How could Uncle Cheng An, who was such a handsome and elegant gentleman, appear in the same place as Ban Ti?
Xie Wanyu was stunned and only regained her senses after a while. She turned her head and looked worriedly at her good friend, Shi Feixian. As expected, his expression was extremely ugly.
"Feixian," Xie Wanyu grabbed Shi Feixian's hand. "Don't think too much about it. Maybe they just happened to run into each other and came back together."
Shi Feixian forced a smile. "What does it have to do with me who Uncle Cheng An is on good terms with?"
Xie Wanyu knew that she was feeling very uncomfortable and clenched her teeth. "Don't worry, I will always have a chance to make her feel bad."
"Wanyu, thank you, but don't do this. What if you cause trouble and affect your good impression in front of His Majesty and the Second Prince?" Shi Feixian hurriedly grabbed her. "Don't be rash."
Only then did Xie Wanyu remember that she was the future daughter-in-law of the Imperial Family and should do things with dignity. If she went to find trouble with Ban Ti and things got out of hand, it would definitely not be good for her. Thinking of this, she gave up on finding trouble with Ban Ti.
So she was actually such a selfish person.
The more Xie Wanyu thought about it, the more guilty she felt. Thus, she averted her gaze and did not dare to meet Shi Feixian's gaze.
Shi Feixian pretended not to see Xie Wanyu averting her gaze and grabbed her hand with a smile. "Let's go. His Majesty is going to set up a barbecue banquet later. We can't be late."
"En." Looking at her good friend like this, Xie Wanyu felt even more guilty.
They had agreed to give His Majesty some prey, so they had to. Ban Ti had always been a woman of her word.
Emperor Yunqing's tent was in the middle of the tent. It was black and embroidered with soaring golden dragons. This was the Emperor's tent.
The Evergreen King stood outside the tent with Ban Ti and the others, waiting for Emperor Yunqing to summon them.
Emperor Yunqing had also just returned from hunting. After changing into a dry robe, he heard that the Evergreen King and a few of his juniors had arrived. He immediately summoned them in.
After a round of greetings, Emperor Yunqing saw that Ban Ti was still holding a live fox in his hand. He smiled and said, "Lao Ai, what are you doing with this fox?"
"Your Majesty, I'm here to give you a gift." Ban Ti's eyes widened. "Didn't we agree before we left that we would give you the good stuff we hunted?"
Emperor Yunqing was stunned for a moment. He had thought that this little girl was just joking and did not take her words to heart. Who knew that she had actually hunted something good.
"Wang De, put away the game that the junjun gave me. Zhen thinks that this skin is not bad. When it's cold, I'll use it to make a scarf." Emperor Yunqing's face was overjoyed. With a hint of teasing, he said, "You've been out for so long today, and you've only hunted this fox?"
"I've hunted a few others, but they're all gray rabbits with mixed fur or little sparrows. This subject's daughter is too embarrassed to bring them to dirty your eyes." Ban Ti was a little embarrassed. "Only this white fox is barely worthy of being presented to you."
"You're a young girl, it's not bad for you to be able to hunt so many things." Emperor Yunqing consoled Ban Ti with a smile and even rewarded her with a plump rabbit and a catty of venison. These were all hunted by Emperor Yunqing himself, so their significance was extraordinary.
King Changqing, Uncle Cheng An, and the others were also rewarded. Emperor Yunqing wanted King Changqing to stay and talk, so Ban Ti and the others retreated.
"Uncle Cheng An," Ban Ti held the bundled venison and rabbit in her hands, and did not want anyone else to interfere. She tilted her head to look at Rong Xia. "Thank you for what you did just now."
"Junjun is too kind," Rong Xia saw her holding the things happily. "I just happened to pass by. If it weren't for me today, there would be others who would be willing to stand up for Junjun."
"That being said, the person who stood in front of me today was you." Ban Ti thought for a moment, and then took a pheasant and a gray rabbit from the hands of the accompanying guards. "Thank you!"
Looking at the pheasant that was still dripping with blood, Rong Xia reached out and took it. She smiled and said, "Thank you very much. It just so happens that I'm unlucky today. I didn't even hunt a pheasant."
"You're welcome," Ban Ti generously waved his hand, and then took another pheasant and handed it to Rong Xia. "Here, take it."
Looking at the bloody pheasant, Rong Xia still took it with a smile.
"I'm going to find my father and brother. Goodbye." Ban Ti held the things that the Emperor had rewarded her with, so she could only bow to Rong Xia. Then she turned and ran in the direction of Ban Huai and Ban Heng.
"Uncle, let this lowly one take it." Rong Xia's guard looked at the pheasant that was still stubbornly bending its neck with blood dripping from its stomach. He felt that it was really inappropriate for a good girl like Ban Junjun to carry such a dirty thing with her bare hands.
"No need," Rong Xia smiled a little strangely. "This is the first time that a little girl has comforted me with prey."
Because he didn't hunt a pheasant, she gave him her own pheasant. Why didn't he think that as a man, he would feel embarrassed if a woman gave him prey?
"Sister, the rabbit you brought back is really fat. It will definitely taste good when we roast it later." Ban Heng saw the fat rabbit in Ban Ti's hands and immediately asked the guard to handle it. "I also brought a jar of chili sauce from the Barbarian Land. It will definitely taste good when we roast it later."
"I didn't hunt this rabbit. His Majesty gave it to me." Ban San also gave the venison meat to the guard so that he could take it with him. "Some of the things I hunted were sent to my mother, so it's not enough to eat."
Ban Heng moved closer to Ban Ti's ear and whispered, "You flatterer!"
"If you have the ability, don't eat it later!" Ban Ti rolled his eyes at him.
Ban Heng immediately changed his tone. "Sister, I am your brother."
"If you weren't my brother, you wouldn't have lived until today with such a bad mouth." Ban Ti shot him a piercing look. "Where is the thing you hunted?"
Ban Heng was speechless.
She clearly knew that his horse-riding and archery skills were not good, yet she still asked him.
The female guard brought over clean water. After Ban Ti washed away the blood on his hands, another female guard brought over lemon water. Ban Ti soaked in the water for a while and then took his hands out of the lemon water. He used a handkerchief to wipe his hands clean. "Try not to drink alcohol later. The imperial physician said that drinking alcohol too early is not good for your health."
Ban Heng nodded. "Don't worry. If I don't drink, no one will dare to force me to drink."
Ban Ti thought for a moment and nodded. "That's true."
It was said that more than ten years ago, someone had forced her father to drink. After her father was drunk, he began to act like a drunkard. He smashed everything in his hands and chopped people with whatever he saw. From then on, no one dared to force her father to drink again.
Ban Ti had even suspected that her father was pretending to be drunk and deliberately tormenting people.
However, with her father's temperament, he would have bragged about such a proud deed over and over again. However, he had never mentioned it until now. It could be seen that he was really a drunkard.
The Autumn Hunt was originally an entertainment activity for the emperor and the nobles. Therefore, after noon, many grills were set up in the empty space in the center. Some were for the nobles to grill themselves, while others were prepared by the servants to grill for the nobles.
Although Ban Huai had no real power, because his birth mother was the Great Elder Princess, the Ban Family's grills were relatively close to the emperor's.
Count Zhongping's Estate was the future in-laws of the imperial family, so his family's grills were placed below the Ban Family's.
Everyone in the imperial court knew that these two families were not on good terms. Now that the two families' grills were placed together, people couldn't help but suspect that the eunuch who arranged the positions was incompetent. No matter what the reason was, the emperor was already sitting at the head of the table. If the people below were to change their positions, it would not be very pleasant for the emperor.
Count Zhongping and Ban Huai looked at each other in disgust. Ban Huai said to the guard, "Move the meat to the right a little. Don't spoil the taste."
Count Zhongping sneered, looking as if he was not going to argue with him.
Ban Huai saw that Count Zhongping was clearly very angry, but pretended not to care. He felt very satisfied.
As a womenfolk, Ban Bi didn't sit with them. She sat on the other side with the Empress, the princesses, and the others.
She had the best relationship with Princess An Le, the daughter of the Empress. The other princesses only had some face, some didn't even have any face. It wasn't surprising. They were princesses, but in front of their father, they didn't have as much face as a biaomei. This made it hard for them to have a good impression of Ban Bi.
However, these princesses were all smart people. They knew that fuhuang respected the Empress the most, and valued the di children the most. So even though they were jealous of Ban Bi, they were very friendly on the surface.
"So spicy," Princess An Le drank several mouthfuls of water before she managed to suppress the spiciness on her tongue, "I can't stand this."
Ban Bi placed a skewer of roasted rabbit meat in front of her: "Try this."
Princess An Le scooped the roasted meat onto a plate. She picked it up with her chopsticks and tasted it. The roasted meat still had a spicy taste, but it was more fragrant.
The Empress looked at Ban Bi who was chatting happily with Princess An Le, and then at Shi Feixian and Xie Wanyu who were sitting on the other side.
As a mother, she naturally understood her son's thoughts. Shi Feixian came from a prestigious family, and had a grandfather who was the Right Premier. His status was higher than Xie Wanyu's, but the Emperor didn't want lao er to marry Shi Feixian. Nothing she said would be of any use.
Previously, when Ban Bi and Shen Yu's engagement had been annulled, she had been worried that the Emperor would let lao er marry Ban Bi. Fortunately, the Emperor wasn't stupid and didn't plan on marrying a daughter-in-law of the Imperial Family.
In the eyes of the Empress, Ban Bi was indeed quite likable, but that was all.
"Your Highness, His Majesty personally roasted rabbit meat just now. He asked nubi to bring it over so that you can have a taste of His Majesty's cooking."
Wang De came over with a plate with a few skewers of meat on it.
Ban Bi took a look and saw that the meat was red and black. The appearance was a bit too horrible to look at. It seemed that Wang De wasn't lying. Only His Majesty would send something like this to the Empress.
The Empress looked at this disgusting thing and wanted to reject it in her heart. But with so many people outside, she had to give face to the Emperor. So not only did she eat two skewers of meat, she also praised the Emperor's cooking.
"Ban Junjun," Kangning Junzhu said to Ban Bi, "It seems that you are really looking forward to this Autumn Hunt. You even brought the chili sauce from the barbarian lands."
Ban Bi looked at the chili sauce in front of her and said after a moment, "Oh."
So what was the point?
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Translator : adDR
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