Xiao Qingyu still hadn’t fought back the impulse to kill even after walking out of the gate of Prince Dingguo"s mansion!
Xiao Qingyu had never predicted that Fang Junqian could act so unruly like a rogue!
He believed now that going to Prince Dingguo"s Mansion was the biggest mistake he had ever made in his life, more serious than the previous three ones.
If he hadn’t left the mansion early, he was afraid that he would have killed Fang Junqian!
“Fang, Jun, Qian!” Childe Wushuang, eyebrows carrying a smile, called the young duke character by character, in a manner so scary that made the on-lookers teeth tremble from the root.
In Prince Dingguo’s Mansion, the old Prince was confused. His son was supposed to recover soon. Why, in a blink, did he become more seriously injured?
The nine-day long Imperial Hunting Compet.i.tion was kicked off as scheduled.
The Founding Emperor of Daqing was himself a general who had conquered the country on horse. Hence, he valued a lot on the training of archery and riding skills for his descendants.
Although in the past years, Emperor Jiarui had been emphasizing more on learnings than martial arts, which led to a reduce of martial artists, the compet.i.tion was still a valued event.
In the words of Duke Fang: “Huh, it’s a matter of imperial authority. How could it be treated lightly?”
All those anyhow related to the imperial family were present, poised to show off their skills before the Emperor and the Crown Prince, so as to win a promising future.
After the encirclement of the hunting field, under the guard of the elite Imperial Guards, Emperor Jiarui, along with officials, took seat on the audience platform, overlooking the officers and imperial lords who were competing to show their tricks.
In the hunting field, wind blew and clouds rolled. All groups of compet.i.tors galloped on horses and drew bows, stirring up clouds of dust instantly, looking exceedingly spectacular.
Fang Junqian wasn"t interested in showing up and rode his horse languidly on the periphery.
He had been fooling around in the army since he was a child. Easily, he could tell that although this scene appeared huge, it lacked the piercing air of killing.
All of them were nothing but useless bulky men.
Watching them, Duke Fang couldn"t help pressing his lips and made a sneer.
Thinking of this, he was somehow reminded of the bosom friend quiet like the moonlight.
That man appeared to be soft and frail, but in fact, was a tough-boned man!
Alas… the pain in the right shoulder started again.
He must be still hating him since last offending!
“Childe—!”
Fang Junqian looked back.
A wheelchair was pushed slowly over by a st.u.r.dy dull-looking man. A youth wearing luxurious official white uniform sat quietly in it, looking downward as if he was absent. Although he was disabled, anyone who saw his face would completely ignore it, because his temperament, elegant as moon, n.o.ble as orchid, outshone everything else around him into transparent shadow. But he himself just sat there, long lashes hanging down, the clear eyes containing no trace of worldliness.
He looked up, scanning around, and immediately spotted Fang Junqian, among all the other ministers and officials, smiling wickedly at him.
It gave Xiao Qingyu a headache at once.
There were few people who could do this, but undoubtedly Duke Fang was one of them.
Probably this untouchable young Duke would give a headache to everybody around him!
Xiao Qingyu subtly looked away—to ignore him…
Emperor Jiarui also noticed the low-key Duke Fang.
“Junqian, why didn"t you join them? Keeping a low profile is not something for the young. Show me what you"ve got. Don"t hide it!”
“Yes!” Fang Junqian smiled deeply at Xiao Qingyu beside him, waving his whip to spur the horse, and the red scarf galloped away!
—If you were there, I’d try my best to win the champions.h.i.+p!
It seemed that the promise he had made the other day was going to come true.
Fang Junqian reached the field alone on horse. He often played around in the army with those soldiers, and his father was respected as a war G.o.d, he was immediately recognized once he entered the field.
Some outgoing guys shouted, “Duke Fang is here!”
Then, applauses started, “Duke Fang! Duke Fang!”
“Duke Fang, you must show us something!”
…
Fang Junqian laughed brightly, sharp brilliance bursting out of his pretty slim eyes. He took a glance around first to observe the surrounding terrain, and when targeting at a prey, suddenly spurred the horse and drew out an arrow from the back, shooting it out in the high-speed galloping.
The arrow shot out like a startled lightning, the hissing almost breaking up the sky, and an elk running desperately fell to the ground. With the first arrow hit the prey, Fang Junqian didn"t stop and quickly drew another three arrows and put them on string at the same time. As his hand released, the three iron arrows dashed in the same direction. Meanwhile, an elk, an eagle, and a mule were shot down and struggled on the ground.
All the three long arrows penetrated the heads of the preys.
The crowd stopped and numbly stared at Fang Juanqian, who now looked incomparably outstanding on horse.
After the arrows in the barrel ran out, Fang Junqian took over another barrel from one of the soldiers and smiled at him, “Let’s do it together!”
The soldier instantly blushed with excitement, “Yes, I’d love to!”
Applauses came endlessly in an overbearing volume—
“Nice!”
“Excellent, Duke!!!”
“No wonder you’re the first master of the younger generation!”
Some soldiers even rushed to him to offer their own arrows and follow him in the compet.i.tion.
The red scarf flew up, like a burning flame!
Fang Junqian’s excellent riding skills and proficient shooting created a dazzlingly spectacular scene to watch. For a time, the imperial sons all looked dwarfed!
The Crown Prince pulled a gloomy face, eyes containing murderousness.
Upstairs, Emperor Jiarui also displayed complicated expressions. It was a mix of expectations, disgust, and watchfulness.
Uncle Lao couldn"t help but say to Childe Wushuang, “In my opinion, this Duke Fang is a marvelous talent for martial arts, rarely seen in a century.”
Childe Wushuang watched Fang Junqian who was in high spirits, deadpan, “He isn’t talented in martial arts. He’s thick-skinned.”
“Childe, who do you think is more likely to dominate the world, the Crown Prince or Duke Fang?” Uncle Lao couldn"t be more cautious in asking the question, because the words were equal to rebellion and would cause a lot of troubles if heard by others.
Xiao Qingyu sneered, “These two people aren’t of the same level at all. Why bother to ask?”
While they talked, exclamations came again from the filed!
“Stop the bleeding for Duke!”
Fang Junqian took a glimpse at the wound in his right shoulder and said expressionlessly, “Just a small cut. Don"t let it spoil your mood.”
Having rode a horse and pulled bows before the wound recovered, Fang Junqian now felt a burning pain in it.
He turned down the doctor’s offer and straddled on the horse again after hastily wrapping the wound.
He continued.
The soldiers were shocked!
It turned out that not all imperial relatives were spoiled children…
… that not all imperial sons were arrogant and useless…
…that Fang Junqian, a Duke, should possess such outstanding martial arts and tenacity!
The soldiers were excited!
“We’d like to follow Duke!”
“We’d like to follow Duke!”
“We’d like to follow Duke!”
The hunting field was haunted by quaking shouting and applauses.
Emperor Jiarui turned silent.
The zealous gaze and exalted emotions these soldiers displayed before Duke Fang were far stronger than before the Crown Prince.
The same sentence was different when it came out of Fang Junqian’s mouth.
And the concerned expression when the soldiers heard that he was injured…
Being respected by subordinates at such a young age, Fang Junqian was bound to become an arch opponent against the Crown Prince with time!
An intention to kill rose in the heart of Emperor Jiarui.
No one shall shake the authority of the imperial family!
No one!!