On the viewing platform, Li Hanxing waved his fan and after a while asked strangely: “What is Divination Official Qiu’s side still doing?”
Li Hanfeng sat close to him and kindly explained: “Divination Official Qiu seems unable to ride horses—I imagine Yuanwu is still teaching her.” Li Hanxing’s hand waving the fan paused, finding it both amusing and exasperating: “She can shoot arrows but can’t ride horses?” Li Hanyuan defended her indignantly: “Who says that knowing archery means you must know how to ride horses?”
Indeed, these two things had no necessary connection. Li Hanxing sneered lightly: “Then what’s there to compete in? Won’t Second Brother have definitely won?” But Li Hanyuan said: “Brother Zheng has beaten Second Brother, and Seventh Sister has beaten Xinran—who ultimately wins is still hard to say.” Her expression showed some pride. Li Hanxing couldn’t help but reach out to pinch her chubby little face, saying happily: “I’ll go tell your Second Brother these words in a bit.”
Li Hanyuan’s small face froze, and she stammered: “I didn’t… quite mean it that way.”
Everyone on the viewing platform laughed. Xia Xiuyan still lazily gazed at the training ground, his eyes not knowing where they were looking.
Below, the two rode on horses side by side, circling around the training ground. At first they moved more slowly. After several such circles, the woman on the horse finally began to get used to it. Loosening one hand from the reins, she patted the young man on the other horse at an arm’s distance, pointing at their two horses, not knowing what she was saying with both surprise and delight.
Zheng Yuanwu sitting on his horse laughed aloud. The young man’s smile in the autumn afternoon sunlight was very dazzling. Meanwhile, Qiu Xinran looked as if she’d been made silly by his laughter, staring at him with complete bewilderment on her face, which made her appearance even more amusing. Zheng Yuanwu wiped his face, laughing so much that even the horse beneath him began to grow restless.
This scene fell into Li Hanfeng’s eyes, making him unable to help but smile along, saying involuntarily: “Divination Official Qiu—sometimes she’s quite interesting.”
“Mm?” The person beside him seemed to respond absentmindedly.
“When you weren’t here before, one time Zhou Xianyi invited her to visit his home as a guest. That time it was actually because his elder sister had returned to her maiden home for a brief stay, and she had Zhou Xianyi invite her to the house to help calculate when she might become pregnant. You know that Divination Official Qiu has never much liked reading fortunes for court officials, so when Zhou Xianyi approached her, he didn’t speak plainly—only after arriving at the estate did he arrange for a chance encounter with that Lady Zhou at the water pavilion. When several people were exchanging pleasantries, Divination Official Qiu casually praised the cat in her arms a few times. That Lady Zhou seized the opportunity to say the cat was given to her by her husband, and that the couple treated it just like their own child, but having only one cat was still rather lonely. Hearing this, Divination Official Qiu comforted her saying the lady needn’t worry, that the household would soon have another joyous occasion. Sure enough, within a month Lady Zhou truly transmitted good news. Zhou Xianyi came joyfully bearing several red eggs to thank Divination Official Qiu. Guess what happened?”
Li Hanfeng left Xia Xiuyan in suspense. Someone nearby who had heard their conversation clearly also remembered that day’s events and couldn’t help but laugh. Li Hanyuan didn’t know about this matter though, so without waiting for Xia Xiuyan to respond, she eagerly asked: “What happened?”
Li Hanfeng laughed: “Divination Official Qiu asked him in complete bewilderment: ‘Does your Minister’s residence give out red eggs even when the cat has kittens?'”
As soon as he finished speaking, several people around couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Even Xia Xiuyan, hearing this, couldn’t help but curve his lips slightly in a hint of a smile. Only Li Hanyuan still couldn’t figure it out: “What does that mean? Wasn’t it said that the pregnant one was Brother Zhou’s elder sister?”
Someone beside her explained: “The pregnant one was indeed that Lady Zhou, but Divination Official Qiu that time had noticed the cat was already pregnant with kittens, so she said the household would have a joyous occasion. She didn’t expect that Lady Zhou was asking her to read when she herself could become pregnant…”
Li Hanyuan suddenly understood. Before she could say anything, suddenly the sound of a horse’s neighing came from the training ground. Everyone hurriedly looked carefully toward the field and discovered that Li Hanru had just been shooting arrows at the target range. After passing the target, she should have turned the horse’s head to go back, but for some reason she charged straight toward the two people who were circling the training ground on horseback.
The incident occurred suddenly, yet the horse’s speed was extremely fast—in the blink of an eye it had arrived before them. Qiu Xinran had just adapted to the feeling of sitting on the horse and relaxed somewhat when suddenly a fine horse charged straight at her head-on, frightening her into freezing in place, not knowing what to do. The horse beneath her was also clearly startled, letting out a neigh. Its front legs left the ground in instinctive avoidance, nearly throwing her off its back.
Zheng Yuanwu at her side first steadied his own horse, while loudly reminding her: “Pull the reins tight!”
Qiu Xinran jolted alert and hastily pulled tight on the reins. The horse pawed the earth and retreated several steps. Just as the two horses were about to collide head-on, Li Hanru suddenly pulled sharply on the reins, calling out loudly: “Whoa—” The brown horse beneath her that had just seemed crazed raised its hooves high, barely stopping its charge at a distance of nearly one arm’s length from Qiu Xinran. The horse snorted several times, then recovered its previous docile appearance.
Li Hanru sat on the horse like a heroic female general. She glanced at the little Daoist on the horse whose face had turned pale with fright, her eyes carrying a hint of disdain.
“Seventh Princess, what you just did was too dangerous—” Zheng Yuanwu sat on his horse with an unpleasant expression, his tone inevitably somewhat stiff. Li Hanyi had finally also ridden over at this point. Discovering no one was injured, he breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at the horse beneath Li Hanru: “Are you alright? Do you want to change horses?”
Li Hanru snorted coldly. Without a word, she turned the horse’s head and left again. The three people at the edge of the training ground watched as she rode the horse outside the field, jumped down, threw the reins to a nearby attendant, and departed without so much as a greeting.
“Hey—what’s her problem?” Li Hanyi grumbled dissatisfiedly. He could only chase after her again, also jumping down from his horse and leaving the training ground.
The people on the viewing platform still hadn’t figured out what had happened when in the blink of an eye half the people on the training ground had already left.
“What happened with Second Brother and them?”
“The Seventh Princess’s horse was probably startled.”
“…”
Everyone discussed for a few sentences, looking at each other in bewilderment. But after sitting for a while longer and seeing there was no more excitement to watch, many people also stood up one after another to gather their things and prepare to leave.
Li Hanfeng asked the person beside him: “Are you returning to your residence?”
Xia Xiuyan sat in his chair: “In a bit I need to go to Fukang Palace.”
“No wonder you’re not rushing to leave today.” Li Hanfeng smiled. At this time, the Empress Dowager should still be taking her afternoon nap, so he stood up. “Then you sit a while longer—I’ll leave first.”
On the training ground, Zheng Yuanwu watched Li Hanru’s departing figure and sighed. Turning his head to see Qiu Xinran still somewhat shaken, he couldn’t help but ask: “Are you alright?”
“I’m alright.”
“Then are we still practicing today?”
Qiu Xinran opened her mouth. She probably wanted to say they wouldn’t practice anymore, but after a while she admitted to him with a mournful face: “Actually I don’t really want to practice anymore… but right now I don’t dare get down.”
Her appearance was truly both pitiful and amusing. Zheng Yuanwu lowered his head to hide the smile in his eyes before raising it again to say: “Then let me lead the horse and take you around for a couple circles.”
Zheng Yuanwu jumped down from his horse, handed his own horse to an attendant, then personally went to lead her horse’s rope, taking her around the training ground. After sitting on the horse like this for a while, Qiu Xinran finally felt that her previously numb feet gradually regained sensation. Looking at the young man leading her rope ahead, she felt embarrassed: “That’s enough—how can I have the young master lead my horse for me?”
Hearing this, Zheng Yuanwu smiled casually: “It’s nothing. My father says that if I went to his military camp right now, I’d just be someone who leads horses.”
Qiu Xinran teased: “So is the young master using me to practice first?”
Zheng Yuanwu also earnestly echoed: “That’s right—I should be thanking Divination Official Qiu for giving me this opportunity.”
After speaking, both couldn’t help but laugh. After a while, Zheng Yuanwu spoke again: “About what just happened… I hope the Divination Official won’t hold it against the Seventh Princess. Her temperament is straightforward with clear likes and dislikes, but she’s not a bad person.”
Qiu Xinran quickly said: “I naturally understand this.” She had also noticed that just now Li Hanru should have deliberately let the horse charge over. With her horsemanship, being able to immediately stop the charge at such a close distance, it was unlikely to be an accidental startling of the horse. Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but be somewhat curious: “Does that Seventh Princess have feelings for you?”
Zheng Yuanwu clearly hadn’t expected she would say these words so bluntly and couldn’t help but stutter: “No—how could that be?” But his reaction was too obvious. Qiu Xinran understood in her heart: “Oh, then I must have overthought it.”
The two fell silent again. After a while, Zheng Yuanwu seemed unable to hold back and suddenly said in a low voice: “Moreover, there’s no possibility between the Seventh Princess and me…”
“Why not?”
After a moment of silence, Zheng Yuanwu suddenly said: “Do you know General Xia?”
Qiu Xinran was startled: “Young Master Xia’s father?”
He nodded: “Back then, General Xia married Princess Mingyang. The two were a loving couple. After marriage, General Xia resigned from his military position and stayed in the capital, never going to the frontier again. At that time, the frontier was in crisis. People in the world cursed him for being content with comfort and coveting wealth, but my father said he was trapped by the capital city. Princess Mingyang was deeply beloved by the Empress Dowager and His Majesty. In this world, every woman can be a widow, but a princess cannot; every man under heaven may die for the country, but a prince consort may not.”
Qiu Xinran didn’t know about these matters. Hearing this, she couldn’t help but ask: “And then?”
“Not long after, Princess Mingyang passed away, leaving only one child. General Xia was overcome with grief and petitioned the court to guard the distant frontier, to leave this place of sorrow. His Majesty granted his request.”
Zheng Yuanwu brought up these matters with an expression revealing some admiration: “At that time, Qiongzhou was a bitter and cold frontier land, frequently harassed by the Diyue people. No one in the court was willing to go. After General Xia went, he simultaneously held off the Diyue and internally organized trade. Over more than ten years, Qiongzhou City was no longer the Qiongzhou City of those years. The locals in Qiongzhou have a folk song: ‘But see the Changwu Army, whose mighty name shakes all directions.'”
“This is not a good thing…” Qiu Xinran murmured.
Zheng Yuanwu sighed: “That’s right—achievements that overshadow the master. Three years ago, His Majesty used the pretext that the Empress Dowager missed her grandson to bring Xiuyan to the capital to recuperate from illness, probably also with this concern. Although Xiuyan has been sickly since childhood, this may not necessarily be a bad thing…”
The court already had one Xia Hongying—it didn’t need another Xia Xiuyan.
The two were silent again for a long while before Qiu Xinran asked: “You also want to join the military—aren’t you afraid…”
Zheng Yuanwu probably also realized this topic was too heavy, and his expression relaxed somewhat: “The Zheng family is different. Although my father commands troops garrisoning the southwest, the southwest is originally the fief of Prince Anjiang. The court needs someone in the southwest to balance the various factions.”
Qiu Xinran nodded: “I see. So you being kept in the capital is also because the court doesn’t want you to marry into connections in the southwest. This way, it’s still very possible you’ll marry a woman from the imperial clan in the future.”
Zheng Yuanwu hadn’t expected she would understand with just one hint. He was startled and rubbed his head: “Although that’s so, I…”
Though he didn’t finish his latter words, Qiu Xinran also understood his meaning. With the precedent of Xia Hongying and Princess Mingyang before him, Zheng Yuanwu probably wasn’t very willing to marry a princess to bring home.
In the blink of an eye, the two had already walked around the training ground who knows how many circles. The people on the viewing platform had long since dispersed. An autumn wind rose in the evening. Qiu Xinran glanced at the empty viewing platform and for the first time missed the boundless dusk on Jingxu Mountain.