Chapter 521 Targeting

Princess Ankang was still wondering what the Eighth Prince said, but when she heard a whistle, the game started.

There were no other spectators besides Duke Hu and the eunuchs accompanying the princes and princesses. They were the only ones playing Cuju on a simple and rough field.

Li Xuan looked around in Yu'er's arms, and always felt that the scene in front of him was a bit too childish.

"Duke Hu went to great lengths to invite Ankang and the other four to come here, so there should be no reason to deal with it so hastily."

"Is it a warm-up match before the official game?"

Bang!

While Li Xuan was thinking about the problem, the Cuju field had already kicked off.

The ball was originally in Princess Ankang's side, but the first ball was a bit unfavorable.

Princess Ankang looked at the Eighth Prince with bulging eyes beside her in surprise, and almost thought that his two eyeballs were about to pop out.

The ball happened to hit the back of the Eighth Prince's head, and he staggered and almost lost his balance.

"Your Highness!"

The attendants of the Eighth Prince on the sidelines exclaimed immediately.

They looked at the Eighth Prince and the female general who had just served the ball in doubt.

If Duke Hu had not been standing on the sidelines, they would have rushed over to argue with the female general.

"Do you have eyes? How dare you kick the Eighth Prince like this?"

The attendants of the Eighth Prince glared at the female general who kicked the ball.

"Sorry, I haven't played for a long time, so I'm a little rusty."

The female general who kicked the ball said expressionlessly. Although she was apologizing, her sincerity was completely unnoticeable.

The female general had a tall figure, a head taller than ordinary women, especially her long legs. Even wearing the trousers of the Cuju suit, it was still eye-catching.

"I remember her name seemed to be Jiang Ying."

Li Xuan said in his heart.

Two or three of the female generals had the same surname, Jiang, and should be from the same family.

Just from the ball just now, it seems that Jiang Ying has some opinions about the Eighth Prince.

Jiang Ying's nonsense just now, I'm afraid no one can be fooled, the intention is too obvious, no wonder the Eighth Prince's attendants reacted so strongly.

"Eighth brother, are you okay?"

Princess Ankang asked with concern.

She didn't expect that the words the Eighth Prince just said would come true at the beginning.

The Eighth Prince grimaced in pain, but finally endured it.

"Ankang, I'm fine."

"What did you do to them?"

Princess Ankang was really curious, looking at the Eighth Prince and then at the female general who had just played football.

"It's all my fault, not others."

The Eighth Prince didn't explain much, and didn't even mean to hold the female general who kicked him responsible.

The Eighth Prince's appearance of owing others made Princess Ankang's gossiping heart burn.

"Eighth brother, did you break off the engagement with that female general?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Have you read too many storybooks?" The Eighth Prince said speechlessly.

"Forget it, just play the game well." The Eighth Prince waved his hand and continued, "It's just that I'm afraid I can't help much in this game, so you should do your best."

After the Eighth Prince whispered to Princess Ankang, he stood up again, his smile returned to his face, and he waved to others to calm his attendants.

But the young generals on his team still didn't look good to the Eighth Prince.

Although Princess Ankang was worried, there was still a game to go on.

The Eighth Prince picked up the ball on the ground and found that the material of the ball was a bit strange, and the leather was particularly hard.

"No wonder it hurt so much just now."

He was too lazy to consider whether the balls used in the army were all like this, or whether the ball used in today's game was particularly special.

The Eighth Prince was holding the ball and said to the others:

"Why don't I kick the ball?"

Then the Eighth Prince was about to kick the ball himself, but Jiang Ying, who had served the ball earlier, asked faintly:

"Your Highness the Eighth Prince, do you not trust me?"

The Eighth Prince's kicking motion froze, and the smile on his face became awkward.

The opposing players hadn't even touched the ball yet, but they all started to laugh.

Although everyone was trying their best to hold back, the sound of trying not to laugh sounded even more irritating.

"Haha, no, no."

"It's just that I heard the general say that his footwork was not good, so I wanted to kick the ball for you."

"General, please don't misunderstand me."

The Eighth Prince explained with a smile, so humble that it was hard to tell that he was a prince.

As a result, Jiang Ying smiled and stepped forward to snatch the ball from the Eighth Prince's hand, saying, "Thank you, His Royal Highness, for your kindness."

"Since I am not good at kicking, I should kick more and get back to the state as soon as possible."

"Otherwise, I will be ashamed to hold your Highness back."

Jiang Ying's words made the Eighth Prince swallow nervously.

I don't know if Jiang Ying meant to kick more, kick the ball or kick his head.

Princess Ankang saw that the situation was not right, and quickly reminded the Eighth Prince:

"My dear, don't worry about the game, take care of yourself first."

But she thought about it and asked with some worry: "My dear, you don't think they will kick me too?"

"No, they still respect the royal family, but they don't respect me alone." The Eighth Prince said bitterly.

Princess Ankang nodded with relief after hearing what the Eighth Prince said.

It's okay as long as they don't come for her.

Bang!

Jiang Ying kicked the ball hard again, making it flat and fast, and it went straight to the back of the Eighth Prince's head.

"You call this a rusty footwork? I think he is very skilled!"

Li Xuan shook his head silently and looked at Duke Hu who was watching with great interest.

"Could it be that Duke Hu tricked his grandson here to kick him silly?"

But this time, the Eighth Prince was prepared.

Although he stood with his back to Jiang Ying, his eyes were desperately looking back.

This weird "rolling eyes" scared the other side.

But the fact proved that the Eighth Prince's efforts were not in vain.

When he heard the sound of the ball coming, the Eighth Prince fell to the ground at the first time, narrowly avoiding the ball that whizzed past his scalp.

The ball passed by at a low altitude, and it was not heading for the opposite goal at all.

The Eighth Prince's flash caught the Third Prince, who was watching the show with a smile, off guard, and a dull thud hit his chest.

The Third Prince's chest felt a little stuffy, and he was not prepared for the sudden reception of the ball.

Although he felt uncomfortable, he could not show it, otherwise he would lose a big man, wouldn't he?

Fortunately, at the moment of touching the ball, he leaned back and let the ball bounce up to the sky, giving his teammates the opportunity to deal with it calmly.

"Good ball."

The Third Prince's teammates shouted, and then began to organize the attack, which was much more harmonious than Princess Ankang and the Eighth Prince.

The following Cuju game was much more normal, with both sides going back and forth, evenly matched.

It was just that the players on Princess Ankang's side obviously passed the ball to the Eighth Prince with extra force, forcing the Eighth Prince to use all his strength to pass the ball to Princess Ankang as much as possible.

Otherwise, other people would attack him, and would have no interest in the opposite goal at all.

That is to say, the Eighth Prince has superb ball skills, otherwise how could he have held on until now.

Princess Ankang did not live up to the trust of the Eighth Prince and frequently posed a powerful threat.

However, after playing like this, it can be found that the ball skills of the soldiers in the army are indeed better, at least it is more interesting than the Imperial Garden Cuju Competition they held before.

In addition, these young generals are strong and do not care too much about playing football. They do not even show mercy to the princes and princesses.

The Eighth Prince felt this particularly deeply.

However, as time went by, the scores on both sides slowly opened up, and the teams of Princess Ankang and the Eighth Prince fell into a clear disadvantage.

After all, their teams were really divided, and their hearts were not together at all.

Only Princess Ankang wanted to win the game.

The Eighth Prince was busy saving his life, while the other young generals were busy trying to kill the Eighth Prince.

Soon, the first game ended with the defeat of Princess Ankang and his team. The two sides took a short break and exchanged venues for the second game.

There was a short break in the middle. Princess Ankang and the Eighth Prince came to the position of the attendants under the pretext of drinking water, while the young generals stood on the field to rest.

In the previous game, except for the Eighth Prince, the others did not consume too much physical energy.

The two took advantage of being a little further away from the young generals on the same team and immediately started to mutter.

"My brother, what's going on?"

"Why are they targeting you?"

Li Xuan and Yu'er brought water to Princess Ankang, and at the same time they looked at the Eighth Prince curiously.

The Eighth Prince took the water bag from the attendant, rinsed his mouth, and couldn't help sighing:

"They should all be my distant relatives."

"Speaking of which, it's my own fault, and I can't blame others."

The Eighth Prince lowered his head. He was targeted by his teammates for the entire game, but he didn't blame them at all. Instead, his face was full of guilt.

"I have been ignorant and neglected many things over the years."

"My mother's family is fine, as they have my grandfather to support them. Without me, the impact will not be too great."

"But some of my mother's relatives rely on me to connect with the Qin family. I am afraid they have suffered a lot in the past few years without me to maintain the relationship."

"Although the Qin family takes care of them, for these people, the difference between having me and not having me is huge."

After hearing these words, the three children looked at each other silently. They did not expect that there was such a trick in this.

"At first, I just thought it was a problem between me and the Qin family. Now I think I didn't consider it."

"Many people are loyal to my mother and me. I used to regard them as burdens and wanted to throw them away."

"Speaking of which, if I had always been so careless, I am afraid they would not have such a big opinion of me."

"But now I regret it and want to take up this burden again..."

"They naturally don't want to believe me, who gave up on them once."

After listening to the words of the Eighth Prince, the three children also understood why Jiang Ying and others would kick the Eighth Prince desperately.

If it weren't for this opportunity today, they would have to hold this anger in their hearts for the rest of their lives.

"We are so unlucky. It seems that those who have grudges against me are all on our side."

"I don't know what tricks that old man is playing."

The Eighth Prince looked at Duke Hu in the distance with resentment.

Duke Hu looked like he didn't notice anything at all, and didn't even glance at the Eighth Prince.

If you think about it carefully, although they drew the lots just now, it's not such a coincidence that those who have grudges against the Eighth Prince are on the same team with him.

Now I think it must be Hu Bogong who did something, but no one noticed.

Seeing that the Eighth Prince was a little depressed, Princess Ankang also encouraged him immediately:

"My dear, since you are here, you should make the best of it."

"Who knows, this is also a good thing."

"Ah???" The Eighth Prince looked a little stunned.

Princess Ankang, who was right next to him, should have seen clearly how badly he was kicked on the court just now.

In such a game, he has to persist for at least one more game.

This can't be a good thing no matter how you think about it, right?

Seeing the speechless expression of the Eighth Prince, Princess Ankang immediately explained:

"Jiang Ying and the others probably think that there will be no chance to vent their anger in the future, so they are targeting My dear."

"In that case, you should resolve all the past grudges in this game."

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them, and the same is true for My dear."

"Otherwise, it will be even harder to find a chance to talk it out in the future."

After Princess Ankang said this, the Eighth Prince suddenly felt that his mind was opened.

Jiang Ying and the others are generals after all, and the Eighth Prince is a prince. If it were normal days, there would be no possibility of being so presumptuous.

If he could talk about the past few years by playing a game of Cuju, the Eighth Prince would naturally be willing.

But he was just excited for a while, and he couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

"But Ankang, what should I do to gain their trust?"

For this question, Princess Ankang had already prepared a plan, and said happily:

"My dear, think about it."

"Jiang Ying and the others want to vent their anger, so they will definitely kick you as many times as they can."

"..." Hearing this, although the Eighth Prince knew that Princess Ankang was giving him advice, he was still speechless.

"We are playing in a best-of-three format now. If we lose again, it will be over."

"In order to kick you more times, Jiang Ying and the others will definitely want to win the next game first."

"This is your chance to show your ability, Big Brother."

"As long as you can convince Jiang Ying and others with your performance and show your sincerity, maybe we can work together in the third game."

"I have read it several times in books. Among the most victorious people in the world, there are always soldiers."

After listening to Princess Ankang's plan, the Eighth Prince was moved and felt that it was indeed feasible.

"Myna, don't worry."

"I'll feed you the ball in the next game, and you'll just be responsible for kicking the opponent."

"If Jiang Ying and the others target you again, I'll stand behind you."

"They have a grudge against you, but not against me, right?"

The Eighth Prince frowned slightly and said, "No, what if they kick you?"

"Oh, don't worry."

"I'm in good shape now, the ball can't hurt me."

Princess Ankang stretched out her white and tender little arm and gestured twice, without any threat.

"And if they really kick me, I'll just pretend to be pitiful and arouse their guilt, sympathy and pity."

"At that time, our fighting power will be even stronger!"

"Isn't there a saying that goes, 'The army of mourning will win'?"

The Eighth Prince didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Is this how this saying is used?

But seeing Princess Ankang giving him advice and trying every way to help him resolve his grievances with others, the Eighth Prince couldn't help but be deeply moved.

At this time, the break time just ended.

Princess Ankang immediately pulled the Eighth Prince onto the field.

"Let's go, Big Brother."

"We'll win this game!"

The Eighth Prince looked at Princess Ankang's back and nodded heavily:

"Okay!"

Jiang Ying and others who were resting on the field looked at each other in surprise when they saw that the Eighth Prince still had such fighting spirit.