Peaceful Farm Life

Chapter 1273: Chapter 1274: Cuju

Xiao Changyi moved into the military camp, and as one could see, the four little ones could now bear to be away from him and his wife, albeit not for too long. Xiao Changyi now comes to the palace to accompany the four little ones every other day.

Just over half a month later, and such results had appeared. Xiao Changyi felt that, after some more diligent effort, the children should no longer cry or fuss even if they couldn’t see him and his wife for ten days to half a month.

However, although Xiao Changyi seemed to reside in his tent in Wolf Camp, in reality, he sneaked into An Jing’s tent in the women’s military camp every night, holding her in sleep.

Then, before dawn, he would get up and sneak back to his own tent in Wolf Camp.

While helping Xiao Changyi cover his tracks, Meng Zhuqing couldn’t help but sneak peeks at Tobanya several times.

As for Xiao Changyi’s actions, An Jing found them both amusing and helpless, yet sweet.

After half a month of training, An Jing and Ye Zhi thought that they hadn’t really allowed the new recruits to properly relax, so they decided to organize a cuju game today to let the new recruits unwind.

While it was meant to be relaxing, cuju could also serve as physical training. And in this military camp, the soldiers often played team cuju as a recreational activity.

Cuju is similar to playing football.

The cuju here involved setting up two poles in the center of the field, each three zhang high, with a goal at the top approximately one chi in diameter, known as ”the eye of elegance,” just like in the cuju games of the Tang Dynasty.

Kicking the ball through the eye of elegance means victory.

The outcome of the cuju game is determined by the number of successful kicks by the end of the match.

As soon as the new recruits were brought to the field by Ye Zhi, An Jing said: ”Today, we will skip our mudfield wrestling training and instead have a cuju match. You will divide into two teams, five people each, with Deputy Instructor Ye and I leading a team each for a competition. Look, who do you want to team up with, me or the Deputy Instructor?”

Du Aya was the first to speak: ”Instructor, I want to be on your team. Last time, the Deputy Instructor tackled me down. I need to get back at her today, to make her lose.”

Ye Zhi immediately laughed and said: ”Alright, you’ll be on the Instructor’s team. If you lose, don’t cry about it.”

Du Aya proudly slapped her chest and declared: ”I’ve never cried since I’ve grown this big!”

Li Wuyu said, ”A Ya, do you know how to play cuju? You’re so eager to challenge the Deputy Instructor.”

Du Aya replied, ”Nope.” After a pause, ”Do you?”

Li Wuyu was speechless for two seconds before saying, ”No.”

”Neither do we,” everyone else collectively said.

An Jing responded: ”Not knowing is fine; you can learn. It’s fair if none of you know. We will give you half an hour for practice, and then we’ll compete. Come on, let’s form the teams first. Du Aya said she wants to be on my team, what about the rest of you?”

Shi Shi questioned in return: ”Instructor, since it’s a competition, there should be rewards and punishments, right?”

An Jing answered: ”Of course, there are. The winning team will feast on a whole roasted lamb for dinner, while the losing team will have steamed buns with pickles. Moreover, the losing team must wash the winning team’s clothes for ten days. Do you have any objections?”

Hearing that the winners would not only enjoy a whole roasted lamb for dinner but also have someone wash their clothes for ten days, everyone became excited and said, ”No objections! That sounds great!”

An Jing said, ”To prevent an imbalance of strength between the two teams and just going through the motions, Tobanya, you’ll be with the Deputy Instructor’s team. That way, it will be fair.”

”Okay.” Tobanya had no objections.

”Then, Li Wuyu and Shi Shi, both of your physical abilities are similar. Who wants to be on my team, and who wants to be with the Deputy Instructor?” An Jing asked.

Shi Shi smiled and said, ”I’m fine either way.”