Chapter 23

When Lin Que returned, Li Mu was being taught how to shoot arrows by Grand Princess Zhaoming, who was standing behind her.

“Don’t hook your thumb inward when pulling the string, or you’ll get hurt,” Grand Princess Zhaoming corrected Li Mu’s posture bit by bit. She was much taller than Li Mu, who wasn’t short herself, so she had to bend down slightly.

Lin Que approached them just as Li Mu released an arrow. Because the bow’s draw weight was too light, Li Mu couldn’t pull the string back very far, and the arrow didn’t travel far before landing in the grass.

Grand Princess Zhaoming patted her shoulder, encouraging her, “You have good intuition. Just practice building your strength.”

Grand Princess Zhaoming had never encountered someone like Li Mu before. Li Mu quickly grasped every instruction and remembered them without needing a second reminder. She seemed overly cautious, especially afraid of making mistakes, which gave her excellent execution skills.

Li Mu nodded, “Yes.”

Lin Que stepped forward at the right moment, “Teaching Weixi how to shoot arrows?”

Grand Princess Zhaoming asked, “What did they say?”

Lin Que casually replied, “What can they say? They can’t say anything.”

Opening the city gates in the middle of the night required an explanation to the court officials. However, neither the emperor nor the ministers who supported him dared to bring it up when they saw Lin Que at the morning court. This matter was brought up only when Lin Que signaled his own officials to submit a memorial.

Often, problems aren’t difficult to solve; the issue is letting them accumulate, becoming more numerous and eventually woven into multiple charges, which becomes troublesome.

When the problem was raised, Lin Que addressed it, crafted a legally sound excuse, and, in the end, received a light penalty of a few months’ salary. The matter was considered settled. In the future, who could challenge the emperor’s decision?

After court, he went to the cabinet. Since he had gotten up early, he couldn’t waste the trip. The emperor invited him to lunch, and in the afternoon, the troops that were supposed to return to the capital with Grand Princess Zhaoming also arrived. The emperor rewarded them with gold and silver for their success in suppressing bandits, more than the salary deducted in the morning.

Lin Que returned from the palace after reviewing the report on the bandit suppression. Everything was as calm and uneventful as usual, just like in the book, with the entire court quietly under the rule of King Yan.

However, King Yan wasn’t always so composed. Grand Princess Zhaoming took Lin Qiwu, who had finished her lessons, back to the Princess’s mansion, and Li Yunxi left with them.

Li Mu and Lin Que went back to prepare for dinner. While washing her hands, Li Mu tried to remove the archery thumb ring but failed several times. Her voice trembled slightly, “I can’t get it off.”

It was the first time Li Mu made such a sound, and before understanding the situation, the usually calm King Yan was startled.

The thumb ring, also known as a release aid, is often worn by archers on the hand that pulls the bowstring. It makes it easier to release the string. The thumb ring shouldn’t be too loose; it must fit snugly below the thumb joint. Otherwise, it could easily fly off when releasing the string, making removing it difficult.

It was Li Mu’s first time practicing archery, and she didn’t have her own thumb ring. She temporarily used one that Lin Qiwu found too big. She was worried from the start about what to do if it got stuck and couldn’t be removed. Fortunately, Grand Princess Zhaoming was confident that the size was suitable for Li Mu, and Lin Que helped her remove it with some effort.

This made Li Mu reconsider whether she should continue learning archery—what if one day Lin Que couldn’t remove it either?

Fortunately, Lin Que was knowledgeable about this. He measured Li Mu’s thumb and had a custom thumb ring made for her, which fit much better than Lin Qiwu’s and didn’t cause any more issues.

A suitable thumb ring isn’t as bulky as those seen in movies. The lower part needs to leave space to hook the bowstring, the upper part shouldn’t cover the joint, and the thickness should be adjusted based on the bow’s draw weight and string thickness. The custom-made thumb ring was not cumbersome to wear.

Li Mu thought the matter was settled, but a few days later, Lin Que gave her two more thumb rings, explaining that the thickness of fingers can vary slightly at different times of the day. The first ring was made based on measurements taken in the afternoon, and the other two were for morning and evening sizes.

Li Mu felt something was off and said, “I only practice in the afternoon.”

Lin Que replied, “Well, then we’ll make them based on the afternoon measurements from now on.”

Li Mu: In the future?

A few days later, Lin Que gave her two more thumb rings, one made of deer antler and the other of turquoise green glaze, saying that Li Mu didn’t have these materials and made them for her to wear for fun.

Li Mu: “…?”

A few days after that, Lin Que brought her a thumb ring carved with a jade beast face and another gold thumb ring engraved with lotus flowers and dragonflies, saying that these two were not good for archery but looked nice.

Li Mu saw that they were indeed beautiful but impractical for archery, purely decorative items.

“Wait a minute,” Li Mu quickly stopped him, afraid he would give her two more in a few days.

“Don’t like them?” Lin Que asked.

Li Mu: “Too many.”

“Really?” Lin Que didn’t think so and showed Li Mu his collection.

It turned out that Lin Que had a habit of collecting thumb rings since he started learning archery. The first few years, they were practical, but later on, he collected all kinds of materials, shapes, and patterns until he lost interest at seventeen. Even the late emperor had given him a thumb ring in his later years, joking about Lin Que’s teenage habit of buying new thumb rings. Lin Que had only managed a fake smile in response.

It wasn’t until Li Mu almost got her hand stuck while learning archery that Lin Que had a custom thumb ring made for her. It seemed to reignite his interest in making new thumb rings.

Li Mu’s fingers were different from his, allowing for a wider range of styles. Whether Li Mu wore them or not didn’t matter; he enjoyed the process. Li Mu thought of the behavior of buying three copies of the same book: one for collection, one for teaching, and one for everyday reading.

Well, it’s not entirely incomprehensible. Although it was expensive, other people’s hobbies had nothing to do with her, and there was no need to interfere. However, she felt pressured and uncomfortable with money being spent on her.

Li Mu and Lin Que were at an impasse over this.

Fortunately, their disagreement didn’t affect their daily lives. They still ate and drank as usual. When Lin Que had a headache, Li Mu massaged his head, and when Li Mu finished her homework, Lin Que reviewed it for her.

Until one day at the end of October, Lin Que received news that Gu Chi had gone missing.