Yan Cigui.

paddock.

The chamberlain came forward and took the reins in Li Shao's hand.

"Give me some water and grass. I'm going into the forest soon." After giving instructions to the servant, Li Shao looked back at the way he came.

That carriage was not moving very fast.

Li Shao clicked his tongue.

Along the way, he felt hot in his heart, and the carriage coming behind him was slow and slow, which made Li Shao quite impatient.

He even asked the guards to rush him past, so that the handlebar type could speed up.

Ning An's carriage was not just a fancy showpiece, it could run faster, but Ning An refused.

She said: The road to the paddock was not smooth enough and it was bumpy when driving too fast. The Duke's legs could not bear the bumps.

Li Shao felt angry when he heard that.

What kind of injury does Xu Jian have?

On normal days, Li Shao would have run away without caring about whether the people behind him could catch up or not. But today he had an extremely important purpose. To expose Xu Jian, he had to get everyone together and let everyone know. The chamberlains in the paddock and the guards who followed him all saw Xu Jian's condition. He needed witnesses and confessions.

Therefore, Li Shao could only suppress his temper and go to the paddock.

waste time!

A waste of his hunting time!

Even though he was here, Li Shao still wanted to go hunting for some game.

When his father was furious because Xu Jian was pretending to be injured, he prepared warm wine and game to help his father calm down. They could also sit down and eat and chat. He had to talk to his father about Xu Jian.

The carriage finally arrived.

Uncle Niu put his pedals on, and Xu Jian got off the car first, followed by Lin Yunyan.

The wind here was strong and blowing towards her, Lin Yunyan couldn't help but shudder.

Seeing this, Xu Jian raised his hand, arranged the snow coat for her, and tied it tightly.

Li Shao walked over in a few steps: "Is it so cold?"

Lin Yunyan held the hand stove and smiled at Li Shao: "Your Highness, you are a man with a strong temper. I am a girl and I am very afraid of the cold."

Li Shao curled his lips and did not correct her, "What kind of girl does it matter if you get married?" He just said: "You will get hotter after you get on the horse and run two laps."

Lin Yunyan said again: "I can't ride a horse."

"Let Xu Jian teach you," Li Shao said smoothly, then thought about it and changed his words, "Everyone who is waiting in the paddock can ride a horse. You can follow and learn casually first, and Xu Jian will walk around with me for two laps?"

Coming prepared, Xu Jian naturally knew Li Shao's intention.

"Your Highness, I'm just riding a horse for a stroll now. I'm holding you back and you won't be happy," Xu Jian said. "I want to choose a docile horse for the princess first."

Li Shao was not satisfied, but he restrained himself for the time being, and they went to the stable together.

Xu Jian had a knack for choosing horses. After looking around, he picked one and had someone lead it to Lin Yunyan.

Lin Yunyan deliberately showed some hesitation on her face.

"Don't be afraid." Xu Jian's voice was neither soft nor serious, and she told her softly how to greet a new horse and how to make it slowly trust her...

Li Shao heard it clearly.

Gee.

Xu Jian was a very arrogant person in the court, and he was aloof when asking for trouble. He didn't expect that he would have such a tone when talking to Ning An. No wonder he was able to coax Ning An.

Really, it made his skin crawl.

Take another look, okay, the two of them are almost next to each other. Is this a showdown or a love affair?

Find a better place to have a romantic relationship. No matter how clean the stable is, is it still a stable? !
  Li Shao couldn't watch or listen. Seeing that his horse had drank water, eaten some grass, and was scratching its hooves, he simply took the horse outside.

Out of sight is pure.

Standing outside the stables, you can see a lot of the conditions in the paddock.

The palace people don't know how to clean up the snow in the grounds and in the woods. From the first snow to today, a thick layer has accumulated. There are no royal relatives coming to hunt this season, so the white snow is not messy at all.

Suddenly, a guard sounded suspicious.

Li Shao heard the sound and looked at him.

The guard pointed in the direction of the forest: "I think I saw a deer."

"Are you sure?" Li Shao asked hurriedly.

The guard was not sure and hesitated.

Someone next to me echoed: "It seems like I saw something crawling into the woods."

"Your Highness, why not follow us and take a look? If an animal passes by, it must have left footprints."

Without saying a word, Li Shao got on his horse and said, "Follow me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he whipped away.

With the bouncing deer in front, he couldn't take care of Xu Jian and Lin Yunyan, who were still tired and crooked in the stable.

The guards followed suit, leaving only Feng Neiqian anxious.

Feng Neishi had some knowledge of equestrian skills and followed Li Shao and the others to the paddock in a hurry. He could handle it, but if he really rode his horse and charged into the woods, he wouldn't be able to do it.

He had little ability, but he was the one who suffered injuries when he fell down.

But without Li Shao, Feng's wife felt guilty.

He didn't know why, but he felt particularly unsure after setting off from the city.

Yes, he was the one who hinted and guided the prince to become suspicious of Duke Fu's injury, and made the prince want to expose Duke Fu. However, it was clear that the prince had not thought of a way yesterday, but today not only did he have a way, but he also implemented it immediately.

In such a hurry, Feng's servant did not find a chance to ask Li Shao carefully what arrangements he wanted to make. He even had no time to tell his master everything.

Nowadays, whatever happens in the paddock between the prince and the auxiliary prince is an afterthought to the master, and to him, the servant Feng, it is like catching a blind eye.

Seeing the snowy mist rising up from the hoofs of the horses in front, Li Shao's figure could not be seen clearly with his eyes wide open. Feng's wife hurriedly looked for Xu Jian.

"My lord, oh my lord!" Feng's wife said eagerly, "His Royal Highness went into the forest to chase a deer. He is not very capable and cannot catch up. You, you go and have a look!"

Xu Jian pretended to be surprised, quickly calmed down, and asked, "Have the guards followed you?"

"Follow me," Feng Neishi said truthfully, "I'm afraid they won't be able to stop His Highness!"

"Why are you stopping Your Highness?" Xu Jian said, "Your Highness is here to hunt deer. All it takes is someone to stop the deer. Eunuch Feng, don't be unreasonable. Your Highness has often entered the forest farm before. This is not the first time."

Seeing that the servant Feng was still shouting, Lin Yunyan patted Xu Jian's arm and said: "Eunuch Feng, you also know that the Duke of Guo has an injury on his leg and cannot keep up with the prince, so there is no use letting him go.

In this way, let Shen Chen and Xuan Su follow and help His Highness hunt the deer. "

Chamberlain Feng really wanted to plot against Xu Jian, but now he was more afraid that something might happen to Li Shao, so he naturally agreed wholeheartedly.

Moreover, with the two personal followers leaving, and Xu Jian having only one princess by his side, it would definitely be easier for him to test.

After Xu Jian gave instructions to the two of them, he didn't say anything more. He took the picked horse and walked out with Lin Yunyan.

The nearby snow and fog had dispersed, leaving behind a clear trail of horse hoof prints.

Xu Jian looked at Lin Yunyan: "Princess, mount your horse."

Lin Yunyan walked to the side of the horse, stepped on the stirrups, and got on the horse with the help of Xu Jian.

Although she is not good at riding horses, she is no stranger to getting along with horses.

After escaping from the capital, Uncle Niu taught her some things. She also got along with Shen Chen and Xuan Su's mounts, so she naturally mastered some of the basics. Just now in the stable, it was all just pretending to show off to Li Shao.

Li Shao was impatient and couldn't stand their wasting time.

Just as Xu Jian told her, emergency arrangements had been made in the paddock, so the deer happened to be seen by the guards.

Now, they have to continue to wait for the blind bear to show his power.

Li Shao knew nothing about this.

He found deer hoof prints at the entrance of the forest, followed the prints all the way in, and saw from a distance that the deer was weaving and nimbly going deeper.

"We can't lose him!" Li Shao explained.

In this season, it is extremely lucky to find a trace. If you miss it, you may not be able to gain anything.

Xuan Su and Shen Chen quickly caught up, walking on Li Shao's left and right wings respectively, and continued to follow with the guards.

It is already difficult to walk in the forest farm, and it is even more difficult because of the snow.

The horses' hooves made some noise in the snow, and they had just closed the distance, and the deer was startled and ran in with its head covered.

Li Shao drew his bow directly, without having time to adjust his strength and aim, and took action in a hurry.

The long arrow landed behind the deer and stuck in the snow.

This time it was even worse. The deer disappeared into the forest very quickly.

Li Shao was so angry that he waved heavily in the air.

He was familiar with this place and knew that there was only a section left where horses could travel quickly. The woods further down were too dense for the horses to run away. Once there, they would have no hope of keeping up with the nimble deer.

At this time, Li Shao remembered the situation when he went hunting last year, and he started to follow the same pattern: "You follow the deer from behind, I will go around it from the front, don't disturb it!"

After saying that, Li Shao turned his horse's head and rushed out.

The chamberlains, look at me and I look at you. Two of them wanted to follow Li Shao because of their good riding skills, but they saw that Shen Chen and Xuan Su had already chased them out.

The two of them did not raise their whips.

How can the skills they learned in the school field be compared with the personal followers around Duke Fu?

With those two following him, he is much stronger than them.

The number of people surrounding the area should not be too large. If the prey is frightened again, how can they apologize to His Highness?
  After several chases, Li Shao got around the deer, but he was really not good at riding and shooting at the same time. He tried to aim several times but failed to find an opportunity.

Shen Chen and Xuan Su were not far away from him. If Li Shao raised his hand to signal, these two people would naturally be able to draw the bow. But they were Xu Jian's people, so the final credit for Li Shao's deer hunt fell to Xu Jian. On your head?

Li Shao was not willing.

Seeing the dense forest approaching, he gritted his teeth and shot an arrow.

With a whoosh, it hit the trunk of a nearby tree, and the deer entered the dense forest without looking back.

Li Shao was annoyed and angry at the same time.

Not long after, the guards also caught up. Seeing the prince's failure, they were silent for a while.

Shen Chen and Xuan Su exchanged a look and deliberately suggested: "Your Highness, since we have lost you, why not turn around and go back?"

Can Li Shao listen to this? Can anyone listen to what Xu Jian said?

He sang the opposite: "I don't want to return empty-handed, so you can spread out to the side and look for anything else."

The guards followed the instructions and dispersed one after another to look for him.

After the people had almost dispersed and only one or two people remained, Shen Chen changed his mind again: "If Your Highness is unwilling to give in, try to chase him into the dense forest again? Although the horses can't move, the deer's hoof marks are still there, maybe I can keep up.”

Li Shao had already chased him all the way, and he was naturally unwilling to give up at this moment, so he drove his horse into the forest first.

The road became increasingly difficult, and the horses were almost always pacing.

As Li Shao followed the deer's hoof prints, he murmured in his heart that his grinding speed was slower than Xu Jian's wedding.

What made Li Shao even more annoyed was that they had lost track of them.

The river was frozen into ice, and the deer seemed to be stepping on the ice, and it was completely unclear whether it was going upstream or downstream.

"Where to go?" Li Shao asked.

Shen Chen didn't answer immediately, so he jumped off his horse and went to the riverside to observe.

They have been very lucky along the way, and they have developed almost as they imagined.

The prince failed to hunt the deer. The deer was clever and knew how to get into the forest. It would be good to disappear here. Otherwise, he and Xuan Su would have to spend more time to bring the prince in.

The more guidance there is, the bigger the trace will be; and this kind of just-in-time luck is the easiest way to wash away suspicion.

This place is very close to the blind bear's lair.

Shen Chen determined the direction and pointed: "Your Highness, where should we go?"

Li Shao said nothing and pinched the horse's belly.

A group of five of them walked deeper and deeper.

The speed was slow, and there was not much light in the forest. He gradually became colder. Li Shao untied his water bag and took a sip. It was filled with spicy white wine. After two sips, he felt warm.

He was about to turn back and talk to the guard when suddenly, there was a roar not far away.

The earthquake shook the earth and made the snowballs on the trees fall down, many of which hit Li Shao and his horse.

"Wha, what's the noise?" Li Shao asked in a trembling voice.

The next moment, he knew the answer.

It was a black bear, a black bear that was blind in one eye. I don’t know who disturbed it. It came out of its den in the middle of winter. At this time, it was standing half upright and looking at this group of uninvited guests.

It seemed to be irritated by something. When it saw the person coming, it rushed over and raised its palm to slap it down.

Li Shao was so frightened that he couldn't move, but his horse was frightened and screamed to escape.

Xuan Su flew out an arrow with great force and hit the black bear's arm, causing it to stumble back a small step.

Shen Chen stabilized Li Shao's horse and shouted at the two guards, "Why don't you go back and bring in reinforcements?"

The guard came to his senses and turned around immediately. There was no way to drive the horse in the forest, so he had to grit his teeth and go as fast as he could.

Shen Chen said to Li Shao again: "Your Highness, be careful. You will definitely protect Your Highness."

Li Shao's throat was tight and he couldn't say a word.

The two guards ran out anxiously, and finally got out of the forest, and then they were agitated.

How could they abandon His Highness?

Shouldn't His Highness be allowed to go first while they and Duke Fu's men stop the black bear?
  Feeling guilty and afraid, they could only make mistakes at the moment. The two of them shouted at the top of their lungs to the other guards who had dispersed, and continued to run out.

The blind bear looked very powerful, and they were afraid that they would not be able to defeat him.

Still need to call in more manpower.

Is the chamberlain who takes care of the paddock with Duke Fu at the moment?

In the empty paddock, Feng's wife was sitting uneasily, and her heart was beating violently. Not far away, the princess was sitting on a horse, and the auxiliary prince was leading him for a while. He didn't even bother to care about whether this person's feet were cold or not. , pain or not.

Suddenly, a cloud of snow mist rushed over from the distance: "It's not good, it's not good! There is a blind bear in the forest, hurry up, hurry up and save the prince!"

There was a bang in Feng's head, as if it had exploded.

Thanks to book friends Shifang Muzi and Xiaoyuan for their tips.