Chapter 76: Black Lightning and the Sound of the Bow Strings
Chapter 76 Black Lightning and the Sound of Bow Strings
In reality, lightning is white, occasionally purple, but never black. Today, on the lawn outside the academy, everyone saw a black lightning.
The candidates looked at the black horse that was as fast as a sharp arrow and jumped out of the herd in an instant, running forward at a terrifying speed that gave people the impression that they could not catch up. They thought of the embarrassed candidates who were thrown off the horse's hooves before, and of that person.
The girl in red standing outside the fence with tears on her face was so shocked that she couldn't speak.
Their eyes subconsciously followed the black lightning. They looked at Ning Que on the big black horse, bowing as lightly as a fallen leaf. They couldn't understand what the young examinee had done to this naughty black horse, so that he could make it so.
It is so obedient and shows such amazing strength.
The meadow outside the academy is vast and covers an unknown number of acres, but the examination room surrounded by fences is not very big. People are still in shock. The girl in red seems to have just raised her right hand to cover her open lips in surprise.
The royal examination ended abruptly. To be more precise, the black horse reached the finish line at an incredible speed, leading the other candidates by nearly half the time.
Ning Que jumped off the horse, wiped a few drops of sweat from his forehead, turned around and patted the big black horse's thick neck with satisfaction, gave its thick buttocks a heavy slap, and waved away.
When the big black horse saw him signaling for him to leave, he immediately felt that he had escaped from the terrifying blood swamp and returned to the happy world. He neighed happily, rubbed Ning Que's shoulder in a flattering manner, and then hurriedly kicked off with his hooves.
I didn't dare to look back at all, and my speed seemed to be a little faster than during the exam.
The candidates at the entrance to the fence looked at Ning Que in silence as he walked over, like looking at a monster. Many people wanted to ask him how he did all this, but they were intimidated by the weirdness he showed before and did not dare to speak.
Ning Que felt the strange looks from around him and frowned slightly. He lowered his eyes slightly and walked towards the radiology examination venue without squinting. It was not his intention to attract the attention of the surrounding candidates or even the instructors. It was not his intention to show off his talents.
Seeking vanity was not in line with his ideas, but he knew that his grades in the three subjects of Li, Shu, and Music were a mess. If the last two did not make a strong showing to raise the total score, then he would definitely not be able to pass the admission examination.
After several years of preparation, spending so much energy and money, abandoning his military status and running thousands of miles back to Chang'an from the grasslands, but in the end unable to enter the academy, it was really a sad serenade in D minor that he could endure and keep a low profile - no matter what, he
It’s impossible to accept such an ending, so what’s the point of being in the limelight for it?
Just as he was about to leave the imperial examination room, a girl blocked his way. The girl had thick eyebrows and bright eyes, and was quite beautiful. She was wearing a red arrow robe, with a belt tightly tied, and her youthful body was tight.
It was extremely tight and had a refreshing taste, but the tears on her face looked a little pitiful.
"How did you do that?" the girl in red asked angrily, "Why doesn't it listen to me?"
Ning Que thought for a while and replied seriously: "Maybe I have a better character?"
"Character?" The girl in the arrow robe was stunned, and then said angrily: "What do you mean?"
"I mean luck."
Ning Que spread his hands, smiled innocently, then politely asked her to get out of the way, and trotted towards the examination room of the Department of Chemistry.
The girl in the arrow robe was stunned. As the daughter of General Yunhui, she was beautiful and cheerful. It could be said that no one in Chang'an City knew about her. No one dared to respond to her question like this, so when Ning Que
After running far away, he woke up, turned around and looked at the young man's back, stamped his feet bitterly, and asked: "Who is this guy?"
At this time, a group of candidates were surrounding the examination room and were talking about Ning Que. One of the young men came close to the girl in the arrow robe and said, "Someone looked at the roster just now. This young man's name is Ning Que. He is a recommended student by the military. He should be
There is no surprising reason, so Miss Situ doesn’t need to pay attention to him."
The girl in the arrow robe said displeasedly: "If there is no surprise, then how can he make that big black horse submissive?"
"Maybe... it's just his luck, right?" the young man replied awkwardly.
Another girl in scarlet clothes came over, frowned at the young man on the grassy slope in the distance, shook her head and said: "The military recommendation may come from the frontier, it's not surprising that he is good at equestrian, but you all said that he is not extraordinary.
I don't think much about his origin. Today, he was the only one among hundreds of candidates who came with his maid, which made His Highness very embarrassed. It is obvious that this young man is too proud and pampered. He might have a famous surname in Qinghe County.
's children."
"Isn't Qinghe County so great? This is not the battle of Emperor Taizu." Miss Situ raised her eyebrows and said, "Sister Wucai, find out the details of that guy. I want to find out what is going on.
.”
Not far from these noble ladies of Chang'an, there were a dozen or so candidates recommended by the military. One of them, a retired captain in his thirties from the southwest border, shook his head and said to his companions: "
This has nothing to do with luck. Since that young man was recommended by the ministry just like us, he must have served in the army at the frontier and was close to horses all year round, so he will naturally have a few knives, but he is too young..."
As if to provide evidence for his conclusion, a violent neighing and panicked shouts suddenly sounded in the imperial examination room. The big black horse that had been beside Ning Que as gentle as a little maid was seen turning its hooves in an extremely violent manner.
After kicking, a burly candidate fell to the lawn in a state of embarrassment, his face extremely embarrassed.
Ning Que didn't know what the candidates in the imperial examination room were talking about him. If he knew that his fellow soldier praised him for having many swords, he would probably praise himself silently in his heart: I have three swords.
In addition to swords, horses, and bows and arrows, the thing he is best at in his life is probably these skills honed for survival in the mountains, forests and grasslands. With a single sword and arrow, he even has the confidence to fight with a low-level practitioner of Dongxuan.
In the end, if you still have to live, then you have to cope with the radiology exam, which is really a very simple matter.
The archery subject is different from the imperial examination. It does not need to be compared with the scores of other candidates for judgment. Therefore, he used all his strength in the imperial examination examination room in order to pull the other candidates as far away as possible. At this time, he drew his bow and aimed an arrow.
There is an archery target a hundred steps away, but I don't have much thought. I just want every arrow to hit ten rings.
You have to throw away when comparing goods, and you will die when comparing people. If those candidates who are sweating profusely and whose arms are shaking nervously know that this guy's minimum requirement is that every arrow must hit ten rings, or they will be angry to death.
But that's what Ning Que thought and did. He drew the bow, rested the arrow and relaxed his fingers. As the bow string flicked, the standard feather arrow of the Tang Dynasty military was shot out with a whoosh, but it accurately hit the center of the target.
.
The previous arrow had just hit the red heart. He had already taken out the second arrow from the quiver behind his back, and repeated the action of drawing the bow, resting the arrow and loosening his fingers. The arrow feathers once again brushed against the hard bone on his finger, and then hit the red heart again without any surprise.
His archery movements were not fast, and there was no magical scene on the target a hundred steps away, such as a bolt of lightning piercing the target or a rear arrow splitting the shaft of the front arrow in half. He just shot arrow after arrow steadily.
However, a wonderful rhythm gradually formed, and the buzzing strings seemed to be playing a soothing music in the spring breeze.
With his calm demeanor, impeccable posture, extremely rhythmic string control movements, and extremely accurate archery skills, as the thirty feather arrows in the quiver became less and less, Ning Que gradually attracted more and more people.
More and more people are looking at me, and more and more people are surrounding me. There are candidates, academy teachers, and even two generals from the military department who came to inspect.
At this time, in the eyes of everyone, the young man standing on the lawn with a bow and arrow seemed to have turned into a calm soldier who had been on the battlefield and would not blink his eyes even if thousands of horses rushed towards him like thunder.
The general watched Ning Que finish shooting the last arrow and said to his entourage: "Check which general trained this young man. If he fails to enter the academy this time, let him return to the military immediately.
"
After a brief pause, the general rubbed his somewhat gray hair and whispered: "Keep it secret. His original army will definitely call him back. Our Yulin army has to steal him secretly."
At dusk, His Majesty the Emperor and the Empress had returned to Chang'an City, leaving only His Highness the Prince and the chief officials of the ministries to preside over the remaining sessions. The six-subject examination was finally over, and it was time to release the results.
Hundreds of candidates stood quietly on the large stone flat, standing on tiptoes and looking up at the empty shadow wall, like hundreds of geese stretching their long necks after starving for several days.
, waiting to be fed.
Several academy teachers walked out slowly from the building and bowed slightly to His Royal Highness. After being confirmed by the officials of the Ministry of Etiquette, the teachers stepped on the wooden table, dragged a bucket of rice pulp, and randomly pasted a big red paper to the shadow.
on the wall.
A roaring sound like the waves sounded, and hundreds of candidates were like those hundreds of geese that finally saw the food. They could no longer suppress their emotions and rushed towards the shadow wall with a coaxing sound.
Ning Que held Sangsang's cold little hand and was staggered by the crowd, but in the end he fought his way through and squeezed to the bottom of the screen wall. The first thing he saw was the list of etiquette and calligraphy.
At the bottom of the paper, he found his name.
"Ning Que... Ding and others are the last."
The same is true for book scores.
He rubbed his head in annoyance and murmured to himself: "No, even if it's just a blind answer, I have written so many words, and my handwriting is so good, could it be that the person who corrected my papers is a woman?"
Examiner?"
Someone behind him couldn't help but burst into laughter, and said mockingly: "I thought he was a genius like the Third Young Master of the Southern Jin Dynasty, but it turns out he is just a reckless character with only strength and an empty belly."
It was the girl in the arrow robe who laughed at him. She was probably unwilling to do so, so when the results were announced, she abandoned her companions and squeezed in next to Ning Que, wanting to see what kind of talent this guy could get in the exam.
Come.
Ning Que didn't know that this noble lady from Chang'an was Situ Yilan, the daughter of General Yunhui. He glared at her with boredom, turned around, took Sangsang's little hand, and squeezed out of the crowd.
The girl in the arrow robe turned around in surprise, looked at his back and shouted, "Don't you want to look at the results later?"
Ning Que didn't look back and said calmly: "First armor."
The girl in the arrow robe and the people around her heard this and almost fell to the ground in shock. They wondered where this guy came from. He was so confident that he was so arrogant. He knew that he would definitely win the armor without even looking.
superior?
Sangsang raised her little face and glanced at him doubtfully.
Ning Que looked at her and explained with a smile: "Pretending to be serious and cool, they are not as good as me."