Chapter 165: Piercing the Ear

The Archery Official walked to the center and announced in a loud voice, "In accordance with the suggestion of young master Shen and the consent of the Heir of the State Duke of Jiang, the upcoming pitch-pot game will not follow ancient rituals. The one with the highest score wins."

The guests burst into a commotion. "What does this mean? Are they going to play something different?"

"It was truly worth coming to the banquet today! This is brilliant! Fascinating, fascinating!"

Most people cared little for ancient rituals; as long as it was entertaining and worth watching, that was all that mattered.

Besides, the one "acting on stage" here was the currently immensely popular Heir of the State Duke of Wei. Since he had no objections, they certainly had no objections to watching the spectacle.

"Since the Heir has agreed, let's begin. We've been standing here for nearly half an hour, young master Shen, bring out whatever tricks you have left!"

The crowd watched as Shen Kai picked up two arrows at once, and they began to guess what kind of trick he was about to pull off.

Shen Kai calmed his breath, cleared his mind of all distractions, held the arrows backward, measured the distance several times, and finally made his throw.

"Inverted hit! Young master Shen has scored an inverted hit!" The voice of the Archery Official resounded across the entire venue.

Some who did not understand asked, "Why wasn't a tally recorded for this?"

"You wouldn't understand. The inverted hit, the inverted ear, the horizontal hit, and the horizontal ear are all pitching techniques outside of ancient rituals. They were originally included, but during later revisions, our ancestors considered them to be either opportunistic or achieved by mere coincidence, neither of which deserved tallies. Furthermore, some malicious throwing actions were penalized by revoking previously earned tallies. That is why no tallies are recorded."

"If no tallies are recorded, how do we compare scores?"

"Among these, the inverted hit is the lowest, followed in ascending order by the inverted ear, the horizontal hit, and the horizontal ear. However, I have never yet seen anyone able to intentionally execute a horizontal ear."

"Then if someone succeeds today, wouldn't that be a magnificent spectacle?"

"Indeed. Shen Kai can be considered a capable man. If he can truly revive this technique today, he would not be unworthy of the title of a prodigy." He then shook his head, "If the Heir of Jiang catches up and ties the game, I'll have to go and catch a glimpse of that Princess of Liang as well."

"Hahaha~"

Quite a few people around were making banter. Xue Mingfang naturally heard this and indignantly said to his second older brother, "A bunch of men acting like gossiping women, chewing the fat over nothing! What's wrong with our cousin taking a look at the princess? Everyone loves beauty; after all, she's just a princess. Besides, brother Lan is already betrothed to the Princess of Ningyuan, what is there that's too high to reach? Hmph~"

Knowing that his third younger brother was fiercely protective and cared only for people rather than reason, Xue Ming睿 let him be, lest he pent it up with nowhere to vent.

But what was going on with their pompous sixth younger brother standing over there?

Xue Ming睿 looked over and saw that his sixth brother was once again grabbing Zhao Yang and roaring endlessly, only to instantly shrink back the moment Zhao Yang said a single word.

Uh, he couldn't quite figure that out.

Jiang Lan looked at the two arrows in Shen Kai's pot—their tips pointing upward and having landed inside the pot—and then picked up two arrows herself.

"No way, is the Heir of Jiang going to try as well?"

"It was obvious how much strain and uncertainty Shen Kai experienced just throwing those two, and yet the Heir of Jiang is still going to challenge him?"

The crowd didn't even dare to blink their eyes now, afraid of missing the most crucial moment.

"This is boring. Heir of the Prince of Anping, you can watch by yourself."

Standing on the artificial hill, Chen Yu watched Li Shengmao's retreating figure with a slight smile, then turned his head to continue watching the pitch-pot game below.

Jiang Lan did not aim and measure for a long time the way Shen Kai had; she simply gave a gentle toss, and the two arrows flew out.

Jiang Lan's gaze suddenly turned sharp. Looking up at a flying needle shot from the artificial hill, a copper coin slipped from her cuff, and she prepared to fling it to intercept the needle's trajectory. Suddenly, something pitch-black struck, cutting the silver needle in half right at the waist.

Jiang Lan looked in the direction from which the pitch-black object had flown, only to catch sight of a flash of dark robe on the rooftop.

"It's him?" Jiang Lan muttered in surprise.

However, she was quickly submerged by the surrounding cheers.

The Archery Official rubbed his eyes, confirmed it over and over again, and shouted, "Inverted hit! The Heir of Jiang has scored an inverted hit!"

"Heir of Jiang, from this day forward, you are no longer my cousin-in-law; you are my brother, my own biological brother!" Zhao Yang's voice was particularly loud.

Despite the roaring crowd, Jiang Lan paid them no heed. At this moment, she was meticulously scanning everything on the artificial hill, trying to find the fellow who had deliberately disrupted the trajectory of her arrows.

She looked up along the base of the artificial hill, catching sight of a patch of dark cyan, and her face darkened by three shades.

Looking further up, she saw the harmless-as-domestic-animals smile of the Heir of the Prince of Anping, who, seeing her look over, actually waved at her.

"What a thick skin!"

Suppressing the urge to roar at the top of her lungs and order him down for a one-on-one fight, Jiang Lan calmed her mind once more and turned her attention back to the pitch-pot game.

Just then, she saw sweat beading on Shen Kai's forehead as an arrow flew from his hand, coming to a precarious horizontal rest right above the pot's ear.

The Archery Official called out, "Horizontal ear! This is a horizontal ear!"

At this moment, applause erupted in an uproar. "This—this is simply miraculous! Miraculous!"

"Young master Shen is truly a master, brilliant!"

"I've wasted my time playing pitch-pot all these years; seeing what I've seen today makes this life complete!"

"What should we do? Can we keep it still? I want to paint this."

"This deserves to be recorded in history books, truly recorded in history books."

Just as the cheers for Shen Kai subsided, another discussion arose nearby.

"Do you think the Heir of Jiang can recreate this miracle?"

"I think it's doubtful!"

"I heard outside that they've opened wagers on this match. Spring Breeze House started at one-to-one, but now it's one-to-ten."

"Who would bet on that? There's easily seven or eight parts of sheer luck in Shen Kai landing that horizontal ear. If anyone wagers that the Heir of Jiang will repeat that stunt, they're just giving away silver for nothing."

"Actually, there really are people like that. Xue the Third and young master Zhao directly wagered a full ten thousand taels, and there's someone else whose identity is unknown who also wagered quite a lot—this much."

"Should we go place a bet too?"

Before their discussion could finish, a sudden gust of wind blew in, half-rolling dark clouds along with it.

"Hah, what a peculiar wind. So much for the wagering now; I'm afraid Xue the Third and young master Zhao's silver has gone down the drain."

At this moment, State Duke Xue walked over and invited everyone into the main hall to rest for a while, but Jiang Lan raised her arrows instead.

The crowd, who had already pulled up their sleeves to block the wind and were about to leave, turned back once more, whispering among themselves, "They're still going to pitch in this weather?"

"There's no way to pitch in this!" Seeing the howling wind blowing many drinking vessels over onto the ground, the crowd shouted, "Your Grace, why don't we go indoors to pitch? Let's just call it a day."

Jiang Lan shook her head. "The same venue is the only way it's fair."

The crowd looked at her blankly. "But with wind this strong, Your Grace, you won't hit it!"

The Archery Official also stepped forward to dissuade her, but right at that moment, Jiang Lan's arm moved. Everyone saw the arrow trace an arc through the air, then land steadily and horizontally atop the pot's ear. At that instant, the wind died down slightly—though still gusting a bit, it was manageable, and the arrow did not fall off, coming to a dead stop right on the pot's ear.

Everyone was dumbfounded. The Archery Official hurriedly called out, "Horizontal ear! The Heir has hit the horizontal ear!"

Scarcely had the words fallen when the gale picked up fiercely once again, and the crowd rushed pell-mell toward the main hall.

Shen Kai turned around, picked up a box of gold and a box of night-shining pearls from the offering table, walked over to Jiang Lan, and said, "These are yours."