An attendant imdiately raised his voice: "The hunting festival begins! Flower God, bless us!"
Everyone turned their eyes toward the Flower God altar, but Yue Mingxuan had not appeared.
Sui He who are watching this scene from below felt a jolt of panic.
Oh no, could the prince have fallen asleep on the altar?
She instantly regretted waking him up so early.
"Flower God, bless us..." The attendant called again, louder this ti, under the emperor’s slightly displeased gaze.
Only then did Yue Mingxuan slowly wake up.
He peeked over the edge of the altar and saw a dense crowd of people.
It’s disaster!
Panic welled up in him.
He rembered hearing soone shout "Flower God, bless us," but how exactly was he supposed to bless them?
After a second call, the crowd still saw no sign of him.
The emperor coughed in displeasure.
The attendant who is already sweating mustered all his strength and shouted once more: "Flower God, bless us!"
Seeing that he could no longer hide, Yue Mingxuan braced himself and stood up.
His hair had co undone from leaning against the wall while he slept and a gust of wind blew his hair straight down to his knees.
There he stood, motionless on the altar with hair flowing like black silk.
In his mind, he had already written his own judgnt: disrespectful? defying the royal family?
He guessed that historically, there’s must have been the prince who was punished simply for oversleeping.
With a heavy sigh, Yue Mingxuan knelt down waiting for the emperor’s decision.
The emperor on the high platform initially felt a flicker of anger seeing him kneel this way, but the sight of Yue Mingxuan’s obedience softened him slightly.
He also rembered the look in Rong Tieshan’s eyes when he had begged on Yue Mingxuan’s behalf and his heart softened further.
After a few minutes, the emperor cleared his throat lightly.
The attendant imdiately caught on and raised his voice: "Flower God, worship the heavens! One bow!"
Hearing this, Sui He finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The emperor’s magnanimity ant he would not pursue punishnt for the prince.
Her heart had been racing just monts ago.
On the altar, Yue Mingxuan chanically followed the attendant’s call: one bow, two bows, three... After completing the full nine bows and nine prostrations, tiny beads of sweat had ford on his forehead.
Though he didn’t understand why the emperor let him off so easily, he knew he had narrowly escaped a disaster.
Yue Mingxuan accepted the ceremonial offerings handed to him by the attendant behind him and respectfully placed them on the altar.
Cheers erupted from below and the annual hunting festival had officially begun.
After descending from the altar, Yue Mingxuan followed Sui He to the attendants’ changing room and quickly changed into the riding outfit sent by the attendants earlier.
Although he still reluctant, he had to admit, the outfit suited him perfectly.
When Yue Mingxuan walked into the crowd wearing the riding outfit, the surroundings suddenly fell silent.
He looked around and a little unsure of himself.
The mask was still firmly in place and he shouldn’t have anything particularly eye-catching, but why did everyone’s gaze fall on him?
Then his eyes caught a flash of red in the distance.
Just one glance and he realized that the person’s outfit was the sa style of couple’s riding attire he was wearing.
Perhaps people were paying attention because he and Shang Qinghua were wearing matching outfits.
Thinking this, Yue Mingxuan started walking toward that red figure.
Only when he got closer did he realize that the man in bright red wasn’t Rong Tieshan but Shang Qinghua.
It’s usually difficult for n to pull off bright red elegantly, but Shang Qinghua was an exception.
His black hair was tied up with a blood-red jade crown and it was paired with the red riding outfit.
His aura was handso and refined, with an undefinable hint of danger.
Yue Mingxuan finally understood the aning behind the crowd’s stares, they probably thought he was so flirtatious prince consorting with a powerful man.
Shang Qinghua squinted slightly as he watched Yue Mingxuan approach and stopping a short distance away.
As expected, the outfit he had carefully chosen suited him perfectly.
Yue Mingxuan paused for a mont, then turned toward the changing room.
He would rather skip this hunting festival than beco the gossip of this idle people.
Just as he turned around, he saw Rong Tieshan standing not far away, watching him intently.
For so reason, Yue Mingxuan felt a twinge of guilt.
Even though he hadn’t intentionally caused the situation, his actions must have caused trouble for Rong Tieshan.
Rong Tieshan took two steps forward.
The mont he saw Yue Mingxuan wearing the sa style of riding outfit as Shang Qinghua, he felt a fire burning inside him.
But he couldn’t let it show.
As the Prince of Beirong, he had to maintain an image of elegance and approachability.
Just as Rong Tieshan suppressed his anger, Yue Mingxuan stopped in front of him.
"I didn’t know this outfit was the sa as Shang Qinghua’s," he said.
When Rong Tieshan heard this, his anger eased slightly.
He extended his hand toward Yue Mingxuan, his tone still carrying a faint chill. "Let’s go."
Yue Mingxuan did not take his hand.
Instead, he adjusted the collar and cuffs of his outfit and obediently followed behind him.
The attendants brought the horses that had been prepared earlier.
Yue Mingxuan mounted the horse cleanly and gracefully, drawing cheers from a few young noblen nearby.
He exhaled inwardly.
Heaven knew, if his riding skills were graded out of one hundred, the score for mounting alone would already be above eighty.
From a distance, Shang Qinghua watched Yue Mingxuan mount the horse with ease.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
According to his secret guards’ investigation, Yue Mingxuan had never displayed such expert riding skills before.
There were only two possibilities: either his guards had hidden the truth, or this Yue Mingxuan was an imposter.
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