Chapter 74: The Competition 2 Part Two

However, it seemed like the Emperor appreciated him the most.

There were many big figures such as the 16 great generals and 24 governors-general, but no one other than Xu Xiaogong received a birthday gift from the Emperor.

Royal King Yi looked at Xu Xiaogong who was mediating and cursed in his mind, “A cunning old fox.”

Then, he walked to Xu Xiaogong and whispered something into the latter’s ear.

Since Royal King Yi was too quiet, Xu Xiaogong couldn’t do anything but open his eyes and ask, “Your Highness, what did you say?”

Yang Yin whispered, “Don’t act. Only you know how to wake up Principal Zhou.”

Xu Xiaogong smiled bitterly and whispered back. Yang Yin couldn’t believe what he heard, so he asked again, and Xu Xiaogong nodded to confirm.

Yang Yin straightened his back, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Bring up the cards. I’m going to play cards.”

As soon as he said that, Principal Zhou instantly opened his eyes and said, “Three waiting on one? Count me in!”

After Principal Zhou glanced around and saw people meditating, he instantly realized what was going on.

However, the professors sitting under the viewing platform chuckled. Everyone in the Martial Arts Academy knew that the Principal loved playing cards, yet he was unlucky all the time. He would lose every time, yet he wouldn’t pay up.

When the professors of the Martial Arts Academy wanted to play cards, they had to be like spies and try to avoid Principal Zhou. Whenever someone said ‘playing cards’ out loud, Principal Zhou would quickly appear.

Seeing Principal Zhou waking up, Royal King Yi gave Xu Xiaogong a secret thumbs-up.

Feeling awkward, Xu Xiaogong peeked at Principal Zhou who was glaring at him.

“Start… Start…”

Principal Zhou wiped away the saliva on his lips and casually waved his hand toward the three young men standing before the viewing platform. “Do whatever you need to do. Exactly 2,000 soldiers are guarding the small city, but I will only give each of you 500 soldiers. The person who successfully sieges the city will be the first place. Since the second place and the third place don’t matter, we can ignore that.”

“Only 500 soldiers?” Jin Ao, Luo Wen, and Li Fubo repeated it and looked surprised. They glanced at each other in confusion, yet none of them dared to ask.

They thought to themselves, “Aren’t we each getting 1,000 soldiers? How come we only have 500 now?”

Of course, they didn’t know that Principal Zhou was unhappy since his sleep was interrupted, so he had to vent his frustration somewhere.

Since the Capital was so big, it was already close to noon when the horse-drawn carriage took Fang Jie to the training field.

That official was meticulous and prepared food on the horse-drawn carriage. Although there were only snacks, it was good enough for Fang Jie who didn’t have breakfast yet.

Although this official didn’t accept Fang Jie’s silver certificate, he didn’t look displeased. After feeding Fang Jie, he thought for a moment and reminded, “When you get there, don’t ask too many questions. Just follow the person who leads the way. If you ask too many questions, you will be scolded. This is just a reminder.”

Fang Jie nodded and stuff that silver certificate into the hand of this official. “These snacks are great. I just got to Chang’an, so I don’t know where to buy them. If you have time, please buy some and bring a little to me. Thanks.”

The official hesitated for a second and accepted it in the end. “When I buy such snacks, I will bring them to your residence.”

While saying this, a bit of pity flashed in his eyes.