However, he didn't know that when his arrow was still half a foot away from the blood magpie, it was suddenly intercepted by another arrow flying from the east, and hit Shang Rui's arrow diagonally. There was a "clang" sound and the two arrows collided and fell down together in mid-air.
The blood magpie was really startled by the sound. It flapped its wings twice and jumped into the sky, disappearing without a trace.
"You!" Shang Rui turned around suddenly and looked at Yao Chuang angrily, "You cheated!"
Yao Chuang only came up with a quick idea when he saw Shang Rui was sure to win. Although it was not very fair, he had done it after all, so he naturally could not show weakness in front of Shang Rui and let him see his regretful expression, so he muttered quietly: "You didn't say before that we couldn't do this, at most we can just tie."
Shang Rui had never suffered such humiliation in his life. He frowned, dismounted, took a step forward, grabbed Yao Chuang's robe, and tried to pull him off the saddle.
Yao Chuang pulled him reflexively, but he couldn't hold back, and the horse's hoof slipped, and he fell off the horse. Shang Rui was also caught off guard, and he and Yao Chuang fell down the slope and rolled several times, all the way to the valley. The two men were face to face, grabbing each other's collars, glaring at each other, motionless, as if they were two tigers looking for each other's flaws, waiting for the opportunity.
Suddenly, "Haha" Shang Rui laughed out of nowhere for no reason, which made Yao Chuang very puzzled.
He let go of Yao Chuang, turned over, and lay on his back on the wet grass.
"Yao Chuang, you are really interesting." He said with a smile.
Yao Chuang pulled out the dry grass stuck on his head and said, "You are the interesting one, you were the first to get angry, and you were also the first to laugh."
"I haven't fought with anyone like this in more than ten years."
Yao Chuang muttered, "Does this count as a fight? I got into a fight with someone a few years ago, knocked out his teeth with one punch, and stabbed him with a knife. That man was the nephew of the master of Jinluo Prefecture, so he followed everyone to the Imperial Capital and pretended to be a resident to join the army."
"How did I offend you?"
"He stole my woman! He took her home as a concubine." Yao Chuang still feels so angry when he talks about it. If he hadn't been stopped by someone else, he would have killed the bastard with a knife.
Shang Rui nodded and put his hands behind his head again: "Have you slept?"
Yao Chuang was almost coughing up blood because of this simple and crude question. He didn't know whether to answer or not. After a long time of embarrassment, he asked, "Brother Chai, aren't you a scholar?"
"How can I call her your woman if we haven't even slept together?" Shang Rui asked.
“I…” Yao Chuang’s face turned red as if bleeding, and he was speechless for a moment.
"Anyway, she is devoted to me."
Shang Rui suddenly became quiet, as if he was thinking about something. After a long silence, he said, "What is a girl who is devoted to someone like?"
"You haven't got married yet, right?" Yao Chuang smiled.
"have."
"Your wife is not devoted to you. Is she having an affair with another man outside?" Yao Chuang glanced sideways.
Shang Rui stood up with a smile, but did not answer him. Instead, he stretched out his hand to help Yao Chuang get up: "Yao Chuang, you are my first friend."
Yao Chuang was stunned and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. He didn't expect the other party to say such a serious sentence and even gave him such a literary title. He said with some regret: "Actually, I lost just now."
Shang Rui smiled and said, "No, it's a draw. It's just that I rely on my better eyesight than yours." The implication is that Yao Chuang's arrow was able to catch up and hit his arrowhead, which shows that his arrow is indeed better than his. But Shang Rui would never say these words in person. He was convinced in his heart but he had to pretend to be convinced.
Yao Chuang didn't pay attention and said, "You've really hurt me this time."
"Why?"
"According to military regulations, leaving the camp without permission will result in twenty blows of the cane."
Shang Rui smiled and said, "You can't even handle twenty military sticks?"
Yao Chuang said, "That's not the case. The fat guy Li Jiang is on duty at the gate today. He used to withhold the salaries of the brothers. I didn't accept it and I sued him, but he didn't succeed and still made a record of it. This time he caught me with evidence, I'll be skinned alive if I don't die."
Shang Rui heard this without smiling or saying anything.
The two men turned back to find their horses and got out of the forest. They found that the parts of their clothes that were not protected by the thin armor were all torn by branches. They were in a very embarrassing state. However, they saw that more people had been sent to the entrance of the camp, but there was no panic at all. Shang Rui was glad that his disappearance had not been discovered yet.
He was stopped at the door by a fat, dark man who looked like an officer and had an overbearing manner.
Shang Rui thought, this person must be Li Jiang.
Li Jiang was just a patrol officer, not even a rank, so naturally he didn't know Shang Rui. He drew his sword as soon as he saw them, pointed it at the two men's faces, and shouted, "You two are the ones who secretly sneaked out of the camp?"
When Yao Chuang saw Li Jiang, he groaned inwardly. He didn't answer him and stood still, with an expression as if he was ready to kill him or chop him up and let him do whatever he wanted.
Shang Rui, however, glanced at the man coldly and used the handle of his bow to move the knife pointed at him away: "Master Li, the horses are all here. We took the initiative to return them. We did not steal them."
"Hey - you dare to talk back to a stranger? Since you and Yao Chuang are in cahoots, don't blame me for being cruel and ruthless. Tie you to a pillar, gag you, and whip you to death."
"Sir, we have violated military regulations and will be punished by military law. We are not asking for mercy for the crime of leaving the camp without permission. But we are all brothers in the army, so it is best not to pull out swords casually. Otherwise, people will say that you abused private punishment under the emperor's nose and tortured two small people into confessing, which would give others an excuse." Shang Rui's words were extremely cold and he spoke slowly, which really made Li Jiang feel uncomfortable, "You... you..."
When Yao Chuang heard Shang Rui's ridicule of Li Jiang, he laughed fearlessly.
Shang Rui was thinking in his heart, he certainly didn't want to reveal his identity, but he really wanted to stand up for Yao Chuang. But if Li Jiang got angry now, he would have to let Hongwu down and use him to block it.
As the saying goes, it is better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early. Just as Li Jiang had ordered his men to tie up Shang Rui and Yao Chuang, Hongwu came back.
When he saw Shang Rui tied up like a dumpling, he almost fainted on the spot. How come the place became a mess after he was away for a while? It really shouldn't have been allowed to let His Majesty act alone.
He dismounted and shouted, "Li Jiang, you still don't..."
He was stopped in the middle of his words by Shang Rui's look.
He took a deep breath and asked Li Jiang as calmly as possible: "What, what happened?"
Li Jiang replied with an almost flattering expression: "In reply to Lord Hong, these two people stole horses out of the camp and were finally caught by my subordinates."
Hongwu raised his eyebrows and glanced at Shang Rui.
Li Jia, who was blocked at the side, finally couldn't hold back and argued with everyone else: "No, sir, that's not the case!"
"Alright!" Hongwu raised his hand to stop the noisy voices. "I ordered them to ride out of the camp to do the work. The matter is urgent, and there is no time to give the order."
"Huh?" Hongwu's words shocked everyone present except Shang Rui.
Li Jiang was puzzled and asked, "Why did Lord Hong order them to go out?"
Hongwu frowned and said, "Do I need to report military secrets to you, 'Master Li'?" Then he quickly ordered his men to untie the ropes of the two men.
Yao Chuang secretly nudged Shang Rui's chest with his elbow: "Are you really a favorite of Lord Hong? He will take care of this kind of thing for you."
Shang Rui suppressed his smile and avoided Yao Chuang's gaze.
After the breakup, Shang Rui followed Hongwu back to the tent.
Ming Lian paced back and forth in the tent like a headless fly. When he saw Shang Rui, he knelt down with a plop and said with tears in his eyes: "Your Majesty, you are back."
Shang Rui then remembered that he had forgotten to greet Ming Lian in advance, which obviously scared him.
Ming Lian cried intermittently, "I came back and didn't see the emperor. I didn't dare to make a fuss or go out to look for him. I was afraid that if someone came, no one would be there to deal with him. What if the emperor just went out for a walk on a whim? Wouldn't I ruin his mood? But if there is really a bad person who wants to harm the emperor, I will delay the opportunity. If something happens to the emperor..."
"I'm back, so don't cry. I'll remember to tell you later." He had just finished listening to Hongwu's nagging when another one came.
Ming Lian wiped his tears, stood up to change Shang Rui's clothes, and as soon as he looked up, he exclaimed: "Your Majesty, your face!"
Hongwu looked over when he heard the sound and gasped.
Just now, outside the tent, the lights were dim and the night was dark, so I thought that Shang Rui had smeared his face. Now, under the light, Shang Rui had a cut about an inch long on his face, and the blood had dried. Although the depth of the wound was unknown, it was on the cheek, so it couldn't be any better. The two people next to him immediately began to tremble in their hearts.
Shang Rui saw that the two of them looked at him with strange eyes, so he reached out and wiped the wound, accidentally tearing it open, and then he felt a little pain. He was stunned for a moment, thinking that it was scratched by a branch when he was shooting arrows just now.
Ming Lian said: "Your Majesty, I will go and summon the imperial physician."
Shang Ruizhi said: "It's not a big deal, don't alarm them."
Hongwu said: "Your Majesty, this is not a big deal. Everyone can see it tomorrow morning. If a scar is left and the Queen Mother blames me, I can only die to apologize."
Shang Rui immediately got a headache. It came again and again, and he used this hand to threaten him again: "I will just say that I was accidentally scratched by something on the pillow when I was sleeping, that's it."
"Your Majesty!" Ming Lian knelt down again with a plop. "Then you must be blaming me for not taking good care of your food, clothing, and shelter, which has caused your Majesty to lose face and suffer from illness. I only beg Your Majesty to grant me an intact body."
Shang Rui suddenly felt that these two people were not seeking death, but wanted to force him to death, so he held his forehead and compromised, "Okay, okay, I'll listen to you." After saying that, Ming Lian immediately took off his tattered clothes for him.
The imperial physician arrived, followed by a large group of people, and Xu Jingye naturally came with them.
Xu Jingye and the imperial physician asked in unison: "Your Majesty, what is wrong with you?"
"Uh..." Shang Rui explained, "I just slipped when I walked to the door."
Although he felt that everyone was looking at him suspiciously, no one dared to speak.
The imperial physician carefully cleaned the wound and applied medicine, and asked Ming Lian to apply Qinghua Yulu ointment around Shang Rui's wound every two hours to prevent the wound from burning uncomfortably.
Xu Jingye said: "Eunuchs are bound to be heavy-handed. Go to the laundry room and find a careful maid."
The imperial physician thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he agreed with Xu Jingye's decision.
At night, he felt a burning pain on his face and he couldn't help but frown. But at this moment, a pair of soft and delicate hands were placed on his forehead, smoothing his frown, and then they took something cool and slowly spread it around the wound.
The cool touch slowly spreads, feeling extremely comfortable.
Shang Rui grabbed the hand and asked in a daze, "Who is it?"
But I heard a soft voice saying, "I am here to help His Majesty apply the medicine."
Shang Rui didn't open his eyes either. He hummed vaguely and said, "Your hands are pretty good. Keep going."
The woman couldn't hide her joy and said, "Yes." She continued her movements gently, but after a moment she changed her position and gently stroked Shang Rui's lips with her fingertips. Seeing that Shang Rui was not displeased, she tentatively kissed him.
She first pecked Shang Rui's lips lightly, then went deeper and deeper, her tongue slipping into his mouth and wantonly teasing the man on the couch.
Shang Rui suddenly grabbed her neck with one hand, forcing her to leave his lips, and then he applied a little force with his fingers, and the woman began to have difficulty breathing. She begged for mercy in pain: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty... This servant... is guilty..."
Shang Rui narrowed his eyes, looked her over, and said coldly, "I don't like women who take the initiative."
The woman suddenly became even more frightened, her breathing became rapid, her blood circulation was blocked, and her face turned red.
"However, sometimes there are exceptions." As Shang Rui spoke, he pulled her onto the couch, turned over and pressed the woman under him, his eyes casually glancing towards the tent door.
How could he not know about these tricks played by Mr. Xu
It's just that I have these thoughts because the queen has no children.
They sent him one after another, just to let the women of the Xu family have a dragon seed and make him the crown prince. In fact, why bother? It would be better to depose him and change the surname of the whole country to Xu, and the crown prince would not have to wait.
The next day, after Ming Lian dressed him properly, Shang Rui said calmly, "Go and tell the laundry department to give you a new one from today..." He thought for a moment and turned around to ask the woman, "What's your name..."
The girl said shyly: "My name is Wenjiao, Xu Wenjiao, not a maid in the laundry department. I am the second daughter of Xu Mu, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance."
"You came all the way here, and your uncle still said you were a palace maid in the laundry department. You're really wronged." Shang Rui smiled barely noticeably. The Xu family didn't have many sons and daughters, but it was almost common to adopt one from the side branch and send her to the palace.
He turned around and said to Ming Lian, "Find a new place for Wen Jiao to live. Go back to the palace and ask the Queen about the rest." After he finished speaking, he never looked back.
On the way back to the capital after the hunting expedition, Tian Yuan suddenly asked Helan Xun: "Brother Helan, do you think the emperor we are assisting will really be a great sage? Is our vision correct?"
He Lanxun saw what Tian Yuan was thinking and said calmly, "I believe in my choice."