Chapter 6: Passed the Assessment "Song Pushe, how is it?"...
"I'm eager to report the results of this assessment to Your Highness, but haven't had time to explain it to you yet."
Min Shian keenly grasped the key point. Not only would Song Sheng teach her horse riding and archery in the future, but the practice time mentioned by the tutor just now was actually an assessment.
She was extremely helpless and could only keep comforting herself that at least she had avoided the marriage and successfully contacted Song Sheng.
"Your Highness possesses exceptional talent for horsemanship, and his archery skills are quite impressive. I believe you can pass the assessment."
After saying this, Grand Tutor Zhang nodded in satisfaction, looked at Min Shian, and said, "Then this assessment ends here. An'er, go back and write an essay. It doesn't matter what the format is, anything is fine."
Min Shian agreed and then asked, "Teacher, how are my studies these days?"
"Let it go for now. I've already told Yan Xuan to discuss poetry and philosophy with you besides riding and shooting. You can relax and enjoy it."
At midnight, the lights were on in Min Shi'an's room, the only room in the Taifu Mansion. She crumpled the paper on the desk into a ball in frustration, and many discarded manuscripts were scattered on the floor.
Writing is either a flash of inspiration or the result of quiet contemplation. It is certainly difficult to write a good article when one is distracted.
Ever since the marriage incident, troubles have always come to her. As the saying goes, serving the emperor is like serving a tiger, but in her opinion, Song Sheng is even more cruel than a tiger.
However, apart from Song Sheng, there is no other suitable candidate now. His brother Song Zhongshu's qualifications are not top-notch, and he has already been arranged to marry.
Among the other aristocratic families, the Jiang family was far away in the south of the Yangtze River. As Song Sheng's maternal family, they naturally leaned towards the Song family.
Although Xiao held military power, the border was turbulent and good generals were hard to find. She was unwilling to drag Xiao into the water because of her own selfish desires.
As the link between the various families and the balance point between the families and the imperial power, the Xie family mostly played a balancing role and did not have much real power.
She let her mind go blank and forced herself to calm down. After a moment, she picked up her pen and wrote the first sentence: In the summer of Dingwei, on the sixth day of the first lunar month, Yongkang and his teacher practiced archery on the training ground. [1]
After writing the first sentence, Min Shian felt that his hand was in excellent condition. Within an hour, he had written two full pages.
She thought for a long time and decided on the title "Summer Riding and Shooting Fu". After reading it through and confirming that there were no mistakes, Min Shian carefully put away the cocoon paper and went to sleep with peace of mind.
The next day.
Min Shian went to the pavilion in the center of the lake to look for Master Zhang, but found that Song Sheng was already playing chess with Master Zhang. She looked up at the sky and saw that it was around the end of the morning hour. Is Song Sheng so idle lately?
She thought to herself, quickened her pace, and walked to the pavilion. Seeing the two men fighting fiercely, she simply sat aside and watched.
Song Sheng's black pieces occupied half of the board, while the white pieces were trapped but showed no sign of decline. Master Zhang had a solemn expression on his face as he slowly but firmly placed his piece.
The situation reversed instantly. Song Sheng put the black piece in his hand back into the chess box, fanned his folding fan, and said with some regret: "Teacher is still a step ahead of me. I am ashamed of myself."
Zhang Taifu laughed heartily and pretended to scold him, "You only know how to make the teacher happy."
Then they both looked at Min Shian, and Master Zhang continued, "But is the article finished?"
Min Shi'an responded, took out the scroll, pulled out the article, and handed it to Zhang Taifu, saying, "Yes, it's called 'Summer Horseback Archery Fu', which describes the scene of Song Pushe teaching students horseback archery yesterday."
Hearing this, Song Sheng was surprised, and the smile in his eyes deepened: "It is my honor to be written into the article by Your Highness."
As Zhang Taifu read the "Summer Horseback Riding and Archery Fu", the joy on his face grew deeper and deeper. After he finished reading the end, he handed the cocoon paper to Song Sheng and motioned him to take a look.
"Compared to 'Ode to Flowing Water', the writing is much smoother, not focusing on flowery rhetoric, but on the visuals it presents. It's absolutely wonderful, absolutely wonderful!"
Zhang Taifu praised this highly. He glanced at Song Sheng and said disdainfully, "He's much better than some of those brats."
Song Sheng lowered his eyes and read it attentively. He rolled up the article and then looked up and replied, "Your Highness's writing and calligraphy are the pinnacle of excellence. Naturally, I cannot compare to him."
Then he thought of the students in the academy who had been studying late into the night a few days ago, and said jokingly, "If this article gets out, I'm afraid another student will suffer from insomnia."
Zhang Taifu had also heard about this and said thoughtfully, "Those students are certainly diligent, but they're a little too cautious and have the opposite effect."
"Yan Xuan, please pay more attention to this matter."
Song Sheng suppressed his smile and replied seriously, "I understand."
Grand Tutor Zhang thought for a long time, then looked at Min Shian and said, "An'er, I'll keep this article for you. After Yan Xuan has properly handled this matter, I'll make it public. How about that?"
Min Shian agreed readily. She didn't intend to become famous, so naturally she didn't care about these false reputations.
"Yan Xuan, take An'er to practice now. Remember not to hurt An'er."
“When students know, teachers feel at ease.”
After saying this, the two of them bowed and took their leave, walking out of the Taifu Mansion one after the other.
Unexpectedly, it ran into Wushuang head-on. When it saw Min Shian, its eyes lit up, and it circled around her with its tail wagging, continuously feeding her in her arms.
Min Shian smiled and stroked its head, saying softly, "Wushuang, good Wushuang, did you miss me?"
She was responded with Wushuang's high-pitched neigh.
Seeing this, Song Sheng took the reins of the white horse beside him and jumped on the horse. The sunlight reflected by the jade hairpin caught Min Shian's eyes.
She tilted her head and mounted the horse just as swiftly. After hearing about this yesterday, Song Tinglan specially designed several sets of clothes for her and sent them to the Taifu Mansion.
The two drove side by side and took a secluded path out of the city.
Min Shi'an raised an eyebrow and said provocatively, "I regret not seeing Song Pushe's heroic appearance on horseback yesterday. How about taking this opportunity to have a competition?"
"How would you like to compete, Your Highness?"
Min Shian thought for a moment, but the sunlight was too scorching, so she quickly said, "How about we follow the mountain path through the forest? Whoever reaches the training ground first wins?"
Song Sheng was a little surprised. The mountain road was rugged. He wanted to refuse, but seeing Min Shian's eyes full of determination, he changed his words and said, "I will do as your highness says."
The red and white horses rushed out like arrows from a bow, at lightning speed. The road was still wide at this time, and the two horses were on the left and the right, moving forward side by side.
When they were about to reach the mountain road, Min Shian gently patted Wushuang's head with one hand. It immediately understood, accelerated suddenly, and took the lead in entering the narrow path.
Min Shian dodged the thick branches of the trees on both sides nimbly on horseback, while Song Sheng, who was one step behind, put away his smile and stared at Min Shian's back like an eagle.
Song Sheng always had a smile on his face, so people often overlooked that he was the ruthless Song Pushe. But when he didn't smile, his dark eyes were unfathomable, and his whole body was sharp and ferocious.
He stared at Min Shian for a long time until he vaguely saw the outline of the training ground, and then his usual gentle smile reappeared on his face.
Unsurprisingly, Min Shian won. She turned around and smiled, "Song Pushe, what do you think?"
"In that case, it seems that His Highness should come and teach me the art of horse riding."
Min Shian waved her hand, very self-aware, but still very pleased. She said loudly: "Wushuang is just more powerful."
The two of them led their horses and walked slowly towards the stable. Min Shian raised his eyebrows and looked at the new stable in front of him, which was brand new and out of place with the desolate training ground. He couldn't help but secretly sigh at the generosity of the Song family.
"According to the Grand Tutor's wishes, I will have to trouble the Minister of Public Security for some time. I wonder if the training ground will be completely renovated by then?"
Min Shian tied the rope, touched Wushuang's head, and continued to tease: "I'm afraid that Lord Song Ling will move his troops here again."
"Your Highness, you are joking. Your Highness is a precious treasure. This training ground is too dilapidated. I cannot bear to let Your Highness suffer this pain. That is why I have sent people to do some simple repairs."
Min Shian snorted lightly. Having just finished a horse race, she was in a good mood and spoke more casually. She said, "Don't flatter me."
Song Sheng chuckled and said, "I have discussed this with the teacher. Your Highness is an exceptional horseman. I have nothing to teach you, so I will only teach you archery."
"That's fine. I'm really lacking in archery skills, so I'll trouble you, Song Pushe."
range.
Min Shian followed Song Sheng's instructions, with the arrow on the string but not released. His arm was tense, with his index and middle fingers tightly gripping the arrow feathers.
Song Sheng took off the jade pendant from his waist and hung it in front of Min Shian's eyes. The tassels swayed back and forth in the breeze.
"If your Highness is less sensitive to wind speed, you can observe the jade pendant in my hand for a moment."
After a moment, Song Sheng suddenly removed the jade pendant and whispered, "Let it go."
The iron arrow flew out instantly, and this time it was obviously much closer to the center of the target.
Min Shian put down his aching arm, looked at Song Sheng, and said with feigned disappointment, "It's still a long way to go."
After saying that, she secretly observed Song Sheng's facial expression carefully, but still found nothing.
"There's no need to rush. Besides, Your Highness is very intelligent and learns things very quickly. An ordinary person would not be able to progress so quickly."
Min Shian thought to himself that this was bad. This guy had clearly seen through her pretense yesterday, and now he was pretending to mock her.
"No, it's obvious that Song Pushe taught me well. I was just a blind cat that caught a dead mouse." She continued to pretend to be ignorant. As long as Song Sheng didn't point it out, she would just assume that he didn't know.
Practicing archery with Song Sheng was not boring at all. Unlike Master Zhang, who sought to break through his limits and make a leap forward, Song Sheng, on the other hand, patiently guided him step by step, accumulating little by little into great results.
Although she was not so bad as to miss the bull's eye, her archery skills were certainly not as good as Song Sheng's, so she listened to Song Sheng's explanation very carefully.
After Song Sheng finished explaining archery, he went on to tell her in detail what to pay attention to while riding a horse, as well as the techniques for taming horses of various temperaments.
He is not just talking about it on paper.
Since they were at the shooting range, whenever Song Sheng mentioned archery techniques, he would demonstrate them to her personally, and let Min Shian try again until her movements were in sync with his before moving on to the next step.
When talking about equestrianism, they would cite past examples or fabricate some imaginary scenes and make assumptions.
Therefore, Min Shian not only did not find it boring, but he found it very interesting. He even had some aftertaste after Song Sheng finished speaking.
Min Shian praised sincerely, "If Song Pushe were to be a teacher, he would have produced countless talented disciples. It would be a waste of his talent to only take me with him."
"If I lead thousands of disciples, I will inevitably neglect Your Highness. How dare I do that?"
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