking, the Fourth Prince emerged with his two guards and assistant, having killed a three-point roe deer. Better than empty-handed!
As the hunt drew closer to its end, almost all the military officials had emerged. However, since the red fox had not yet appeared, even Emperor Yongchang anticipated whether the last few people would bring a surprise.
Others hadn’t noticed whether Yao Lin, the unremarkable brother-in-law of Prince Hui, was present or not. But Yao Huang knew her brother hadn’t come out yet. She alternated between worrying that her careless brother might have been injured, feeling sorry that her foolish brother might still be chasing some wild chicken or rabbit across the mountains for a few more taels of reward silver, and then…
Suddenly, Yao Huang sensed a gaze. She quickly searched for its source and caught the second son of the Duke of Zhenguo’s mansion beside Prince Kang hurriedly turning his head away.
Looking again at Prince Kang’s profile—which showed no joy despite having the current highest score—Yao Huang’s heart began to pound rapidly.
Once more, the sound of hoofbeats came from the hunting ground.
Yao Huang looked up and saw four swift horses. On one steed sat her brother. Looking at his horse’s load, she saw a net bag on the left side holding a small bundle of game, and on the right side, a rope with two wild chickens tied and exposed.
After a moment, Yao Huang saw her brother’s two rows of white teeth showing because he was smiling so broadly, and she finally made out the red-furred fox in the net bag.
Prince Kang also sensed Yao Lin’s sincere and overly honest joy. At this moment, he finally believed Li Guantang’s speculation: this person hunted the red fox purely for the reward silver and had nothing to do with his second brother.
“Your Majesty, look!”