Song Mo Xun saw Dong Qi, the son of Guang En Bo, going away with a gentle and elegant demeanor.

  He was tall and handsome, wearing a phoenix helmet, dressed in a cyan brocade golden cloud silk skirt with fish scale leaves and bright armor, fully armed, quite majestic.

  The crown prince looked at the armor on his body and said in surprise: "This is..."

  He slightly bowed his head and respectfully said: "I also participated in the autumn hunt's horse shooting this year."

  Dong Qi was given a idle post in the Golden Armor Guard.

  The crown prince nodded slightly.

  Shen Qing smiled and walked around Dong Qi, sizing him up: "This suit of armor isn't bad."

  Empress Shen was born into a humble family, and the Shen family became nobles due to their relationship with the imperial family. The aristocratic young men in the capital did not take Shen Qing seriously, so she also didn't get along well with those aristocratic young men. However, there were two exceptions. One was Song Mo - he treated people indifferently, treating everyone the same, so Shen Qing had nothing to complain about. The other was Dong Qi - he got along well with everyone, and his relationship with Shen Qing was much better than with ordinary people.

  "This was specially ordered from Tianzhou," said Dong Qi with a smile. "If you like it, I can order a pair for you tomorrow."

  The helmet produced in Tianzhou, Guangxi has always been supplied to the military. It was very troublesome for Shen Qing to get one, but for his father Dong Qi, who served as the Right Military Governor of the Five Armies and was in charge of the Guangxi Garrison, it was an easy task.

  Shen Qing heard this and was overjoyed, saying without hesitation: "In that case, I'd rather obey than show respect!"

  The crown prince's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

  He said with a smile, "This is actually the flag of my old man that I secretly ordered privately. You must not say it out loud at that time."

  The crown prince listened and his complexion indeed improved a lot.

  Gu Yu looked at her with disdain.

  Song Mo glanced at Gu Yu.

  Gu Yu immediately returned to his previous respectful demeanor.

  Only Shen Qing didn't know anything and was worried that he hadn't even received his armor yet: "How can I say it's good?"

  Gu Yu looked up at the sky.

  Dong Qi smiled slyly and said, "Let's just say it was obtained from Song Da."

  The crown prince, Shen Qing and Gu Yu were all stunned.

  Song Mo said lightly, "Okay."

  He was so serious and solemn that he made the atmosphere extremely solemn, without any hint of humor.

  Tian Xi, can't you just nod randomly? No wonder others call you Song Da.

  The crown prince chuckled.

  A group of young people in magnificent attire walked through the ranks of soldiers who were just about to patrol and came together.

  They were all sons of noble families, and because it was autumn, they were not as restrained as usual.

  Everyone came forward to pay their respects to the crown prince.

  The crown prince spoke warmly and exchanged pleasantries with them.

  Everyone's situation is well understood, and the conversation topics include "I heard that your family's lady has injured her leg, is she better now?", "Are you used to working in the Golden Guard?", "Has the wedding date been set?"... Each person being asked has a gentle smile on their face.

  Song Mo glanced at Gu Yu.

  Gu Yu Chong smiled at Song Mo with a "heh heh".

  Everyone thronged around the prince and went to the prince's tent.

  Only Song Mo, Gu Yu and Dong Qi were left in front of Song Mo's account.

  Three people form an alliance and stand together.

  Seven or eight young soldiers wearing thick coats and chain mail, with large knives at their waists, walked over in this direction: "Is this the British Marquis's camp? We are from the left and right sentry posts of the Fifth Army Camp. This year we were summoned to participate in the autumn hunt's archery competition and have come to pay our respects to the British Marquis." The speaker's gaze swept around the three people, finally coming to rest on Dong Qi: "I've long heard that the British Marquis is a youthful hero... today I see him for myself. Truly, his reputation is not undeserved..."

  Dong Qi's face was already red and white, just about to say something, when someone shouted loudly "Song Shizi" and suppressed Dong Qi's voice. He walked over and said: "You seem to have grown taller than last year! This year my old friend Yin doesn't qualify for the autumn hunt's archery competition, so I brought a few younger disciples to come and greet you. Be careful not to lose the golden armor of the imperial guard deputy commander!"

  The speaker was eight feet tall, with a sturdy build and a swaggering gait. He laughed loudly, his voice booming like thunder, as he led a group of five or six young men who were flushed with excitement and pride.

  His name is Ma Youming, the son of General Ma Yichao of Xuantong. He works in Shenzhuiying. Four years ago, he came first in the autumn assessment, but nine-year-old Song Mo became the focus of everyone's attention, and his first place was left out in the cold. The following year, he lost to Song Mo by a single arrow; again ignored by people; In the third year, he still ranked second.

  He was promoted to deputy commander of Shen Zhongying this year, how can he still have the face to compete with these young people without a real job?

  Seeing Gu Yu, Ma Youming chuckled and said: "Little girl, you're following the young master to watch the excitement again!"

  Gu Yu's face twisted in anger, she jumped up and scolded, her mouth full of filthy language, leaving the tough men in the military camp staring at her in shock.

  Ma Youming pretended not to hear, went straight up and gave Song Mo a salute, pulled out a 17 or 18-year-old boy from behind him, saying: "Young Master, this kid is called Jiang Yi, he's the son of Dingzhou Wei's commander-in-chief, his family has a good background, our Shen Zhuang Camp is counting on him to compete with you!"

  Ma Youming's men swarmed forward to pay their respects to Song Mo.

  Song Mo returned the courtesy and nodded his head with a smile towards Jiang Yi.

  The person who had just spoken with Dong Qi was momentarily stunned, and after a moment, he widened his eyes and stared at Song Mo: "You, you're the British Duke's son?"

  Song Mo nodded.

  Ma Youming had already put his arm around Song Mo's shoulder: "We rarely meet, let's go to your tent and have a drink." At this point, Mu Dun walked past Dong Qi's side without a speck of dust.

  The people in Wujunying were suddenly furious.

  "How can you be so young?"

  "Is that for real? Look at him, so slender and tender, probably has never done any hard work before, how could he have gotten first place?"

  "Heroes emerge in their youth!"

  Dong Qi's face was gloomy and dark, like it was about to rain, and he quietly left Song Mo's tent.

  ※※※※※

  The next two days of hunting, Song Mo only watched from the sidelines until the third day's horse archery competition began, when he finally changed into his armor and appeared on the school field.

  Song Mo's mount, Fei Du, was a thousand-mile horse that had an advantage from the start, and with a score that exceeded the second place by three lengths, he won the first place in equestrian without any dispute or suspense.

  The archery competition began and he was scheduled to appear in the last round as last year's champion.

  Unexpectedly, it was Dong Qi standing at the other end.

  He quietly smiled and nodded towards Song Mo, his eyes however were cold as frost.

  Song Mo smiled and then focused on shooting arrows.

  The eunuch blew the horn soon after.

  The game is starting.

  At first, Song Mo was very stable and hit the target with every arrow. However, as time went on, his mistakes increased, and some arrows barely landed on the target, and if he hesitated for a moment, they would miss the mark entirely.

  The people on the platform couldn't help but exclaim "huh" and straightened their bodies, watching the school grounds with tense expressions, including the Emperor and the Duke of Britain and Guang Enbo.

  Song Mo might have also felt that his condition was not good. He did not continue to shoot, but closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before starting to draw the bowstring taut.

  The following arrows were all shot well.

  Despite this, with the two scores added together, Song Mo was ranked second.

  Dong Qi ranked first.

  He is the second noble son to win first place in the archery competition at the Autumn Hunt since Song Mo, all these years.

  Third place is Jiang Yi.

  Jiang Yi looked at Song Mo with great regret - Song Mo had only lost by one arrow to Dong Qi.

  Dong Qi stood there with an air of confidence, his eyebrows and eyes exuding a strong sense of ambition. His father's words echoed in his ears: "In the past, I didn't let you participate in the autumn hunt's archery competition because you weren't confident enough to defeat Song Mo. Rather than adding flowers to Song Mo's brocade, it's better to hide your light and wait for an opportunity. This time, the Jiang family has encountered trouble, and Song Mo will inevitably be affected. Whether or not you can win first place, whether or not you can defeat Song Mo in one move, all depends on yourself!"

  Now, he finally stood in front of Song Mo.

  On the platform, however, came the emperor's furious roar: "Bring that little scoundrel Song Mo to me. How dare he compete with me? I can shoot better than him with my eyes closed..."

  Song Mo was called in.

  "You stinky little brat, what have you been doing at home these days?" The emperor's voice thundered across the school grounds. "Do you know that you lost my deputy commander of the Golden Armor Guard? And I heard you've also learned how to gamble? Autumn is approaching and you're not preparing properly at home. What are you doing running around with a bunch of riffraff? If you don't take things seriously, I'll break your legs and send you to the Flag Hand Guard to tend to my horses. No, I'll send you to the Fengtai Barracks..."

  Inside and outside the school grounds, all was quiet.

  The emperor would scold the crown prince, scold Prince Liao, and scold Wang Yuan, and even scold Empress Dowager, but never scolded the Grand Secretaries, Marquises, and high-ranking officials. But this time, he actually scolded Song Mo.

  Everyone's eyes fell on Song Mo with envy.

  Dong Qi's mind was a mess and he no longer knew what his true feelings were.

  Since Song Mo has made a mistake, why doesn't the Emperor really want to punish him by sending him to the Northwest Great Camp?

  Fengtai Daying, I don't know how many sons of nobles and aristocrats shaved their heads to try to get in.

  Is this punishment or blessing?

  What's the point of getting first place by myself?

  At this time, what His Majesty is concerned about and what all of you kings, nobles, and ministers are looking at is still Song Mo.

  ※※※※※

  On the way back, Song Yichun and his son sat in a horse-drawn carriage together.

  "How could you do such a big thing without consulting me first?" He was both anxious and angry, his face flushed with redness. "If the Emperor thinks I taught you to test him, can we still leave the palace safely today? You're already thirteen this year, why are you still so childish and don't understand things at all?"

  Doesn't he even understand his own son? Is he the kind of person who gets agitated when others say a few words?

  Song Mo could only smile apologetically at his father.

  He considers himself a grown-up, but who knows, in the emperor's eyes he is still just a child.

  Song Yi Chun sighed and said, "From now on, it can't be like this again, do you understand? When your uncles get into trouble, we should help, but we also can't implicate our own family. Everything must have a limit. Fortunately, the emperor didn't get angry. If there really was an imperial edict, being able to go to Fentai Barracks to find a real job would be considered making up for past mistakes...". Along the way, they chattered and returned to the British Gong Fu.

  As soon as he stepped into the upper room, he heard a suppressed sob from Jiang.

  Jiang was always strong and resolute in the face of events.

  Song Yichun and Song Mo both looked tense and quickly stepped into the upper house.

  Jiang was lying on the imperial concubine's bed, crying so hard that she was almost out of breath. Her personal maids and serving women were also crying to the point of collapse.

  Hearing the noise, she lifted her head and tears fell more urgently: "Third brother, he...he passed away!"

  Like a thunderclap on a clear day, it struck Song Mo's eardrums with a buzzing sound, and it took half a day to hear the sounds around him clearly.

  The so-called wise uncle has passed away, leaving no one to inherit the family business, only a fifth uncle who only knows how to eat, drink and have fun. What will the Jiang family do? What about those young men who were exiled to Tieling with the third uncle, what will they do now?

  In a daze, he heard his father's slightly hesitant voice: "You see, should we let Tianci go to Liaodong? On the pretext of rushing to mourn, meet with King Liao and ask him to take care of Wu Di?"

  All males in the Chiang family above five years old were exiled to Tielingwei, while others followed Mrs. Mei back to their hometown, it is unknown if anyone went to pay respects...

  Jiang's eyes gazed at her husband with gratitude as she nodded heavily.

  ※

  Too tired, typos will be caught tomorrow!

  o(n_n)o~

  P.S: To be continued tomorrow!

  ※