Chongfei Manual

Chapter 112

Chapter 112

The carriage driver couldn’t drive him away, so he asked the woman inside the carriage, “Madam, what should we do…”

Jiang Miao Lan closed her eyes. A long time later, she slowly opened her eyes and her firm voice traveled outside, “Ignore him.”

Hearing her order, the carriage driver looked at Wei Kun with impatience. Because he was someone from Wu Rong, his temperament was rather brutal. Previously, he had felt apprehension because they were in Da Liang, so he acted politely by not directly running this person over. Now, after receiving Jiang Miao Lan’s order, the carriage driver whipped the back of the horse and mercilessly moved the carriage forward in Wei Kun’s direction!

Stunned, Wei Kun opened his eyes wider and quickly moved to the side to evade. The horse’s legs heavily came down on the spot that he had recently firmly stood and caused dust to rise. As the gorgeously decorated carriage passed by him, the wind swept up the carriage’s window curtain for a moment. Through the gap between the window and the curtain, he saw a familiar face. Before he had time to carefully look, the carriage was already far away.

He froze in place and looked in the direction the carriage had left in. He was so stirred up that he couldn’t control himself.

It was her. It really was her!

So many years had passed. She had finally returned.

When he had clearly heard Jiang Miao Lan’s voice, he could almost immediately confirm that it was her. Because when she spoke the final syllable, her gentle and charming voice was slightly raised and dragged out. He would never forget her voice.

When did she return? Why was she with people from Wu Rong? Where had she gone during the past years? Did she come back to Duke Ying’s residence to see her two children?

Wei Kun let his imaginations run wild. During this impulsive mood, he almost chased after her. However, after mounting a nearby jubube red horse, he had a sudden thought and stopped. At this time, she probably no longer wanted to see him. If he rashly went after her, he would increase her loathing. Just like recently, she wasn’t willing to even see him for a moment and cold-bloodedly ordered the carriage driver to drive past him.

Wei Kun tightened his grip on the reins. Blue veins protruded on the back of his hands. He struggled for a long time, but he still chose to jump off the horse.

The gatekeeper at the entrance came up to greet him. Wei Kun handed the reins to him and didn’t enter the residence. Instead, he called out to the normally hidden shadow guards and ordered, “Follow after that carriage. Find out where it stops at and where the people inside the carriage live… No matter what you find out, tell me.”

The guards wearing deep black clothing nodded their heads in acknowledgment, “This subordinate will do as you ordered.”

Wei Kun didn’t say anything else. Lost in his thoughts, he walked back into the residence.

Wei Luo had recently returned to Pine Courtyard from Banyan Tree Courtyard. Seeing him, she remembered the protective charms she had asked from Ci Temple. She curved her apricot eyes and brightly approached him, “Daddy, I went to Ci Temple with Chang Hong and asked for a protective charm for you.” Then, she took out an embroidered crimson sachet from her sleeve. The protective charm was inside. She handed it over to Wei Kun. “This was personally blessed by the abbot. It’s guaranteed to give you a lifetime of peace and safety.”

Wei Kun inattentively accepted the item. He held it in his hand and twirled it around twice. She didn’t know what he was thinking about. Suddenly, he lifted his head and looked at Wei Luo with a burning gaze, “Ah Luo, when you went to Ci Temple, did you see someone?”

Wei Luo tilted her head. Confused, she asked, “I saw many people today. What type of person is daddy asking about?”

Wei Kun paused, thought for a moment, and finding it difficult to mention this topic, he said, “For example, a person you find familiar…”

Wei Luo considered his words for a while, then she shook her head and said, “I haven’t.”

Wei Kun’s eyes inevitably showed disappointment. He nodded and didn’t say anything else to Wei Luo before walking towards his study

Normally, he would definitely be very happy to receive this protective charm. He would praise Wei Luo for being thoughtful and ask her where she went after leaving Ci Temple. But today, he was reticent. He probably didn’t even know what he was holding in his hand as he desolately walked away.

Wei Luo stood in place and looked at his figure from behind. The smile on her face had already gradually disappeared and left behind an unfathomable expression.

——–

Today was the equestrian archery competition.

The competition was held in the palace’s western training area. Many young warriors were invited to attend. The training area was vast and people couldn’t see the end point at the entrance. At this time, it was late autumn. The autumn scenery was desolate with withered vegetation and fallen leaves everywhere. When the cold wind swept past, it added to the heroic atmosphere. On the northern side of this site, a simple platform was constructed with two levels for the people to watch the competition.

Wei Luo and Liang Yu Rong had been especially invited here by Zhao Liuli to support Da Liang’s warriors.

As an honorable princess, Zhao Liuli was sitting behind a decoratively carved, red sandalwood table with curved ends that was next to Emperor Chong Zhen and Empress Chen. As a result, Wei Luo and Liang Yu Rong were also in the spotlight and sitting in the top layer. The field of view was very good here. In a single glance, they could clearly see the entire competition area.

There were two rows of people standing in the competition area. One row was Wu Rong people wearing their native clothing. The other row was Da Liang’s warriors dressed in deep black robes embroidered with golden thread. Wu Rong people were slightly rugged with tough and stocky builds and looked rather scary.

In contrast, although Da Liang’s people didn’t look as sturdy, they didn’t lose to them in impressing appearances and heroic aura, especially Zhao Jie. He was riding a horse that was at the front of the line. Although he was clearly wearing the same clothes as everyone else, his valiant aura was greater. The edge of his collar was embroidered with a twinning lotus pattern. His back was tall and straight and his eyebrows were like swords. Even without speaking, his solemn expression gave off an invisible feeling of oppressive pressure.

Wei Luo supported her cheeks in her hands. She wanted to look, but also felt too embarrassed to look in that direction. Her eyes would sneakily flutter over there like she was thief that was stealing peeps.

Seeing her like this, Zhao Liuli and Liang Yu Rong couldn’t help laughing. Who didn’t know that they were engaged? Even if she openly looked at him, no one would say anything. But, her face was thin and her furtive action only made people needlessly laugh at her.

Zhao Liuli leaned over so that she was next to Wei Luo’s ear and whispered, “Ah Luo, my older brother is looking at you.”

Wei Luo’s heart jumped. She obediently followed Liuli’s line of sight and saw Zhao Jie sitting on a qinghai horse. He was directly looking forward. How was he looking at her? It was only now that Wei Luo realized she had been lied to. Her apricot eyes looked at Zhao Liuli in annoyance for a moment.

This Zhao Liuli! Since she had gotten together with Yang Zhen, she had started to follow his bad examples!

Wei Luo didn’t continue to pay attention to the two of them. She single-heartedly listened to the old eunuch that was Emperor Chong Zhen’s side. He was announcing the competition’s rules.

The equestrian archery competition would consist of three rounds. The first round would be archery. The second round would be horsemanship. The third round would be shooting arrows while riding a horse. Each round would consist of three people from each side. Whichever team won two out of three rounds would be the winning team. Zhao Zhang and Zhao Jie were assigned to the second and third round, respectively. Across from them, Wu Rong’s fourth prince, Wan Qi Zhen, would also be the third round.

If each round took an hour, she would have to wait at least another hour until it was Zhao Jie’s turn. Wei Luo looked at Zhao Jie, who as the forefront, and lost her senses without noticing. When she returned to her senses, she discovered that Zhao Jie was looking at her with a smile. She blushed, but she didn’t look away. She mouthed the words “properly compete”. She wanted him to take this competition seriously.

Zhao Jie restrained himself and looked away. He said to Emperor Chong Zhen, who was on the viewing platform, “Imperial father, your imperial son won’t disappoint you.”

Emperor Chong Zhen nodded his head in satisfaction and waved his hand to gesture for him to return to the group to join the competition.

Holding the reins, Zhao Jie rode away.

She didn’t why. Wei Luo thought he had said those words for her. She touched her burning cheeks. Her pursed lips showed an almost imperceptible smile. Since the last palace banquet, they hadn’t seen each other in many days. As soon as she saw him, Wei Luo thought about the object she had held in her hand. She felt shameful and embarrassed, but she didn’t have any sense of disgust or dislike. It was because she liked him and wanted him to be happy. Seeing him today, Wei Luo realized that she had really missed him.

Palace servants struck the leather bass drums with the drumsticks they was holding in their hands three times to publicly declare that the equestrian archery competition was officially starting.

On the viewing platform, an old eunuch shouted out, “First round of the competition, archery.”

Right after his announcement, three young warriors came out on both sides. One of them was Wei Luo’s third cousin, Wei Chang Xian (Qin-shi‘s son). Wei Chan Xian just had his adulthood ceremony this year. Although he was an unruly child, he had grown up to be an excellent young nobleman with an elegant and dignified bearing. He seemed to be well prepared as he rode a horse to the center of the training field and saluted the other person by cupping one fist in the other hand.

Wei Luo knew that Wei Chang Xian had excelled in archery with a high rate of accuracy since he was a child. But, she didn’t know how he would compare to these Wu Rong people.

A score of palace servants pushed the targets onto the field. An old eunuch explained the rules of this round. There were a total of ten targets on the field. Each following target was placed farther away from the warriors. Each person would have an opportunity to keep shooting arrows until he failed to reach the target. The team with the arrow that landed on the farthest target would be the winner of this round.

The first person that stepped forward from Da Liang’s side was the Minister of Revenue’s son. With an idea of what he would do, he took out an arrow from the quiver and placed it against the bow that was decorated with animal horns. His movements were as fluid as flowing water. He quickly shot out three arrows. Each of them landed on the bullseye! On the fourth target, his arrow struck just outside the bullseye. The fifth target was ten meters away from the fourth target. With great difficulty, his arrow struck the fifth target. When he reached the sixth target, his arrow wasn’t close at all and it flew past the target.

As a result, he only shot five targets successfully.

A Wu Rong warrior followed after him. The first Wu Rong person had the same result as the Minister of Revenue’s son. He successfully shot five targets.

The second Da Liang person shot six targets.

As for the next two Wu Rong people, one successfully shot seven targets and the other one reached eight targets. This made Da Liang’s side tenser.

Wu Rong’s emperor laughed, cupped his hands, and politely said to Emperor Chong Zhen, “You let me win.”

Emperor Chong Zhen’s smile looked slightly forced. He placed all of his hopes onto Wei Chang Xian.

Wei Chang Xiang calmly and unhurriedly rode his horse around the competition area twice to measure the distance from the tenth target. He didn’t even try for the first nine targets. He took an arrow out of his quiver, pulled the bowstring, narrowed one eye, and targeted the furthest target.

The onlookers couldn’t help gasping. His move was really risky. If he failed this shot, then he wouldn’t even have one successfully shot arrow!

Even Emperor Chong Zhen couldn’t help furrowing his eyebrows.

However, Wei Chang Xian didn’t show the slightest sign of panic. He steadily stared at the target. Then, he let go of his right hand without any warning and the shadow of the arrow swiftly passed his face.

Bullseye!

There was a burst of loud applause and cheering from the viewing stands. Even their competitors, the Wu Rong people, couldn’t help nodding their heads in admiration.

Wei Chang Xian turned his horse’s head around. There was a touch of a high-spirited smile on his lips as he followed the other two people to the viewing stands.

There wasn’t any doubt that Da Liang was the winner of this round.

Wu Rong’s emperor’s expression slightly changed and he said to Emperor Chong Zhen, “As expected, Da Liang has a large number of talented people.”

Emperor Chong Zhen laughed and copied his earlier words, “You let me win.”

——–

The second round was the riding competition.

Wei Luo returned to her senses from watching the previous round. She turned her head and discovered that Liang Yu Rong had disappeared from her side. She curiously asked, “Where’s Yu Rong?”

Zhao Liuli also didn’t know when and why she had left. She asked a nearby servant girl. The servant girl explained, “Miss Liang recently said she had something she needed to do and would be leaving first.”

At this time, what could she possibly be doing?

Wei Luo was endlessly puzzled. She wasn’t too worried originally, but a sudden thought flashed through her mind. She hurriedly looked at the other side of the viewing platform. As expected, the spot where Wei Chang Yin had been sitting was empty! Wei Luo immediately guessed what had happened. She felt both anxious and angry. She scolded Liang Yu Rong in her mind for failing to live up to expectations and not showing any improvement.

After carefully considering, she couldn’t continue sitting here. She made up a small excuse and after telling Zhao Liuli, she left the viewing platform.

The training arena’s gate wasn’t far away from the viewing platform. She walked through the gate and passed a limestone-paved path that was lined on both sides with sequoia trees. There would be a garden up front. Wei Luo continued walking down the path. As expected, she saw two people underneath a sequoia tree.

Liang Yu Rong was wearing a short green top and a long skirt. She was sitting on a stone beneath the tree. Her head was slightly hanging. Wei Luo didn’t know what they had already said. Wei Chang was sitting in his beech wheelchair as always and quietly looking at her with a clear and gentle gaze. His lips were opening and closing. As for what he was saying, Wei Luo was too far away and couldn’t hear.

Later, seeing Liang Yu Rong’s tears, Wei Chang Yin froze for a moment. With a helpless expression, he took out a silk handkerchief from his sleeve and brought it to her for her to wipe her tears. Liang Yu Rong didn’t take it. She continued to cry with her head lowered. Fortunately, the place they had selected was relatively hidden and only Wei Luo saw them. If Wei Luo hadn’t especially looked for them, she wouldn’t have found them here either.

Seeing that she wouldn’t accept the handkerchief, Wei Chang Yin helplessly sighed, lifted up the silk handkerchief, and gently wiped her tears for her.

This was the first time that Wei Luo saw her oldest cousin being so attentive and gentle towards another person.

He also liked Liang Yu Rong, right? In her previous life, his only choice was to give her up because of his injured leg.

Since they were given another chance and they had already reached this point, Wei Luo couldn’t be like Liang Yu Rong’s parents in her past life and try to separate them. She had to think of a way to heal Wei Chang Yin’s leg. Even if his leg couldn’t be healed, she had to find a way for them to be together.

After making up her mind, Wei Luo didn’t walk forward. She turned around and left the area.

After Wei Luo returned to the viewing platform, Zhao Liuli tilted her head and asked, “Ah Luo, where did you go for so long? The second round has already finished.”

Wei Luo pursed her lips and explained, “I got lost, so it took me longer to come back…” She looked at the training field and changed the topic by asking, “It ended? Who won?”

Zhao Zhang had participated in the second round against the Wu Rong people.

Zhao Liuli glanced at Emperor Chong Zheng, who was sitting near them, pulled back her shoulders, and whispered, “Something happened with fifth brother. Wu Rong won.”