Chapter 79

  As they watched Jiang Changyang being surrounded by the crowd and led upstairs, he was pressed to sit down beside Fen Wang, who personally poured him a full cup of wine and handed it over with great enthusiasm, praising him nonstop. Qinghua Junzhu's face turned iron-green with rage. She had thought that she could humiliate Jiang Changyang in front of the many nobles, but instead, she had given him an opportunity to shine. Grinding her teeth, she furrowed her brow and thought to herself that she needed to come up with another plan. The sound of Pan Rong's giggling and laughter came from beside her ear, each sentence urging someone to fulfill their earlier promise: "Didn't you say Jiang Dalang wouldn't succeed? You lost, you lost, give me the thing! I told you he was very formidable."

  Tsinghua County's mistress couldn't help but secretly resent, unable to express her disgust towards Pan Rong, she gave him a fierce glare, coincidentally meeting Liu Chuan's gaze. Before she could react, Liu Chuan had already smiled slightly at her and beckoned her over.

  Tsinghua county master brought a few points of excitement, but deliberately delayed for a while before passing by, raising her chin and saying haughtily: "What do you want to do?"

  Liu Chang suppressed the disgust in his heart and said lightly, "Nothing, just wanted to remind you that since you've invited King Fen, you've ruined his father's mood. If you think my words are unnecessary, then don't listen."

  Tsinghua County Master "hmmphed" and also knew he was speaking the truth, thinking of his affairs yesterday, deliberately wanting to make things difficult for him, pointing at the opposite side: "Do you see? Today I've invited a noble guest."

  Liu Chang's heart skipped a beat, and he looked up to see Peony sitting across from him with an air of elegance. Suppressing his turbulent emotions, he forced himself to withdraw his gaze and said coldly, "What did you call her here for? Do you think I haven't been disgusted enough by her? Do you want the people here to despise me and mock me again?"

  Tsinghua County Master stared at him, trying to see something from his eyes and face, but Liu Chong's face was indeed a look of disgust and disdain. He smiled slightly: "Who laughs at who is not certain yet. Sparrows also dare to imagine flying up to the branch to become a phoenix, this is the outcome."

  Zhen was bored, Liu Chang lazily leaned on the case, "You love however you want, just remember not to cause trouble. Otherwise, public opinion will be unfavorable to me, she is an unrelated person, why always call her in front of me."

  Tsinghua County Master heard this sentence, her mood finally improved thoroughly, pulled Liu Chang's sleeve and coquettishly said: "I recently got a good wine vessel, come to my place tonight?"

  Liu said quickly: "Mm, but I don't want to see other people."

  Tsinghua County Master knew who he was referring to, thinking that she hadn't even entered the door yet and had already started being jealous. She smiled and said: "Don't worry, I've already taken care of them all. Are you going down later? I'll prepare a horse and saddle for you."

  Liu Chong raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly: "Of course, I'll go. Will Jiang Dalang go too? Or will it be like usual, your cousins forming one team and us forming another?"

  The young lady of Qinghua said, "I'll go take a look." Shao Ke returned and pouted, saying, "Jiang Daren just showed off his skills, obviously he's an expert at playing cuju. Who would dare ask him to come down? My several brothers were just there trying to persuade him not to come down. Even my uncle wanted to keep him talking, afraid that he wouldn't be able to come down." She lowered her voice and smiled, saying, "You can show off your skills now."

  Liu Chang raised an eyebrow and said with a hint of disdain, "He can ride a flying horse and strike coins, but it's unlikely he can transport your several brothers in mid-air. You'd better go keep your uncle-grandfather company."

  "Rest assured," said Qinghua Junzhu with a smile. "I'll take good care of him." The two exchanged a knowing glance, and their former tacit understanding was finally restored.

  The people upstairs on the west side obviously didn't have as high a status as those on the east side, and they didn't know much either. Some recognized Jiang Changyang and could call out his name, but couldn't say what he was all about. Peony perked up her ears and listened for a while, but didn't make out anything special, so she focused on dealing with the food in front of her.

  "Dan Niang, where's Xue Niang?" Mrs. Duan asked. Peony only then noticed that Xue Niang was no longer sitting beside her. Mrs. Duan was getting anxious: "This girl is really thoughtless, where did she run off to? If she bumps into a noble person, what will we do?"

  Just then, Xue Niang's face turned red as she ran up and slapped a copper coin onto the table, excitedly laughing: "Look, this is the very copper coin that just passed through the gate, I just spent one cent to get the horse boy to pick it up"

  Mrs. Dou pinched her cheeks, and the scolding words that had been on the tip of her tongue could not be spoken out.

  Li Man Niang picked it up to take a closer look, but saw that the edge of the copper coin had been deformed by the blow. She sighed and said: "It's still many years ago when I was in Anbei Duhu Fu, I've seen this skill before. The person who did it is dead, and I thought I'd never see it again. Who would have thought that I'd see it again today?" Then she asked Mudan: "Since you know him, do you know whose brother he is?"

  "Peony shook his head and said: 'I don't know. But thinking about it, it shouldn't be a common surname.'"

  Li Maniang sighed for a moment and stopped mentioning it again. Suddenly, someone sent over a set of special clothes for playing cuju, saying that the men would play first, and then it would be the women's turn, asking Li Maniang and others to get ready in advance. Mudan was worried that Li Maniang had unintentionally saved the person who harmed the Qinghua County Master, and the Qinghua County Master would find a way to harm her. Li Maniang smiled: "There is no need to be afraid, she is not my opponent."

  Mrs. Duan scolded her with a stern tone: "You're being rude again."

  Li Maniang smiled casually: "Everyone knows each other's bottom line, why bother pretending."

  Before long, the men changed into red and green robes and rode onto the field on horseback. The ones in red were the imperial brothers, while those in green were the noble brothers. The two teams of horses stood on either side of the polo field, with Qinghua County's mistress standing at the top of the building loudly announcing: "Today's prize is twenty bolts of colored silk and 20,000 taels of silver." She paused for a moment, with a hint of pride saying: "The winner will also receive an additional reward from Prince Fen's palace."

  Then a man in white clothes quickly stepped forward, placing a ball the size of a fist on the field. A drum sounded from the sidelines, and the two teams charged into the field with determination, swinging their mallets at the small ball. The crowd cheered loudly, regardless of gender, shouting "good", and the atmosphere of the entire ball field reached its peak.

  On the polo field, there is no nobility, Liu Chuan and Pan Rong are undoubtedly the leading figures among the aristocratic brothers, taking their teammates to rush around, coming and going like lightning. However, the imperial clan brothers are not pushovers either, amidst the flying mallets, someone will always end up with a loss that's not too big or too small. Peony clenched her fists as she watched, remembering that when she first arrived here, she heard about a prince's son who was hit in the eye by a hook on the polo mallet and lost his sight during a game of polo, and soon after, she heard about a general falling off his horse and dying. Therefore, she always felt that this activity, although exciting to watch, is actually bloody.

  The cheers came in waves, thanks to the joint efforts of the crowd. After several rounds of polo, Liu Chuan finally managed to hit the ball into the goal with one strike, and the Clear River County Princess cheered loudly with pride. Liu Chuan smiled smugly, and couldn't help but glance at Peony, wondering if she had seen his heroic move. Before he could get a clear look, he saw one of the Clear River County Princess's cousins striking the ball with a serious face, forcing him to quickly duck down and barely avoid it. Pan Rong was extremely dissatisfied, scolding: "Play polo properly! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He then refocused his attention and followed up with all his might.

  The polo field was bustling with excitement, and outside, another wave of excitement arrived. The Marquis of Qinghua, who had been thrown off his horse by the Marquis of Xing'an, brought five or six noble ladies from the imperial family, their faces gloomy and their manner fierce, as they walked up to the floor. Seeing the King of Fen, they first smiled and went over to pay their respects, then looked at the Marquis of Qinghua with a forced smile: "Fortunately, we arrived just in time and didn't miss the opportunity to compete with Eighth Sister."

  Those who come are not good, and those who are good do not come. Qinghua Junzhu saw Xingkang Junzhu return with a group of people behind her, all of whom were usually at odds with herself, and felt a little frightened in her heart. She still forced a smile and said: "Eleventh sister, you're not blaming me? How is Liu Yuniang's injury? I've been thinking about her all the time."

  Xing Kang Jun Zhu smiled lightly and said, "Her leg is broken, one arm is also broken, the skin on her body is almost all injured, and she hasn't woken up yet. Hmm, probably only half a life left. Alas, it seems that her luck is really bad, the first time she went out with me, such a big mistake happened, my mother will not forgive me, I don't even dare to go home."

  Tsinghua County Master saw the terrifying smile on Xing Kang's face, and finally felt a chill rising from her toes. She instinctively felt that she couldn't play this game of polo with Xing Kang today, and hastily said: "I don't know what happened earlier, but something unfortunate occurred. Once we're done here, I'll take someone to see her. Our estate has a great doctor who specializes in treating external injuries, and some good medicine too...

  Xing Kang Jun Zhu coldly interrupted her, saying: "First, thank Eighth Sister. However, these are all matters for later, the ball game is urgent, several sisters have specially pushed aside other things to join in this excitement, you can't just let us go back like this, right? Eighth Sister, it's been a long time since we last sparred, younger sister has been dreaming about it, are you coming or not?"

  The mistress of Qinghua Manor cast a glance at the few people with tiger-like gazes, and couldn't help but sneer: "Of course I'm coming. It's been a long time since we've played together." It wasn't just them who could form alliances; she also had companions, not to mention that she was very confident in her horsemanship and ball-throwing skills. In this game of polo, she must win, absolutely cannot lose. She threw her gaze at Li Man Niang on the opposite building, determined to get Li Man Niang and others to come over to her side first. One reason was that Li Man Niang's horsemanship was exceptional; another reason was that if something unexpected happened, she would need someone to take responsibility for it.

  On this side, Peony and others also noticed the abnormal commotion on this side. Li Man Niang and Dou Fu Ren were both experienced people, and they immediately realized that they could no longer stay here, even if they wanted to, they absolutely couldn't get involved in the grudges of these noble ladies. However, how could they retreat safely? Before Li Man Niang and Dou Fu Ren could think of a solution, Peony was already holding her forehead and saying: "Auntie, I have a severe headache, I'm afraid I'm getting sick again."

  ——*——*——*——

  Tonight there is an update of 750 words, o(_)o~, continue to ask for pink votes, thank you everyone.