Chapter 126 Sports Meeting
"What is he doing here?" Zhao Xiao thought that this man was here to cause trouble for him, so he took the dagger and got off the boat.
When he saw Charles, Zhao Xiao instantly understood why Old Joe and John were so eager to use him to deal with this man.
Because the man in front of him named Charles is the same type of person as him - they are both people who will do anything to achieve their goals.
Charles was much younger than he had imagined, about the same age as himself, with a pale face, short golden hair, blue eyes, and a pitch-black robe, which made him look even more cold and solemn.
The two men looked at each other, and he walked straight towards Zhao Xiao: "Hello, guests from the East who have come from afar. I am here to apologize for the offense of my subordinates yesterday. I don't want to be your enemy." Charles waved his hand, and the people behind him came over carrying two wine barrels.
Zhao Xiao was a little surprised. He didn't expect that he came to apologize.
"This is the wine produced by my estate winery. I wonder if you like it." Charles began to cough after he finished speaking, and the guard next to him quickly took out a handkerchief and handed it to him.
Wine is a precious commodity here, and only noble estates can produce it. Buying a barrel of pure wine costs at least hundreds of gold coins, and the other party holding two barrels of wine can be said to be full of sincerity.
Since the other party took the initiative to show goodwill, there was no need for Zhao Xiao to make enemies. He whispered a few words to Song Yutang.
Song Yutang said, "Your Excellency Duke Charles, we have no intention of becoming your enemy. We will leave here immediately after the business is over and will not get involved in the conflict between you two."
Charles coughed a few more times: "Thank you very much." Yesterday he sent a knight to invite them to the manor, but who would have thought that his men would mess things up and have their wrists broken by the other party. He had no choice but to go there in person and meet this powerful Oriental man.
Perhaps because they had similar auras, Zhao Xiao had a better impression of Charles than the others. After accepting his apology, he took the initiative to invite him to visit the ship.
"Duke..." A guard tried to dissuade Charles from boarding the ship. Who knows if these Orientals are in collusion with Evans and his men? What if there is danger on board the ship?
Charles waved his hand and went straight up the ladder.
Zhao Xiao gave the other party an appreciative look. This kid is quite courageous.
As soon as he got on the boat, a lamb ran over and bumped into Zhao Xiao's legs, breaking the originally solemn atmosphere.
Zhao Xiao patted its head and said, "Go play somewhere else."
Charles asked with a strange look on his face: "Why...why do you want to raise sheep on the ship?"
Song Yutang explained: "In order to be eaten at sea, it takes almost a year to get from here to our country."
"So far?" Charles became more and more curious about this oriental country.
When he arrived at the cabin, Charles looked at the empty cargo hold with some doubts and asked, "I wonder what business you are doing here. Is the Andrew family lucky enough to cooperate with you?"
"It's not all about business. We originally wanted to take some seeds back with us, but we may have some difficulties right now." They had a falling out with Old Joe and didn't know if he could still help them find seeds.
Charles asked, "What kind of seeds do you need?"
Zhao Xiao handed him the atlas. Charles flipped through it and said, "These things are all planted in my manor. I'm not sure if there are any seeds. If necessary, I can ask my manor's steward to come and take a look."
Song Yutang said quickly: "It is very necessary!"
Charles immediately sent his men back to call the manor official over. After checking the atlas, the old housekeeper confirmed: "We not only have these seeds in our manor, but also many seedlings."
Song Yutang was pleasantly surprised and asked, "Can you sell us some of these seeds?"
Charles said: "I can give it to you directly."
"Very good!"
Collecting seeds in advance was a pleasant surprise, which meant they could return home as soon as possible. Charles not only gave them seeds, but also dug up many tomato seedlings and transplanted them to the vegetable garden on the ship.
As it was getting dark, Charles was about to get off the boat and go back. Before leaving, Song Yutang suddenly called him.
"Your Excellency, are you feeling unwell?"
Charles was stunned and nodded slightly.
"I have learned some medical skills, so I can help you take a look."
"No need." Charles' face darkened, he pulled his coat tightly together, and left in a hurry.
Zhao Xiao asked, "What were you talking about with him?"
Song Yutang said somewhat awkwardly: "This Charles seems to have lung disease. I saw that he sent us so many seeds, so I wanted to help him take a look."
"Forget it. If he wants to be cured, he will definitely come back again."
In the next few days, Zhao Xiao asked his men to refill the cabin with fresh water and food. If the voyage went smoothly, they might be able to return to Daqi by the beginning of next year.
Ge Zhongshun was the happiest one. He originally thought he would stay here for three months, but he didn't expect to be able to go home so soon. He was so excited that he kept shouting.
Just the night before leaving, Duke Charles suddenly came to visit again, this time he only brought one attendant.
After getting on board, he exchanged a few pleasantries and got straight to the point: "Although it's a little difficult to say, I still want to ask, can you cure my illness?"
Song Yutang's medical skills were not very good, so Zhao Xiao called on several doctors who were accompanying him to help him take his pulse.
After the diagnosis, Song Yutang asked the doctor, "Duke, do you often feel tired, sweat after falling asleep, cough frequently at night, have chest pain, and sometimes cough up blood?"
"Yes!" Charles looked at these Orientals in surprise. How did they know what was wrong with him? He could tell from his cough, but only his personal attendant knew that he was sweating while sleeping.
Song Yutang asked again: "Has anyone in your family ever suffered from this disease?"
Charles nodded: "My father and mother both died of this disease."
"That's right, you must be suffering from tuberculosis."
"tuberculosis……"
Charles had visited many famous doctors before, including Dr. Haley in London, Dr. David in Frank, and many doctors in the Papal States, but they were all helpless against his illness.
He felt that his illness was a curse. No one in Andrew's family lived past the age of thirty, and his parents left him at a young age.
In recent years, Charles has noticed that his health is getting worse and worse. His daughter is only four years old. If he dies, his property will be divided between the Russell and Evans families. At that time, his daughter's situation will be more difficult than his own...
Originally he didn't have much hope in these Oriental people, but he didn't expect that they actually described all his symptoms correctly.
"You...you have any way to cure me?" Charles' voice trembled slightly.
Song Yutang said: "It can be cured, but there is no medicine to treat your illness here. Only when you return to our country can you be completely cured."
Charles was stunned. Was he going to the far east?
*
May of every year is the best season in Shangjing.
There is neither the cool breeze of spring nor the scorching sun of summer. Occasionally, there is a little rain, lingering and refreshing.
With such nice weather, Song Yuzhu plans to ask the Ministry of Rites to prepare for a sports meeting.
He had been planning this for a long time, but had been delayed due to other things. Now that he had nothing to do, he might as well let the people have some fun.
The sports meeting will be held in Jingxi Daying and will be divided into ten events in total.
Long-distance running, short-distance running, relay races, high jump, long jump, weightlifting, archery, polo, kicking and wrestling.
There are no restrictions on who can take part in the competition, as long as you feel you have the ability, you can go to the camp and sign up.
The first five days are audition days. After the auditions, thirty winners will be selected from each event to continue to participate in the second round of the competition.
The official competition will begin in mid-May, and the top three in each event will be selected as the champion, runner-up and third place.
In order to increase the excitement of the competition, the winning athletes will not only receive gold, silver and bronze medals, but also silver as rewards.
The champion receives 500 taels of silver, the runner-up receives 300 taels of silver, and the third place receives 100 taels of silver.
At first, the people were just watching the fun, but when they heard that there was a reward of silver, they all wanted to give it a try.
Nowadays, all people in Beijing talk about after dinner is the sports meeting. Anyone who doesn’t know what a sports meeting is is out of date.
Many children of military generals in the court have signed up to participate. I heard that the emperor will go to watch the final in person on the day of the final. This is a good opportunity to show off.
*
Qin Ersao had just come back from buying vegetables. When she passed by the blacksmith's shop, she saw the young blacksmith working on the iron and couldn't help but speak.
"Xiao Liang, they are all going to the sports meet, why don't you go over and give it a try?"
Chen Liang lifted his clothes, wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "I don't know anything, so I won't be selected even if I go."
Mrs. Qin couldn't help blushing when she saw the tendons on his waist. "I heard there's a weightlifting competition there. You're very strong, so maybe you can win a place if you go."
Chen Liang thought for a moment and said with a simple smile, "Okay, I'll go take a look after I finish cooking this pot."
"Yeah, if I win a prize and make some money, I can find a wife soon." Chen Liang is already twenty-three years old, and he has been living with his uncle since his parents passed away early.
Although his uncle and aunt raised him, they didn't take much care of him. Children of his age were already able to help with housework, but he didn't even have anyone to marry for.
Chen Liang also knew that his uncle and aunt did not care about him, so he always wanted to repay his uncle and aunt's kindness and help them work as a blacksmith for a few more years.
He swung the hammer and quickly cooked a pot. Then he washed his hands, changed into clean clothes, and walked towards the Jingxi camp.
It was already past noon, but people were still signing up in an endless stream. Chen Liang was at the end of the line and had to wait for an hour before it was his turn.
"Name, age, and event you're participating in."
"Chen, Chen Liang, 23 years old, participating in stone lifting."
"That's not lifting stones, that's lifting weights."
"Yeah, yeah, weightlifting."
The record officer handed him a numbered wooden sign: "Number 635, take the sign. If you lose it, there will be no replacement. Go over there and prepare for the competition."
"Hey!" Chen Liang took the wooden sign with both hands and put it in his arms, then followed the people in front of him to the place where the weightlifting competition was held.
The objects they lifted were stone millstones, which came in three sizes: large, medium, and small. The small millstone weighed 120 kilograms, the medium millstone weighed about 180 kilograms, and the large millstone weighed nearly 250 kilograms. Each time, they had to lift it above their chests to pass.
Quite a few people could lift the small millstone, but only a few could lift the medium millstone above their chest. Occasionally someone would lift it up, causing the onlookers to cheer in surprise, but as for the large millstone, no one had ever lifted it up.
Soon it was Chen Liang's turn. He walked forward and handed his wooden sign to the referee.
"Number 635, Chen Liang, start raising your hands."
Chen Liang rubbed his hands, bent down, picked up a small stone millstone, and raised it directly above his head.
The referee yawned and said, "Try the one next to it."
Chen Liang casually picked up the middle millstone.
The referee woke up instantly: "Good boy, try the big one again."
Gao Liang still lifted the largest millstone easily.
"Wow!!!" people around exclaimed.
This piece weighs two hundred and fifty kilograms. This guy must be very strong!
The onlookers clapped and whistled, attracting people nearby to come over and watch the fun.
"This is a strong man!"
"I've never seen anyone who can lift this huge millstone!"
"This kid will definitely win the championship!"
The referee wrote after the number: "Remember to come back on May 10th to participate in the competition!"
"Hey." Chen Liang pinched the wooden sign, his face flushed with excitement. He had been strong since he was a child, but he didn't expect to encounter such an opportunity.
If he won first place, he would get a reward of 500 taels of silver. Half of the money would be given to his uncle and aunt, and the rest would be enough for him to buy a small house and marry a wife.
I thought this was a great thing, but who would have thought it would turn out to be a bad thing.
(End of this chapter)
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