The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 541 Prince Wenhong
Jia Huan, Shitou and others rode to the gate of Fucheng and found that Xu Wenhou had not arrived yet, so they dismounted and waited. About half an hour later, Xu Wenhou finally arrived accompanied by twelve palace guards, all of whom were in casual clothes. Four of the guards were the personal palace guards who usually followed Xu Wenhou in and out. They were strong and sturdy, and now they looked even more majestic with bows and swords.

"Brother Jia, sorry to have kept you waiting." Xu Wenhou said, panting slightly. This kid was really too fat. He looked like a small mountain of meat when sitting on the horse. He was a little out of breath just by leaving the city.

Jia Huan smiled and said, "It hasn't been long, just a little while, Seventh Master, would you like to rest for a while?"

The fat boy waved his hand and said proudly: "No need. I'm not that weak." After that, he took the lead and galloped forward. All the guards in the palace hurriedly rode their horses to chase after him. They were all nervous, fearing that this gentleman would roll off the horse's back without paying attention.

Shitou grinned. Xu Wenhou's posture on horseback was indeed a bit funny. His fat was shaking all over and his butt was twisting and turning.

Jia Huan glared at Shitou and rode forward. Shitou coughed and stopped smiling. Seeing that Jinbao was still smiling, he hit him with his whip and said, "What are you laughing at? Didn't you see that the Third Master has set off?"

They rode their horses along the official road and finally arrived outside the Xishan Royal Hunting Ground after about an hour. The little fat boy, who was very excited at the beginning, was now completely depressed, panting with his tongue hanging out like a dog, and his originally chubby face had turned red like a longevity peach.

"No...no, I'm exhausted, let me rest for a while." With the help of his guards, Xu Wenhou got off his horse with difficulty, found a shade under a tree to sit down and rest, gulped down a bag of water, and said, "Xu Sheng, bring some dry food. Only when you are full will you have the strength to hunt."

A guard quickly took the food box from his horse's back and opened it. In addition to a variety of cakes and pastries, there were also roast duck, roast chicken and braised pork elbows.

Jia Huan was speechless. Are you here for hunting or picnic? You are just wasting your time trying to lose weight. Just go to bed.

"Brother Jia, let's eat together!" Xu Wenhou picked up a braised pork elbow and greeted Jia Huan, who coughed lightly and said, "I'm on a diet, Seventh Master, please help yourself."

Xu Wenhou looked embarrassed, but he finally gritted his teeth, put down the pork elbow, swallowed his saliva, and silently recited the six-character mantra "control your mouth and move your legs" several times, then shouted: "Xu Sheng, put these things away... No, throw them all away for me."

Xu Sheng hesitated and said, "If we throw it away, there will be nothing to eat, and Your Majesty will go hungry."

Xu Wenhou gritted his teeth and said, "It won't kill you to go hungry for a meal or two. Throw it all away. I can't give up halfway in my weight loss mission."

Hearing this, Jia Huan couldn't help but look at the little fat boy with new eyes, and said with a smile: "Seventh Master has such determination and will, so there is no need to worry about not losing weight. However, it is shameful to waste food, so why not give it to everyone to eat."

"Brother Jia is right, let's share it!" Xu Wenhou readily followed suit and waved his fat hand generously.

The soldiers and guards were overjoyed and quickly thanked the emperor. They shared the food. Jia Huan and others also got a portion and ate with relish. Xu Wenhou watched them with his mouth watering.

"Brother Jia, is this roasted chicken leg delicious? It was made by the imperial chef." Xu Wenhou licked his lips, moved closer to Jia Huan, stared at the roasted chicken leg in his hand, his eyes full of desire.

Jia Huan nodded, quickly shone a chicken leg, threw away the bone, and said, "It tastes good."

Xu Wenhou glanced at the bones on the ground with resentful eyes, gritted his teeth and said, "Brother Jia has good teeth, he eats very cleanly."

Jia Huan said with a smile: "Seventh Master, you are too kind. Let's go and start hunting. It will be dark if we don't start now."

Everyone mounted their horses and entered the hunting ground. Before they started, a group of people came galloping down the official road in the distance. They were dressed in bright clothes, riding fast horses, with waving flags, and looked very imposing.

Soon, the cavalry approached, and there were about 40 or 50 cavalrymen, carrying firearms in addition to bows and crossbows. Xu Wenhou's face changed, and he shrank his neck and whispered, "It's His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Jia Huan was stunned for a moment, and looked carefully. Sure enough, he saw a young man in casual clothes in the horse team, about twenty years old, who looked a bit like Emperor Qiansheng, with a muscular and well-proportioned body. Although he was not particularly handsome, he was very sunny. Compared with him, the fat boy was simply incomparable. No wonder he felt ashamed of himself.

The young man was obviously surprised when he saw Xu Wenhou and the others. He frowned and asked, "Seventh Brother? What are you doing here?"

Xu Wenhou stammered, "Your humble servant... is... hunting!"

Crown Prince Xu Wenhong laughed loudly and said, "I didn't hear it wrong, Old Seven, you actually came here to hunt."

All of Xu Wenhong's attendant guards smiled. The Seventh Prince Xu Wenhou was notoriously useless and cowardly. Not to mention the other princes, even the palace servants looked down on him. Naturally, the Crown Prince didn't take him seriously at all and treated him like a waste.

Xu Wenhou's face turned red and white, and he dared neither to be angry nor to speak.

Xu Wenhong rode forward, patted Xu Wenhou on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Seventh Brother, I'm not looking down on you, but hunting is not just playing house. You should lose this fat first. Be careful, or you might end up falling down instead of catching the prey. It's not worth it. Let's go back."

"Thank you for the reminder, Your Highness. I will pay attention to it. Since I'm here, how can I go back empty-handed?" The fat man replied with his head lowered. All the guards in the palace also lowered their heads, feeling ashamed.

Xu Wenhong's eyes flashed with a strange color. This useless brother of his seemed to be different from before. In the past, he was like a mouse meeting a cat when he saw him, and he would do whatever he asked him to do. But today, he dared to talk back. He smiled and said, "That's right. Now that we are here, it would be embarrassing if we don't catch some prey and bring it back."

After Xu Wenhong finished speaking, he rode past him, then suddenly stopped his horse, looked at Jia Huan, and asked, "Who are you?" Jia Huan had been keeping his head down, not wanting to meet him, but unfortunately what he feared came true, so he had no choice but to dismount and bow, saying, "I am Jia Huan, nice to meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Xu Wenhong's eyes flashed with coldness, and his expression instantly became wonderful. He smiled and said, "So you are the Jia Huan, the prodigy who won six prizes in a row. Haha, you are indeed a handsome man."

Jia Huan said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "Your Highness, I am too humbled to accept your compliments."

Xu Wenhong was imprisoned by Emperor Qiansheng some time ago because of his involvement in the Yangzhou smuggling salt case. All the ministers and guards in the Eastern Palace were dismissed, making his position as crown prince unstable. In recent months, he has been restless day and night, walking on thin ice, and in a constant state of panic. It was only recently that Emperor Qiansheng lifted his house arrest. It was really hard for him.

In Xu Wenhong's view, the reason why he was in this misfortune was not unrelated to Jia Huan in front of him. If it weren't for this guy, Lin Ruhai would have died long ago, the Yangzhou smuggling salt case would not have broken out, the account book would not have fallen into the hands of Jinyiwei commander Yi Hong, and his illegal activities of intervening in smuggling salt for profit would not have been exposed.

Therefore, Jia Huan is undoubtedly the culprit! !
Xu Wenhong stared at Jia Huan meaningfully and said, "Since you are the top scholar, you must have been employed in the Imperial Academy. How about I ask the Emperor to transfer you to the Eastern Palace? I have always been eager to seek talents and respect them."

Jia Huan naturally sensed Xu Wenhong's ill intentions, and hurriedly said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince appreciates your kindness, but Jia Huan is not talented enough and is not worthy of serving the Eastern Palace."

"Mr. Jia is too modest." Xu Wenhong sneered twice and thought to himself, you kid think that unless you work in the Eastern Palace, I, the prince, can't punish you. Take your time, or you'll suffer.

Xu Wenhong looked at Xu Wenhou meaningfully again, and rode away, thinking, it seems that Jia Huan's vision is not very good. He actually hangs out with the good-for-nothing Old Seven. This prince has fallen into the hands of such a young man. It is such a shame and humiliation. I will not be able to live in peace unless I take revenge!

Seeing Xu Wenhong and his party walking away, Jia Huan was extremely depressed. Damn it, after overthrowing Prince Yi Zhong, here comes the Crown Prince. Is it possible that he can also overthrow him? This is very difficult.

Xu Wenhou asked in a puzzled voice: "Brother Jia has a grudge against the prince?"

Jia Huan shook his head and said, "Not really."

Xu Wenhou glanced at Jia Huan thoughtfully and whispered, "That's the best. To be honest, my brother is not very tolerant and is very stingy. If you offend him, you will inevitably be retaliated against."

Jia Huan frowned when he heard this. Given the other party's identity, there was no way he could take revenge on him.

"Brother Jia, why don't we go? So as to avoid meeting us again later." The fat man suggested, while secretly observing the changes in Jia Huan's expression.

Jia Huan asked back, "Seventh Master is afraid of him?"

Xu Wenhou hesitated and said, "I'm not afraid of him, I just don't want to cause trouble."

Jia Huan smiled and said, "Let's just go to the other side. The hunting ground is so big that we may not run into him again. Since we are here, how can we return empty-handed? Besides, Master Qi doesn't want to lose weight anymore."

Xu Wenhou nodded and said, "Yes, he went to the northeast, let's go to the southwest."

So Jia Huan and others rode their horses into the hunting ground from the southwest, while Shitou and a group of guards from the palace rushed into the woods to drive away the wild beasts. They were lucky, and soon a wild deer was driven out of the woods.

Xu Wenhou shouted excitedly, drew his bow and shot, but unfortunately his aim was so poor that he missed the target after three shots.

Jia Huan shot an arrow and hit the deer, but it missed the vital part and only injured the buttocks. The wild deer ran away like mad with the arrow in it.

Jia Huan squeezed the horse's belly hard and chased after the deer, shooting two arrows in succession, but unfortunately both arrows missed the target. Although his archery skills were good, Jia Huan's level was still a little lacking to hit a fleeing wild deer on a galloping horse.

They chased and fled like this, and no one knew how far they had run. The wild deer panicked and ran into a secluded valley. Jia Huan was overjoyed and immediately rode his horse to block the way.

Seeing that there was no way forward, the wild deer stood at the bottom of the valley in despair and looked back, tears welling up in its eyes. Jia Huan was about to shoot it with an arrow, but suddenly he remembered what Baochai had said, and his eyes could not help but look at the wild deer's round belly.

This was a female deer, and it seemed that she was pregnant. Jia Huan suddenly felt pity and slowly put down the bow in his hand.

At this moment, there was a bang of a bow string behind his head. Jia Huan's hair stood on end and he subconsciously lay down on the horse's back. A powerful arrow flew over his head and hit the wild deer's throat.

The wild deer fell to the ground, struggled for a moment and then became motionless, with blood flowing all over the ground.

Jia Huan frowned and turned to look, only to see Crown Prince Xu Wenhong standing on his horse at the entrance of the valley, with several guards beside him, looking at him and smiling coldly.

(End of this chapter)