sirius

It was getting late, the rain was still unabated, the sky was still gloomy, and there seemed to be not much difference between day and night.

The three internal officials came to Qi Xiao's tent and brought him a meal from His Majesty. Qi Xiao didn't want to be negligent, so he went out of the tent to greet them, and knelt down to thank him with courtesy: "I thank my father."

After handing over the food box, the leading internal officials respectfully bowed to Qi Xiao: "Greetings to Your Highness Ninth Prince."

"Thank you, father-in-law, for running this trip in the rain."

"It's my job to do errands for His Majesty, His Highness Ninth Prince is too polite."

"Since the father-in-law is here, let's go in and have a sip of tea."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, but I still need to go back and report to Your Majesty."

The inner officer took out another exquisite small box and put it in front of Qi Xiao, "Your Highness Nine, here is the winner of this round of hunting.

I wait here to wish His Royal Highness a successful start and take the lead. "

"Thank you."

Back in the tent, Lu Fangjin got out from the corner, first took the seat next to Qi Xiao, sat upright and waited for Zong Sheng to serve the dishes.

There are only four of them in this camp, and there are no rules at all. Baixiqiao is senior brother Qi Xiao, and Zong Sheng grew up with Qi Xiao. Zong Sheng ate at the same table with Qi Xiao when there were no outsiders in Chu Palace. Lu Fangjin happened to sit around a table.

Qi Xiao snickered: "Hey, General Lu has become more and more pampered since he returned to Yuanjing."

Lu Fang gave Qi Xiao a blank look, and rolled up his sleeves to help Zong Sheng arrange the bowls and chopsticks: "His Royal Highness, please."

"You really came here for dinner.

Why did you make His Majesty angry?Can you still eat? "

Lu Fang waved his hands, "That has nothing to do with Your Majesty.

It's just that your two elder brothers both hosted a banquet and posted a post for me. I was in a dilemma, so I had to come to your place to hide. "

"So they came to harm me."

Qi Xiao shook his head and smiled wryly.

"No one knows I'm here, don't worry."

Just as Lu Fangjin was about to eat, he saw the exquisite little box in Qi Xiao's hand and asked, "What's in it?"

"Say it's the winner of this round of hunting."

Lu Fangjin stretched out his hand to open the small box and said, "You don't understand again.

The lottery for hunting every year is prepared early in the morning. Before the hunting starts, His Majesty will give a clue about the lottery, which is an exam question.

If you can't solve the problem, let alone win the lottery.

Let me see what a puzzle it is. "

The small box was opened, and inside was a piece of wood carving, the head of a bird. Judging from its shape and size, a complete bird should lack two other parts, a body and a tail.

Baixiqiao was quite curious when he saw it, so he asked Lu Fangjin for a look, and asked, "Look at the bird's beak, it's a night heron.

But what does it mean to just give one head? "

As soon as Qi Xiao saw the wood carving, he had a guess in his mind: "It means that if you want to win the prize, you first need to find someone to form an alliance and get together a complete wood carving."

Baixiqiao was puzzled, and asked again: "That's not easy, there are three parts in total, it's not difficult to put together."

Lu Fangjin shook his head again and again, with a gloomy face on his face: "You don't understand, given the current situation of your prince, no one would dare to form an alliance with him."

"Why? According to the results of the previous two days of competition, we, Xiao'er, have achieved a lot of victories. All ten of our subordinates passed the first competition with high scores. In terms of strength, no one can match.

Since you want to hunt for the lottery, are you stupid not to form an alliance with us? "

Lu Fangjin sighed and snatched the wood carving from Bai Xiqiao's hand: "You're so stupid.

Now that the court has two points, Xiao'er got His Majesty's favor as soon as he returned to Yuanjing, and he stole the limelight in the first match, what do the other two think?If your lord is willing to choose one of the two to hunt for the lottery for them, then it will be easy..."

"Impossible!" Baixiqiao directly interrupted Lu Fangjin.

"That's why it's difficult."

Bai Xiqiao still frowned: "There are many people who passed the first competition in Baiyan Mountain Hunting, and it's not just those two. How come no one can form an alliance with us?"

Lu Fangjin sighed and shook his head, returned the small wooden carving to Qi Xiao, took a sip of wine, and satiated Baixiqiao's appetite before saying: "There are quite a few people who won, but only one of them dared to offend those two." No.

Among the military headquarters, although the five capitals, the five city guards, and the forbidden army have preferences, they never dare to stand beside a certain prince in front of His Majesty, so they will automatically group together.

The children of other aristocratic families are related to those two, and those who are strong will be picked away. The others know that they can't win, and they dare not win, let alone join forces with Xiao'er.

understand? "

"That...that..."

"Oh, that's not exactly the case." Lu Fangjin suddenly thought of something, turned his head and smiled at Qi Xiao, "There is still a Zhou country's protégé, Mr. Tang Ling, Mr. Tang.

Although he himself failed to pass the first competition, there are still three people under him who are good at riding and shooting, and they can still be used. "

Qi Xiao didn't speak until now, playing with the wood carving, he didn't answer Lu Fangjin's words, but said: "Since this wood carving is a problem, I guess it's not just a piece of the puzzle.

There should be other clues on the wood carving, otherwise, there are thousands of night herons, and any one can be the top one? "

"Well, it makes sense."

Lu Fang nodded his head, lifted his chopsticks to eat, and said while eating, "If I also participate in the hunt, I can help you secretly anyway.

Hey, what a pity, you wish for luck. "

Qi Xiao put the wooden carving back into the small box and started to eat. He had to think about the hunt.

"correct."

Lu Fangjin suddenly put down his chopsticks.

"how?"

"What if Tang Ling has a bird's head too?"

Qi Xiao rolled his eyes: "Eat yours."

What Lu Fangjin said is not impossible, but it is not what Qi Xiao is really worried about at the moment.

He had no interest in hunting at all, the first game was forced to help him, now he can't solve the woodcarving game, if he doesn't hunt for the first prize, he won't be able to hunt, and he doesn't have to win.

What Qi Xiao never figured out was why the fifth child wanted to play chess with Tang Ling?He didn't talk too much after losing, and left politely, as if he really just came to find Tang Ling to relieve his boredom?

"Lu Fangjin, how did you meet Lao Wu this afternoon?"

"Afternoon? You mean when I came to apologize to Tang Ling earlier?"

"Yes, why did you meet Lao Wu? And come with him?"

"What do you ask this for?"

"I haven't heard of Lao Wu's good chess skills."

"This..." Qi Xiao wouldn't think about it unless Lu Fang asked about it. Now that he thought about it, he thought it was strange when he met someone outside Tang Ling's tent, but he didn't have time to get into it.

Qi Xiao took a sip of wine, and the old fifth came and went today without deliberately embarrassing Tang Ling. Although he spent a lot of effort trying to win the chess game, he couldn't afford to lose. It didn't seem like Tang Ling offended the fifth Or the sons of Qin and Lin, it's really strange.

Lu Fang thought about it for a long time, but he was also very puzzled, and said: "His Highness the Fifth Highness has always been elegant, but his skill in piano and chess is not as good as Qin Zhao's. Ling, did you borrow His Highness the Fifth Highness to come forward?"

"If Qin Zhao just wants to play chess, it's okay to send someone to invite Tang Ling in the name of the fifth brother. Why condescend to come here? At that time, the fifth man said that he came to be a spectator... Where did he come from?"

Lu Fangjin was startled, and said in amazement: "When I met them, they came from... the direction of the Golden Tent!"

"..."

Lu Fangjin added another sentence: "Your Majesty is good at chess."

***

Not far away, in Tang Ling's camp, there was also food given by His Majesty, and there was also a small box with a piece of wood carving inside.

Tang Ling looked down at the wooden carving quietly placed on the red silk in the small box, seeming to be in deep thought, but Qing Lan didn't dare to disturb her, so she gave Ye Huai a wink: The food on the table is getting cold, talk quickly.

Ye Huai stood up straight, pretending not to notice.

Qing Lan wanted to open her mouth a few times, but she forced herself to hold back. He had offended Tang Ling just now, but now she dared to do it again, and could only stand there with Ye Huai, which made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

After a long time, Tang Ling finally reached out to cover the small box, Qing Lan breathed a sigh of relief, and listened to Tang Ling's order: "Ye Huai, quietly send this to the King of Chu."

"Yes."

The author says:

short transition chapter