Cunning General Si Ning - Chapter 169

The moment Si Ning and Xiu Junjie laid their eyes on the stall they both stopped their bickering and focused on the round wooden dangling target with a small dotted back pointed in the middle, while just a few inches from the tiny dot in the middle was a thin circle created with black paint but anyone that had ever seen an arrow target would know this was nothing but a scam.

“Do Young Master want to try and win for your lover?” The vendor asked when he noticed the fancy-dressed man with a hat and the fancy-dressed boy next to him staring at the display of his stall.

Si Ning shook his head after taking a quick look at the prices, he could see the rings were painted, and if worn once or twice the paint was going to start to wear off or start peeling off the ring which means he doesn’t want to even waste his time checking the stall but his eyes caught sight of a jade ring, among the rings it was the only one that looked authentic and it was even separated from the rest which means it was nothing but a quality ring.

No matter how quality that one ring looked and seemed to be a ring that would fetch a lot of money yet Si Ning could buy thousands of the ring so he wasn’t interested and he couldn’t help but think of why people would want to play an obvious scam play like that just to win a fake ring yet he couldn’t help but notice a teenage boy pulling the sting of a bow setting his arrow on it, a teenage girl next to him, he couldn’t help but notice their attires seemed faded but the boy’s eyes shone with determination as he hands the vendor some coins after his failed attempt, he glanced at the jade ring once then took the bow to try again. Si Ning could see the jade ring was nothing but a display to lure in customers.

“Why don’t you play or are you scared you will fail just like how you failed to climb a tree.” Xiu Junjie said.

Si Ning snorted. “Why would I? Can’t you see its couples playing them.” He rolled his eyes.

“Why not, I bet you can hit the center and win that ring you keep staring at.” Xiu Junjie insisted. “Couples playing is just your excuse to run away.”

“Yes if Young Master is able to hit the center then this jade ring is yours.” The Vendor added to show he was listening to their talk.

“…” Si Ning blinked, he wished he could just sew Xiu Junjie mouth shut, if anyone was staring at the ring right then it would be the teenage boy that now looked shocked after he heard what the vendor said, he met Si Ning’s eyes once only to step back, the teenage girl behind him as he withdrew his bow waiting for Si Ning to try.

Seeing that he was even given space to try made Si Ning not have a choice than to collect the bow the vendor handed to him as Xiao Pei gave the vendor some coins, he couldn’t believe it was time for him to embarrass himself because he had never practice shooting arrows and something at the back of his mind told him he might not be able to hit the center or even shoot an arrow at all. As an Actor, he had never played the role where he would use an arrow so he wasn’t taught. In the last war when Chen An was shooting the arrows he didn’t even look at how he was pulling the bow because he was too busy watching out for the General of Xilie that was coming for his head so he had no idea how to set the arrow on the bow.

“But if Young Master is able to shoot any part within that circle then Young Master can choose one of these rings.” The vendor pointed to the rest of the rings.

Si Ning doesn’t know if the vendor was trying to cheer him up after seeing his unsure hesitated expression. Si Ning waited for the vendor to give him an arrow only for Xiao Pei to collect the bow he was holding and also collected the arrow the vendor gave him. Seeing this made Si Ning wonder if Xiao Pei was trying to see if the bow and arrow were safe for him to use or he wanted to try shooting the moving target that seemed to have somehow increased in speed. Si Ning wasn’t interested in how the target was moving, how it was controlled manually because he was now staring at Xiao Pei with a raised brow.

Xiao Pei frowned when he weighs the arrow in his hand. “This is too light, the balance is bad and wrong.” He complained. “The bow is old and worn out.” He added.

“Forgive me but this is a small business and we don’t have enough to make great arrows but that will do.” The vendor said.

“Okay, good.” Xiao Pei turned to Si Ning. “Ge… Hmm, I am afraid you can’t use this bow and arrow.” He turned swiftly after his brief explanation to show Si Ning won’t be shooting the arrow.

Si Ning had no idea if because the bow and arrow were poorly made that Xiao Pei didn’t want him to shoot because as a General he deserved the best and shouldn’t stain his hands with low-quality products but it was just a game and they can’t just give up because of the light arrow so Si Ning was ready to stop Xiao Pei from returning the bow and arrow even though he knew it was such a reckless move but he somehow doesn’t want to disappoint Xiu Junjie but before he could say a word, his eyes to widened when Xiao Pei set the arrow on the bowstring and pulled without even using some time to set the arrow, the arrow flew and hit the center making the target to instantly stopped moving.

The vendor looked shocked even the teenage boy that was looking at the swing who had failed miserably every time mouth fell. Si Ning had no idea Xiao Pei was skilled in shooting arrows, he only thought he was good at using a sword but seeing how he was able to cleanly hit the tiny dot on the board precisely with what he called a bad arrow was amazing that the vendor also had to move closer to the target staring at where the arrow hit. The target wasn’t far but it was swinging fast and the dot on it was tiny so Xiao Pei was impressive that Si Ning was proud of him.

“Here.” The vendor brought out the ring after his quick inspection. “I am happy doing business with you Young Master.”

“Hmmm.” Si Ning nodded only to hear Xiu Junjie snorted and even clicked his tongue to show his displeasure. He couldn’t mind Xiu Junjie now In case the boy asks him to shoot the arrow to win another price, he was already happy and contented that he wasn’t the one that shot the arrow in the end.

He opened his palm and the vendor dropped the ring because Xiao Pei made no move to collect it while Xiu Junjie already turned his head to show how displeased he was but Si Ning couldn’t care about how the boy feels. After all, just a moment ago he had foolishly wanted to try.

After turning the ring over and over Si Ning could see it was good quality and without a second thought he moved to the teenage boy that was bringing out some coins to give to the vendor for another try instead Si Ning stopped him.

“Uh…” The teenage boy was shocked when the fancy-dressed pretty stranger with a hat in front of him suddenly held his hand and dropped the jade ring in it.

“Enjoy the festival.” Si Ning said to the boy that looked shocked, he turned to Xiu Junjie. “Let’s go.” He was glad that Xiu Junjie didn’t complain and only followed him along with Xiao Pei.