"Sixth brother, come here. The wind is weaker. I'll block it for you. It won't be so cold anymore."
It was still early and Kangxi had not yet come out of the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Brothers Yinzhen, Yinreng, and Yinzhi had arrived earlier than Yinzuo and were now standing in a sheltered place chatting and laughing. Yinzuo saw his sixth brother coming from a distance and hurriedly called him over.
"Old Ten is pretty good. It's no wonder Sixth Brother loves you the most."
Yinzuo came over and greeted his brothers first, then looked at Yin? who was keeping his word and shielding him from the wind, raised his hand and patted his forehead in praise.
"Sixth brother, all of us brothers are going to participate in the waiting competition, why did you only prepare skates for the ninth brother? Isn't that a bit unfair?"
In response to the eldest prince’s complaints, our sixth prince said, “Don’t even think about putting the blame on me.”
"Look at what you said, big brother. You didn't come to me either, didn't you? Besides, the blueprints are in the Imperial Household Department. I don't believe you all don't know about them. Big brother, you didn't ask the Imperial Household Department to customize them according to your measurements, and now you blame me for not preparing them for you. How can this be justified?"
Sure enough, when Yinzuo said this, everyone smiled awkwardly and kept silent. Yes, they all knew that Yinzuo had drawn the blueprints and asked the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs to make this thing. The reason why they didn't go was that they were waiting and watching. They all wanted to see how well Yinzuo practiced. As a result, it was too late to make it when they wanted to.
After a few people talked for a while, Kangxi finally came out. Yinzhen and others hurriedly lined up and greeted Kangxi with everyone else.
Kangxi called everyone up, and after a few more words, everyone started to head to Taiye Lake, the main venue for today's ice skating. All the princes over ten years old participated in the competition except Yinzuo and Yin?, who was afraid of water and loved to imagine. Even the crown prince Yinreng was no exception. So at this time, Kangxi was left with Yinzuo and Yin?, the two generals.
Ice skating is divided into entertainment competitions and competitive competitions. Needless to say, the entertainment part is nothing more than some singing and dancing performances, while the competitive competition is mainly divided into three items: grabbing the ball, grabbing the ball, and turning the dragon to shoot the ball.
It is similar to modern speed skating. Before the competition starts, the contestants gather under a big flag two or three miles away from the ice bed of Emperor Kangxi's carriage. Then they use firecrackers as a signal and skate towards Emperor Kangxi's carriage at the same time. There will be some curves composed of flags in the middle. The contestants can only complete the race if they pass through them and finally skate to the finish line.
Grabbing the ball is even simpler, similar to modern football and rugby. The Eight Banners descendants are divided into two teams, red and yellow, and placed on both sides of the field. The imperial guards are responsible for serving the ball, and the players of the two teams compete for it. The person who grabs the ball can either break through with the ball himself or pass the ball to his teammates. Anyway, as long as you put the ball into the opponent's goal, you score.
As for the last item, the dragon-turning and ball-shooting, it is similar to a combination of modern team figure skating, acrobatics and archery. The so-called dragon-turning is that the Eight Banners members wear the uniforms of their own camp, line up and skate on the ice, and perform a series of difficult moves. If you can't imagine the specific plot, please refer to Sri Lanka's military parade. It is called the dragon-turning because the sliding trajectory is similar to a snake. The ball shooting is easier to understand. There is a gate on the venue with a ball hanging on it, and you just shoot it with an arrow.
Yinzuo was somewhat interested in these things at first, but no matter how interested he was, he couldn't help but read them every year. His father was still giving a passionate speech, and if he hadn't been worried about embarrassing himself in public, he would have fallen asleep.
The first item is waiting, which is the event that Yinzuo and his brothers participated in. He promised Yinzhen that he would watch his competition carefully, and naturally he would not break his promise. Aren’t they standing behind Kangxi and Yinzhen, each holding a telescope, looking for someone?
"Tenth Brother, have you seen Big Brother and the others? They're so crowded and so far away, I wouldn't be able to see them without my piercing eyes!"
He doesn't have the golden eyes, but does Yin have them? He is now looking for his elder brother in the crowd and they are almost going blind.
"Sixth brother, don't rush me. You've mentioned so many people, and they're so far away. I'll have to look for them slowly, right? So you can sit down and rest for a while. I'll call you when I find them."
Yinzuo was indeed a little annoyed after searching with the telescope for a while, so he simply threw the telescope into Dexi's hands behind him and sat down on the chair next to Kangxi.
"Khan Ama, is there anything to eat? My son only had a few mouthfuls of porridge this morning and he's hungry now!"
At this moment, Kangxi was also staring at the crowd in the venue that was gradually sliding towards him, trying to see through the telescope in his hand whether his son was in the first group. He was suddenly interrupted by Yinzuo and was frightened. He immediately lost the desire to continue looking!
"Han Ama, Han Ama, how many times have you called Han Ama this morning? Why are you looking for me if you're hungry? I can conjure up food for you. Liang Jiugong, go find him some food to keep him quiet and stop him from annoying me."
Good man, why are you so angry at me with such poor eyesight? I only called you a few times this morning. I have only heard that if you call your mother too much, you will get beaten, but it doesn’t say that if you call your father too much, you will get beaten.
After receiving the order, Liang Jiugong quickly went to the food box on the table at the back and brought two plates of snacks over and placed them in front of Yinzuo. The snacks had been kept in the food box so they were still warm. Yinzuo received the snacks and ignored Kangxi who was glaring at him because of his poor eyesight. He took the snacks and went to find his close brother to share them.
"That little bastard took away both plates of dim sum and didn't even think of leaving a single piece for his father?"
Looking at the Emperor who was puffing his beard and glaring, and then looking at the Sixth Prince who was chatting with the Tenth Prince not far away while feeding snacks to the Tenth Prince who was looking for someone with a telescope, Liang Jiugong sighed silently. It's not that serious, really, it's just a plate of snacks, we have plenty.
Not to mention how annoyed Kangxi was at this moment because he was interrupted and ultimately failed in his search for someone, anyway, at this moment, Yinkou saw his ninth brother riding away through the telescope.
"Six... cough cough~~Six~Brother, I found Nine Brother, and behind Nine Brother is Big Brother..."
Yin? had just had snacks stuffed into his mouth by Yinzuo, and he was so excited that he completely forgot about this matter. Not only did that guy almost choke himself to death when he spoke, but the snack foam was also flying everywhere. Seeing this, Yinzuo hurriedly took a few steps back.
"Old Ten, please swallow what's in your mouth before you talk. You're really disgusting."
Since Yinzhen was able to find the person, it meant that the person was very close. Yinzuo took the telescope from Dexi and put it to his eye. This time, he saw Yinzhen riding a horse and rushing towards him with almost no effort. He was about to witness an exciting moment. Yinzuo could not help but put down the telescope, raised his hands to his mouth and made a trumpet to shout in the direction of Yinzhen.
"Old Nine, the finish line is just ahead, victory is at hand, charge forward with all your might, first place is yours."
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