"Fire and water cannot coexist!" Yuan Tong jumped up from the table holding a chicken leg. "At the last polo match, the county lady knocked Brother Su off the horse. At the poetry meeting last month, Brother Su spilled half a cup of tea on the county lady. At the Cuju field the day before yesterday..." He counted the greasy and twisted claws of his dog, but was pinned to the spot by a glare from Su Sheng.
Linchuan Zigu held his folding fan to his lips. "Is this really true?" He walked over to Jiang Songyi and said, "The county lady has been wronged. How about..."
"Not as good as you!" Su Sheng kicked over the table. "Jiang Songyi, come here!" He pulled her into the peony bushes. "Last time you promised to teach me how to shoot a string of arrows. Now let's go to the training ground!"
Princess Linchuan looked at her son's reddened ears and suddenly remembered how he had secretly worn her gold hairpin when he was seven years old. That day, the little boy had stuck his neck out like that: "I didn't wear it secretly! The hairpin flew onto my head by itself!"
"Wait!" She picked up her skirt and chased after him. "Even if I want to learn archery, I need to change into riding clothes first! Madam Cheng! Bring me my set of gold-threaded soft armor!"
Xinyi Zigu's folding fan froze in mid-air. Yuan Tong leaned over and winked, "I bet you ten taels of gold. If Brother Su can't survive three arrows, he'll beg for mercy."
Dust billowed in the air as the training grounds swirled. Jiang Songyi drew his bow and arrow, gazing at the twisted target five feet away. "Young Marquis, are you sure you want to learn the Jiang family's archery?"
"Stop talking nonsense!" Su Sheng pulled open his collar, "If I blink..." Before he could finish his words, three feather arrows flew through the air and pierced into the bull's eye, right next to his earlobe.
Jiang Songyi spun around and retracted the bow: "First move, Startling Shadow."
Su Sheng swallowed. The white feathers at the end of the arrow brushed against his throbbing temple, carrying with them the faint scent of agarwood from her sleeves. He suddenly remembered the fierceness of the woman who had shot an arrow through the black bear's left eye during the hunt last month.
"What are you daydreaming about?" Jiang Songyi raised an eyebrow as the cowhide quiver hit his chest. "Are you scared?"
"Who's afraid?" Su Sheng grabbed the longbow, "Look at me, I can shoot an arrow through a hundred steps!"
The feathered arrow stabbed crookedly into the haystack. Princess Linchuan supported Madam Cheng and laughed until tears welled up in her eyes: "Sheng'er was so good at shooting a slingshot when he was three years old." Before she could finish her words, Su Sheng's face flushed and he broke the bowstring: "This broken bow is not worthy of me!"
As dusk dyed the training ground red, Jiang Songyi looked at the tenth broken bow and sighed, "I'll ask my brother to bring me an iron-framed bow tomorrow."
"No need!" Su Sheng wiped his sweat, "I have plenty in my warehouse!"
When the third wisp of smoke rose from the incense burner, the mutton-fat jade pendant on Yuan Tong's waist hit the celadon cup.
Princess Linchuan's armor tapped against Concubine Xiang's bamboo curtain, making a soft "click" sound. "Is Prince Su's archery skills inferior to the County Lady's?"
The Longquan teacup in Su Sheng's hand suddenly tilted, spilling tea onto his python-patterned cuffs. He recalled the day on Mount Taibai when Jiang Songyi's feathered arrow pierced through the air, piercing four startled geese. The red tassel at the end of the arrow burned like a spot of blood on the snow. His Adam's apple rolled as he argued, "I was..."
"You fired three arrows and still didn't win!" Yuan Tong shouted, holding the almond cakes on the jade dish, the crumbs sticking to his beard. Before he could finish his words, Su Sheng's gilded quiver had already struck him on the forehead, startling the gray sparrows under the eaves and sending them flying away.
The tassels of Princess Linchuan's phoenix-headed hairpin trembled violently. Her gaze toward Jiang Songyi burned like charcoal—the girl was wiping her gilded armlet with a handkerchief, as if she weren't the one being discussed. Sunlight filtered through the glazed windows, illuminating the golden phoenix on her temples against the pink wall, its wings fluttering as if ready to take flight.
"A woman should be chaste and quiet," Xinyi Zigu suddenly said, the dragon-patterned jade belt buckle at his waist clashing against the edge of the rosewood table. He recalled his mother's words yesterday: "If a daughter of the Jiang family doesn't know how to restrain herself, how can she be a role model for the nation?" His fingertips unconsciously caressed the raised lotus pattern on the celadon cup.
Jiang Yuyao's handkerchief with a twisted pattern ripped open. She stared at the gold-thread peony embroidered on Jiang Songyi's skirt and thought of the manuscript of "Instructions for Women" that had been returned last month—the inscription in red ink, written in sharp, knife-like handwriting, read: "Such pedantic words, it's better not to copy them."
"Your Highness is quite lenient." Jiang Songyi suddenly chuckled, her tanned nails scraping across the "Map of Mountains and Rivers" on the table, leaving a faint red mark on the border of Youzhou. The gilded armor struck the chime clock, startling Xinyi Zigu's teacup. "The Emperor made me a county princess for the three hundred children I saved from the ghost fetus case, not for my embroidery skills."
Princess Linchuan's armor dug deep into Concubine Xiang's bamboo curtains. She recalled the days twenty years ago when she and Jiang Shu rode side by side in the hunting grounds. When her pomegranate skirt brushed past her quiver, the late emperor had applauded and laughed, "My Linchuan deserves a silver saddle and a white horse!" Now, looking at the heroic look in Jiang Songyi's brow, it was as if she were seeing an old friend riding back on horseback.
"Sister..." Jiang Yuyao raised her head timidly, clutching the torn handkerchief. Her almond-shaped eyes glanced at the dragon jade pendant on Xinyi Zigu's waist. "Your Highness is also concerned."
"If my sister understands His Highness's thoughts so well," Jiang Songyi suddenly leaned over, and the oriental pearls hanging from the golden phoenix brushed across the back of Jiang Yuyao's hand, "why don't you copy the "Legislation for Women" a hundred times for me and send them to Yang Guifei?" The scent of frankincense wafted across her sleeves, startling Jiang Yuyao so much that she knocked over the green jade plate, and the pickled plums rolled all over the floor.
Xinyi Zigu stood up suddenly, and the jade belt with dragon pattern knocked the table over.
His knuckles were white from clenching. Jiang Songyi, clad in crimson riding gear, stood in front of the stables. The sunlight reflecting off her wristband stung his eyes. She was smiling as she spoke to the groom, a golden butterfly hairpin in her hair fluttering—where was she even a sliver of her former, submissive demeanor?
"Cousin, don't you like gentle women the most?" Su Sheng chuckled while picking up a willow leaf. "The county lady is so heroic that your concubine looks like a sickly woman." His eyes swept over Jiang Yuyao's pale face. Her body, wrapped in a light blue skirt, was trembling slightly, like pear blossoms fallen by a rainstorm.
Xinyi Zigu's python-patterned cuffs were wrinkled. He remembered Jiang Songyi, waiting for him beneath the palace walls, holding a glass lantern, during the Lantern Festival last year. In the warm yellow light, she breathed softly, afraid to disturb the snowflakes on the branches. Now, this shadow couldn't even overlap with the fiery figure before him.
Princess Jiaqing's round fan suddenly blocked their view. A peacock feather on the gilded fan brushed Xinyi Zigu's nose. "Zigu, are your eyes glued to Songyi?" The jade bracelets on her wrists jingled. "I remember you swore publicly that you would marry no one but Yuyao."
Jiang Yuyao revealed half of her fair wrist, which bore the Pisces pendant given to her by Xinyi Zigu. She took a half step toward the Fourth Prince, only to be pricked on the tip of her toe by the coiled dragon pattern on his moon-white brocade robe—and Xinyi Zigu had dodged it!
"Auntie, you're joking." Xinyi Zigu stared at Jiang Songyi's fluttering crimson skirt. "Yuyao is gentle and considerate, so she's the best candidate for a concubine. As for the principal wife..." His Adam's apple rolled as he watched Jiang Songyi take the golden knife from the groom. "We should find someone who can keep the East Palace in check."
A sudden, melodious laugh echoed from the stables. Jiang Songyi was peeling an apple with the tip of her knife, the peels tangled in long strings in the wind. Su Sheng clapped her hands in applause, startling her so much that the silver bells on her wrists rang out, even more melodiously than the Hu Xuan dance bells from the Imperial Music Bureau.
Jiang Yuyao dug her nails into her palms. The golden armband bells Xinyi Zigu had given her for her birthday last year had long since been put away. He had said, "A lady from a noble family should be dignified," but now he couldn't take his eyes off the silver bells.
"Your Highness..." She gently tried to pull Xinyi Zigu's sleeve, but saw that the coiled dragon pattern suddenly turned towards the stable.
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