Chapter 46: Gaming Master

"Didn't you say you wouldn't know how? Why did you hit it on your very first try?" The two young ladies stared in disbelief as the embroidered dumpling swaying back and forth with an arrow stuck in it.

"Uh, I just aimed the way you told me to, and then my hand felt a little sore, so I just let go of the arrow." Yu Yuanzheng felt her luck was simply too good.

Her current physique lacked exercise, and holding a small bow and arrow for just a short while made her feel a bit achy.

"I don't believe it, try again." Yue Yuying handed her another arrow.

Left with no choice, Yu Yuanzheng had to demonstrate it to them once more.

"Whoosh!"

"Wow, you hit it again!" The two girls clapped their little hands and cheered.

Yu Yuanzheng had no idea why she was suddenly so lucky.

"Do you think it's because I do embroidery all the time, sticking needles in and out so much that my aim has become very accurate?" Yu Yuanzheng came up with an excuse for herself.

"That's very possible." Cao Jinxuan nodded in agreement.

"Eldest Young Madam, this is the embroidered dumpling you hit." A palace maid brought over the two dumplings on a plate.

"Wait a moment, let me shoot one more time so that the three of us can each have one." Yu Yuanzheng was very excited.

She picked up the bow and arrow and shot another arrow.

However, this time she missed.

"See, I told you, it must have been just luck earlier." Yu Yuanzheng joked at her own expense.

She then shot two more arrows, and it wasn't until the fifth arrow that she hit another one.

Now each of them had one.

The two girls also took turns shooting a few arrows each, but none of them hit the target.

With Yu Yuanzheng as a benchmark, playing lost its appeal once the sense of achievement was gone.

"Alright, there are still plenty of fun things to do. Let's go see what else there is," Yu Yuanzheng suggested.

"Okay, okay!" Yue Yuying agreed enthusiastically.

"Let's go, let's go watch the young lords playing wooden pitch-pot. Maybe we can have a go ourselves." Cao Jinxuan was very fond of this game.

Cao Jinxuan was quite familiar with the imperial palace. With her leading the way, the three of them soon arrived at an open space between two halls.

This area was situated between the outer court and the inner chambers, and the men mostly gathered here to play.

To her surprise, there were both men and women here; it seemed everyone liked this game.

Guided by the two girls, Yu Yuanzheng squeezed into the circle of onlookers.

She had never seen this game before. The original owner had only heard of it, never witnessed it.

Taking a closer look, well, wasn't this just bowling?

Except it was a bit different from the modern version, though the nature of the game was similar.

This she knew how to play.

Yet, seeing how long the queue was, as a married woman, how could she possibly have the nerve to cut in line and compete with a group of young gentlemen?

"Big brother, we want to play too." Cao Jinxuan grabbed her newly made friend and ran right up to Cao Jinyu, the Heir of Prince Jing, cutting straight to the front of the line.

"Hey, Princess Lingxuan, you can't just bully people like this," protested a young gentleman standing further back.

"You're a grown man, why are you being so petty? Be careful or you won't find yourself a wife," Princess Lingxuan shouted right back without any politeness, showing no intention of moving to the very back of the line.

The young gentleman rubbed his nose, only to have his shoulder bumped by another young lord behind him: "Alright, don't be so petty, or you'll have one fewer potential wife candidate."

Yu Yuanzheng took advantage of this opening and slowly moved forward. There were only five people ahead of her, and each was allowed just three attempts.

Hitting a red pillar once rewarded the player with a zongzi (rice dumpling). Yu Yuanzheng noticed that the young gentleman ahead of her had thrown three times in a row without hitting a single one.

At this skill level, he certainly had never practiced.

Among the three girls, it was Yue Yuying's turn first.

She held the ball, squatted down slightly, took aim, and threw.

Unfortunately, it missed.

A palace attendant waiting nearby handed her another ball.

She threw again.

"Yay, I hit it! I hit it!" Yue Yuying cheered with delight, looking lively and adorable.

The attendant respectfully handed her a zongzi.

She still had one more chance.

She threw again.

"Ah, I missed again. But one is enough for my lunch anyway." Yue Yuying wasn't disappointed; she was already quite content to have hit one.

She was a girl who knew not to be greedy.

Yu Yuanzheng smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.

"No, I have to go next, I'm afraid of being shown up by Sister-in-law Yuanzheng." Princess Lingxuan bypassed Yu Yuanzheng in front of her; she wanted to go first.

Yu Yuanzheng very consciously took a step back.

As a result, she accidentally bumped into the Heir of Prince Jing standing behind her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." She apologized immediately.

The Heir merely smiled and nodded.

This was his first time seeing this woman today. He knew she was the bride who had been swapped into a marriage with Ziqi.

He had a very close relationship with Ziqi; the two of them often played together when they were children, growing up to be sworn brothers.

He had even learned martial arts following Ziqi's lead—all the martial arts skills he possessed were taught to him by Ziqi.

Yet he never expected that an accident would bring devastating harm to his good brother.

And yet, he could not save him, able only to help him inquire about the whereabouts of divine physicians.

As long as this woman treated Ziqi well, he would harbor goodwill toward her.

Seeing how well she had hit it off with his younger sister after knowing her for less than an hour, she must be a good woman.

Otherwise, his sister wouldn't play with her so happily.

Cao Jinxuan missed two balls in a row and didn't hit a single one, looking quite dejected.

Seeing her puffed-up cheeks, Yu Yuanzheng couldn't help but chuckle.

"Come, Princess Lingxuan, I'll guide you through it." Yu Yuanzheng took the initiative to hold the hand that was gripping the ball. "Keep your eyes on the target. Don't use too much strength, but rather let the ball roll gently across. Throw!"

Jinxuan instinctively followed the instruction and released her hand.

"Yay, I hit it!"

Princess Lingxuan clapped and cheered, then happily accepted her trophy from the palace attendant: a zongzi.

It was Yu Yuanzheng's turn.

This game actually wasn't very difficult; once you mastered the technique, it was quite easy.

As a result, she threw three balls in a row, and every single one hit the mark.

This drew a round of applause from the spectators.

She won three more zongzi.

She wouldn't need to eat a separate lunch; these zongzi would easily tide her over until the palace banquet began.

Having witnessed Yu Yuanzheng's prowess, Princess Lingxuan and Yue Yuying dragged her around to challenge various games everywhere.

They harvested a bountiful collection.

Ancient games could actually find their counterparts in later generations; many games of later eras evolved from these ancient pastimes.

Therefore, Yu Yuanzheng played without any difficulty whatsoever.

During this time, she also ran into Yu Zhaoyang twice.

Now that she was the Heir's Consort and Shangguan Zishu was in good health, naturally quite a few people wanted to curry favor with her.

However, these were all young madams from various prominent families, unlike Yu Yuanzheng who was playing around with two unmarried girls.

And right as they were playing darts, a minor episode occurred.

A lavishly dressed young lady, surrounded by a group of peers of the same age, also came over to play darts.

Yet the high-tossed head and her attire as a commandery princess, representing her noble status, directly declared her high standing.

"That is Princess Nanhua, the granddaughter of the old Prince Mo's household," Yue Yuying quietly whispered to introduce her to Yu Yuanzheng.

"Oh." Yu Yuanzheng understood instantly upon hearing this; essentially, she was the Emperor's cousin's daughter.

Her status certainly couldn't compare to Princess Lingxuan's, but she was still royalty nonetheless.

Princess Nanhua stared straight at Yu Zhaoyang the moment she arrived.

Holding herself in high regard and considering her status, Princess Nanhua had never deigned to play with someone of such humble birth as Yu Zhaoyang, and thus had never taken her seriously.

As for Yu Yuanzheng, let alone anything else, she probably didn't even know such a person existed.

"You must be Yu Zhaoyang from the Yong'an Earl's Mansion?" Princess Nanhua eyed Yu Zhaoyang coldly.

It was as if there were a deep grudge between them.

"Greetings, Princess Nanhua."

Facing this second sister-in-law from her past life, the Heir's Consort of Prince Rong's Manor, Yu Zhaoyang felt a trace of guilt.

In her past life, Princess Nanhua had always treated her with a lofty and arrogant attitude, never casting a proper glance in her direction.

Now that she herself was the Heir's Consort of Prince Rong's Manor, her status was not a whit inferior to Princess Nanhua's, yet she felt a lack of confidence deep down.

"I heard that you obtained the position of Heir's Consort through a deliberate marriage swap?" Princess Nanhua showed no mercy whatsoever, bringing up the matter directly in broad daylight.