The Double
Chapter 97 - 97 75 Thrills_3

97: Chapter 75: Thrills_3 97: Chapter 75: Thrills_3 Indeed, after another half an hour, Meng Hongjin began to slow down, and Jiang Li, cautious, followed suit and slowed her pace, maintaining the same distance from Meng Hongjin as at the start.

This made for an odd situation on the field; even Jiang Youyao and others who were lagging behind had almost caught up to them, nearly running side by side.

“What’s going on?” People outside couldn’t understand: “Is the horse of the Commandant of Light Chariots not performing well?

Could it be that it wasn’t fed this morning?”

“Nonsense!” Kong Liu, who was an examiner at the Inspection Field, couldn’t help but retort without caring about his position, turning around through the crowd and cursing back: “I added extra night feed last night; how could it be hungry?”

“Then is it because it overate that it can’t run?” The crowd burst into laughter.

Kong Liu was so angry he was lost for words, but looking around, he saw Jih Heng, who had at some point lifted her eyelids and was now thoughtfully staring at the cluster of figures on the racecourse running abreast.

Kong Liu’s heart skipped a beat, and he faintly realized something.

Even as Jiang Li slowed down, she steadily maintained about the same distance from Meng Hongjin.

It seemed Meng Hongjin had started off too aggressively, and now, as they advanced, she was showing signs of fatigue, thus slowing down.

Now, they were entering the latter half of the racecourse.

They were quickly approaching the targets for archery.

For this reason, the track on the racecourse narrowed significantly for a stretch.

Jiang Li and Meng Hongjin were both about to pass through that entrance.

Jiang Li, with one hand on the reins and the other reaching behind to her quiver, drew an arrow, preparing to nock and shoot.

Imperial Archery was the most difficult, precisely because when shooting an arrow on horseback, both hands were occupied with bow and arrow, leaving no hand to hold the reins, making it even harder to control the horse.

Many noblewomen, while shooting arrows, wouldn’t let go of the reins with one hand, so they couldn’t aim properly and their shots were a mess.

Otherwise, they’d be too afraid to let go of the reins and would simply give up on shooting the target.

Only the bolder ones would let go of the reins entirely to grasp bow and arrow, but they could only do so for a very brief moment, quickly shooting an arrow before grabbing the reins again.

Aiming itself required some time, and in such a hurried state, how could one hit the target?

Thus, in Imperial Archery until now, there hadn’t been a single bullseye.

But Jiang Li let go of the reins with both hands, held the bow and arrow, and aimed at the target.

“She’s really bold,” Zheng Huchen commended, rare praise from him.

The crowd around buzzed with exclamations: “She’s truly fearless.

Look at how long she’s gone without holding the reins; she must be the longest so far right?”

“Exactly, look at how stable she manages her horse, how well she’s seated.

I think Miss Jiang the Second is also an expert in horsemanship; she’s not panicking at all.”

Jiang Li, riding and shooting, displayed not a trace of disarray, and could even be called dashing and composed.

Such a pressing task was performed by her with such calm that it seemingly slowed everything down, easing the urgency in everyone’s hearts.

Her movements on horseback were steady, her legs tightly clamped onto the stirrups, and her hands holding the bow and arrow were also stable.

Although Second Miss Jiang’s body wasn’t as robust as it used to be, she had been working hard to recuperate these days, and she had significantly improved.

Her gaze intently fixed on the bullseye, in Jiang Li’s eyes, the target had become a leaping hare, a yellow fox, or a flying bird, just as she had done numerous times while hunting with Xue Zhao.

Aim, shoot!

With a “whoosh,” the arrow flew from her hand, swiftly cutting through the air, whistling past.

Then, they saw the red-fletched arrow strike firmly and squarely in the bullseye!

Direct hit!

There was a moment of silence at the Inspection Field, as everyone could hardly believe their eyes.

Kong Liu slapped his thigh and shouted, “Brilliant!”

He hadn’t finished speaking when he saw Jiang Li quickly draw another arrow and shoot it directly at the bullseye!

Direct hit!

Jiang Li, without hesitation, drew another from the quiver.

Still a direct hit!

In a brief moment, Jiang Li had shot three arrows, hitting the mark each time!

Silence turned to commotion, and commotion turned to cheers.

Jiang Jingrui murmured, “My goodness…”

This was not Zither Music, this was Imperial Archery.

Students at the Imperial College were also required to learn Imperial Archery, and Jiang Jingrui had learned it; he knew the difficulty of Imperial Archery.

Precisely for this reason, upon seeing Jiang Li’s three arrows hit the mark, he deemed it incredible.

Was this luck?

This was definitely not luck!

Kong Liu was dumbfounded, and soon, he was furiously flipping tables and kicking stools in vexation.

Zheng Huchen asked him, “What are you doing?”

“Damn it, didn’t you see?” Kong Liu pointed at Jiang Li: “Three arrows, all direct hits!

I barely have a few in my Light Cavalry Troop with such accuracy!

Damn it, why is she a daughter of the Chief Minister’s Family?

If she were a man, no, if she were just a commoner’s daughter, I’d have to have her in my troop no matter what!”

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