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This game is not only about the skill of catapults, but also about the luck of each person. It seems that it is not too offensive. However, when the word "prize" was heard, the people present smiled but were shocked. An upright old minister who was not optimistic about the prince of Nanzhao opened his mouth to dissuade the saint, but Lu Shiqing quietly pressed the back of his hand to indicate that he could not do it.
The old minister also knew that interrupting at this time would violate the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects, so he could only shake his sleeves and endure the anger in silence.
Emperor Huining pondered for a while, then laughed out loud: "This is an interesting way to play, let's do as you say." Then he turned around and ordered the eunuchs, "Hurry up and send someone to make the arrangements."
Lu Shiqing immediately recognized the "arrangement" that the old emperor meant, and thought that he was not willing to be petty and say that he was unwilling to give a prize. He was also afraid that if Xi Ju really won, the emperor would ask for a huge sum of money, so he planned to send someone to do something.
Xiju smiled when he heard this, stroked the jade ring on his little finger, and remained silent.
Lu Shiqing noticed his action, blinked lightly, played with the teacup in his hand, raised his eyelids slightly to look at him, and when he saw him looking back, he offered him tea as a gesture of respect from afar.
Xi Ju accepted the greeting in a friendly manner, raised his head and drank the tea in one gulp as if it were wine.
Soon, someone brought a few cages of birds tied with books and silk. Emperor Huining seemed to be in a good mood. He turned to look at his sons present and said, "Who among you wants to compete with the prince?"
The second prince Zheng Ji responded immediately.
Since the Lingnan Iron Mine incident was exposed, the Second Prince, who had been imprisoned in the palace for more than half a year, was finally pardoned by the Saint. Now that he saw that his father hoped that someone could suppress Xi Ju, he stood up. He was a warrior, so playing with a slingshot was naturally no problem.
Emperor Huining nodded with satisfaction, and then asked his other sons, of course skipping the sickly Ninth Prince, and finally nominated three others including Zheng Zhuo, as well as two military commanders to participate in the competition. After saying that, he glanced at Yuan Yu and said, "Would Shichen like to join in, too?"
Yuan Yu waved his hand and refused: "Your Majesty, I won't embarrass you. My sister is good at slingshot, so you might as well ask her to try."
Yuan Cixian paused when she heard this, and looked at Lu Shiqing with a guilty look. She was very good at using a slingshot, so good that one slingshot made the third place winner fall off his horse in public, falling flat on his face.
Lu Shiqing raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Why did she look at him like that? Could it be that she had realized that as his fiancée, she had to ask for his consent before she could show up in public
He winked and motioned for her to play, he didn't mind.
Yuan Cixian, however, pretended not to see it. With a pouty mouth, he turned to the Saint and said reluctantly, "Your Majesty, I don't want to play. These birds are so cute, why shoot them to death? It's too cruel."
Emperor Huining was choked by her words, as if he was accused of cruelty by a little girl, which made him feel embarrassed. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Then tell me, what should we do to avoid being cruel?"
Yuan Cixian was just looking for an excuse to avoid showing off her slingshot skills in front of Lu Shiqing, but the sage was willing to change the rules for her, so she had to say, "How about this... if the bird survives, the mark will count."
Emperor Huining's eyes lit up, he pointed his index finger at her and praised, "This method is more interesting!"
Several princes and generals immediately broke out in cold sweats. Interesting? Shooting a bird with a golden bullet, and making it fall to the ground without dying, this is not interesting, it is simply forcing the bird to do something impossible.
It was just that the saint had spoken, and no one dared to disobey. Xi Ju also nodded in agreement, and praised Yuan Cixian for her kindness.
Yuan Cihan smiled at him with a forced smile. Since the saint had changed the rules for her, she could no longer refuse. When the competition began, she stood on the stage with the princes and generals.
The doors of the seven golden cages were opened one by one, and hundreds of birds of different colors suddenly fluttered up from the sky above the rain pavilion, attracting everyone to look up.
One general wanted to take advantage of the situation, so he held the slingshot tightly in his hand, picked a bird nearby, and shot a bullet, but he didn't expect that the bullet was too strong and hit the bird's chest directly. The bird fell to the ground with a thud and died in an instant.
The palace maid bent forward to clean it and put the dead bird into the basket.
The second prince learned from this experience and was more careful when he shot. He tried his best to control the direction and strength, so that the golden bullet would smoothly pass by the bird's wings. This shot was quite accurate, but the regret was that it did not shoot the bird down, but instead alerted the snake, causing it to hide in the corner of the pavilion eaves.
The rest of them also failed one after another. For a moment, Yuan Cihan, Zheng Zhuo and Xi Ju were the only ones left on the ring who had not made a move. The three of them watched silently until a gust of east wind blew by. Then they seemed to have a common idea and they all raised their hands, drew their bows, and shot a golden bullet at the flock of birds gathered in the east.
Three bullets were fired in a split second. The three bullets broke through the air but did not hit a single bird. Instead, they flew through the flock of birds, startling them and causing them to flee in panic and crash into the water curtain. The water curtain was thin, and because the wind was blowing inward, it soaked the wings of the birds. Several chicks with sparse hair soon slowed down their flapping speed due to the heavy load and slowly fell to the ground.
Emperor Huining struck his palm three times in a row and said, "Excellent!"
Queen Liang beside him also whispered with a smile: "Liu Lang and Ci Xian are extremely wise."
Lu Shiqing smiled helplessly when he heard this. He smiled because Yuan Cixian was indeed very smart, but he was helpless because she, Xi Ju and Zheng Zhuo had a natural rapport.
The palace maid was wondering who the fallen birds belonged to. She stepped forward and grabbed the book and took a look, but found that none of them were marked, so she picked them all up into the basket and signaled that the competition should continue.
Seeing this, the other princes and generals followed the three's method and waited for an opportunity to act. Only the second prince seemed a little dissatisfied with Zheng Zhuo. His face was gloomy and his nostrils twitched. He used the old method to shoot birds. After a few times, he got the hang of it and got a few pieces of books and silk, but none of them had a mark.
Seeing this, Yuan Cixian stopped to watch again. Most of the birds surviving above Ziyu Pavilion were fully-fledged, and would not be easily broken by the spring water. Moreover, since their colleagues had already sacrificed themselves before, they would not fall into the old trick. Moreover, she suspected that Emperor Huining had arranged very few marks. Instead of shooting aimlessly like this, it would be better to find out which pieces of silk should be shot down.
She thought for a moment, then took out a bullet and shot it at a bird near the water curtain, but she did not hit the bird, but the golden bullet hit the silk hanging around its neck. The bright yellow silk floated towards the water curtain, and was instantly soaked by the water, and its color became darker.
She squinted and saw that there was no ink writing on it, so she looked for something else.
This method was quite cunning, and it looked like cheating, but it actually did not break the rules. However, after she fired several bullets in succession, she still could not see the so-called mark.
After an incense stick of time, the number of birds in the sky above the Ziyu Pavilion decreased, until only a few remained, and no one had caught anything. Yuan Cixian came to his senses a little. Perhaps Emperor Huining had not prepared any sign at all.
But she couldn't figure out how the old emperor would tell Xi Juyuan
When all the birds had flown away, everyone present looked at each other in bewilderment, and they could not help but have the same questions as Yuan Cixian. The old emperor was understandably worried that Xi Ju would ask for too much, but it was probably not right to tease someone in public like this.
Just when everyone was worried and puzzled, Lu Shiqing suddenly glanced at Yuan Cihan, and his hand hidden in his sleeve pointed upwards in a direction that only she could see.
Yuan Cixian suddenly came to his senses and shot a bullet towards the eaves of the pavilion where he was pointing. With a loud "bang", a brown bird outside the water curtain was startled by the sound.
Everyone was surprised that there was still one bird that had escaped, but they soon realized that the bird was probably not released from the cage, but was secretly placed outside the pavilion by Emperor Huining. And the book and silk it was carrying must have been marked.
After all, there were more than a hundred birds flying in the pavilion just now, so it was not surprising if one ran away. Even if Xi Ju had some thoughts in his heart, he would not turn against the saint on the surface. In this way, the scene was perfect.
After successfully scaring the bird away, Yuan Cixian fired the second shot almost without pause, this time aiming at the bird.
However, Emperor Huining underestimated Xi Ju's ability. The moment Yuan Cixian made her move, he quickly drew his bow. Although he was a step slower than her, his arm strength was amazing and his shooting skills were superb. He shot down her golden bullet without missing a beat, and then shot another shot at the bird that was flying away.
Zheng Zhuo suddenly raised his head, rushed forward, and almost at the same time, he also shot a bullet.
At this moment, the bird had flown far away, and only a vague shadow could be seen through a layer of water curtain, but the two golden bullets chased it accurately, and after breaking through the water curtain, their momentum hardly slowed down and they both hit the bird's body.
With a "bang" sound, the bird fell to the ground. Everyone's heart tightened, but Yuan Cixian had already anticipated the result: Zheng Zhuo's goal was not to win, but to prevent Xi Ju from winning, so this bullet must have been aimed at killing the bird. Without looking, one could tell that the bird was definitely dead.
The palace servant hurried down the pavilion to pick up the bird's body. After a moment, he presented the dead bird to the Emperor Huining, who was holding his breath, and said, "Your Majesty, the book on the bird's neck has a mark, but the bird is dead. Two golden bullets hit the bird, one on its chest and one on its wing."
The implication was that the one who hit the bird's chest would die, while the one who hit the bird's wing would be the winner of the book. But the problem was that the golden bullets all looked the same, and most people present didn't have the eyesight to see clearly what was going on. Even if they did see clearly, their explanation would not be convincing, so naturally there was no way to determine the winner.
This was another example of Xi Ju's wisdom. If he had hit the bird's chest, Emperor Huining would have declared both of them losers. But the situation was a bit tricky. The old emperor had already cheated once, and it would be a bit unreasonable to say that he would not give the prize to anyone again. So after signaling Yuan Cixian and others to return to their seats, he said, "In this case, I will give half of the prize to Liu Lang and the Crown Prince, respectively."
The old emperor's words were quite clever. The word "discretion" meant that there was no winner or loser, and there was no prize, but he was willing to show some favor. This was to gain the upper hand and prevent the minor from making excessive requests. If he still made an excessive request, he could still "discretion" refuse.
According to etiquette, Emperor Huining should have asked Xi Ju what he wanted as a prize, but perhaps he was a little dissatisfied with the way Xi Ju fought for the bullet that knocked down Yuan Cixian, so he turned around and asked Zheng Zhuo with a smile: "What does Liu Lang want?"
In fact, Emperor Huining was already quite satisfied with Zheng Zhuo's performance today. Even if he didn't ask, he would be rewarded in the future. Zheng Zhuo naturally chose to retreat in order to advance after assessing the situation. He said, "I don't want anything, but the weather has been hot and humid recently, and the mosquitoes and flies are bothering me. I heard that my mother always sleeps restlessly at night. If my father can give her some incense, I will be very grateful."
Emperor Huining seemed to be more and more satisfied with his son, and he kept praising him for his filial piety. He immediately ordered the eunuchs to make arrangements for Zheng Zhuo's mother, Xue Cairen. As for the so-called "half" prize, he naturally didn't care about it.
After the appreciation was over, the old emperor looked at Xi Ju and asked, "What does the prince want?"
Xi Ju looked a little embarrassed and replied, "I'm afraid I can't get what I want with 'half'."
Everyone was startled. If it couldn't be calculated halfway, could it be a city
Emperor Huining raised his eyebrows and said, "You tell me first."
Xi Ju was silent for a moment, then reached out and took off the jade ring on his little finger: "I would like to ask your majesty to marry the owner of this ring."
Yuan Cixian and Shaohe raised their heads together.
There was an uproar all around, and the ministers looked at each other, all wondering who the so-called owner was. Even Emperor Huining was a forgetful man, and for a moment he was confused and had no idea what the jade ring was.
Lu Shiqing blinked lightly and said nothing.
Xi Ju has already started to explain: "In the early years, our Nanzhao once presented a piece of fine unpolished jade to your majesty. This jade ring in the style of a woman was probably made by your majesty and then given to the nobles in the court. The owner of the ring is here today."
Emperor Huining then vaguely realized that this was indeed the case, and continued to think about who he gave the ring to. However, Empress Liang had already remembered the truth, her face changed drastically, and she glanced at her daughter.
Shao He's face turned pale, and she clutched the sleeves of her clothes tightly. The next moment, she saw Xi Ju looking over and smiling at her, "It's Princess Shao He."
Yuan Cixian frowned. She originally thought that Xiju had mistakenly thought that the ring was hers, which was why he had provoked Lu Shiqing. But now it seemed that he had already found out the real owner of the ring, and had come for Shaohe from the beginning.
If Xiju wanted to marry her, she would not worry too much. No matter how proud or foolish Emperor Huining was, he would not act so recklessly because of a competition and ask her, who was already engaged, to marry the prince of another country and make the Great Zhou a laughing stock of the world. But now that the target has changed to Shaohe, it is a bit difficult to deal with.
Emperor Huining had also been in high office for many years and had been through many ups and downs. Even though he was surprised, he did not show it on his face. He just pretended to be enlightened and did not even ask how the ring came into his hands. He smiled silently and said, "In this case, the 'half' plan is indeed not feasible. Prince, why don't you try another trick."
Xi Ju smiled calmly and said, "What if I show enough sincerity to make up for the missing half?"
There was dead silence all around. Shao He had kept his eyes lowered and remained silent since he first raised his head, only trembling slightly in his sleeves.
Empress Liang looked at Emperor Huining with pleading eyes, and as expected, she saw a trace of hesitation in him. Seeing that he did not say anything final, but instead tried to test her, "It is not in accordance with etiquette for the Crown Prince to ask to marry my daughter with the prize of a competition. Moreover, Shaohe is the apple of my eye. She will never marry off to your Nanzhao with just a little so-called 'sincerity'."
What this means is that I want to hear what he can come up with.
Xi Ju nodded slightly and said, "Xi Ju understands. I beg Your Majesty to move to the Purple Palace so that I can have a word with you for a moment."
Emperor Huining was silent for a moment, patted the back of the empress's hand to comfort her, then announced the end of the banquet and motioned Xiju to follow him.
Everyone watched the saint leave, and they all secretly guessed the intention of Nanzhao's move, but they did not dare to reveal it in front of the queen. They waited until the nobles left one after another before they began to whisper to each other.
Yuan Cixian felt uneasy, so she said hello to her brother and left with Lu Shiqing. When she got on his carriage and no one was around, she asked anxiously, "What's going on in Nanzhao?"
Lu Shiqing didn't answer for a moment. He looked down at the two red marks on her fingers, grabbed her hand, bent down, took out a porcelain bottle from the medicine box under the carriage, and applied the ointment inside to her.
The two red marks were caused by the slingshot. Although Yuan Cixian had some accomplishments in martial arts, she was still delicate and tender. It was inevitable that she had hurt her hands a little in the competition just now.
She looked down at his delicate movements and couldn't help choking. She said silently, "No need to apply ointment to such a minor injury." Then she sighed, "I was still a little slow. It would have been better if I hadn't given Xi Ju a chance to win the prize."
After Lu Shiqing had applied the medicine to her, he raised his eyelids and said, "It's already very good. This matter has nothing to do with you. If Xi Ju was determined to win, even if there was no competition today and no ring, he would still be ready to bring up this matter. If he was not determined to win, he would not be able to come up with conditions that would be attractive to the saint, and then Shao He would naturally not be sacrificed."
Yuan Cixian frowned and asked, "Which one do you think it is?"
Lu Shiqing looked at her and said, "You already know the answer." Otherwise, why would she frown
"Can Xi Ju really come up with conditions that will make the Saint give in?"
Lu Shiqing nodded.
She was filled with hatred towards Nanzhao and said anxiously, "Although Xiju's actions had nothing to do with the ring, Shaohe was sincerely helping you at the beginning... Do you have a way to make the Saint change his mind?"
She had not mentioned the origin of the ring to Lu Shiqing before, but she just assumed that with his ability, he would be able to find out the truth, so she did not explain further at the moment.
Lu Shiqing was silent for a while and said, "I understand morality and gratitude, but I'm afraid the conditions Xi Ju is willing to propose are not something I can change with just my words. I can't do anything about this matter."
Yuan Cixian frowned and wanted to say more, but he interrupted her firmly: "Do you want me to die for the remonstrance?" He looked at her steadily, "Yuan Cixian, I am not afraid of death, but if I save Shaohe at all costs, what if you become the one to be sacrificed?"
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