Li Zhaoying hadn’t even reacted when her palm was suddenly empty.

She raised her eyebrows and looked up, about to scold the offender, but met Shen Qiyuan’s cold and distant face.

“Princess.” He said distantly, “This is a main thoroughfare – stopping carriages is inappropriate.”

Li Zhaoying’s anger instantly turned to grievance: “You’re protecting her? After all these years of friendship between us, you’re protecting her?”

“Since I invited them as guests, I should escort them up the mountain.”

“Them or just her?” Li Zhaoying defiantly put her hands on her hips. “Make it clear.”

His jaw tightened slightly. Shen Qiyuan put one hand behind his back, clearly losing patience.

Zhou Tingchuan sensed trouble and stepped forward to mediate: “Princess, with so many people watching, if this gets out of hand, you’ll inevitably be scolded. His lordship is also looking out for you.”

Li Zhaoying’s expression softened somewhat upon hearing this, but she still asked Shen Qiyuan grievously: “Is that so?”

“No.” Shen Qiyuan looked up at her, his eyes completely indifferent. “The princess was unreasonable first – being scolded would be appropriate.”

“You!” Her delicate eyebrows shot up as she instantly stamped her feet. “Shen Qiyuan, can’t you say a single kind word? Won’t you be satisfied until you anger me to death!”

Everyone envied her childhood friendship with this man, but only Li Zhaoying knew what it meant to feel more desperate the more familiar you became. After all these years, this man had never given her the slightest hope, treating her even more coldly than other noble family daughters. Now, in front of so many people, he wouldn’t even leave her a shred of dignity.

Tears of anger welled in her eyes, and she strode directly toward the carriage.

“Princess.” Shen Qiyuan raised his hand to stop her, but unexpectedly, she closed her eyes and threw herself at him, forcing him to step aside.

Ruyi still leaned by the window. Seeing the young lady approaching aggressively, her eyes sparkled with even more amusement: “Lord Shen made you angry, yet instead of pointing your bow at him, you come looking for me again?”

“If not for you, how would Brother Qiyuan treat me this way?” Li Zhaoying glared at her through gritted teeth. “I want to compete with you fairly – hunting up the mountain. Whichever side catches three spotted deer first, the other side must stop pestering Brother Qiyuan.”

She heard this and chuckled, lazily leaning on the windowsill and looking down at her: “How adorable.”

Li Zhaoying: “…”

She didn’t know why, though it was a compliment, it somehow made her inexplicably furious.

“You don’t dare?” Li Zhaoying raised her chin.

“Hmm.” Ruyi turned to look at Shen Qiyuan, sizing him up from head to toe as if considering whether he was worth it.

Before Shen Qiyuan could be annoyed by her gaze, the young lady in front stamped her feet again in anger: “What do you mean? Is my Brother Qiyuan not worth your desperate effort?”

Ruyi was puzzled: “Little Princess, he doesn’t appreciate your feelings at all, yet you still protect him?”

“You don’t understand.” Li Zhaoying said hatefully with red eyes, “I don’t need him to appreciate it – protecting him is my own business.”

What a straightforward personality.

After watching her with interest for a while, Ruyi finally nodded: “Fine.”

“It’s settled then. I’ll wait for you on the mountain.” Confidently wiping away her tears, Li Zhaoying strode back to her carriage. The fine horse neighed and quickly galloped forward.

Fuman was very anxious: “We should, should hurry too.”

Shen Qiyuan leaped onto his horse and cleared the path ahead of the carriage. Zhou Tingchuan returned to the carriage, sighing repeatedly: “Miss Liu already said she can’t use a bow – what kind of fair competition is this?”

“Catching spotted deer doesn’t necessarily require a bow – other methods might work too.” Zhao Yanning said, “But there are very few spotted deer in the autumn hunting ground. Last year, with so many people hunting for three days, they only caught five in total.”

“What if neither of them catches three? What then?” Zhou Tingchuan frowned.

Zhao Yanning smiled: “Who knows? It depends on Princess Jinghong’s whim.”

Sometimes, family background and status were like mountains pressing down on one’s head. Even if Miss Liu was more favored by their lord, when competing with a lofty princess for the same man, Miss Liu could only resign herself to fate.

He looked sympathetically to the side, but saw Ruyi wiping Fuman’s sweaty palms, showing no worry on her face, not even a trace of concern, as if she wasn’t the one who had just been challenged.

Zhao Yanning was curious: “Is the owner so confident of winning? Princess Jinghong has practiced martial arts since childhood and has always been skilled at the autumn hunting grounds. She even won the blue tassel red jade from the Reaching Heaven Pillar.”

Only one person each year could win the blue tassel red jade. Li Zhaoying was the only daughter among the winners over all these years. Even His Majesty praised her as a woman no less capable than men – she truly had some real ability.

Ruyi held a handkerchief, wiping away all the sweat from Fuman’s palm lines, asking casually: “Are you so confident that I want to win?”

Both Zhao Yanning and Zhou Tingchuan were stunned.

Yes, how had they forgotten – the person in this carriage was heartless. She agreed to the competition but never said she would really fight desperately.

Shen Qiyuan was very important to Li Zhaoying, but to her… perhaps not necessarily.

Zhou Tingchuan’s expression was complex. He glanced at the horse running ahead and lowered his voice to Ruyi: “After all, it’s our lord’s birthday. Miss surely wouldn’t want to lose to the princess.”

His lordship didn’t stop it just now, clearly wanting to see her fight for him. If she lost, his lordship would probably give Miss Liu a way to save face, but she couldn’t be completely indifferent.

“We’ll see.” She waved her hand.

She could indulge and spoil him in other matters, but she didn’t like indulging his habit of treating himself as a prize. In her understanding, any man who needed to be fought over to obtain originally didn’t belong to her – even if won, it wouldn’t be interesting.

She liked obedient and gentle ones who would run to her without hesitation at the slightest beckoning.

Everything else was too troublesome.

Yawning, Ruyi pillowed her head on Fuman’s lap: “Wake me when we arrive.”

Fuman nodded, obediently protecting her shoulders to prevent her from sliding down.

The mountain roads to the hunting ground had been specially maintained, so the carriage rode very smoothly. By the time they reached their destination, Ruyi had already had a good nap.

She opened the carriage door, and autumn sunlight streamed in from outside, filling her embrace with golden light.

Li Zhaoying was already waiting for her ahead. Seeing her step down, she had someone hand her a bow and arrows: “This is what I usually use. You can use it – I’ll use my backup bow and arrows, so it won’t count as bullying you.”

Ruyi took it and immediately exclaimed, “Aiya,” rubbing her shoulder complainingly: “So heavy.”

Li Zhaoying became furious watching this, and glared at Shen Qiyuan from afar again.

Such a delicate little package – how could she deserve his affection?

Shen Qiyuan sat in the main pavilion of Ten-Li Wind Pavilion, attentively listening to the Imperial Palace speak, seemingly not noticing this side.

Li Zhaoying snorted coldly, gracefully mounted her red-maned horse, then looked behind her to see Ruyi slowly stepping on the stirrup, her delicate hands taking the reins Zhou Tingchuan handed her, even smiling at him.

Gritting her teeth, she held her breath and concentrated. When His Majesty shot an arrow, she immediately spurred her horse and charged toward where spotted deer commonly appeared.