After the announcement of the start of the first match, the voices in the venue quickly quieted down.

Under the watchful eyes of the public, each academy sent out its own representative.

A group of students filed out, and the atmosphere suddenly became serious.

At Cuiwei Academy, the one who went to participate in the calligraphy competition was naturally Wei Xi.

His face was calm, extremely solemn, and he didn't smile. It was obvious that he was still very nervous.

Seeing this, Chen Cui said, "Xiao Xi, just do what you want. Your master is in good health. Besides, he did a lot of stupid things before, so he deserves a beating!"

Lao Buyu was in a hurry to say nothing, and subconsciously covered his butt, "No matter how tough he is, Xiao Xi still needs to perform at his normal level. The less he can be hit, the better!"

The two of them specifically mentioned this just for fun.

Mu Erpang also reached out and pinched his fingers, using the warmth of his palms to cheer him up.

With their interruption, the expression on Wei Xi's face relaxed a little.

Yes, he didn't come here to win any honor for himself. All he wanted was to avoid losing too badly in front of others and to protect his husband.

Wei Xi smiled slightly and nodded, indicating that he had calmed down, then followed the others.

Each match can have at least one participant and a maximum of five participants. If there are more than one participant, the average score of the five participants will be used for calculation.

To be on the safe side, each of the other academies sent five people to participate in the competition.

If it is a smaller academy that cannot pick out five people who are good at calligraphy, then two or three people will be gathered together to prevent someone from performing poorly.

There was only Wei Xi on Cuiwei's side, and it was his first competition, so he didn't know the other people's strengths and weaknesses, so it was no wonder that Wei Xi suddenly became nervous.

Dozens of tables were laid out one after another, and Wei Xi was arranged to sit in a corner.

Seeing that the students were already in place, Ling Qingming issued the test questions.

“Please all students recite the Analects of Confucius - Learning.” As soon as he finished speaking, Zhaifu lit a stick of incense beside him.

The Analects of Confucius - Learning has nearly 500 words in total. For students who practice calligraphy on a daily basis, it is not a difficult task to finish writing this chapter within the time of a stick of incense.

The difficult part, of course, is to write quickly and well.

The venue became increasingly quiet. Several judges, who were the principals of several established academies, including Ling Qingming, a total of six people, were pacing around the venue with their hands behind their backs.

Wei Xi rolled up his sleeves, picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and began to write on the paper.

For a moment, the place was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Soon, a stick of incense burned out, the monk struck the gong, and the students put down their pens one after another.

The monks came forward one by one and took the students' papers.

Although several judges will walk around the venue several times and have a rough idea of ​​the students' levels, the students' handwriting will also be posted on the bulletin board. Then the monk will push the bulletin board with wooden wheels and rotate it several times in the venue so that everyone present can see it.

Wei Xi came off the court. Due to his good mentality, his performance was quite stable and there was a hint of smile on his face.

Each participating academy was allocated a grandstand, which was usually equipped with only a chair with armrests and two benches for the principal and teachers to sit on. The students naturally had to stand.

The other students returned to the stands where their own academies were located, like water drops into a stream, without any change.

As soon as Wei Xi came down, Chen Cui, Lao Buyu and Mu Erpang immediately stood up and went to greet him.

"Are you tired? Are your hands sore?" It was the end of August and the heat of autumn was still lingering. Chen Cui said as she saw a layer of sweat on Wei Xi's head and fanned him with her hands.

Mu Erpang came over with a teacup and said, "Junior brother, have some hot tea."

Lao Buyu couldn't help, so he could only say, "Hurry up and sit down and take a rest."

The three of them escorted Wei Xi back to the stands. Wei Xi sat down in the armchair in the middle that belonged to the headmaster. He drank some hot tea and wiped his sweat with the handkerchief handed to him by Chen Cui. His nervousness and anxiety completely disappeared. He smiled and said, "Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission. There should be no problem with the first test."

Although everyone only wrote their own papers, before everyone left the exam, the monk came to collect the papers and could see other people's handwriting.

Wei Xi didn't dare to say that his writing was the best, but it wasn't much worse than others.

As they were talking, several judges quickly gave their scores after a brief discussion.

There were dozens of people taking the preliminary exam, and they did not have enough time to give detailed evaluations for each of them, so they only divided them into four levels: "excellent, medium, and poor." If the results of one's own academy are considered, the principal of the academy will not give a score and will only look at the evaluations of several other people.

Among the five small competitions, only those with an overall score of "good" or above in three competitions will have the opportunity to enter the re-examination.

Don't think that this good rating is easy to get. Zhaifu pushed a few notice boards around the venue. Shen Cui took a look. Although she didn't understand calligraphy, the handwriting on each paper was elegant and beautiful, pleasing to the eye. At least it’s a level that Mu Erpang, who has practiced calligraphy for eight months, can’t even catch up with.

Lao Buyu was also watching nearby, and his eyes were involuntarily drawn to the handwriting on several papers.

Obviously, many people's handwriting is very good, so good that it attracts people's attention.

But since Wei Xi said so, they just waited patiently to hear the scores.

Soon, Ling Qingming came on stage and announced the results according to the ranking of the academies.

"Hongle Academy, excellent. Wenjun Academy, excellent. Qingzhu Academy, excellent..."

"Yujian Academy, good. Hanbo Academy, good. Cuiwei Academy, good..."

Ling Qingming did not continue to report the rankings of the academies below the Liang level, which was considered to give everyone some face.

For a while, there were some happy and some sad people in the competition venue.

Cuiwei was of course the happiest one. Although they didn't get an excellent grade, they were not eliminated in the "Book" competition, which had far exceeded their expectations.

If the reactions of the people in other academies had not been so reserved, maintaining the demeanor of scholars who remain calm in the face of praise or criticism, several people would have wanted to cheer out loud immediately!

After a short break of more than a quarter of an hour, the second game began.

"The second match is shooting! Students from each academy, please step out in turn!"

Mu Erpang was cheering for Wei Xi in the front. When it was his turn to play, a nervous expression appeared on his chubby white face.

Without waiting for the others to comfort him, he calmed himself down, "It's fine to compete in 'shooting'. If we continue to compete in 'music' in the second round, Junior Brother will be exhausted!"

After saying that, he took a deep breath and lined up to leave.

As Lao Buyu expected, there was no training ground at Qingzhu Academy, so the competition was about throwing pots.

The students were divided into five groups and lined up in five long queues. Each person was given four arrow feathers and took turns to throw.

When they were competing in calligraphy earlier, the scholars inside and outside the venue were able to remain quiet. However, when they started competing in an entertaining activity like pitching pots, the atmosphere suddenly became much more lively.

Mu Erpang was in the middle of the team. The people around him tilted their heads to watch the performance of the people in front of them. From time to time, there were slight cheers or sounds of frustration due to poor performance.

Mu Erpang looked straight ahead and did not follow the crowd to look forward. He just kept reciting the key points and rules of throwing pots in his mind.

Soon it was his turn. Holding four arrows in his hands, Mu Erpang closed his eyes, ignored the surroundings and the increasingly noisy voices, and silently felt the direction of the wind.

At this moment, he seemed to be back in his own academy, where his teacher and fellow apprentice were giving lectures in the main room, and his mother was sitting on a recliner in the corridor, looking at him with a smile.

The Xiaobi in front of him was no different from his usual practice.

His heartbeat returned to its normal steady pace, he relaxed his whole body, stood with his legs shoulder-width apart, and when Zhaifu announced that he could start throwing, he threw out without hesitation!

Someone asked anxiously, "Is this little fat guy stupid? The first arrow is crucial, how can he just throw it randomly?"

"He must be from a small academy of unknown origin. Although someone said start, there was no set time..."

The discussions of the people around him stopped abruptly because Mu Erpang’s first arrow hit the Hukou point!

In fact, it is no wonder that others think his behavior is reckless, because in the scoring rules of touhu, if the first arrow hits the target, it is called "youchu" and counts as ten points, and if the second and third arrows hit the target, they can each count as five points. If the fourth arrow can still hit the target, it is called "finished" and counts as 20 points. If the first arrow misses, then even if the second, third, and fourth arrows hit the target, they can only be counted as "scattered arrows", and each arrow counts as one point.

This shows how important the first arrow is!

But no one expected that Mu Erpang's seemingly reckless first arrow actually hit the target!

Mu Erpang still ignored the reactions of others and quickly threw the next few arrows.

Unfortunately, he had only practiced for three months, and only the second of the three arrows hit the target. Together with the score for "initial", the total score was fifteen.

After throwing the ball, he left the field according to Zhaifu's instructions.

Chen Cui, Lao Buyu and Wei Xi naturally went to greet him.

He first talked about his own performance, then slapped his forehead and said, "I only focused on my own voting and didn't pay any attention to others. I don't know if this is a good result."

Fortunately, because the game of touhu is scored, it is easier to count than the previous calligraphy competition which requires human judgement. The five academies with the highest scores are excellent, the fifth to eleventh places are good, and the rest of the academies are not counted.

Ling Qingming quickly announced the result.

Cuiwei Academy, once again with a good level, won this game.

After two rounds of competition, as long as there is no mistake in the competition of 'Le', then even if Shen Cui's new identity does not appear, there will be no problem in the first round!

Although Shen Cui had already set up the disguise data, as long as she didn't use it, the 500 shopping points would not have been spent.

When she was happily thinking about saving these 500 points, the third game of "Happy" began.

However, to her surprise, the competition was not about musical instruments, but music and dance!

Although Wei Xi did practice music and dance in addition to practicing the piano, the dance at that time was not the kind that was created for viewing like in later generations. Instead, the dance was solemn and serious, and was performed to worship the mountains, rivers or ancestors.

This kind of music and dance is not just about pleasing the eyes, but also a great test of physical strength.

Wei Xi didn't practice often because his physical fitness was not good enough for him to dance for a whole game.

Not to mention that other academies only sent out five people to dance in a group. The students from each academy wore the same dance costumes, and their heights and body shapes were carefully selected to be very similar. Just standing together, they were eye-catching.

Even if Wei Xi could hold up her solo dance, the effect would hardly surpass that of the group dance that had been trained for a long time and had perfect harmony.

The faces of the people in the academy all became solemn, and finally Chen Cui made the decision: "This round of 'Music' is a dance competition, so the next round will most likely be a musical instrument competition. Xiao Xi, save your energy, we will forfeit this round."

This shopping spot, after all, you can’t save money.