The Farm Girl’s Charismatic Fortune
Chapter 236 - 232 Little Fanboy

Chapter 236: Chapter 232 Little Fanboy

The soldiers at the training ground, seeing Yan Heng appear, promptly had their children stop, dismount, and then with them, moved forward to salute: "This subordinate pays respect to the Great General."

Yan Heng lifted his hand: "No need for such courtesy."

Then, looking at the children of his subordinates, he smiled and said, "Just now, I saw that everyone’s children were riding quite well. Would you like a few of the children to have a competition?"

When the Great General spoke, the soldiers, even if they didn’t wish to, dared not say no, and what’s more—they all wanted to.

After all, among the children brought by Yan Heng, there were surely his own offspring. Having one’s children befriend the children of the Great General was all beneficial and not at all harmful.

Besides, bringing the children to the military camp was also meant to let the children of various families have a competition.

"General Yan’s suggestion is excellent, but I fear that my child may not compare to the children of the Great General and may give offense," one of the soldiers said.

In reality, they feared that if their own child won against the child of General Yan, the Great General might become angry. So, they deliberately said this to test the waters.

Yan Heng laughed: "It’s just for fun. Winning or losing isn’t important. It is to let the children become aware of their own strengths, so they can train even more diligently in the future."

Upon hearing this, everyone relaxed. It seemed that the Great General was taking the opportunity to educate the children today.

Since it was about educating the children, there was a way to instruct in losing as well as methods for victory, and they could let their children freely compete.

The children of martial families began learning horsemanship and archery early. Honestly, everyone thought their children’s riding and shooting skills were not bad.

They also wanted to take this opportunity to let the Great General see their children’s talents, possibly catching his eye, which could lead to boundless prospects in the future.

After agreeing on the rules, Yan Heng, carrying Xuanbao, led several children to pick horses.

Ruo Xuan immediately took a liking to a white horse, extending her small hand and pointing towards the farthest stable: "Uncle Yan, I want that white horse! The one in the last stable!"

Fearing that Yan Heng wouldn’t understand and that other children might choose her horse, she stretched out half her body, pointing with her finger.

Yan Heng almost failed to hold her steady.

He hurriedly held her closer and then coaxed: "Xuanbao is still young, let us pick a bigger horse for you to ride together with Uncle Yan."

Although the children had eagerly discussed competing with Ruo Xuan during the meal, Yan Heng dared not let Ruo Xuan ride a horse by herself.

She was the youngest here, and Yan Heng had already learned from several children’s martial arts masters that Xuanbao and Xiaojiu often played truant from martial arts class.

Xiaojiu wasn’t a concern; he asked to learn martial arts when he began talking at one, and by three, he was riding horses on his own, and even had profound internal strength!

But Xuanbao had never even been on a horseback; how could he feel at ease letting her ride?

Ruo Xuan immediately refused upon hearing this: "No! I don’t want to ride with Uncle Yan; I want to ride a horse by myself, and I still want to compete with Jiaojiao and the others."

"But Xuanbao hasn’t ridden a horse before! Horse riding is very dangerous, if you haven’t ridden, you could fall off the horse. Your arms and legs could break, and it would hurt a lot!"

Ruo Xuan: "I have ridden, I can ride a horse, Brother Xuanyuan taught me. If you don’t believe me, Uncle Yan, you can ask Brother Xuanyuan. I ride really well and won’t fall off the horse."

Yan Heng then looked toward Xuanyuan Que.

What could Xuanyuan Que say? If he denied her the chance to ride, he would be the one troubled in the end, so he simply nodded: "She can ride."

Child prodigy Xuanyuan Que held a trusted place in Yan Heng’s heart, so Yan Heng believed him.

Moreover, he thought that Ruo Xuan’s riding skills had been taught by Xuanyuan Que.

Thus, Ruo Xuan successfully climbed atop the horse, even helped up by Yan Heng himself.

Seeing Ruo Xuan sitting steadily on horseback, her posture correct as she held the reins, stepped on the stirrups, sat up straight, and even knew to pat the horse’s head and feed it sugar to build rapport, Yan Heng felt somewhat reassured.

But Yan Heng still decided to ride his horse behind Ruo Xuan, just in case she fell off her horse, he could rescue her in time.

Besides Yan Heng, other soldiers also rode behind them. After all, horse racing was dangerous—broken arms and legs were possibilities. These were their own children; nobody wanted any accidents.

Since the competition was for children, it was kept simple without any obstacles. The contest was just to ride around once and see who could get to the finish line first.

The track was wide enough to accommodate more than a dozen children lined up side by side, ready to start.

Xuanyuan Que was placed beside Ruo Xuan, and on the other side was Wu Jianjun’s nine-year-old son, Wu Junyan.

Yan Heng knew that Wu Junyan was a good rider. He asked to have two skilled riders beside her, to protect Ruo Xuan in case other children accidentally bumped into her horse.

Seeing Ruo Xuan so young and joining the competition, and more importantly, how beautiful Xuanbao looked, Wu Junyan couldn’t help but find some words to say to her, "Little sister, you can ride a horse at such a young age? That’s amazing!"

Ruo Xuan loved being praised. She smiled and nodded her little head, "I can! Big brother, I can tell just by looking that you ride very well, but not as well as me!"

Sitting on his horse, Xuanyuan Que glanced at a certain flower indifferently. This one was brother; that one too was brother. She had so many brothers!

Wu Junyan didn’t hear Ruo Xuan’s boasting, her smile was too beautiful, and with butterfly hairpins that seemed ready to fly, she was extremely adorable, like a Little Fairy. He was completely captivated. Hearing only that she recognized his riding skills, he blushed and said, "Not that great, actually."

He had to come first in a moment, not to disappoint the little sister.

Ruo Xuan thought this big brother was quite modest and asked, "Big brother, what’s your name? My name is Ruo Xuan, the Ruo from ’Ruo Shui Sanqian,’ and the Xuan from ’Xuancao wuyou.’ Everyone calls me Xuanbao!"

Ruo Xuan, Ruo Xuan, Wu Junyan found sister Xuanbao’s name to be as beautiful as she was!

"My name is Wu Junyan! The Wu from the surname Wu, the Jun for handsome, Yǎn...Yǎn..." Not fond of reading since childhood, Wu Junyan couldn’t think of how to explain his name on the spot and his little face turned red with urgency, "Yǎn is written like this, a dot, a horizontal, a slant, a stroke..."

He gestured frantically in the air.

If only he had known that one day he would have to introduce himself to Xuanbao, he would have studied his characters well!

Ruo Xuan understood and kindly said, "Is it the Yǎn from ’Pi Qi Zhi Zi, Bang Zhi Yan Xi?’ Yǎn, a term of praise for a gentleman! Brother Yan’s father must have wished for you to be a person of great talent and virtue!"

Wu Junyan nodded vigorously, "Yes, Master gave me this name following my father’s request; that’s the meaning the Master said! Sister Xuanbao, you’re amazing! You must have read lots of books, you even speak like the ’Book of Songs’!"

"No, it’s just a line from the ’Book of Songs,’ and I happened to have memorized it."

Wu Junyan: (✧◡✧)

"Wow... Sister Xuanbao, you’re incredible, to have memorized the ’Book of Songs’?"

Facing her adoring little fan brother, Ruo Xuan was keen to continue.

So the Xuanhua, who loved to receive compliments, began to boast enthusiastically, "It’s nothing, the ’Book of Songs’ is quite easy to memorize. I’ve also memorized the Four Books and the Five Classics, and have..."

Wu Junyan: (✧◡✧) "Wow... Sister Xuanbao, you really are amazing!"

Unable to resist, Yan Jiaojiao also joined in the boasting, "Our Xuanbao is really talented, not only has she memorized many books, but she also cultivated rice with high yields..."

...

Seeing that Ruo Xuan and her sister were only talking to strangers and not with them anymore, Yan Huan pursed his lips, unable to hold back and murmured to Zhang Lian beside him, "Wu Junyan, without Jun (handsome) or Yan (elegance), more like no talent and virtue!"

Zhang Lian nodded and whispered in agreement, "A man with a name that includes the character for beauty? He might as well not be called Junyan, but call himself Meili (Beautiful) instead!"

Sister Xuanbao didn’t show such a good attitude when she first spoke to him, of course, he forgot that he hadn’t shown a good attitude the first time he spoke to Xuanbao either.

Xuanyuan Que listened quietly to their mutterings, glanced at Wu Junyan, and mused internally: He really doesn’t look the part, a name without ’meiyan’ (beauty and elegance) indeed suits him better.

Xuanyuan Que looked coldly towards the soldier holding the horn, his voice icy, "Aren’t we starting yet? The sun’s almost down!"