CH 22

Gu Yan didn’t disturb him again and Ye Zi soon fell into a deep sleep. His sleep was hazy when he was awakened by a loud noise. When he opened his eyes, Ye Zi was surprised to find that he was standing at the edge of the hunting ground.

On the hunting ground, Gu Yan was riding on a horse. He was skillfully shooting arrows with his bow as he shot three long arrows in a row toward the sky. The field once again erupted in awe and cheers. Ye Zi looked upward against the sun and saw three eagles falling down from the sky, landing neatly in the center of the hunting ground.

Ye Zi was slightly lost in thought until the shallow sound of horses’ hooves came closer from afar. He looked up and Gu Yan looked down at him from his horse.

Gu Yan opened his mouth and there was a look of satisfaction in his eyes: “How was it?”

Ye Zi said: “Your Majesty’s archery skill is as good as ever. The top prize in this hunt will definitely be yours.”

Gu Yan said disdainfully: “Every year, it’s the same few losers who participate in the hunt. If they want to catch up to me, they are still a few hundred years too early.” 

He paused before adding: “I’m curious. Since you’re so skilled in martial arts, how are your riding and shooting skills? Why don’t I ask His Holiness for a favor and let you participate as well and we’ll have a competition. Anyway, it will definitely be more exciting than competing with those losers.”

“Your Majesty’s body is precious, this lowly one doesn’t dare to compete with you.”

A flash of displeasure passed through Gu Yan’s eyes and he didn’t say anything else.

He jumped off his horse before walking up to Ye Zi, grabbed the canteen in his hand, and took a drink: “If I win the top prize this year, I will petition His Holiness to grant me the wish of not marrying for a lifetime.”

Ye Zi’s eyes shrank slightly: “Your Majesty——”

Before he finished speaking, he stopped abruptly.

Gu Yan didn’t seem to notice and said sarcastically: “Who let that old thing, Wen Shuhou, insist that I marry his daughter? Will his daughter be unable to get married if I don’t accept her?” 

Ye Zi pursed his lips and advised in a low voice: “But Your Majesty shouldn’t risk the rest of your life like this. You are still young and will feel that marriage is a burden if you haven’t met the person you like. However, if you meet someone later, you……”

Ye Zi looked up and met Gu Yan’s gaze.

Suddenly he couldn’t finish his sentence.

Gu Yan had grown extremely fast over the years and was already a few inches taller than Ye Zi, with an indisputable majesty faintly showing between his brows.

Gu Yan stepped forward and pushed Ye Zi against the tree, looking at him with downcast eyes: “Huai Yuan, I’ve always wanted to know, what position are you using to manage me? Is it just because Imperial Grandfather entrusted me to you or……some other reason.”

Ye Zi lowered his head: “Because I was entrusted by the previous emperor.”

The smile in Gu Yan’s eyes gradually faded away and he said in a cold voice: “If that’s the case, since I’ve already passed my coming-of-age, you don’t have to care about what I do in the future.”

……

Ye Zi opened his eyes and sat up violently from the bed.

The tent was slightly warm and fragrant, filling his nostrils with every breath. Ye Zi pressed on his suddenly throbbing temples and a fine layer of sweat was forming on his forehead.

“What’s wrong?” Gu Yan’s voice came from one side.

He had woken up early and had finished getting ready. Seeing Ye Zi suddenly sitting up, he came over worriedly.

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Gu Yan took out a silk handkerchief and carefully wiped away the thin beads of sweat on his forehead: “Did you have a nightmare?”

Ye Zi was stunned for a long time and shook his head: “I don’t know.”

“I seem to have dreamt something, but I can’t remember exactly what it was. But……”

He placed his hand on his heart. His heart was still beating fast, as if it was being grabbed by something, and there were short bursts of pain, which almost made him breathless.

That was the feeling left over from the dream.

Ye Zi folded his legs up and rested his head on his knees, murmuring: “It’s so uncomfortable……”

“Stop thinking about it.” Gu Yan sat down beside him. He brought the person into his arms and gently ran his hands down the other party’s spine, “It was only just a dream, no need to pay it any mind.”

Today was the first day of the hunt, Gu Yan was worried that Ye Zi hadn’t rested well so he forced him to rest a little longer. It was almost noon when the two of them reached the hunting grounds. 

Before the two of them reached the grounds, they could hear the loud cheers from the others.  

The hunt was divided into five days and the first day was usually to liven things up.

The guards would go to the mountains in advance to catch some wild deer and antelope and put them in the hunting ground for people to chase and shoot. A bonfire was built in the center of the hunting ground, and the hunted animals were then directly slaughtered and barbecued in public and shared among the crowd.

The first day of the hunt was always a time for the younger generation to show off. Gu Yan and Ye Zi had just settled down in their seats when they saw Wen Yi returning on his horse with several guards behind him carrying a wounded wild goat.

He took the first hunt of this year’s roundup.

Gu Yan didn’t participate in hunting. In the past few years, most of the hunts were taken by Wen Yi and Crown Prince Gu Sheng. These two people have a good relationship. On the hunting ground, they would constantly compete without giving way to the other. However, Gu Sheng would usually win the top prize with the best move.

As for whether Wen Yi truly competed or did it on purpose, no one would know. 

The first day was just a warm-up for fun and the results were not included in the hunting competition, but it was still a good start. Wen Yi rode his horse leisurely and his expression was full of complacency.

But after seeing Gu Yan and Ye Zi, the smile on his face suddenly faded away.

Obviously, he was still upset about what happened at the banquet yesterday.

Ye Zi didn’t take what happened last night to heart. Instead, seeing Wen Yi’s defeated look, he thought it was a little funny and couldn’t help but slightly raise the corners of his mouth until Gu Yan pinched his face gently.

Ye Zi’s face was thin and even a gentle pinch would leave a red mark. He covered his face and turned his head to look at Gu Yan: “What are you doing?”

Gu Yan glanced at him and said righteously: “You’re smiling at someone else, I’m jealous.”

Ye Zi: “……”

It was the first time he saw someone who would speak so confidently about being jealous.

Ye Zi puffed out his cheeks and ignored him.

Gu Yan’s voice wasn’t quiet and most of the people sitting nearby could hear them so they couldn’t help but look in this direction curiously. It was said that Prince Rui doted on this Princess Consort very much, it seemed that it was true.

Among the crowd, only Xiao Min lowered his head and sipped his tea quietly without even looking at them.

The guards threw the wild goat to the center of the ground and were about to slaughter it in public. However, no one knew where the goat suddenly got its strength from, but it violently broke free from its confines. Several guards went forward to grab it, but the goat was so powerful that it pushed them away and rushed towards the seats.

The one closest to it was Wen Zhi.

“Zhi’er!” Wen Yi was so shocked that he subconsciously pulled his bow and shot an arrow at the goat. But in his haste, he missed by a few inches and missed the vital point.

The goat howled in pain and rushed forward even faster.

Wen Zhi seemed to be frightened, motionless, as she stared blankly at the goat rushing towards her.

The goat was about to pounce on Wen Zhi when a thump could be heard and the goat’s movements suddenly stopped. It fell to the ground, its body trembled a few times, and a small bloody hole appeared on its forehead. Blood flowed out in pools and it soon stopped moving.

A chopstick had penetrated its head and nailed it to the ground.

Ye Zi withdrew his hand and glanced uneasily at Gu Yan.

Just now, all he thought about was saving a life so he didn’t think too much about his actions. He just grabbed something and threw it at the goat, but now that he came back to his senses, he felt regret. 

He shouldn’t have done that in front of so many people.

Gu Yan patted the back of his hand soothingly.

The crowd finally realized what had happened and looked over toward Ye Zi in surprise.

The ability to make a chopstick penetrate the skull of a goat wasn’t something ordinary people could do. Was this person’s martial arts that advanced?

On the high seat, Emperor Jinghe’s expression gradually sank.

The accident was just a minor incident and didn’t cause too much impact. Only, Commandery Princess Changning left the table early because she was too frightened. The hunt continued until sunset when Emperor Jinghe announced that the banquet was over and dismissed everyone so that they could prepare for the next day’s hunt.

The second to fourth day of the Spring hunt was the time for the competition. All participants of the hunting competition were free to enter the mountains and forests to hunt and had to return to the camp by the fifth day.

The winner of the hunt was the one with the most prey and could submit a request to Emperor Jinghe.

The hunting ground was only a few miles around the camp and was highly guarded so there wasn’t any danger. The real place for the hunting competition was in the large mountain forest behind the hunting grounds.

The mountains were infested with wild animals and were full of dangers.

But all this had little to do with Ye Zi.

He apprehensively waited until the banquet was over before following Gu Yan back to the tent, meekly bowed his head, and admitted his mistake: “Sorry, I didn’t do that on purpose.”

As early as when he started playing the role of Princess Consort Rui, Gu Yan had reminded him not to reveal the fact that he had martial arts, so as not to get into trouble. Now look at what he did, not only did people know, but it was also in such a sensational way that it couldn’t even be concealed even if he wanted to. 

However, Gu Yan didn’t get angry and just helplessly sighed: “You….sigh….You haven’t changed at all…..” 

In that situation, Ye Zi’s instincts far surpassed his reason, how could Gu Yan not know?

The kind him could never stand to watch others get hurt in front of him.

Ye Zi was filled with guilt: “What should we do now? I……Did I cause trouble for you?”

“You didn’t, don’t be anxious.” Gu Yan soothed, “At first, I had hoped that you didn’t reveal this matter so that we could avoid some trouble. But now that the matter is known, there is nothing to be afraid of.”

“Don’t worry, just leave everything to me.”

It was getting late when someone came to report that Empress Dowager had asked Gu Yan to accompany her to have dinner. Gu Yan could only follow the order and instructed Ye Zi to stay in the tent and wait for him. Ye Zi stayed behind and waited anxiously, but before Gu Yan came back, he received news from the chief eunuch beside Emperor Jinghe.

Emperor Jinghe had summoned him for questioning.

Ye Zi followed the chief eunuch to Emperor Jinghe’s Imperial tent, where he was the only one present. 

Ye Zi bent his knees and bowed toward Emperor Jinghe as a greeting.

But the latter did not respond for a long time.

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Ye Zi kneeled on the ground, not daring to look up. However, he could vaguely feel the other party’s gaze fixated on him and the scrutiny in his eyes sent a chill down his spine.

After an unknown amount of time, Emperor Jinghe finally spoke: “Princess Consort Rui, We want to know how you and Prince Rui met.”

This question was not beyond Ye Zi’s expectations. He raised his head and told the lie that he had repeatedly memorized in his mind several times.

He and Gu Yan had agreed that if anyone asked about their history, they would say that Ye Zi had fled the war several years ago and was rescued by Gu Yan in Chang’an and a place was set up for him in the outskirts of Chang’an.

Gu Yan had already sent someone to take care of the place where he lived, so nothing would go wrong. Coupled with the frequent occurrence of wars in the past few years, there were countless people with unknown origins like Ye Zi. Even if they wanted to investigate, they wouldn’t know where to start.

Ye Zi told him everything in detail. Emperor Jinghe asked a few more questions and he answered them fluently.

Emperor Jinghe pondered for a moment: “In that case, you and Gu Yan fell in love early.”

Ye Zi bowed his head: “Yes.”

Emperor Jinghe smiled: “This nephew of mine is rarely moved so We are naturally relieved. However, you should understand his status. He is Prince Rui with extremely high status while you have nothing but a civilian origin. He is now infatuated with you, but there is no guarantee that in ten or twenty years, he will still be infatuated with you.”

Ye Zi’s eyes moved slightly and he didn’t reply.

Emperor Jinghe examined the thin young man in front of him and his voice softened: “We can give you an official position so that you and Yan’er will also be considered a rightful match. Even in the future……you will at least still have a place to fallback to.” 

Ye Zi still didn’t answer as he quietly waited for Emperor Jinghe’s next words.

“However, this official position cannot be given to you for free.” Emperor Jinghe slowly said, “Commandery Princess Changning is beautiful and wise. We had watched her grow up with Our own eyes and We love her like she is Our own daughter. Since you saved her life today, We are very grateful. You are a good child and Changning is also a good child. We heard that she is interested in Prince Rui, but Yan’er is a stickler, no matter what We say, he wouldn’t listen.”

“……We hope you can go back and persuade him to allow Changning to enter the manor.”

Ye Zi’s hands tightened and then he heard Emperor Jinghe add: “Commandery Princess Changning has a noble status so naturally, there is no reason for her to be a concubine……We know you understand where We’re heading with this, which is why We wanted to discuss this with you. Are you willing to give the position of Princess Consort to her?” 

Although it was a question, there was no questioning tone in his words. Rather, it was filled with determination and command.

The Imperial tent was silent as Emperor Jinghe looked at Ye Zi, waiting for his answer.

Ye Zi kowtowed to Emperor Jinghe, raised his head, and calmly said: “I am unwilling.”

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The author has something to say:

Little leaf only cowers in front of Prince Rui. To other people, he tells them to face him head-on XD