Qiu Xinran stood in the small courtyard, both hands pulling the bow, maintaining this posture for nearly the time it took an incense stick to burn. Her hands were already shaking like sifting chaff. The corner of her eye fell on the incense in the nearby burner that was almost burned out, and she drooped her shoulders slightly.
The young man sitting under the tree’s shade lowered his head to take a sip of tea. As if he had eyes growing on top of his head, without raising it he reminded: “Keep your arms straight—if you lower them, start over.”
The person pulling the bow in the courtyard jolted alert and through gritted teeth straightened her arms again.
The small courtyard was utterly silent. One could only hear the crisp sound of the teacup lid lightly knocking against the rim as the young man drank his tea. The autumn sunlight was bright and pleasant—perfect weather for an afternoon nap. Qiu Xinran couldn’t figure out how she had ended up here pulling a bow.
The matter had to start from several days ago—
Somehow, the incident of Li Hanru’s mounted archery at the training ground reached the Empress Dowager’s ears. Moreover, the account was that the Seventh Princess had inadvertently collided with palace servants at the edge of the training ground and nearly fell off her horse. This gave the Empress Dowager quite a fright. The next day when Noble Consort Chen came to Fukang Palace to pay her respects, the Empress Dowager specifically brought up this matter to ask about it.
The Seventh Princess would reach her hairpin ceremony next year. Noble Consort Chen was just in the midst of selecting a husband for her, and was already worried that this daughter’s daily conduct was far too unrestrained, without the slightest appearance of a refined young lady. Upon returning to her quarters, she summoned both Li Hanyi and Li Hanru, the siblings, and scolded them thoroughly. Especially Li Hanyi—he was trained until he couldn’t find north, being told he didn’t have the slightest appearance of being an elder brother. Not only did he himself fail to behave properly every day, now he was even pulling his younger sister to ride horses and shoot arrows—truly outrageous!
The siblings presumably also argued back a few sentences during this process, but looking at these two people’s temperaments, one could deduce that their mother consort couldn’t possibly be an ordinary person either. She immediately took out a disciplinary whip to enforce family law, causing such chaos in the palace that chickens flew and dogs jumped, before both sides retreated one step. Noble Consort Chen’s meaning was: Li Hanyi, I can no longer control you, but Li Hanru, you will stay in the palace these next few days in self-reflection behind closed doors—don’t think about going out all the time.
So the next day when Li Hanyi came looking for her with a face as black as the bottom of a pot, Qiu Xinran fully expected he was coming to cancel the competition with her. She was just breathing a sigh of relief when she heard him say: “This competition cannot just be dropped like this, but we need to change the method.” Li Hanyi said unreasonably: “There’s no second woman in this palace with outstanding mounted archery skills and of similar age to you. Since that’s the case, you also can’t team up with Zheng Yuanwu!”
Qiu Xinran asked warily: “Then what do you propose?”
“Since your and my mounted archery skills are about the same, we just need to find two others who are also about the same.” Li Hanyi paused, then magnanimously threw out two candidates. “Xia Xiuyan and Zhou Xianyi—I’ll let you choose one first.”
“…”
The competition for first place in mounted archery class at the academy had always been extremely fierce, but the last place was very stable—usually it was Zhou Xianyi. If by chance Xia Xiuyan happened not to claim illness and came to class that day, then it would be Xia Xiuyan.
Qiu Xinran couldn’t help but ask: “Have Young Master Xia and Young Master Zhou both already agreed to this?”
“You don’t need to worry about that.” Li Hanyi waved his hand grandly. “You just choose one.”
Qiu Xinran paused, pondered for a long while before saying: “Then… I choose Young Master Zhou.” As soon as her words fell, she saw the person opposite had an expression like storm clouds were gathering, causing her to hesitate and change her words: “…Or Young Master Xia.”
Li Hanyi’s expression instantly cleared from cloudy to sunny, and he said with satisfaction: “Good, then it’s settled. You and Xia Xiuyan, me and Zhou Xianyi—the winner will be decided at the autumn hunt.” After saying this, he departed with a flourish.
At that time, Qiu Xinran still held a thread of hope. Based on her understanding of Xia Xiuyan, since he had decided from the start not to get involved, there was absolutely no chance he would change his mind at the last moment. As it turned out—she truly didn’t understand Xia Xiuyan very well at all. Since Xia Xiuyan had agreed, Zhou Xianyi naturally also didn’t dare not agree.
Not long after, Qiu Xinran encountered him at the academy. When the two walked back together, she heard the chubby boy complaining to her resentfully all the way: “Xinran, why didn’t you choose me?”
“I did want to choose you at first…” Qiu Xinran sighed. “But how would I dare compete with the Second Prince for someone?”
Hearing that Li Hanyi had actively chosen him, Zhou Xianyi seemed somewhat happier, but quickly became dejected again: “But the Second Prince’s demands of me are too high. He’s even fiercer than the teaching masters.”
Qiu Xinran could completely imagine Li Hanyi’s irritable appearance during practice. Hearing this, she consoled him rather sympathetically: “Ah, I’m the same…”
Her original intention was to say they were both fallen people at the ends of the earth, but these words falling into Zhou Xianyi’s ears meant something completely different. She saw him widen his eyes slightly in surprise: “When you teach Young Master Xia, you’re also very fierce?”
Qiu Xinran choked, only then remembering that in other people’s view, naturally it was her teaching Xia Xiuyan rather than Xia Xiuyan teaching her. She could only work hard to recall how Xia Xiuyan had treated her during this time: “Fierce isn’t quite right—it’s just that if you don’t do well, you don’t get to eat. If you fail midway, you start over from the beginning. If you try to muddle through, the practice doubles. If you delay time, he’ll keep you company until midnight…”
Zhou Xianyi was dumbstruck. After quite a while he said in a small voice: “You actually dare treat Young Master Xia this way—you’re amazing!” By comparison, he suddenly discovered Li Hanyi’s good points. At least the Second Prince lacked patience—things like withholding meals or keeping company until midnight would absolutely never happen.
“It’s good you didn’t choose me.” Zhou Xianyi said with an expression of relief after surviving a calamity, while summoning courage to quietly accuse: “What you’re doing is too excessive.”
Qiu Xinran followed along with a heavy nod in agreement: “You’re right.”
Not far away, a carriage stopped outside the palace gate. The person in the carriage lifted the curtain and saw the two people slowly walking this way in the distance. He extended his hand outside the window and impatiently knocked on the carriage wall.
Qiu Xinran sighed, bid farewell to Zhou Xianyi, and quickly jogged to climb onto the carriage.
Xia Xiuyan sat in the carriage, his expression revealing a trace of impatience. Qiu Xinran sat obediently beside him and asked ingratiatingly: “Has the young master eaten?”
“No.” The young man said coldly.
“What a coincidence—I haven’t either!” Qiu Xinran replied cheerfully, completely unaffected by him.
Xia Xiuyan glanced at her and saw her hands braced on the seat, looking through the carriage curtain at the road ahead. The carriage soon left the palace walls and passed through the bustling marketplace. It was currently mealtime at noon, and tantalizing aromas of food wafted from the restaurants along the way. The little Daoist squinted her eyes and muttered to herself: “I wonder what Aunt Zhang made today.”
He silently sneered lightly and closed his eyes to rest again.
The old Princess’s residence was in Yishan Ward—a somewhat aged mansion that wasn’t very large in area. Compared to many residences of imperial relatives and nobles in the city, it truly seemed rather dilapidated. Only Xia Xiuyan lived in the residence, along with two elderly servants, Aunt Zhang and Uncle Liu, Xia Xiuyan’s close attendant Gao Yang, plus several other servants who swept and attended to daily needs.
To have such a large house in Yishan Ward, with no one managing the household and servants to attend to you—to Qiu Xinran, this was the life of an immortal! If she were Xia Xiuyan, she also wouldn’t want to live in the palace.
She jumped down from the carriage, walking even faster than Xia Xiuyan. As soon as she stepped into the courtyard, she smelled the aroma of food. Uncle Liu was sweeping fallen leaves in the courtyard. Looking up and seeing her, he smiled: “Divination Official Qiu has come.”
“Hello, Uncle Liu!” Qiu Xinran greeted him crisply and clearly. “What is the residence cooking today that smells so good?”
Just then, Aunt Zhang, estimating the time, brought out a dish. Hearing her voice, she also smiled: “Divination Official Qiu says the food smells good every time you come—could it be that accepting favors makes you say nice things to make me happy?”
“How could that be!” Qiu Xinran smiled with squinted eyes. “Aunt Zhang, you can’t wrongly accuse me. Haven’t I eaten all your cooking clean every time?”
Xia Xiuyan walked leisurely inside, looking more like he was the guest visiting the residence. Although Aunt Zhang and Uncle Liu were servants, they were both loyal servants who had watched him grow up. Xia Hongying felt at ease sending him back to Chang’an because they were here to look after him, so this residence didn’t have the strict master-servant etiquette of ordinary households.
Qiu Xinran was young with a sweet tongue. After coming to the residence several times, she was already calling them “Uncle Liu” and “Aunt Zhang” affectionately. The two gradually began treating her as Xia Xiuyan’s friend.
At noon, Aunt Zhang had cooked fresh ginger stir-fried duck. Xia Xiuyan imperceptibly ate half a bowl more rice, though it still couldn’t compare to Qiu Xinran. She truly did as she said earlier—she ate the entire table of dishes clean, inadvertently eating so much she couldn’t stand up for half the day.
In the latter half of the meal, Xia Xiuyan silently watched her unable to stop her chopsticks and couldn’t help but ask: “Don’t you religious people avoid meat and fish?”
Qiu Xinran thought about it: “It depends on the sect. Some don’t avoid it, though my master’s sect should avoid it.”
“Your master observes dietary restrictions, but you don’t need to?”
“I’m not a religious person.” Qiu Xinran said matter-of-factly. She finally put down her chopsticks and drank a sip of soup, squinting her eyes, looking just like a well-fed and satisfied cat.
Xia Xiuyan paused slightly: “Aren’t you a Daoist?”
Qiu Xinran thought briefly before explaining to him: “Though many masters in the Divination Sect are Daoists, whether or not disciples within the sect formally enter the Dao is entirely up to individual choice. But when traveling the world, if you want to read fortunes and interpret divination for people, you know not everyone knows about the Nine Sects… Having a title always makes you seem more credible.” She vaguely reached up to touch her nose and coughed lightly. “In short, you can consider me a Daoist disciple who hasn’t formally entered the Dao.”
This was the first time Xia Xiuyan had heard someone speak the four words “charlatan swindler” so righteously. He mocked: “Your sect’s disciples certainly understand ‘flexible adaptation.'”
Qiu Xinran thick-facedly pretended not to understand. Then she heard him say: “Unfortunately, at the autumn hunt grounds, you can’t deceive people with just words.” The young man saw she had eaten about enough and stood up from the table, saying coldly: “When you’re done, come to the back courtyard.”
Qiu Xinran silently sighed.
Xia Xiuyan’s front foot had just stepped out of the room when Aunt Zhang’s back foot led servants in to clear the dishes. Seeing she had truly eaten the food completely clean, she couldn’t help but exclaim: “Divination Official Qiu truly ate it all clean?”
“Would I lie about this?” Qiu Xinran said sweetly. “Aunt Zhang, your cooking surpasses even the imperial chefs in the palace!”
Hearing this stream of flattery, Aunt Zhang’s face also beamed with joy. She said proudly: “In my early years when I served the princess in the palace, I also properly learned several dishes from the imperial chefs. Tell me what you like to eat, and I’ll cook it for you tomorrow.”
Hearing this, Qiu Xinran was delighted, but then said somewhat reservedly: “That’s not quite appropriate. I’m not picky—whatever Young Master Xia eats, I’ll eat along with him.”
“The young master was just raised too strictly by the princess since childhood. Every time he only tastes a few bites before stopping.” Aunt Zhang looked at her with eyes full of fondness. “In my view, Divination Official Qiu eats so heartily. Since you came, the young master has actually eaten a few more bites than usual. Even if you came every day, I’d be happy!”