Chapter 61 White Feather Dawn
Yun Yuan spent the entire morning lingering among the medicine cabinets.
Her fingertips slowly stroked the celadon medicine jars, sometimes lifting the lids to take a sniff, sometimes examining the quality of the jars in the sunlight, and even the most common licorice had to be picked over and over again three times.
The pharmacists were yawning, and Song Hezi behind the counter was stroking his beard and shaking his head with a smile.
Feng Yanyuan stood by the door and watched until the sun passed noon, then suddenly raised his hand and waved -
"I want all of these."
He knocked his knuckles against a row of medicine cabinets, startling Yun Yuan's fingertips so much that they trembled, spilling half a bag of Poria cocos powder onto her skirt. Before she could speak, the shop assistants had already begun packing. Her carefully selected herbs were double-wrapped, while the rest were each packed into sandalwood boxes. In the end, the piles formed two small mountains, so large that one carriage couldn't hold them all, so another was added.
Song Hezi looked at the pharmacy which was almost empty in an instant, smiled bitterly and urged the medicine boy to go to the warehouse to replenish the stock.
Feng Yanxuan leaned against the door frame with his arms folded. Just before the wheels rolled over the bluestone slabs, he suddenly winked at Yun Yuan: "Little bird, when we get to Lei Ting Manor, you must eat more, don't..."
Before he finished speaking, Feng Yanyuan had already stood between the two of them. He raised his hand to straighten Feng Yanxuan's collar and said, "If you are tired of playing, please return to the East China Sea as soon as possible to recuperate."
Feng Yanxuan laughed helplessly and pushed him away in disgust: "Go away."
The clatter of horse hooves shattered the night mist in the mountains. The outline of Lei Ting Manor appeared a bit jagged in the moonlight. Two faded lanterns under the eaves swayed in the wind. The old housekeeper, hunched over, waited at the door. Seeing Feng Yanyuan stagger slightly as he dismounted, he hurriedly reached out to help him, but his hand, as dry as a branch, was grasped by the other man.
"The young master is so tall now..." The old man stroked his arm, his throat choked with sobs.
Feng Yanyuan asked hoarsely, "How is Senior Yue?"
"He was willing to recuperate in the secret room for the past two days, but when the young prince came yesterday, he insisted on coming out." The old butler shook his head and sighed.
"The prince came back yesterday?" Feng Yanyuan was stunned.
"Yesterday evening." The old butler reached out to brush the frost off his shoulders, his bony knuckles pausing on the black cloak before he couldn't help but mutter, "Mr. Yuan, why did you bother traveling so late at night?"
Yun Yuan was rubbing her aching waist as she got off the carriage. She curled her lips when she heard this - this was not like traveling, it was clearly like there was an evil ghost chasing her.
"It will come sooner or later." Feng Yanyuan answered briefly, but when he heard that Elder Yue and King Changshan were still waiting for him, his face suddenly changed, and he frowned and said, "It is my fault for not considering it carefully." Before he finished speaking, he strode towards the inner courtyard, startling all the birds sleeping in the courtyard.
Yuanfengwei arrived first on horseback and cleaned up the house for them in advance. Now he led Yunyuan to the wing room and left after settling her down.
Yun Yuan opened the window and could just see Senior Yue’s study room with warm lights on.
She leaned against the window, watching the candlelight cast three figures on the window paper. The night wind brought sporadic coughs and the tapping of teacups.
I didn't expect the Prince of Changshan to have returned to Leiting Manor so early, considering he'd been so insistent on getting to the bottom of this. Could it be that the Prince of Huainan had spoken to him about something?
Yun Yuan gazed out the window at the inky night, a few sparse stars flickering through the thick clouds. Suddenly, the iron horses under the eaves clanked, startling a skylark from its roost.
In fact, there was nothing she could do if she stayed in Shouchun.
You Xiao had his own rules. She had only temporarily benefited from You Xiao's assistance during the Shouchun Banquet. Now that the banquet was over and the truth had been clarified, Gu Yue was handling Yuzhou affairs with ease. There was no need for her, a frivolous Xiao leader, to do anything. She had simply hoped to uncover clues about Feng Xiaoming by following Feng Wu.
The night wind blew in the fallen leaves.
If she could really find Feng Xiaoming's whereabouts... a fine line formed between her brows. What could she do? She had already tried using medicine to combat poison once before. Feng Xiaoming would never let her get close to him again. If only her martial arts skills were better.
Along the way, whenever there was a fight, she could only hide and run away...
She sighed softly. A wave of fatigue washed over her. She rubbed her swollen temples, her gaze unconsciously drifting back to the warm yellow window—the light shone through the curtains, casting three silhouettes of varying depths against them. The two seated figures sat like pine trees, while the figure pacing back and forth made the light flicker with every step.
The east was already bright, but the lamp was still burning stubbornly, like a star that refused to fall.
She didn't know when she fell into a light sleep.
Until a sharp whistle of an arrow tore through the chaos, startling her and making her look up suddenly.
It was already bright outside.
The window had been closed without her knowing when, and the candle on the table had long since condensed into a mottled tear mark, and she didn't know who had snuffed out the spark. She tried to stand up, but she felt a black cloak weighing heavily on her shoulders, the collar still lingering with the cool scent of pine.
The moment she pushed the door open, the blinding morning light flooded in like a tide. Yun Yuan instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes. As her vision cleared, she suddenly heard another arrow whistling through the air.
Following the sound, she passed through the moonlit gate and saw the King of Changshan standing in the center of the martial arts arena, his dark, muscular garb framing his figure like a pine tree. In the morning light, his arms stretched out gracefully, his carved bow pointed at the full moon. Targets were arrayed ahead, one at eighty, one at a hundred, and one at a hundred and fifty paces. In the distance, three white-feathered arrows lodged deep in the cracks of the bricks on the gray wall. The carved feathers at their tails trembled in the breeze, casting tiny shadows on the blue bricks.
The bowstring suddenly sounded, and the arrow broke through the morning mist.
A black-feathered arrow streaked through the air like thunder, piercing the red lacquered bull's eye a hundred paces away. Even as the dull thud of the arrowhead pierced the wood, the tail still vibrated, tearing a hideous rift in the red silk covering the target.
The hand of King Changshan, who was taking out an arrow and putting it on his bow, suddenly paused. He turned his gaze to Yun Yuan and smiled, "Little Pharmacist, are you awake?"
Yun Yuan stepped forward and bowed gracefully, but her eyes were unconsciously glued to the ebony carved bow.
"Want to learn?" King Changshan raised his eyebrows. Seeing that although she lowered her eyebrows and looked submissive, her eyes were still following the bowstring, he couldn't help but chuckle.
Yun Yuan was stunned and nodded hesitantly.
"Easy, come." King Changshan handed over the bow with his backhand.
Eight years ago, Yun Yuan had also been obsessed with learning archery, but was discouraged by the words, "Bones are as light as a swallow, but the strength is too weak to exert." She had secretly picked up a discarded bow and practiced under the moonlight until her fingers bled, only then could she manage to fire an arrow that hit the target... Eventually, she was forced to learn Qinggong instead.
"Wow! You're quite skilled!" King Changshan paced around her. "Have you practiced?"
Yun Yuan raised the corners of her lips slightly: "I have tried." Her fingertips stroked the bowstring. Now she is no longer the child she used to be, she should -
She began to exert strength in her arms, and only heard a slight groan from the bowstring.
The King of Changshan lightly touched the quiver with his thumb to test the arrow tail, then glanced at her back and said, "Pull back again."
The girl's back suddenly straightened, and her arms, which were drawing the bow, trembled slightly.
The King of Changshan took a step back and looked at the trembling bowstring. "Pull the bow farther, and follow the arrow with your eyes. First, take the mulberry wood target eighty paces away and release the arrow."
A fine wrinkle formed between Yun Yuan's eyebrows, and her knuckles turned white from the strain. The moment the bowstring was tightened, the wooden bow suddenly recoiled, and the arrow shot diagonally into the sky, startling a flock of birds perched under the eaves. The sharp whistling sound of the arrow feathers piercing the morning mist echoed in the air for a long time.
The King of Changshan threw his head back and laughed heartily: "What a cloud-piercing arrow!" He flicked the back of the ebony bow with his fingers. "This hard bow is nearly three stones of force, used by the generals of the Northern Pass. It is rare to be able to pull it this far. Can it still withstand the tiger's mouth..."
Before she could finish her words, Yun Yuan silently nocked another arrow. In the morning light, her tense profile was gilded with a pale gold, her eyelashes casting a stubborn shadow under her eyes.
"Wow!" King Changshan folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "What a refusal to admit defeat." Suddenly, his expression turned serious again, and he pressed a finger against her wrist holding the bow. "Listen carefully—" His fingertip touched her tense elbow. "Drawing the bow is like pushing a mountain, and releasing arrows is like flowing water. You were just scared away by the bowstring. What are you afraid of? It can't bite you."
The red heart of the target at eighty paces in the distance swayed slightly in the mist, like a mocking eye.
Yun Yuan concentrated on aiming at the center of the target, the bowstring whined slightly, and as he was slowly drawing the bowstring, his hand suddenly felt empty - the ebony bow was easily pulled away by someone.
She whipped her head around, meeting Feng Yanyuan's eyes, like a cold pond. The morning light cast a chilling hue on his angular profile. His thin lips were pressed into a sharp line, and he gripped the bow in one hand, his azure sleeves rustling in the morning breeze.
Feng Yanyuan's cold eyes turned slightly, passing over Yun Yuan, sweeping past the King of Changshan, and then fixed on the distant bull's eye. Suddenly, he saw those slender fingers pluck the string, and the ebony bow curved into a full moon in his palm.
whoosh!
The first arrow flew through the air and hit the bull's eye a hundred steps away. The black-feathered arrow of King Changshan broke into two pieces with a "snap", and a corner of the red silk target was lifted by the strong wind.
Before the two could react, Feng Yanyuan had already drawn his second arrow. As the bowstring rang, the white-feathered arrow, like a silver snake spitting its tongue, struck the red lacquer bull's eye a hundred and fifty steps away.
Boom!
The arrowhead lodged itself deeply in the red silk bull's-eye, causing the two arrows shot earlier by the King of Changshan to vibrate. The new arrow and the old arrow formed a perfect line on the target.
"good!"
Just as the King of Changshan started cheering, he saw three white-feathered arrows already on the bowstrings at the same time.
The bow is drawn like thunder, and the arrow flies like a startled wild goose.
“Swish! Swish! Swish!”
After three sharp sounds, the eagle feathers at the tails of the three arrows on the gray wall farthest away broke off at the root, and the new arrows were nailed right into the arrow holes of the original three arrows.
"Wow!" King Changshan was stunned. He clapped his hands and laughed, "This 'Three Stars Piercing the Sun' skill is unmatched even by the Northern Frontier Archery God!"
Feng Yanyuan looked at Yun Yuan coldly, still holding the ebony bow. "With that kind of speed and accuracy, even in a melee, you'd have to retreat. You need to gather your strength for a long time to draw your bow, so why are you wasting time here?"
Yun Yuan, who had been immersed in his stunning archery skills, shuddered upon hearing his words. Suddenly, she recalled the words she had heard on that rainy night eight years ago, when her bloody knuckles were being fiercely pried open and the arrows were being pulled from her fingers one by one.
"You are weak and frail, not cut out for martial arts training. Why waste your time?"
The voice in her memory overlapped with the words before her eyes, and she suddenly felt her eyes warm. When she came to her senses, tears were already rolling down her cheeks. When she hurriedly looked down, a tear fell on the back of her hand.
"I…I know I'm wrong." Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's, choked with sobs that she couldn't hide. Before Feng Yanyuan could react, she turned and hurried away.
Feng Yanyuan stood there in a daze, the bow and arrow in his hand unconsciously dropping. He stared at the figure hurriedly retreating into the distance, his hand, which had been as steady as a rock when he shot the arrow just now, now trembled slightly.
In the distance, the split arrow feather was still swaying gently on the bull's eye.
King Changshan raised his eyebrows and looked at the direction where Yun Yuan disappeared. "Why are you so fierce? It's just for fun!" When he turned back to look at the three white-feathered arrows on the gray wall, his eyes were filled with amazement again: "But your archery skills are really..."
Feng Yanyuan suddenly pressed the bow heavily against the chest of the King of Changshan, "When did Your Highness find the leisure time to personally teach archery?"
King Changshan instinctively caught the bow, but was knocked back half a step. When he regained his balance, he saw Feng Yanyuan, his green robes billowing, striding away.
"Hey? Why are you leaving? We agreed to have ten or so rounds of competition."
The young prince frowned, looked down at the bow in his arms, then looked at the arrows that had been split apart on the bull's eye, and suddenly laughed.
"childish!"
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