My Wife is Unbeatable in the Whole World, Touch Me If You Dare!-Chapter 187 - 112: Nightingale and Archery

Song Residence.

Within the small courtyard.

Li Nuo lay on a rocking chair, with Mumu and Ning’er massaging his legs, one on each side.

Today was September 20th, he had completed five out of the Six Arts in the Imperial Examination, just one short. Everything was in place, only the east wind was missing.

Li Nuo hadn’t put in the effort for the Shooting department, but each attempt had ended in failure.

The biggest difference between the Shooting department and others, like the Ritual Department and Horse Riding, was that even after the examinations had ended and one took office, the skills of the latter departments were often applied and not easily forgotten.

After the Imperial Examinations, unless he joined the military, there was basically no use for the skills practiced in the Shooting department.

Over the past few days, Li Nuo had tried to have the Ministry of Justice arrest a few officials who were proficient in archery under reasonable grounds, but none could enact the Law Code.

Once in office, their skills in archery had receded badly.

Furthermore, because of the frequent actions of the Ministry of Justice, officials from various government offices in Chang’an had become more cautious.

They began to adhere strictly to their work schedules, never arriving late or leaving early, and even deliberately arriving earlier and leaving later. They controlled their carriage speeds strictly, and seldom visited brothels anymore; so there was nothing the Ministry of Justice could do...

Li Nuo was at a loss.

Those skilled in archery were mostly in the military, which was beyond the reach of the Ministry of Justice.

Thus, he had no choice but to practice on his own.

With hands-on help from his wife, he couldn’t say he made rapid progress, but his archery did improve daily.

What left him speechless was that in the Horse Riding department, he could accurately hit targets from a fast-moving carriage, but once off the carriage, his archery reverted to his original level.

Standing and shooting arrows for long durations, Li Nuo’s arms and legs weren’t just tired, they were sore.

After resting for a while, Li Nuo stood up and picked up his bow and arrows again.

The requirements for a shooting ground were not too strict; there was no need to go to a specialized Horse Field.

Among the Six Arts, there were Nine Numbers in mathematics, Six Musics in sound, Five Imperial elements in Horse Riding, Five Rites in rituals, and also Five Shootings in archery.

The Five Shootings were White Arrow, Canlian, Shan Zhu, Xiang Chi, and Jingyi, each representing a different shooting skill.

Li Nuo was currently practicing the simplest one: White Arrow.

White Arrow, as the name suggests, required the shot arrow to pierce through the target and turn the arrowhead white, showing both accuracy and power.

During the Imperial Examinations, candidates had to stand ten paces away from the target and shoot through it, with the arrowhead emerging from the other side.

The center area of the target was painted white with lime. To achieve White Arrow, one must shoot near the center of the target, testing both the strength of the shot and its accuracy.

For power, Li Nuo could pierce through the target by drawing the bow fully.

But regarding accuracy, he was lacking; he could only manage to hit the target, and whether or not he could strike the white central area was entirely up to luck.

Li Nuo practiced for a while when suddenly footsteps sounded behind him.

The unexpected noise disrupted his rhythm, and his arrow went off target, hitting the wall behind him.

Li Nuo turned around to see Phoenix walking over.

She was accompanied by two people, one of them was Yuan Yang, whom Song Yu admired, and the other was a girl from the Jade Sound Pavilion, whom Li Nuo recognized but couldn’t name.

Li Nuo set down his bow and asked, "Miss Phoenix, what brings you here?"

Phoenix smiled slightly and replied, "Nothing particularly urgent. Yuan Yang came to find Young Master Song; we were free, so we decided to drop by and visit the young master."

From the current situation, it looked like Song Yu was about to win his beloved, though it was uncertain whether his father would agree.

Although the Music Workshop wasn’t as blatant as a brothel, after all, it was still considered a place of fleeting pleasures. His second uncle was the Assistant Minister of Rites and might not agree to him marrying such a woman.

Li Nuo pointed to a yard and said, "Song Yu should be asleep; Miss Yuan Yang, please go find him."

Unlike Li Nuo, who kept a healthy routine, Song Yu’s day and night were reversed, usually catching up on sleep at this time.

Miss Yuan Yang went to find Song Yu, and Phoenix, looking at the bow in Li Nuo’s hands and then at the not-too-distant target, asked, "Young master, are you practicing archery?"

Li Nuo took out an arrow, reloaded his bow, and replied, "Yes."

As he was aiming, suddenly the girl beside Phoenix stepped forward, adjusted his arm slightly to the right, and then lifted it a bit before saying, "Shoot."

Li Nuo released his hand.

Whoosh!

The feathered arrow flew and penetrated the center of the target.

Li Nuo ran quickly to retrieve the arrow, and seeing the arrowhead turn white, it was a perfect White Arrow.

He ran back swiftly, looked at the other petite woman, and said in surprise, "Miss, you understand archery?"

Without even shooting herself, just by adjusting Li Nuo’s posture, she managed to achieve such a perfect shot, even his wife couldn’t do it.

The woman didn’t speak, but Phoenix, with a smile, said, "She is the Nightingale I mentioned to you once. Nightingale’s archery skills are superior to many men..."

Li Nuo looked at the Nightingale girl and asked, "Do you know Canlian?"

Nightingale didn’t speak; she took the bow from his hand and took out four arrows from the quiver. She shot the first arrow, then in a very short time, released three more arrows.

The first arrow was set, and the subsequent three arrows followed in quick succession, each connecting to the next like a string of beads, thus called Canlian.

Li Nuo walked over and saw only one arrow hole on the target.

The target had just been changed by him, and that one hole was made by his shot.

Li Nuo saw clearly that all four arrows hadn’t missed the target, which meant she just shot all four arrows through the hole made by his previous shot.

How precise was this technique?

Li Nuo looked at her and tentatively asked, "Shan Zhu?"

The speed of the release was swift, and the aim brief; once an arrow was notched, it was immediately loosed and struck the target, this technique was called Shan Zhu.

Shan Zhu was an advanced archery technique and amongst the Five Shootings, it was the most difficult; it required continuous shooting of ten arrows without aiming, and missing was not allowed.

Not missing was simple; anyone slightly proficient in archery could achieve it.

But to not miss without aiming was difficult, it tested not precision but intuition.

Nightingale slung the quiver on her back, took out an arrow, drew the bow and shot, barely releasing one arrow before she already had the next one.

Li Nuo only saw her constantly drawing and shooting arrows, and soon, the target was filled with arrows.

Eight arrows, all within the white center of the target.

There were two more arrows that passed directly through the holes made by the previous arrows, not landing on the target.

Before Li Nuo could speak, she slowly turned around, stepped forward, then turned and shot another arrow that passed through the center of the target.

This was one of the Five Shootings, Xiang Chi, originally meant for ministers and monarchs to shoot together, the minister and monarch side by side, allowing the monarch to move back a chi to show the distinction between superior and inferior, in the Imperial Examination it meant to turn and shoot backwards.

Then, Nightingale shot four more arrows in quick succession, the four arrows forming a precise pattern on the corners of the target, resembling a well character, this technique is called Jingyi.

Phoenix smiled and asked, "How about that, I didn’t lie to you, did I? How is Nightingale’s archery?"

Li Nuo was astounded.

This archery skill, if she were to partake in the Imperial Examination, even if she didn’t become the top archer, she would definitely be in the top three.

Phoenix often exaggerated when bragging about herself.

But when she praised others, it was truly not an exaggeration at all.

Nightingale’s archery skills were indeed superb.

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If he had such archery skills, the archery section of the Imperial Examination would be like picking something out of his pocket.

A certain idea formed in his mind, Li Nuo actively took the bow from Nightingale’s hand, pointed at a nearby stone table, and said, "Miss Nightingale, must be tired, please sit here and rest for a while, I’ll go make you some tea…"

He went back to his room, and shortly after, came out with a cup of tea which he handed to Nightingale.

Seeing Phoenix staring intently at him, Li Nuo pointed inside the house and said, "There are more teacups inside, Miss Phoenix, if you are thirsty, help yourself, I won’t attend to you…"

Phoenix was not thirsty, nor in the mood to drink.

She watched Li Nuo, who had suddenly become so attentive, and a thought crossed her mind.

Could it be that he liked the type who were like Nightingale?

Otherwise, why would he never glance at her even when she dressed up so strikingly, yet be so enthusiastic towards Nightingale?

Thinking it over carefully, she felt it was very likely.

Nightingale and his wife did indeed share some similarities; both were equally aloof, not very approachable, and never had smiles on their faces.

Of course, there was another point.

Neither of them had a figure as impressive as her own.

Are there really men who prefer smaller women?

Li Nuo was actually not focused on looks or body figures.

Otherwise, with Miss Phoenix flaunting herself in front of him all the time, any ordinary man would have lost control long ago.

He simply admired people with special talents.

He was thinking about how he could legitimately capture Miss Nightingale.

After obtaining her archery skills, almost all domains in the Six Arts of the Imperial Examination would be covered by Li Nuo, and he wouldn’t need to worry about this anymore.

Nightingale looked at Li Nuo and said, "If you are interested in archery, visit the Jade Sound Pavilion more often, I can teach you."

While she thought of teaching him archery skills, he was thinking about how to send her away, Li Nuo felt somewhat guilty and said, "Miss Nightingale, are you hungry? I will get you some pastries to eat…"

Phoenix could no longer stand idly by, entered the room, poured a cup of tea, and downed it, barely managing to suppress the anger in her heart.

When Li Nuo was pouring tea for Nightingale, he saw Phoenix standing under a painting hanging on the wall of the room.

It was the color painting he had made for his wife.

Phoenix looked back at Li Nuo and asked, "Who painted this?"

Li Nuo asked, "What is it?"

Phoenix, looking at the painting, said, "It’s quite good, although the technique is a bit immature, the use of color is quite sophisticated."

Although her words were praise for the painting, Li Nuo could hear a hint of arrogance in her tone.

It was not surprising, with her skill in flower arrangement, her painting skills were certainly not far behind.

Li Nuo asked, "How does this person’s painting skill compare to Miss Phoenix’s?"

Phoenix slightly puffed out her chest, lifted her chin, and said, "He is still lacking some."

Li Nuo smiled and involuntarily said, "Good, good, good…"

Catching one was the same as catching two, although Han Zhuo’s painting skills were adequate for the Imperial Examination, he didn’t mind adding another layer of insurance.

Moreover, Phoenix also knew how to arrange flowers; learning that skill would allow him to arrange flowers for his wife.

Phoenix looked at Li Nuo, puzzled and said, "Good what?"

Li Nuo waved his hand and said, "Nothing, it’s just that Miss Phoenix, not only understands music but also knows painting and flower arrangement, truly a talented woman…"

It was rare for him to praise her; Phoenix modestly said, "Qin, Chess, Calligraphy, Painting, needlework, dance, these are all basic skills for a lady, nothing noteworthy…"

Song Jiaren walked in from outside, glanced at Phoenix, and asked Li Nuo, "Do we have a guest?"