Chapter 178: Compete

No matter how thick-skinned Shi Baoyan was, she couldn’t help but blush after being questioned by Zhao Haoran. She stuttered, “I am Qingxue’s sister, and my name is Baoyan. Your Highness, please just call me Baoyan.”

“Oh!” Zhao Haoran was not interested and said casually, “I will go shooting with Qingxue, and it has nothing to do with you. Go back home first.”

Afterward, he didn’t give Shi Baoyan a chance to speak and told Xia Mang to take her to the carriage back to the Shi Family. Then he got into another carriage with Shi Qingxue, heading for the training ground.

As soon as they reached the training ground, Zhao Haoran brought the bow and arrows in high spirits and told somebody to bring two nice horses before saying to Shi Qingxue, “We have competed on shooting last time, and it will be boring to do that again. This time, let’s compete on shooting on horseback.

“Still ten arrows. Let’s see who will shoot more rapidly and accurately, okay?”

Shi Qingxue laughed in secret and guessed that the prince must be afraid of losing to her again when they shot while standing, so he had such an idea.

But looking at the two treasured horses, she was tempted and agreed immediately. “Okay. No problem. Who will be the first?”

Zhao Haoran was reluctant to fall behind and responded at once, “Of course I will be the first. I will show you my horsemanship.”

He directly bestrode his horse, looking handsome. Then he bent slightly to receive the long bow and arrows from the servant.

He kicked the horse’s stomach and it ran slowly. Then he took out a long arrow and aimed at the round jackstraw in the big circle.

In the blink of an eye, the sharp arrow flew away from the bow.

“Whoosh”, it hit the middle of the jackstraw’s head.

“Accurate!” Shi Qingxue watched and her eyes lit up. She couldn’t help praising in a low voice.

Zhao Haoran didn’t look complacent as before. After he hit the target for the first time, he instantly took out the second sharp arrow and continued to make the horse circle. As soon as he aimed at the jackstraw, he raised the bow and shot its mouth.

He did everything smoothly and elegantly. Perhaps the most capable riding master was the same when performing his shooting skill.

Shi Qingxue watched as Zhao Haoran shot the arrows one after another. At last, the ten sharp arrows made the jackstraw like a sieve. It was magnificent.

Then Zhao Haoran jumped off the horseback and walked to Shi Qingxue. He even wore a shy smile and asked with a hidden meaning, “Do you think my archery can attract your attention?”

Shi Qingxue laughed and thought this prince was childish. He wanted her praise but still acted like it was a piece of cake, which amused her.

But she was a grownup and wouldn’t bother about a child. Since Zhao Haoran wanted to be praised, she would satisfy him.

“Right. You are really good at shooting on horseback…”

Shi Qingxue suddenly stopped and had only one thought. She was just sixteen years old, while Zhao Haoran was already eighteen. Why did she think that he was younger than her?

…

Before Zhao Haoran got overjoyed, Shi Qingxue stopped speaking and looked at him with her pale face, as if she had seen a ghost.

He shouted unhappily, “Huh! I know you are capable and would look down upon me. No need to say more. It’s your turn now.”

Shi Qingxue looked at the long bow and arrows handed to her. Although she knew that he misunderstood her, she felt her brain was messy and had no energy to explain.

She received the bow and arrows blankly and stepped on the stirrup to get on the horseback.

Shi Qingxue hadn’t ridden a horse for a long time. As soon as she was on the horseback, the horse made her swing, and she almost fell off. Then she managed with effort to calm down.

She breathed deeply and kicked the horse, taking out an arrow before aiming and shooting as Zhao Haoran did.

She did everything like him.

The first arrow left the bow quickly and was shot to the jackstraw.

The long arrow got closer to the target, but it changed the direction and flew away beside the jackstraw’s head in the end.

Shi Qingxue’s first arrow missed the target unexpectedly.

Shi Qingxue on horseback paused for a while, but soon she came to her senses. She rode the horse and ran around the jackstraw before taking out another arrow.

This time the sharp arrow left the bow and shot the jackstraw at last, but it was shot aside and hit its shoulder.

Then she shot all of the rest arrows successively, and they hit the jackstraw in different parts.

They hit the arm, chest, belly… Only the last three arrows were shot to its head.

Shi Qingxue stopped the horse slowly. Zhao Haoran didn’t need to say anything, and she knew that there was a great disparity between their results.

Maybe she was good at shooting, but her horsemanship was ordinary. And few people could combine the two skills. A lot of people couldn’t accurately figure out both the perfect distance and speed, and it was normal if they were unable to hit the target.

Qingxue was not surprised at all but just felt depressed.

Zhao Haoran walked quickly to Shi Qingxue and was about to brag when he heard Shi Qingxue’s voice. “You have won.”

He planned to show off, but the result was announced before he got complacent. He was not happy.

You are reading story The Great Planned Marriage: Becoming A Splendid Princess at novel35.com

And looking at Qingxue’s gloomy face, Zhao Haoran was not so happy anymore but felt guilty somehow. Especially he had been practicing shooting on horseback these days…

“How about I teach you to ride?” Zhao Haoran blurted out.

Shi Qingxue raised her head in surprise and with disbelief. Zhao Haoran regretted as soon as he finished his words.

He stuttered to explain, “I just think that you are good at shooting and don’t want you to waste your skill. Forget it if you don’t want to.”

Afterward, he turned away arrogantly and showed that he wouldn’t insist.

Shi Qingxue was stunned and then couldn’t help laughing out loud. Her depression was gone and she thought this prince was so interesting.

He cared about it so much but still acted like he just said that casually and it was up to her.

“Hey, why are you laughing? I don’t want to help you on purpose. Don’t flatter yourself.” Zhao Haoran’s face turned red and pale occasionally as Qingxue laughed at him, and he became angry because of shame, shouting at her.

“No, it’s nothing.” Shi Qingxue hurriedly held back her laughter. In order not to make Zhao Haoran lose his temper, she looked joyful and stated seriously, “I am just happy that I have an awesome master like you.

“But aren’t you afraid that after you teach a disciple, you will be overshadowed?”

It was not Shi Qingxue’s brag. She was skilled in shooting. If she learnt most of horsemanship from Zhao Haoran, she could definitely compete with him.

Zhao Haoran was also confident. Pointing at the two nice horses, he uplifted his brows. “Let’s have a try. I will teach you the first step. Get on the horseback swiftly.”

While speaking, he had trodden on the stirrup with one foot and swiftly crossed the horseback with the other to tread on the other stirrup steadily.

His did that smoothly in the blink of an eye.

Shi Qingxue watched with her eyes full of excitement. Then Zhao Haoran waved at her and raised his chin. “Come up.”

Shi Qingxue was unable to say a word and silently walked to her horse to check the height difference between her and the horse. Then she looked at Zhao Haoran.

Zhao Haoran didn’t find that Qingxue had no martial skill and howled, “Come up quickly. Just use the flying skill. It’s quite easy.”

Shi Qingxue was speechless as she was not so powerful. She had to hold onto the saddle like before and step on the stirrup with one foot. She exerted much strength and finally supported herself.

Perhaps a lot of energy was consumed when she competed earlier. As soon as she got on the horseback, she began to swing again, and the horse was restless.

Zhao Haoran rapidly grabbed the rein in front of Shi Qingxue and supported her shoulder with the other hand, frowning. “You are so weak. You can’t even get on the horse. Have you learnt horsemanship?”

Shi Qingxue whispered, “…No.”

She answered timidly.

Zhao Haoran was speechless this time.

Shi Qingxue lowered her head and then murmured after a long while, “I was too young then. My grandpa said he would teach me horsemanship when I grew older, but later he fell off the horse and got injured, and he didn’t recover. So I…”

Later, Qingxue had chances to ride horses, but by instinct, she didn’t want to learn horsemanship.

And today she agreed with Zhao Haoran on impulse, so it happened.

Zhao Haoran looked awkward and apologized, “I am sorry. I didn’t…”

“I am fine.” Shi Qingxue smiled to show that it was nothing.

She took back the rein from Zhao Haoran’s hand and expressed positively, “Since you said that you would teach me how to ride, then please help me. Thanks.”

Zhao Haoran wanted to comfort Shi Qingxue, but he was clumsy of speech and could only find such simple words as “I am sorry”. He even disdained himself about that, so he didn’t have the face to say that.

He had to pretend that nothing had happened and change the subject. “Follow me. You just need to ride more and find the feeling by yourself. Just learn from me.”

He waved the horsewhip with strength, and the horse ran like a flying arrow.

Shi Qingxue didn’t shrink back and waved the horsewhip, urging the horse to chase him.

Zhao Haoran intentionally instructed Shi Qingxue to know well about horsemanship. When they were far away from each other, he would slow down, and when Qingxue almost caught up with him, he urged the horse to run quickly again.

They made the horses run one after the other for a long time and left the training ground to enter a forest. They didn’t stop but competed with each other. When they felt tired, they were in the forest behind the training ground.

Zhao Haoran stopped first and asked Shi Qingxue with a smile, “How are you feeling now?”

Shi Qingxue laughed loud. “I feel happy. I haven’t been so happy while running for long.”

In her memory, the last time she was so reckless was when Shi Lei was in good health, and he took her to the military camp of the Shi Army to exercise.

“Then let’s go back later to try shooting. In fact, as long as you are skilled in horsemanship and practice more, you will make progress soon.” Zhao Haoran wiped the sweat on his forehead and spoke excitedly, with admiration for Shi Qingxue in his words.

Shi Qingxue felt shy as he praised her. “Don’t say that. If you make me feel that I can hit the target at every shot in only one day but it turns out that I can’t hit anything, I will be embarrassed.”

You can find story with these keywords: The Great Planned Marriage: Becoming A Splendid Princess, Read The Great Planned Marriage: Becoming A Splendid Princess, The Great Planned Marriage: Becoming A Splendid Princess novel, The Great Planned Marriage: Becoming A Splendid Princess book, The Great Planned Marriage: Becoming A Splendid Princess story, The Great Planned Marriage: Becoming A Splendid Princess full, The Great Planned Marriage: Becoming A Splendid Princess Latest Chapter