Chapter 570: Will Definitely Win
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Originally, the Imperial Family was going to hold a winter hunting expedition this month, but in order to save money, the winter hunting expedition was canceled. However, Xiao Jin said that he could bring Su Ying to the hunting grounds to play.
Su Ying had already changed into a comfortable riding outfit. She held the hands of the two little ones and left the Conjugal Phoenix Palace.
After Xiao Jin settled the matters in the morning court session, he went to the horse carriage earlier to wait.
“Mother, are there still rabbits in the hunting ground now?”
“Yes. The horseback archery teacher has taught you two archery. When the time comes, you can compete with your big brother to see who catches more prey.”
Ling widened her eyes. “Don’t worry, Mother. I will definitely win against Big Brother!”
Ji glanced at her. “Who was the one who became tired after riding a horse for only two rounds? It would be strange if you could win!”
Ling was not willing to give up. At that time, she said that she was tired because she saw her mother coming over. She wanted to act coquettishly with her mother, so she said that on purpose. She was really great in her archery.
“Hmph! Big Brother, you can just wait to cry after you lose!”
The two little fellows chattered in the carriage all the way. Although the journey was long, it did not seem boring.
“Your Majesty, Your Imperial Highness, we’ve arrived.”
Xiao Jin was the first to get out of the horse carriage. After helping Su Ying down, he carried the two little fellows out of the horse carriage.
Children were playful by nature. No matter how disciplined Ji was in the palace, he was completely relaxed in a place with there was only his family of four.
“Your Majesty, the hunting ground has been more or less cleaned up. Your Majesty and Your Imperial Highness can go there directly.”
As he was bringing the children along, Xiao Jin told the Imperial Guards guarding the hunting ground to drive the ferocious beasts into another forest so as not to scare the children.
“Mm-hmm.”
When they reached the outside of the hunting grounds, the Imperial Guards led four horses over. Compared to the horses of Su Ying and Xiao Jin, Ji and Ling’s horses looked much shorter, but the horses’ muscles were still very distinct. One could tell with one look that they were top-tiered high-quality horses.
“Let’s go up. While the day is still early, let’s catch more. After we catch the prey, we’ll let Uncle Hea cook them into roasted meat tonight.”
“Oh, I want to eat roasted meat!”
The two little fellows were clamoring to have a competition, so Su Ying couldn’t let them stay in the same place on the hunting ground. Thus, she discussed with Xiao Jin and each of them would bring one child to hunt in the hunting ground.
“Let’s go. In two hours’ time, we’ll see who has the most prey.”
Ling raised her tiny chin proudly. “I will definitely have more than Big Brother! Mother, let’s go quickly.”
“Alright.”
Su Ying urged her horse forward and led Ling to the right side of the hunting ground.
Ling looked around her surroundings attentively with her big round eyes. Suddenly, she whispered excitedly, “Mother, look! There’s a little rabbit in front.”
Su Ying had already seen the rabbit earlier, but she did not say a word. She wanted to see if Ling had seen it.
“The opportunity has come,” Su Ying said softly.
Ling carefully adjusted her position, took out her bow, and drew it to the maximum.
Su Ying looked on from the side and could see Ling’s serious and focused expression. Indeed, she had the right posture. It was a sign that her little precious one was really growing.
With a soft swoosh, the arrow shot out, but it did not hit the target. The rabbit was startled and ran away.
“Gosh! I missed!” Ling did not want to let the rabbit escape just like that. She quickly pulled the reins of her horse and went in pursuit.
Su Ying followed closely behind Ling unhurriedly and did not interfere with Ling’s hunting. Today, she would swap the joy of hunting for spending time with her child.
Ling chased for a while, but the rabbit still escaped. However, she did not feel depressed for long because she found a sika deer next. “Mother, Mother, Mother, look, look, look!”
Ling was so excited that she became incoherent.
Su Ying gestured at her to keep quiet. “The sika deer is relatively large. If your arrow can’t hit its vital points, it is very likely to escape. So when you aim at the deer, shoot at the area above its neck.”
Ling understood and nodded. “I know, Mother.” As she spoke, she slowly drew the bow and aimed it at the sika deer’s chest.
Whoosh! The arrow shot out, but because the child’s strength wasn’t sufficient, the sika deer didn’t fall to the ground immediately after being hit by the arrow. Instead, it became startled and instinctively ran away.
However, before it could run too far, it was shot by another arrow.
This arrow hit the sika deer’s heart outright, and the sika deer’s body stiffened for a moment before crashing to the ground.
Ling widened her eyes in surprise and rode her horse to the sika deer.
“Mother, it… it died.” However, she didn’t kill it. “Mother, I didn’t shoot the final arrow. Does that mean that this can’t be considered my prey?”
Su Ying said with a smile, “You can consider it half your prey. After all, you were the one who discovered it and even shot the first arrow. Otherwise, Mother might not have been able to hit it with the second arrow since it ran so fast.”
Ling jumped with joy when she heard that half of the prey was her.
“Haha! That’s great! Mother, let’s hurry up and continue searching for more prey.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Today was hunting day. They planned to stay in the villa over here for the night and return the next morning.
Bai Shuang did not follow them into the hunting ground. Instead, she went to the Imperial Family’s villa to prepare for their stay.
“Uncle Hea, where are you going?” Bai Shuang had just finished getting everything in order when she came out and saw Hea Shouyi walking over with a sickle in his hand.
“Oh, there are some good wild animals in this mountain. I plan to capture some back.”
After Bai Shuang was done with her chores, the Emperor and the others would not be back for a while. She also wanted to go to the back of the mountain with Hea Shouyi. She heard that there was a plum blossom forest behind the villa, and the scenery was very beautiful. She wanted to go and pick some plum blossoms back to use as decoration.
“I’ll go with you, Uncle Hea. I want to pick some plum blossoms.”
“Alright.”
Bai Shuang went inside to get a pair of garden shears and a bamboo basket before following Hea Shouyi out of the back door of the villa.
Normally, there were people keeping watch at the Imperial Family’s villa. The snow on the path leading to the back of the mountain had been swept clean by these people.
The two of them did not walk for long before Bai Shuang saw the plum blossom forest ahead.
“Uncle Hea, will you be fine by yourself?”
Hea Shouyi said with a laugh, “Look at what you’re saying, lass. It’s not like your Uncle Hea hasn’t done something like this before. The plum blossom forest is right ahead. You go ahead and be careful. Go back after you are done picking. Don’t wander around.”
“Got it.”
After the two parted ways, Bai Shuang headed to the plum blossom forest.
She looked at the plum blossoms in the forest and a smile broke out on her face. Sure enough, the beautiful scenery made her feel happy.
Every plum blossom here was blooming beautifully. Bai Shuang looked at the sight and became mesmerized. Before long, she had wandered far away without realizing it.
When she saw that the bamboo basket was almost full, Bai Shuang got ready to go back when she saw a figure in the snow not far away.
She looked around and remembered that there was a mass grave outside the city.. Surely she didn’t end up at the mass grave?
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