Chapter 8#
The Hunt: Young Pei Draws His Bow to Shoot a Deer, but an Accident Occurs at the Hunting Ground…#
After coming out of the latrine, Pei Jintang ran into Zong An. The latter had lost the competition and looked dejected, so Pei Jintang had no choice but to offer a few words of comfort.
“Brother Hanzhang, am I really that useless?”
As expected, Zong An’s eyes reddened. Pei Jintang thought to himself, What a boy made of water! Then he smoothly comforted him, “Your forte has never been horseback archery. You don’t usually put much effort into it either.”
What Pei Jintang really thought was: if you have no talent and aren’t willing to put in the extra effort to compensate, falling behind is only natural. Take painting, for example—he himself had no talent and refused to study or practice more, so he naturally couldn’t surpass Xi Ting, who had probably been secretly training in the courtyard for who knows how long.
But to Zong An, these words sounded like mockery and reprimand. He pursed his lips tightly and asked nervously, “Are you looking down on me?”
Pei Jintang said, “Huh?”
He didn’t quite understand Zong An’s way of thinking, but this youth had always been overly sensitive. So he encouraged him again, “I’m not looking down on you, nor am I mocking you. I’m just stating the facts. We’re all human, and no one can excel at everything. For instance, you’re not good at horseback archery, but when it comes to musical instruments, the Prince of Ning’s son and the young Marquis Shangguan can’t compare to you.”
Zong An finally managed a faint smile and said sheepishly, “Brother Hanzhang flatters me; I dare not accept such praise. By the way, could you wait a moment for me so we can return together? We can chat along the way.”
Pei Jintang agreed, but he hadn’t expected that when he got back, he would see a plaque with “Pei Xiting’s” name on the betting board.
“Oh no,” Pei Jintang muttered. “It’s really hard to guess the top three. In the past, I would bet on the Fourth Young Master Zhao of the Duke Wenguo Estate in the bottom three, and I hit nine out of ten times. Now that you’re here, I don’t know who to choose.”
Each participant entering the forest had only one horse, one bow, and thirty arrows. They could bring at most one additional weapon for self-defense. Since there were no large beasts of prey, participants were not allowed to bring tools like nets or torches, nor could they bring hunting dogs or lynxes along. In short, it was just for fun, testing their riding and archery skills, eyesight, and endurance.
Although Pei Xiting claimed to know how to ride and shoot, Pei Jintang had never seen it firsthand and had no idea how skilled he really was.
Pei Xiting didn’t mind Pei Jintang’s teasing and revealed his own plan, “You place your bet, then come with me. If things go badly, you can give me a hand. That way, I won’t embarrass myself, and you won’t lose money.”
“I’ll definitely go with you—I wouldn’t feel at ease otherwise. As for cheating, I’d like to, but I really can’t help.” Since it was Pei Xiting’s first time participating, Pei Jintang patiently explained, “Every participant in the hunt will have a designated supervisor to record and monitor the number of prey. Take a look at your quiver.”
He pulled out an arrow from Pei Xiting’s quiver and pointed at the shaft, “See this notch? You’re number eleven. The hit prey and the arrows found on them will be collected by another team; the records have to be cross-checked.”
“Pretty formal,” Pei Xiting said. “What if someone bribes the supervisor?”
Pei Jintang said that wouldn’t happen. “The supervisors aren’t ordinary guards or servants; they’re ceremonial guards from the Imperial Guard Command, specially deployed at various events. Today, they’re not just for recording and monitoring but also to ensure the participants’ safety. After all, the forested mountains are different from indoors—precautions must be taken.”
“I see.” Pei Xiting thought of something. “Shangguan Jie is also in the Imperial Guard Command, right? Some kind of deputy commissioner?”
Pei Jintang chose to turn a blind eye to Pei Xiting’s direct use of the young marquis’s full name and said, “The young marquis is the deputy commander of the Left Valiant Guard, not in charge of the ceremonial guards.”
In the end, Pei Jintang bet on the heavily favored Fourth Young Master Zhao and led Pei Xiting to the forest entrance, where they lined up at the end of one queue. Pei Jintang was talkative and chattered incessantly, while Pei Xiting played the role of listener, only occasionally responding.
Suddenly, someone bumped into Pei Xiting’s shoulder from behind. He steadied himself and turned around to see a young man in a star-blue brocade robe.
“I bumped into someone!” The young man took half a step back, shoved the person he had been roughhousing with, and then apologetically cupped his hands toward Pei Xiting.
“It’s fine.” Pei Xiting glanced at the two and turned back.
Pei Jintang saw the two of them laughing and shoving each other as they moved to another queue that was advancing faster and said, “Hey, unfamiliar faces.”
“In all of Yeijing, can you possibly know everyone?” The line ahead had moved forward a bit, so Pei Xiting gently pushed Pei Jintang and casually said, “Those are two girls.”
“Huh?” Pei Jintang walked forward while turning sideways to ask, “How can you tell?”
Pei Xiting was puzzled. “It’s obvious at first glance. Besides, didn’t you notice that when she bowed, she presented her right hand?”
Pei Jintang hadn’t noticed that at all. “Strange. Girls are allowed to participate anyway—why bother disguising themselves as men?”
Pei Xiting wasn’t interested and said, “Maybe men’s clothes are more convenient.”
“Then why did they paint their eyebrows so thick and dark and stick on fake beards? How are the ceremonial guards supposed to confirm their identities? Make them take off the makeup on the spot?”
“You can just chase after them and line up behind them.”
“I was just asking casually!”
“Oh.”
Soon it was their turn. The ceremonial guards checked their identification, examined the horses, bows, arrows, and personal weapons or accessories, and after confirming everything was fine, let them through.
A group of people stood behind a red silk banner, ready to start.
“Hey,” Pei Jintang suddenly said, “why did you bring gloves?”
Pei Xiting slowly put on black gloves and a thumb ring, saying, “My hands are precious.”
“Good at painting—makes sense to protect them well.” Pei Jintang said this, then belatedly realized: so this kid had already guessed that they’d be dealing with bows and arrows today?
Pei Xiting ignored Pei Jintang’s curious gaze and suddenly looked up at the mountain ahead. He felt like someone was staring at him.
“There are so many bets on Pei Xiting.” In the pavilion, Yu Shaoyun was counting the newly arrived betting slips. “In total, there are 523 bets on the bottom three, and Pei Xiting alone accounts for 380 of them. He’s actually overwhelming Fourth Young Master Zhao.”
Empress Qu, who was cracking melon seeds, said between bites, “Everyone’s really interested in this child.”
“After all, he was chosen as a painter, it’s his first time participating in the hunt, and Vice Minister Qu asked him to do a painting,” Yu Shaoyun said.
Empress Qu was surprised. “Zhuo’er has high standards. This child from the Pei family must be extremely skilled in painting.”
Yu Shaoyun said, “Vice Minister Qu has had the painting moved to the awning hall and plans to take it back to his residence.”
“He must really like it, then.” Empress Qu said, “Send someone down to see if it’s convenient to bring the painting up here. If it’s not, no matter; I’ll go see it myself later.”
Yu Shaoyun nodded and dispatched two guards.
Just then, a war drum thundered once, followed by two more. The hunt had begun. Dozens of horses surged into the forest. The empress felt a surge of excitement, holding her plate of melon seeds as she walked to the railing, where she could overlook half the hunting grounds.
Horses galloped swiftly, branches trembled, and arrows whistled through the air like sharp screeches.
A startled bird was pierced through the chest and fell to the ground, retrieved by Pei Jintang’s assigned supervisor.
Pei Xiting rode past Pei Jintang, quickly drawing three arrows from his quiver while releasing the reins with his right hand. He drew his bow and aimed diagonally forward. The arrows shot out like startled strings cutting through the wind, followed by a dull thud as a fleeing deer tumbled forward.
His strength was insufficient at the moment, and the deer was fairly large, so he had to use a few extra arrows.
“Hit!” Pei Jintang cheered from behind.
Pei Xiting didn’t turn his head; he merely shook the hand that had drawn the string, feeling a tremor.
Suddenly, a sharp gust of wind swept toward him. The hairs on the back of Pei Xiting’s neck stood on end. Before his mind could even register it, his body had already leaned back. An arrow shot past above him, burying itself deep into a tree trunk in the distance!
Pei Xiting straightened up, grabbed the reins, and yanked his horse to a stop, turning to look at the person emerging from the forest. Cold sweat had already broken out on the back of his neck.
“Xi Ting!” Pei Jintang rode over to Pei Xiting’s side. After confirming he was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the newcomer. “What do you think you’re doing!”
“I’m really sorry,” the newcomer said, reining in his horse. “My shooting is terrible. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Scare us? That’s not the issue! If my third brother hadn’t dodged in time, that arrow would have gone straight through his neck!” Pei Jintang scolded angrily. “If you can’t shoot properly, you shouldn’t be in here! You could have hurt someone, and all you have to say is ‘my shooting is terrible’?”
The man said innocently, “No one said people with poor shooting can’t participate, right? Besides, nothing actually happened.”
“By the time something happens, it’ll be too late!” Pei Jintang said coldly.
“It was my carelessness today,” the man said, turning to Pei Xiting with a grin. “Third Young Master Pei, once we’re out of here, I’ll treat you to a meal to make up for it. Since it wasn’t intentional, please be generous and let it slide, won’t you?”