So what if she's my sister-in-law? You seduced me first.

The warmth around the spring made it feel warm even as it snowed, so Ning Yu turned and left.

The next second, a chill swept over her. She didn't even hear the sound of water. The frost-like coldness swept over her and lifted her up.

Ning Yu hissed and turned around, only to see his face dripping with water. He was aloof and elegant, and if it weren't for the gloom in his eyes, he would have had a truly serene and refined air.

"Isn't Your Majesty cold?"

Xie Xun picked her up and left, saying, "I'm cold, take off your clothes and give them to me."

Ning Yu remained silent. After walking for a short while, they came to a wooden house. Qingfeng stood there like a ghost. When he saw His Majesty approaching with his body wet, he understood and opened the door.

When he heard the sound of water, he immediately ordered someone to fetch his clothes. There was a fire inside the wooden house, so it wasn't cold when he changed.

As expected of the emperor's lackey, he's like a tapeworm in his stomach. Ning Yu looked at the environment in the wooden house, picked up the clothes on the screen, and changed.

"What are you hiding for? Change right here."

Ning Yu ignored him and went behind the screen to change her clothes.

What he brought was a riding outfit. Xie Xun had promised to take her horseback riding, but an accident occurred and she fell off a cliff. After that, the two had a falling out and were giving each other the cold shoulder. She moved to a side hall and put the matter out of her mind. Could this guy be going to take her horseback riding?

As she was thinking, she suddenly felt a gaze from behind brazenly scrutinizing her body. Her eyes sharpened, and she turned around to meet his malicious eyes.

A quick glance revealed that he had changed into a set of casual brocade clothes, with a mink fur cloak over them.

So fast?!

"What, are you checking to see if I've finished changing?"

Ning Yu withdrew her gaze, using her clothes to cover her body, "Your Majesty, please leave after you've changed."

Xie Xun didn't go out. He added some firewood and waited for her to come out after changing her clothes. He then pulled her over and dried her still damp hair.

Not far from the hot spring, down the steep slope, lies Shaoluwei, a sparsely populated area that's a great place for hunting and horseback riding.

The two had a disagreement during the winter hunt, and Ning Yu stayed in the side hall and didn't go out to play. Xie Xun didn't want to keep her confined in the bedroom forever, so he took her out for walks whenever he had time.

A guard led over a pure black Akhal-Teke horse. Ning Yu recognized it at a glance as Xie Xun's warhorse, the one the little eunuch from the hunting ground had mentioned. She remembered it.

"Try sitting on it."

Ning Yu was not afraid at all. She stepped on the stirrup, flipped over, and jumped onto the horse's back. Before she could even get a firm grip on the reins, the wild horse beneath her galloped away as if trying to throw her off.

Her face tightened, and she quickly pulled on the rope and bent down. Her back pressed against a wall of flesh, and a slender hand wrapped around her and tightened the reins. With a shout, the warhorse reared up and neighed, galloping wildly across the field.

A sharp, long wind howled and swept in, like the roar of a ferocious eagle. They were riding too fast, so fast that they could hardly see the direction ahead. Ning Yu squinted as she watched him draw his quiver, her heart pounding.

Please, please don't let there be any cliffs or steep slopes. At this speed, we'll definitely rush down them. She doesn't want to die with him.

Few people come to this side of the deer enclosure. The winter hunting season is over, and there are not many wild animals brought in from the south. They are mostly for the emperor's hunting pleasure.

Xiao Zhiliu wanted to make a complete fox pelt by himself, so he greeted the guard and planned to come in and try his luck.

Xiao Yunnuan somehow found out he was coming here and insisted on coming with him, bringing Gu Ling along as well.

"Third Brother, you're calling Sister Gu, right? I won't bother you any longer. I'll wait for you in the main tent."

Xiao Zhiliu knew exactly what she was thinking. He stepped out of the snow and sneered, "Follow me, and don't wander off."

Xiao Yunnuan's eyelashes fluttered, and she smiled gently on her dignified and elegant face without saying a word.

Gu Ling glanced at the two siblings and smiled, "Is Yun Nuan cold? She's not dressed warmly enough."

"She's wearing more layers than you, so why should she feel cold? She insisted on coming along, so she'll have to suffer."

This third brother has always had a bad temper and is unreliable, but Xiao Yunnuan didn't argue with him and said good-naturedly.

"Third brother, I'm just worried about interfering with your time with Sister Gu Ling. Sister Gu just returned from mourning in Lingnan, and you two haven't seen each other for a long time, have you?"

Xiao Zhiliu glanced at Gu Ling's shy face, remembered what her mother had said, and said, "Miss Gu, you should go back first, it's cold outside."

Gu Ling could sense that he disliked the two of them following him around, as it restricted their ability to hunt and they had to take care of the two of them.

"Oh, Third Brother isn't worried about me getting cold, but he's worried about Sister Gu getting cold. He's really forgotten his sister now that he has a wife."

The teasing voices made Gu Ling blush even more. Xiao Zhiliu ignored them, put away his quiver, and mounted his horse.

"Third Brother, why don't you take Sister Gu with you? I'm not very good at riding horses, and I need a servant to hold the reins. I almost fell off when we arrived."

Xiao Zhiliu nodded and extended her hand.

Gu Ling took a few steps forward, placed her hand in his large hand, and he lifted her up with a force, placing her on the horse's back.

A biting wind howled as Ning Yu sat on the violently heaving horse, watching the wild deer whimpering and collapsing ahead. Her stomach was already starting to rumble.

"Let's go back, it's getting late."

This isn't a battlefield. Running this fast is unmatched. If it were a hunting ground with tens of thousands of nobles, royalty, and courtiers hunting, no one could match his speed.

Special guards packed all the hunted goods together and followed not far away. Her hair, which was simply tied up with a jade hairpin, was blown by the strong wind and seemed to have grown tentacles, jumping towards his face.

Xie Xun looked down at her face and suddenly felt his mouth go dry. He shouldn't have let her go when they were at the hot spring.

The snow had stopped, and the deer enclosure was filled with the howls of wild animals.

As the two rode back, they bumped into a group of people who were about to enter the camp. The two women, dressed in riding attire, were chatting and laughing. The man in front seemed to sense something and turned around to look.

"His Majesty."

A flicker of excitement crossed Xiao Yunnuan's eyes, but when she turned back, she immediately regained her composure and raised her eyebrows to look at him.

The smile that hadn't yet faded from her eyes froze instantly. Looking at the woman being carried down by His Majesty, she immediately realized that she was the lady who was about to enter the empress's palace, a widow who had remarried.

As soon as Ning Yu stood still, she noticed an extremely strong gaze. Following the gaze, she met a face as beautiful as jade.

The woman opposite her paused slightly, then smiled gently at her, appearing poised and graceful.

She glanced at Xiao Zhiliu, then at the woman bowing beside her, and her mind instantly clicked.

She was likely a woman from the Xiao family chosen by the previous dynasty, and she and a woman from the Lin family were to enter the palace as concubines, just waiting for the empress's investiture ceremony to be over.

She composed herself, smiled back, and then turned her gaze away.

"Wow, you've hunted so many! Give me this fox, I've been wanting to get a real fox scarf."

Xiao Zhiliu's smiling voice came over, and Ning Yu turned her head to look and saw him turning over the pile of prey that he had just hunted.

Xie Xun put his arm around her and led her into the tent. "Take it yourself."

Xiao Zhiliu was immediately delighted. What a good brother! It wasn't for nothing that he did so many shady things for him.