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Chapter 70: Enjoying the limelight
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Since this day on, the new skill of dancing behind the screen would become popular. Even many imperial concubines dirtied their sleeves to dance behind the screen in order to gain the emperor’s favors. Since it was like that in the palace, then it would also be ubiquitous amongst the commoners; people found out that wherever there was a well, then there would be ink water dance. Soon Li Wei Yang’s name and the dance had spread to every corners in Da Li. But all these happened after, this was something Li Wei Yang didn’t expect. She only thought about wanting to successfully pass this obstacle and let others deeply remember her. It wasn’t that Li Wei Yang didn’t have any talent but she just didn’t want to show off in front of others.
The young girls all revealed their talents, someone stood up and said: “Princess, it shouldn’t just be us performing.”
Princess Yongning knew very well that everyone came to this banquet to find a husband or select a wife, this was a match-making banquet, so she smilingly said: “Wu di, I heard Imperial Father bestowed you a bow, how about you bring it out for us to observe?”
Tuoba Rui felt sympathetic towards Li Chang Le, he was eager to help rescue her and not let others’ attention focus on her. So he quickly stood up and said: “A person shooting by himself is too boring, how about we hold a match, but Huang Jie, if you want us to compete, is there a prize?”
Princess Yongning smiled and ordered her female official to retrieve a magnificently made bronze mirror with red-colored gemstones on it: “This mirror was gifted to me by Imperial Mother, whoever wins today can take it.”
Fifth Prince showed a hint of joy on his face, with this bronze mirror, he could gift this to Li Chang Le. That way, he could rescue her from the awkward scene, which was a great consolation. Thinking up until here, he gently smiled at Li Chang Le and then spoke: “That’s fine, bring my bow over.”
After those words were spoken, other gongzis rubbed their fists and wiped their palms to express that they wanted to compete too.
In an ordinary banquet, there would also be games like shooting arrows and throwing kettles, so they had bows and whips prepared.
Third Prince Tuoba Zhen lightly smiled and looked towards Tuoba Yu, he said: “Qi di, are you interested to give it a try?”
At this point, the candlelights were lit, Tuoba Yu’s whole body bathed in light, he gently raised his brows and calmly smiled: “Third brother’s invitation, how could I reject?”
The guards soon prepared the shooting targets, each target was an additional ten meters away from one other, all ten targets together stretched out to a hundred meters, the princess slowly said: “Today, let’s complete and see who can shoot far and precisely.”
Li Min Feng, due to Li Chang Le losing her face earlier, wanted to win. He smiled and received the bow; he grabbed an arrow and shot right in the middle of the fifth target, everyone applauded! The other gongzis eagerly joined in. For the four to five people that went, none were able to reach the sixth target.
Tuoba Rui confidently smiled and receive his own shooting bow; this bow was almost half as big as a person and the bow body was painted black. Something that looked like a tooth or gem was carved onto it. Tuoba Rui used his shoulder to support it, reached for an arrow, and shot at the seventh target, hitting the red center.
Li Wei Yang lightly smiled, speaking of this, the talented Fifth Prince was actually a man skilled in literature and martial arts. However, he was deeply poisoned by Li Chang Le and didn’t understand that he would die in the hands of the beauty sooner or later. On this point, she actually admired Tuoba Zhen, his entire life, he hadn’t been impacted by anyone as he smoothly followed his goal with persistence.
Fifth Prince smiled and then passed the bow to Tuoba Zhen: “Third brother, please.” He was very confident that Tuoba Zhen couldn’t surpass him because usually, his shooting skills were only average.
The females were all concerned and asked: “Aiya, how is Third Prince’s shooting skills? We rarely see him practice his shooting!”
“Afraid it can’t match Fifth Prince’s …… I heard Fifth Prince’s shooting skills were personally taught by the Emperor!”
“I have also heard; Fifth Prince’s shooting skills are able to hit the target at every shot!”
The moment Tuoba Zhen caught ahold of the bow, he unconsciously gave Li Wei Yang a glimpse, back in the days --- he would definitely hand over this chance to shine to Tuoba Rui but he didn’t know why but in front of the remarkable yatou, he didn’t want to lose.
Gao Min nervously clenched onto the handkerchief in her hand, she lightly gave Li Chang Le a push: “Chang Le, do you think Third Prince will be able to win?”
Li Chang Le still hadn’t been able to recover, she heard the words yet didn’t respond.
Li Wei Yang curled her lips up, she knew Tuoba Zhen really well. His shooting skills had always been stronger than Tuoba Rui but he wasn’t willing to reveal himself so no one actually knew. Today, if he acted as expected, he would definitely lose. Always hiding, he wouldn’t dare to openly win, this type of man, how could she had thought that he was the one she could rely on? In Li Wei Yang’s eyes, she couldn’t help but expressed contempt.
Tuoba Zhen’s pupils dilated and was stabbed painfully by Li Wei Yang’s mocking smile. He understood Li Wei Yang all of a sudden, she thought that he would lose, this yatou! Tuoba Zhen lightly smiled, he hooked his thumb on the bowstring and used his index and middle finger to support his thumb. He exerted force, creating a shape of the full moon. Before the people shouted wonders, only a sound was heard, the arrow like a shooting star shot past and landed on the tenth target, right in the middle!
Everyone was stunned besides LI Wei Yang, her face revealed an expression of a smile that didn’t look like one.
Princess Yongning was taken aback, she thought this Third Brother’s martial art skills were average …… thinking about this, she smiled curiously: “Third Brother’s shooting skills really surprised everyone. Seventh Brother, your turn.”
Tuoba Yu rose up and received the shooting bow. His compared to other magnificent bows was extremely ordinary and had no other embellishments. He smiled and didn’t really care about the appearance, it was as if he didn’t come for shooting but just for the sake of it. But everyone never thought that he could gently pulled back and the arrow landed on the tenth target.
Princess Yongning was astonished as well as others. After a while, applause erupted.
“Two princes actually both shot at the tenth target, what a rare sight!”
“Yes, certainly rare to see!”
“Very extraordinary!”
Within the marvels, Li Wei Yang smiled, these two were always well-matched in strength, it was only that --- Tuoba Yu couldn’t be as ruthless as Tuoba Zhen, as a result, he suffered a disastrous defeat and lost the throne. Winner became the king, the loser became the bandit, it had always been like this.
Fifth Prince’s countenance was terrible, he couldn’t believe it, he originally wanted to be in the limelight but in the end, let these two steal it from him. It was just that Tuoba Zhen never revealed his shooting skills and Tuoba Yu had been travelling, when did they learn such skills and why didn’t they let him know? Towards these two, he began to think he needed to guard against them, especially Tuoba Zhen, he thought that he couldn’t let himself see him merely as the Crowned Prince’s follower.
Princess Yongning laughed: “Not good, this target is too big, let’s change it.” Her glance circled around and discovered that didn’t know when Li Wei Yang dropped her head and was eating an apple. She smiled, “Let’s use the apple as a target, someone come.”
Immediately, a guard approached a faraway tree and used a ribbon to mark five apples. Each tree was about thirty meters away.
Everyone was shocked: “How could this be possible, it’s too far away!”
“This is a difficult challenge, no matter what, it couldn’t be hit!”
“Yes, yes, today the winds are strong, the apples are swinging, there is no way one can shoot precisely.”
Amidst the buzzing noises, Tuoba Zhen’s openly laughed and said: “Bring my bow over!”
He reached out his arm to receive the bow, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, five arrows were sent off. The crowd didn’t get to see clearly how he shot his first arrow by the time he had already shot his fifth one. They couldn’t react in time but saw that these five arrows each dropped off an apple.
The guards ran over and bought the apples over. Princess Yongning looked at them and saw that each apple had a shining arrow on it; the other parts of the apples were not ruined at all.
Gao Min exclaimed: “My goodness, that was very fast, it felt like a dream, at the blink of an eye, all arrows have been shot!”
“Third Prince’s shooting skills are very magnificent, I haven’t seen it before.” Li Chang Le’s eyes shimmered as she couldn’t help but speak.
All the xiaojies also started to discuss.
“Can’t believe Third Prince’s shooting skills are that great!” “Yes, haven’t seen him reveal them in the usual days!”
Even Wei Guo furen couldn’t hold back and told Da furen: “Third Prince really made us look at him in a different light.”
Da furen coldly watched and whispered: “Humph, I don’t think so yet. He had been hiding such great shooting skills, I’m afraid he has other motives!” After all, she didn’t like the Third Prince of humble background, no matter what he did, she still thought that he wasn’t good enough. However, Li Chang Le who was by her side, had already swept away her dispirited feelings and her eyes were glittering.
Li Wei Yang noticed, coldly smiled, and continued to bite on her apple.
At this time, Tuoba Zhen turned around at smilingly said to Tuoba Yu: “Seventh Brother, your turn.”
The target on the apples were right in front of his eyes yet Tuoba Yu slowly looked at them and smiled: “Third Brother have really great shooting skills.”
Tuoba Yu lifted his bow, everyone didn’t get the chance to react, an arrow pierced through the first apple; when everyone was clutching their hearts, they suddenly stopped. They heard a sound all of a sudden and the whole apple exploded open, the cold arrow flew forward and shot into the second apple. Another bursting sound was heard, the arrow continued to fly towards the third arrow, the fourth one …… and without stopping, the fifth one broke into bits and pieces.
No one had seen this scene before, everyone was temporarily stunned. The whole scene was silent, it was as if everyone forgot to applaud and praise.
Tuoba Yu smiled: “Please don’t laugh at my performance.”
Tuoba Zhen’s smiled sluggishly but soon clapped his hands: “Very remarkable!” Everyone was reminded and began to applaud.
“Seventh Prince is very remarkable!” “Yes, can’t believe I witness such extraordinary skills!” “Seventh Prince is very special!”
Li Wei Yang stopped in her movements and couldn’t help but look at this jade-like face gongzi. She felt a bit curious and inquisitive and right after, anticipation began to grow. Tuoba Yu, you are an interesting person, I hope you continue to become stronger and give Tuoba Zhen a slap on the face!
From afar, Li Min De watched the scene and lightly smiled. Eighth Prince meticulously observed Li Min De, he saw that he was dressed in a light purple robe, his sleeves tinted with gold, giving off a noble aire. Although he was at a very young age, it was difficult to see the splendid radiance in his eyes. He was casually sitting there yet the whole scene had conspicuously became the background of his imagery. A boy that looked like this really made people felt uneasy. Eighth Prince became absent-minded as he continued to look…….. by his side, Fifth Prince said: “Lan Er, don’t stare at someone like that and be careful not to expose yourself, if Imperial Father finds out that you stole Eighth Brother’s clothes and posed as him, he would be very angry.”
Eighth Prince Tuoba Cong and Ninth Princess were a pair of twins, both looked exactly identical. The only difference was that in the middle of Ninth Princess’ brow, she had a red mole and normal people wouldn’t had been able to differentiate them apart. Who would had thought, the mischievous youngster sitting here was actually an adorable young girl? Princess Xiang Lan didn’t pay attention to Fifth Prince and only watched Li Min De and discovered that he had been glancing towards Li Wei Yang’s direction. She felt a bit disheartened, thought about it for a second and then became happy again. Li Min De and his cousin’s relationship was very good, if she became friends with Li Wei Yang, then wouldn’t she be able to see Li Min De more often?
Fifth Prince gave Li Wei Yang a glimpse and suddenly a smile formed, he said: “Let me take a look at Seventh Brother’s arrow, it actually went that far.” Saying this, he sprinted out to the farthest apple and loudly said: “All five apples were actually broken into pieces.”
Seeming unwilling to accept the result, he said: “In terms of shooting the farthest, I can’t rival Seventh Brother.” As he spoke, he raised he bow and drastically shot an arrow.
The direction was actually towards the female seating. All females shockingly shouted, jumped up, and then realized the arrow was flying towards Li Wei Yang.
At this moment, the whole crowd was quiet! Li Min De could only feel his own heartbeats stopping for a second!
Nonetheless, the arrow shot past her eyes and a ding sound was heard. It shot into a tree nearby and shaking sound was emitted.
Li Wei Yang smilingly looked towards Fifth Prince, her expression didn’t hold any signs of change.
Tuoba Rui couldn’t believe Li Wei Yang actually didn’t avoid it, in the moment, his face turned white. He didn’t intend to kill her, he simply wanted to intimidate this cunning young yatou yet he didn’t expect her to stay seated and quietly watch him, she wasn’t afraid at all.
This way, it made him look rash and rude ---
Princess Yongning abruptly raged: “Rui Er, what are you doing!”
Tuoba Zhen unconsciously stepped forth, when he saw Tuoba Rui raised his bow, his heart dilated until he saw that Li Wei Yang was safe and sound, that was when he breathed a sigh of relief. Even though he didn’t know why he felt this way but he knew that Li Wei Yang, this person had unknowingly captivated his intrigue. Before his intrigue vanished, of course, Li Wei Yang had to continue to live. At the very least, he wanted her to know that rejecting him is an extremely foolish action. “Fifth Brother, you are too impudent, how could you shoot carelessly? You’ve frightened Anping Xianzhu, hurry and apologize!”
He gave Tuoba Rui an eye signal, Tuoba Rui understood and busily went forth and said: “I simply wanted to try and see how far I can shoot, Xianzhu, please don’t be mad.”
Li Wei Yang smiled and calmly said: “Fifth Prince’s vision is not that good, this is not a big deal. It’s just that I’m not seated far away from the princess, injuring me does not matter at all but if you injure the princess, then it won’t be good.”
Tuoba Rui’s face turned green, he originally wanted to frighten Li Wei Yang to the point of peeing and humiliating herself, he never thought that he would be scolded by her. And especially Li Wei Yang’s eyes, it made him feel like he was a jumping clown!
This child, not only did he not have any manners but also didn’t have a sense of propriety …… the princess’ countenance didn’t look too good. Yes, if the arrow slanted, then wouldn’t she suffer injuries, she earnestly said: “Rui Er, your shooting skills are really taught by Imperial Father? If he sees how you are messing around, he will be very disappointed.”
Tuoba Rui knew the princess was favored by the Emperor, he was frightened and hurriedly admitted his fault: “Huang Jie, please forgive me, I won’t dare to act this rashly anymore.”
Princess Yongning’s expression was cold and heard someone trying to mediate the dispute: “Ai-ya, thus, the person who shot the farthest is the Fifth Prince!”
Everyone looked over, and by no mistake, Fifth Prince’s arrow shot over two hundred meters. Speaking of shooting distance, Fifth Prince could certainly receive the reward.
At this moment, another clear voice spoke up: “Wait a moment!”
Everyone looked back and was greatly astonished ---
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Translator: Erica
Editor: Panisa
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