199 – The Family of Four Goes Hunting

“Ruiqi, Ruilin!” Zhangsun Hong waved to Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin from a distance with a smile on his face. He really asked Zhangsun He to find him a foal with brown fur. Although it was not as strong as the two white foals, it was also very strong. However, Zhangsun He wasn’t at ease to let him sit on the horse alone and tied a rope around his waist with the other end of the rope in Zhangsun He’s hand – it looked very funny.

Emperor Xiaohui burst into laughter; everyone else also could not restrain from laughing.

Zhangsun Hong’s face turned red. After Chen Mufeng took him off his horse, he paid respect to Emperor Xiaohui in a good manner.

“Hong’er may rise. This foal is also very good.” Emperor Xiaohui patted the foal on its back as he praised it.

Zhangsun Hong’s face turned redder, but Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin didn’t laugh at him – it made him feel better about these two good friends.

After the stipulated gathering time, everyone formally paid respect to Emperor Xiaohui.

With the victorious battle of Great Xia and the coming New Year, Emperor Xiaohui was in a good mood these days. He said with a smile, “During these three days of hunting, all of you should enjoy yourselves to the fullest. By the beginning of the monkey hour [3 p.m] in the afternoon of the day after tomorrow, Zhen will greatly reward whoever hunted the most prey!”

The emperor’s reward was not necessarily a very valuable thing, but it had a different significance – it was sort of a rare honor. Everyone made great efforts to win the first prize in the hunting competition. Especially for the young people without official rank, if they got the emperor’s attention, they might get an official position.

Emperor Xiaohui put on his hunting suit and set out with his imperial bodyguards.

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The empress and the three consorts who followed Emperor Xiaohui could only stay in the tent. Even Princess Duanning went hunting. Emperor Xiaohui and the empress were very concerned about this daughter. They wanted to take the opportunity to let her cultivate feelings with the Heir of the Martial God Marquis. Since there were so many followers, it would not be called private meetings.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie led their two sons after choosing a direction and spurred the horses into the distance.

Zhangsun Hong wanted to follow them; Zhangsun He and Chen Mufeng flanked him for protection. However, Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin’s white foals were much faster than Zhangsun Hong’s – they had run far not a while later. There were so many horseshoe marks on the ground that he couldn’t find out which direction they had gone for a short time.

The imperial hunting ground was a place for the Imperial Clan to hunt and have fun. The game inside was specially put in by the person in charge of the hunting ground. There were no beasts such as tigers, leopards, and wolves. The most dangerous one was probably wild boar, but it was not too big. The rest were small games such as wild sheep, sika deer, hare, pheasant, and fox. To let everyone enjoy themselves to the fullest, there was a lot of prey.

Qin Mian’s family of four had not gone far away when Qin Mian and Lei Tie found a fat hare behind the snowy grass. The couple tacitly agreed to give the opportunity to their sons.

Qin Mian whispered, “Ruiqi, Ruilin.”

Qin Ruiqi always gave consideration to his Didi, “Ruilin, you do it.”

Lei Ruilin nodded without a sound and spurred his horse forward. Unfortunately, because of his inexperience, the little horse moved too much. When the hare heard the sound, it was startled – it jumped up and ran far away.

“Ge!” Lei Ruilin shouted in distress and he spurred his horse to pursue it together with Qin Ruiqi.

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Qin Mian and Lei Tie always stayed two zhang [6.6 m] behind them.

Just then, a sika deer rushed out from the other side of the grove in panic.

Qin Ruiqi took an arrow out of the quiver, pulled the bowstring, and let go. The feathered arrow shot as fast as lightning and pierced the belly of the sika deer.

“Gege is so amazing. You hit such fast prey.” Lei Ruilin had run far away. He turned around and continued to search for prey.

“A-Tie, take care of Ruiqi.” After Qin Mian finished saying that, he followed his youngest son.

Qin Ruiqi raced to the sika deer and looked at Lei Tie as if he was presenting a treasure.

“Pretty good.”

Lei Tie’s praise was very simple but Qin Ruiqi was still very happy with it.

Lei Tie picked up the prey, pulled out the feather arrow, and put it back into his eldest son’s quiver. He then tied the prey on the horse.

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“Old Dad, let’s continue.”

“En.”

The father and son randomly picked a direction and went over.

In the distance, Lei Ruilin relentlessly pursued a wild goat of about 50 Jin – he and Qin Mian had blocked it.

Lei Ruilin was about to set off an arrow when a red-headed feathered arrow suddenly flew from afar and shot the wild goat a step ahead.

Qin Mian frowned and looked back. A boy about 11~12 years old dressed in purple sat arrogantly on the horse, leisurely put down his bow. Beside him, there was a man in splendid clothes, about 24~25 years old, with a helpless look on his face.

“Greetings, Lady of the State Defender Duke and Duke of Anping County.” The young man cupped his hands in obeisance while mounting.

Qin Mian said in a light voice, “No need to be so formal.”

Lei Ruilin stared wide-eyed at the boy and said in discontented, “Who are you? Why did you take my prey?”

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The boy spurred his horse over and picked up the prey. He handed it to the young man and said in a loud voice, “Chen Bodong. Your prey? You blame others for your own incompetence?”

“Chen Bodong?” Lei Ruilin calmly lifted his eyebrows, “Chen Bonan’s gege?”

Chen Bodong’s face gloomed and he shouted, “Audacious! How dare you call me by my name?”

Lei Ruilin crossed his arms in front of his chest and sneered as he said without haste, “Why not? Although you’re the eldest son of His Highness the First Prince, you have no title. This gongzi I, am the Duke of Anping County who was conferred by the emperor himself. Maybe you can ask the emperor who is audacious here.”

Qin Mian gave a wee of a smile.

“You!” Chen Bodong’s expression abruptly changed. His hand holding the reins turned blue and white because of too much force. He gritted his teeth and said, “Lei Ruilin, we’ll wait and see (who is right)!”

In the end, he still had some rationality – he turned his horse and galloped away.

Lei Ruilin made a face at him and winked at his father before spurring his horse with leisure to keep up with him.

Qin Mian guessed his son’s plan and laughed to himself.

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The young man looked back and swept his gaze over Qin Mian, not say anything. He’d be better not to intervene in the children’s disputes, otherwise, the small problem would become a big problem.

Chen Bodong soon noticed that Lei Ruilin was following him – his face turned very blue.

At this time, a fleeing beautiful silver-black fox entered everyone’s line of sight.

Chen Bodong was overjoyed and quickly drew out a feathered arrow. Unexpectedly, before he had the time to set off the arrow, a sharp arrow whooshed from behind him and pierced through the silver-black fox’s fragile neck. The silver-black fox breathed its last.

Chen Bodong abruptly turned his head and saw Lei Ruilin’s closing movement. He was flustered and exasperated, “Lei Ruilin! You dare to take my, this gongzi’s, prey!”

“You blame others for your own incompetence?” replied Lei Ruilin in no hurry. He spurred the foal over, picked up the prey, and handed it to Qin Mian.

Chen Bodong was extremely aggrieved, “You!”

Qin Mian put the prey in the pouch on his girdle, acting as if there was no one else present.

Lei Ruilin stuck out his tongue at Chen Bodong and went away with a press on his horse’s belly.

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“Argh!” Chen Bodong became angry from embarrassment and hit the nearby pine tree with a fist, and the accumulated snow fell. He pulled the reins in an attempt to catch up with Lei Ruilin.

The young man quickly stopped him, “Bodong, calm down! Don’t look at that boy’s small age – his strength isn’t small. Didn’t you see the arrow he just shot went through the silver-black fox’s neck? He must have used internal force.”

“Uncle, do you really think Lei Ruilin is the one who shot the arrow just now?” Chen Bodong did not believe it, “It must be the Lady of the State Defender Duke.”

The young man shook his head. “The Lady of the State Defender Duke was two zhang [6.6 m] away from the Duke of Anping County – he couldn’t complete the actions of getting close to the Duke of Anping County, taking the arrow from the quiver of the Duke of Anping County, shooting the arrow, and returning to the horse two zhang away in just a few breaths.”

Chen Bodong had nothing to say in return. He turned and said, “His father caught my father, so he is my enemy – how can I let him off?! Besides, Imperial Grandfather has been very indifferent to me recently.. I wanted to hunt that silver-black fox to present it to Imperial Grandfather.”

The young man sighed to himself and said nothing. First Prince’s treason was a grave crime. It was fortunate that the emperor didn’t implicate other people in the First Prince Establishment. If Chen Bodong continued to target Lei Ruilin, he would only make the emperor unhappier.

Qin Mian and Lei Ruilin did not pay attention to this episode. After running in the groves for nearly four hours, Lei Ruilin had hunted a silver-black fox, five hares, and a pheasant. Qin Mian was mainly accompanying his son and did not hunt anything.

“Dad, I’m hungry.” Lei Ruilin also felt distressed for the foal. He jumped off from his horse and rubbed its head.

The foal rubbed against his chest, intimately.

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Qin Mian asked, “Do you want to go back to the campsite or eat here?”

Lei Ruilin replied, “Go back to the campsite; let the foal eat some fodder.”

Qin Mian carried his son onto his horse and led the foal back to the campsite.

In the camp, people were cooking. The aroma wafted around.

Lei Tie and Qin Ruiqi had been back for a long time. They got a pile of firewood from somewhere, cleaned up an area in a remote corner, and lit a bonfire. There were four pheasants on the fire that had been roasted for a long time. The color was crisp yellow with oil oozed out, causing people to drool.

Qin Ruiqi sat opposite Lei Tie with two fish skewered on two sticks in his hands. He probably got them from the meal department – no more than a tiny part was scorched.

“Old Dad, I’m hungry!” Lei Ruilin jumped off the horse and ran over.

Qin Mian threw the reins to the imperial bodyguard and kept up, neither fast nor slow.

“Wait.” Lei Tie glanced at his wife and youngest son to make sure they were not injured before withdrawing his sight. He took out a bottle of seasoning from his waist-bag and sprinkled it on the roasting pheasants. He spread the seasoning evenly with a small brush and then continued to roast.

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Qin Mian sat down next to him. Holding his chin in both hands, he looked at the man with a smile as he waited for the food.

Lei Ruilin took out two packages of beef jerky, handed one to his Gege, and fed one to each of his fathers. Head to head, the two brothers ate the snacks and chatted in a whisper. It was mainly Lei Ruilin telling Qin Ruiqi about Chen Bodong.