Chapter 31: Losing by a Hair's Breadth

  "What a pity." Liu Bei regretfully slapped his palm and sighed loudly: "Just short of that little bit."

  "Not necessarily." Liu Xiu echoed, but his heart was somewhat uneasy, was this really a coincidence?

  Upon hearing Liu Xiu's voice, Liu Bei finally noticed him and turned his head to look at him with a joyful expression. He smiled and said: "Big brother, where did you go? I left the breakfast in the room... Hmm, what happened to your face?"

  "Hey, it's nothing, nothing." Liu Xu awkwardly touched the wound on his face, feeling a bit resentful. Just now, Wu Junhou had teased him with this spear, and he had been tossed around quite a bit. Getting hit in the face was still considered light, but those few hits to his body were really severe. Wu Junhou had told him not to tell anyone about these things, and he didn't want Liu Bei to know that he hadn't even been able to fight back in front of Wu Junhou. He quickly changed the subject: "I saw the food, today the Mao family has really spent some money, the food is so good."

  "Not really." Liu Bei couldn't help but laugh and said, "Just wait until we put out this Fire Cloud, there will be a big feast. Cheng Ming said that not only will there be meat, but also wine." As he spoke, he couldn't help but lick his lips, looked around, and leaned in close to Liu Xiu's ear, lowering his voice and saying, "Maybe by then, there will even be opera performances."

  Liu Xiu gave him a sideways glance and cursed with a smile: "You little rascal, how old are you? You only know how to look at women, haven't you even grown any pubic hair yet?"

  "I'm fifteen now." Liu Bei straightened his neck and said with a tone of discontent, "Mother said that as long as I can find a job in the county and earn a few dozen kilograms of rice every month, she'll start arranging my marriage."

  Look at your attitude, this is not what the future Emperor of Shu should say. Liu Xiu secretly curled his lips, chatting with Liu Bei on one side, while looking towards Gongsun Zan in the distance.

  Gongsun Zan sat calmly on his horse, his face serene. He turned the horse around and stood facing Yan Rou once again, only this time from a different position. However, his lips were pursed tightly, to the point of turning pale, and his hand grasping the iron spear was overly tense, with the skin at the joints having lost all color.

  Gongsun Zan felt a bit regretful and puzzled. He was regretful that his first strike had been parried by Yan Rou, and he couldn't understand why his second strike hadn't worked. Since mastering the two iron spears, he had almost never missed a hit, and he had thought that today would be no exception, that he could take down Yan Rou, the great horse thief, in one round, but unexpectedly, he had missed.

  It seems that Yan Rou, this great horse thief, indeed has some skills, not comparable to those unruly youths in Yang Le (the county seat of Liaoxi), and even compared to the border army of Liaoxi, he is not inferior, I was a bit too careless.

  This can be considered as the first strong enemy encountered by oneself.

  Gongsun Zan's eyes grew hot, he shook his iron spear with both arms, let out a loud cry, and urged his warhorse on again, charging towards Yan Ruo in the distance with an aura of fearlessness. His body leaned forward slightly, his arms curved, and the long spear hidden beside the horse's neck trembled constantly as the warhorse galloped. He narrowed his eyes, his piercing gaze cutting through a hundred paces, fixed intently on Yan Ruo's calm face.

  This time, I'll definitely show you my prowess.

  Yan Rou almost simultaneously accelerated, still holding a single spear in his hand, with two legs tightly clamped on the horse's abdomen, and the fiery red cloak behind him was blown by the strong wind to roll up, like a fireball whizzing past.

  Liu Xiuping held her breath, closed her mouth tightly, and stared intently at the two people getting closer and closer.

  Liu Bei was no longer in the mood to joke with Liu Xiu, he opened his mouth and gazed at Yan Rou with fervent eyes, his two hands raised, ready to be the first to cheer and applaud for Gongsun Zan as soon as Yan Rou fell off her horse.

  The students who were just disappointed that Gong Sun's first strike was ineffective also quieted down, each with a look of three parts tension and seven parts excitement as they watched the two people about to clash again. Their tension wasn't because they were worried that Gong Sun would lose, but rather because the atmosphere in the arena made them feel somewhat tense - after all, knives and swords have no eyes, and even if one's martial skills are strong, it can't guarantee that something unexpected won't happen. In their opinion, Gong Sun was still able to sit steadily on horseback with both hands holding a spear, and just from a riding perspective, he was far superior to Yan Jue. As long as nothing unexpected happened, it was expected that Gong Sun would emerge victorious. All they had to do was wait for Gong Sun to knock Yan Rou off her horse, and then use all their strength to cheer on this classmate.

  Unlike the students who were tense with excitement, Mao Qin and others on the other side were worried. Although nothing could be seen on Mao Qin's round face, his eyes were constantly moving, and his hands clenched together under his sleeves, taking a deep breath but not exhaling for a long time.

  When he saw Gongsun Zan practicing in the peach forest in the morning, he was worried that Gongsun Zan had exposed his strength too early and was not wise. He was worried that Yan Rou would be prepared, and now Yan Rou easily avoided Gongsun Zan's first move, making his worries more likely to become a reality. He prayed silently, hoping that it was just an accident earlier, hoping that Gongsun Zan could not only make a surprise attack but also have extraordinary skills with the double-edged iron spear, and even if he couldn't make a surprise attack, he could still defeat Yan Rou with his strength and win a victory for the Mao family.

  Behind him, Mao Jie, who was sitting in the curtain with Ah Chu, had already stood up, rushed to the exit of the curtain, tiptoed, opened her eyes wide, staring intently at Gong Sun Zan and Yan Rou, who were about to clash in the distance, her fists clenched tightly, her vermilion-painted lips slightly open, almost shouting out loud.

  A silence reigned in the woods, only the sound of horseshoes echoed loudly. Two horses galloped closer and closer, their flying hooves trampled the muddy ground in the woods, countless peach blossoms were crushed and merged with the mud, losing all their tenderness. As the horseshoes flew up again, they fell down weakly.

  "Kill!" Gong Sun Zan suddenly shouted, his arms shook and his long spear flashed out like lightning.

  "Kill!" Yan Rou also shouted loudly, her curved arm suddenly swelling, the long spear emitting a tearing wind sound as it pierced out, the spearhead trembling slightly like a poisonous snake spitting out its letter.

  Two halberds clashed in mid-air, a dull "hum" sound, Gong Sun Zan exerted force with both arms, the spearhead swung fiercely, the iron spear drew a semicircle, deflecting Yan Rou's spearhead, while the spearhead hidden under his elbow swung out in coordination, striking straight at Yan Rou's chest.

  Yan Rou's long spear was forcibly pushed aside by Gongsun Zan, and his chest was already exposed. At such a close distance, facing the horizontally sweeping iron spear, he had no choice but to use his left hand's shield to block it, otherwise he could only watch as Gongsun Zan's iron spear swept across his chest. Although he wore leather armor, which might provide some protection, his arm would inevitably suffer severe injury.

  And if he raised his left hand to hold up the shield, he would face a situation where he had to collide with Gongsun Zan with brute force, but he had no other way to think of it, and could only make the most instinctive reaction, raising his left hand. The shield was held in front of his chest.

  Gongsun Zan revealed a smile that was not unexpected, the previous blow had no effect, he estimated that Yan Rou might be carrying a shield, and he wanted to force Yan Rou to collide with him head-on, and he was fully prepared for the collision. However, Yan Rou might not be. His white horse was also slightly faster than Yan Rou's horse, in this kind of collision, this small difference would be enough to change the outcome.

  Gongsun Zan leaned further forward and to the right, pressing half of his body onto the spear that had swept out horizontally.

  A loud "clang" sound, accompanied by Gong Sun's full-strength iron spear smashing heavily onto Yan Rou's shield, and then they separated immediately. Both of them were slightly unstable on their horsebacks, their bodies suddenly tilting backwards in opposite directions, causing the warhorses to lose control of their direction as well, running sideways with a slight stumble in their smooth footsteps.

  "Wah——" Liu Bei couldn't help but exclaim.

  Liu Xiu looked at Yan Ruo swaying back and forth on the horse, subconsciously clenched his fists, and shouted with wide eyes: "Get down! Get down! Get down! Your grandma's hurry up and get off!"