Chapter 70 Pei Yuan Actually Understood Her Thoughts
Pei Yuan parted the crowd and slowly walked over, waving his jade-bone fan. The image of the maidservant on the fan shone even brighter in the sunlight.
Everyone's expressions turned solemn, and they all bowed, "Sixth Prince!"
Pei Yuan hummed in agreement and stood next to Shen Chu.
The Third Prince frowned. "Sixth Brother, you want to join their fleet?"
Pei Yuan casually waved his fan, his narrow, almond-shaped eyes glancing sideways at Shen Chu, and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "You won't agree to my conditions? This prince can actually join the Third Prince's team."
This is blatant profiteering.
Shen Chu gritted her teeth. Although she had come up with a way to win against the Third Prince, she ultimately needed the cooperation of her teammates from the Chengxuan fleet.
The situation on the field can change in an instant, and she was not entirely confident that she could control the situation in an emergency.
If Pei Yuan were to join the Third Prince's team, their chances of winning would become even slimmer.
She had already made her bold claim, and she had to win this competition, not only to curb the Third Prince's arrogance, but also to help Li Chengxuan obtain the red-tasseled spear he had been longing for.
"I, the prince, helped you win the competition, will you give me a purse?"
Shen Chu rubbed her fingers together and readily agreed, "It's a deal."
She didn't know why Pei Yuan kept clinging to the purse. At worst, she could take out the suicide note from the purse's inner compartment and give it to him first.
Seeing the two talking in hushed tones and ignoring him completely, the Third Prince shouted angrily, "Sixth Prince, what exactly do you mean? Are you really going to go against me? Don't blame me for being merciless as your older brother if you lose."
Pei Yuan suddenly closed the jade-bone fan, his expression indifferent.
"The outcome is not yet decided, Third Brother, don't be too arrogant. In the end, it may be me who shows no mercy."
"You!" The Third Prince's face turned ashen, and he angrily threw down the sentence, "I'll teach you a lesson after we win."
He led his men straight onto the boat and rowed towards the starting line of the race.
Shen Chu took a deep breath, just about to ask Li Chengxuan to discuss the tactics one last time, but when she turned around, she was dumbfounded.
Li Chengxuan and his seven teammates stood in a row, their necks hunched and shoulders trembling, like chicks waiting to be slaughtered.
What's wrong with you?
Li Chengxuan said in a low voice, "We're scared."
The Minister of Works' youngest son said in a trembling voice, "I saw with my own eyes the Sixth Prince leading the Flying Eagle Guards to behead a man in the street."
The youngest brother of the mighty general stammered, "Last month, the sixth prince beat my brother so badly that his face was covered in blood, and even our own father wouldn't recognize him."
"And...and me too. The Sixth Prince had someone pluck out my father's beard..."
Chen Chu looked at the one who was trembling the most, "Tell me, who in your family did he hit?"
Princess Qinghe's son, his eyes red-rimmed, said, "He didn't hit any of my family members, but I'm naturally timid, I'm scared, sob sob..."
Shen Chu... Pei Yuan is indeed ruthless!
She glared at Li Chengxuan, annoyed. "If you're all scared, why did you ask me to find him and have him join our team?"
Li Chengxuan scratched his head and chuckled dryly, "That's because there was really no one else, so we had to try anything. Besides, we all have one thing in common: we're afraid of the Sixth Prince. Maybe if he glared at us, we'd tremble and be scared into rowing even faster."
Chen Chu chuckled. So the purpose of finding Pei Yuan was to intimidate them and unleash their potential?
Pei Yuan, who was standing not far away, seemed to have heard their conversation and suddenly turned his head to look over.
A group of people exclaimed in surprise, and in perfect unison, they lined up in a single file and huddled behind Chen Chu.
It seemed that Shen Chu's thin back became their only safe haven.
"Oh dear, the Sixth Prince is looking over here. Is he going to hit us?"
Chen Chu was helpless. How could he possibly board the ship and compete like this?
She pinched the bridge of her nose, hesitating whether to ask Pei Yuan to leave.
But then Pei Yuan snorted coldly, "I, the prince, will be in charge of playing the drums. You all better hurry up."
After saying that, she leaped onto the dragon boat with a light touch of her toes. The dark red hem of her dress drew a beautiful arc in the air, causing a group of girls on the shore to scream.
Shen Chu cursed under his breath for being frivolous, then turned to look at his little chick teammates.
With a cold face, she asked loudly, "You're always last place, and people laugh at you. Don't you want to prove yourself?"
Perhaps because Pei Yuan had left, the chicks weren't so nervous. They looked at each other and said listlessly, "Yes."
Chen Chu continued, "When people call us useless good-for-nothings and say we're no good, can you tolerate that?"
The chicks, remembering the Third Prince's mockery, were filled with anger. "We can't stand it!"
What if I can't stand it anymore?
Li Chengxuan raised his arm and shouted, "Let's get them!"
Shen Chu nodded and shouted, "That's right, if you're not convinced, then fight! Show your manly spirit! As long as we win this match, we can avenge our defeat!"
Spurred on by Shen Chu's words, everyone nodded in agreement.
"Yes, let's take them down!"
Seeing that morale was rising, Shen Chu breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear Pei Yuan let out a sneer, as if mocking her.
The chicks' courage vanished instantly at the sound of that laughter.
"Waaah, Lord Shen, we can't help but tremble when we see the Sixth Prince, what should we do?"
Chen Chu...
Damn it, let's withdraw from the competition!
But Pei Yuan coldly uttered a sentence: "If you dare to lose the competition, I, the prince, will arrest you all and put you in the Flying Eagle Guard, where they will serve you well for a few days."
The chicks trembled silently three times, then suddenly straightened up and roared, "We can win! We can definitely win!"
Chen Chu...
Well, all her well-intentioned but pointless rambling was less effective than a single sentence from Pei Yuan.
This group's main trait is cowardice!
"What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and explain your tactics. Lord Shen is making such confident statements, is there really no way to win?" Pei Yuan glanced at him sideways.
Chen Chu looked at her teammates, who were all terrified and acting like they were on steroids, and felt numb.
Alright, let's talk about tactics.
She wanted to call Pei Yuan to come and listen, but Pei Yuan had already turned around and was admiring the scenery on the lake with his back to them, seemingly disregarding her tactics.
As the bugle call urging them to board the ship sounded, time was of the essence, and Shen Chu had no choice but to quickly reiterate the tactics to all his teammates.
When the horn stopped, all the dragon boats stopped at the starting point.
The Third Prince's dragon boat was right next to theirs. When he saw them coming, the Third Prince made a gesture of smashing them with his drumsticks, and laughed maliciously and contemptuously.
Li Chengxuan was so angry he almost jumped up.
Shen Chu gripped the oar tightly and said in a deep voice, "Ignore him, remember our rhythm."
As the starting horn sounded, the Third Prince's dragon boat shot off like an arrow.
As the helmsman, Shen Chu shouted in a deep voice after the horn sounded, "Watch the angle, lift!"
They had practiced beforehand, and all the teammates rowed in unison according to her commands.
Pei Yuan watched Shen Chu's rowing movements and slowly struck the drum.
The rowing motion was neither too fast nor too slow, and so was the drumbeat.
The Third Prince's dragon boat had already left them a whole boat behind, and seeing them lagging behind, he burst into laughter.
"Just keep an eye on our stern as you row the rest of the way. I, the prince, will be waiting for you at the finish line."
Li Chengxuan and the others were so angry that their faces turned red.
Shen Chu said in a deep voice, "Ignore them, calm your minds, and listen to my orders. Otherwise, if you really lose the competition, the Sixth Prince's Flying Eagle Guards will not let you off the hook."
Everyone was immediately startled and composed themselves, their movements becoming perfectly synchronized.
Shen Chu breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that they were undisturbed.
Since they are afraid of Pei Yuan, let's use Pei Yuan to scare them; it's a good way to make the best use of everyone's talents.
She looked up and saw Pei Yuan, who was playing the drums, raising an eyebrow and glancing at her sideways, his captivating peach blossom eyes seeming to smile but not quite.
She quickly put on a warm, spring-like smile, "Your Highness plays the drums very well."
Pei Yuan snorted and didn't look at her again.
The race was already halfway through, and their dragon boat was consistently one boat's distance behind the Third Prince's dragon boat, steadily falling to the back.
The people on the shore watched and discussed it animatedly.
"It seems there's no suspense in this year's dragon boat race; the Third Prince is firmly in first place."
"Young Master's fleet is also very stable, consistently ranking last."
"Sigh, I thought that with Lord Shen and the Sixth Prince joining, things would change, but we're still in last place."
Everyone shook their heads, and just then, the situation on the field suddenly changed.
Sensing a gentle breeze brushing against the ends of her hair, Shen Chu was about to order everyone to start stirring when suddenly Pei Yuan's drumbeats quickened.
The drumbeats were rapid and intense, like ten thousand horses galloping or spring thunder rolling, surging in with an overwhelming momentum.
Shen Chu was stunned for a moment. Pei Yuan actually understood her thoughts? Or had he thought of the same tactic?
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