"Why are you still here at the hunting grounds?"

Xiao Qingyin asked Wei Yan.

"Didn't you all go back a long time ago?"

As far as she knew, Emperor Chengtai had led his entourage back to the capital three days ago.

Wei Yan stammered, "My archery and horsemanship aren't very good, so I wanted to stay and practice, but I didn't expect to run into some remnants of the rebels in the woods..."

He couldn't defeat those people, so he had to run away. They chased after him relentlessly, and he was thrown from his horse.

Just when they thought they were about to die, a woman in yellow rushed over, wielding a long spear, and killed the men in a few quick moves.

Wei Yan looked at Yun Shu and said gratefully, "Thank you, Miss Yun, for saving my life. I will never forget it."

"It's nothing, no need to be so polite."

Yun Shu smiled.

"However, you'd better bring a few more guards with you in the future."

"We brought some, but we didn't let them follow us too closely."

Wei Yan's face turned white, then red, then white again, overwhelmed with shame.

Since Wei Yan was temporarily unable to move, Xiao Qingyin planned to go back after lunch.

Let's just say there's still half a day left for the autumn hunt.

She said to Ji Yunhua.

The two of them went into the forest with great enthusiasm to pick mushrooms, dig wild vegetables, and hunt rabbits.

Yun Shu rarely had the chance to spend time with her master, so she stayed and asked him to teach her marksmanship.

Wei Yan watched intently from the side.

When Yun Shu finished practicing a set of marksmanship and stopped to wipe her sweat, he said with envy, "Your marksmanship is really good. I wish I could be this good too."

How long have you been practicing?

"Half a month."

Yun Shu: "..."

She asked Wei Yan, "Do you know how long I've been practicing?"

"Three years? Five years?"

"ten years!"

Yun Shu replied.

"It takes at least eight to ten years to learn martial arts well; even just practicing the horse stance takes three years."

Wei Yan was stunned after hearing this.

His foundation was already poor, even worse than an ordinary person. If he wanted to learn martial arts, wouldn't it take him ten or twenty years to reach Yun Shu's level?

By then he'll be in his thirties or forties, past his prime, how many more military achievements will he be able to accomplish?

This is enough time for the eldest brother to seal the wolf's lair and reside in the capital.

What makes him think he can surpass his older brother?

He will never be able to surpass that in his lifetime.

A wave of loss and despair washed over Wei Yan, her nose stung, and tears streamed down her face.

Yun Shu was stunned.

Is this naive and innocent girl made of water?

She just told him the truth, and didn't do anything to him, so why did he cry?

"Don't be discouraged. If you have good talent, it may not necessarily take this long."

For example, my master only spent two or three years mastering this shooting technique.

Right, Master?

As Yun Shu spoke, she gave Fu Junshi a meaningful look.

Fu Junshi paused for a moment, then nodded.

"I only studied for two years back then."

What he didn't say was that when the Marquis taught him this spear technique, he praised him as the most talented person he had ever seen.

Wei Yan wiped away her tears, but her complexion did not improve.

"But I have no talent, and my body is not good. I can't even draw a bow that can hit two stones at once, and I can't even lift a long spear with an iron handle."

Yun Shu got stuck.

With such a weak body, why bother learning martial arts?

Knowing that this man had a Duke's mansion to inherit and an older brother who was both scholarly and martial, she didn't know how to comfort him.

Wei Yan became increasingly upset and poured out all the bitterness that had been building up in her heart over the past few days.

"When I was weak and frail, Sister Xiao said that even if I recovered, I could only be an ordinary person and could not take up arms and go into battle."

I'm not reconciled; I want to take back what's rightfully mine.

As soon as his health improved, he sought out a martial arts instructor to learn from.

Practice for at least six hours every day.

From being out of breath after running 100 meters to being able to run 3,000 meters, from being afraid to mount a horse to being able to ride and shoot.

I thought I had made great progress and was almost as good as my older brother, so I specially signed up for the hunting competition this autumn.

I hope to compete with him.

Who knew…

When he took the game he had worked so hard to hunt to his father, his father was scolding his older brother.

"How could you come back after hunting just a rabbit?"

The older brother laughed and said, "The prey here is all raised in captivity. They don't know how to hide when they see people, so hunting them is no fun, and I'm too lazy to do it."

The father's face hardened: "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. You're afraid of outshining Xiao Yan and hurting his feelings, so you're deliberately going easy on him."

“Father, you have such keen eyes! You saw it right away. Xiao Yan is very sensitive, and I don’t want him to return disappointed on his first hunt.”

"What can I say to you? You and Xiao Yan are brothers, why are you worrying so much?"

"Even upper and lower teeth sometimes clash, let alone brothers. Father, please don't worry about it. This is between Xiao Yan and me..."

"..."

The father and son were having a pleasant conversation, and although he was the main character in the discussion, he felt completely ignored.

He tried so hard to prove himself, but no one paid him any attention.

You should also sympathize with him, pity him, and comfort him.

This hurt him even more than losing to his opponent.

"...I'll never be able to surpass him, what should I do?"

As Wei Yan spoke, tears welled up in her eyes again.

Yun Shu listened silently to the end.

I just couldn't resist.

He scolded, "How could you be so stupid? You had to compare your weaknesses with other people's strengths. You're bound to lose."

Isn't this just asking for trouble?

"If we don't compare this, what else can we compare?"

Wei Yan looked pained and bewildered.

"My military strategy is inferior to his, and I lack practical combat experience..."

"Does it have to be these things? Can't we compare something else, like reading, writing, drawing, or playing chess..."

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!