Chapter 92 The eldest son is here to see you
Chang Suining and the other female relatives looked over subconsciously, and saw four eunuchs leading the way, followed by a young woman in an official robe who walked into everyone's sight.
Wang was a little surprised: "It's actually the Princess of Gu'an County who has arrived."
Her status as a county princess alone would not have been enough to attract the attention of Wang and other officials. What really made people value Ming Luo was her status as a female historian, and a female historian in front of the palace who was highly trusted by the emperor.
When she appeared outside the palace with her eunuchs, it was probably because she came on behalf of the Holy Cemeter Emperor.
Sure enough, this time was no exception.
After greeting Qiao Jijiu and several important officials, she smiled and said, "Mingluo has come here to watch the students play football on the orders of the saint, and has been ordered to bring this item to add to the prize of this football game—"
As she spoke, she looked at the eunuch holding a long box beside her.
Another eunuch opened the long carved box and saw a cue-playing stick. The stick was several feet long and had a dragon entwined around it, with a crescent-shaped end.
"This cane was specially made by the late emperor and the late crown prince. When the late crown prince was young in the palace, he often played with the late emperor using this cane." Ming Luo smiled and said, "Today, the saint has specially used this to add some luck to the students. The winner of the final game will get it."
The students immediately became noisy.
The meaning of the gift from the Emperor was extraordinary, not to mention that it was the bat used by the former Crown Prince! The students waiting for the game in the court were eager to try, and their fighting spirit was even higher.
"Ningning, what did the Ju staff used by the late Crown Prince look like?" Qiao Yumian asked Chang Suining curiously.
Chang Suining has already withdrawn his gaze: "Nothing special."
And she didn't have any impression of it. She had a lot of ball sticks and they all looked the same.
Listening to the excited voices of the students, Qiao Yumian exclaimed, "I thought it must be very different."
After thinking about it, he understood: "Although the staff itself is not much different, it is very different because its former owner was the former Crown Prince... Everyone must want to fight for this prize."
Chang Suining showed a hint of disapproval.
The former owner was just an unlucky guy. Things belonging to an unlucky guy are bound to be unlucky. I don't know what there is to fight for.
Ming Luo had been guided to take a seat. Her seat was not with the female relatives, but among the officials. And because she came here in response to the emperor's orders, she sat at the top.
In the arena, as the drumbeat sounded, the twenty-four students participating in the competition all entered the arena leading their horses.
Most of them were young faces, all wearing blue-white narrow-sleeved robes, black boots, holding the reins in their left hands and a cane in their right hands. They all looked heroic and energetic.
These twenty-four people were all the best students selected from the internal competitions of each academy one month in advance. There were a total of six academies in the Imperial College, and each academy finally selected four people to form a team. These four people represented the glory of their respective academies.
They were now divided into six teams, and the ribbons tied around their waists were also divided into six colors.
"Ningning, have you seen your brother?" Qiao Yumian tugged at Chang Suining's sleeve.
Chang Suining looked over and saw Qiao Yubai with a blue ribbon tied around his waist. He was standing at the head of the team, which was the vanguard position.
"I see. Brother Yubai is in the fifth row. He should be the last one to go on stage in the preliminary round. It will be an hour later."
Polo matches are played between two teams, and six teams need to play against each other three times. The competition system of Dasheng is that each game has five quarters, and each quarter lasts for half a quarter. Therefore, it takes about half an hour for the two teams to determine the winner after the game, plus the rest time between each quarter.
There are four teams ahead of Qiao Yubai, and they need to play two games, which takes one hour.
Hearing that she was so familiar with the rules, Wang smiled and asked, "Ningning also likes to watch polo now?"
Ningning didn’t like these things before.
Chang Suining nodded: "I've watched a few."
Wang said, "If Ningning likes it, she can learn it later."
"Yes, let brother teach Ningning." Qiao Yumian's eyes were filled with bright smiles: "Brother's Jiju is very good. Ningning hasn't seen it yet, right?"
Chang Suining smiled and said, "We will be able to see Brother Yubai's skills later."
"Speaking of playing football, I know a little bit about it..." A woman's smiling voice suddenly sounded.
Chang Suining looked over and saw Duan walking towards him with a smile, followed by a pretty girl, who was Wei Miaoqing.
Just as Chang Suining was about to stand up, Duan gently held his shoulders and said, "No need to be polite, just sit down and talk."
As they were talking, Duan smiled and nodded to Wang, then sat down next to Chang Suining.
Chang Suining asked, "Madam, are you here to watch the football match, too?"
"Look, I came here with my kid." Duan smiled and raised her chin towards the opposite side.
Chang Suining looked over and saw that Wei Shuyi had just taken a seat under the awning. He was not wearing official uniform today, but a long silk gown of clear moon-blue color embroidered with bamboo patterns. After sitting down, he raised his eyes as if investigating something, and as they looked at each other, a smile gradually emerged in his eyebrows, like a painting of green mountains unfolding for the first time.
He smiled and nodded to Chang Suining.
Chang Suining also nodded to him.
Wei Miaoqing, who was sitting next to Duan, saw that her brother quickly withdrew his gaze and started talking in a low voice with his colleague beside him. She felt very angry - her brother didn't even look at her just now!
And the mother -
Wei Miaoqing saw that Duan had been holding Chang Suining's hand, and she couldn't help but frown in confusion - it's so hot, doesn't her mother feel her hands are sweaty? Since she saw her at the flower show in the spring, her mother has been talking about this Chang family lady every other day, and she often invites her to the house to talk. She is so enthusiastic that she seems to be possessed! She felt suffocated more than once, and repeatedly asked Fang Guanshi - I don't know what my mother likes about the Chang family lady? Fang Guanshi always hesitated to speak, and just advised her to calm down.
It was not until the last time that he finally answered her question, but it was still a complicated question in a rhetorical tone - Girl, isn't the answer very obvious?
At that moment, she was strangely silent for a moment, feeling that it was unfair - what kind of reason is this? Manager Fang asked again - but didn't you say before that Madam Chang doesn't look reasonable?
At this moment, Wei Miaoqing looked at the answer that was right in front of him - the face that Manager Fang said "even if it causes an evil spirit to appear in a person, it is reasonable", and he couldn't help but grit his teeth.
The owner of the face in her sight smiled at her.
Wei Miaoqing's clenched back teeth loosened uncontrollably, and her "hostility", which was not solid to begin with, also dissipated for the most part. Her slightly proud nod was her last act of persistence.
The drums and music sounded, and the football game began.
The two teams of students, wearing red and dark green ribbons around their waists respectively, mounted their horses and galloped across the field, holding the ball sticks in their hands.
The hollow colored ball was hit by the sticks in the students' hands and passed around, and was hit into the colored gate accompanied by the sound of dense drumbeats.
“In!”
Every time a goal is scored, the referee will put up a colorful flag of the same color as the ribbon on the waist of the scoring team.
At the end of each quarter, the side with more colored flags wins the game.
After five quarters, the final winner will be determined by the number of wins.
"The first round is over, the red team Guangwenguan wins!"
When this voice fell, in addition to the four students with red belts on their waists, the students of Guangwenguan who were watching also cheered.
They won three out of five quarters, and in the last quarter there was only one flag difference between the two teams, with a difference of only two goals, which was a narrow victory.
A narrow victory is still a victory, and it makes people more excited and happy because it is hard-won.
The next two teams were about to take the field, and the students on the victorious red team temporarily left the field to rest.
"Wen Zheng, your last goal was truly amazing. The on-duty chief priest will give you two fish as a reward!"
A classmate from the same team patted the boy named Wen Zheng on the shoulder and said, "You have to play well in the next game!"
Wen Zheng nodded, then raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his face to hide the uneasiness in his eyes.
"Once you win the staff of His Royal Highness the late Crown Prince, no one is allowed to snatch it. It will be placed in our academy as a sacrifice—"
"We were drawn to the first row, and we are the first to go on stage. If we want to win the game, we still have at least two more games to play. This is just the beginning, you are thinking too far ahead!"
"We have Wen Zheng here! Of course I dare to think about it!"
The students wiped their sweat, chatted and laughed as they walked away.
As the second race began, the crowd grew larger.
Although the sun was scorching in the sky, the enthusiasm for the event was even more intense.
The students rode their horses, swung their clubs and sweated, and the eyes of the spectators were busy and nervous as they followed them all the time.
There were servants walking among the crowd, serving cooling tea to the spectators, who felt refreshed after taking a sip.
Someone arrived late in the shed where a group of officials were.
Yao Yi, who was on day off today, wore casual clothes and chose an inconspicuous seat to sit down.
The Yao family's women also came. Yao Xia could always find Chang Suining in the crowd, but this time she couldn't squeeze next to Chang Suining as she wished. First, there was no empty seat next to Chang Suining, and second, Yao Xia saw Wei Miaoqing was also there -
Seeing Wei Miaoqing looking at him, Yao Xia used his eyes as a ruler and picked a seat in the row behind the two of them, exactly the same distance from them, and sat down carefully.
Next, when it came to serving water, Miss Yao was even busier than the servant boy who shuttled through the crowd serving tea.
Another half hour passed, and the yellow team won the second game.
The gap between the two sides in winning and losing was quite large this time, with the yellow team winning four quarters in total.
The leader of the Yellow Team was a young man who looked no more than 16 or 17 years old. Although he was not very old, the other three members of the team followed his orders rather than following his lead.
This young man looks very majestic and powerful.
And they played very fiercely during the game.
Chang Suining looked at the young man who casually threw the club to the servant boy as he left the court, and then he tilted his head slightly and asked Xier in a low voice: "Do you know who this person is?"
"That's the young man from the Chang family..." Xi'er whispered, "The Chang family from the mother's family of Lady Chang, the Duke of Ying."
Chang Suining subconsciously looked at Ming Luo who was sitting opposite him: "Is that Ms. Ming's cousin?"
Although Mingluo was a concubine's daughter and not the biological daughter of Lady Chang, the wife of Duke Ying, the relationship was still like this.
Xier nodded: "Yes, it seems to be called Changmiao."
Chang Suining understood and said, "Oh," "The five elements are lacking water."
Xier: "...I think so."
While the master and servant were talking, Xier suddenly saw a familiar figure in the crowd and said in surprise, "Girl, the man is here too!"
Chang Suining looked over and indeed saw Chang Sui'an beside a pergola. He must have just arrived and was looking around. When he saw Chang Suining, he waved to her and said, "Sister!"
Chang Suining raised his hand to respond to him.
Because her side was full of female relatives, Chang Sui'an did not come over. At this time, he looked at Qiao Yubai who had just come on the field, and curled his lips and said, "I came so late, why hasn't Qiao Yubai been beaten down yet?"
A scholar beside him, waving his folding fan quickly, said: "This gentleman must be coming to the Imperial Academy to watch Juju for the first time. This gentleman Qiao is a rare Juju expert. Last year, it was their academy that won the first prize!"
He went on to say in detail: "This Mr. Qiao plays the ball with a good balance of tension and tension, advances and retreats properly, never rushes into anything, is very good at accumulating momentum, and knows how to lead his teammates, always keeping the overall situation in mind. He is a rare calm person on the football field—"
Chang Sui'an still looked unconvinced, and he snorted and made a fist-raising gesture: "That's because I didn't play, otherwise I would have beaten him to tears!"
"..." The scholar was hesitant to speak, shook his head and walked away.
"Jian Tong, you tell me!" Chang Sui'an pointed at Qiao Yubai who was already on the horse in the arena: "Is Qiao Yubai my opponent?"
Before he finished speaking, the sword boy turned to look at the book boy passing by and said, "Please give me a bowl of herbal tea as well."
It was noisy all around, so it was understandable that he couldn't hear what his husband said.
Seeing Jian Tong turned back, Chang Sui'an was about to ask again when the tea bowl was suddenly handed to his mouth, almost knocking his teeth: "My dear, have a cup of tea."
Chang Sui'an had no choice but to take it and drink it down.
Over there, Chang Suining uttered a light "eh".
Qiao Yumian heard the voice and asked hurriedly: "Ningning, what's wrong? Is there something wrong?"
It was her brother's turn to play in the game, so she couldn't help but feel particularly nervous and excited.
"Nothing, I just didn't expect that there would be this person in Brother Yubai's team—" Qiao Yumian didn't need to ask again, Chang Suining had already explained who that person was: "Sixth Brother of the Cui Family."
He loves to wear pink brocade robes and releases bugs to scare the little girls at the flower party at Duke Zheng’s mansion - Cui Jing’s cheap brother.
"I heard that this guy is a playboy..." Qiao Yumian whispered, "Father said that he was forced by his family to study in the Imperial College and reflect on his mistakes. He is very noisy."
But she didn't expect that she was selected into the Cuju team of her brother's school just one month after her arrival.
But she vaguely heard her brother mention that the other party was really good at playing football.
Chang Suining uttered "Huh" again.
Qiao Yumian became nervous again: "What's wrong, Ningning?"
"It's okay, I just saw someone I know."
Chang Suining, who was subconsciously paying attention to the comings and goings of officials in the opposite shed, now fixed his eyes on the young man who had just appeared.
The young man was not wearing an official robe, but a narrow dark blue robe. He was not ostentatious at first, but some people's appearance and aura were such that they would not allow him to remain unknown in any occasion.
"General Cui!"
"Grand Commander, please take a seat..." Qiao Jijiu hurriedly stood up and gave him his seat.
"The chief priest is the host, and I, Cui, am at most a guest. The host and the subordinate should not be confused." Cui Jing politely declined the kindness of the chief priest Qiao.
Ming Luo also stood up, with a hint of surprise in his eyes: "Why did Commander Cui come here today?"
Cui Jing only looked at the competition venue: "I was invited by my younger brother."
"Young Master, Young Master, Young Master——!" Yi Hu, who was standing by the sidelines, suddenly put his hands together to his mouth, jumped up excitedly and shouted in surprise: "Young Master is here to see you!"
The sound even drowned out the sound of the drums.
Cui Jing: “…”
Good night everyone! (End of this chapter)
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