When I turned back and had a glance at the ladies, I felt so angry that I almost fell off the horse. What the heck? All of Qi Sheng’s concubines chose red.

The emperor’s concubines were in team with the royal highness in a ji qiu play. Was this a collective rebellion or cuckoldry?

I didn’t even have to count. Obviously, the red side had more people.

As a Empress, it was natural for me to bear in mind the overall interests. To even the numbers, I thought for a moment and took a yellow band out of the attendant’s hand.

All the ladies, including Lv Li and Concubine Huang, stared at me in shock, as if I were a traitor who betrayed the true-wedded wives’ association.

Guiltily, I quickly showed them the red gown I was wearing, and explained, “Red ribbons do not go well with my gown.”

Before the ladies reacted to my words, Yang Yan was already laughing loudly. Even Bathroom Lord at his side was curving his lips slightly.

Zhao wang covered his face with a hand and groaned as he turned his face away.

I stole a careful glance at Qi Sheng and saw that his face was still calm. Not much could be told from the look on his face.

Jiang shi, on the other hand, was sneering at me.

I sighed and bowed my head in resignation to tie the band around my head.

The rest people mostly chose yellow. Then the two teams were separated. The yellow team were made of by male attendees, except for Jiang shi, Zhang Chacha and me, whereas the red team include all the ladies, and Bathroom Lord and Yang Yan were the only two men among them.

This gender ratio was outrageous. Some of the team players would have to be switched before the game started.

I held up my ji qiu club and was about to step out and speak just when a gong sound opened the first round.

The batting started!

But I wasn’t ready yet!

And now they had started! Like the last time!

I had to give up. I had no courage to ride after the running crowd and chose to stay on the outside and watch. Watching them fighting for score, I wanted to shout the slogan “friendship first, competition second”.

Suddenly, Yang Yan leaned sideways and swung his ji qiu club forcefully. The ball flew across the ground, with all the attendees following afterwards. Although Jiang shi looked weak and fragile, she was a good rider. Riding after Yang Yan, she leaned over and reached for the ball from atop the horse. But before her club touched it, Yang Yan quickly interrupted by passing the ball to Lv Li.

Jiang Shi turned her horse and followed the ball to Lv Li.

At the moment, Lv Li reined her horse in one hand and raised the club high in the other. When seeing her gesture, I gasped. It didn’t look like she was about to hit the ball, but more of hitting Jiang shi with the club. Before I could call out loud, Zhao wang suddenly rode through between them and took the ball away. He also took advantage of the opportunity to separate them apart.

I released a sigh of relief. But before I could catch the breath, Concubine Huang suddenly appeared behind Jiang shi. Luckily enough, Qi Sheng charged in and passed the ball to the other direction. Chasing the ball other side, Jiang shi kicked her horse in the rib and dashed forward, leaving Concubine Huang far behind.

The play hadn’t started for long, but I had been soaking in my cold sweat.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead. Once more I turned my horse towards the edge of the ground, and then there were several voices behind me shouting at the same time.

Zhang Chacha shouted, “Sister, catch the ball!”

Yang Yan yelled, “Stop her!”

Whereas Qi Sheng rapped out, “Move aside!”

In the midst of all this noise, I turned my head unconsciously. I saw the fist-sized ball fly down toward me with a roar, and then a dozen of riders gallop toward me.

The horses’ hooves raised a cloud of dust. I saw Jiang shi charge towards me, followed by Concubine Huang and Lv li. Although the distance was still far away, I could clearly see the scoff on Jiang shi’s face.

It was said, what you feared most, what would fall upon you.

I turned back and ran for my life, too busy to stop for the ball, in fear of being hit again by the people behind.

Then someone behind me shouted, “To the front right!”

Without thinking, I unconsciously led the horse to the right. The next second, Qi Sheng rushed up from back left, sidling past me, forcing my horse to run a few more steps to the outside. In that moment, Bathroom Lord already charged in, bending over to hit the ball towards the opposite direction.

The crowd turned their horses around and ran after the ball.

Still in shock, I saw Lv Li gallop over and ask urgently, “Your Majesty, are you alright?”

My throat was tight, and I couldn’t speak, so I waved.

Lv Li nodded to me and ran away into the center of the crowd.

Zhang Chacha reined her horse beside me, too, and complained, “Sister! What a great opportunity! Why did you run away? You were this close to score! And I took so much pain topass the ball to you!”

Why did I run away? I was running for my life! Silly girl!

Score? Their score was not the ball, but me!

I didn’t care to debate with a little girl, especially one that had been used as an innocent dupe. I didn’t think I could make sense of this with her, so I ran straight to the sideline, rolled off my horse, threw the reins at the oncoming eunuch, and walked up the stands to rest.

Fine, I had done what I had to. Now the floor was open to them. I couldn’t care less about how many of them would get severely hurt.

Xie Yi was pale from shock. She rushed over to me, passing me a hot handkerchief to wipe my hands, and whispered, “Jiang shi passed the ball to Third Miss, and Miss—”

I nodded. “I knew.”

She whispered again, “Concubine Huang and the other ladies were not innocent, either. Were they not swarming towards you, the situation would not be so dangerous.”

I wiped my face with the handkerchief. Her words grew doubt in my heart, but I didn’t respond to her.

Xie Yi hesitated for a while before she said again, “And Lv Li—”

“Enough!” I stopped her angrily, and threw the handkerchief back to her, “I don’t need that information!”

Xie Yi timidly shut her mouth. I glanced at her, and suddenly remembered when Yang Yan said to me that “Xie Yi’s not reliable.” I sighed, softened my tone, and said to her, “Xie Yi, I’m just tired of studying people and their hearts. It is no good. You never know what’s on others’ mind. And you can never predict their behavior. All I want is to be myself and have a clear conscience.”

I then walked to the nursemaid and took Wei’er from her arms. I said in my heart, ‘Wer’er, let’s go back home! Do not learn after those people! They are brutal savages!’

Carrying Wei’er in my breast, I walked down the stands slowly. In the distance, however, there was a sudden confusion on the field. A voice called out, “Help! Someone fell off the horse!”

I knew something was about to happen. But…This soon?

I stopped my steps and looked over the direction tiptoed. A moment later, some inner-palace servants carried a tall man out of the crowd with a stretcher made of colorful brocade. Tall, slender, wearing a blue robe—that was Zhao wang! I wonder how serious the injuries were. But I could only see him holding a leg with both arms, while groaning in pain.

Someone was injured, so of course the game would be suspended. It wasn’t an official match of any sort, after all.

Lucky enough, the ji qiu ground was not far from the imperial hospital, so Qi Sheng had Zhao wang directly carried to the physicians. In haste, I saw Lv Li look at me in a hurry and hurried after Zhao wang.

When I saw this situation, I knew I could not go now, so I had to brace up and approach Qi Sheng and Bathroom Lord, waiting for the physicians to treat Zhao wang’s injury.

After a while, the news came from the hospital, saying that Zhao wang had just sprained his foot, nothing serious.

The words lifted a heavy weight off my mind. With a smile to send everyone away, I also took Wei’er back to the Xing Sheng Palace.

After taking a bath, I rested in the room alone. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Xie Yi asked, “Your Majesty, why don’t you summon the ladies and reproach them? By doing that, perhaps you will gather some information. Zhao wang is awfully good at horsemanship. How could he fall off his horse?”

Why did he fall off the horse? It was just obvious. There was no one more suitable than him.