Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

The two men tumbled off their horses and rolled down the grassy slope, with dry grass and loose soil swirling beneath them.

Before landing, Shen Qingya flipped himself over, put his arm under her armpits and pulled her into his arms, and placed his other hand between her head and the ground, protecting her head with his palm.

The two rolled to the bottom of the slope before stopping, covered in grass clippings and dust. Shen Qingya lay on her back on the grass at the bottom of the slope, her head resting on his chest, her forehead against his chin. Her crown had come loose and was askew to one side, her loose hair spreading over him.

He looked down at the person in his arms, and for a moment he thought he would see a panicked face, but she didn't.

Tuoba Zhao tilted his head back in his arms, and stray hairs slipped from his forehead, revealing his entire face.

Sunlight slanted down from above the grassy slope and fell on her face, illuminating her light amber pupils. There was surprise in her eyes, but beneath that surprise was a clear and cold feeling that he had never seen on the throne before.

She was as clean as a pebble soaked overnight by snowmelt, gleaming with a natural light in the morning glow. She had regained her composure during the fall; her gaze was focused, unwavering.

Shen Qingya's hand, which was supporting the back of her head, stiffened slightly. He remembered the moment she was thrown off the horse, and his waist tightened by half an inch, shifting his center of gravity slightly in the direction where he caught her.

The adjustment was so fast that he almost missed it, but it was definitely there.

A person who is truly terrified and at a loss for what to do will not react this way in the instant of being airborne. Only someone who is used to dealing with unexpected events can instinctively restrain themselves in the blink of an eye.

He suddenly realized how much of his judgment of her over the past few years had been wrong.

The two guards rushed to the top of the slope after him, then jumped off their horses and ran down the grassy slope, their faces ashen.

At the top of the hill, some members of the hunting party reined in their horses and peered out, while others dismounted and looked down the hill. Several marquises from the imperial clan exchanged glances and then quickly looked away.

Tuoba Lie reined in his horse at a distance, his face expressionless. He turned his head and whispered something to the guard behind him, who then spurred his horse to turn towards the bottom of the slope.

"...Your Highness." His voice was a little hoarseer than he had expected. He pulled his hand away from the back of her head, took her arm, and lifted her off him.

When the two stood up, they were only an arm's length apart. The king raised his hand to straighten his crooked crown, patted the grass clippings off his sleeves, and when he looked up again, his dignified imperial face had returned.

"Thank you," she said, her voice calm and even.

Shen Qingya lowered his eyes and cupped his hands in a gesture of respect: "It is my duty."

The two mounted guards finally reached the bottom of the slope. The leader knelt on one knee, his face as white as paper. "We failed in our duty to protect you. Please punish us, Your Majesty."

Tuoba Zhao glanced down at him and said in a low voice, "Get up. Go back to your unit and take your punishment."

The king remained calm and composed, and his movements as he mounted his horse were as swift as if nothing had happened. The two guards returned to their positions, standing on either side of her.

The hunting party formation not far away quickly regrouped, wrapping the king's position back in the center of the diamond-shaped guards.

As she rode back to her group, she passed by Shen Qingya. The white horse was not moving fast as it passed him, and her gaze was fixed straight ahead in the direction of the hunting party. However, the wind carried a very faint scent of ambergris from her hair, which brushed past his nose.

Shen Qingya mounted his horse, his bow still clutched in his left hand, his thumb unconsciously pressing against the inside of the bow arm, again and again, as if checking the lingering warmth left in his palm.

The hunting party continued galloping deeper into the meadow, the sound of hooves once again shattering the afternoon wind. But in the brief moment between pulling on the reins, he turned his head once more and glanced very quickly in the direction of the figure in dark blue riding attire.

On the viewing platform, a barely perceptible hint of disappointment flashed across Tuoba Lie's face.

He arranged for the roe deer to be startled out of the bushes, having calculated that the king's docile white horse would be frightened out of control and fall off its back in front of everyone. Everyone would see that the young monarch couldn't even handle a roe deer on horseback.

But Shen Qingya's grab was too fast; the scene of his disheveled state was cut off in an instant.

He turned his head to look at Xi Yueli on the other side of the viewing platform, and the disappointment in his eyes shifted, replaced by a layer of ill intent.

He straightened up from his horse. "Since the Grand Preceptor has inherited Fu Yuan's mantle, he must have inherited some of his riding and archery skills as well. Back in the autumn hunt, Grand Preceptor Fu Yuan shot an arrow that hit a bronze bell a hundred paces away, and the whole place cheered."

"Since the Imperial Advisor is sitting here today, why not show everyone what he's capable of? Our Imperial Advisor from Northern Shuo can't just be good at reading accounts."

His smile was meant for all the officials and civil servants present, but the malice hidden beneath it was directed at Xi Yueli alone. He wanted to make her look foolish in front of the entire court and completely dispel the pride she had built up with the Fu Yuan Iron Order and the accounts.

Xi Yueli put down her teacup and stood up. The hem of her black robe slipped off the mat. As she walked down the viewing platform, she passed by Tuoba Lie without even glancing at him.

A thousand paces away, the bullseye was only the size of a fingernail in the sunlight. She took the bow handed to her by the servant, held it flat in her hand and weighed it in her hand, then pulled out a black cloth strip from her sleeve, folded it twice, and blindfolded herself.

The whispers in the room seemed to be cut off by something, and Tuoba Lie's smile froze on his lips. He did not expect her to be blindfolded, and he did not expect that her bow-drawing posture after being blindfolded would be as steady as if it had been measured with a ruler.

When the bowstring is fully drawn, it emits a deep hum, and the sound of the arrow leaving the string is cut off by the wind. The arrow travels a thousand paces and precisely pierces the center of the bullseye.

Xi Yueli could only do what Ye Lan could do anytime, anywhere by closing her eyes and relying on her weak physical reflexes.

The viewing platform was quiet for a couple of breaths, then erupted in cheers even louder than when Shen Qingya's two arrows landed.

Someone stood up and clapped. Several military officers who had been following Tuoba Lie's lead also joined in the applause. They hesitated for a moment, but that hesitation was quickly overwhelmed by the rising atmosphere.

Xi Yueli removed the blindfold, and the sunlight flooded her pupils again, stinging her slightly. She handed the bow back to the attendant and turned to walk back to the viewing platform.

As she passed Tuoba Lie, she paused, tilted her head slightly, and the sunlight fell on her face from the side, illuminating the slight curve of her lips clearly.

"Your Majesty, this is just a routine practice like the Thousand-Step Target exercise; it's hardly a matter of showing off your skills." She walked past him, the hem of her black robe fluttering slightly in the wind.

Tuoba Lie stood there, his fists clenched so tightly under his dark red python robe that his knuckles turned white, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down twice, but in the end he didn't say a word.

After the first day of the autumn hunt, the aroma of roasted meat mixed with the spiciness of strong liquor wafted through the tents at the evening palace banquet.

Shen Qingya sat in the middle of the table, holding a cup of wine in his hand. His gaze drifted over the rim of the cup towards the throne for a moment, so brief that even he himself might not have noticed.

He saw that Tuoba Zhao was listening to the members of the royal family beside him, his smile polite and indifferent, just as before.

But the lingering sensation of his thumb pressing against the outside of the wine glass, the steady heartbeat she felt when she was nestled against his chest, the quick adjustment she made to regain her balance in mid-air, and the clear, sunlight-drenched light in her eyes when she looked up at him.

When did she learn that skill? Did Fu Yuan teach her, or did it grow on her own? Or had she always had it, but never let anyone see it?

He downed the wine in his glass in one gulp, and as he put the glass down, his gaze drifted back in that direction again, this time a beat slower than before.