Dzing!
At this moment, the sound of arrow splitting the air entered her ear.
Wei Liuying turned her head to the side and saw that Ji Shu had shot an arrow. The arrow landed in the middle of the target without any deviation. It was as if there was a magnet that pulled it straight to the place.
"You're not bad, Imperial Fourth Brother," the other young man laughed. He had slightly larger build, but with less imposing aura. His handsome face was similar with Ji Shu, but he looked slightly feminine for a male. He looked amiable, similar to that of scholars. Only his clothing that was made with golden threads could possibly leak out his real identity as the crown prince of Han Shi Kingdom.
Ji Shu looked at his first brother. "It's your turn, Imperial First Brother."
"Then I'll start."
Prince Ji Tian, the crown prince, pulled the string and the arrow made its way to the target in front of him. Just like Prince Ji Shu, he had decent skill when it came to archery. Every member in the Imperial Family have to learn martial arts if they wished to survive, he was not an exception.
The two princes kept on going on their challenge. Some people were watching in admiration. To be able to hit the target in bullseye every single time, the two of them truly have great skill and stamina.
"Your Highness, it's already the time for the hunt," Prime Minister Xie interrupted. He was smiling. "Would you like to withhold your little competition for later times?"
The servants were busy picking up the arrows that was scattered from the competition. Prince Ji Shu and Prince Ji Tian were looking at each other. They still wanted to challenge each other, but since this was a hunt, they would need to postpone their banter.
"In that case, let's have a bout again later," Prince Ji Shu said coldly.
"I don't mind."
The two princes still looked as if they wanted to kill the person before them, but they held back. From the side, Prince Ji Shao Yang was watching everything that occurred with interest. He didn't want to participate. It was too stupid if he chose to barge in and get involved when he also could get benefit as the third party.
Wei Liuying watched as the servants quickly returned with the arrows. There were some broken arrows that couldn't withstand the force from their competition, so it was cast aside. They planned to throw it away after getting the permission from their Master.
"For the first day, the children who came here for the first time would be going with the large group. They'll start learning by seeing how the hunt was done," Huo informed Wei Liuying.
Wei Liuying looked up and nodded. "Is there anything that I need to pay attention to?"
"Don't hunt on the first day."
"Ok."
Wei Liuying also understood the reason why this was said. If she were to hunt with the crowd and exposed her skill, there was high chance that Wei Hong Zheng couldn't catch up with it or showed different style. It would be hard to explain if that was the case.
As they all started to gather, Wei Liuying also studied their names and learned some new things from them. It seemed that there were a lot of children who had just reached 13 years old this year as the group was quite large. Everyone was excited for their first hunt, but hunting required skill, patience, and luck.
"Can a horse match up with deer's speed?" a young boy asked naively.
His friend shook his head. "How can it be possible? There's no way that we can possibly hunt deer while riding in a horse, right? You'll scare away the deer first!"
"Eh, really?"
"Yes!"
On the front, Prince Ji Tian was awfully calm when he saw the crowd. It was his task to be the one to take care of them since he was already considered an adult and naturally would participate later in the Autumn Hunt. The Summer Hunt was for the youngsters behind him who wanted to expand their knowledge.
Even though they were all very noisy, Prince Ji Tian didn't mind in the slightest bit when it was still on the journey. However, when they got close to the designated location, Prince Ji Tian warned the crowd so that they would be able to stay quiet and didn't try to do speak or anything like that.
"Be quiet."
With one order, no one dared to speak anymore. They were looking in the direction of the crown prince with clear interest. They wanted to know what he was planning to do. However, all he did was asking the servants to check the area for any sign of animals nearby. They would only rest near the hiding spots for hunting.
"Your Highness, there are signs of some rabbits nearby. However, we didn't manage to find anything else."
"Rabbit?" Ji Tian pondered. It sounded a bit lackluster compared to many other targets. However, it was the best target for the youngsters behind him because they were all still very young. It would be a good experience for them.
"Alright, we'll stay here."
"What are we going to do?" A youngster timidly asked.
Prince Ji Tian turned around. He smiled. "You're all going to hunt rabbits for now. Stay hiding and only make your move when you saw the rabbit, alright?"
"We understand, Your Highness."
They all started to scatter and stayed put in different hiding spots. Some of them managed to pick good spot to hide but the others were unable to do that and looked like an embarrassment. Of course, Prince Ji Tian didn't nitpick them because he understood that they were all still learning.
Wei Liuying was also hiding behind the tree and sat down leisurely there. She barely moved as she looked to a distance. Not far from her, Huo was also crouching down behind the bush. The game of waiting had started.