The spring hunt

The third day of the third month.

New buds sprouted on the willow branches, the ice on Taiye Lake had melted to a thin sheet, and peach buds covered the trees in the Imperial Garden. Xiao Huaijin pushed a window in the side hall of the Hall of Mental Cultivation open a crack. The spring breeze poured through, setting the handwriting practice sheets on the low table rustling.

"Father! The peach blossoms outside are blooming!"

Xiao Lin walked over from the main hall and pushed the window halfway shut.

"Keep bundled up in spring; brave the cold in autumn. Don't open the window so wide."

Xiao Huaijin leaned on the windowsill and looked outside, muttering, "I'm wearing a lined jacket." Xiao Lin said nothing, merely tucking the hand warmer from the corner of the desk into his hands.

"The Ministry of War submitted a memorial at court this morning. The spring hunt is set for the tenth day of the third month. You'll accompany me this year."

Xiao Huaijin jumped down from the windowsill.

"Really? Is Second Brother going?"

"Yes. All of you are." Xiao Lin paused. "How has Xiao Yu been lately?"

"Second Brother is much better. When we practiced writing yesterday, his handwriting was almost as good as mine." As he spoke, Xiao Huaijin rummaged through the low table for the sheet Xiao Yu had written on yesterday and held it up for his father. "Look, Father. Isn't this character very straight?"

Xiao Lin took the paper and glanced at it. It was indeed much better than before. The roof radical was steady, and the two dots beneath it were symmetrical now.

"Mm. But still a little worse than yours."

Xiao Huaijin froze for a moment before realizing his father was praising him. The corners of his mouth lifted, and he struggled to press them down.

"Well-Second Brother is still little. My handwriting is better because you taught me, Father."

Xiao Lin handed the sheet back without contradicting him.

The tenth day of the third month, at the Northern Park Hunting Grounds.

Unlike last year's Mid-Autumn hunt, the spring hunt was a free hunt rather than a driven one. The Imperial Guard had cleared the grounds three days in advance, driving the fierce beasts on the perimeter deep into the mountains and leaving only small game such as water deer, wild rabbits, and pheasants roaming through the woods. The spring hunt was not about the catch. It was meant to let the sons of the nobility stretch their limbs after lying dormant all winter, and to see how well the young men newly recruited into the Imperial Guard this year handled themselves on horseback.

Xiao Huaijin still rode the same little blue-gray horse. During last year's autumn hunt, he had only just learned to sit steadily on it; now he could squeeze its flanks and ride at a trot. Today he had switched to a new bow, made by the Ministry of Works before the new year. Its back was mulberry wood, and its string was thirty percent stiffer than his old bow's. Drawing it took more strength, but its range had more than doubled.

"Crown Prince Brother!"

Xiao Yu caught up from behind on a short-legged pony, its mane woven into several little braids. He wore a newly made dark green riding outfit today, its cuffs still trimmed with rabbit fur. He had already outgrown the little jacket Shen Mingzhu had altered, but the rabbit-fur trim on this new riding outfit had been modeled on the old jacket and sewn by Consort Jing herself.

"Slow down, Second Brother. Don't squeeze its belly so hard-it just ate its fill. It'll kick."

Xiao Yu quickly loosened his legs, looked down at the pony's ears, and whispered, "Please don't kick me, pony." Xiao Lan's carriage followed behind. She had brought a new sketchbook today, saying she wanted to draw a set of pictures of the spring hunt. Xiao Yue had come too. Unable to ride a horse, he sat in Noble Consort Xian's arms in a carriage, lifting the curtain and poking his head out to call ahead, "Crown Prince Brother, shoot a rabbit for me!" Xiao Rui sat in the carriage behind them, quietly leafing through a copy of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, with charcoal and paper spread on her lap.

Mounted on his black horse, Xiao Lin stood at the highest point of the gentle slope. He glanced back at the figures of all sizes below, squeezed his horse's flanks, and rode into the hunting grounds.

The horn announcing the start of the hunt sounded three times.

Xiao Huaijin urged his horse into a trot toward a stretch of low woods on the western side of the hunting grounds. Kong Wu followed behind, his hand on his saber hilt and his eyes scanning the surrounding bushes. Last autumn, Xiao Huaijin's hands had still been shaking when he shot his first quarry. This year, with a new bow, he was steadier instead. The string was stiffer and took strength to draw, but his arrows flew much more accurately than with the old bow.

"Your Highness, there's movement in the bushes ahead to the left."

Xiao Huaijin held his breath, nocked an arrow, drew, and aimed. The taut bowstring gave a faint hum. He paused for half a breath, then released. The arrow passed through the bushes and struck a tree trunk, missing the startled pheasant by half a foot.

"...Missed."

"Not quite." Kong Wu rode over, pulled the arrow free, and handed it back. "Pheasants are faster than rabbits. You need to anticipate half a beat earlier. Your Highness aimed where it was standing, but by the time the arrow arrived, it had already flown. Aim ahead of it next time."

Xiao Huaijin took the arrow, turned it between his fingers, and nodded.

Elsewhere, Xiao Yu found his own quarry in a woodland clearing-a gray rabbit flushed out by the hunting dogs. It looked much like the one from last year, with a small gray patch on its ear. He swung down from his pony, ran over, and picked it up. The rabbit kicked him, but rather than letting go, he held it tighter.

"Crown Prince Brother! Look-another gray rabbit! Just like last year's!"

He lifted the rabbit over his head and ran toward Xiao Huaijin. After three steps, he tripped over his own stirrup strap and nearly fell face-first into the dirt. Xiao Huaijin caught his belt from behind.

"Second Brother, you take a tumble every time you pick up a rabbit."

Xiao Yu steadied himself and brushed the grass off his knees. "I didn't fall. You caught me, didn't you, Crown Prince Brother?" He cradled the gray rabbit and lowered his head to stroke its ears. "I'll take this one back to the palace. It can keep the last one company."

That afternoon, Xiao Lin took to the hunting grounds himself.

He had brought his iron-backed bow today, the same one he had used to shoot a deer last year. He shot a roe deer in the woods. The arrow entered through its left eye, killing it with a single shot and leaving its hide whole and undamaged. The Imperial Guard soldiers cheered as they lifted the deer. Xiao Lin paid them no heed, only glancing back at the children on the gentle slope.

Xiao Huaijin trotted over on his horse.

"Father! I shot a pheasant today." He held it up for his father to see. "It was standing under a tree in a daze-I think it might have been sunning itself."

Xiao Lin looked down at the pheasant, then at the faint red scratch a branch had left on his son's face.

"What happened to your face?"

"A branch scratched me while I was chasing the pheasant. It doesn't hurt."

Xiao Lin said nothing more, merely brushing his hair aside to check that the scratch was indeed shallow. Then he unhooked the waterskin hanging from his own saddle and handed it over. Xiao Huaijin took a long gulp, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, then passed the waterskin to Xiao Yu, who had caught up behind him. Just as Xiao Yu took it and was about to drink, Xiao Huaijin teased him.

"That's Father's waterskin."

Xiao Yu's hand shook, nearly spilling the water. Xiao Lin could not help wanting to laugh.

"Go on, drink."

Only then did Xiao Yu cautiously take two sips before returning it to his father with both hands.

At dusk, a bonfire was lit before the tents.

The spring hunt yielded less game than the autumn hunt, but the children were happier than last year. Xiao Yue finally got to eat a whole roast rabbit leg of his own choosing. Xiao Huaijin had shot the rabbit, but Xiao Yue insisted, "What Crown Prince Brother shoots for me is mine." Xiao Lan spread the sketches she had drawn that day on her knees for Xiao Rui to see. On the paper were three horses of different sizes, a gray rabbit with its head tilted, and Xiao Huaijin's profile as he drew his bow.

Xiao Yu sat beside the bonfire with the newly found gray rabbit lying on his lap. He had brought the one he had found last year too, and the two gray rabbits crouched side by side at his feet, sniffing each other's ears. He pulled a vegetable leaf from his sleeve, tore it in half, and shared it between the rabbits. Suddenly, he looked up and asked Xiao Huaijin, "Crown Prince Brother, will I have a bow like my father's someday?"

"When you can draw an iron-backed bow."

"How stiff is an iron-backed bow?"

Xiao Huaijin brought over their father's iron-backed bow and handed it to him. Xiao Yu gripped the handle with both hands and pulled with all his strength-the string did not budge, though his face turned bright red with effort. Seeing this, Xiao Yue wanted to try too. He put his two chubby hands on it and pulled along with him, but it still did not move. Xiao Lan laughed aloud beside them, and the corners of Xiao Rui's mouth curved upward too. Even the Imperial Guard soldier adding firewood nearby could not help turning his head away to stifle a laugh.

Xiao Lin sat beside the bonfire watching them, leaving the wine in his hand untouched. His left hand rested on his knee, his fingers spreading slightly before slowly curling in again. In his previous life, he had never taken the children hunting. In this life, he had broken far too many precedents.

That night, the stars outside the tent were brighter than last year. Xiao Huaijin lay on his camp bed with the quilt pulled up to his chin, his new bow beside his hand and a pheasant's downy feather still clinging to its string. He was no longer too excited to sleep, as he had been the first time he accompanied his father last year. There was another half day of hunting tomorrow, and the day after that they would return to the palace. He closed his eyes, rolled over, and soon fell asleep.

In another small tent, however, Xiao Yu was still awake. He sat beside his bed, leafing through the Three Character Classic by the faint light of the bonfire outside. He stopped at the page that read, "At four, Rong could yield the pears," and rubbed his fingers over that line again and again. Then he closed the book, reached beneath his pillow for the gold bracelet his mother had left him, and looked at it in his palm. He pressed it to his cheek. The bracelet was icy cold, just as his mother had been then, and even after holding it there for a long time, he could not warm it. Then he put the bracelet back beneath his pillow, lay down, curled into a ball, and closed his eyes.

After daybreak, the spring hunt would have its final half day. He could still run through the woods with everyone for another half day. He thought about how he must shoot a rabbit himself tomorrow, and as he thought, he fell asleep.