EWRN - Chapter 50
Chapter 50: Autumn Hunt (V)
The cleaned game sizzled as it roasted over the fire. Before long, the aroma of grilled meat wafted from the spit.
Huo Jinyu reached into her robes and pulled out several small porcelain bottles. Under Yan Xi's slightly surprised gaze, she arranged the bottles, occasionally taking one and giving it a light shake over the roasting meat, releasing a fragrant cloud of spices into the air.
"I never thought Jinyu would carry such little things with her," Yan Xi remarked with a sigh.
"Mhm," Huo Jinyu grunted in response. She frowned at Yan Xi's roasting snake meat, hesitating for a long while, but still couldn't bring herself to sprinkle the seasoning. Her aversion to snakes was plain to see.
"Let me do it myself," Yan Xi said, holding out her hand to Huo Jinyu. As if a great weight had been lifted, Huo Jinyu nodded, her brow smoothing out. She gathered the seasoning bottles and handed them to Yan Xi. The moment their hands touched, they both trembled slightly, but they steadied themselves just in time to keep the small porcelain bottles from falling to the ground.
Stilling her pounding heart, Yan Xi opened the small bottles under Huo Jinyu's guidance and sprinkled the seasonings evenly over the meat. Soon, the snake meat also began to smell fragrant. When Huo Jinyu caught the scent, she found it surprisingly pleasant. It must be the spices! It's not the snake meat that smells good! Huo Jinyu insisted stubbornly to herself.
Before long, both their catches were cooked through. Huo Jinyu thoughtfully gave half of the roasted rabbit to Yan Xi. In a polite gesture, Yan Xi offered two skewers of snake meat in return. Huo Jinyu's face turned a shade paler as she shook her head, refusing the gift.
After a moment, however, Huo Jinyu began to sneak glances at Yan Xi. Seeing how heartily she was enjoying the snake meat, Huo Jinyu felt a prickle of curiosity.
The cooked snake meat had been cut into sections. It didn't look slippery or greasy, and it had lost that writhing, twisted appearance. To her surprise, Huo Jinyu found herself genuinely tempted to try it.
Gulp. Huo Jinyu swallowed faintly and went back to eating her rabbit, though her gaze kept drifting to the pieces of roasted snake in front of Yan Xi.
Yan Xi was not blind; she naturally noticed Huo Jinyu's subtle movements and found them rather amusing. "Thanks to Jinyu's seasonings, this roasted meat is exceptionally delicious," Yan Xi said, deliberately emphasizing the word "delicious."
Huo Jinyu brazened it out, sitting up straight. "Xi'er, you truly have a bit too much meat there. You mustn't eat so much that you upset your stomach. Why don't you..." Huo Jinyu adopted a nobly self-righteous air, as if she were genuinely trying to solve a problem for Yan Xi.
Before she could finish, Yan Xi tactfully completed the thought for her. "Why don't you let Jinyu help Xi'er with a piece or two?"
"Excellent, excellent," Huo Jinyu nodded, though the tips of her ears burned red at her own shameless behavior.
Yan Xi passed a few skewers of snake meat over. Huo Jinyu accepted them. Staring at the neatly cut, square pieces of meat on the wooden skewers, she swallowed again. She brought a piece to her lips, cautiously opened her mouth, and took a small bite. She chewed thoughtfully. The snake meat was savory and firm, with a pleasant springiness. A burst of juice filled her mouth, mingling with the seasonings to create an exquisitely fragrant flavor.
Huo Jinyu had never eaten roasted meat so delicious! If only snakes weren't so ugly, she wouldn't have waited until today to taste such a delicacy. That's right, it was all the snake's fault!
Seeing Huo Jinyu eating with the relish of a child, her mouth glistening with juices, Yan Xi finally couldn't help but cover her mouth to stifle a laugh. Huo Jinyu, however, was too busy eating to notice.
While Huo Jinyu and Yan Xi were eating happily, Hua Ying and Di An were just beginning their hunt.
After parting ways with Huo Jinyu and Yan Xi, Hua Ying had spurred her horse into the western woods. On the way to the hunt, she had heard palace staff say that the westernmost forest on the grounds was richest in game, as it bordered the primeval forest of Jiangbei. For that same reason, however, it was also somewhat dangerous. But Hua Ying, bold in her superior skills, paid the danger no mind. In her view, animals that lived purely on instinct posed no real threat.
Di An could neither ride a horse nor shoot a bow; she had no martial skills to speak of. Thus, for the entire ride, Di An was nestled in Hua Ying's arms. The warmth of the embrace filled her with a sudden, fond longing.
The horse's gait was somewhat jarring, and Hua Ying took the opportunity to hold Di An tighter, sheltering her in her embrace. The warm, soft sensation was intoxicating, and a smile unconsciously touched Hua Ying's lips.
She drew her bow and loosed an arrow. Hua Ying's archery was exquisite. With a few quick shots, she trapped a white rabbit several dozen feet away, surrounding it with a cage of sharp arrows. The frightened rabbit was helpless to escape the arrow formation.
Hua Ying calmly rode closer and dismounted with a stylish flourish. Pinching the rabbit by its ears, she lifted it up and presented it to Di An. "An'er, here. You can have this little rabbit to play with."
Di An was a little surprised. Had Hua Ying gone to all that trouble just to catch a rabbit for her to play with? "Thank you." Di An did not refuse, simply accepting the rabbit as it kicked its legs in panic. She had grown accustomed to accepting everything Hua Ying gave her, whether it was cheap or priceless.
Watching Hua Ying busying herself on and off the horse, Di An felt a wave of emotion. She knew Hua Ying's intentions. She wasn't a fool; Hua Ying was so direct, how could she not understand?
In her heart, Di An considered herself to belong to the emperor, Huo Jinyu. After all, it was Huo Jinyu who had bought her freedom, brought her into the palace, and named her a noble consort. It was Huo Jinyu who had given her a stable and peaceful life. But over these past days, it seemed Huo Jinyu did not favor her. Di An had long since seen the emperor's feelings for Noble Consort Yan Xi; it was a classic case of the person involved being blind to their own situation, for Huo Jinyu herself had yet to realize it.
Hua Ying, on the other hand, was such a wonderful woman, and her feelings for Di An ran so deep. Any normal person would find such advances irresistible. How could she possibly betray Hua Ying's affections?
And yet, she was ultimately a woman from a brothel. Though Di An never spoke of it or showed it, she harbored a deep-seated sense of inferiority. Furthermore, a love between two women would never be accepted by the world; it violated all moral conventions. Hua Ying came from a prominent family—how could they possibly agree to her lover being another woman?
Because of this, Di An's heart was often tangled in conflict and pain. But she concealed it all so well that Hua Ying remained completely unaware.
As Di An sat lost in thought on horseback, Hua Ying had already bagged one animal after another. She was hunting with great enthusiasm and was now in pursuit of a wild boar.
She had spotted the boar napping in front of a massive tree. She could have ended its life with a single arrow, but the hunt had been going too smoothly. She was dissatisfied; it was not challenging enough. So, she took aim at the boar's rump and let an arrow fly. Struck in the rear, the boar leaped up with a pained squeal and spotted the two women on horseback several dozen feet away. It was a male, and not a small one. As it prepared to charge, Di An grew frightened, terrified it would rush over and gore them.
Unhurried, Hua Ying loosed two more arrows. They didn't strike the boar but grazed past it. The boar cried out in pain again and finally realized that the two figures before it were not to be trifled with. It turned tail and fled deeper into the woods.
Hua Ying squeezed her heels into the horse's flanks, and the steed shot forward in pursuit.
The forward momentum pressed Di An back into Hua Ying's embrace. She squeezed her eyes shut in fear. Hua Ying was riding too fast, and Di An, unused to it, worried she might fall off at any moment.
From horseback, Hua Ying drew her bow again. Another arrow struck the other side of the boar's rump. The boar knew that if it slowed down, it would be dead. It quickened its pace, tearing through the forest.
Hua Ying chased the boar with glee, failing to notice the red rope that marked the boundary between the hunting grounds and the primeval forest as it flashed past them.
Not long after Hua Ying and Di An rode past, a group of men in black emerged furtively from the trees. Their leader carefully examined the ground, and upon seeing the hoofprints leading toward the primeval forest, a look of delight flashed in his eyes.
"After them!" the man in black commanded in a hoarse voice. The entire group used their lightness skill to fly deeper into the forest.
In the primeval forest, Hua Ying was putting on a spectacular show from horseback. After a thrilling chase, she landed three arrows in the exact same spot on the boar's head while at a full gallop. Struck in a vital spot, the boar collapsed, its life extinguished.
Di An's eyes were filled with admiration for Hua Ying's superb archery.
Hua Ying stuffed the dead boar into a sack on the horse and prepared to turn back. Only then did she notice that something was amiss. The trees here were thick and tall, blotting out the sky. Only a few slivers of sunlight managed to pierce the canopy.
The gloomy atmosphere told Hua Ying that they had accidentally strayed into the dangerous primeval forest Huo Jinyu had warned them about.
Hua Ying silently cursed herself for getting carried away in the heat of the moment.
The old forest was utterly silent, without even the sound of birds. Di An seemed to sense something was wrong as well, and the eerie atmosphere frightened her. She thought of the headless female ghosts from storybooks.
"Hua Ying, let's go back," Di An said, her voice breaking the silence.
"Yes, let's head back." It was now noon. Neither of them had eaten, and both were growing tired.
Hua Ying mounted the horse, its hooves clopping as they headed east. She touched the signal flare inside her robes, her sense of unease growing stronger. Her intuition had always been sharp. She had a feeling something bad was about to happen on this trip.
After a moment's thought on horseback, Hua Ying handed the flint and the signal flare to Di An, instructing her to keep them safe. If anything happened, she was to light the flare and fire it into the sky immediately.
Di An was a little confused, but she tucked them securely into her sleeve nonetheless.
After they had been riding for a while, Hua Ying's sharp ears picked up the sound of footsteps pushing off the ground—the telltale sign of someone using lightness skill. Just as she'd suspected, someone was pursuing them!
Hua Ying immediately dismounted, pulled the horse's reins to turn it, and slapped its rump. The horse bolted deeper into the woods. The entire sequence of actions was as smooth as flowing water, leaving Di An alone on the horse in astonishment. "Hua Ying..."
Di An cried out. Hua Ying pointed toward her own sleeve, reminding her not to forget the signal flare. With a wave, she used her lightness skill and flew east, toward the direction of their pursuers. She had to deal with them quickly; she couldn't rest easy leaving Di An alone in the old forest.
Soon, her view opened into a clearing. Several dozen people were surprised to see Hua Ying arrive alone, but their surprise quickly turned to delight as they surrounded her. Hua Ying flexed her hands. They were almost fully recovered. Dealing with a few petty thieves should be no problem at all.
The battle was about to begin!
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