The group soon arrived at the southern hunting grounds.

Besides Duanmu Junyu and Su Xuening, Duanmu Shenghua and Duanmu Qingxin, almost all the imperial relatives, civil and military officials were also present at this hunt.

The civil officials were resting in their tents by the hunting grounds, while the military officers were eager to try their hand at the game. After all, there was no war going on, and the hunting grounds were a rare opportunity for them to show off their skills.

The waiters at the hunting grounds had prepared an eagle well in advance.

After Duanmu Junyu struck the gong, the attendant released the eagle.

"Your Majesty," Jinzhu said, presenting Duanmu Junyu with her bow and arrows.

Only when the eagle reached its highest point did Duanmu Junyu nock her arrow.

"Whoosh!" The arrow shot out like a meteor, striking the eagle directly.

"Hit!" Everyone cheered with joy when they saw Duanmu Junyu shoot the eagle.

The imperial relatives and officials around her went to great lengths to flatter Duanmu Junyu.

"Your Majesty's horsemanship and archery skills haven't declined at all over the years; they've only gotten better!"

"Your Majesty said you were old, but you are clearly as dashing as ever!"

"Indeed, His Majesty will likely be the champion of today's hunt once again."

“In previous years it was His Majesty, so shouldn’t it be the Crown Princess this year?”

It's unclear who started it, but as they talked, everyone's eyes turned to Su Xuening.

Duanmu Qingxin smiled sarcastically and said, "I haven't seen your archery skills yet, sister. Why don't you show me?"

As Duanmu Qingxin spoke, as if declaring war on Su Xuening, he took the lead in drawing his bow and shooting an arrow.

With a "whoosh," the arrow struck a wild rabbit that was foraging for food in the forest.

"Great!" Duanmu Shenghua was the first to applaud.

The surrounding ministers also joined in with applause.

"His Highness's horsemanship and archery skills are indeed a true inheritance from His Majesty!"

“Every year during the hunt, besides His Majesty, the Second Prince also hunts a great many animals.”

"The Second Prince's horsemanship and archery are truly excellent. I wonder how the First Prince's horsemanship and archery are?"

The ministers all looked at Su Xuening with curiosity, as if they were all waiting to see her performance.

Faced with Duanmu Qingxin's provocation, Su Xuening replied calmly, "I don't know archery."

Su Xuening didn't hide anything, nor did she show any shame. She didn't think that her lack of archery skills made her inferior to Duanmu Qingxin.

Although Duanmu Qingxin may know some things that she may not, Duanmu Qingxin may know some things that Duanmu Qingxin may not, so there is no point in comparing them.

Su Xuening's answer really surprised everyone around her.

Although some people guessed that the Crown Princess might not be good at riding and archery, since she didn't grow up in the palace and might not have learned martial arts, what surprised everyone was that she could admit it so frankly, without even the slightest sense of inferiority, which was quite unexpected.

Duanmu Qingxin knew that Su Xuening was not good at archery, and her mocking smile deepened: "That's a pity. If you can't shoot arrows, you won't be able to experience the joy of hunting."

"I know archery!" Duanmu Qingxin had barely finished speaking when Su Yun'an, who was riding his horse, immediately drew three arrows.

Everyone was stunned by Su Yun'an's posture.

Good heavens! This young prince, a mere man, can actually draw three arrows at the same time!

Let's not even talk about whether he could shoot accurately or not. He could at least pull back three arrows. An ordinary man, especially such a young child, probably couldn't even pull back one arrow, let alone three at the same time.

Just as everyone was stunned by Su Yun'an's stance, Su Yun'an released two fingers, and three arrows were released simultaneously.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Three arrows were fired simultaneously, hitting three prey: a hare, a pheasant, and a baby porcupine.

"It's a hit! It's a hit!" Everyone cheered instantly upon seeing this.

"My goodness, all three arrows hit their targets! Your Highness's archery skills are amazing!"

"Judging from this, the young prince's archery skills might even be better than the second prince's!"

"I think he's much more capable than the Second Prince, and probably even more capable than His Majesty!"

Everyone initially thought Duanmu Qingxin's archery skills were quite good, but now that they saw Su Yun'an's archery skills, they instantly felt that Duanmu Qingxin's archery skills were too weak.

It's unbelievable that the young prince, who is not only a boy but also so young, possesses such amazing archery skills!

Duanmu Qingxin was also amazed by Su Yun'an's archery skills.

She originally thought her archery skills were good enough, but she never expected that this child's archery skills were so amazing!

Most importantly, he is still a boy.

It's really strange. He's a boy and his archery skills are so good, but Duanmu Xuening, a girl, can't even do archery. That's too odd!

Duanmu Shenghua seemed to have noticed something as well, and narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Our An'er's archery skills are truly amazing!" This was also the first time Duanmu Junyu had seen Su Yun'an shoot an arrow, and she proudly praised Su Yun'an.

Upon hearing this, the ministers immediately began to flatter him.

"That's really impressive!"

"His Majesty's teaching is truly excellent!"

"Your Highness possesses such martial arts skills; such talent is rare among men!"

Duanmu Junyu was pleased to hear these words of praise for Su Yun'an: "Alright, Ning'er doesn't know archery, so let her rest in the tent."

Su Xuening frowned, somewhat worried about Duanmu Junyu: "I'll go too."

She knew that Duanmu Shenghua and the others would definitely do something to her mother in this hunting ground, so she didn't want to leave her mother.

"You don't know archery, so let An'er come along!"

Duanmu Junyu was aware of the danger, so she didn't want Su Xuening to go on the risk.

Leaving Su Xuening behind, Duanmu Junyu led Su Yun'an and a group of generals directly into the hunting grounds.

Su Xuening was worried about Duanmu Junyu, so she immediately looked at Pei Luo and said, "Master, you should go with Mother too."

Pei Luo remained calm: "Don't worry, Yun An is here, and besides, your mother has many shadow guards around her, she'll be fine."

Pei Luo then leaned closer to Su Xuening and said, "Your mother is probably trying to lure someone into making a move."

Su Xuening looked at Pei Luo with surprise, as if asking him how he knew.

Pei Luo smiled smugly, then whispered, "There are quite a few guards following your mother, but she didn't bring a single Imperial Guard with her when she went into the hunting grounds. Isn't that clearly leaving them an opening? So I can't go with her; I have to give them a chance!"

Another important reason he didn't want to go to the hunting grounds with Duanmu Junyu was that he wanted to protect the girl.

He could sense several groups of guards in the hunting grounds, but he couldn't tell which group belonged to His Majesty and which to the Prince Hui.

However, since His Majesty intends to lure the snake out of its hole, he must have made thorough preparations.

So he didn't need to worry at all; he just needed to protect the girl.

Thinking of her mother's plan, Su Xuening didn't say anything more, hoping that her mother could remove Duanmu Shenghua, this malignant tumor, in one go!