On the day of Empress Xiuying, Bai Yunyu's death, Emperor Xianliang was busy preparing for his hunt. He was still clueless about what was happening, but he felt way too stressed with the problems in the empire. So he pushed the day of his seasonal hunt two days earlier.

Huang Shu hunted boar or fawn for recreation and would be followed by the generals. But since many generals had been stationed outside of the forbidden city, he only took two generals. He went with a small group of the entourage to guard him.

Huang Shu caressed the bow in his hand. This was not actually his. This was Bai Yunyu's bow. They often did this recreational hunting activity together before Yunyu got banished. Bai Yunyu was a ger, but he was a great warrior nevertheless.

In fact, Huang Shu had to admit that he got beaten by Yunyu a few times when they were sparring because Bai Yunyu's moved like a gentle river, his movement was so smooth and sleek, so whenever Huang Shu tried to attack, Bai Yunyu would dodge it easily, and even tease him few times by kissing his cheek or tickling his waist.

As if Bai Yunyu never took him seriously, yet, it was what made Huang Shu fell in love with Bai Yunyu.

Because Yunyu was always his place to return whenever he was lost over anything.

"But it was no more… at least not for a long time…"

Huang Shu had to do everything alone nowadays, and it took a toll on his physical and mental health. He had been too stressed and kept thinking about whether Bai Yunyu could help him. But his wife was now banished and was too stubborn to even apologize.

Huang Shu caressed the bow again. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about today's hunt, especially after he caressed Yunyu's bow. His conscience told him that he needed to see Bai Yunyu now because something might have happened to his wife.

'What is this empty feeling…' Huang Shu kept pondering as he mounted his horse, still holding Bai Yunyu's bow. He glanced back at the palace again, and his eyes darted at the path that would lead him deep to the forbidden city palaces until he arrived at Bai Yunyu's Cold palace.

'I feel like I've lost something today…' Huang Shu pondered. 'Did something happened to Bai Yunyu?'

This empty feeling was too disturbing for him. It was so sudden and swept all the good mood that he had for the day.

He felt that something had really happened to his wife. However, he was ready to lift the punishment of food ration for Bai Yunyu today. Hopefully, his wife would finally repent, and everything would turn back to normal.

'I will visit him after the hunt, then I will make sure that he is alright. He has been too thin since the last time I met him,' Huang Shu promised in his heart.

"Your Majesty, everyone is ready," one general told Emperor Xianglian, and the Emperor nodded.

"Let's go now," Huang Shu said.

The Emperor entourage left the forbidden city towards the forest quite far from the forbidden city. They'd usually take two or three days of the recreational hunt. It took few hours for Huang Shu's horse to reach the forest.

He led the way as he was very knowledgeable of this forest and ordered his entourage, "You guys don't need to guard me. I've been doing this since I was a kid. You can go hunt by yourself."

The two generals looked at each other. It was true that the Emperor always hunted alone. Well, usually, he would be accompanied by his male ger wife, Bai Yunyu. But after she was banished, nobody ever accompanied the Emperor.

In fact, nobody ever accompanied the Emperor on anything, even the Imperial Noble Concubine Xi, who was the mother of Crown Prince Huang Guowei. So it was possible that Emperor Xianliang still kept Empress Xiuying deep in his heart, but the generals were baffled with how Emperor Xianliang treated his Empress.

If Emperor Xianliang truly loved his wife, then why did he banished and tortured him like that?

Huang Shu went into the deep forest with Yunyu's bow. Somehow, he felt like using Yunyu's bow today, maybe for nostalgia because it had been two years since their last hunt together.

Huang Shu tied his horse in a tree and pulled one arrow from the quiver. He readied himself as watching closely if there was any movement from boar or fawn around. His sense heightened as he focused. He heard a rustle behind him and turned his back immediately.

But the rustle stopped, and nothing came out.

"What was that?" Huang Shu mumbled as he searched for his hunt target. He prowled, with his bow ready and a dagger on his belt. He closed his eyes because he continued hearing a rustle but couldn't find any fawn or boar.

It wouldn't be hard for him to defeat it if it was a tiger, but he should still stay careful and guarded.

Rustle.

Rustle.

"THERE!" Huang Shu drew his bow and released the arrow at his left. There was a man covered in all black with only his eyes showing. The man barely dodged the arrow and threw a dagger at Huang Shu.

Huang Shu unsheathed his dagger and deflected the dagger that was thrown at him.

Clank!

"Who are you! And who sends you to me?!" Huang Shu glared at the man who just attacked him. But the man only stared at him with hatred in his eyes. He unsheathed his sword and attacked Huang Shu.

"Not going to answer, huh?"

Huang Shu jumped back to retreat. He did a somersault and jumped to his horse. He unsheathed the sword that he hung on his horse saddle and fought the attacker who ambushed him for no reason.

Clank!

Clank!

The attacker lunged at Huang Shu, but Huang Shu dodged and attacked back with his sword. And it successfully left a noticeable cut on the man's arm.

"Urgh!" The attacker winced in pain as he actually lost the fight against Huang Shu.

Huang Shu looked at him coldly, and he was ready to attack again, "Tell me, who sent you, before I end your pitiful life."

***

Xu Jiansheng glared hatefully at Huang Shu. It shouldn't be like this. He knew that he was more skilful than Huang Shu. At least they were at the same level to fight.

But he got distracted when he saw the bow on Huang Shu's left hand. There was a name engraved on the bow, and it made Xu Jiansheng dazed for a second, causing him unable to dodge the last attack.

The name engraved in the bow was,

'Bai Yunyu, The Flower of Courage.'

Xu Jiansheng, who had been dead set on killing Huang Shu, finally hesitated. Because he remembered that Bai Yunyu wanted him to deliver the letter. And now that he confronted Huang Shu wasn't this the best time to deliver the letter?

'Tsk, fine, count this as my debt for Bai Yunyu,' Xu Jiansheng thought. He retreated and took a letter inside a bamboo stalk from his coat. He threw it to Huang Shu and yelled,

"This is the letter from your banished Empress, you ignorant bastard!"