However, upon seeing the prizes in Lian Hua’s hands, everyone’s eyes glead with desire. Those were all precious items, especially the ones owned by Changzai Zhou, which always were of high quality, and Beauty Zhao’s were no less impressive. Today, for the Longevity Event, everyone was adorned with their best.
Concubine Fang Pin, caught up in the excitent, modestly demurred a few sentences but then firmly decided against letting anyone concede points, declaring they should go all out for the most enjoynt.
She had a strange feeling—both she and Lian Hua made mistakes, but overall, hers were far fewer. Yet her mistakes happened at the worst tis, while Lian Hua’s occurred whenever the scores were significantly apart. Every ti they were behind by a lot, Lian Hua managed to even the score narrowly. She faintly suspected Lian Hua might be doing it intentionally but then dismissed the thought as unlikely and stopped pondering it.
Beauty Zhao and Changzai Zhou sighed in relief. They had long since wanted to stop conceding points but couldn’t bring themselves to say it. Upon hearing the firm decision, they went along with the flow and ceased their offers of conceding.
They consoled themselves by thinking that their earlier losses were only due to their concessions. With this thought, their confidence surged.
Next, the two won played fiercely, determined to win back as much as possible and recoup the items they had wagered, which sounded like a fine plan. However, the outco was not as they wished; unless they hit all sixteen arrows in one round, they continued to lose more than they won.
As the losses mounted, panic set in; they even started wagering their hairpins from atop their heads. The more they lost, the redder their eyes beca, especially Beauty Zhao. She was not as wealthy as Changzai Zhou’s household and watched in despair as she lost her beloved jewelry one piece after another, almost forgetting her original purpose.
On one side, spirits were high and the competition was fierce; Concubine Fang Pin was enjoying herself imnsely, with fewer mistakes as ti went on. Lian Hua quietly waited for her opportunity, stringing others along by giving them hope and encouraging them to keep playing;
On the other, desperation grew with each loss, and with the onlookers’ jeers both overt and covert, they lost their composure even more. The more they wanted to win, the more anxious they beca, missing shots increasingly. Lian Hua occasionally advised them to stop playing.
In such an embarrassing predicant, Beauty Zhao and Changzai Zhou were certainly not willing to quit. Almost at the point of losing everything, Changzai Zhou was the first to snap out of her heat of the mont and felt sothing was off about Lian Hua.
While she hesitated, the watching concubines, impatient and seething, could no longer hold back. Soone stepped forward to volunteer, wishing to squash Lian Hua’s arrogance.
When Beauty Zhao wanted to refuse, Changzai Zhou quickly pulled the person aside, suggesting that a break might be good for them. After a few words of persuasion, they gave up their spots. She wanted to confirm her suspicion.
Beauty Zhao was unwilling at first, until she saw her own palace maid, which cleared her mind sowhat and reminded her of her initial goal.
The volunteer had called upon another to fight together. A group rallied and continued the battle, only to find their results even worse than Beauty Zhao’s. Concubine Fang Pin hit almost every shot, while Lian Hua was more than happy with her minimal contribution - losing three or four out of eight arrows was enough for a win. Her mouth was generous with praises for Concubine Fang Pin, costless as they were.
Changzai Zhou couldn’t confirm her suspicions, but she sensed that things were not so simple.
Watching Lian Hua’s increasingly smug expression, the consort had a flash of inspiration. On the spot, she suggested a one-on-one match with Lian Hua. Everyone had an epiphany—if Concubine Fang Pin was so skilled, why not just challenge Lian Hua alone?
With this new approach, everyone was eager to try, and one after another, they took their turns to compete, quickly leading to a new phase of the contest.
The next part was a mont of fierce competition, with everyone boldly stepping into the fray, only to mysteriously leave the stage dejected after a struggle.
Compared to Lian Hua alone, they indeed had more victories than when Concubine Fang was present, but sohow, as they competed, their jewelry gradually decreased. Every ti they thought of quitting, they carelessly won a round, only to leave the stage gloomily after losing all their jewelry.
Two minor incidents occurred during the contest, none of which drew much attention.
The first incident involved a Little Palace Maid who, under the pretext of fetching arrows for Lian Hua, tried to approach her. Xiao Qing intercepted her on the spot, and Xiao Jizi, with a forced smile, took over the arrows and sent the maid away. From the beginning till now, the three of them hadn’t left Lian Hua’s side even for a mont. So people jokingly suggested that these servants dampened the mood and should be sent away, but to no avail, Lian Hua simply ignored them.
The second incident involved a concubine who couldn’t bear to lose and tearfully refused to give Lian Hua the agreed-upon gift, claiming it was her favorite hairpin. Soone in the crowd took pity on her and lent her sothing to replace her beloved item so that Xiao Jizi didn’t end up taking it.
After a morning of exertion, everyone approached the competition with ambition and confidence, but almost all ended up leaving in a sorry state.
In the course of events, after Lian Hua won all the golden lon seeds and felt it was impolite to keep winning, she intentionally lost a few rounds as a gesture and then considered stopping.
But how could the others be content? They all joked that they were finally getting a chance to turn their luck around and asked if Beauty Lian was scared. Though they seed polite and genial on the surface, their words were all barbed, ridiculing her for only being able to win but not to lose, and accusing her of taking advantage of the situation. Even Concubine Fang felt annoyed.
At that mont, Changzai Zhou saw things clearly. She was greatly astonished as she watched carefully from the side. Many tis Lian Hua barely managed to score, seemingly by pure luck. After Concubine Fang left, Lian Hua didn’t win every round, but it was precisely because of this that she incited everyone’s competitive spirit, and no one could stop playing.
If she had only won against a few people, it could have been attributed to luck, but the fact that she cleaned out everyone was certainly no coincidence. Moreover, with so many close calls, Changzai Zhou suddenly had a thought: it seed as if Lian Hua controlled every round, whether it was winning or losing or even the score. The extent of Lian Hua’s control was shocking.
Once the thought took hold, she scarcely believed it herself. One would need to be extrely skilled at pitching arrows into a pot to control the outco so freely, and even more so, to do it in a way that remained undetected—giving others hope to continue playing while still managing to win everything they had. These tactics... weren’t they just like those used by gambling houses outside the palace?
Suddenly feeling alard, she quickly concealed her expression. She prided herself on being clever, but she had still been fooled. It was only by stepping aside from the confusion that she could barely make out the truth. The entirety of the harem had underestimated Beauty Lian!
She silently sighed; Beauty Lian was being restrained and wanted to stop playing, but these people refused, mockingly taunting her. She feared they would regret it later.
Getting back to Lian Hua, as the crowd repeatedly requested to continue playing, and their words were quite unpleasant, she imdiately felt justified. Since it was their idea, she would feel almost sorry for herself if she didn’t win everything they had.
No longer holding back, she played ruthlessly, draining the color from the faces of the more aggressive Palace Concubines. In the end, everyone had nearly lost everything—jewelry from their hands, heads, and bodies—all going into Lian Hua’s pockets. With this, they finally cald down.
This day beca a nightmare for many. In the days to co, whenever the Harem Consorts ntioned arrow pitching, they would recall the painful experience of being cruelly beaten today. Who had ever seen so many various and perilous ways of pitching arrows into a pot?
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