latelenovela Chapter 266 Du Shangge Accepts the Appointment
Chapter 266 Du Shangge Accepts the Appointment
Zhu Qingwei did what she said. After going out, she found a few sisters who were on good terms with her and said she was going to look for the Si sisters.
Those who were on good terms with Zhu Qingwei were either from lower social classes or were illegitimate daughters of high-ranking families. Other noble ladies only befriended her out of respect for Zhu Qingtang, so they would naturally find excuses to decline the offer at such times.
One of the sisters asked hesitantly, "Weiwei, those three girls from the Si family are from the countryside and have bad mouths. If we go to them again, I'm afraid we'll still suffer and be embarrassed."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to cause any trouble. I'm just worried that they don't know what to do during tomorrow's hunt, so I want to teach them."
The sisters thought that even if the Si sisters didn't understand, they still had Du Shangge. After Du Shangge returned to Beijing, she was the first in the women's hunting competition every year for six consecutive years.
Last year she was making a fuss and asked the emperor not to let her participate in the hunting group for noble ladies this year, saying that it was too unchallenging and she wanted to compete with the young men.
Soon, Zhu Qingwei arrived outside the Si family residence.
The Si sisters and Du Shangge had just returned when they ran into this group of people.
Du Shangge thought they were here to settle a score, so he immediately stood in front of the Si sisters and asked, "Zhu Qingwei, what are you doing here? What's the matter? Did you say something rude in the garden just now? Are you dissatisfied with your performance?"
Zhu Qingwei didn't argue with her, but just smiled and said, "I was rude just now, and now I want to apologize to my sisters."
"Are you so kind?" Du Shangge didn't believe it.
Zhu Qingwei didn't care and just said to his younger sister, "Oh, there's one more thing. I'm afraid the county lady has forgotten, so I wanted to come over and tell her."
The younger sister asked, "What's the matter?"
"The Empress Dowager's birthday is in ten days. You've been away from the capital for so many years, I'm afraid you've forgotten it. Also, I haven't heard that the palace is holding a banquet to celebrate the Empress Dowager's birthday. But the county lady is the Empress Dowager's most beloved girl after all. It's impossible for her to not show any appreciation at all, right?"
The Empress Dowager is a great man, and I know this very well. But before she left the palace, she said she would not leave Shoukang Palace and would not allow anyone to visit her.
Even the emperor and his concubines could not get close to the empress dowager.
Only the servants who served the empress dowager and the two imperial doctors who took her pulse were allowed to enter and leave as usual.
The person is dying, why would he ask for a gift to celebrate the end of his life?
My younger sister said, "The Queen Mother doesn't accept any gifts unless it's her birthday."
Zhu Qingwei raised an eyebrow: "The Empress Dowager said so, and the County Lady believes it? It's really a waste that the Empress Dowager loves you so much."
Speaking of the empress dowager, my younger sister was already in a bad mood, and being mocked by Zhu Qingwei made her even more depressed, so she asked.
"What do you want?"
You hit the point.
Zhu Qingwei immediately replied, "How about this? Tomorrow we'll split into two groups, with a maximum of five people in each group competing. The Emperor will award prizes, and the winning group will receive the prize money as a gift for the Empress Dowager's birthday. How do you do that?"
However, the three girls from the Si family couldn't even ride a horse, let alone learn archery.
Si Muyan immediately said, "It's okay. Even if we want to prepare a gift for the Queen Mother's birthday, there's no need to use a method that we're not good at."
Zhu Qingwei looked at her sarcastically: "You don't even have the courage to accept the challenge, do you?"
The little sisters around all burst into laughter.
"I told you, how could they have the guts to do that? Tsk tsk tsk tsk."
"The Si sisters are useless, and Miss Du is also a coward. Didn't she say before that she could match ten of us alone? Now there are only five of us, and she doesn't dare to compete?"
"Who doesn't boast? She used to say she was better than many other gentlemen. She just thought His Majesty would never let her compete with a man."
"that is……"
The contemptuous chattering of his daughter's family rushed into Du Shangge's mind.
She didn't listen to what the Si sisters said at all, and shouted, "Who said we don't dare to accept the challenge? We agreed!"
The second sister was anxious and hurried to pull Du Shangge's sleeve, but she was still a step too late.
"Go on song!"
Du Shangge came to her senses, but she felt a little regretful. It wasn't that she felt she couldn't compete, but Zhu Qingwei had deliberately spoken up to provoke the Si family. The Si family sisters were silent, so how could she accept it on their behalf?
"Really?" Zhu Qingwei continued, his eyes moving around the four girls, still pouting, "But there are only four of you in total. Maybe you can't even get the fifth person together?"
When these words came out, everyone else burst into laughter.
Perhaps because she was afraid that they would go back on their word, Zhu Qingwei made the final decision and left with her sisters.
The news that the girl from the Zhu family was going to compete with the girl from the Si family naturally spread quickly.
The second sister asked, "What should we do now?"
There are only four of them. Who else can they call to join them at this time?
Si Muyan had never thought about participating in a hunting competition and didn't know much about the rules of hunting. So she looked at Du Shangge and asked, "You always come in first, so hunting should be easy for you, right?"
"Yes." Du Shangge was full of confidence.
But the younger sister smiled bitterly and shook her head: "If it's a fair competition, I believe Shangge will definitely get first place, but a group hunt won't work."
Du Shangge was not convinced: "Why can't I lead you to victory? No girl in the whole capital can compare to me!"
My younger sister explained, "But hunting is different for men and women. Men compete in skill, while women simply enjoy it. So, to prevent the disparity between the women from being too great, the hunting grounds are deliberately set up so that even women who aren't very skilled in riding or shooting can still get a good catch."
Du Shangge said: "So what? I am still far ahead."
Si Muyan understood: "That is to say, even if Shangge is the best, in order to avoid embarrassing the other girls, they will give out a lot of prey. And we can't even ride a horse, so there is a high possibility that we won't get any prey?"
"Right." The younger sister nodded. "Zhu Qingwei must have calculated it before she dared to say such a thing. If Shangge comes in first, then the second to sixth people will appear among them. And because of the rules of hunting for women in the enclosure, the difference isn't too big. Of course, the five of them will get more prey than Shangge."
Du Shangge was confused for a moment, and then his expression changed completely.
"Then... Zhu Qingwei did it on purpose, just to set me up!"
The second sister tapped Du Shangge's forehead and said, "You, you are really too impulsive."
Du Shangge murmured, "Zuo Xiangwan is good at riding and shooting, and Zhu Qingtang is quite good at horsemanship... I used to think that what they learned was just fancy tricks, but fancy tricks do have their uses..."
The younger sister spread her hands and said, "Then we are doomed to fail."
Si Muyan didn't care much about winning or losing, and said, "If we lose, we lose. We don't know how to do it anyway. If we try our best, it's not shameful to lose."
Du Shangge bit his lip tightly: "But, I can't lose, I can't bring shame to the Du family!"