Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 470: Shanhu Makes a Scene

The city of Cangzhou has been quite bustling recently.

Just yesterday there was a rumor that Dong Xie Xi Du and the Dugu father and son from the Sword King's Mansion went to the temple to hold a water and land ceremony for some reason. Today I heard that Gao Shengyue, the leader of the "Bai Zhuan Qian Dao Men" in the south of the city, suddenly wanted to hold a martial arts competition to win a bride... It's true that strange things happen every year, and this year there are especially many.

As for the matter of winning a bride through martial arts competition, I think all of you are familiar with it.

There are very few relevant records in official history, and generally speaking, the competitions were not in the form of "open fighting", but were conducted among a limited number of candidates in the form of harmless duels such as archery and couplets.

But in folk tales, gossip and storytelling, and especially in martial arts novels... whenever the phrase "martial arts competition to win a bride" is mentioned, it will inevitably be a grand and open scene.

However, if we think about it for a moment, we will find that the rules of the competitions mentioned in most stories are not very reasonable.

Just think about it...a fighting ring, anyone can go up, there is no time limit, and the fight will continue until someone stands there and no one else dares to fight him?

There is too much unfairness and room for manipulation here.

Even if no one has any bad intentions and everyone just rushes up to fight, those who go up first will suffer much more than those who come up later.

And if there are those who "know how to use tactics", it's even more difficult...

You can fight, right? What's the point of being able to fight? I'll hire dozens of thugs and let them come up and fight you one by one. It's best if they can win. If they can't win, they will give up the winning strategy and use the attrition strategy instead... This one will hurt your arm, that one will hurt your leg, and at worst, it's good to waste more of your energy. Sooner or later, you will be exhausted and lie down. Then I will go up to pick peaches. What can you do?

In addition, there is an extreme situation. If you happen to encounter a rapist with great martial arts skills passing by here, and he defeats you in the ring, what will you do?

So, in our book... or to be more specific, in this martial arts competition for marriage organized by Lao Gao today, certain thresholds and rules have been set.

For example: The first rule is that only people of clean origin or reputable families can come on stage, and those of unknown origin or pretending to be someone else cannot participate.

For example: Those who already have a wife will not be accepted.

Other rules include "people who have been on the stage cannot fight a second time", "if the same person has not lost after three games, he can ask for a break and let the other two play first", etc., which are of course not a problem.

Seeing this, some people may say that the daughter of Old Gao... is already 27 or 28 years old, and it is well known that she is a fierce woman with excellent martial arts skills. Normally, in that era, even the matchmaker would have given up on such conditions. Old Gao set so many clauses, wouldn't it be even more difficult for anyone to come?
Well, this is just because you don’t want others to come.

To put it bluntly, all these thresholds and rules are set up for Dugu Yong alone. If they were not afraid that the restrictions would be too strict and make the trap too obvious, Lao Gao and Dugu Sheng would probably have limited even the age, height, weight, etc. to Dugu Yong's standards.

As for whether this will result in no one else coming on stage except Dugu Yong, which would make it seem very fake?

Don't worry, as we mentioned before, the two old men are doing this with the energy of "instigating a conspiracy in the martial arts world" and have made detailed preparations.

Lao Gao also has some connections in the underworld, and this time he has Dugu Sheng's face. The two of them have already arranged a number of "actors" with good skills in the crowd watching the fun. There is no need to worry about no one going on stage, nor are they afraid that other people will come to disrupt the situation.

If there is any young man other than Dugu Yong who dares to go up today, I will give you a message - "What's the point of your fighting! I have already hired dozens of actors, and I am the organizer and referee. When the time comes..." That's about the idea. Anyway, everyone understands it.

On this morning, just after the hour of Mao, a notice for a martial arts competition to recruit a bride was hung in front of the door of the Baizhuan Qiandao Sect. All the rules were written there in black and white, and it was also announced that the competition would officially begin at the hour of Chen, and that all villagers were welcome to come and be witnesses.

Well, once this news comes out, how can the people sit still?

Cangzhou is a place with many martial arts sects and a strong martial spirit. When it comes to a competition, how can there be few people coming to watch the fun?
In less than an hour, the news spread throughout the city, and the threshold of the Baizhuan Qiandao Gate was almost broken down.

Let me briefly mention here that in Cangzhou, basically all sects and martial arts schools have open spaces for disciples to practice martial arts, but the sizes vary. And this time, when Lao Gao set up the arena, the arena was set up in his own sect's martial arts training ground.

Some people may ask why he didn't put it on the street? Didn't the former clerk, the bully Song Xiang, put the "Hundred Days Challenge" on the street in Runan City? It was there for more than three months.

Then we can only say... each place has its own rules. The Song family can be the king in Runan, but you want them to try to do the same in Cangzhou? Forget about setting up a competition, you have to understand the rules before setting up a stall, otherwise you can't do it for a day.

Gao Shengyue, as the local boss here, must be well aware of this, so he will not make such a mistake when doing this.

At the hour of Chen, the martial arts competition to win the bride officially began.

The Baizhuan Qiandao Sect's martial arts arena was packed with people riding and sitting, from the ground to the walls, but 99% of these people were there to watch the fun, and the remaining 1% had a grudge against Lao Gao and wanted to come to laugh at his joke or take the opportunity to cause trouble.

There is no one, at least not among the locals, who really wants to fight in this ring.

Because everyone in the city has heard of this old Gao's daughter...

The girl’s surname is Gao and her given name is Yadian. The “dian” in her name is not pronounced as “sweet” but as “electric”… When Gao was naming her, the fortune teller he hired said that your name contains “Yue”, which belongs to the earth element, so your next generation’s name must contain “Jin”, as earth produces gold; and your name already has “Sheng”, which is Gaosheng, and everything will turn around when it reaches its extreme, so the next generation must have the opposite, suppressed… So, the father was named Gao Shengyue and the daughter was named Gao Yadian.

Since the ancients did not have the concept of "high voltage electricity", they did not think there was any problem with homophony. Of course, this name was not very nice, so the elders did not call her by her full name on weekdays, but called her "Dian'er", and other disciples and servants naturally called her senior sister or miss.

Let’s talk about Miss Gao Yadian. She has a really good talent in martial arts. Before she was 25 years old, she had learned all of her father’s “Hundred Turns and Thousands of Sword Techniques”. The only difference between her and her father’s martial arts is her internal strength and practical experience.

As for her looks, to be honest, she's not bad either; although not the kind that can be called a beauty at first sight, she's very attractive. Besides, she practices martial arts all year round and doesn't dress up much. If she really spruces herself up, she'll look even better.

What a pity, as the saying goes - no one is perfect.

Generally speaking, if a person is quite good in one or two aspects, he will inevitably be lacking or even have big problems in some other aspects.

For example, if you are a natural academic genius, you don’t know how painful studying is for ordinary people. In the future, when you encounter difficulties that are similar to but different from studying, you may not have the ability to withstand pressure that ordinary people have.

For example, if you are born extremely good-looking, you will never have the opportunity to experience the cold eyes and difficulties faced by most ordinary-looking people in various social activities such as job hunting, making friends, and falling in love before the age of 35. This will actually subtly limit or deviate your understanding of the world, thus affecting your personality and judgment.

Gao Yadian was in almost the same situation. When she was a teenager, there was a constant stream of people coming to her house to propose marriage, but she really looked down on them. After all, she had the capital to be arrogant and picky, so her family just let her be.

As a result, five years, ten years passed in the blink of an eye, and she had basically offended all the men in the city who were of similar age to Miss Gao and had proposed to her.

Moreover, as Gao Yadian gets older, the conditions of the people who come to propose marriage are getting worse and worse every year...It is even more impossible for her to agree at this time. She didn't agree to the one with better conditions before, so it would be so unfair to agree to the one with worse conditions now.

Therefore, with the high pressure of the current hairpin, plus the series of thresholds set by Lao Gao for the martial arts competition to win a bride, there are really no locals who can meet the requirements and are willing to fight in this arena.

But fortunately, there are quite a few outsiders in the city recently, and the "actors are in place", so there is no need to worry about no one being able to perform.

Just look, there was a young man from another place, about 20 years old, a greenhorn, who was fooled by a few enthusiastic citizens nearby who wanted to watch the fun... They said that although the young lady of the Gao family is 27 or 28 years old this year, she is prettier than the 18-year-old, and her martial arts skills are better. If you can really win in this arena, it will be worth it to marry into her family's family.

Then the young man, on impulse, ran to register with several disciples of Baizhuan Qiandao Sect who were sitting beside the stage, and then went up to the stage.

"I am a humble boy, but I am willing to take the first prize. I hope you heroes will show mercy to me." When he came up to the stage, the young man clasped his hands and said a few polite words.

Although this person does not have much ability and is not from a high-ranking family, he is indeed a righteous man in the martial arts world and has a handsome appearance. As the first person to go on stage, he has made a good start for this martial arts competition to win a bride.

Lao Gao was not in a hurry. He waited for a moment to see if there were any real passers-by willing to go on stage. If not, he would send another actor up to keep the scene from becoming dull.

The result is really...

That's how it is. When no one gets on, no one wants to be the first, but as soon as one person gets on, a group of people will want to compete for it.

At one point, several people ran to the stage to sign up, and then began to politely say "please", "please", "brother, you go first"... everyone wanted to go up later.

Apparently – “the game starts before the game starts”.

Just like that, this martial arts competition for a bride was either held or not, but once it was held, it was in full swing. At the beginning, it was just a "fight between newbies" but after a few rounds of people changing, the level really improved, and the crowd watching the fun in the audience was also in a warm and enthusiastic mood.

Old Gao was also very happy seeing this, and thought to himself that if I had known this would happen, I would not have colluded with Brother Dugu. I would have just held a real martial arts competition myself and probably would have been able to find a satisfactory son-in-law.

Of course, his idea overlooked a problem: Cangzhou does not have as many martial artists from other places coming and going every day as it has in recent times.

If Lao Gao really wants to get rid of Dugu Sheng and work on his own, the most reasonable way is to hold a martial arts competition to recruit a son-in-law during the Young Heroes Conference. That way, the chances of recruiting a good son-in-law will be greater.

But Lao Gao was just thinking casually. Since he had promised Dugu Sheng, he would not go back on his word. Besides... he could marry into the Jinling Sword Palace and become a relative of his good friend, which was definitely better than randomly recruiting a stranger as his son-in-law.

Before we knew it, the fight had lasted from the Chen hour to the Si hour.

The two people fighting on the stage now are already second-rate in the martial arts world. Many people who come to watch the fun and practice martial arts from other sects have changed their attitude from watching the show and making noises in the beginning to watching the fight attentively and cheering.

It was at this time that Dugu Sheng and Dugu Yong walked into the courtyard...

Someone asked why they came only now?
In fact, it is the right time to come, and this is where Dugu Sheng and Gao Shengyue are so shrewd.

At their age, they have witnessed many martial arts competitions to win brides, and they all know that it is useless to come too early, as those who have come before are just bricks to attract jade. What's more, this martial arts competition to win brides was planned by the two of them, and there are "actors" arranged by them in the crowd as a backup. They already know how much time it will take for Dugu Yong to appear.

Let's take a step back and say that the fight starts at Chenshi, and you, Dugu Sheng, drag your son to the stage on time, and directly encourage your son to go on stage as soon as the fight starts. What will Dugu Yong do if he notices something is wrong?
Therefore, when Dugu Sheng first heard people gossiping about this in the teahouse, he just pretended to be three parts relaxed and seven parts surprised in front of his son, and half-jokingly said... Lao Gao, the leader of the "Bai Zhuan Qian Dao Sect" that holds the martial arts competition to recruit a bride, is an old friend of mine. He held you in his arms when you were a child. Dad has been here for two days and hasn't had time to visit him. I didn't expect to hear about such a lively party at their house today.

He used this kind of seemingly unaware and casual conversation to chat with Dugu Yong first, but not for long, and did not take the initiative to offer to go.

After a while, they finished their tea and snacks leisurely, and walked out of the teahouse slowly. When they talked about where to go next, Dugu Yong proposed: "Should we go and see the excitement?"

In this way, the two of them arrived just right at the beginning of the Si hour.

I didn't expect that...

"Hey! Brother Yong! Uncle Sheng, you are here too! Come on, we have room here!"

As soon as Dugu and his son entered the yard, they heard a very distinctive voice calling out to them amidst the noise.

The two looked in the direction of the voice, and who else could it be if not Sun Yixie calling them?
At this moment, Sun Yixie, Huang Donglai, the abbot, Niu Youjin and Niu Youyin, a total of five people, were sitting in the first row under the arena; not only did they take up a large area, but they also had wine jugs, melon seeds, snacks and other odds and ends at hand. The crumbs and drippings of wine they had eaten had already spilled all over the floor.

It's obvious that these people are the kind who are so bored that as soon as they heard that there was something exciting to watch, they ran here to reserve seats before noon.

Dugu Sheng took a look and thought to himself: Hey, I run into these two guys again, what a coincidence... Eh? No, isn't that the abbot sitting next to them?
Now he was a little confused, because he knew that the abbot had a strange temper and it was hard to say what he would do. If this guy suddenly got excited and went up on stage to fight, Dugu Yong would be in trouble. Even Dugu Sheng himself was not sure that he could beat the abbot.

No matter what he thought, he decided to go over with his son.

The courtyard was crowded and very noisy, and everyone's attention was on the stage, so few people noticed that the two "big shots" had arrived, and no one made way for them.

Dugu and his son had no choice but to squeeze through the crowd, asking for permission and saying hello repeatedly before they got to the front.

I won't go into detail here about how the two sides greeted each other, but the abbot's attitude toward Dugu Sheng was relatively normal, similar to when he met Murong Shu.

It seems that as long as the other party doesn't obviously want him to do something, or is not really familiar with him, or has offended him... the abbot can actually speak politely most of the time.

The few people finished greeting each other, and the show on the stage also ended.

The winner was full of energy and a little too proud of himself. After sending his opponent off the stage, he came to the edge of the stage without waiting for the organizer Lao Gao to say anything, clasped his fists and said loudly: "Heroes, are there any others willing to come up and teach me?"

There's nothing wrong with what he said, but the tone is a little provocative.

Coincidentally, at this moment, another person was coming in from the gate of the courtyard. When he heard these words, he looked towards the stage again, and immediately used his lightness skills to walk sideways on the wall. After floating for several feet, he exerted force with his feet again, jumped off the wall, and went onto the stage.

As soon as he stood firm, he burst into laughter: "Hahahaha... I was wondering who it was, isn't it Brother Lou?" The address seemed quite polite, but the tone was full of contempt, "How come, with just these two tricks of yours, you can actually stand on this stage?"

Who is this person who came on stage? I'm sure you have guessed it. It is Shao Shanhu, the son of Shao Dejin, the leader of Xingyi Sect in Cangzhou.

He and the "Brother Lou" standing on the stage at this moment are old acquaintances. Originally, the two of them were like-minded drinking buddies, but later they had a dispute over some trivial matters related to alcohol and sex. Both felt that the other party did not give them face, and they have had a grudge ever since.

Speaking of martial arts, Shao Shanhu is better than Brother Lou, otherwise he wouldn't have immediately gone on stage to mock the other party as soon as he saw him stealing the show.

"Nephew Shao, there are rules for my arena. You have to sign up before you can go on stage. It's not appropriate for you to just barge in like this." At this time, Gao Shengyue couldn't stand it anymore. He stood up from the side of the stage and spoke as the organizer, wanting Shao Shanhu to get off.

However, he did not dare to say anything too harsh. After all, the Xingyi Sect had considerable power in the local area, at least stronger than his Baizhuan Qiandao Sect. He still had to give them some face.

"Heh... Sect Master Gao, I'm honored." Shao Shanhu knew that the other party would not dare to offend him casually, so he responded fearlessly, "I also saw your registration rules outside the door. Excuse me for being frank... Isn't this a bit funny? At your daughter's age, you still require the contestant to be single. Isn't that a bit too much?"

This guy is like a dog that can't spit out ivory. The locals are all aware of what he said, but they would not say such unpleasant words explicitly. What's more, those who have signed up to go on stage also know about Miss Gao's situation. Even if we take a step back, this is a matter of willingness.

"In my opinion, why don't you get rid of this one, and let me show off my skills. If I, Shao Shanhu, can win by luck... I will suffer a little loss and marry a concubine who is one year older than me. It's better than you marrying your daughter to some unknown person..."

As Shao Shanhu spoke, he took the opportunity to glance at his brother Lou.

Actually, in Shao Shanhu's opinion, his words were directed at the man surnamed Lou... and he had no intention of targeting the Gao family, because in his opinion, there was nothing wrong with what he said. He felt that he was at a disadvantage by marrying Gao Yadian as his concubine.

So if this person is used to being a jerk, sometimes he doesn't even know what he said or did to offend others... In his logic, he has no ill intentions, and afterwards he will think that it is other people's fault that they hold a grudge against him.

At this moment, not to mention that the old man's high blood pressure was about to explode, Dugu Yongxian in the audience could no longer sit still.

First of all, before Dugu Yong came here, he just heard his father say that Lao Gao was an old friend of their family and that he had held him in his arms when he was a child, so he already had some good feelings towards Lao Gao.

Secondly, Dugu was already very unhappy just by hearing about what Shao Shanhu had done. When he saw his face today, he found that the description of the three ghosts of the Peng family seemed to be conservative.

Thirdly, even if we put aside our good impressions and prejudices, Shao Shanhu, as a man, you are talking about a woman on stage. How can you be called a hero?
"Shut up!" Dugu Yong jumped up immediately and went on stage before he finished speaking.

"Shut up!" Unexpectedly, almost at the same second, the girl with high pressure hairpin also rushed out from a room next to the yard and jumped onto the stage.

The two of them shouted at Shao Shanhu in unison, then looked at each other, stunned by each other's actions.

At this time, look at Lao Gao and Dugu Sheng on the stage. Both of them are so happy that they are crazy.

Old Gao was about to go up and curse just now, but now he backed off without saying a word; Dugu Sheng could hardly hold back his smile, and thought to himself: Come on, there's no need for me to trick my son into going up, let him do it on his own, nephew Shao, thank you.

Looking at the stage again, it was Dugu Yong who took the lead in speaking: "Mr. Shao, you are a grown man, you can scold whoever you want to scold directly. How can you be a hero to use the age of a woman to scold another person on this stage? With your character, you dare to say that you are at a disadvantage by marrying her as your concubine. How shameless!"

"Huh?" Shao Shanhu didn't know Dugu Yong. When he saw someone calling him out, he sneered and asked a question that he would immediately regret asking, "Humph... Who the hell are you to dare to talk to your uncle Shao like that?"