CH 101.1

Chapter 101.1 – Somehow A Bit Seductive

The princess’s mansion was bustling for several days because of the archery thing, and finally someone in the court mentioned the Autumn Hunt.

The Emperor’s old age became obvious after he was ill, and he couldn’t recover within a short period of time. But when the Autumn Hunt was mentioned, he didn’t even need to think about it.

For many people, the Autumn Hunt was no longer just a hunting game. The Emperor used it to select talents, generals used it as a means to give promotions, and noble families used it as a shortcut to become officials. The Autumn Hunt would affect a lot of people every year, and this year was no exception.

But the Emperor had just fallen ill, the Crown Prince had been weak for the past few years, and half of the kings were gone. Suddenly, the main branch of the royal family had become much weaker.

This was not a good sign, so the Emperor made a special decree this year. On top of bringing all the princesses, he also especially chose some of his grandchildren to accompany him. Naturally, the eldest grandson from the Eastern Palace won’t miss this event, and the grandsons from King Wu Mansion and King Qi Mansion also agreed to go together.

The Emperor even seemed to remember about the exiled King Chu, and especially invited him to participate in the Autumn Hunt.

Without mentioned anything else, the three King Mansions were overjoyed when they received the decree. This was especially true for King Wu Mansion and King Chu Mansion – the former saw hope in inheriting the King Mansion, while the latter saw the possibility of returning to its noble status. They kept giving instructions and advices to their sons at home.

When Lu Qipei returned home from work, the mansion was full of discussions about the Autumn Hunt.

“His Majesty has set this year’s Autumn Hunt schedule in mid-September, when the weather already starts to turn cold. You would not return from the Autumn Hunt in the same day, so you need to prepare two thick clothes.” Zhi Ting was talking to Qi Yang, whose face was filled with joy since she was about to go out and have fun.

Qi Yang didn’t pay much attention to these mundane affairs, so she waved her hands casually and said, “Just oversee the preparations.”

After saying that, she saw Lu Qipei at the door and immediately welcomed her with joy. “Ah Pei, you’re back. Come take a look, which do you plan to bring with you on the Autumn Hunt? There are also some good bows in the armory, go and pick one to use on the hunt.”

Lu Qipei exchanged a few words with her, then went behind the screen and changed to regular clothes. Then, she accompanied Qi Yang to the armory for a while. The princess’s mansion was similar to a king’s mansion – it had soldiers, so they also had weapons and armor.

Although some restrictions were set by the court, so there’s only a few hundred sets, they still had an armory especially built to store them. Plus, there’s also a separate place in the armory for the owner’s private belongings.

Both Qi Yang and Lu Qipei were homely daughters and did not have a hobby of playing with knives and spears, but they still had some collections of this kind of stuff. Among them, there were some good swords and bows that the Emperor or the Crown Prince gave in the last three years.

The two randomly looked for something in the armory for a while, and picked the bows that they wanted to use on the Autumn Hunt. Lu Qipei walked another round inside, then finally returned with an elaborate wrist-mounted hidden crossbow. She placed them on Qi Yang’s hand and gestured, “Take this with you too.”

Qi Yang raised her eyebrows, but did not refuse. She casually pulled out a soft armor and gestured at Lu Qipei, “Is the Autumn Hunt not peaceful?”

Lu Qipei’s eyes lit up as she looked at the soft armor. After taking it, she placed the back of her hand on Qi Yang’s body for measurement and said, “I don’t know. But after the incident with King Wu, the court has been calm for a long time. This Autumn Hunt, His Majesty is not just bringing his sons, but also the older grandsons. If something happens in the hunting ground… Tsk, it’s going to catch everything in one fell swoop.”

Qi Yang rolled her eyes up when she heard this, seemingly dissatisfied with her ominous words. “Royal Father is paying special attention to this, and entrusted the safety of the hunting ground to Royal Brother. He’s also bringing five thousand royal guards to the Autumn Hunt, how can anything happen easily?”

Qi Yang believed that someone had secretly plotted against them, but not that they were going to blatantly try to get the whole royal family. Did anyone really think that the Emperor and the Crown Prince were such fools, or that the five thousand royal guards were just for show?

Nowadays, King Wei was obedient as a quail, and King Qi and King Chu also had their heirs accompanying them. There was no Third Prince who committed a rebellion, so how could such a bloody storm appear in the heart of Liang’s land?

Unless, Xie Yuan knew how to cast magic and could send all of Rong’s soldiers to the hunting ground with a wave of his hand! But was something like that possible?

Lu Qipei didn’t get angry when she received the rolled eyes, and just smiled and said, “Just in case. His Majesty and the Crown Prince are naturally on guard, but you and I should also be careful. No matter what, arrows would fly wildly in the hunting ground, and accidents can always happen.”

While she was saying that, her hand that was gesturing at the soft armor was held down by Qi Yang. The patted her hand open and couldn’t help but snatch the soft armor back. She also gave her an unfriendly look, clearly not intending to change her original intention.

Not saying anything else about this topic, Lu Qipei suddenly asked, “Lu Sheng has been making a fuss about learning archery lately. Do you want to take her there this time?”

Qi Yang shook her head and refused without even thinking, “No, she’s just a little girl. She just learned how to walk, what would I take her there for?”

Lu Qipei was not surprised at all, she just smiled and said, “Then remember to bring her back a rabbit.”