Chapter 134 — The Autumn Hunt

Song Yan laughed aloud and spoke bluntly: "Mother, what you really want to ask about is my gambling with Dong Qi, isn't it? Rest easy, I know my limits." As he spoke, his smile gradually faded. "If I were to excel at both letters and arms, and the court and the country sang my praises, I fear His Majesty would lose sleep the moment the thought crossed his mind. But if I shrank back from everything and pushed nothing forward, His Majesty would think me good for nothing. The middle way, truly, is the hardest thing under heaven."

Lady Jiang could not help but fall into thought.

Song Yan sat beside her, quietly sipping his tea.

The wind stirred the treetops, rustling softly.

Song Yan's thoughts drifted rather far.

He thought of what Chen He had told him a few days ago: "Old Chen is investigating the Yunnan governor, Wang Xingyi."

Wang Xingyi was the father of Dou Yan's stepmother. Why would anyone investigate Wang Xingyi?

Should he himself look into Dou Yan?

The thought had scarcely formed before he suppressed it.

The worth of a friend lies in mutual understanding. If he were to investigate Dou Yan, what would the two of them become?

But why was the thought so tempting?

Uneasy, he took a sip of tea, and before he knew it, he choked on it and coughed again and again.

"Careful." Lady Jiang patted her son's back, her heart aching. "You've been practicing archery. Is it for the autumn hunt in a few days?"

Each year in autumn, the Emperor held a hunt. The noble houses all sent sons of fifteen and older to accompany him, and the Emperor used the occasion to test their horsemanship and archery and, on that basis, to promote talent.

Song Yan had been granted a hereditary fourth-rank assistant commissioner's post within days of his birth, and had begun attending the spring and autumn hunts before he could even walk—though it was not until the spring when he was nine that he truly began to take part in the mounted archery.

At his first autumn hunt, he placed second in riding and fifth in archery; among the sons of the nobility, he ranked first. He was the youngest of all the competitors, and it was the finest result any noble son had achieved in decades.

The Emperor was delighted, taking it as a sign that the noble houses had worthy successors, and bestowed on him a small estate of fifty acres.

His brilliance eclipsed even the top three finishers.

For the next two years, he took first place.

The Taizong Decree—the Emperor's uncle, Prince Yu, once drunk, had grumbled before the Emperor: "I say the Heir of the Duke of Yingguo shouldn't be allowed to compete in the mounted archery anymore, or he'll crush the spirit of the other young lords."

The Emperor, also rather drunk, laughed heartily at this—then tore a Hetian jade pendant from his waist and tossed it to Song Yan, saying, "Song Yan, keep them all pinned firmly behind you!" And then, loudly, to the princes and ministers present: "Whoever can beat Song Yan, I'll grant him the post of Vice Commander of the Imperial Guard!"

Hearing his mother raise the question, Song Yan nodded. Then he said gravely, "As for what His Majesty truly thinks of our family, we won't know until we test it!"

Lady Jiang's eyes brimmed at once. "It's all your mother's fault for dragging you both down!" A hint of a sob, barely perceptible, threaded through her voice.

"Mother, what sort of talk is that!" Song Yan hastened to put an arm around his mother's shoulders. "You see only the hardships I face now—why not think of the glory my eldest uncle brought me while he lived? Quite apart from anything else, there's this bow of mine, and Feidu, and the guards around me..."

Lady Jiang was greatly comforted.

"Mother must never say such things again." Song Yan said softly to Lady Jiang, "With my third uncle here, ten years at most, and the Jiang family will rise again. Our task is to cheer my uncles on and help them return to the court—we mustn't speak such dispiriting words."

Lady Jiang nodded firmly, yet the tears would not be held back and fell pattering down.

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Once the Mid-Autumn Festival had passed, the wind against the skin turned cold.

This year's autumn hunt was set at the Huailai hunting grounds.

By the time Song Yan and the others arrived, the Emperor's personal guard had already pitched the tents.

The Crown Prince came over sneezing. "Tianci, how are you set this year? Shall I find you a better bow?"

He was twelve years older than Song Yan, tall and lean, fair and clean-featured, with the same thick brows and high nose as the Emperor. Every autumn the sneezing began, and at the hunting grounds it grew worse. The autumn hunt was no pleasure to him but a penance.

To Song Yan's eyes, his temperament was a little too soft and gentle—more like a schoolmaster than a Crown Prince.

At the Crown Prince's side was his cousin, Shen Qing, the sixteen-year-old Heir of the Earl of Huichang.

He teased Song Yan: "Vice Commander of the Imperial Guard—fifty thousand taels of silver apiece!"

After the Emperor's pronouncement that "whoever beats Song Yan shall be granted the post of Vice Commander of the Imperial Guard," these young lords had joked among themselves that they might as well bribe Song Yan to lose to them at the autumn hunt...

Song Yan said, "Beating me is easy enough—the problem is, I'm not the only one on the field!"

Shen Qing's spirits fell.

The Crown Prince chuckled and said to Song Yan, "Pay him no mind. These past few days he's been racking his brains over nothing but how to place at the autumn hunt. If placing were so easy, why would you all be boasting of fifty thousand taels to buy Song Yan's defeat..." Just then, someone came walking slowly over and bowed respectfully to the Crown Prince: "Your Highness!"

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Making up for yesterday's update—and continuing with today's bonus chapter...~~~~(_

ps: Still asking for pink votes!

[The source passage for paragraph 91 was not included in your message. Please provide the Chinese text of paragraph 91 so that I can translate it.]