Chapter 112 Nightingale and Archery

Song Mansion.

Inside the courtyard.

Li Nuo was lying on the rocking chair, while Mu'er and Ning'er were massaging his legs from the left and right.

Today is September 20th. There are six subjects in the imperial examination, and he has only one subject left to pass. It can be said that everything is ready except for the east wind.

It’s not that Li Nuo hasn’t tried hard for shooting, but he ended up failing every time.

The biggest difference between the archery subject and other subjects is that the ritual subject and the imperial subject are often used even after the imperial examination is over and one becomes an official in the court, so they are not too unfamiliar.

After the imperial examination, archery was basically of no use unless one entered the military.

In the past few days, Li Nuo tried to have the Dali Temple arrest several officials who were previously proficient in archery with reasonable reasons, but none of them could light up the code.

After becoming officials, their archery skills had already deteriorated terribly.

Moreover, due to the frequent actions of the Dali Temple, officials from major government offices in Chang'an also became more vigilant.

They started to go to and from get off work on time, never being late or leaving early, and even deliberately arriving early and leaving late. They strictly controlled their car speed when going out, and rarely visited brothels. Even the Dali Temple couldn't do anything about them...

Li Nuo was also stumped.

Most people who are proficient in archery are in the military, which is a place that the Dali Temple cannot reach.

So he could only practice on his own honestly.

With his wife's hands-on help, he didn't dare to say that he made rapid progress, but his archery skills were indeed improving every day.

What made him speechless the most was that when he was in the Imperial Examination, he could accurately hit the target on a high-speed moving carriage, but when he got off the carriage, his archery skills returned to his original level.

After standing and shooting arrows for a long time, Li Nuo not only felt tired in his arms, but also in his legs.

After resting for a while, Li Nuo stood up and picked up the bow and arrow again.

The requirements for archery venues are not that strict, and there is no need to go to a special horse farm to practice.

Among the Six Arts, there are nine types of mathematics, six types of music, five types of charioteering, five types of rituals, and five types of archery.

The five shooting methods are Baishi, Canlian, Yanzhu, Xiangchi and Jingyi, each representing a different shooting technique.

Li Nuo is currently still practicing the simplest Bai Ya.

As the name suggests, Baishi requires the arrow to penetrate the target with the arrowhead turning white, indicating that the arrow was shot accurately and powerfully.

During the imperial examination, candidates had to stand ten feet away from the target and shoot an arrow through the target, with the arrowhead flying out.

The center area of ​​the target will be painted white with lime. To achieve a white arrow, one must shoot through a position close to the center of the target, which also tests the strength and accuracy of the archery.

In terms of strength, Li Nuo was able to hit the target as long as he pulled the bow to its full length.

But in terms of accuracy, he was still a little short of it. He could only hit the target. As for whether he could hit the white center area, it all depended on luck.

Li Nuo practiced for a while and heard several footsteps behind him.

The sudden sound disrupted his rhythm, and the arrow missed the target and hit the wall behind him.

Li Nuo turned his head and saw Fenghuang coming over.

There were two people following her, one was Yuanyang whom Song Yu admired, and the other was a girl from Yuyin Pavilion. Li Nuo had some impression of her but could not remember her name.

Li Nuo put down his bow and asked, "Miss Fenghuang, is there anything wrong?"

Fenghuang smiled and said, "It's nothing important. Yuanyang came to see Master Song. We have nothing to do, so we came to visit you."

Judging from the current situation, it seems that Song Yu is about to marry the beauty, but it is not known whether his father will agree.

Although music houses are not as explicit as brothels, they are, after all, places of debauchery. His second uncle is a member of the Ministry of Rites, and he may not agree with him marrying such a woman home.

Li Nuo pointed to a courtyard and said, "Song Yu should be sleeping. Miss Yuanyang, go find him yourself."

Unlike Li Nuo who has a healthy schedule, Song Yu reverses his day and night schedule and usually catches up on his sleep now.

Miss Yuanyang went to find Song Yu. Fenghuang looked at the bow in Li Nuo's hand, then looked at the target not far away, and asked, "Is the young master practicing archery?"

Li Nuo took out an arrow, drew the bow again, and said, "Yes."

He was still aiming when the woman next to Phoenix suddenly stepped forward, pushed his arm to the right, then raised it a little higher, and said, "Shoot."

Li Nuo let go.

call out!

The feathered arrow flew through the air and pierced the center of the target.

Li Nuo ran over quickly and picked up the arrow. He saw that the tip of the arrow was white. It was a perfect white arrow.

He ran back quickly, looked at the other petite woman, and said in surprise: "Girl, do you know how to shoot?"

Without doing it himself, just by adjusting Li Nuo's movements, he was able to shoot such a perfect arrow. Even my wife doesn't have this ability.

The woman did not speak. Phoenix smiled and said, "She is the Nightingale I mentioned to you once. Nightingale's archery skills are not even as good as many men..."

Li Nuo looked at the Nightingale girl and asked, "Can you help me?"

The Nightingale took the bow from his hand without saying a word, and took out four arrows from the quiver. She drew the bow and shot the first arrow, and then shot three more arrows in a very short time.

One arrow is released in front, and then three arrows are released in succession. The arrows are connected to each other, like beads in a string. This is called "Chanlian".

Li Nuo walked over and saw only an arrow hole on the target.

He just replaced this target, and he also shot this arrow hole.

Li Nuo saw clearly that none of the four arrows missed the target, which meant that all the four arrows she had shot had passed through the arrow holes that Li Nuo had shot.

What a precise archery technique!

Li Nuo looked at her and asked tentatively: "Yanzhu?"

The arrow is shot quickly, the aim is short, and the arrow hits the target as soon as it is released. This is called "Yanzhu".

Yanzhu is an advanced archery technique and the most difficult of the five shooting techniques. It requires shooting ten arrows continuously without aiming, and without missing the target.

It is very simple to avoid missing the target, and anyone with a little knowledge of archery can do it.

But it is very difficult not to miss the target without aiming. This tests not accuracy but intuition.

Nightingale put the quiver on her back, took out an arrow, drew the bow and shot. As soon as the first arrow was shot, she had already taken out the second arrow.

Li Nuo only saw her continuously taking arrows and shooting arrows, and soon the target was filled with arrows.

Eight arrows, all within the white area in the center of the target.

There were two more arrows that went directly through the arrow holes and did not hit the target.

Without waiting for Li Nuo to speak, she slowly turned around, took a step forward, then turned around and shot an arrow, which went through the center of the bull's eye.

This is one of the five types of archery, Xiangchi. It originally refers to shooting between a minister and his monarch. The minister and the monarch stand side by side, and the monarch lets the minister step back one foot to show the difference between superiors and subordinates. In the imperial examination, it refers to turning around and shooting with the back turned.

Then, Nightingale shot four arrows again. The four arrows formed a tic-tac-toe shape and accurately hit the four white dots on the edge of the target.

Four arrows are shot in succession and land on four designated positions of the target in an orderly manner, forming a well shape, which is called well ceremony.

Phoenix smiled and asked, "How is it? I didn't lie to you, did I? How is Nightingale's archery?"

Li Nuo was stunned.

With this archery skill, even if I can't get the top spot in the imperial examination, I can definitely get among the top three.

When Phoenix praises himself, it is obvious that he is exaggerating.

But when she praises others, it's really not exaggerating at all.

Nightingale's archery skills are indeed superb.

If he had this level of archery skills, wouldn't it be easy for him to pass the imperial examination?

With an idea in mind, Li Nuo took the bow from Nightingale and pointed to the stone table beside him. He said, "Miss Nightingale, you must be tired. Sit here and take a rest. I'll go get you a cup of tea..."

He walked back to the room, and after a moment, came out with a cup of tea and handed it to Nightingale.

Seeing Fenghuang staring at him intently, Li Nuo pointed inside the house and said, "There are tea cups in the room. If Miss Fenghuang is thirsty, go and pour some yourself. I won't ask you to come..."

The phoenix was not thirsty and had no desire to drink water.

She looked at Li Nuo who suddenly became attentive, and an idea came to her mind.

Could it be that he likes the type of girl called Nightingale?

If not, why does he never even look at me every time I dress up beautifully, but is so enthusiastic about Nightingale instead?

After thinking about it carefully, she felt that this was very likely.

Nightingale and his wife do have some similarities. They are both equally cold, don't pay much attention to others, and never smile.

Of course there is one more thing.

None of them have a figure as impressive as mine.

Are there really men who like small ones?

Li Nuo is actually not a fan of appearance or body shape.

Otherwise, with Phoenix Girl hanging around in front of him every time, most people would have lost control long ago.

He just appreciates people with special talents.

He was thinking about how to arrest this Nightingale girl legally.

After acquiring her archery skills, Li Nuo had almost maxed out the six arts in the imperial examination and no longer had to worry about it.

Nightingale glanced at Li Nuo and said, "If you are interested in archery, come to Yuyin Pavilion more often in the future. I can teach you."

Others were thinking about teaching him archery, but he was thinking about how to get others in. Li Nuo felt a little guilty and said, "Are you hungry, Miss Nightingale? I'll get you some cakes..."

Fenghuang couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so she turned around and walked into the room, poured herself a cup of tea, and drank it all in one gulp. Only then did she calm down her anger a little.

When Li Nuo was refilling Nightingale's tea, he saw Phoenix standing under a painting hanging on the wall of the room.

It was the painting he had drawn for his wife.

Fenghuang looked back at Li Nuo and asked, "Who painted this?"

Li Nuo asked, "What's wrong?"

Fenghuang looked at the painting and said, "It's a pretty good painting. Although the painting skills are still a little immature, the use of colors is considered advanced."

Although her words were praise for the painting, Li Nuo could hear that there was still a bit of arrogance in her tone.

This is not surprising. She is so good at flower arrangement, so her painting skills must be not bad.

Li Nuo asked, "How does this person's painting skill compare to Miss Fenghuang?"

Phoenix puffed out his chest slightly, raised his chin, and said, "He's still a little short."

Li Nuo smiled and couldn't help but said, "Okay, okay, okay..."

It doesn't matter whether he catches one or two. Although Han Zhuo's painting skills are enough to cope with the imperial examination, he doesn't mind taking another layer of insurance.

What's more, Fenghuang can arrange flowers, and once she learns, she can show them to her wife.

Fenghuang looked at Li Nuo and asked in surprise: "What's good?"

Li Nuo waved his hands and said, "Nothing. Miss Fenghuang not only knows music, but also painting and flower arrangement. She is really a talented woman..."

It was rare that he would praise her. Fenghuang said modestly: "Playing the zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, needlework and dancing, these are the basic skills of women, not a big deal..."

Song Jiaren walked in from outside, glanced at Fenghuang, and asked Li Nuo, "Are there any guests?"

This chapter has fewer words, and there will be another update at twelve o'clock.

(End of this chapter)