The competition officially began.
The first event was arrow - pot throwing.
Among the twelve ladies, eight of them sent out their assistants for this arrow - pot throwing skill. As a result, they only barely passed.
While the guests were toasting and feasting, arrow - pot throwing was just the thing to liven up the banquet atmosphere.
Madam Begonia was quite remarkable. As an alchemist, she had much greater arm strength than the other ladies.
The atmosphere reached a climax after Madam Begonia finished her arrow - pot throwing.
"Arrow - pot throwing is a refined form of archery. At banquets, archery is used to entertain guests, cultivate grace, and practice skills. This time, as an event in the Qianyuan Competition, everyone should just treat it as a game and not worry too much."
It was true that one shouldn't worry too much, but Madam Begonia had really stolen the show.
There were different levels in arrow - pot throwing, such as "leaning on the ear", "going through the ear", "falling into the ear upside - down", "consecutive hits", and "filling the pot".
Madam Begonia managed to get consecutive hits every time.
Even the assistant of Beauty Xiao only managed to get eight hits out of ten tries.
When it was Yu Xiang's turn, Zhao Shuning stepped forward and stopped her.
"You're not good at arrow - pot throwing. I'll do it."
Seeing that the Eighth Madam had sent out a little girl, and that the little girl was stretching her muscles before going on stage, everyone showed looks of disdain.
Although this little girl had been in the spotlight in recent days, she seemed to have forgotten that arrow - pot throwing wasn't a test of spiritual power. Even if she had a lot of spiritual power, there was no way to use it here.
They really underestimated Zhao Shuning on this point.
In her previous life, when she was Ye Ling, her master had made her practice archery, horse - riding, and arrow - pot throwing a great deal to train her arm strength.
In her previous life, Ye Ling was at such a high level that no one dared to compete with her.
Now, as an assistant, she finally had the chance to show off her arrow - pot throwing skills.
Amidst a burst of laughter, Zhao Shuning stepped onto the stage.
The first arrow missed and landed beside the pot.
Everyone burst into laughter. See, this little girl dared to come on stage to help Madam Xiang with arrow - pot throwing? With such poor accuracy, it would be a miracle if she could even hit the pot, let alone win.
Zhao Shuning had just been testing the arm strength of this little body. After getting a rough estimate,
she smiled slightly and picked up the second arrow.
"First hit!"
"Consecutive hits!"
"Going through the ear!"
"Scattered arrows!"
"Consecutive hits and going through the ear!"
"Leaning on the pole!"
"My goodness! What is this little girl up to!"
In the end, there were three arrows left in Zhao Shuning's hand. She grabbed them all at once.
Then, she tossed them lightly.
"Consecutive hits in both ears, plus the first hit!"
Everyone was shocked. Even Lin Feng sat up straight.
He watched this scene and the little girl in front of him. For some reason, Lin Feng always felt that through this little girl, he seemed to see someone else.
Zhao Shuning clapped her hands, marking the end of the competition.
It was so annoying. She had just gotten into the rhythm, but she couldn't fully enjoy it. It was a pity that they had only prepared ten arrows for each lady. Otherwise, Zhao Shuning really wanted to try the thrill of shooting dozens of arrows in a row.
The winner of this arrow - pot throwing competition was judged to be Madam Begonia because not a single one of her arrows had fallen out of the pot.
But everyone had eyes. In that competition just now, although Zhao Shuning had missed the first arrow, her subsequent arrow - pot throwing skills were clearly better than everyone else present.
However, a miss was a miss. In this competition, Madam Xiang could only come in second.
Zhao Shuning was already quite satisfied with this result. Anyway, the real show was yet to come. Looking at Madam Begonia's expression, Zhao Shuning looked up and gave her a faint smile.
There was a strong sense of provocation in this smile.
But with so many people around, even if Madam Begonia was angry, she didn't dare to show it in front of Lin Feng.
In this first competition, Madam Begonia came first, Madam Xiang second, and Beauty Xiao third.
But in contrast, Beauty Xiao didn't seem the least bit unhappy. Her expression seemed rather pleased. In fact, Beauty Xiao knew that she couldn't win in arrow - pot throwing. If there was a Madam Xiang to take away some of the attention and glory from Madam Begonia, she would be even happier.
Then came the horse - racing event.
Among the twelve ladies, only six of them participated in person. The other ladies sent out their assistants.
Beauty Xiao wasn't good at horse - riding, so naturally she didn't participate.
The main highlights of this event were on Madam Begonia and Madam Xiang.
Zhao Shuning picked out a good horse for Madam Xiang. Then, when Madam Xiang was getting on the horse, she tied the straps for her again.
"I'm a bit - nervous."
Madam Xiang hadn't participated in horse - racing for more than twenty years.
"Don't be nervous. Just pretend these people don't exist. Think of yourself as you were when you were a young girl. Remember how you felt on the horse back then. You should bring back that feeling now."
"You told me yesterday that horse - racing was the happiest time for you. You clearly remember every movement, every time you reined in the horse, every turn, every jump. Remember, when you're on the horse, you're not Madam Xiang, not the weak Eighth Courtyard Madam. You're Yu Xiang!"
"Yes, I'm Yu Xiang."
"Go ahead. When the race starts, just focus on the horse - racing. Leave the rest to me and Mo Bai."
"Okay, I trust you guys."
Zhao Shuning smiled and patted the horse. The horse walked forward. Thirteen horses were all standing in front of the starting point.
When Madam Begonia went out, Zhao Shuning saw the hand gesture she made with her assistant behind her.
During the horse - race, Madam Xiang would surely be interfered with. What Zhao Shuning had to do was to eliminate these interferences before they could act.
She looked at Situ Yun, and Situ Yun nodded at her.
Zhao Shuning felt relieved.
She knew that Situ Yun was Madam Begonia's trump card in the spiritual power competition. Before that, Situ Yun wouldn't act, and his character wouldn't allow him to do such a despicable thing.
"Thank you -"
Zhao Shuning's red lips moved slightly as she mouthed these two words.
Situ Yun returned a smile. Because of the Chu family, he couldn't immediately choose to stand on Zhao Shuning's side, but at least Situ Yun could make sure that he wouldn't participate in those evil deeds.
Then, Zhao Shuning turned around and looked at Mo Bai.
She whispered a few words in his ear.
The next moment, the gong in the horse - racing field sounded. Everyone's attention was drawn to the people in the field. No one noticed that two of the assistants behind Madam Begonia's camp had disappeared.
Naturally, no one noticed that Mo Bai was gone either.
Zhao Shuning crossed her arms and watched the situation in the horse - racing field intently.
Those people were using dirty tricks. In that case, she couldn't be too upright either. If they wanted to play dirty, then let's see who was better at it.