"What did your dad say about who resembles the Emperor?"
"My dad and the others only said that the Fourth Prince resembles the Emperor."
Zhao Yao pouted and said, "Fourth Brother doesn’t resemble the Emperor at all." That nasty Emperor, Fourth Brother is nothing like him.
"Boss, where are we going hunting next?"
"Where did you go hunting last year?" Zhao Yao asked, "We’ll hunt nearby; let’s not stray too far, otherwise Fourth Brother will worry about us." If we wander too far, we might run into trouble.
Chu Huan pointed northwards: "Boss, we go to that forest every year. People rarely go to the northern forest, but there are not many big games."
"Although other places have lots of game, there are also many people, and we won’t be able to compete."
"Boss, if you want to catch more game, go to the eastern forest."
Zhao Yao thought for a moment and said, "Let’s go to a forest with fewer people; let’s go to that northern forest you used to go to." He didn’t want to win first place, catching ferocious game like bears or wolves. He just wanted to catch a few foxes and deer.
Inside the main tent, the Emperor lay on the couch, legs crossed, his hands behind his head, humming a tune—a rather improper tune if you listened closely.
Sun Kui stood by his side, puzzled to see he wasn’t going hunting.
"Your Majesty, aren’t you going hunting?"
"No." The Emperor turned over, lying on the side on the couch with his head resting on his arm, speaking in a dull tone, "I want to rest."
"Didn’t you just say you were going hunting?" Sun Kui reminded him, "Several princes and generals are waiting for you."
At this moment, Shen Hu shouted from outside the tent, "Your Majesty, are you ready?"
The Emperor pursed his lips and then got up saying, "I am just going to humor them."
Sun Kui quickly followed him out.
Seeing the Emperor come out, the Crown Prince and Shen Hu hurriedly bowed to him.
"Your Majesty, shall we compete again this year?"
The Emperor gave Shen Hu a sidelong glance and said, "Lao Hu, when have you ever won against me?"
Unwilling to concede, Shen Hu said, "This year, I might just beat you."
"How about this, Lao Hu, if you win against me, I’ll reward you with the best wine from the palace."
Hearing this, Shen Hu’s eyes sparkled with excitement, and he said energetically, "Your Majesty, you said it."
"I said it." The Emperor said, mockingly sizing Shen Hu up and down, "Lao Hu, if you lose, what do you plan to give me?"
Shen Hu said, "I’m at your disposal."
"Father Emperor, I also want to compete with you." Prince Dai suddenly interjected, "I haven’t hunted with you for years and want to see how I measure up."
The Emperor raised his hand, patting Prince Dai on the shoulder, smiling broadly, "Alright, let me see if you’ve improved over the years."
Hearing this from the Emperor, Prince Dai grinned happily, "Father Emperor, I won’t hold back later."
The Emperor raised his hand to tap Prince Dai on the head, jokingly scolding, "Do I need you to hold back? If you lose to me later, don’t come crying to me."
"Father, I’m not a child; there’s no way I’ll cry." Prince Dai said, glancing at the Crown Prince standing to the side, "I also haven’t hunted with Big Brother for a long time, how about Big Brother join us in the competition?"
The Crown Prince had already guessed that Prince Dai would invite him to compete. He smiled and declined, "I’m not good at hunting, so I won’t join you in the competition."
"Big Brother, are you afraid of losing to me and Father?" Prince Dai deliberately provoked the Crown Prince with these words.
"I’m no match for you and Father." The Crown Prince admitted straightforwardly, "Second Brother, you and Father go ahead and compete."
Prince Dai didn’t expect the Crown Prince to admit outright that he wasn’t his match, catching him by surprise. He thought that with the Crown Prince’s temperament, a little provocation would surely trick him into agreeing to the competition, but he didn’t expect the Crown Prince to simply admit to being inferior.
"Big Brother, are you really not going to join us in the competition?"
"No, I won’t embarrass myself." The Crown Prince said with a smile.
At this time, the Fourth Prince and the Third Prince approached.
Seeing the Fourth Prince and the others arriving, Prince Dai invited them to join the competition.
The Fourth Prince and the others were certainly willing to participate.
Thus, the Emperor led Prince Dai, Shen Hu, and the others to the eastern forest.
Although the Crown Prince did not participate in the competition, he followed them to the eastern forest.
Meanwhile, in the northern forest, Zhao Yao and the others were confused.
"Where are the animals?" Zhao Yao and his group had been in the northern forest for a while but had not seen a single animal. "Didn’t you say there are foxes and deer here? Why haven’t we seen any?"
Chu Huan and the others also found it strange.
"Boss, we didn’t lie to you. Although the game in this forest isn’t numerous, there are foxes, deer, and wild rabbits."
"Last year, we caught a few wild rabbits in this forest."
"We saw several deer in this forest last year, but we didn’t manage to hunt any."
"And foxes, both white and brown ones, but unfortunately, we didn’t catch any."
Zhao Yao looked around again. In this forest, apart from birds, there were no other animals.
Chu Huan frowned, saying, "This is too strange; why is there not a single game?"
"Yeah, even if we can’t see foxes and deer, at least there should be wild rabbits, but there’s not even a rabbit."
"Besides us, there are no other people in this forest. Even if there were others, it’s impossible for them to have hunted all the game in this forest."
Zhao Yao suddenly recalled the Eighth Prince’s warning before they left. A chill ran through him. Something is wrong with this forest. No, it’s dangerous.
"Since there are no animals in this forest, let’s move elsewhere." They couldn’t stay in this forest; they needed to leave quickly.
Chu Huan asked, "Boss, where are we going?"
"To the southern forest," Zhao Yao said, "Let’s go now, or we’ll end up with no game by noon."
Chu Huan and the others, unaware of the anomaly, followed Zhao Yao out of the forest.
After exiting the northern forest, Zhao Yao looked back, then nonchalantly rode towards the southern forest.
When Fourth Brother returns from hunting, I’ll remind him just to say there are no animals in the northern forest. With Fourth Brother’s intelligence, he should be able to guess the anomaly in the northern forest.