Chapter 75 Part 1: Thrilling
The racecourse was big, enough for six people on horseback to be side by side.
The racecourse was circular and the starting point was also considered as the finish point. A row of targets were lined up neatly at the finishing point. On the surface, there were already some arrows sticking disorderly. Many of the arrows fell on the ground. The young boy in charge of keeping records noted each result in a booklet.
Each of the six female students would have a horse. These horses were moved and arranged by Kong Liu; each one that entered was new. Moreover, their temperament was docile. This was to guarantee the safety of the n.o.ble ladies. After all, a fierce horse was hard to tame, it’s not a trivial matter if one of these ladies got thrown off.
Jiang Li’s horse was dark brown, there was nothing special to look at. Its head was lowered as it nibbled on the gra.s.s on the ground. Jiang Li couldn’t help reaching out her hand to touch the horse’s neck. This reminded her of the time she and Xue Zhao went horse racing in Tongxiang.
When her action fell into the others eyes, it made them feel puzzled. Someone said: “What is Jiang second miss doing? Is it because she doesn’t know how to ride a horse so she thought she could get close to it?”
“What a joke, these horses are all from the light cavalry team. It’s the same whether you are close to it or not. But perhaps Jiang second miss is truly a layman, her action seems very out of practice.”
Jiang Li couldn’t hear the discussion made by the people outside, she simply caressed the horse’s head lightly. On the contrary, the horse seemed stunned and didn’t move closer to Jiang Li.
Jiang You Yao saw this scene from the side and was disdainful. She thought Jiang Li simply didn’t understand horsemanship and had not yet installed the arrow tube.
Jiang Yu’e also stared at Jiang Li. Seeing that this time Jiang Li didn’t display the previous proficient appearance, she relaxed. If Jiang Li once again came first in equestrian archery, Jiang Yu’e was afraid she would be unable to bear her jealousy and destroy her immediately.
A big man with a bronze hammer firmly beat the drum in the examination field. With a “clank——”, everyone got ready and started to mount the horse.
Meng Hong Jin was the fastest to get on the horse. One of her feet stepped on the stirrup and her body flipped over. Everyone only saw a flurry of red before their eyes and soon saw her already sitting upright on the horse. They couldn’t help cheering.
Most of the n.o.ble ladies in Yanjing were delicate and they weren’t very good at equestrian archery. Very few could be like Meng Hong Jin. As a result, everyone naturally wouldn’t be stingy in praising such a beautiful move made by Meng Hong Jin. The sights of everyone casting admiration towards her made Meng Hong Jin proud and the haze that emerged because Jiang Li excelled over her from a few days ago was scattered.
The second one to mount the horse was Jiang Yu’e. Her motion wasn’t as good and efficient as Meng Hong Jin, it was a lot more restrained by rules. However, due to her delicate and pitiful appearance, her movement made the people’s hearts give birth to pity.
The next one was Nie Xiao Shuang. Zhu Xin Er and she could be considered to get on their horses simultaneously. The two people’s relationship was usually pretty good and their movements in mounting the horses were more or less the same. Although there was nothing unusual, there wasn’t any error.
Afterwards it was Jiang You Yao. Jiang You Yao raised her head and smiled, then turned to get on the horse. Because her looks were too magnificent and her smile was like a flower, n.o.body took note of her movement when she mounted the horse. But the young masters ate this set very much, each and every one of them looked stunned.
Kong Liu was very unhappy with this and muttered a sentence to Zheng Hu Chen: “Embroidered pillow.”1
Zheng Hu Chen didn’t say anything while Ji Heng at the side leaned back while absent-mindedly looking at the movements of these n.o.ble ladies.
The last one was Jiang Li.
All of a sudden Kong Liu became energetic and sat up straighter. Ji Heng shot him a glance, his gaze looked extremely cold.
“Don’t know whether Jiang Li could mount a horse. Is there a horse in the nunnery?” Ye Shijie thought inwardly. He then saw Jiang Li neither hurriedly nor slowly raised her foot to get on the stirrup. She pulled the reins and jumped gracefully onto the horse’s back.
It was very smooth and natural. She wasn’t as ardent and nimble as Meng Hong Jin, also not lovely and pitiful like Jiang Yu’e, even more unlike Jiang You Yao who had to “smile sweetly” before mounting the horse. She just peacefully pulled the reins and sat serenely on the horse’s back, very casually just like eating and drinking.
Liu Xu stared blankly.
Ever since she got acquainted with Jiang Li, she knew that Jiang Li was someone calm and she had never seen her in a flurry, anxious or thrown into disorder. But she didn’t expect that even her movement could be this gentle. It wasn’t breathtaking like Meng Hong Jin’s, yet exceptionally comfortable. On second thought, it was very in line with Jiang Li’s temperament. Jiang Li should be like this.