Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

Hearing the emperor's question, the empress dowager smiled.

"I'm old now, and my teeth aren't very good. The watermelon I ate yesterday was really to my liking. Even though it was crispy, my teeth could easily chew it. It's really fresh to be able to eat this sweet watermelon at this time of year."

All the concubines looked at each other in bewilderment. Even the Queen seemed unaware of the situation. It seemed that except for His Majesty and the Queen Mother, none of the other concubines had eaten the watermelon that His Majesty had just mentioned. Instead, everyone felt relieved.

Everyone became curious about the watermelons. After hearing what the emperor had just said, they knew that the watermelons were planted jointly by Cai Zhengqing and his two little disciples. However, the concubines could not understand why Cai Zhengqing and his two disciples had to work together to plant watermelons. And how did they grow watermelons in this season?

"My son inherited this from his mother. He also likes watermelons with a crisp and sweet texture."

As he spoke, the emperor gave instructions to Zuo Wenxing, who had just returned from his mission.

"Zuo Wenxing, have someone deliver a watermelon to each palace later. Today is the Dragon Boat Festival, so everyone can have a taste of it."

Zuo Wenxing nodded in agreement and retreated again. All the concubines knelt down before the emperor and thanked him for his reward.

"Boring~"

A clear gong sounded, and the third archery competition at the East Suburb Racecourse was about to officially begin.

"The third archery competition uses a flying target. Within the time of one stick of incense, ninety-nine pigeons will fly out of the cage. Each pigeon has a silk flower hanging on its foot. Each person who enters the finals will have twenty feather arrows representing their own number."

Yang Fugong, while explaining the rules with a large copper loudspeaker, pointed to the official standing by the pigeon cage in front of him, who was holding a pigeon and showing it to everyone.

"The participating students stand outside the fifty-step line and wait. When the pigeons fly out of the cage, each student participating in the finals can shoot an arrow. If they shoot down the silk flower, they will get two points. If they fail to shoot, no points will be awarded. If they injure the pigeon, they will lose five points. If there are multiple feather arrows on the silk flower at the same time, each person will get one point. If multiple feather arrows injure the pigeon, each person will lose two points. After one stick of incense burns out and all the pigeons have been released, the student with the highest total score will be the champion of this year's archery competition."

After hearing Yang Fugong announce the rules, all the participating students were excited. The way of this competition was novel, but it was quite difficult to shoot down the silk flowers while ensuring that the pigeons were not hurt.

When the audience heard such exciting competition rules, they were all talking about it and everyone was looking forward to the students' performance.

Liang Jingcheng held the bow in his left hand and gently stroked it with his right hand. Thinking that this bow in his hand was personally selected for him by Ye Changyan during the halftime break, Liang Jingcheng's mouth corners unconsciously raised.

"I have always had good luck. Today I will pick a bow for you and bring you my good luck. I wish you win the championship!"

Liang Jingcheng remembered every word Ye Changyan said when he helped him choose the bow. Luck is a mysterious concept, but Liang Jingcheng firmly believed in what Ye Changyan said.

Just talking about the incident of Ye Changyan picking up money in front of him, Liang Jingcheng couldn't even count how many times this had happened. In Liang Jingcheng's opinion, Ye Changyan's luck was really good.

Yang Fugong took a lit incense stick from an official and inserted it into the incense burner beside him.

The ten students who entered the finals also took out the feather arrows engraved with their own numbers from their quivers, and then raised their bows.

Liang Jingcheng checked the arrows in his quiver and confirmed that there was a "Geng" character engraved on each arrow shaft. Then he took out one and placed the arrow on the bowstring. Then he raised the bow in his hand, pulled the bowstring, and waited for the pigeon to fly out of the cage.

In an instant, the scene fell into silence. The people outside the racecourse and the nobles in the stands all held their breath, staring at the row of cages on the racecourse, not knowing which cage the pigeons would fly out of first.

After waiting for a while, still no pigeon flew out of the cage. Waiting is actually a test of everyone's patience.

"Puff puff……"

Suddenly, the sound of pigeons flapping their wings and the sound of pigeons "cooing" were heard, and two pigeons flew out from the two cages on the left, one after the other.

“Swoosh~Swoosh~Swoosh~…”

Along with the sound of feather arrows breaking through the wind, seven feather arrows shot out, five of which flew towards the pigeon closer to the middle position, and the other two flew towards the pigeon closer to the left.

The pigeons let out a mournful cry, and the pigeon closer to the middle fell from mid-air. People with sharp eyes could see at a glance that there were three feather arrows stuck in the pigeon's body, and the silk flowers hanging on its feet had been shot down by the feather arrows.

Another pigeon was frightened by the arrow and flew away with its wings flapping wildly. The silk flower hanging on its feet was also shot down by the arrow.

Everyone at the scene didn't dare to breathe when they saw this. Some people continued to stare intently at the row of cages, while others cast their eyes on the pigeon with three feather arrows stuck in its body, and they couldn't help but gasp.

However, Liang Jingcheng did not shoot the arrow just now. Instead, he was carefully observing the situation in the cage.

Liang Jingcheng found that there was a thin wire tied to the back of each cage, and an official not far away was controlling the cage door with a rope.

At this moment, Liang Jingcheng saw the door of the second cage on the right being pulled open by a rope, and then he saw a pigeon flying out of the cage.

Liang Jingcheng decisively released his hand that had pulled the bowstring, and immediately heard the sound of an arrow breaking through the wind, followed by the sound of arrows breaking through the wind one after another next to him.

Liang Jingcheng clearly saw his feather arrow shoot the silk flower down from under the pigeon's feet, and it flew diagonally and inserted into the ground several feet away.

Liang Jingcheng shouted happily in his heart, but his face remained calm. He reached out his hand and pulled out a feather arrow from his quiver, quickly put it on the bowstring, and pulled the bowstring to its full extent again. The whole set of movements was smooth and flowing.

Ye Changyan, who was standing on the horse farm in the distance, stared at Liang Jingcheng's every move. He had just clearly seen Liang Jingcheng shoot the first feather arrow, which shot down the silk flower under the pigeon's feet. The pigeon was frightened by Liang Jingcheng's arrow and flapped its wings violently, changing its original flying direction, but just managed to avoid the next three feather arrows.

Seeing the scene just now, Ye Changyan couldn't help but shout in his heart, "Great!"

Soon Liang Jingcheng shot another arrow. This time, his arrow hit the pigeon that flew out of the first cage on the right. The wonderful scene just now was staged again.

Ye Changyan, who was watching carefully from a distance, couldn't help but shout "Great" again in his heart!