"This suggestion is excellent!" Emperor Yuanhe readily agreed: "Even I have never seen my third brother draw his bow and nock an arrow."
He looked at Yu Nanqing and said, "Today is the grand banquet of the spring hunt, with all the civil and military officials gathered here. Why don't you let us have a look, Third Brother, and let me see your former heroic figure? What do you think, Third Brother?"
Su Wanyan frowned and opened her mouth to speak.
But a male voice interrupted him first: "This is inappropriate."
As soon as he finished speaking, he attracted everyone's attention.
Su Wanyan was also startled and looked in the direction of the sound.
He is Si Yang, the consort of the eldest princess.
He was dressed in a dark blue brocade robe with gold patterns, narrow sleeves, and his long hair was tied up with a silver crown. His brows and eyes revealed a sense of vicissitude.
He didn't look at Su Wanyan, but slowly rose with his eyes lowered, and bowed respectfully to Emperor Yuanhe: "Your Majesty, it is common knowledge that the Prince has been ill in bed for a long time. It would be a shame if the Prince and Princess were to be sick and unable to participate in the spring hunt today. If Your Majesty really wants to bring good luck, how about I do it?"
Upon hearing this, Emperor Yuanhe's brows twitched slightly, but his expression remained unchanged. He smiled and said, "Oh, it's rare to find such interest in the Imperial Son-in-Law."
Si Yang remained calm and unhurried: "This humble subject believes that his martial arts skills have not declined. I hope Your Majesty will grant my request."
However, as soon as he finished speaking, the eldest princess stood up: "That won't do."
She looked at the prince consort with a threatening look in her eyes, but a charming smile played on her lips: "Your leg pain has only just started to subside, why are you showing off again?"
“…” Si Yang’s expression darkened.
"Oh? What happened to the prince consort's leg?" Emperor Yuanhe asked, feigning concern.
The eldest princess looked up at Emperor Yuanhe and smiled, “Since the beginning of winter, Siyang’s legs have been unable to withstand the cold and have been in great pain. Now that spring has arrived, they have finally gotten a little better, but I never expected that he would cause himself more trouble. Your Majesty, you must not agree to this, otherwise I will feel sorry for him.”
Upon hearing this, everyone at the banquet fell silent.
Everyone in the capital knows how the eldest princess treats her husband. Now she talks about how she cares for him all the time, but who would believe that?
“That’s something we can’t afford to do.” Emperor Yuanhe waved his hand, gesturing for him to sit down, and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, my third brother has been bedridden for a long time. Would I really let him suffer?”
Emperor Yuanhe turned his gaze to Yu Nanqing and said with a smile, "Third brother, you only need to gently draw the bow. As for the colorful ball, I will have someone shoot it down when you draw the bow. It's just a lucky draw, so there's no need to take it seriously."
Su Wanyan: "..."
There are many ways to insult someone, and this is one of them.
What's the difference between this and mocking him as a crippled and useless little weakling, especially in front of so many people?
As an emperor, he could have started immediately after shooting the colored ball, but he had to pull this stunt. Yu Nanqing drew the bow, but someone else shot the colored ball, blatantly telling everyone that the arrow was fake.
Even someone as proud as Yu Nanqing would remember this humiliating moment at Prince Gong's Mansion whenever the spring hunt was held.
Su Wanyan smiled and said, "Since it's just for good luck, why don't I do it?"
Su Wanyan's words surprised everyone at the banquet even more.
Even Yu Nanqing was taken aback. He tugged at Su Wanyan's hand and said, "Yan'er..."
"Hehehe!" Emperor Yuanhe and the eldest princess exchanged a barely perceptible glance, and he asked with a smile, "Does the Princess Consort of Gong also know archery?"
"I don't understand!" Su Wanyan smiled, seemingly in a good mood: "But didn't His Majesty just say that it's just for good luck? When I draw the bow, I can just have someone shoot down the colorful ball."
It would be different if the person in question were her.
It's perfectly normal for a woman to be unable to draw a bow, so even if she makes a fool of herself, no one will say anything.
Moreover, when a man is incompetent, people often blame the woman, but when a woman is incompetent, they just say that the man is unlucky to have married such a useless woman.
So even if she fails now, they will only think that she is useless. Besides, she was married into a higher social class. In their hearts, a concubine's daughter is far from worthy of the Prince Gong's mansion. She is not worried that this wave of ridicule will affect Yu Nanqing.
"Is Princess Consort Gong trying to bring good fortune to Prince Gong?" The eldest princess squinted at Su Wanyan.
It's always her who pops up!
Su Wanyan is so annoying!
"Is that not allowed?" Su Wanyan looked directly at the Princess: "The Prince and I are husband and wife. The Prince is not well, so I should volunteer. I don't understand, does Your Majesty insist that the Prince draw the bow for it to count?"
"..." Emperor Yuanhe tightened his grip on the large bow, the smile in his eyes no longer reaching his eyes, and said with a laugh, "Of course not."
He waved his hand and said, "Someone, bring Princess Gong a small bow."
"No!" Su Wanyan pointed to the large bow in Emperor Yuanhe's hand: "The one in Your Majesty's hand is so majestic. If I could try it, I would be extremely fortunate."
It's normal that she can't pull a large bow, but if she couldn't pull a small one either, that would be really embarrassing!
With everyone watching, if anything were to go wrong with the bow, Emperor Yuanhe would bear undeniable responsibility, so she wasn't worried that they would tamper with it.
Upon hearing this, Emperor Yuanhe frowned and remained silent. He handed the large bow to Liu Rencai, and with a slight wave of his hand, Liu Rencai presented the bow to Su Wanyan.
Seeing the bow handed to her, Su Wanyan didn't say a word. She barely managed to grasp it with her small hand, and was about to pick it up when she realized... she couldn't lift it!
"..." Su Wanyan was stunned. She had to use her other hand and secretly exert a lot of effort to lift the large bow!
As soon as Liu Rencai let go, she felt the weight of the entire bow pressing her forward.
She gripped the large bow tightly and looked back at Yu Nanqing, her eyes filled with shock and helplessness. It was too heavy!
She didn't expect it to be so heavy!
Just holding it for a short while, she felt her arms were getting sore!
She had never struggled this much even after massaging Yu Nanqing for an hour!
Seeing her like this, Yu Nanqing couldn't help but cover her mouth, unable to suppress the smile on her lips.
Su Wanyan glared at him, and then she started laughing!
He's still laughing!
If she had known, she would have obediently listened to Emperor Yuanhe and changed to a small bow!
It turns out he wasn't wrong when he said that!
"The white jade ivory bow is the Emperor's personal bow, weighing over seventy catties. I just don't know if Princess Gong can pull it." Su Muqing said to Su Wanyan with a gloating smile.
She wanted to take the blame for Yu Nanqing, but she didn't even know her own worth or what qualifications she had.
Seventy pounds!?
No wonder my hand got sore after holding it for a while. Let alone drawing the bow, I couldn't even lift it with one hand!
However, Su Wanyan remained calm and laughed confidently, "So what? I don't have to be the one to hit the colored ball."
Emperor Yuanhe originally wanted to see them make fools of themselves, and in their eyes, she was not exactly a lady from a respectable family.
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