The Return of the Seventh Young Lady-Chapter 148 - 147

Chapter 147

Late that night, the mysterious man sneaked into the Mu family manor once again to meet with the three women. As soon as Mu Luofei saw him, she quickly recounted what she had learned that day.

"Master, I know who sent people to assassinate us. It was someone from Zhuiping Residence! They admitted it themselves today. There’s no mistake."

"I already knew," the mysterious man replied with a nod, his demeanor indifferent, which puzzled Mu Luofei.

"Do you mean...you knew this from the start, Master?" she asked, shocked. If that were the case, why hadn’t he retaliated?

"Yes, I knew from the first assassination attempt," the man answered unhurriedly.

After the first attempt, he immediately sent people to investigate. It took some time, but they eventually discovered that the attackers were sent by Mu Gongzhen. This information had initially shocked and surprised the mysterious man.

He hadn’t expected the other side to brazenly send assassins against them. At first, he thought they intended to eliminate the three women. But as time passed, he became confident that Mu Gongzhen’s goal wasn’t just to kill them but also to secretly capture their people!

This realization had made the mysterious man quite anxious. The more of his people were captured, the higher the risk that they would be tortured and divulge information about him.

Despite this, the enemy continued to send people to assassinate the mother-daughter trio relentlessly. He couldn’t allow his pawns to be eliminated, so he had to grit his teeth and send more people to protect them, which kept him quite busy.

"In that case, why don’t we send people to assassinate them in return? We can’t just let them keep attacking us," Mu Luofei suggested, but the mysterious man immediately dismissed the idea.

"Doing that would be walking right into the enemy’s trap. It’s already difficult enough to handle the assassins they’ve sent. You want to go and attack them? If you can’t come up with a better idea, keep your mouth shut!"

He glared at the woman in front of him coldly, his words like a slap to Mu Luofei’s face to remind her, leaving her momentarily stunned.

Seeing her daughter scolded, Bai Lijun quickly stepped in. "Please, don’t be angry, Master. My daughter is still young and means well. She just didn’t think it through."

The mysterious man said nothing, merely casting a cold glance at the two women. Whether it was well-meaning or not, he wasn’t foolish and could see through their petty jealousy. There was no way he would let himself be swayed by such emotions, risking more than necessary.

Sending people to assassinate the enemy?

That would be like throwing meat into a tiger’s mouth!

"Just be extra cautious. While my people are protecting you, assassinations can come in many forms, not just direct attacks. Poison and accidents are also possibilities. You need to look after yourselves in these regards. If you weren’t still useful to me, I wouldn’t be investing so much to protect you. Remember that..."

"Yes, we understand," Bai Lijun responded quickly.

After the mysterious man left, Mu Luofei, who had her head hung low, gritted her teeth in anger. She knew that she and her mother were just pawns to him, but being scolded so harshly and treated as objects rather than people made her anger flare uncontrollably.

Imperial Academy

The grand competition at the Imperial Academy was fast approaching. It was a contest of both martial and literary skills, and the students were abuzz with excitement.

In a quiet garden within the academy, a perfect place for leisure, two young women sat in a pavilion, relaxing.

"The big competition is almost here. You must be ready by now, but I’m not prepared at all," Jiao Fangniang complained in frustration as she grabbed a snack from the table.

"We’ve had plenty of time to prepare. If you weren’t so lazy, you’d be ready too," Wan Ningtong said with a small shake of her head, exasperated by her friend’s laziness.

"I’m not as talented as you. Especially in martial skills, I’m not even good at riding a horse, let alone archery on horseback. My mother says that as a woman, it’s enough to sew, embroider, and obey my husband. This competition seems unnecessary to me."

Wan Ningtong raised her eyebrows instantly. "But without skills, how can we earn respect and honor from our husbands? Knowledge and ability are valuable. It’s always good to have them."

"I’m not arguing with you. You and I are different. In the future, I’ll marry into a prominent family, and that’s enough for me, no need to do anything more. But you, you have to marry into the royal family, and you can’t be ordinary. You should be exceptional in both beauty and ability." Jiao Fangniang knew this, so she understood why her friend worked so hard to excel.

It was all for the position of the future empress, wasn’t it...?

Jiao Fangniang secretly felt a great deal of pity for her friend. Ever since she had known Wan Ningtong as a child, she had never seen her play or live like other young misses. Every step was filled with pressure from her family and the Empress Dowager to prepare her to be the perfect future empress.

Reaching this point, where she had become the most esteemed woman in the capital with exemplary skills, Wan Ningtong had endured rigorous training and strict discipline.

Wan Ningtong pressed her lips tightly, not responding to her friend’s comment. Since childhood, she had been ingrained with the idea that everything she did was to prepare to become the future empress.

If anyone asked about her dreams other than becoming the future empress, she wouldn’t know what to say...

As the two sat quietly, a figure of a young miss approached them. "Young Miss Jiao, just now, Teacher Fang is calling for you."

"Calling for me?" Jiao Fangniang’s eyes widened in shock.

Teacher Fang was well-known within the Imperial Academy for his strictness and severity. If a student displeased him, they would surely face harsh reprimand and punishment.

"Yes, Young Miss Jiao. You should hurry to see Teacher Fang. If you’re late, he might become irritated."

"Alright, alright."

Jiao Fangniang quickly stood up, ready to leave the pavilion. She turned to her friend, "Wait here for me. I’ll be back soon."

"Go ahead," Wan Ningtong nodded.

Seeing that, Jiao Fangniang hurriedly followed the messenger. The garden returned to its serene state, with only Wan Ningtong remaining, calmly sipping her tea.

"May I join you?"

A gentle voice called out, not far from the pavilion. Wan Ningtong glanced up and found that the newcomer was none other than Lady Ping An.

"Please, join me," Wan Ningtong replied indifferently.

Mu Luofei stepped into the pavilion, taking the seat where Jiao Fangniang had been sitting, and poured herself a cup of tea. "Why are you sitting here alone, Young Miss Wan? Where is Young Miss Jiao?"

"I think you already know the answer to that, don’t you?" Wan Ningtong placed her teacup down and met Mu Luofei’s gaze with a cool expression.

Mu Luofei paused for a moment before smiling. "Young Miss Wan, you are indeed sharp. I cannot deceive you."

Wan Ningtong didn’t respond, her eyes lowered to her teacup. Initially, she hadn’t suspected anything, but as soon as Jiao Fangniang was summoned away, Mu Luofei appeared.

The timing was too coincidental.

Wan Ningtong had experienced enough situations to recognize that this was no ordinary coincidence. When Mu Luofei appeared and asked to join her, it confirmed her suspicions that this was a planned encounter by the woman in front of her.

"Since it’s like this, I won’t beat around the bush. I know that you, Young Miss Wan, are not very fond of my elder sister. To be honest, I don’t like her either, but since I’m her younger sister, I can’t act against her openly. This time, I would like to ask for your cooperation in teaching her a lesson," Mu Luofei said, her tone measured as she watched the other woman’s reaction.

Seeing that Wan Ningtong’s expression remained neutral without any sign of disagreement or objection, Mu Luofei continued.

"The grand competition is coming up soon, with the martial arts segment involving horseback archery. If an accident were to happen during the competition, it would be hard to blame anyone. It could simply be seen as an unfortunate event..."

"Young Lady,"

Wan Ningtong interrupted, cutting off Mu Luofei mid-sentence, causing her to pause and look at Wan Ningtong in confusion.

"No matter how much I dislike Eldest Young Miss Mu, that is my business. Internal strife within your household should be handled by yourselves. Don’t think of dragging me into it," Wan Ningtong’s tone was extremely cold. Her words exposed the malicious intent behind Mu Luofei’s plan.

"Even if you pretend to be kind and gentle, it doesn’t fool me, just as your scheme does not. Someone like you surely has the means to deal with your enemies on your own but simply doesn’t want to dirty your hands. Hence, you think you can use me to handle Mu Qingxuan. Lady Ping An...Do you think I’m foolish enough to let someone else manipulate me?"

Wan Ningtong stared at the woman before her with a piercing gaze, her words were straightforward and laid bare Mu Luofei’s intentions, as if she could see right through her.

"That’s not what I meant...I only wanted to cooperate with you," Mu Luofei said through gritted teeth, trying to persuade her further.

"I call you Young Lady out of respect for your title. But if you continue to behave this way, don’t expect me to show any courtesy," Wan Ningtong’s eyes grew sharper, and an oppressive aura emanated from her.

Realizing that Wan Ningtong was not going to cooperate, Mu Luofei felt a surge of anger but decided to leave immediately.

"In that case, I hope you’ll pretend you didn’t hear anything today. I must take my leave," Mu Luofei said with a forced smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

"Feel free. I won’t see you out," Wan Ningtong replied icily.

After Mu Luofei left, Wan Ningtong looked down at her tea, lost in thought until Jiao Fangniang returned. They then headed back to their afternoon classes together.

After the afternoon session, Wan Ningtong returned to the Wan Manor. Once she reached her quarters, she called her trusted maid to her room and gave specific instructions, which the maid promptly set out to follow.

...

..

Time flew by quickly, and soon the seven-day grand competition at the Imperial Academy began. The competition was divided into two categories. The first category was the literary skills, which was a competition of the Four Arts: qin, qi, shu, and hua.

Qin was the seven-stringed zither competition.

Qi was the Weiqi board game competition.

Shu was the calligraphy competition.

Hua was the painting competition.

These Four Arts were highly regarded in high society and among scholars. The literary skill competition took four days to complete, and the winners were announced as follows: Wan Ningtong won the seven-stringed zither and painting competitions, Mu Qingxuan won the Weiqi competition, and Lady Fei Yang won the calligraphy competition.

When the literary skill competition concluded, the martial skills competition began. The martial skills competition was divided into three events: the first was horseback riding, to test the skill of controlling a horse; the second was archery; and the final event was horseback archery.

These three events took a total of three days. In the martial skills competition, the young masters typically scored very high, while the young misses generally received lower scores, just enough to pass.

Throughout the six days of competition, everything proceeded smoothly without any disturbances or mistakes. Until the seventh day that the horseback archery competition began.

The martial skills competition was held in the royal hunting grounds for convenience. In the morning, the men competed fiercely, showcasing their outstanding skills to the full extent.

Once the winners of the men’s competition were determined, the women’s competition took place in the afternoon. The young misses changed into practical outfits suitable for riding.

In the competition field, Mu Qingxuan led her horse over to Meng Liting, who was already waiting. Throughout the previous martial skills competitions, both Mu Qingxuan and Meng Liting had only participated enough to pass.

If this competition were not part of the students’ assessments, many of the young misses would likely have avoided the hassle of competing in horseback archery. Even Mu Qingxuan and Meng Liting were no exceptions.

Neither of them was particularly skilled in horseback archery. They could ride a horse reasonably well but were not exceptional at it. Archery was even more challenging; hitting the target was difficult enough, let alone doing it while riding.

However, they were not alone in this. Most other young misses were in the same situation. If any woman excelled in horseback archery, it would likely be the daughters of military families, who were skilled in martial arts.

"Finally, it’s the last competition. Once it’s over, we can rest," Meng Liting complained wearily.

"The competition will be over soon. We just need to ride and shoot well enough to meet the teachers’ standards. We don’t need to push ourselves too hard," Mu Qingxuan reassured her, and Meng Liting agreed.

"Gather around! The competition is about to begin!"

Shortly after, an announcement was made. The competition would be divided into groups, with each group consisting of twenty participants competing at the same time, before rotating to allow the next group to compete.

Mu Qingxuan and Meng Liting were in the same group, competing in the third group. When it was their turn, they mounted their horses to prepare themselves, while staff from the academy distributed bows and arrows to each participant. In front of them were ten large targets set at a distance.

The rules were that everyone would line up in a column formation, galloping their horses in succession, and shooting at the ten targets along the way. The person who hit the center of the targets the most and hit the most targets overall would be the winner.

"Begin the competition!"

As soon as the announcement was made, the row of horses began to move immediately. Mu Qingxuan was in the fifth position, while Meng Liting was in the sixth. As they galloped past the first target, everyone began shooting arrows at it without delay.

Regardless of the target they passed, everyone focused intensely on aiming and shooting. Some managed to hit the targets as they went by. When they were passing the seventh target, out of the corner of Meng Liting’s eye, she noticed the rider behind her veering off to the left, breaking formation.

Curious, she turned to look back at the other person in confusion. However, what she saw left her alarmed—the woman was aiming her bow in the direction ahead. When Meng Liting followed the direction of the arrow’s aim, she realized it was pointed at Mu Qingxuan.

"Qingxuan, watch out!"

Meng Liting shouted a warning to her friend just as the arrow sliced through the air at high speed. When Mu Qingxuan turned towards Meng Liting’s voice, her eyes widened in shock. Her heart seemed to stop for a moment as she watched the sharp arrow speeding towards her, catching her completely off guard.

Thunk!

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