Chapter 1246 Hunting Competition, Quietly Stealing Home

The group arrived at the big red gate on the north side of Nanyuan, and the Haihu bannermen who were in charge of Nanyuan had already knelt down to pay their respects:
"Good luck to the Fourth Master!"

"no!"

Su Mingzhe lifted the curtain of the carriage, looked at the few people, frowned and asked:
"Are the ponies I asked you to prepare yesterday all ready?"

The bannerman replied with a bitter face:
"To answer Fourth Master, it was originally ready. However, Eighth Master and Fourteenth Master came over just now and snatched away a young mare!"

"Eighth and Fourteenth Brothers are here too?"

Su Mingzhe was a little surprised, but he didn't say anything else:
"Since they both want it, it's not your fault. Take us to have a look first!"

"Whoo!"

Seeing that the 'cold-faced king' was not angry, the bannerman did not dare to say anything more and immediately led the way forward.

Nanyuan is 35 miles wide from east to west and 25 miles long from north to south, covering an area of ​​more than 300,000 acres.

During the Ming Dynasty, this place was divided into twenty-four gardens.

During the reign of Emperor Shunzhi of this dynasty, the two military camps were merged to build the current "Eastern Palace".

A few years ago, Kangxi ordered people to build a new palace in the northwest corner and named it the West Palace.

The West Palace is divided into the front three and the back three, with a total of six gardens.

The most suitable place for children to play is Yuxingxuan at the back.

Yuxingxuan is a large courtyard with five entrances, with small bridges, flowing water, pavilions, terraces, Buddhist temples and ancient trees.

Because the fourth prince Yinzhen liked to worship Buddha, Kangxi gave this courtyard to Yinzhen.

Led by the Haihu bannerman, the group arrived at the gate of the West Palace, and Su saw Yinsi and Yinzhen accompanying Ruoxi for a horse ride.

"Fourth brother is here!"

Fourteenth Prince Yinzhen snatched the mare that Su Mingzhe had agreed to marry. Now that he had met the real owner, he walked over with an embarrassed look and greeted him.

"Fourth brother!"

"Good luck to the Fourth Master!"

"We are all family, no need to be polite!"

Su Mingzhe first smiled gently, asking Ruoxi to excuse herself, and then smiled at Yinsi:

"Eighth brother, in a few days it will be the big day of tenth brother's wedding. I thought you would help tenth brother with the arrangements, so I didn't go over to ask. But you actually came out to slack off!"

"Fourth brother, in fact, the marriage of Tenth Brother is supervised by the chief stewards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It doesn't matter whether I go or not."

Yinsi felt somewhat unconvinced when Su Mingzhe pointed out his words to him, but due to his status, he had to humble himself and explain.

Yinzhen also helped to explain, saying that Yin'e's wedding had been almost prepared.

Ruoxi was still sad about the marriage Kangxi had arranged for Yin'e. When she saw the three men talking about Yin'e's marriage, she immediately stopped smiling and called the two children, Honghui and Jiashan, to go riding.

Seeing that only three brothers were left, Yinsi changed his gentle gentleman appearance and said to Su Mingzhe provocatively:

"Fourth brother, it's rare for us brothers to get together, why don't we have a competition to see who hunts more prey today?"

Yinsi was only three years younger than Yinzhen.

When they were teenagers, the two were adopted by the Queen together, and later went to study in the Southern Study together.

It just so happens that Yinzhen has a strong learning ability and is more cautious and rigorous in his work than Yinsi.

Yinsi had no choice but to find another way. He kept "pleasing others" and making friends. He earned the title of "Eighth Wise King", which was the opposite of Yinzhen's "Cold-Faced King".

If it were any other time, Yinsi would never dare to compete with Su Mingzhe. However, with Yinzhen present today, it was a different story.

After all, Yinzhen didn't like reading, he just liked practicing martial arts and archery.

Yinsi was very confident in Yinzhen, and he would definitely make Su Mingzhe lose face. "My brother, this is a good suggestion!"

Yinzhen and Yinsi were in sync, and guessed what his brother had proposed, so he smiled at Su Mingzhe and said:
"I still remember that when I was a kid, my fourth brother and eighth brother both taught me archery. Today, the three of us will have a competition to see who is better, me as the apprentice or you two masters!"

Seeing the two brothers challenging him, Su Mingzhe was not the original Yinzhen, so he naturally would not suppress his temper and immediately said with a smile:

"Alright, I also want to see how good my fourteenth brother's horseback archery skills are."

The three brothers each selected a horse, took a sword and bow, carried a quiver, and led their guards to rush into the depths of the garden.

If Kangxi came here to hunt, the Imperial Guards would definitely clear the area first, then drive out the small animals in the forest and gather them together to make it easier for Kangxi to surround and shoot them.

However, Su Mingzhe and the other two came here to teach women and children how to ride horses, and they did not bring so many people with them.

Therefore, if you want to hunt, you can only do it yourself and take your chances.

Of course, Yinsi and Yinzhen were really trying their luck after they entered the depths of the gardens.

Su Mingzhe expanded his spiritual sense and rushed towards a giant bear as soon as he entered the forest.

the other side.

Ruoxi saw Yinzhen, Yinsi and Yinzhi going hunting on horseback. She wanted to follow them to watch the fun, but she was "dragged down" by the two little guys and could only continue to practice her riding skills in resentment.

at this time.

Su Mingzhe, who had just left for a short while, returned in less than a quarter of an hour.

"Fourth Master!"

"Amma!"

Ruoxi went over with her two children, and then she saw a burly guard running towards them, panting, carrying a big black bear on his back.

Su Mingzhe seemed a little proud, and there was a hint of boasting in his tone:

"I just killed a big bear, so I'm sending it back here. I'm going to ask the royal chef to make some bear paws for me to drink with wine tonight!"

"How's your riding practice going, you three?"

"Not yet!"

Honghui is an honest child. He is only six years old. His height of 1.2 meters is outstanding among his peers, but he is still a head shorter than the little mare.

Jiashan is older, but at this moment, he also shook his head slightly.

Yesterday, Prince Zhen’s mansion sent someone to select two young mares, one for Ruoxi to ride and the other for Honghui.

In Jiashan, you can only ride temporary ones, which is somewhat problematic.

Compared to the two children's modesty and honesty, Ruoxi's personality was much more lively. A hint of joy appeared on her pretty face, and she smiled and said:

"Fourth Master, I've almost finished my training. Can you take me hunting?"

"Okay! But you can't ride this mare!"

The reason why Su Mingzhe came back so quickly was for this girl. Seeing that she had taken the bait, he immediately dismounted and said that if she wanted to follow him on the hunt, she could only ride with him.

Ruoxi had ridden a horse with a man before, so she didn't care about this condition at all.

Seeing Ruoxi sitting on the tall horse, Su Mingzhe sat behind her and ran towards the depths of the garden.

Honghui and Jiashan looked at the receding figure pitifully, and after looking at each other, they both showed helpless expressions.

"drive!"

Holding the heroine in his arms, Su Mingzhe lowered his head to smell the fragrance of her hair, and resisted the urge to howl loudly:
"Old Eighth, Old Fourteen, you two country bumpkins, you left the beauty alone and insisted on competing with me in hunting! Today I will teach you a lesson on what a truly skilled hunter looks like..."

(End of this chapter)