Following the emperor's order, Shen Ziyu took the lead and drove his horse into the depths of Dingshan.

Chang Yin and several other attendants from the palace reacted and chased after him. Several princes were not to be outdone and rushed into the woods with a flick of their whips.

The emperor laughed at this and said to the empress beside him, "It seems that the princes are going to compete with Zi Yu today. I will take out the Star-Splitting Bow that I used to use as a prize for the most outstanding prince."

When the people nearby heard the emperor say this, they were all moved. The Star-Splitting Bow was a gift from the previous emperor to the emperor. Now he took it out again during the autumn hunt. I wonder if the emperor intends to establish a crown prince?

The queen's expression did not change when she heard this. She had been in the palace for many years and had only given birth to two princesses.

Now that the emperor's health is getting worse day by day, she no longer hopes to give birth to another prince.

Her maternal family, the Meng family, had few descendants and had always been cautious in the court. Even when a prince of low status from her maternal family extended an olive branch to the Meng family, they were all rejected by the queen and the Meng family.

The Queen has been a kind person in the palace for many years and has never had any conflicts with the concubines. She has fully implemented the doctrine of the mean.

For the queen and the Meng family, since the child was not hers, it would have little to do with them no matter who became the crown prince in the end.

The Queen smiled and said, "Since Your Majesty has already taken out the Star-Splitting Bow, I cannot be stingy. I will give you the Jade Guanyin statue in my vault as an extra."

The jade Guanyin that the queen mentioned was a tribute sent from Yongzhou last year. Because the jade is translucent and there are no cracks on the entire piece during the carving process, it is indeed a rare and exquisite product.

The emperor patted the queen's hand and said, "You are willing to do so."

The Empress Dowager did not accompany the autumn hunt this time, but she did ask her servants to bring a pair of Ru kiln porcelain vases and a set of fine writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone as gifts.

The emperor's eyes darkened as he looked at the gift the empress dowager's men had brought him. He understood the empress dowager's intention.

The empress dowager was the daughter of the Kong family, a family that had always passed down its traditions of poetry and literature. Among the emperor's several princes, only the seventh prince had the greatest literary talent.

Not only that, the seventh prince's mother, Concubine Liang, is also a daughter of the Kong family.

Although the emperor knew that the seventh prince was equally skilled in both civil and military affairs, he still had doubts about whether to choose him as the crown prince. Was the empress dowager giving him a disguised nomination?

The emperor sighed lightly and asked the eunuchs to put aside the prizes of several people.

Qin Yanning didn't care about this at all, because she knew that even though the Seventh Prince was not the winner of the Autumn Hunt, he was still the one who got the throne of the Crown Prince in his previous life.

Even if Shen Yuanan has not been able to calculate himself now and has not been able to get the support of the Yan family as he wished, but with his yearning for power, he will definitely think of other ways.

Qin Yanning didn't want to worry about these things at the moment. Most of the power in the court was in the hands of her future husband who was incompetent, and there were still more than three years before the seventh prince would ascend the throne as the original owner remembered.

Three years was enough time for her to do many things, such as giving birth to a child for the cold-hearted regent.

Shen Ziyu is not a fool. The only reason he can sit in the position of regent is because he cannot have children.

The reason why he was willing to take the position of regent and hide his ambitions was because he could not have children.

The current princes are not capable of governing the country, and even that scumbag Shen Yuanan is considered a tall one among the short ones.

If Shen Ziyu had his own blood descendants, he would have to join the game. By then, Shen Yuanan would not be able to ascend to that position even if he schemed hard.

Qin Yanning will never forget the miserable situation of the Yan family after the death of the original owner in his previous life.

My grandparents, who had worked hard for Daxia on the frontier for their entire lives, were labeled traitors and beheaded in public. My two uncles were beaten to death with sticks, and my aunts hanged themselves to follow them.

Several brothers of the Yan family were also thrown into prison and suffered humiliation.

The Yan family was indebted to Shen Ziyu, but at that time he was stranded by the flood in Chaozhou. After rushing back to the capital, he only saved the two younger ones, Yan Mingben and Yan Mingchi.

The original owner didn't know what happened afterwards, but according to A Lian, Shen Yuanan didn't do anything good after he came to power, and a few years later Shen Ziyu rebelled against him.

But because he never had any offspring, this little world eventually collapsed.

…

Qin Yanning peeled a chestnut while thinking about the things in the original owner's memory.

These chestnuts are worthy of being tribute, as each one is round and plump, and tastes sweet and soft.

Qin Yanning was not satisfied with eating enough for himself, so he also fed Yan Mingben and Yan Mingchi. Soon, the whole plate of chestnuts was eaten up.

Qin Yanning yawned out of boredom. She really wanted to go for a ride on horseback, but it seemed that the people who participated in the hunting would not be back before noon.

It seemed a bit rude for her to sneak away on the first day of the autumn hunt.

Qin Yanning picked a few pine nuts, peeled them, and gave the kernels to her two younger brothers to eat. She arranged the shells into the shape of a five-petal flower and placed them on the small table in front of her.

Qin Yanning turned her palm upwards and pressed lightly, and a small flower mark appeared on the back of her hand.

Seeing this, Old Madam Yan shook her head helplessly. Her granddaughter was still like a child.

Before Qin Yanning had finished pressing the second flower, Shen Ziyu returned with Chang Yin and other subordinates.

Qin Yanning couldn't help but lean over to take a look, only to see that Chang Yin and his men had several preys hung on their horses, but Shen Ziyu had two large birds tied to his horse that were still flapping their wings.

But Qin Yanning couldn't recognize what kind of bird it was. After all, the original owner was not good at hunting, and she was not a loyal user of the animal world.

When he got closer, Qin Yanning discovered that Shen Ziyu seemed to be holding something in his arms.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!