From the first day that He Yan and Wang Ba started betting, everyone in the barracks started betting privately as well.

Some people who were not present to see He Yan draw the bow at that time came to see what He Yan looked like before going to bed at night. He Yan remembered that the last time he attracted such attention was when he was General Feihong and won a victory and was rewarded by the court.

Although the situation is different now, I am still famous after all.

"Those people are going too far!" Xiao Mai came back from outside and said dissatisfiedly, "I heard that the number of people who bet on Brother He to win can be counted on one hand. This means that Brother He is definitely not going to win!"

"This is just a normal choice for normal people." Hong Shanfu said.

Thanks to He Yan, the new recruits who had been unable to do anything but endure hardships these days had a lot more fun after this incident. There was laughter and joy everywhere, as if they had arrived at the market town of the capital.

"My eldest brother and I are going to join in the fun, so as to give Brother He some momentum. We are betting on Brother He to win." Xiao Mai looked at He Yan and said flatteringly, "Brother He, are we very loyal?"

Before He Yan could say anything, Hong Shan asked first, "How much cookies did you bet?"

"My elder brother and I each have one."

"One piece..." Hong Shan deliberately stretched out his voice, "Then how many pieces did you vote for Wang Ba?"

"Ten yuan." Xiao Mai answered without thinking. When he came to his senses and met He Yan's gaze, his face suddenly turned red and he stammered, "No, no, we wanted to win a few more cakes so that we can share them together. If Brother He loses, he can't lose both his money and his life... At least it's good to fill his stomach." His voice became smaller and smaller, and finally he didn't dare to say anything, looking at He Yan pitifully.

He Yan was very surprised, "Where did you get ten cookies?"

Even if you save one dollar a day, you can't save that much, right?

"Thanks..."

He Yan was surprised that he could even make a profit, thinking that this was actually a big gamble, not just a small fight.

She said to Xiaomai earnestly, "Xiaomai, you'd better withdraw your bet from Wang Ba. Ten cookies, are you going to be hungry for ten days? Can you survive that?"

Hong Shan had a headache: "Ah He, please be reasonable. Now is not the time to be angry."

He Yan: "...What should I say so that you will believe that I am not angry?"

I just refused to believe it. The other three people almost wrote this on their faces.

He Yan had no choice but to stand up and said, "Then I'll go out and practice first." Then he left the house.

"Oh." Xiao Mai sighed sadly.

"Oh." Hong Shan sighed sadly.

Shitou looked at the two of them silently without saying a word, and also sighed.

The room was filled with gloom and sadness.

…

This bet with Wang Ba was just the beginning of He Yan's fame.

These days, you can hear He Yan's name wherever you go.

"Have you heard? Coach Liang's new recruit named He Yan has gone crazy!"

"I know. The guy who made a bet with Wang Ba to compete in crossbow shooting in ten days, didn't he go crazy after making the bet?"

"He's even crazier now. Instead of practicing his bow and crossbow during the day, he's throwing stone locks! He doesn't even shoot arrows?"

"Then he must be mad indeed."

He Yan was throwing a stone chain in the open space. When everyone was practicing archery in the daytime, many people gathered around to watch her, so she simply gave up the archery practice. She borrowed a big stone chain from the coach and threw it for fun whenever she had time.

She had to increase her strength.

To maximize the power of the crossbow, of course, you need enough strength to pull the bow to the full. And what she lacks most now is strength. The stone chain is the best tool to practice strength. When she was in the barracks, she had a strongman under her command. He was originally a street juggler. He learned to use the stone chain since he was a child and could play with it in many ways. The stone chain can fly all over the body, such as catching lotus leaves, fanning beams, chopping heels, snowflakes covering the head, Guan Gong taking off his robe, etc.

This strongman was also an expert in archery. Not only was his aim good, but no one else could draw the bow as far as he could. He could fully unleash the power of the crossbow. He Yan once trained his arm strength by throwing arrows against each other. As they threw arrows to each other and dodged and evaded, they developed their arm, wrist, hand, and waist strength.

Now there was no one to compete with her in throwing bows, but she just wanted to practice her arm strength and pull the bow to its full extent.

Practicing with stone locks increases strength much faster than drawing a bow. He Yan threw stone locks during the day, and at night, she would sneak to the martial arts field when everyone was asleep. Fortunately, there were always one or two bows left there every day, allowing her to practice in secret. Even more fortunately, since she last saw Xiao Jue, she did not meet Xiao Jue again when she came again at night.

Although she was not afraid of meeting Xiao Jue, she always felt a hidden sense of uneasiness when Xiao Jue saw her secretly practicing at night. It made her feel as if she had returned to her youth, seeing her clumsy self working hard every night to sprint to the "third from the bottom", which was unbearable to look back on.

This is probably the humiliation of being despised by the proud son of heaven!

She had already gotten rid of this feeling of humiliation, but who would have thought that God would come back and, by some strange coincidence, make her feel this humiliation again.

What merits have I taken to make God value me so much?

She practices every day, and the people who don't understand the most are the brothers around her.

"Ah He," Hong Shan hesitated, "No matter how well you draw the bow, if your aim is not good, you can't beat Wang Ba."

"Yes, I help you keep an eye on Wang Ba every day. He can hit the center of the target every time and almost never misses." Xiao Mai followed.

"Wang Ba is a good archer," He Yan said, "He must be good at using bows and arrows to injure people. It seems that he is more skilled than Shi Shi."

Shitou nodded, admitting this.

"Then why don't you practice archery every day, Brother He?" Xiao Mai was even more puzzled. "You should at least practice archery a few times and practice your aim. What if the arrow flies into the woods?"

"No need." He Yan said.

Xiao Mai stared at him with wide eyes, "Could it be..."

Does He Yan have some secret magic weapon?

He Yan smiled. She didn't have any secret magic weapon. She just used the time when others were sleeping to practice archery. She drew the bow and shot arrows every day under the moonlight. The bow was getting more and more effective. Her archery accuracy did not decline. It was a blessing in disguise.

"I don't have good qualifications." She thought seriously for a while and said seriously, "But I have good luck. You have to believe that even if I don't practice archery, as long as I can pull the bow open and fully draw it, then the arrow will fly to the target by itself as if it has eyes."

Everyone looked at the smiling He Yan, and a thought flashed through their minds at the same time.

He Yan is really crazy.