Chapter 1071: Competition (1) Chapter 1071: Competition (1) Editor: Atlas Studios When Mu Yangling woke up the next day, Qi Haoran had already brought the boys to the grassland to ride horses in high spirits.
Putting it nicely, he called it a ârevision before the actual competitionâ.
Mu Yangling originally wanted to run into the mountains again, but when she thought about how this was the first real competition between the children and how there seemed to be a lot of competition, she reluctantly went to watch.
Because the princes were participating in this competition, the Emperor and the Empress also appeared.
Hence, many civil servants and generals naturally showed up, too.
The officials and imperial guards of the Ministry of Rites were extremely busy.
They had to surround the arena, move tables and chairs for the onlookers, and raise parasols for the officials and nobles.
It couldnât be helped; the Emperor was kind and couldnât bear to let his subjects stand under the sun.
After all, these were all ministers who led a sheltered life.
If they stood in the sun for half a day, half of them would collapse the next day.
When the time came, who would work for him and manage the country?
Seeing that the imperial guards were too busy, Qi Haoran waved his hand and told them not to worry about him.
He handed the supplies to his manservant and guards and let them set them up.
When Rong Xuan saw this, he acted accordingly.
The other ministers also hurriedly put their manservants to work.
Because they could not bring a row of guards like Qi Haoran, there was a limit to the number of people serving them, so they simply shared a parasol together.
Imperial Guards: âYou werenât allocated one each in the first place, anyway.â When the imperial guards completed their tasks, the officials of the Ministry of Rites had also finished creating the competition list and rules.
Although it was called a horse race, it could not be just a horse race.
Otherwise, it would be monotonous.
This was an opportunity to unearth outstanding horseback generals in preparation for future wars, so the race consisted of four categories: horse racing, wrestling, archery, and riding.
It was divided into two categories: children and youth, with age ten being the boundary.
Coincidentally, Little An and the other three belonged to the childrenâs group, while Little Treasure and Little Bear belonged to the youth group.
As for those above the age of 16, if they wanted to participate, they had to enter the forest to participate in the hunting competition.
That belonged to the teens group, not the youth group.
Qi Xiuyuan never liked to waste time, so not long after he ate his breakfast, he brought the Empress and the interested princes and imperial concubines into the venue.
As soon as they sat down, he said some words of encouragement to the children and immediately announced the start.
It took less than 15 minutes.
The officials of the Ministry of Rites wiped their sweat in relief.
Fortunately, the Emperor was concise in his speech.
Seeing as it started so early, there was hope that this competition would end before noon.
First up was the wrestling competition for the youth category.
As plenty had registered, the competition for the 15 groups were held at the same time.
The winner could enter the next round.
When it came to the second round, a lottery was drawn.
One person would draw a bye for this round, and this time they would proceed in groups.
Little Treasure and Little Bear were quite lucky and entered the second round.
Little Bear and his opponent exchanged a move.
Then, Little Bear knocked down the young man who was two years older and half a head taller than him.
Knowing that he was strong, Little Bear apologized in embarrassment.
âIâve always been kind of strong.â However, his opponent thought that he was showing off.
He could not help but glare at him and leave the arena resentfully.
On the other hand, Little Treasure won with much difficulty and only with some luck.
Because he was the Crown Prince, the other party didnât dare to make a move at first and let Little Treasure take advantage of him.
However, the other party was about the same age as him at 13 years old.
After being entangled for a while, his anger rose.
He tried his best to suppress Little Treasure, but because heâd suffered a disadvantage at the beginning, he gradually lost even if he tried his best later on.
It wasnât like Little Treasure was incompetent.
Although his martial arts couldnât compare to Little Bearâs, heâd been diligently practicing.
When he successfully knocked his opponent down, he jumped up in joy.
He knew that unless he drew a bye, it would be very difficult for him to enter the third round.
Nonetheless, he was still thrilled to be able to enter the second round.
However, the Crown Princeâs luck was truly excellent; he drew a bye in the second round.
Faced with vague doubts, the Crown Prince couldnât help but look at the Minister of Rites beside him.
His Royal Father and Royal Mother disdained to do such a thing, but the Ministry of RitesĂąâŹÂŠ The Minister of Rites stood expressionlessly, his back drenched in sweat.
He used his character to guarantee that he really hadnât cheated.
Since neither the Emperor nor the Crown Prince had such intentions, why would he do such a thankless thing?
Was it his fault that the Crown Prince was lucky?
The four little ones felt strange and shouted excitedly, cheering for Little Treasure and Little Bear.
Everyone could only hear them shouting at the top of their lungs, âJiayou1!â Qi Xiuyuan turned to ask Qi Haoran, âWhy are these children cheering for you?
Whatâs the meaning of that?â Qi Haoran resisted the urge to look at Mu Yangling and explained, âTheyâre just shouting randomly.â Qi Xiuyuan glanced at Mu Yangling and looked past Qi Haoran at Fan Zijin.
âThis term sounds familiar.â The corners of Fan Zijinâs lips curled up slightly.
âYour Majesty is right.
In the past, when we were in the north, Ah Ling often cheered for Haoran like that during martial arts competitions or horse races.
As time passed, we got used to it.
When the children encourage others, they also say the same thing.
To be honest, I donât understand what it means either.â Mu Yangling looked straight ahead as if she hadnât heard them.
How was she going to explain that it was a slip of the tongue?
Qi Xiuyuan knew a little of the dialects of the ten northern villages since a garrison general had to interact with the border residents.
So she couldnât lie that it was some dialect.
Therefore, it was better not to say anything if she could not find a legit reason.
Qi Xiuyuan glanced at Mu Yangling with a faint smile.
There were too many things that he didnât understand about his sister-in-law, and he wasnât in the mood to pursue it either.
So he simply shook his head and continued watching the competition.
Little Treasure was also cheering for Little Bear happily.
He had only shouted twice when Little Bear won.
A little bored watching this, Qi Xiuyuan said to Qi Haoran, âLittle Bear is not allowed to participate in such competitions in the future.
The Minister of Warâs eldest grandsonâs martial arts skills are not bad, and heâs considered above average among this group of children.
In the end, he lost after only three moves against Little Bear.
Itâs too unfair.â When the Minister of War heard this, he almost burst into tears.
The Emperor had said that his grandson was clearly very skilled, but he had lost so badly because he was unlucky enough to draw the lot to compete with Prince Rongâs son.
Qi Haoran pursed his lips and said, âRoyal Brother, you canât deprive Little Bear of his rights just because heâs strong.â Qi Xiuyuan held his forehead and felt a little helpless towards his younger brotherâs doting behavior.
He glanced at Mu Yangling and saw that she was also feeling indignant for her son.
He could not help but say, âMartial arts practitioners should fight against opponents who are evenly matched.
Considering Little Bearâs abilities are above that of the youth group, wouldnât he be bullying others if he competed with the youth group?â Qi Haoran rolled his eyes and said, âIn that case, why donât we let him compete with the teens group and let the eldest grandson of the Minister of War advance into the next round?â Knowing Qi Haoran was never one to suffer losses, Qi Xiuyuan glanced at him and asked, âWhat are you up to?â âRoyal Brother, if Little Bear can get first place in the teens group this time, let him follow me to the north next year.â Anger appeared on Qi Xiuyuanâs face.
âHeâs only 12 years old.
Heâs still a child.â âDidnât I follow you into the military camp and fight on the battlefield when I was 12 years old?
12 years old isnât that young.â Qi Haoran said seriously, âLittle Bear is even more impressive than I was back then.â best of luck
If you find any errors ( Ads popup, ads redirect, broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.