Chapter 41 Fellow Countrymen

  The Wànpíng Gé basketball court is about 30 mu in size, flat and spacious. Maintaining such a large court is expensive, so you need to pay a fee to play on the court.

  The four sides of the stadium were built with high arrow towers, a total of three layers.

  From the top of the Arrow Tower, you can see the entire Wànpíng Gé Ball Court at a glance.

  On the second floor of the southeast corner of the arrow tower, two figures dressed in men's clothing squeezed their heads against the railing of a room, looking down.

  The two teams on the field were already fighting, but their ball skills were barely passable, and the two of them watched with great disinterest.

  One of them was wearing a deep blue cloud-patterned straight skirt, with a small build, a hair bun, and a jade pin on her head, looking like a 13 or 14-year-old boy. However, this "boy" had almond-shaped eyes shining brightly, pink cheeks with a hint of spring, a slender neck as white as snow, delicate earlobes with earrings, clearly a young lady.

  Her name is Cai Shuxian, and she is the daughter of the eastern house of Wangpingge Ballroom.

  "Hey Nanhua sister, look quickly, someone is going to fight." Cai Shuxian leaned on the railing, looking around, then saw something fun and pushed the person beside him.

  The woman beside her, also dressed as a man, was named Shen Nanhua.

  As a woman, Shen Nanhua's male attire was even more unbelievable, and one glance could see through it. Her eyes were bright and shining, either blinking lightly with a smile or raising her eyebrows with a joyful expression, all of which were charming and seductive; her skin was as white as snow, her face small and delicate, her red lips blooming like cherry blossoms, her waist swaying like a willow branch.

  "Where?" Shen Nanhua's body leaned forward slightly, also looking around. Her voice was very soft, like a clear spring, refreshing the heart. When she spoke, her two long and dense eyelashes flickered, making her eyes even more dazzling.

  "Ah......" Cai Shu's slender fingers pointed towards the entrance of the stadium.

  Near the west side of the gate, there were two teams of people and horses, seemingly on the verge of a clash, with swords drawn.

  One team was furious and tense, while another joked and laughed.

  "Will they... fight?" Shen Nan Hua smiled slightly and asked Cai Shu Xian.

  She doesn't like seeing people fight.

  Cai Shuxian smiled and said with a glint in his eye, "Don't worry, they won't dare. If it comes to blows, my second brother will ban them from this stadium afterwards. In Yaojiang County, our family's stadium is the best. Those people are all fond of playing ball and betting on ball games; not letting them come to the stadium would be taking their lives."

  This court belongs to the Cai family. The Cai family is wealthy, and although this court cost a lot of money, it's just a small part of the Cai family's property. Therefore, the head of the household and the eldest son will not have time to take care of it, so they handed it over to the second son, who is Cai Shu-xian's older brother.

  Cai Shuxian's second brother is a ruthless character, and after many years of managing the ball court, he has become even more cruel and merciless. The various tribes of Yaojiang all have a deep respect for him and do not dare to easily cause trouble at Wangping Pavilion.

  "That's good then..." Shen Nanhua let out a sigh of relief.

  The two groups of people downstairs persisted for a while, said a few words, and then suppressed their anger and dispersed.

  "That's Li Balang." Cai Shuxian looked for a while, suddenly pointing to the middle of another team with a deep red medium-sized shadow, and said to Shen Nanhua.

  "Li Balang?" Shen Nanhua didn't know who that was, nor did she understand why Cai Shuxian would suddenly call out someone's name, and she turned around in surprise to look at Cai Shuxian.

  But all he saw was Cai Shu-xian's cheeks flushing with shame, as if she had applied rouge.

  "Uh-huh." Cai Shuxian didn't realize that the spring color at the bottom of his eyes had already revealed the secret in his heart, and he pretended to be calm and light-hearted towards Shen Nanhua, "Two years ago, I fell into the water on the painting boat, it was him who saved me. He has a favor for our Cai family, so my second brother allowed him to come to the ball court often. Later, I always heard my second brother say that his ball skills are very good..."

  "I see..." Shen Nanhua smiled.

  Shen Nanhua and Cai Shuxian are maternal cousins. The two are similar in age and have compatible personalities, so they get along well as sisters. Shen Nanhua often heard her mother say that her cousin Cai Shuxian, due to her lively personality, would not marry into a wealthy family and be restricted, but instead would marry someone who shared the same feelings and interests.

  It is also said that the Cai family had already set their sights on someone and were just waiting for Cai Shuixian to grow up and get married. That person has a favor to ask of the Cai family.

  Now looking at Cai Shu-xian's appearance and listening to her tone, it is likely that the person is Li Ba-lang.

  Her future brother-in-law, Shen Nan Hua was also quite curious.

  Shen Nanhua's gaze darted back and forth among Li Balang's group, not only looking at Li Balang but also sizing up his friends.

  People of similar character gather together, and birds of a feather flock together; by looking at someone's friends, you can also see his nature.

  That group of people were all there to play ball, wearing headscarves, long boots and holding mallets, dressed in brocade. But one person was an exception.

  There was a man, tall and slender in build, looking refined and elegant. He wore a white jade hairpin on his head, dressed in a dark blue satin robe with embroidered flowers, wearing black boots, pale and weak. In his hand, he held an 8 or 9-year-old little boy.

  Shen Nanhua also had an eight or nine-year-old younger brother, whom he loved dearly, so the man holding the boy's hand caught his eye.

  Apart from being thin and weak, it was obvious at a glance that Shen Nan Hua wouldn't be able to ride a horse, let alone play polo; he couldn't see anything else, so he shifted his gaze.

  Unexpectedly, a moment later, the man also led the boy upstairs to the second floor and into the elegant room next to Shen Nanhua and Cai Shuxian.

  The second floor's room is relatively simple, separated by a thin bamboo board, blocking each other's line of sight, but the conversation can be heard.

  "Second Uncle, Second Uncle, our county doesn't have a polo field like this!" Shen Nanhua heard the boy say this and was slightly surprised.

  Shen Nanhua is also from Wangxian County.

  She is from Shen's family in Nanqiao Alley, Wangxian County, who had "one door with two jinshi and three juren in the same clan".

  Unexpectedly met people from Wangxian at the polo field in Yaojiang!

  She couldn't help but smile to herself, this was truly fate. Thinking of this, she also felt a bit embarrassed, after all, having a fateful connection with a strange man would lead people to imagine romantic entanglements.

  "How do you know that?" A gentle voice came from next door, a young man's voice. His voice was elegant and soft, like a warm spring breeze.

  Although it sounds good, it lacks a bit of masculinity, Shen Nanhua thought.

  "A frog in a well cannot speak of the ocean, and a summer insect cannot talk about ice. There are too many things that I have not seen before. What I have seen, I can say exists, but what I haven't seen, I cannot say does not exist." The man said this with a gentle voice, almost as if he were speaking to someone of the same age as the boy.

  He spoke with a careless tone when talking about reason, although his words were a bit circuitous.

  Shen Nanhua thought for the first time that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing if things didn't go as planned, and it was actually quite interesting.

  She thought about that somewhat awkward sentence again and found it actually made sense.

  "Got it, Second Uncle!" The boy next door replied in a crisp and cheerful voice. It can be heard that the uncle and nephew have a good relationship.

  Those uncle and nephew, should be living in a warm and comfortable, yet moderately wealthy and knowledgeable family. Their voices reveal gentle tone and pleasant emotions, it can be seen that they are usually very happy.

  This happiness is not pretended, but genuinely reflected in their words and deeds.

  Shen Nanhua's eyes dimmed slightly, she was very envious.

  "Second Uncle, just now Eighth Uncle was so scary! Is he going to hit that big guy?" the little boy asked again.

  As soon as this was said, Cai Shu-xian also pricked up his ears and listened.

  Li Balang Li Yongrong, Cai Shuxian's future husband.

  "It's time to fight." The man said with a smile, "He's so arrogant, he deserves to be beaten. However, fighting with fists and feet is beneath us. Let's beat him at polo instead, that way we'll win with honor."

  "Will the Eighth Uncle win?" the little boy asked again.

  "It's hard to say," the man said with a smile. "I've never seen your eighth uncle play ball, nor have I seen that big guy play ball. I don't know their respective skills, so it's not easy to say..."

  "Originally Second Uncle didn't know." The little boy mischievously said.

  "Hmm, I don't know..." The man replied calmly.

  Knowing doesn't mean being knowledgeable, and not knowing doesn't mean being ignorant, so he's neither here nor there. The neighbors Shen Nanhua and Cai Shuxian heard this and couldn't help but shake their heads.

  This person is a bit lazy and doesn't seem to care about anything. This kind of indifference, if it were an older man, could be said to be calm and peaceful; but for a 16 or 17-year-old boy, it's a bit lacking in ambition.

  Young girls all think that young men who are not ambitious are not good.

  Young people should strive for self-improvement.

  Cai Shuxian glanced at Shen Nanhua, seeing that she was leaning in to listen with a rather serious expression, and then said in a low voice: "Sister Nanhua, the person next door is also from Wangxian County, do you know him?"

  Shen Nanhua came back to her senses and gently shook her head.

  She is a lady of the house. The men in her relatives' families saw her when they were young, but as they grew up, some didn't recognize her anymore; let alone outsiders, how would they know her? They haven't even seen her before.

  The neighbors have moved in, and their voices are softer now.

  "....aren't you a relative of Li Ba?" Suddenly, a man's voice, rough and husky, came from outside the curtain of the elegant room next door. The second floor rooms like this one didn't have doors, only half-length green silk curtains that barely blocked out some of the view.

  Someone passes by the door and if they have a mind to provoke, they can enter without being invited.

  As they spoke, four or five people squeezed into Chen Jiong and Chen Wen Gong's small room.

  "Yes." Chen Jing did not get up, looked at these men with a calm expression, and smiled faintly.

  They were all friends of Du Shijie just now.

  Du Shijie is just a tall and provocative son.

  "Nice to meet you, nice to meet you." The man at the front gently shook his folding fan and smiled. He said "nice to meet you", but didn't bow or show any courtesy, with an arrogant attitude. His name was Mo Bing, around twenty years old. There was always a hint of sarcasm in his smile. Even when he said "nice to meet you", it wouldn't make you feel his kindness.

  Although he didn't have good intentions at all.

  "Nice to meet you." Chen Jing also said. He didn't get up either and didn't salute.

  "What's your surname?" Mo Bing asked with a smile, and then asked another question.

  "My surname is Chen, and I am Chen Zhong." said Chen Jing.

  Mo Bai reported his own name.

  He was followed by four men, who also reported their names respectively.

  "Brother Chen, would you like to watch the ball game together?" Mo Bing asked Chen Jing.

  This room can accommodate up to four people.

  There are six adults and one child in the house now, it's so crowded that they can't move their feet.

  "It doesn't matter." Chen Jiong said seriously, looking at Mo Bing.

  "Hmm..." From the neighboring room came a faint laugh. The voice sounded somewhat like a woman's.

  Chen Jing and several others in the house couldn't help but look at the wall next door.