Ouchi Taming the Cat, starting with the Ten Tiger Forms!

Chapter 505 Wood Shooting
The three little ones stayed up all night and had to find some food to fill their stomachs. When they saw that it was almost time, they set out for the Imperial Garden to participate in the competition.

It’s the fifth day of November and the sun is shining brightly.

There is a thin layer of snow on the ground. I'm afraid it will melt away in a few days.

The end of the year is approaching, but there has not been a heavy snow in the capital city yet.

There have been a few sparse snowfalls, and it has been very comfortable.

When the three little ones arrived at the Imperial Garden, they found that many people were already waiting there.

They fenced off several areas and practiced the wooden archery that they were going to compete in later.

But when the three little ones entered, everyone without exception cast unfriendly glances at them.

Of course, they are mainly targeting Princess Ankang.

Whether they were princes and princesses or concubines, they all had similar expressions.

In the past, if there were any unpleasant words, people would know to keep them behind Princess Ankang's back and make sarcastic remarks in private.

Now they didn't say anything, but just stared at Princess Ankang with hatred, as if eating her alive would not be enough to vent their anger.

This scene really frightened the three little ones. They didn't expect that this group of people would be so united today.

"Meow!"

Li Xuan opened his mouth nonchalantly and meowed softly, and as a result, all the eyes focused on Princess Ankang were instantly scattered.

Princess Ankang also felt the pressure relieved and no longer felt as uncomfortable as before.

Those who were originally staring at Princess Ankang all looked away at this moment. For some reason, they subconsciously felt a sense of panic. Their hearts were either beating wildly or they missed a few beats. In short, they felt very uncomfortable.

Li Xuan snorted coldly and didn't take these clowns seriously.

His screams and howls just can't transmit accurately at the moment. If it's just for large-scale killing, there won't be a need for precise control.

Li Xuan just gave them a warning. Otherwise, with his current ability, at least half of the people in the Imperial Garden would have been dumbfounded.

Those who know what's good have already realized that the cat's meow just now was wrong.

"Third brother, Ankang's cat..."

The Ninth Princess spoke to the Third Prince with a serious expression.

"I'm afraid it is one of the most top-notch rare and exotic animals. I don't know when it fell into her hands."

The third prince's expression wasn't much better.

In the Cuju game at the Chongyang Banquet, it was this cat that shot him directly into Fengliu's eyes, making him lose face in front of all the nobles in the capital.

Although he quickly passed out at that time, thinking about it now, he couldn't help but feel his hands and feet trembling and ashamed.

After this incident, even the Eighth Prince rarely laughed at him in front of him.

But the more this happened, the more the Eighth Prince wanted to laugh but didn't dare to every time he saw him, which hurt the Third Prince's heart even more deeply.

"Third brother, don't think about it anymore."

"What's past is past!"

The Ninth Princess silently held the Third Prince's trembling right hand tightly and comforted him.

As one of the spectators who witnessed the incident personally, the Ninth Princess could imagine the tremendous pressure the Third Prince was under.

The fact that the third prince can still appear in front of everyone now actually shows that he has mustered up great courage.

"Don't worry, I'm fine."

The third prince forced a smile and did not dare to look in Princess Ankang's direction any further.

The three little ones found a corner and discovered that there were stoves lit in several pavilions in the Imperial Garden.

However, none of the concubines who arrived first sat in the pavilion. They were all waiting outside in an orderly manner, obviously waiting for their backbone to arrive.

The three little ones were mentally prepared to encounter such treatment when they came to the Imperial Garden today.

After all, those who can come here are probably those who have had their monthly salary cut.

As for those people whose monthly salary has been increased, I am afraid they are not worthy of setting foot here.

"Really? Everyone has enough money, but they care so much about it."

"How strange!"

Princess Ankang shook her head, indicating that she could not understand.

In her opinion, money is enough to spend.

Take the three of them as an example, they don’t cost much money every day.

The supplies in Jingyang Palace and the piles of silver bills in Emperor Li Xuan's Honggu Ring are not just piled there, and no one knows when they can be used.

But what Princess Ankang didn’t know was that not everyone had lived a hard life like in Jingyang Palace.

Most of the people here are born noble, and many things they take for granted in their daily lives are built up with vast wealth and are not yet recognized by them.

The views on money of these concubines and princes and princesses are not normal. After all, who would count how many grains of rice they eat in a day and then study how much each grain of rice is worth?
In their view, the luxurious daily life of food, clothing, housing and transportation are just the most basic things that they can get if they want and should get.

As for how much this money can benefit the people of Daxing, it is simply not in their minds.

Li Xuan felt happy when he saw the nobles in the yard who dared to be angry but not to speak out.

But when he thought about it again, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

As a dynasty with a history of a thousand years, the degree of corruption of Daxing was far beyond Li Xuan's imagination.

The ruling class aristocrats at the top of the dynasty have already adapted to such a life of exploiting the lower-class people, and this is just Li Xuan's feeling in the capital.

If we were to go somewhere outside the capital, I'm afraid the situation would be even worse.

Even if there was no current dispute between Emperor Yongyuan and Prince Zheng in the Daxing Dynasty, I am afraid that more intense conflicts would break out sooner or later.

Without a reshuffle, the dynasty's division cannot be resolved at all.

By then, we will see whether Daxing can be preserved.

"It's such a mess, and they're still fighting over it."

"How ridiculous!"

While Li Xuan was daydreaming, more and more people gathered in the Imperial Garden.

After the arrival of several princes and princesses who were on good terms with Princess Ankang, they all came to greet her.

"Ankang, you have such a cruel heart."

"Even the monthly allowance for the starlings is not spared."

As soon as the eighth prince arrived, he started crying to Princess Ankang endlessly.

The fifth prince, the seventh princess and Princess Yuan'an all looked at Princess Ankang with a dazed look on their faces.

It seems that the reduction in monthly wages has had a significant impact on them.

"Hehe~"

Princess Ankang smiled innocently, and you might have thought she was being praised.

"What are you doing?"

"Ankang, you've made a lot of people hate you this time."

"We are fine, we just lost some pocket money, but the others are in trouble."

The Eighth Prince spoke in a mysterious voice, and the attention of the people around him was immediately drawn to him.

"Do you remember the last competition that allowed us to go out of the palace to do business?"

"Aren't there many people who lost money and have to use their monthly allowance to slowly pay back the principal?"

"Now that Ankang has cut their monthly allowance, they will never be able to pay it back in their lifetime." "Those unlucky guys now have to figure out how to pay their monthly allowances themselves. Some even wanted to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to get some money, but they were all stopped by Chief Steward Zhao."

"Their roles as princes and princesses are so frustrating~"

The eighth prince said with a gloating look.

Li Xuan, who was curled up in Princess Ankang's arms, remembered this when he heard this.

At the beginning, when Emperor Yongyuan organized the Monopoly competition, the intention was actually very obvious, which was to attract some sponsorship for the empty national treasury.

The result, wow.

These princes and princesses actually tried to please Emperor Yongyuan. Not only did they fail to make money, but they also lost all their capital.

If children are ignorant, do adults also not understand things?

The mothers of the princes and princesses and their families did not make any comments on the matter and just let their children hand in a blank paper.

It's obvious what this means.

"Your Majesty, there is no money!"

Not even the original ten thousand taels of silver were paid back. With such an insincere reply, how could Emperor Yongyuan not be furious?

Li Xuan thought about it and suddenly understood something.

"That's right. Those princes and princesses exchanged their monthly allowances for money. Isn't that Emperor Yongyuan using the money to pay off his own debts?"

"It's really a big mistake!"

It seems that Emperor Yongyuan cut the expenditure of the royal private treasury not only to solve practical problems, but also to give himself some relief.

"Then today's game..."

Li Xuan looked up at the people in the distance who were full of resentment, fearing that they would have more good shows to watch today.

After a while, almost everyone had arrived.

At this time, Zhao Feng also arrived late.

Zhao Feng came to the stage, looked around calmly, and then slowly said:

"My ladies, your highnesses."

"We're competing in wooden archery today."

"Without further ado, let's get straight to the drawing of lots."

Zhao Feng took out the sticks he had prepared long ago, obviously wanting to end the battle quickly.

The princes and princesses went up to draw lots. When it was the eighth prince's turn, he couldn't help but ask Zhao Feng:
"Manager Zhao, we haven't told you the rules and prizes for today's competition yet."

"Are we just starting out like this?"

"This month's competition prizes can't just be a return to the previous monthly amount, right?"

Zhao Feng smiled slightly: "Of course there are other prizes. Your Highness, please be patient. I will definitely not let you down when the time comes."

Zhao Feng avoided answering and continued to keep the question in suspense.

Only Li Xuan knew clearly that Emperor Yongyuan's prize was not decided in advance and would be changed at the last minute.

When Princess Ankang won, she received one set of prizes; when other people won the competition, they received another set of prizes.

I'm afraid the eldest prince feels deeply about this.

After the drawing of lots was over, Zhao Feng immediately arranged for people to set up the venue.

Anyway, it's just a wooden shooting game, so it doesn't take up much space, so you can just do it on the stage.

There are many participants, and the winner is decided in one round through a points competition. The person with the higher score wins.

Each person throws the wooden ball five times, and then the final score is determined by ranking based on the points.

If there is a tie, an extra game will be held.

Their previous draw only determined the order of appearance, which would not have much impact. After all, they would calculate the points themselves and there would be no confrontation.

Princess Ankang's ranking is relatively late, but she can also see how others play.

The first to come on stage were the little kids, and then other older princes and princesses.

Most people use the method of rolling a wooden ball to hit the bamboo-shaped wooden pillars, which can better control the trajectory.

Of course, there are also some reckless men who directly use wooden balls to hit things. This makes quite a noise, but their accuracy is poor. There are even cases where the bamboo-shaped wooden pillars roll a few times after being hit and then stand up again.

If the bamboo-shaped wooden pillar does not fall down, no points will be counted.

And there is a high probability that it will hit the black bamboo-shaped wooden pillars other than its target, which will result in points being deducted.

Several people took turns to compete, and some unlucky guys had a negative total score.

The strange and interesting situations on the stage also made Princess Ankang and the others laugh so hard that they fell into laughter.

Compared to the seriousness of others, this group of people, although strange in appearance to outsiders, are much more relaxed.

The Eighth Prince and others did not react much to the reduction in monthly salary.

Their mothers all came from extraordinary family backgrounds, and the monthly allowance was at most an addition to their daily expenses.

Some people don't care about money at all and just focus on studying what they are interested in.

Moreover, they were all sensible people and knew that this matter probably had little to do with Princess Ankang.

There has never been anyone too stupid in the palace.

However, some people did not dare to vent their anger on Emperor Yongyuan, so they had to find trouble with Princess Ankang.

When you suffer a loss, you always want to find someone else to vent your anger on, right?
Princess Ankang and the others were enjoying the game, and soon it was the Eighth Prince's turn.

The eighth prince was the first among them, and he immediately rolled up his sleeves and went on stage confidently.

"It's time to show real skill."

After the eighth prince came on the court, he took the wooden ball and threw it lightly towards the target without even aiming.

The wooden ball hit a red bamboo-shaped wooden pillar, directly knocking it over, causing it to fall down.

That’s not all. The wooden ball continued to bounce, passed over the black bamboo-shaped wooden pillar next to it, and then knocked down a red bamboo-shaped wooden pillar, killing two birds with one stone.

Seeing this scene, even Li Xuan, who was dozing in Princess Ankang's arms, couldn't help but open one eye.

Relying on his own perception of the environment, he can know everything that is happening around him even without seeing it with his naked eyes.

The Eighth Prince's move was indeed clever, and it surprised Li Xuan.

"This kid always has some tricks up his sleeve."

As long as it was about eating, drinking and having fun, there was almost nothing that the Eighth Prince was not proficient in.

Even in the wooden shooting, the Eighth Prince showed special skills that were different from ordinary people.

"If you knock down two at once, you can actually get full marks."

In the wooden shooting game, there are fifteen bamboo-shaped wooden pillars for scoring, of which only ten red ones are for extra points, while the other five black ones will result in deduction of points if they are knocked down.

Up to now in the competition, apart from a few princes and princesses with good cultivation, there are not many people who can score full five points in five chances.

But the eighth prince broke this situation directly with one move.

After five attempts, the eighth prince used the method of killing two birds with one stone and firmly scored a full score of ten, taking the lead.

Li Xuan saw the Eighth Prince walking down proudly with his turtle steps, and could not help but smile slightly, then closed his eyes again.

"I'm afraid Emperor Yongyuan also took Old Eight into account, so he arranged the so-called play-offs to give Ankang an insurance policy."

(End of this chapter)