Chapter 22: Misinjury

  Liu Xiu had no choice but to grasp the bow, and Gong Sun Zan took out an arrow and let him place it on the string. Then he taught him how to draw the string back, how to fix the arrow in place, and where to position his arm. Liu Xiu followed each instruction, then took a deep breath and pulled the bow open with force.

  "A creaking sound that made one's teeth ache, the hard bow of over 180 pounds was effortlessly pulled to its full extent by Liu Xiu. Gong Sun Zan was stunned, his eyes wide with wonder, staring at Liu Xiu in a daze, and blurted out: "Damn, so fierce!""

  "What?" Liu Xiu had been following his instructions, and upon hearing this sentence, he was momentarily stunned. He turned his head to look at him, but before he could hear Gong Sun's response, a loud "twang" sound was heard as the tightly strung bowstring suddenly snapped, and the long arrow that had been placed on the string flew off with a whirring sound, disappearing into the distance.

  "Ah!" A pained cry came from behind, Liu Xiu turned his head to see Liu Bei covering his face and squatting down, the arrow had landed right in front of him.

  "Damn it!" Liu Xiu also couldn't help but curse, this is too embarrassing, brother just wanted to keep a low profile, didn't expect to lose face like this, this arrow... really shot past his back?

  He didn't care about himself, threw away his bow, and hastily hugged Liu Bei, anxiously asking: "Xuande, where are you hurt?"

  Although he didn't like the historical Liu Bei, but for this young man in front of him who is a bit sly but still quite likable, he actually cares about him very much. He can tease him, but has never thought of hurting him.

  "Alas!" Liu Bei was almost in tears, this is too unlucky, standing behind him and still getting shot by an arrow? I've seen poor archery before, but never as bad as this, who would dare stand behind you from now on.

  Everyone saw it and was stunned, this kind of thing is really seen for the first time, to say that Liu Bei has been pushed to the extreme.

  Liu Xu carefully opened Liu Bei's hand covering his face, only to see that Liu Bei's face and hands were all bloody, and he couldn't help but be shocked. After a closer look, he finally let out a sigh of relief. The arrow had no force behind it, and it had only grazed Liu Bei's eyebrow, although the bleeding looked severe, the injury was not serious.

  Gongsun Zan also came over to take a look and let out a sigh of relief, comforting Liu Bei who had tears in his eyes but was forcing himself not to cry: "It's nothing, just a superficial wound. Someone go find Mao Zong and get some medicine for the injury."

  Someone responded and quickly walked away. Liu Xiu also lost the mood to practice archery, and together with Gong Sun Zan, they supported Liu Bei back to the dormitory on either side. Before long, Mao Zong rushed over with medicine, looking tense, while Gong Sun Zan cleaned Liu Bei's wound, applied the medicine, and said: "Don't worry, don't worry, it's just a minor injury, I guarantee you'll be fine by tomorrow."

  Mao Zong finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Mao family built a fine house to entertain guests, but if someone were to die there, it would be a disaster. Seeing that Liu Bei's injury was not serious, he regained his composure and returned home to report the matter to his sister, Mao Mei.

  Mao Ji listened to Mao Zong's report, put down the worry in her heart, and smiled awkwardly. She glanced at A Chu, whose expression was equally strange, and said: "Today is really a strange thing, shooting arrows actually shot behind."

  Just now, Mao Zong had already told them that Liu Xiu couldn't solve the problem, and Ah Chu originally had some interest in Liu Xiu, but now it has disappeared. Adding this ridiculous thing, she shook her head in disappointment: "I didn't expect this person to be a useless waste, neither literary nor martial."

  Mao Jie let out a "heh" and laughed, casting her a meaningful glance. "You're wrong about this," she said with a smile. "Although it's indeed unusual for an arrow to hit someone in the back, what's strange is that he's not even practiced at shooting arrows? I think there's something interesting about him - he was able to break a hard bow of 1.5 stones' weight! That takes a lot of strength. If he can't even open a 2-stone or 3-stone hard bow, then with his physical strength alone, he might just become a powerful general."

  "Moreover!" Azhu disdainfully glanced at him: "I think you're suffering from some kind of demonic syndrome, seeing anyone with a bit of strength and wanting to pull them in."

  "Of course, what kind of talented people can our family still attract?" Mao Jie didn't care and smiled lightly: "To protect the family and the courtyard, we must have some outstanding martial arts skills to withstand those Hu people and horse bandits. Can we rely on a few words from the saints to retreat the Hu people and horse bandits? Can reading a few sentences of Spring and Autumn make the Hu people ashamed and retreat? If it really had this effect, why would he be trapped between Chen and Cai, almost starving to death?"

  "You, yourself don't read books, and yet you slander the saints, isn't that right?" Ah Chu said with a mix of anger and amusement, shaking her head, no longer arguing with Mao Qiang.

  Mao Zong listened to the side, with some eyebrow color dance. This distant cousin, although beautiful in appearance and good in learning, has a bit of aristocratic arrogance, despite her deliberate concealment, but the pride that comes out of her bones still makes people uncomfortable. Now seeing his sister say the sacred person she respects so badly, while she can only retreat three times, he feels very happy.

  "Cheng Ming, what are you happy about?" Ah Chu saw Mao Zong's mischievous grin and scolded with a hint of anger: "You're determined to be a general who conquers the battlefield, why don't you try solving this problem? Don't you think you'll need to consider provisions in future battles?"

  Mao Zong'an called out that it was no good, shrunk his neck and turned around to leave. But Mao Jiang stopped him, speaking seriously: "A Chu is right, don't run away, think carefully about this question, it's not difficult at all, even I can solve it, why won't you put your heart into it?" She paused for a moment, then said firmly: "If you can't solve it today, you're not allowed to participate in the competition tomorrow."

  Mao Zong's face suddenly turned sour and he begged: "Sister, don't be so cruel?"

  "No need to say more, if you're not convinced, go and tell Uncle Ah about it."

  Ma Zong was indignant and resentful, clenching his fists and stamping his feet.

  Gongsun Zan was right, Liu Bei's injury healed quickly and had no effect except for some pain when frowning. With Liu Xiu and Gongsun Zan taking care of him like a younger brother, Liu Bei felt warm and his mood improved. When Mao Zong returned with his head hung low, carrying math problems, Liu Bei was still full of energy to help him think of a solution. Before he could come up with one, Gongsun Zan glanced at it briefly and quickly solved the problem, telling Mao Zong the method, which made Mao Zong exclaim in admiration.

  Liu Xiu listened quietly, not saying a word. With Gongsun Zan's previous display of talent and his experience working in the governor's office, solving this problem should be no difficulty. Although education during the Han Dynasty was not yet universal or compulsory compared to later generations, it still had a certain scale, with national schools, county schools, and teachers, which were considered relatively high-level education. County schools and village schools were slightly lower in level, although they were not as formal as regular schools, but there were also many private schools in various places. Arithmetic was not considered a serious subject of study, and like literacy, it belonged to the category of elementary education, so anyone who had attended school for a few days would know something about the "Nine Chapters on Arithmetic", and the question that Mao Zong brought should be from this book.

  However, for someone like Liu Xiu who has experienced higher education, the knowledge of "Nine Chapters on Arithmetic" is only equivalent to that of a primary school student, at most it's junior high school level. Being able to solve it is not something to be proud of. He just didn't want to draw attention to himself, so he pretended not to understand. As for Gongsun Zan solving the problem, although his mouth was flattering, his sincerity was lacking.

  Gongsun Zan gave him a glance, and his eyes flashed with a hint of displeasure.