During the two-kè polo match, in the first kè, Prince Hui took the offensive and scored five consecutive points. In the latter kè, Prince Hui stopped attacking. Master Fan dismounted to guard the goal as the main defender. With his wind-like running speed and lion-tiger-like leaping form, he stubbornly prevented Yao Lin, Li Tingwang, and the other ten young men from scoring even a single goal!
Because the young assistant official’s rule prohibiting students from removing their clothes while playing polo was too unreasonable, at first the students and young ladies in the viewing stands all sided with Yao Lin’s team of ten. However, as the young assistant official scored consecutively, the young men and women were gradually won over by his heroic bearing. When the forty-something Master Fan displayed another kind of martial artist’s formidability, the young men and women completely switched sides. Every time Master Fan successfully blocked a ball, the viewing stands would erupt with whistles and cheers.
Master Fan adjusted his sleeves rolled up to his wrists, smiled at the ten young men on horseback, and signaled them to continue.
Yao Lin, Li Tingwang, and the other eight: “…”
“We’re not playing anymore. This is simply self-humiliation.”
Although the match hadn’t ended, someone had already gripped his mallet, jumped off his horse, and said dejectedly.
Yao Lin exchanged glances with his two Luo cousins, then looked toward team captain Li Tingwang.
Li Tingwang held the reins in one hand and his mallet in the other, scanning the students from the other team who had successively dismounted. Though Li Tingwang also felt embarrassed, he still insisted: “The match has not yet ended. There’s no reason to leave the field early.”
Even if it was destined to be a losing game, he would play through the entire match.
With about six balls’ worth of time remaining, the six young men still on the field decided each would take one ball.
Master Fan stood to the left of the goal, so they tried their best to aim for the right corner. Master Fan jumped high, so they exerted all their strength.
These sixteen or seventeen-year-old young men, young as they were, had all practiced martial arts for years and each possessed astonishing strength. Master Fan’s physical stamina was also greatly depleted from repeatedly blocking so many powerful shots. Crucially, his palms had endured so many forceful impacts from the wooden ball, beaten until they were both painful and numb. When it came to the last ball shot by Yao Lin, though Master Fan exerted all his strength, the ball still grazed past his five fingers—which in their soreness and numbness couldn’t curl up in time—and flew diagonally into the goal.
Yao Lin excitedly shouted loudly, as if his one goal had won the match!
Master Fan looked toward Prince Hui.
Zhao Sui directly praised the six young men who persisted in finishing: “The polo field is like a battlefield. With perseverance and determination, even small soldiers can use their numbers to defeat enemy generals.”
The six, including Li Tingwang, though praised, were unwilling to be merely small soldiers: “…”
Zhao Sui: “You continue. For the winning team, I’ll provide a prize.”
The young men, who hadn’t particularly wanted to continue with three matches, suddenly brightened. Yao Lin was first to ask: “What prize?”
Zhao Sui: “Silver, or whatever you wish?”
Yao Lin liked silver, but directly asking for silver was too vulgar, so he said: “We don’t want silver. We want Your Excellency to treat us to drinks at Wangxian Tower!”
Zhao Sui: “You’re still at the age for studying. Drinking is inappropriate, but a banquet is acceptable.”
Yao Lin: “…”
Several young men who would be quite satisfied with a banquet at Wangxian Tower scrambled to accept.
The two teams began preparing for the interrupted second match. Zhao Sui and Master Fan returned to the viewing stands, but they had only gotten halfway when they were surrounded by spectating students asking Zhao Sui how he had trained his martial arts and so forth.
Only when the match below resumed did Zhao Sui return to stand several steps away from Miss Yao.
Yao Huang hadn’t heard what this young assistant official said to her brother and the others. Although she increasingly admired him for his polo skills and horsemanship, she remembered his extraordinary fine horse and Li Tingwang’s unpleasant words. Though she disliked hearing them, she acknowledged the truth in them. For a gentleman who was either wealthy or noble, talented and handsome, she’d better not easily respond to his obviously intentional gazes, lest he merely fancied her beauty and wanted to take her back as a minor concubine.
She turned to her six companions: “I’m tired of standing. I want to sit back and watch. What about you all?”
The six companions were all daughters of ordinary common families. Coming to such a place, they naturally followed Yao Huang’s lead and immediately all sat back on the wooden benches with her.
The other young ladies were all reserved and didn’t crowd forward just because space opened up at the railing, so Yao Huang’s group of seven only retreated one or two steps and were still quite close to Zhao Sui and Master Fan.
Yet Zhao Sui felt Miss Yao’s deliberate distancing from him. Was it because he had defeated her brother, or because of those few glances he gave her after leaving the field?
But when his ball scored points, the eyes she looked at him with were clearly more brilliant than the stars in the night sky.
If one detested someone, would they have such bright eyes?
Seated, Yao Huang could actually more conveniently observe the young assistant official several steps away. He wore a sky-blue brocade robe. The belt that outlined his narrow waist used a jade clasp, with a cloud-patterned jade pendant of fine white luster hanging beside it. Yao Huang then looked at the jade crown atop his head. These jades clearly weren’t ordinary goods. With such youth, if not from an illustrious family background, how could he command the respectful obedience of Master Fan, who had taught imperial princes?
Today was Yao Huang’s first time seeing Master Fan, but she had long heard his famous name from her brother and Li Tingwang. It was said that when a legitimate young master from the Du family of Cheng’en Marquis’s residence was lazy and cunning during martial arts class, he was punished by the strict Master Fan to run laps. If he didn’t finish, he wasn’t allowed to leave. In the end, that Young Master Du, fearing his family elders would find out, could only obediently accept the punishment.
Zhao Sui detected a gaze—coming from the row of young ladies where Miss Yao sat.
Zhao Sui tilted his head slightly and saw Miss Yao with closed eyes, her face tilted upward in this direction, her comfortable expression seemingly enjoying the sunlight.
Zhao Sui immediately withdrew his gaze, yet that lotus-white face tinged with pink remained in his mind.
The second polo match finished. It was still Yao Lin and Li Tingwang’s team that won. With two victories, it ended early, and there was no need to play the third round.
The young ladies began descending from the left side of the stands, while the students walked from the right.
Yao Huang stood up. Before leaving, thinking that she probably would never see that handsome and reserved gentleman again, Yao Huang turned her steps and once more caught his flustered movement of hastily withdrawing his gaze.
Yao Huang then had a feeling that even if this person came from a prestigious family, he probably wasn’t someone who enjoyed bullying others with his power.
“May I ask Your Excellency’s honorable surname?” Yao Huang curtsied as if she had something to consult him about.
Though stiff, Zhao Sui still turned around. After a moment of slight silence under the bright, water-like gaze of the young lady’s eyes, he cupped his hands in salute and replied: “My humble surname is Zhao.”
Yao Huang: “…”
She immediately looked at Master Fan. Master Fan, alarmed by the young lady’s quick wit, instinctively looked elsewhere.
Yao Huang, who had never imagined she would have the opportunity to be this close to an imperial prince, could no longer maintain her composure. In her fluster, she heard that person ask: “May I know what instruction Miss has to offer?”
Yao Huang had only seen such refined language in story books. Words that looked quite normal somehow inexplicably gave her goosebumps all over. She hastily said: “It’s nothing. I just wanted to thank Your Excellency for instructing my brother and the others, especially my brother. Usually he always thinks his martial arts are exceptional. Today, seeing that there are always people beyond people, I expect he’ll settle down to practice diligently.”
Zhao Sui was just thinking about how to respond when the young lady in the pale yellow short jacket and skirt suddenly curtsied again: “Well then, I must go now. I won’t disturb Your Excellency.”
With that, Yao Huang turned and caught up with the several companions waiting for her ahead, quickly departing.
With many people and eyes around, Zhao Sui didn’t watch long. He said to Master Fan: “I need to treat those students to Wangxian Tower. Would Master accompany me?”
Master Fan also feared the young men might be disrespectful before Prince Hui, so he readily agreed.
Yao Lin, Li Tingwang, and the ten young men deliberately waited for Master Fan and his companion to come over before walking together toward the small gate—the main gate would be a detour.
Master Fan sent the accompanying clerk to the main gate to bring their horses around.
Outside the small gate, other young ladies sat in their carriages waiting for their brothers. Yao Huang and her companions stood openly before their flatbed mule cart, smiling and chatting about today’s polo match.
As they chatted, Yao Huang saw her brother emerge from the small gate. The ten young men were actually clustering around that Lord Zhao and Master Fan.
Only when Yao Lin saw his sister did he remember: “Ah, we agreed to take our sisters to a restaurant together…”
Today, the two teams had each contributed two taels of silver as a prize. Winning these two taels would be enough for them to treat their sisters to an ordinary restaurant.
Zhao Sui: “We can reserve two private rooms, one for men and one for women.”
Because of his identity as a Martial Academy assistant official, plus the proposal to dine separately, the young men didn’t think much of it.
Yao Lin happily went to tell his sister.
Yao Huang extended her hand toward him: “You all go. We don’t want to take advantage of that lord. It’s just that we agreed if you won you’d treat us, so give us one tael of your two-tael prize, and we’ll find a small eatery ourselves.”
The opposing polo team had young ladies come to cheer for them. Their coming to cheer for their brothers also gave them face, so splitting the prize in half was appropriate.
Yao Lin: “Are you silly? That’s a banquet at Wangxian Tower.”
Yao Huang couldn’t be bothered arguing with her silly brother and just asked him for the silver.
The prize was with Li Tingwang. Yao Lin had no choice but to run back and ask Li Tingwang for it.
Li Tingwang directly took out the two taels of silver. The other team members also agreed—after all, the main forces of their team were just the four of them including Li Tingwang. Being able to feast at Wangxian Tower today was already taking advantage.
Yao Huang pocketed the silver, had the six companions sit on the flatbed cart, and she jumped onto the front shaft holding the whip. With a light flick of the whip, the docile large mule started forward.
All the way until the mule cart turned out of the street, Yao Huang never looked back. Asking his surname was only to satisfy her small curiosity.
Zhao Sui also didn’t chase after the figure on the mule cart with his gaze.
Shortly after, the Martial Academy clerk brought his and Master Fan’s horses.
Before leaving, Zhao Sui hadn’t anticipated this banquet, so he was still riding Jingwu.
Li Tingwang finally recognized this horse with glossy black coat. With their encounter ten days ago as precedent, then recalling how the young assistant official had deliberately struck up conversation with Yao Lin outside the classroom, recalling how close the man’s viewing position was to Yao Huang on the stands earlier, Li Tingwang’s heart suddenly rose with a sense of crisis.
Just then, Yao Lin said awkwardly: “Oh no, I drove the cart here. Now you all have mules or horses—what about me?”
Luo Kun was about to invite his cousin to ride together when Zhao Sui said: “You may borrow my horse temporarily. Just ride it back to the Martial Academy tomorrow.”
With that, Zhao Sui removed the pouch from his waist and handed it to Master Fan, saying: “I suddenly remembered I have another matter to attend to. I’ll return to the Martial Academy first. I trouble Master to host everyone on my behalf.”
Not giving Master Fan a chance to refuse or the young men a chance to ask what matter it was, Zhao Sui re-entered the Martial Academy through the small gate.
Master Fan shook his head helplessly. On a rest day, if not for Prince Hui’s request, he wouldn’t want to accompany several students to a banquet.
“Let’s go.” Master Fan was first to mount his horse.
Yao Lin approached Jingwu in awe. The instant his hand touched the horse’s neck, Yao Lin finally understood the feelings his mother and sister had when touching expensive fabrics at the silk shop—he liked it! He wanted it!