Just as he was about to turn away, a small hand suddenly tugged at the hem of his robe.
“Thank you, brother,” the little pink dumpling gave him a sweet smile, tiny hand still clutching his robe as she turned to the chief eunuch following him. “This brother helped blow on it earlier, so it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
The moment Yintang saw Yinyou, he knew this prince with leg disability must be the Seventh Prince. Having practiced at the training ground for over a month, this was his first encounter with him.
In his previous life, Yintang hadn’t known much about Yinyou. The leg disability had eliminated him early from succession contention, and he only remembered Yinyou had eventually died a natural death.
Seeing Yinyou’s silent and withdrawn demeanor today reminded him of those “invisible” students in his class back then – ordinary-looking, average-performing, quiet-natured, unnoticed by teachers and excluded from all peer circles. Though physically present in the classroom, they were like transparent beings, silently watching others live out exciting lives while being forgotten by the world.
But no one was born to be forgotten or overlooked.
The chief eunuch heard his young master’s words and glanced at Yinyou.
Baofu had been carrying Yintang earlier, but when the Tenth Prince arrived at the training ground, Yintang asked to be put down, and the Ninth Prince followed suit. The two young princes ran so fast their attendants nearly couldn’t keep up. Unexpectedly, his young master had fallen, though fortunately without serious injury.
What surprised them was the Seventh Prince taking initiative with the Ninth Prince.
Everyone knew the Seventh Prince was out of favor. This had even affected the Daigiya clan – despite having given birth to a prince long ago, she remained an unfavored consort without significant status without receiving any formal title.
Though the Grand Empress Dowager and Empress Dowager maintained order in the rear palace, and Consort Hui had previously ensured adequate food and clothing, backbiting and differential treatment were inevitable in the palace where people habitually fawned on those in power and bullied the weak.
As for unrelated servants like them, they would never go out of their way to curry favor.
Still, since his young master had spoken, Baofu performed a ceremonial bow to Yinyou and expressed thanks.
Yinyou appeared somewhat restrained, nodding to Baofu before preparing to leave.
But the small hand tugging his robe hadn’t released its grip.
“Brother, are you here to practice archery too?” The little pink dumpling flashed him a big smile, asking in a milky voice.
“Mhm.”
“Let’s practice together, okay?” The little dumpling blinked her large eyes, asking with an expectant expression.
“This…” Yinyou hesitated. His poor physical condition required frequent breaks during training, and his archery skills were mediocre – even inferior to the Eighth Prince’s. By any measure, he wouldn’t make a good practice partner.
This was why he rarely practiced with the Eighth Prince, usually training alone in a corner.
Seeing his hesitation, the little dumpling’s fair face immediately scrunched up, small hand shaking Yinyou’s robe. “Brother, please?”
Before Yinyou could respond, the little dumpling turned to Yin E, who had stopped crying. “Tenth Brother, this brother is nice. Let’s practice with him, okay?”
Yin E had been helped up by eunuchs who dusted him off, and he was no longer crying.
Completely trusting Yintang without question, seeing how much his Ninth Brother liked this older brother, Yin E felt his Ninth Brother’s judgment must be right. He nodded vigorously. “Okay! Let’s practice together!”
The little pink dumpling and the little chubby dumpling both looked at Yinyou with expectant faces.
“Then… alright then…”
Yinyou lowered his eyelashes again, his voice barely louder than a mosquito’s hum. Yet he discovered, to his surprise, a faint secret delight within himself.
Yinyou led the two little dumplings to the corner where he practiced.
He watched as the little pink dumpling planted her hands on her hips, scanned the area, and finally settled on a flat, large stone. She directed the little eunuch who had been trailing behind to place the item he was carrying onto it.
Yinyou had noticed the object earlier—covered with a brown silk cloth, he had no idea what it was.
But the Ninth Prince showed no intention of unveiling the cloth. Instead, after setting the item down, he began fiddling with his small bow.
Yin E’s Anda had already arrived and started teaching him the basic stances.
Since Yintang and Yin E had come together today, much earlier than usual, and Ashumuergen and Yinsi had yet to arrive, Yintang was free to enjoy himself. He clasped his hands behind his back and strutted around the grounds like a little adult on his short legs.
However, whenever he approached Yin E, Yin E would stop practicing to chat with him. Under the helpless gaze of Yin E’s Anda, Yintang rubbed his nose and wandered over to Yinyou’s vicinity.
To his surprise, Yinyou’s archery movements were steady and accurate. Though not particularly fast, his shots were consistently on target, his bow drawn fully, and his arm strength was not weak either.
The only issue was that Yinyou couldn’t stand for long.
From the start of practice until now, it had only been about half an hour, yet Yinyou was already unsteady on his feet.
In truth, Yinyou should have rested earlier, but seeing his Ninth Brother watching, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to endure.
But his leg simply wouldn’t cooperate. Though hidden by his robe, his lame leg was trembling slightly. Soon, fine beads of sweat dotted his forehead.
He had no choice but to lower his bow.
How pathetic—Ninth Brother must think this older brother is useless… Yinyou thought with frustration.
“Brother, you’re amazing! You hit the target every time!”
The little pink dumpling bounced over to him.
Yinyou’s eyes widened slightly.
Since childhood, aside from his own mother and Consort Hui, no one had ever praised him.
So he had no idea how to respond to the little pink dumpling’s compliment.
Fortunately, before he could react, the little pink dumpling took his hand and pointed toward the stone where he had placed his item. “Brother, I have something wonderful to show you!”
Yinyou let Yintang lead him to the stone. With a gentle tug, Yintang pulled away the silk cloth, which slipped off like flowing water, revealing what was inside.
It was a square glass box filled with soil.
Finding the object peculiar, Yinyou felt too shy to ask what it was. He stole a couple of glances and saw many hollowed-out tunnels inside, though he couldn’t fathom their purpose.
“Brother, come quickly and look at the ants!” The little pink dumpling tugged Yinyou’s hand, urging him to lean closer. After gesturing to the two eunuchs behind them, two chairs were promptly brought over.
Yinyou obligingly sat in one of the chairs, while Yintang was lifted by Baofu onto the other.
Yinyou leaned in for a closer look. Up close, he realized the box was teeming with ants, crawling densely and incessantly.
Previously, Yinyou had never had any particular interest in watching ants.
First, he had been born with weak legs, and as a child, his natural leg strength was less than that of his peers, making it difficult for him to squat for long periods. Second, simply maintaining a normal life already consumed all his energy, leaving him with no extra attention to appreciate the joy of watching ants.
But he never expected that an ant’s underground nest would look like this.
“Seventh Brother, Ninth Brother, what are you looking at?”
Yinsi had arrived too. From afar, he noticed Seventh Brother and Ninth Brother huddled together, observing something, and curiosity got the better of him. He decided to check it out before training began.
“Eighth Brother.”
“Eighth Brother, you’re here!” Yintang pointed proudly at the glass box, his short legs dangling in the air. “This is called an ant observation box. You can see how ants live.”
“Oh?” Yinsi found it intriguing and leaned in for a closer look.
He had never understood why Fourth Brother was so fond of watching ants. Those tiny creatures seemed utterly unremarkable, busily scurrying about for scraps of food—utterly boring.
But today, after seeing the intricate structure of the underground ant nest, he realized how complex an anthill could be, comparable to a grand engineering project. It was simply astonishing.
Yin E, on his first day of archery practice, initially resisted the temptation and focused on learning for a while. But when he saw his older brothers gathered together, he felt as if countless ants were crawling inside him. He stomped his feet, handed his small bow to the Anda, and dashed over on his short legs, panting as he joined the excitement: “Seventh Brother, Eighth Brother, Ninth Brother, I’m here!”
The chubby little boy ran too fast and couldn’t stop in time, nearly tripping again. Luckily, Yintang and Yinyou steadied him from both sides.
Yinsi watched with great interest for a while before suddenly murmuring to himself, “If Fourth Brother saw this, he would be absolutely delighted.”
He and Yinzhen had lived together and were childhood playmates, so he was accustomed to calling Fourth Brother over whenever something interesting came up. And this, of all things, was Fourth Brother’s favorite—ants!
Unaware that Yinzhen had already seen this before, he turned to Yintang and asked, “Ninth Brother, may I call Fourth Brother over?”
Yintang, of course, was more than willing.
Yinsi rode his small horse to the archery range in front of the Archery Hall and returned with Yinreng, Yinzhi, Yinzhen, and Yinqi trailing behind him like a long string of Tanghulu.
Yintang thought to himself: …Eighth Brother’s influence is this strong?
Yinsi had first gone to find Yinzhen and explained the situation. Yinzhen then brought Yinqi along. As they were leaving, they happened to pass by Yinzhi’s training area, and Yinzhi, curious after asking a few questions, decided to follow as well.
Yinreng, seeing a line of people heading toward the southeast corner, sent someone to inquire. After hesitating for a moment, he too decided to join them.
“Hey, why are they all leaving?” The Eldest Prince tapped a little eunuch with his whip and questioned him.
“Replying to The Eldest Prince, they say Ninth Prince brought some kind of treasure, and all the Princes have gone to see it.”
The Eldest Prince’s personal eunuch noticed his master’s wavering expression and proactively asked, “Master, would you like to go and take a look?”
The Eldest Prince did want to go—after all, it had been mentioned yesterday that Han Ama wouldn’t be coming today. But since he had previously bullied his younger brother, and Ninth Brother had been cold toward him for over a month without saying a single word, he couldn’t bring himself to swallow his pride.
“Go where? Can’t you see I’m practicing?” The Eldest Prince, seething with frustration, lashed his whip in front of his personal eunuch, sending gravel flying and startling the eunuch so badly that his face turned pale. The eunuch retreated to the side, not daring to utter another word.
Over by the ant observation box, a crowd instantly gathered.
Yinzhen and Yinqi scanned the ant nest xue with their eyes.
“The queen ant seems to have given birth to baby ants!” Yinqi exclaimed excitedly, pointing at the queen.
Yinzhen leaned in for a closer look: “Hmm.”
“Is this big ant the queen?” Yinzhi followed Yinqi’s pointing finger and indeed spotted an ant much larger than the ordinary ones, surrounded by a pile of tiny white particles.
It was his first time seeing an ant observation box, and he found the creation of nature both marvelous and unbelievable. His eyes were instantly glued to it.
Yinreng also found the glass container novel from a distance, but the young princes had moved quickly, swarming around it in an instant. No one noticed he had followed them over or left a spot for him.
Unlike the thick-skinned Yinzhi, he couldn’t bring himself to push his younger brothers aside, so he stood on the outer edge, using his height advantage to peer inside.
When Ashumuergen arrived at the practice field at the usual agreed-upon time, he saw Yinzhi and Yinqi with their bottoms stuck out, Yinzhen and Yinsi squatting, Yinyou sitting, and Yintang and Yin E (Tenth Prince) standing, all tightly encircling a large rock.
Even two feet away from the crowd stood the Crown Prince Your Highness, currently on tiptoe, craning his neck to see inside.
Ashumuergen: …