Chapter 9: Firefly Battles The Bright Moon
The servants moved two wooden platforms, and one wooden platform had a set of archery equipment.
The other wooden platform had two names written on it, Cai Yan on the right and General Gan on the left, and there was also a basket of small flags on the wooden platform.
Yang Biao said with a smile, “Everyone can place bets now!”
The crowd stepped forward one after another, taking a small flag from the bamboo basket and placing it in front of a name; this was called betting, that is, wagering.
Of course, this was Yang Mansion, the topic was proposed by Yang Biao, and the prize money was naturally provided by Yang Biao as well.
Each small flag represented one tael of silver; the side with more flags would determine the prize amount.
Almost everyone’s small flags were placed under Cai Yan’s name; at this time, the young lady in the green skirt appeared, picked up a flag, but placed it under General Gan’s name.
She turned back and gave General Gan a playful glance; General Gan immediately felt fondness for her—this Young Lady Xu had a kind heart.
The flags of Cao Pi and Jia Xu were also placed under General Gan’s name; he had only three flags, while there were over a hundred flags under Cai Yan’s name.
At this moment, Yang Biao walked out and said with a hearty laugh, “It looks like I’m going to lose big today; saving one tael of silver is still saving one tael!”
He placed his flag under General Gan’s name.
One hundred fourteen to four—it was truly one-sided; this was an aristocracy gathering, and their class origins were ingrained in their bones.
The butler brought a bag of silver, one hundred fourteen taels—that was the winner’s prize.
Yang Biao pointed to the flagpole far outside the gate and said, “Use the flagpole as the target; the one with superior archery wins!”
Outside the gate of Yang Mansion was a plaza, filled with the guests’ carriages.
At the other end of the plaza stood a flagpole, with the Great Han’s red-bottom black dragon flag flying atop it.
From the courtyard of the mansion, the top of the flagpole could be seen clearly.
“I’ll go first!”
Cai Yan strode forward.
“Hold on!” General Gan called out to her.
He stepped forward and said coldly, “This is a matter between us two; there should be a wager between us as well!”
“How do you want to wager?” Cai Yan said arrogantly.
“If I lose, I’ll give you my head!”
There was an uproar around them; Liu Xian said urgently, “General Cai, no need to wager your life with him—he’s not worthy!”
Cai Yan hesitated without speaking; General Gan laughed, “This Assistant Administrator Liu has already said it—my life isn’t as valuable as yours. If you lose, you don’t need to give me your life; just kneel and kowtow three times to me. How about it, General Who Values His Life?”
Cai Yan flew into a rage, glared at General Gan, and said, “Don’t you dare humiliate me! If I lose, I’ll chop off these hands and give them to you!”
“We have a deal, General Cai—please go ahead!”
Cai Yan stepped forward, picked up the bow, drew an arrow and nocked it, pulled the bow like a full moon, shot the arrow, and it traced an arc—’pa!’ The arrow hit the flagpole exactly a hundred paces away, and the guests immediately burst into cheers and applause.
“Great archery! As expected of Jingzhou’s divine archer!”
Cai Yan smugly placed the bow on the wooden platform, glanced disdainfully at General Gan, with the corners of her mouth slightly upturned in a mocking sneer.
General Gan smiled faintly, slowly walked forward, casually picked up the bow and pulled it hard—’crack!’ The bow back snapped immediately, and the crowd exclaimed in shock.
General Gan said apologetically, “Sorry, I used a bit too much strength!”
Yang Biao chuckled, “This is an eight-dou bow, commonly used by generals. It seems I underestimated General Gan!”
He immediately ordered his subordinate, “Bring all the bows!”
The subordinate turned and ran off; meanwhile, Cai Yan’s face looked rather unpleasant— he had already lost in strength, and if General Gan also hit the target, he would lose this archery contest.
He grew uneasy in his heart—what if he lost? Wouldn’t that mean his hands were gone?
At this time, a handsome young master stepped forward to Cai Yan and said, “Why bother contending with this desperate bandit, General Cai? No one takes that wager seriously!”
Cai Yan felt grateful and hurriedly bowed, “Thank you, Third Young Master!”
This young master’s voice was not small; everyone heard it clearly. General Gan was surprised in his heart—who was this young man? So arrogant!
Jia Xu whispered behind General Gan, “That’s Young Master Zhi, the Lord’s third son; he has always been at odds with his elder brother.”
General Gan nodded; so this handsome young master was Cao Zhi. He looked about eleven or twelve years old, yet already vying for favor with his elder brother at such a young age?
However, Cao Zhi was renowned as a child prodigy, so it was normal for him to be precocious; General Gan glanced at Cao Pi, who was gazing darkly at his younger brother.
Logically, since Cao Pi represented his father at Yang Mansion, Cao Zhi shouldn’t come again, but he had appeared—who knew what his motives were? One thing was certain: Cao Pi was very displeased with his brother’s appearance.
Moreover, Cao Zhi surely knew he was brought by his elder brother, so he deliberately stepped out to console Cai Yan—it was clearly a case of Xi Zhuang dancing the sword, with intent on his brother.
Young in age, but not small in scheming.
General Gan asked, “Do these brothers always undermine each other?”
Jia Xu smiled faintly, “Where there is a younger brother, there may not be an elder, but where there is an elder, there must be a younger!”
General Gan nodded inwardly; it seemed Lord Cao favored Cao Zhi more, which made him arrogant.
At this time, the servants brought three bows and placed them on the wooden platform. General Gan stepped forward, picked up one, and said, “Grand Commandant, this is a two-stone bow, right?”
Yang Biao stroked his beard and said, “Correct; the other two are a one-stone bow and a one-and-a-half-stone bow. General Gan may choose one.”
General Gan picked up the two-stone bow, exerted force with both arms, pulled hard—’crack!’ The two-stone bow snapped again.
Everyone was stunned—this man had immense strength!
Yang Biao stared in astonishment, then smiled wryly after a moment, “There are no heavier bows left in my mansion!”
“There’s a hard bow on my carriage!”
Cao Pi suddenly spoke and ordered his subordinate, “Quickly fetch it!”
The subordinate dashed off.
Cai Yan’s face had become extremely unpleasant; he had realized that General Gan could completely use a two-stone bow for shooting, but he deliberately broke it—clearly to humiliate him.
He gritted his teeth, slowly gripped the sword hilt tightly—no matter the final outcome, he would personally kill this man someday.
Soon, the subordinate fetched the bow and handed it to Cao Pi.
Cao Pi stepped forward, placed the bow on the wooden platform, looked at General Gan, and said, “This is Lu Bu’s bow, a three-stone bow. Father gave it to me; if you win today, I’ll give this bow to you!”
General Gan picked up the bow, and a familiar feeling surged through him—this was actually Lu Bu’s bow.
General Gan removed his headscarf, tied his hair high and tight, letting the bound hair drape like a ponytail behind his head, restoring his wild and unrestrained Brocade Sail Bandit image. With his tall and strong build, he exuded the bold and dashing aura of a young man.
Nearby, Young Lady Xu’s eyes lit up; all the young men she had seen in her life were proper and rule-abiding, but she had never seen such a dashing and unrestrained man.
Sun Shangxiang, however, still held a grudge over the rumor that General Gan had robbed three hundred mountain stronghold wives; she pursed her small mouth, “Anyone can put on a show; you need real skill!”
General Gan slung the quiver over his shoulder, drew two arrows—one in his mouth, one nocked on the bow. He pulled the bow like a full moon, released his fingers, and the arrow shot out powerfully, fast as lightning, precisely hitting the tail of Cai Yan’s arrow and splitting it in two.
General Gan took the arrow from his mouth and shot again; the rope was suddenly severed, and the large flag at the top of the flagpole fell down.
“Great archery!”
Cao Pi cheered loudly; Yang Biao stroked his beard and laughed, “This archery rivals Lu Bu’s shooting the halberd at the camp gate!”
Sun Shangxiang covered her mouth, eyes wide—this archery was too impressive, on par with her eldest brother. It seemed this Brocade Sail Bandit really had some skill.
Young Lady Xu happily clapped her hands lightly—now General Gan’s head was safe.
But apart from them, none of the guests in the courtyard made a sound; at this moment, all eyes turned to Cai Yan.
Looking at Cai Yan, his face was ashen, his eyes filled with despair.
General Gan walked forward and said with a faint smile, “If General Cai values her life, she doesn’t need to chop off her hands—just kowtow three times to me!”
Cai Yan’s face flushed red; he roared, drew his sword, and moved to slash his own wrist.
Cao Pi shouted urgently, “Hold on!”
He hurriedly said to General Gan, “Today is the Grand Commandant’s celebratory banquet; blood should not be seen. Please give me this small face, General Gan, and cancel this wager!”
General Gan laughed, “Thank you, Second Young Master, for the bow. Since Second Young Master has spoken, the wager is canceled!”
Cai Yan certainly didn’t want to chop off his hands; he bowed to Cao Pi, “Second Young Master’s great kindness—Cai Yan will remember it!”
He didn’t dare meet General Gan’s eyes, turned, lowered his head, and hurried away.
At this time, Cao Zhi suddenly said coldly, “Who brought this mere brute? How can he be mentioned in the same breath as the scholarly and martial General Cai?”
The crowd echoed in agreement, “Young Master Zhi is right—how can a firefly compete with the bright moon?”
General Gan’s eyes sharpened, his piercing gaze fixed on Cao Zhi as he said coldly, “I always thought a tiger father has no dog sons; today I know I was wrong. Lord Cao is a hero of the world, with outstanding reputation, yet he begot you this ungrateful, ignorant fool. You think being from the aristocracy lets you look down on the world’s heroes? With your arrogant attitude, you still want to compete with your elder brother for the heir position—you’re not worthy!”
Cao Zhi’s face turned beet red; he pointed at General Gan, trembling all over, “You… you bastard!”
General Gan shook his head lightly, “I pity you; I can even see the day you’ll fail in the succession struggle and your corpse exposed in the wilderness. Fine, for Lord Cao’s sake, I’ll save you once!”
He turned to Yang Biao and said, “Please grant ink, Grand Commandant!”
Yang Biao’s expression was truly complex; he waved his hand, and the butler immediately brought brush and ink.
General Gan took the brush and wrote a poem with vigorous strokes.
Boiling the beans to make soup,
Straining the beans for the broth.
The beanstalk burns under the cauldron,
The beans weep in the cauldron.
Born from the same root originally,
Why so hasty to fry each other?
After finishing, he set down the brush and said faintly to Cao Zhi, “This life-saving poem is for you; you’ll find it useful that day!”
He then cupped his hands to Yang Biao, “Thank you, Grand Commandant, for the silver!”
He clasped fists to Cao Pi, “Thank you, Young Master, for your generosity; General Gan will repay you someday!”
“Thank you, Mr. Jia!”
General Gan took the silver, picked up the bow, and strode away.
The courtyard was deathly silent; over a hundred people watched General Gan’s departing figure with complex gazes.
Cao Zhi looked at the poem, his face alternating between red and pale; no one knew what he was thinking.
General Gan had just reached the gate when he sensed someone chasing him; turning back, he saw the young lady in the green skirt running up.
“Here, for you!”
Young Lady Xu stuffed a small note into General Gan’s hand and ran off blushing.
General Gan smiled in amusement—second-year girls were already passing notes. He opened the note; there were two words: Xu Wei.
“Miss Xu, until we meet again!”
General Gan waved smilingly to Xu Wei and strode away without looking back.
