After two days of bumpy roads, the entourage finally arrived at the Lanxing Palace.
As soon as they entered the mountain, the temperature dropped almost instantly, and the sultry heat they experienced along the way disappeared immensely, replaced by a cool breeze with the light scent of the surrounding trees. As the entourage marched, the birds in the forest were startled. Lin Feilu was still in the carriage when she saw a rabbit jumping wildly around the forest.
Several princes rode ahead on their horses and Lin Jiwen even drew out his bow and arrow in an attempt to shoot the easy prey. However, he was stopped by Lin Ting.
He gently persuaded his brother, “The Summer Hunt hasn’t commenced yet, so just let it live for a while longer, second brother.”
Lin Ting was always soft-hearted, but because the Summer Hunt was a tradition of the Great Lin Empire, he could only stop his brother with his higher authority.
Lin Jiwen put away the bow and arrow reluctantly.
Ever since he intentionally injured Song Jinglan in the Arena, Lin Feilu didn’t have a good impression of him.
For his little sister, who never seemed to express her dislike towards someone, Lin Jingyuan was very happy that she shared his same hatred towards their older sibling. He made a snarky comment full of sarcasm when he saw what he tried to do, “Woah, considering how eager you were to show off your skills, it seems like second brother has immensely improved in archery.”
Lin Jiwen turned his head and glared at him, but he didn’t know how to refute that claim. Thus, he only harshly scolded, “At least it’s better than your usual cheats and lazy attitude!”
Lin Jingyuan was only naughty and playful, so he never focused on the things that actually mattered. However, he was not stupid as he was actually quite clever.
He retorted, “Who are you calling lazy and a cheater? I can recite ‘The Analects of Confucius’, does second brother know how to? I can still recite the ‘Book of Documents’, does second brother know how to? The ‘Serene Analects’ I wrote the day before was praised by the mentors, but was second brother praised at all?”
Lin Jiwen almost vomited blood due to his boiling anger, “You…!”
Lin Qing had to intervene, “Enough! Father Emperor is still in front, so it’s not proper for us to be noisy in public! When we get to the palace, both of you are to copy the ‘Brother Analects’ ten times each! If you can’t finish it, you are not allowed to participate in the Summer Hunt!”
Lin Jiwen, “…”
Lin Jingyuan, “…”
For the sake of Little Lu, I really paid too much of a price. QAQ
His aggrieved face turned to look at Lin Feilu’s carriage.
Lin Feilu, who leaned halfway out of the carriage’s window to watch the brothers’ argument, sat back silently after realising it ended.
There was a pond in the small palace allocated to Xiao Lan. The water surface of the pond was always covered with white and pink lotus flowers. Thus, the name of this small palace was also very artistic as it was called the He Se Palace(1).
(T/N: Lotus= He, Colour= Se. The Palace was literally named ‘Lotus Colour Palace’)
When they arrived at the palace, they rested and took some time to get used to their surroundings. The Sumer Hunt was scheduled to commence in three days.
This time, the two Noble Consorts and the two Consorts accompanied the excursion. In addition to Imperial Concubine Su, whom Lin Feilu already knew about, there were three other concubines— one of them was Fair Lady Xie. She was already five months pregnant, but due to the hot weather, she had a low appetite for food. After listening to the imperial doctor’s suggestion, Emperor Lin brought her along to help her raise the baby at ease.
The deep mountains, which were usually silent all year round, suddenly became lively.