Everyone watched as Feng Yuheng opened the small notebook and read out the names one by one. All of them were those who had spoken ill of Feng Yuheng outside the palace gate.
There weren't many people, but after the book was closed, those who hadn't been named and had breathed a sigh of relief immediately regained their tempers, and heard Feng Yuheng say, "There are still some more, and this princess will dictate them."
So, from the Seventh Princess of the Ancient Shu Kingdom, to the wife of the Lanzhou Governor, Mrs. Jiang, to those who had challenged her to dance during the banquet, nearly twenty names were named. Including those before, a total of thirty-five ladies from the horse racing team were named to participate.
Seeing that Feng Yuheng had stopped talking and the number of people had been determined, Xuan Tiange said, "Don't just stand there like an idiot. Hurry up and pick your own horse. This princess has been sitting on the horse for such a long time. How long do you want me to wait?"
Once Princess Wuyang spoke, people were helpless and had to go ahead with it!
But these ladies are not even as tall as the horses. Looking at the high horse backs, they can’t even climb up, let alone ride. What should they do?
However, they had no solution, but the servants at the stable had plenty of solutions. So, one by one, the horse stools were brought to the front, and the leader said, "Ladies, please step on the horse stools and get on the horses."
In one sentence, those who still wanted to refuse to compete on the pretext of not being able to get on the horse were completely discouraged.
After finally climbing onto the horse's back, they found that they could not even sit steadily. The slightest movement of the horse would immediately cause screams. Some of those who were too timid even started crying.
Feng Yuheng frowned and looked at them, asking in confusion: "Why are you crying? Your performance on the horse is much better than when I was dancing just now. I, the princess, didn't cry even though I was embarrassed. Why are you crying?"
Xuan Tiange was also puzzled. "My Dashun Kingdom was built on horseback. Since our ancestors, many generations have been proficient in riding and shooting, regardless of gender. Now the world is peaceful, but you can't completely forget the rules of our ancestors!"
The princess spoke, and the crying women barely managed to hold back their cries, but they were still scared. It was the first time in their lives that they sat so high up, and there was a living creature under them. It was as scary as it could be. If they were not allowed to cry, they could only close their eyes and wait for death.
The Seventh Princess of Ancient Shu didn't think horse racing was that scary. She had never ridden a horse, but she was used to riding camels in the desert. Camels were taller than horses and ran very fast, so the horse had no deterrent effect on her. So she asked Feng Yuheng arrogantly, "How do you compete?"
Feng Yuheng raised his voice and told everyone: "It's very simple, run around the racecourse five times and see who finishes first."
Princess Gu Shu nodded, "What about the reward?"
Feng Yuheng asked back: "What reward?"
"A prize for horse racing!"
Feng Yuheng shook his head, "No, it's just like your dancing, it's purely a performance, there's no reward."
People were speechless after hearing this, it's so cool!
However, Feng Yuheng still took the safety of these ladies into consideration, so he asked the coach at the horse farm to carefully explain the essentials of horse riding to all the contestants. In addition, each of the ladies was assigned a palace slave to follow them, in case there was an accident and no one was there to take care of them.
But at the same time, she also told everyone: "Don't think that you can rest easy just because you have someone to protect you. Think about your own face. It would be a bad thing to fail to ride a horse and fall off and be caught by a palace slave!" After saying that, she smiled and winked at Xuan Tiange. The two of them whipped their horses and ran away in the blink of an eye.
Seeing that both masters had started, the horse farm coach quickly urged the palace slaves to drive the ladies' horses forward. The Seventh Princess of Ancient Shu did not need anyone to protect her, and rushed out on her own. Although she was not as fast as Feng Yuheng and the others, her speed was not weak either.
Soon, after a round, they saw the ladies' horses were just walking slowly forward like they were strolling on the street. The timid ones hadn't adapted to it for a while, but the brave ones had adapted first and thought it was nothing. Anyway, they didn't plan to compete for the first or second place, and there was no reward, so it was good to just go around five rounds. So people rode side by side in groups of three or four, and even started chatting.
Xuan Tiange said: "That won't do. This is just like going to the market. What's the point?"
Feng Yuheng nodded, "Indeed, it's too outrageous." She rushed to the front of the crowd, looked back, and said, "It seems that the horses chosen by the ladies are not very energetic. This princess and Princess Wuyang have ridden a whole circle, how come you have only walked a few steps? It seems that we have to think of a way to discipline these horses. Huangquan--" She ordered the maid beside her, "Go and see why the horses are not running. If they are old horses, help replace them. If they are lazy horses, whip them for me. I want to see which one dares not to run!"
As soon as she said this, Huang Quan carried out the order immediately, and several horses were whipped to run faster.
The people on the horses screamed in fear, but they were supported by the palace servants below, so they were not afraid of falling off. Moreover, Huang Quan was also sensible, and did not whip the horses too hard or let them run too fast, but only to the extent that they could maintain the bumps. Those ladies would suffer a little, but if they fell off, it would not be so easy.
One after another, more and more people joined the bumpy race. Feng Yuheng nodded with satisfaction, "This looks a bit like horse racing." So he pulled Xuan Tiange, and the two continued to run wildly.
Finally, the two of them finished their five laps, and soon, the ancient Shu princess also finished the whole course, but looking at the progress of those ladies who were shouting and screaming, they had only finished two laps. When people saw Feng Yuheng finished running, they thought that the horse race should be over, but when they circled back to the starting point and were not ready to run again, they heard the queen say: "You must always do things from beginning to end. Princess Ji'an didn't know how to dance, but she would rather embarrass herself and hold on to the whole song. Why can't you even bear this little bit of hardship now that it's your turn?"
When people heard this, they said, "Okay, let's go ahead!"
After five rounds, everyone's buttocks were bruised and all of them were carried off the horses by their servants and palace slaves. After landing, they couldn't even stand up, their legs were shaking, and some people simply knelt on the ground and cried bitterly.
Feng Yuheng glanced at those people coldly, but she didn't expect that one of them, either because he was brave or because he was so angry that he collapsed, suddenly shouted: "Princess Ji'an is unfair! Why did you only pick us? You have two younger sisters, why don't you let them come to the horse race together?"
As soon as one voice came out, someone else immediately echoed: "Yes! You are deliberately seeking revenge!"
"Oh?" Feng Yuheng perked up. "Revenge? If I'm talking about revenge, then you guys must have done something worthy of my revenge. So, tell me, what did you guys do?"
What did they do? How dare they say it? Would they say that they had bad-mouthed Princess Ji'an behind her back? Or that they had deliberately wanted to make Princess Ji'an look bad, and had encouraged each other to dance? After thinking about it, they knew that none of them could be said, so they all lowered their heads.
But Feng Yuheng explained the previous incident about her two sisters not participating in the horse race: "My two sisters not only did not participate in the horse race, they did not even offer their singing and dancing talents. Do you know why? Then you should think carefully about why you want to come to the palace to display your talents. We are all women, and no one should pretend to be confused. Everyone knows what you are thinking. As for my two sisters, one sister's marriage is decided by the emperor's order, and her family is not allowed to interfere. As for the other sister, she has already been promised to the fifth prince as the principal wife. What's the point of her participating? I am also sympathizing with you, so that my sister will not steal your limelight. Everyone, why are you not grateful, but still questioning?"
After he finished speaking, seeing everyone looking at each other in bewilderment, Xuan Tiange added another threat: "Don't just stand there, kowtow to the princess and thank her!"
People were helpless. Today, they had no choice but to admit defeat. So they knelt down and kowtowed, saying something against their will: "Thank you, Lord Ji'an, for your sympathy."
Feng Yuheng nodded, and said nothing more to them. She turned and walked to the Queen, bowed, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is making fun of me."
The Queen shook her head, "Ah Heng is very efficient and sensible. Even if we see this joke, it's their joke." After that, a palace servant reminded her of something, and she continued, "Someone from Qiankun Palace came to pass on the news, saying that the Emperor has finished his court affairs and asked us to go over."
Feng Yuheng hurriedly said: "The horse farm is closer to Qiankun Palace than the Imperial Garden, why not go directly there!"
The Queen naturally agreed, so the group walked towards the Qiankun Palace again. However, this time it was not as easy as the walk from the Imperial Garden, especially for the ladies who rode horses. They all limped and had to rely on others to help them move. Looking at their faces, they were sweaty after running five laps, their makeup was smudged, and their hair was a little messy. They all looked extremely embarrassed, and they wanted to cry to death!
Of course, those who suffered were officials from other provinces who were ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth. The women of officials in Beijing could not help but sneer in their hearts. They had also suffered a lot from Princess Ji'an. As the saying goes, every failure makes you wiser. They would not make the same mistake again. It was these outsiders, especially those southern barbarians, who were said to be used to being wild outside and living a much more arrogant life than in Beijing. They had to know that Beijing was different from other places. It was useless to be rude and to be rich. There were people everywhere in Beijing who were more rude and rich than them. Zhizhou? Zhifu? Haha, you only know how low your position is after entering Beijing!
For a moment, people were thinking about a lot of things, but Feng Yuheng was not as optimistic as she seemed. It was not for anything else, but there seemed to be something wrong with her neck. She had changed out of this dress before when she was dancing, and the strange itch was almost immediately relieved and disappeared. But now she changed back into this gorgeous dress, rode a horse for a while, and sweated a little. Why did the itch at the back of her neck start to occur again? Not only it itchy, but also a little painful like a needle prick. Could it be that this dress...
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