Disguised as a man, she became the biggest villain in the book.

Many people had already heard the news of Xue Huaiyu's arrival and were not surprised at all. This time, there were significantly more young ladies from official families watching the competition than in the previous round of the civil service examination.

The emperor had only recently ascended the throne and was in his prime. He lacked his own power base and needed to fill his harem. Marriage alliances were a viable way to solidify his position. At this time, the harem was still empty, but the emperor would soon be selecting consorts.

If the emperor were an old man, they would be more or less unwilling to enter the palace, but the current emperor is young and handsome. As soon as Xue Huaiyu appeared, he attracted the attention and affection of many young ladies from official families.

Although the emperor had little real power, he was still an emperor, and his status and position were incomparable to those of other noble families.

At the royal hunting grounds, Xue Huaiyu sat upright in the center of the platform.

Zheng Luoqi was also watching the competition from the sidelines.

Zheng Luoqi originally didn't want to come, but he was worried that the male and female leads would suddenly spark a romance again. He couldn't rest easy, so he came to check and see if there was a chance to make a move. If it didn't work the first time, he could try a few more times.

Many officials came to watch the competition, because they heard that the Emperor and Zheng Luoqi would also be there. So many ministers, upon hearing that the Emperor and Zheng Luoqi were coming, would not miss this opportunity to make their presence known to the Emperor and Zheng Luoqi. Although the Prime Minister was not here, his son was, and who knows when they might be able to get close to the Prime Minister's residence.

Of all the civil and military officials participating in this competition, only the Prime Minister and the Grand Commandant were absent. When asked, they said they were too busy with official duties to travel around like the Emperor. Since the Prime Minister was absent, Xue Huaiyu didn't dare to say anything more. The Grand Commandant also claimed to be too busy with official duties to attend to the competition.

Zheng Yuxiang and Wen Yihong both felt that it was just a competition at the Imperial Academy; why bring so many people to watch? It was just creating trouble for no reason. They didn't have the time to waste with the emperor's antics.

With the competition about to begin, the students were all ready to go. They were currently in a semi-circular building within the royal hunting grounds, with the competition arena below and the spectator stands above (similar to the ancient Roman Colosseum, except that it was a semi-circular outdoor arena).

The examiners and the audience are all above. This competition is for archery. Each student's arrows are specially made and engraved with their name. Each person is limited to ten arrows.

The targets on the field are all moving, with colorful little pom-poms hanging from ropes. There are four colors in total: red, orange, yellow, and green, arranged in that order, with red being the smallest and green the largest. Hitting a red target earns four points, and hitting a green target earns one point. This time, the higher the score, the higher the ranking.

Within the allotted time and with a limited number of arrows, the player who scores the highest points in this round is the winner.

The orange, yellow, and green hydrangeas are moving targets hanging on the ground. The largest green one is at the front, followed by yellow, then orange, with the orange one at the back. The targets are small due to their distance, and as the targets in front move, arrows can easily be deflected if the target isn't careful.

Candidates need to hit the embroidered ball at a fixed location fifty paces away. The red embroidered ball is the smallest target and is thrown from the platform by throwing stones. The target below the platform is moving, and the red embroidered ball on the platform is thrown every once in a while. During this time, the contestants must not only pay attention to the target below, but also maintain a high level of concentration so as not to miss the red embroidered ball.

As the gong sounded on the examiner's platform, the competition officially began.

The targets on the field moved rapidly from side to side.

Soon, students hit the green embroidered ball. Although the green embroidered ball was the largest, it wasn't very big, only about the size of two fists. And it had to be hit from a distance of more than fifty paces, which was not an easy task.

There were only ten arrows in total, and many students were reluctant to waste them, waiting for the red embroidered ball to appear. After all, this was the hardest to hit and also the one with the highest score; if they wasted all their arrows at once, they wouldn't have another chance.

Soon, the red embroidered ball was finally thrown. The students who had been waiting for so long immediately drew their bows and shot arrows at the red embroidered ball flying through the air. The sounds of "whoosh" and "whoosh" filled the air as many arrows rained down on the red embroidered ball.

However, as the red embroidered ball landed, very few arrows managed to hit it. After all, the red embroidered ball flew far too fast and too high, making it no easy task to hit.

As time passed, the students stopped focusing on the red hydrangea. They turned their attention to the orange, yellow, and green hydrangeas on the field. After all, these were relatively easier to hit.

Unfortunately, many students had wasted a lot of arrows trying to hit the red embroidered ball. Now, they had very few arrows left.

After a while, a large number of students ran out of arrows and had to leave the arena early.

Some students remained calm, focusing their arrows on the orange embroidered balls in order to get higher scores, and did not waste their arrows on the red embroidered balls.

As time passed, the competition was about to end. Just then, the red embroidered ball was thrown for the last time.

Suddenly, a sharp scream rang out from the platform: "Ah~" The sound instantly drew everyone's attention. Everyone turned to look at the platform, where a figure was seen falling from it, like a bird with broken wings, into the embroidered ball shooting range below.

Red embroidered balls, along with falling figures, plummeted to the ground. Meanwhile, many students had already fired their arrows.

One of the students in the competition saw this and cried out, "Oh no!" But it was too late; the arrow had already left the bow and could no longer be stopped. Everyone's hearts were in their throats, their eyes fixed on the falling figure on the shooting range, fearing an accident.

Seeing that an arrow was about to hit the woman, Zheng Luoqi didn't have time to think and quickly threw the fan in her hand away.

The fan spun in the air, striking precisely the arrow that was about to hit the woman. The arrow, deflected by the impact, veered off course and embedded itself in the ground beside where the woman had fallen.

The onlookers were astonished by what they saw. They immediately gathered around and asked the woman with concern if she was injured.

"Quick, check on her!" someone shouted anxiously.

Zheng Luoqi quickly walked to the woman's side and carefully checked her condition. She found that the woman was unconscious and her face was as pale as paper.

Xue Huaiyu also arrived at the scene. He frowned and ordered, "Quickly, go and summon the imperial physician!"