By the time Qiu Xinran arrived at the hunting grounds, Li Hanyi was indeed already there.

Emperor Xuande’s enthusiasm for hunting was very high, and the autumn hunt each year was also an excellent opportunity for military officials to show their skills. Many officials followed Emperor Xuande into the mountains for the autumn hunt, while several young men from the academy remained at the hunting grounds.

Qiu Xinran slowly sauntered over and heard Li Hanyi arguing with Li Hanling. When he saw her arrive, Li Hanyi seemed rather impatient. He reached out and pulled her over, first scolding: “Why are you so slow?” Then, without waiting for Qiu Xinran to apologize, he continued: “We’re discussing the competition method. According to my idea, both sides should follow into the mountains to hunt, and then see who shoots the most prey. But Fourth Brother disagrees, insisting that competing this way wouldn’t be interesting. What do you say?”

Qiu Xinran secretly glanced at Xia Xiuyan beside her, then also feigned difficulty: “Competing this way indeed isn’t quite fair…”

Li Hanyi frowned: “Why not?”

“Second Prince, look—when we originally set up this match, the idea was to be fair, with each side choosing one helper. Now, never mind about helpers, ahem… in any case, if we only compare the number of prey hunted in the mountains, what difference is there from me competing with you alone?”

Li Hanyi felt there was some logic to her words and couldn’t help saying irritably: “Then how do you suggest we compete?”

Qiu Xinran pretended to ponder, not responding for a long while, until Li Hanfeng spoke up: “I’ve thought of an idea. Second Brother, why not listen?”

“Speak!”

“Since it’s a team competition, we should combine both sides’ strengths and weaknesses in the comparison.” He summoned a young eunuch and gave some instructions, then told everyone his idea. After hearing it, Li Hanyi contemplated for a while and asked hesitantly: “What do you all think?”

Zheng Yuanwu smiled slightly and agreed: “I find Sixth Prince’s idea interesting.”

The others had no objections either, so everyone walked toward the archery range.

Two tables were set up at the archery range. On the left was a light and compact bow, while on the right was a heavy iron bow. Li Hanfeng gestured: “Which one do you two choose?”

Li Hanyi went up first. He picked up the iron bow on the right. The bow was forged from iron and extremely heavy in hand. He tried to draw it single-handedly, but despite great effort, he couldn’t fully draw it and had to put it back down on the table.

The wooden bow on the left was very light and could be easily drawn without much effort. However, precisely because of this, the wooden bow’s range and power were naturally far inferior to the iron bow.

“Each side gets two rounds. The prerequisite is that everyone must come up to draw the bow. The ring scores from both rounds are added together, and the higher score wins.” As Li Hanfeng spoke, he pointed at the iron bow nearby. “The iron bow has greater range, so the target will be moved back one zhang. If you hit with it, each round adds two extra rings. What do you all think?”

Li Hanling asked puzzledly: “Why specifically divide into two types of arrows?”

“Just for some fun,” Li Hanfeng smiled. “It’s perfectly fine if both sides choose the wooden bow.”

Eighth Prince Li Hangu was only fourteen years old, the youngest among the princes, and had a more timid personality. After hearing the rules, he couldn’t help but say quietly: “Isn’t it somewhat unfair that the iron bow gets two extra rings?”

Before Li Hanfeng could answer, Li Hanru had already snorted coldly: “Don’t talk about fair or unfair. Who among us here can draw that iron bow? If someone can draw it fully, I think even adding one more ring wouldn’t be unfair.”

Hearing this, everyone indeed became eager to try, taking turns attempting to draw the iron bow. Li Hanyi watched carefully from the side and saw that although most could draw it open, not a single person could truly draw the bow fully with one arm. The only one who gritted his teeth and managed to draw it fully was Zheng Yuanwu, but his forearm couldn’t remain steady and trembled violently, quickly losing strength. This drew expressions of regret from everyone, but it also proved from the side that indeed no one in this group could draw the bow.

Li Hanyi breathed a sigh of relief and declared proudly with head raised: “Then what’s there to choose? Only the wooden bow remains.” Having said this, he picked up the wooden bow from the table and glanced meaningfully at Qiu Xinran, who had been standing to the side for a long while without speaking.

The woman in short nomadic attire stepped forward. Her gaze rather reluctantly circled between both sides before she consulted her companion: “What does Young Master Xia think?”

Xia Xiuyan hadn’t come forward to test the bow earlier. Now he glanced at the bows on the table and said disdainfully: “If a man has the ambition to bend his bow and shoot the sun, he should choose the iron bow. If he chooses the wooden bow, what difference is there from playing in the palace?” Li Hanyi’s face immediately changed at this provocation: “You—”

Seeing the situation turning bad, everyone hastily stopped him. Even Qiu Xinran was left dumbfounded by Xia Xiuyan’s words, increasingly convinced that he had indeed encountered a ghost today. She could only hurriedly smooth things over: “It seems Young Master Xia has found me a way to save face. As a young woman, it’s no disgrace if I can’t draw this bow, and it’s no disgrace to lose using this iron bow either. I’m gaining advantage no matter what. Good, then we’ll choose this iron bow!”

Hearing her words, Li Hanyi was stunned for a moment, then felt they made perfect sense. Xia Xiuyan might have chosen this bow that no one could draw precisely to have a graceful way out after losing. So he quickly calmed down, though his expression still wasn’t pleasant. He snorted coldly: “Already thinking about losing before even competing—you certainly think far ahead.”

Zhou Xianyi had been very nervous, not yet having figured out which side to help if they really started fighting. Seeing Qiu Xinran dispel Li Hanyi’s anger with just a few words, he felt admiration along with relief.

The palace servants prepared the targets at the hunting grounds, and Zhou Xianyi volunteered to go first. He wasn’t skilled at riding and archery to begin with, and was truly afraid that staying back and watching the others’ scores would create too much pressure, making him shoot even worse.

Li Hanyi stared at him with a grim expression, watching him stand in place, draw the bow fully, and aim at the bullseye. Zhou Xianyi was obviously very nervous. He licked his lips and waited a long while before calming himself down. No one around rushed him. They only waited for his hand on the bow to release, then heard a “thwack” as an arrow struck the target.

The palace servant who went to check ran back to report: “Young Master Zhou, eight rings.”

Eight rings was neither much nor little, but compared to Zhou Xianyi’s usual performance, it could truly be said to be very good. Li Hanyi’s expression relaxed somewhat. He awkwardly stepped forward and patted his shoulder, saying: “Not bad.”

Hearing this, Zhou Xianyi’s face showed an expression of almost moved to tears. Qiu Xinran found it amusing, but before she could laugh, Li Hanfeng was already signaling for their side to take the field.

She moved her limbs slightly, then stepped forward to take down the iron bow from the table. As expected, it was very heavy in hand—even just holding it wasn’t easy. Everyone around displayed expressions of watching a good show, clearly wanting to know how she planned to draw this bow.

Qiu Xinran glanced at Xia Xiuyan. He paused briefly, then followed over, standing half a step behind her and placing his hands on the bow with hers.

“Wait a moment—” Li Hanyi frowned and called out. “What do you two mean by this?”

“One person can’t draw this bow, so naturally two people must draw it together.” Qiu Xinran explained with a dry laugh.

Zhou Xianyi turned to Li Hanfeng in disbelief: “Is this… acceptable?”

Li Hanfeng seemed troubled but eventually said hesitantly: “I only said earlier that everyone must take the field. I didn’t say this wasn’t allowed…”

Li Hanyi’s eyes widened in fury, about to speak again, when Qiu Xinran said straightforwardly: “If the Second Prince thinks this violates the rules, then I’ll just concede defeat. After all, I truly cannot draw this bow alone.”

Li Hanyi’s words stopped at his lips. He seemed to be weighing the feasibility of this suggestion, but Li Hanru beside him sneered coldly: “What kind of talk is not competing and just conceding? Two people is two people—does using two people guarantee hitting the target?”

Her words awakened everyone. After all, although no one here had seen Qiu Xinran’s archery skills, everyone had seen Xia Xiuyan shoot. With such a heavy iron bow, even if the two of them could draw it together, whether they could actually hit the target was indeed hard to say.

Hearing this, Li Hanyi nodded with an unpleasant expression: “Fine, you two can go up together.”

Since he had agreed, naturally the others had nothing more to say. They only felt this competition was indeed interesting and watched even more attentively.

Xia Xiuyan placed his hands over Qiu Xinran’s to lift the bow, one hand pressing on the bowstring. Qiu Xinran’s height was actually quite tall among girls her age, but when Xia Xiuyan drew the string together with his hands covering hers, she realized he was actually quite a bit taller than her. In this position, he could actually envelop her entire person beneath his shadow.

This was the first time she had been so close to an unfamiliar man. Her nostrils could faintly smell the bitter fragrance of medicinal herbs on the clothes of the person behind her, causing her to lose focus and, rarely, feel somewhat uncomfortable.

“Concentrate.”

The person behind her suddenly said in a low voice. His voice was cold and sharp, like a sacred sound entering her ears that jolted her alert. Qiu Xinran’s ears grew imperceptibly warm. She hurriedly steadied her mind and focused on drawing the bow with gritted teeth.

Very low gasps arose from all around, because everyone witnessed the two people on the field actually slowly draw the iron bow to full draw, the arrowhead pointing steadily at the bullseye.

Li Hanyi suddenly grew nervous. His fingers hidden in his sleeves clenched slightly. He heard beside his ear the “whoosh” of a sharp arrow breaking through air, followed immediately by a heavy “clang.” Without looking, he knew the arrow had indeed hit the target.

“How many? How many?” Others craned their necks asking urgently.

The palace servant who checked quickly ran back to report: “Qiu Sichen, six rings.”

“Ah—” Sounds of regret arose from around them, but quickly turned to excitement. “But doesn’t this mean they’re tied?”

“That’s right, there’s still a chance.”

Hearing the opponent got six rings, Li Hanyi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Qiu Xinran’s intention had also been to tie with him. Now that they were truly tied, she didn’t know why but her heart actually felt some genuine regret along with the surrounding discussion.

Xia Xiuyan had already released her hands and stepped back. Seeing her still standing in place in a daze, he turned to look: “What are you still standing there for?”

Hearing his voice, Qiu Xinran felt inexplicably guilty for some reason. She hurriedly came to her senses, put the iron bow back, and followed off the field. Somehow she thought again of that “concentrate” he had said by her ear just now, and her ears grew warm again.

The second round had Li Hanyi taking the field. When Emperor Xuande said he wasn’t focused on studies and put all his heart into the training grounds, it truly wasn’t wronging him. Although his grades in various subjects were mediocre, every time there was a martial competition at the training grounds, he could always make a showing. This archery was the same. When Qiu Xinran saw him holding the wooden arrow, drawing the bow and aiming, she knew he must indeed have some real skill. Sure enough, when he released, one arrow struck the bullseye!

This time there was no need to wait for the palace servant to check—everyone could see clearly and congratulated him one after another.

Li Hanyi was extremely pleased with himself, feeling he had never been so gratified. He casually put down the wooden bow, and when he walked off the field, his expression still couldn’t hide his smugness. As he passed by Qiu Xinran, he raised his chin, signaling for her to wait and watch her own performance. Qiu Xinran found his childish behavior quite amusing, but at the same time, her heart also stirred with restlessness.

As for Xia Xiuyan, he still had that aloof appearance, as if completely indifferent to what was happening on the field.

When the two stood on the shooting platform again, this time Qiu Xinran didn’t need the person behind her to remind her—she was already completely focused, staring intently at the bullseye a hundred paces away, using all her strength to draw the iron bow with gritted teeth. Suddenly she heard the person behind her laugh softly by her ear. If not for his breath scattering on her skin with that soft laugh, she would have almost thought it was her own illusion.

Qiu Xinran was stunned. The arrowhead had just aligned with the bullseye when she suddenly heard him ask in a voice only the two of them could hear: “How many rings do you want to hit this time?”

Want to hit… could she hit however many she wanted?

Whether it was her imagination or not, Qiu Xinran felt that the tail end of that laugh still lingered in this sentence, like annoying strands of hair making her heart itch and her head grow hot, also making her eager to try.

“Ten rings!”

The young woman standing before the target, as if having made some remarkable decision, suddenly said through gritted teeth in a low voice. Xia Xiuyan could almost imagine the light shining in her eyes.

The young man behind her laughed softly. The force in his hand released, and immediately the arrow shot out like a shooting star. Along with that enormous sound of breaking through air, she heard him say quietly by her ear: “Good.”