The Emperor was enjoying the match, too. Hua Qiyue was like snow on the stage as her white clothes move with the wind. Her hair flowed with the wind and her beauty captured everyone's heart.
Yun Shimo watched at Hua Qiyue silently. The more he learned about her, the more questions arose.
From the perspective of an ordinary bystander, Hua Qiyue was frustrated and nervous. She was just lucky to have evaded Ouyang Liuer's attacks, and an extremely lucky one to have evaded so many of them.
On stage, Ouyang Liuer had stopped to catch her breath. "You're not even fighting, just evading my attacks! If you want to fight, do it!"
Hua Qiyue also pretended to be tired and gasped, wiping the sweat off her forehead as she blinked innocently. "Master Xuanji said that I would definitely win, but if I don't move away, you will kill me!"
Hua Qiyue's speech invited insults from all directions.
In the audience, Princess Huizhen had no patience for Hua Qiyue's antics. "This Hua Qiyue is wasting my time!"
At her side, Princess Huiling laughed. "Isn't that the woman who adopted Zhicheng's son?"
Huizhen glared at Huiling. The marriage between her and Zhou Zhicheng had not been approved by the Emperor, and mentioning it in his presence was a direct insult.
The other princesses were carefully watching the tournament, pretending they'd heard nothing.
Despite Princess Huizhen's misgivings, many men in the crowd were being won over by both Hua Qiyue's beauty and skill.
However, at the corner, Xuanji was laughing so hard that he had a stomach ache, garnering odd looks from the rest of the crowd
Xuanji would not believe that Hua Qiyue created this skill herself, or that she was merely lucky. She obviously had a master!
Ouyang Liuer was livid now. "Do you really want to drag this on? You should know it's a crime to waste the Emperor's time!"
Hua Qiyue looked at the emcee with innocent eyes. The emcee merely looked at her condescendingly.
It was true that it was late already as it was already noon and most people were famished, and some had already bought buns to eat at the side. While the Emperor had no immediate need of food, he did need a cool place to rest out of the summer sun.
Hua Qiyue looked at the Emperor with feigned fear before lowering her head and turning back to her opponent.
Hua Qiyue stood still there, waiting for Ouyang Liuer to charge in.
Rather than waste her spiritual Qi, Ouyang Liuer moved to force Hua Qiyue off the stage.
"Look out!" Lvxin shouted from the stands.
The corner of Hua Qiyue's mouth twitched on a face otherwise full of fear. Yun Shimo had to force himself not to laugh.
He could clearly remember the calmness and the ferocity of the woman when she brought Tianci over to beg him for treatment. Now, she was pretending to be a timid rabbit.
On the stage, Ouyang Liuer charged toward Hua Qiyue with murderous intent but Hua Qiyue calmly sidestepped the attack, turned, kicked her Ouyang Liuer off the stage.
Screams erupted from the crowd as Hua Qiyue wiped the sweat off her brow, staring blankly at what had happened.
Ouyang Liuer hit the ground with an unceremonious thud, but no one seemed to notice. The crowd was going mad over Hua Qiyue's surprise victory.
"End of the tenth round of the tournament. Hua Qiyue wins!"
Ouyang Liuer was helped up by her maidservant and let loose an enraged scream. "No! I didn't lose! I demand a rematch!"
The maidservant pulled her mistress away before she could make more of a fool of herself in front of the Emperor.
Hua Qiyue stood there dumbfounded until she heard the announcement.
She blinked as Lvxin charged onstage and asked, "Erm... did I really win?"
Lvxin cried tears of joy as she nodded emphatically. "Yes! I was so afraid... I thought you would, you would..."
Hua Qiyue looked around at the audience, who was still in shock.
Hua Qiyue was joyous. She walked down the stage, holding hands with Lvxin.
Ji Feng and Ji Zhong looked at each other knowingly. Hua Qiyue pretended to be an idiot, but they recognized impressive footwork when they saw it, even if they didn't know what technique she was using. Their shared glance said one thing — she must have a master.
Yun Shimo raised his brows slightly while Huangfu Xuan shouted "God... how could that horrid woman win? How?"
Meanwhile, countless wealthy daughters were immensely disappointed to have lost their bets. The most disappointed people of them all were Hua Mengshi and the Second Madame. Their faces turned pale as they stared disbelieving at the now empty stage.
Eventually, the Second Madame smiled. "I'm so glad that Qiyue won. But the tournament isn't over, yet."
Hua Mengshi knew that her mother was saying there was no way Hua Qiyue could get so lucky twice.
Despite this reassurance, she fumed at Qiuyun's failure. What had happened with the laxative? Qiyue should have been running off-stage in embarassment, not fighting!
As Hua Qiyue walked down the stage, she waved happily to the wealthy daughters in the audiences. "Please remember to send your losing wagers to Hua Mansion!"
One angry woman shouted, "You were merely lucky! Don't be arrogant! Do you really think we cannot afford to pay 100 tales of silver?"
The rest of the women followed suit, as they all did not want to be looked down by Hua Qiyue, especially since 100 tales of silver meant nothing to them.
Hua Qiyue was delighted as she entered the carriage with Lvxin.
A crisp woman's voice rang out, stopping Hua Qiyue.
"Er, Miss Hua, wait!"
Hua Qiyue lifted up the curtains and saw a girl wearing Jianghu style clothing running towards her. She held up her hand, smiling brightly. "Hi, Miss Hua! I am Ji Jing, the sister of Ji Feng. I would very much like if we could spend some time together!"
Hua Qiyue was stunned. Ji Jing seemed to be fourteen or fifteen. At first, she suspected a trick, but Ji Jing had sincerity written all over her face.