CH 53.1
Chapter 53.1 – A Sudden Accident (1)
The Rong State lost a round, but the competition was still in progress, especially because the next two competitions were archery and riding. Archery was archery, but the riding part originally meant driving a carriage. However, most carriages nowadays were usually driven by coachmen, so this competition item had been changed to horse riding.
Horse-riding and archery were household skills for the barbarians. They were born on the grasslands and grew up on horseback. Often, they would start riding a horse as soon as they learned how to walk. It was an advantage that people of the central plains could not compare with. Therefore, their previous defeat did not worry the Rong State envoys. Although those from Liang were happy, their joy didn’t last for long because the next round was going to be hard.
This time, it was Lu Qipei’s turn to draw the lots, and she drew the Connected Arrows out of the five ways of archery. The so-called Connected Arrows referred to shooting one arrow, then firing another three arrows right on the tail of the previous one. The arrows would stack on top of each other, connected together. In short, it was about shooting arrows at the same spot in succession.
This wasn’t something easy to do. Each arrow was no thicker than a finger, making each arrowhead hit the tail of the previous arrow required great archery skills, and was much harder than doing a three-point shot in basketball.
Seeing that Lu Qipei was so unlucky to draw the Connected Arrows, the officials of Liang could not help but sigh. The Crown Prince also turned to look at his sister beside him, but he didn’t see any worry in Qi Yang’s eyes. He couldn’t help but say, “Do you trust him that much?”
Unexpectedly, Qi Yang just shrugged indifferently and said, “This competition doesn’t matter anyway, just treat it as playing around.”
The Crown Prince paused when he heard those words, and he suddenly regretted having told everything to Qi Yang so quickly. Seeing her so nonchalant now… No, her eyes looking at Lu Qipei was still shining so bright, but she was not nervous at all. It was somewhat a pity.
The siblings stood far away from the competition arena, so their conversation obviously wouldn’t delay the competition’s proceedings.
Xie Hongyi confidently walked past Lu Qipei while holding a bow, shot an arrow right in the bull’s eye, then shot another three arrows and finished the Connected Arrows. In spite of his young age, his riding and archery skills were very impressive. His precise arrows drew a lot of applause from the audience.
After shooting the arrows, Xie Hongyi passed by Lu Qipei again looking very confident. His head and chin were slightly raised, and he occasionally glanced sideways, just like a victorious little rooster.
Honestly, Lu Qipei found it a little funny. The foreign boy’s emotions were basically written all over his face. Although she was a little displeased by his provocations at the start, now that she took another look at him, she thought that he really was just a boy. It really wasn’t something worth worrying about.
Lu Qipei ignored him and walked forward with her bow and arrows. She drew the bow and nocked the arrow, then let loose the arrows continuously, almost in the span of a single breath.
It was the same one arrow at the bullseye followed by three arrows behind, but Lu Qipei’s archery skill was obviously beyond the crowd’s expectation. After a moment of silence, another round of applause rang in the arena. It was even louder than the one for Xie Hongyi, because most of the people there were from Liang.
Xie Hongyi didn’t expect that he couldn’t get an advantage in archery, which was his specialty, so he was very upset.
The lead envoy patted him on the shoulder and comforted, “You have done your best. The opponent is just as good, so you can’t be blamed.”
This match was another draw. After this one, Xie Hongyi’s previous arrogance was gone. Thinking of the three remaining matches, his gaze at Lu Qipei turned more solemn.
Xie Hongyi continued drawing the next lot, and the one that was drawn was the Luan’s1 Cry of the five arts of equestrianism. This was also one of the more difficult skills. The so-called Luan’s Cry corresponds to the sound of Luan while riding a carriage. To put it simply, wind chimes and the likes are hung on the carriage, and when it moved, the wind chimes would make a sound. Under the control of the driver, the sounds of these bells would be gathered into music.
This required the driver to have an excellent skill in maintaining his posture, and complete cooperation from the horse. But now, because they’re riding a horse instead of a carriage, it was changed to a bell tied on the horse’s neck.
Lu Qipei and Xie Hongyi both changed into their riding clothes, and an attendant led two tall horses from the royal stables. The horses were very docile; the two only needed to touch the horses’ necks and feed them some sweet black bean soup, and the horses obediently let the two ride them.
Xie Hongyi got on top of the horse with a clean and neat movement; it was clear that his riding skills were amazing. Lu Qipei also did not delay and got on the horse with a calm and relaxed attitude, not at all timid when facing a strong opponent like Xie Hongyi.
Both of them were handsome youths, and showed a heroic appearance as they trotted around the field on horseback.
Xie Hongyi obviously cared a lot about this competition. On every match, he would strive to win, and this time was not an exception. After running a lap with the horse, he had familiarized himself with the ringing of the bell on the horse’s neck, and told Lu Qipei, “I’ll go first.”
Lu Qipei did not argue with him. She pulled the reins and rode her horse to the side, giving him complete access to the wide road.
Xie Hongyi didn’t understand what it meant to be polite and immediately rode the horse forward. Controlling the rein and lightly kicking the horse’s belly, the horse underneath him seemed to understand what he wanted and slowly adjusted its pace.
Gradually, the previously chaotic bell sounds became orderly, and the jingling of the bell vaguely turned into a melody.
Lu Qipei grabbed the reins and tapped her finger on the saddle following the tune of the bell. It was not surprising that Xie Hongyi managed to get the rhythm so quickly – there was no doubt that the Rong State boy was really blessed in terms of riding and archery.
She could barely compete with him in archery, but for the Luan’s Cry, unfortunately she would probably lose. It’s not that she couldn’t do it, but she was unfamiliar with the horse, and wouldn’t be able to get it under her control as quickly as he could.
Just when she was thinking that way, the originally orderly bell sounds suddenly became chaotic.
The Rong State lost a round, but the competition was still in progress, especially because the next two competitions were archery and riding. Archery was archery, but the riding part originally meant driving a carriage. However, most carriages nowadays were usually driven by coachmen, so this competition item had been changed to horse riding.
Horse-riding and archery were household skills for the barbarians. They were born on the grasslands and grew up on horseback. Often, they would start riding a horse as soon as they learned how to walk. It was an advantage that people of the central plains could not compare with. Therefore, their previous defeat did not worry the Rong State envoys. Although those from Liang were happy, their joy didn’t last for long because the next round was going to be hard.
This time, it was Lu Qipei’s turn to draw the lots, and she drew the Connected Arrows out of the five ways of archery. The so-called Connected Arrows referred to shooting one arrow, then firing another three arrows right on the tail of the previous one. The arrows would stack on top of each other, connected together. In short, it was about shooting arrows at the same spot in succession.
This wasn’t something easy to do. Each arrow was no thicker than a finger, making each arrowhead hit the tail of the previous arrow required great archery skills, and was much harder than doing a three-point shot in basketball.
Seeing that Lu Qipei was so unlucky to draw the Connected Arrows, the officials of Liang could not help but sigh. The Crown Prince also turned to look at his sister beside him, but he didn’t see any worry in Qi Yang’s eyes. He couldn’t help but say, “Do you trust him that much?”
Unexpectedly, Qi Yang just shrugged indifferently and said, “This competition doesn’t matter anyway, just treat it as playing around.”
The Crown Prince paused when he heard those words, and he suddenly regretted having told everything to Qi Yang so quickly. Seeing her so nonchalant now… No, her eyes looking at Lu Qipei was still shining so bright, but she was not nervous at all. It was somewhat a pity.
The siblings stood far away from the competition arena, so their conversation obviously wouldn’t delay the competition’s proceedings.
Xie Hongyi confidently walked past Lu Qipei while holding a bow, shot an arrow right in the bull’s eye, then shot another three arrows and finished the Connected Arrows. In spite of his young age, his riding and archery skills were very impressive. His precise arrows drew a lot of applause from the audience.
After shooting the arrows, Xie Hongyi passed by Lu Qipei again looking very confident. His head and chin were slightly raised, and he occasionally glanced sideways, just like a victorious little rooster.
Honestly, Lu Qipei found it a little funny. The foreign boy’s emotions were basically written all over his face. Although she was a little displeased by his provocations at the start, now that she took another look at him, she thought that he really was just a boy. It really wasn’t something worth worrying about.
Lu Qipei ignored him and walked forward with her bow and arrows. She drew the bow and nocked the arrow, then let loose the arrows continuously, almost in the span of a single breath.
It was the same one arrow at the bullseye followed by three arrows behind, but Lu Qipei’s archery skill was obviously beyond the crowd’s expectation. After a moment of silence, another round of applause rang in the arena. It was even louder than the one for Xie Hongyi, because most of the people there were from Liang.
Xie Hongyi didn’t expect that he couldn’t get an advantage in archery, which was his specialty, so he was very upset.
The lead envoy patted him on the shoulder and comforted, “You have done your best. The opponent is just as good, so you can’t be blamed.”
This match was another draw. After this one, Xie Hongyi’s previous arrogance was gone. Thinking of the three remaining matches, his gaze at Lu Qipei turned more solemn.
Xie Hongyi continued drawing the next lot, and the one that was drawn was the Luan’s1 Cry of the five arts of equestrianism. This was also one of the more difficult skills. The so-called Luan’s Cry corresponds to the sound of Luan while riding a carriage. To put it simply, wind chimes and the likes are hung on the carriage, and when it moved, the wind chimes would make a sound. Under the control of the driver, the sounds of these bells would be gathered into music.
This required the driver to have an excellent skill in maintaining his posture, and complete cooperation from the horse. But now, because they’re riding a horse instead of a carriage, it was changed to a bell tied on the horse’s neck.
Lu Qipei and Xie Hongyi both changed into their riding clothes, and an attendant led two tall horses from the royal stables. The horses were very docile; the two only needed to touch the horses’ necks and feed them some sweet black bean soup, and the horses obediently let the two ride them.
Xie Hongyi got on top of the horse with a clean and neat movement; it was clear that his riding skills were amazing. Lu Qipei also did not delay and got on the horse with a calm and relaxed attitude, not at all timid when facing a strong opponent like Xie Hongyi.
Both of them were handsome youths, and showed a heroic appearance as they trotted around the field on horseback.
Xie Hongyi obviously cared a lot about this competition. On every match, he would strive to win, and this time was not an exception. After running a lap with the horse, he had familiarized himself with the ringing of the bell on the horse’s neck, and told Lu Qipei, “I’ll go first.”
Lu Qipei did not argue with him. She pulled the reins and rode her horse to the side, giving him complete access to the wide road.
Xie Hongyi didn’t understand what it meant to be polite and immediately rode the horse forward. Controlling the rein and lightly kicking the horse’s belly, the horse underneath him seemed to understand what he wanted and slowly adjusted its pace.
Gradually, the previously chaotic bell sounds became orderly, and the jingling of the bell vaguely turned into a melody.
Lu Qipei grabbed the reins and tapped her finger on the saddle following the tune of the bell. It was not surprising that Xie Hongyi managed to get the rhythm so quickly – there was no doubt that the Rong State boy was really blessed in terms of riding and archery.
She could barely compete with him in archery, but for the Luan’s Cry, unfortunately she would probably lose. It’s not that she couldn’t do it, but she was unfamiliar with the horse, and wouldn’t be able to get it under her control as quickly as he could.
Just when she was thinking that way, the originally orderly bell sounds suddenly became chaotic.
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