Chapter 231 Cui Sisters

Chapter 231 Cui Sisters

Chapter 231 Cui Sisters
Yu Xiaoyan was called away by his father, who wanted him to meet his colleagues in the officialdom.

Xiao Xia was wandering alone in the garden, and when he came to a corner, he saw two girls practicing quiver throwing. Quiver throwing is also called literary shooting, which involves throwing small copper arrows into a copper pot ten or twenty feet away. It is a traditional game suitable for all ages and is deeply loved by the people of the Sui Dynasty. Both officials and nobles as well as ordinary civilians like to play this quiver throwing game.

Xiao Xia had heard of the quiver for a long time, but today was the first time he saw it. He watched with great interest.

One of the two girls throwing arrows at the quiver is about fourteen or fifteen years old, and the other is a little younger, only about ten years old. One is wearing a red skirt and green shirt, and the other is wearing a red skirt and yellow shirt. There is a picture on the ground with the techniques of throwing arrows drawn on it. They practice while looking at the picture.

The two missed the shot several times and were looking for the reason.

"Sister, I noticed that your hand gesture is wrong. Look, the little finger in the picture is slightly raised, but your little finger is not raised."

"Ah! I was wondering how I made the shot, it turns out my hand gestures were wrong."

Xiao Xia couldn't help but laugh and quickly covered her mouth. The two girls turned around and found a young man hiding behind the big tree behind them.

"How dare you spy on us practicing archery?" The younger girl rushed up, put her hands on her hips, and stared at Xiao Xia fiercely.

Xiao Xia clasped his fists and apologized: "I just happened to be passing by here, I wasn't peeping."

The older girl held the younger sister and said, "Xiaomei, she is our guest, don't be rude to the guest!"

Xiao Xia also quickly explained: "I am a student of the Imperial College, and this is my first time seeing a quiver. I am a little curious, but I am afraid of disturbing the two girls' practice, so I am a little cautious, but I am definitely not peeping."

The younger girl curled her lips and said, "What a weak scholar who can't even tie a chicken. He can't even use a quiver."

"Xiaomei, don't be rude."

The older girl said, "We have to go back. Since you are interested, you can play with the quiver here. We will leave first."

The girl bowed and took her sister away.

Xiao Xia hurriedly shouted: "What about the arrows and the copper pot? And you forgot the map."

The girl smiled from afar and said, "Just give the copper pot and arrows to the butler, and I'll give you the practice map."

Xiao Xia smiled and shook his head. He picked up the blueprint and the bronze arrow, walked a few feet away, and threw it back. The bronze arrow landed in the bronze pot with a thud.
After finding the housekeeper, Xiao Xia handed the bronze arrow, bronze pot and blueprint to the housekeeper. He was about to go to the front yard when he suddenly heard his elder brother Yang Zhao calling him from behind.

Xiao Xia turned around and saw his elder brother's fat body running towards him. From a distance, he really looked like a funny groundhog.

Yang Zhao ran to Xiao Xia, out of breath, with his hands on his knees, bent over and panting, "Third Brother, I've been looking for you everywhere."

Xiao Xia quickly patted his back and said with a smile: "Brother, you need to walk around a bit and exercise a bit. You can't go on like this!"

Yang Zhao recovered a little after a while, waved his hand and said: "Let's talk about it after the exercise, now you follow me!"

"Where to go?"

"Don't ask anymore. I'm very tired now and don't want to talk." Yang Zhao's face flushed and he was breathing heavily.

Xiao Xia had no choice but to follow his eldest brother back to the inner house. When they entered a pavilion, they saw his eldest sister-in-law holding the second child, Yang Tong, who had just been born, sitting in the room, while the eldest child, Yang Tan, was snuggling up to his mother obediently.

Xiao Xia was startled and bowed quickly, "I didn't know my sister-in-law was here. I'm sorry."

Cui smiled slightly and said, "Third brother, there is no need to be polite. I was talking to a few sisters just now. They wanted to learn archery, and your eldest brother recommended you to me. I know you are an excellent archer. Can you teach my sisters a little bit of archery?"

“Just a few comments are fine.”

Cui turned around and waved, "Come out!"

Two girls came out of the house with a smile on their faces. Xiao Xia was stunned. Aren’t these the two girls from before?
The two girls were also stunned when they saw Xiao Xia. The young lady blinked and said, "Sister, you are mistaken! He is a weak scholar who can't even tie a chicken. He himself doesn't know how to do it, but he still teaches others."

Yang Zhao laughed out loud, "Xiaomei, you are mistaken. This is my third brother. He was the first in the martial arts exam last year. He is the best in riding and shooting. How could he be a weak scholar who can't even tie a chicken?"

The young lady said to Xiao Xia angrily, "He said it himself! He is lying."

Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "I'm not lying to you. This is indeed the first time I've seen a pot arrow. I've never played with it before, but that doesn't mean I'm powerless!"

The older girl bowed and said, "So you are the famous Mr. Xiao in the capital. I have heard of your great name for a long time. My sister and I were rude just now."

"Miss, you are too polite. I am sorry for disturbing the two girls' practice of pot archery just now!"

When the young lady heard that he was the famous Xiao Xia in Chang'an, her unhappiness immediately disappeared without a trace. She introduced herself with a smile: "My name is Cui Mei, and she is my sister Cui Yu. Sir, please teach us a good archery technique!"

Just as Xiao Xia was about to decline, Yang Zhao was prepared. He punched him in the waist and whispered, "Give me some face!"

Xiao Xia could only smile and nod, "Okay! I'll teach you a basic move."

Cui Mei cheered and immediately clapped her hands and shouted, "Let's go to the second floor, it's empty." She pulled her sister Cui Yu upstairs first. Xiao Xia glanced at her eldest brother, and Yang Zhao smiled and said, "Let's go up and take a look together!"

He picked up his eldest son, let Xiao Xia walk in front, and went upstairs with his wife and children.

Going up to the second floor, Xiao Xia discovered that there was only one table on the second floor, and the rest of the space was empty, at least two hundred square meters, and Cui Mei had already placed a copper kettle.

It turns out that they wanted me to teach them pot-archery! I thought they were teaching them foot-archery!
Xiao Xia picked up a palm-sized copper arrow from the table and smiled at the two sisters, "This is indeed my first time playing with pot arrows, but many things are interconnected. If you have a good foundation, then you will have no problem playing anything."

He walked three meters away, with his back to the copper pot, and threw the copper arrow backwards. The copper arrow drew an arc, and with a sound of "dong!", it accurately entered the pot.

Several people were stunned. Yang Zhao blinked his small green eyes and asked, "Third brother, is this really your first time playing with pot arrows?"

Xiao Xia nodded, "I didn't have a chance to play this in Jiangdu."

Cui Yu's beautiful eyes sparkled as she asked, "What is the foundation you are talking about, young master?"

Xiao Xia took out a golden needle and said with a smile: "Practicing shooting golden needles is the basis of all shooting skills. It is also very simple to get started. The key is to practice. Practice makes perfect. Once you find the sense of accuracy and the feel of the hand, then switching to flying knives, stones, or pot arrows will be a piece of cake."

Xiao Xia took out two more golden needles and gave one to each of the sisters. Yang Zhao asked with envy, "Do you have any more golden needles? Give me one too."

Xiao Xia took out two more golden needles, gave one to her brother, and asked her sister-in-law with a smile, "Do you want any?"

The eldest son Yang Dan clapped his hands and said, "Mom, if you want to learn it, teach me when you have learned it!"

Cui nodded and smiled: "Then give me one!"

She handed the child to the wet nurse behind her and took the golden needle.

Xiao Xia stood in front of everyone, holding up the golden needle and said, "There are three tricks to shooting the golden needle. The first trick is the technique. Everyone, watch my technique. The second trick is to throw the needle out steadily. The third trick is strength. There is a formula for strength, which is 70% to throw and 30% to release. Put all the strength into the needle. When practicing for the first time, accuracy is not important. What is important is to throw the needle out steadily."

Xiao Xia demonstrated the technique, placed the gold needle on the front of the middle finger, pressed it with the index finger, and slightly raised the other three fingers.

Xiao Xia checked everyone's technique. Seeing that Cui Yu's thumb didn't press the needle correctly, he pinched her thumb and gently moved it forward, smiling, "That's it!"

Cui Yu blushed slightly and nodded, "Thank you, I understand!"

Cui Mei pouted her lips and said, "Mr. Xiao, look at me too!"

Xiao Xia walked forward, took a look and said with a smile: "Your technique is very good! You are the best."

Cui Mei was praised and immediately smiled, saying sweetly, "Thank you, sir!"

A smile appeared on Cui Yu's lips. This Mr. Xiao really knows how to coax his sister. He hasn't even seen his elder sister and brother-in-law yet!

Xiao Xia glanced at Yang Zhao and his sister-in-law again. Their methods were both correct.

Xiao Xia smiled and said, "The second step is to flick your wrist. Put the force on the needle. Look at my gestures and flick it out flat like this."

Xiao Xia tried his best to do it in slow motion, and with a flick of his hand, the golden needle flew out smoothly.

It looks simple, but it is actually very difficult. Yang Zhao and Cui Shi couldn't even shake it. The couple looked at each other and smiled bitterly. At the same time, one picked up the eldest son and the other picked up the younger son. They had no intention of learning.

Cui Mei was really talented, he swung it straight and it flew out on the first try. Cui Yu was also good, he swung it three times, and he swung it straight on the third try.

The two sisters clapped their hands in joy. Xiao Xia smiled happily and said, "Both girls have talent. You should remember the feeling of swinging the arrow. The next step is to practice your aim. Find a piece of cardboard as a target. You will achieve some success after practicing for a month. Then it will be easy to shoot the arrow."

Xiao Xia took out more than twenty golden needles and threw them out. "Snap!" More than twenty golden needles were nailed to the wooden pillar ten feet away at the same time, forming two words, "Yu" and "Mei".

"These golden needles are for you to practice with!"

Cui Mei sighed deeply, "Master, can I also practice the word "shooting"?"

"I don't know if you can do it. This requires talent. Practice hard!"

In fact, Xiao Xia knew very well that no one in the world could do it except himself. He couldn't do this kind of control last year. He just found this control method two months ago, which was directly related to the completion of his foundation.

The birthday banquet was about to begin. Xiao Xia went to the courtyard. The Cui family members sat in the back house and did not sit with the guests.

Yang Zhao whispered to his wife, "Do you think they are suitable?"

Cui smiled slightly and said, "When Third Brother was giving her some pointers, her face actually turned red. I think that's quite interesting. She doesn't hate him in her heart. Let's create opportunities for them and slowly get to know each other!"

(End of this chapter)