History of Women in the Wei Dynasty

Chapter 57 He stepped on her shoes
Wei Yao, who knew nothing of martial arts, asked Wei Mao, "Isn't his archery skill amazing?"

"Impressive. I've met most of the best archers in Dongcheng. This person looks unfamiliar, so he probably doesn't live in Dongcheng." After saying this, he and Wei Yao and the others laughed together. Wei Jing and Wu Ji squeezed in front of Niu Dalang. The other man asked Wei Jing to try drawing the bow. Wei Jing took the bow, gritted his teeth, and couldn't even pull the string, let alone shoot an arrow.

Wei Puti: "Brother Mao, wasn't your family just thinking of hiring another archer? Look, here comes the perfect opportunity, like a pillow delivered right to your door."

Wei Mao: "Let's see."

What he was really thinking was: I won't take anything that's offered to me, no matter how good the archery is.

Niu Dalang glanced up without making a sound and saw four children gathered at the second-floor window of Yingju Bookstore. He wondered which of the two boys was Wei Mao.

He paid no attention to Wei Yao, but Wei Yao knew him long ago. In her previous life, her father had helped a hunter who came to the city to buy medicine. The hunter was Niu Dalang from below. This man had come to her house twice and then disappeared.

She was the first to meet them in this lifetime. Is she so destined to be with her family?

It took a while before someone challenged Niu Dalang, and he too was stopped at the first hurdle by the sturdy bow. Several state warriors arrived, and after verifying that Niu Dalang's identity was correct, one of them drew his bow and fired two arrows in quick succession.

"Crack—" The arrow behind chased after the arrow in front, and the arrow in front was split in two. The onlookers shouted "Good!"

"You keep your word, take it!" Niu Dalang readily admitted defeat.

Upon seeing this, Wei Zhen exclaimed in surprise, "He really did give it to you!" This Niu Dalang didn't look like a wealthy man; his clothes even had patches on them. "Wow! He also has a bow, bigger than the one he had before."

The onlookers all assumed that the pile on the ground was a felt tent used for sleeping outdoors, but they didn't expect that a large bow was wrapped inside.

Niu Dalang repeated his double-arrow pursuit technique, and it was clear that he had expended a lot of energy. He shouted, "Is there anyone who dares to compare with this bow? This time, you don't have to beat me; as long as you can match my bow, I'll give it to you!"

The samurai who had just won the bow didn't leave. He walked through the crowd, put down the bow, and said, "I'm not as good as you, so there's no point in taking it!" This time, he left without looking back.

Some people gathered around to watch the spectacle, while others left as no one dared to challenge him anymore. As the people nearby gradually lost patience, a tall, thin middle-aged man stepped forward. The way he drew his bow was not effortless, but the second arrow, after breaking through the first, still flew quite a distance high.

Niu Dalang clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Your archery skills are truly the best I have ever seen!"

"I wouldn't dare. Compared to a woman from my Uloran clan, she's far inferior. I'm taking this bow not because I find it rare, but because I regret how hard you work to practice archery. Don't let your ostentatious display cause you trouble. Sigh... Whether you listen or not is up to you..." He muttered to himself as he walked away.

Niu Dalang felt a sudden pang of unease. He glanced one last time at the bookstore, packed his bags, and left. A sense of urgency urged him on; he had to tell Cui Weng what he had seen and encountered that afternoon! And, did the Urolan clan really have such a skilled female archer?

As the sun sets, the city lights begin to illuminate the streets. Looking out, the city is ablaze with vibrant colors of red, yellow, blue, and purple. In the twenty-second year of the Taihe era, Pingcheng remained the most dazzling and peaceful pearl in the vast northern region.

Tonight's night market had more out-of-towners than locals, making the goods even more attractive to Wei Yao and Wei Zhen.

The colorful silk accessories, the uniquely designed floral patterns, and the camel hair carpet depicting a flying apsara all came from Dunhuang merchants. The small, rustic, portable ceramic candles, and the colorful silk-woven face masks and waist fans were said to have been imported from the Qi dynasty. The dazzling array of feather handbags and backpacks, the indistinguishable hairpieces made of real hair, and the various scented face powders and rouges came from Luoyang.

Wei Zhen tried on a feather backpack and almost cried with joy, repeatedly asking Wei Yao, "Is it pretty? Does it look good on me?"

Wei Yao praised it repeatedly: "Beautiful, so beautiful!" In fact, in her previous life, there were beautiful chests and bags for sale everywhere in Luoyang. Perhaps it was because she liked her fellow disciple Zhen that she thought this backpack was the most beautiful.

Wei Mao selected a candle and asked Wei Yao, "Is it pretty?" "Yes, it's pretty."

Wei Mao: "Tonight I'll give each of you something. Pick the best one!"

Wei Yao's heart skipped a beat. Oh no, Wei Mao clearly wanted to give her a gift on purpose, but he used this trick because he was afraid she would refuse or that others would laugh at him.

"Then I'll take this one." Since she couldn't refuse, Wei Yao didn't want to be coy or spoil the fun.

Wei Mao breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately regretted it: I should have said I would send two items to each person, no, ten items!

Xi Jiao was at the mask stall behind Wei Yao and the others, a bunch of noisy, annoying people. He couldn't pretend he didn't hear them. He and Yuan Yu had come out; Zhou Tai and Yuan Heng had been curiously trying the sweet wine that afternoon and were now fast asleep.

Yuan Yu, observing the situation, said, "I heard that Brother Xi lost the poetry contest to Miss Wei. If you don't want to exchange pleasantries with them, let's go for a walk in the opposite direction?"

"No need." Xi Jiao simply disliked Wei Yao, not feared her!
"I like this mask. Did you give it to me, brother?" Yuan Yu was young but cunning, the complete opposite of his cousin Yuan Heng.

"Okay." Xi Jiao put the one in his hand on his face. He looked at Wei Yao in front of him and had to admit that her foundation in the Book of Songs was truly solid! How did she learn it? Did she have any methods? Why was it that even though he had given up his animal taming hobby, studied at least an hour more diligently every day than usual, and even guessed the questions for the February joint examination, his grades were still extremely poor!
Huh? It really wasn't on purpose. He was just following a bit too closely. He really didn't mean to step on her shoe.

Wei Mao and Wei Yao were walking together when they both came face to face with the masked man who was walking carelessly. Wei Yao blushed, picked up her shoes, and, flustered, gestured to Wei Mao that she was alright and should hurry up.

Wei Mao pointed menacingly at the lame, cunning servant behind him, implying, "What are you pretending for? You just lost a literary contest, why are you wearing a mask and stepping on his shoes to get revenge!" There was no time to argue here; he quickly followed Wei Yao forward.

Xi Jiao tore off a piece of the mask and threw it at Fei Ming. The mask was light and missed, but Fei Ming was still scared half to death.

Feiming was speechless with grief. Heavens above! Stars and moon! Why does he always suffer misfortune whenever he encounters a woman surnamed Wei?!
Yuan Yu didn't ask Xi Jiao why he disliked a slave, yet he frequently brought the slave out. Everyone has secrets; he would find out sooner or later.

West City, Cui Academy.

The servant E Xun opened the side door and let the Cowherd in. The latter first unloaded his bow and arrows outside before entering Cui Weng's house.

“Old man, I went to Yingju Bookstore. It’s a coincidence that there were two young men about the same age as Young Master Wei Mao on the second floor of the bookstore. I don’t know if he was one of them.”

"You look anxious, what happened?"

Cowherd shook his head: "It's nothing urgent. I just felt uneasy at the time, but I feel much better after running here."

"Tell me in detail, what happened?"

Niu Langjun immediately gave a brief account of the whole story of the street arrow-chasing contest, emphasizing the warning given by the man from the Uroland clan. "He told me not to cause trouble for myself, and I started overthinking because of that."

Cui Weng: "The Wuluolan clan? When His Majesty reformed the Xianbei compound surnames, the Wuluolan clan was required to change to a single-character surname... Lan."

兰？
Suddenly, Cui remembered the character "Lan" on the secret letter!

(End of this chapter)