Chapter 648: Chapter 584, Special_1 Chapter 648: Chapter 584, Special_1 “Many thanks to all the lords for their generous gifts!”

On the men’s side, most preferred not to use purses, instead of finding amusement in watching the boatmen bow their heads, search about, and scramble to pick up Gold and Silver Barleys, then curtsy and give fawning smiles in gratitude to them.

“It’s truly a pity that no one started a scuffle this time. You don’t know. Last time, a group of people fought over a Gold Barley. The scene was quite a spectacle.”

Xiao Yeyang cast an indifferent glance at the speaker, “If this gentleman is so inclined, why not go down and give us a performance? That would indeed be enlightening.”

The official who had spoken was so startled by Xiao Yeyang’s indifferent gaze that he could only give an awkward laugh and dared not respond.

Governor Guo saw his nephew silence the crowd with a single sentence, and his smile grew deeper. Noticing the somewhat stiff atmosphere, he chuckled and patted Xiao Yeyang on the shoulder, “You’ve learned to joke now, kid. It’s just too bad you’re not quite there yet. See, it’s gone cold.” With that, he burst into hearty laughter.

The other officials immediately followed Governor Guo’s lead, smoothly deflecting from the brief awkward moment.

After that, everyone’s behavior became much more restrained, and when throwing Gold and Silver Barleys down from the tower, they mostly placed them into purses.

The ladies had been watching the men’s side and noticed the men started using purses. Those women who had tossed the money openly began to silently place their Gold and Silver Barleys into purses as well.

Seeing this, Dong Yuanyao nudged Daohua with her elbow, chuckling quietly, “If I weren’t with you, I might have thought it was you who told the Little Prince to do this.”

Daohua didn’t reply but lifted her eyes to glance over at the men’s side. Her gaze met with Xiao Yeyang, who was also looking their way. Their eyes intertwined in the air, each seemingly understanding the other’s implied message.

Withdrawing her gaze, Daohua turned her attention to the dragon boat teams below and said to Dong Yuanyao, “Let’s see who has better aim.”

Dong Yuanyao immediately lifted her chin with a smile, “You’re on.” With that, she tossed her purse upwards and then threw it directly at Sun Changze.

Sun Changze had noticed Dong Yuanyao and Daohua earlier. He’d been at dragon boat races before where officials amused themselves by tossing money, and he was happy to scramble with others for the silver to encourage the officials to throw more. But today, he didn’t want to bend over.

The moment Dong Yuanyao threw her purse, Sun Changze sprinted forward, then leapt into the air and caught the purse with steady hands.

Seeing this, the crowd immediately egged on, “Throw more, throw more!”

Encouraged, Dong Yuanyao beamed and quickly tossed down a second purse.

Sun Changze looked up with a laugh and leapt again, clutching the flying purse from the air.

Seeing Sun Changze’s agile and graceful movements, Dong Yuanyao suddenly felt spirited. “I want to see if you can catch this!” she declared, and she began to fling her purses down, one after another.

Su Shiyu, seeing Dong Yuanyao throw them so swiftly, couldn’t help but remind her, “Slow down a bit, don’t make it impossible for him to catch.” After all, he was a lifesaver.

Daohua smiled, “He can handle it. Sun Changze’s skills are not bad.”

Indeed, in a few flips and leaps, Sun Changze had all of Dong Yuanyao’s purses in hand.

Seeing Sun Changze triumphant and raising his eyebrows at her, Dong Yuanyao pursed her lips and looked at Daohua, “Yiyi, let me use your purse.”

Daohua smiled and handed over her purse.

Taking the purse, Dong Yuanyao glanced at Sun Changze below and tossed the purse again, this time faster and with trickier angles.

Seeing this, Sun Changze still wore a confident and composed smile. He sprinted, jumped, flipped in the air, the sequence of movements executed seamlessly, and then landed steadily with the purse in hand.

“Thank you, miss!”

Sun Changze lifted the purse in his hand to express his gratitude to Dong Yuanyao.

Just as Sun Changze turned to share his joy with his companions, Dong Yuanyao suddenly grabbed Su Shiyu’s purse and threw it down.

The purse came so unexpectedly that it was about to hit the ground when Sun Changze swept his leg out, kicking the purse into the air, then vaulted up and grabbed it in his hand.

Upon seeing this, Dong Yuanyao smiled brightly at Sun Changze and said, “You’re quick on your feet.” Her eyes were filled with undisguised admiration.

The other noblewomen thought this method amusing and tried to do the same.

Unfortunately, the skills of others downstairs could not match Sun Changze’s, and they generally managed to catch only one or two purses.

“Hey, young man over here, we’ve got purses too, and they’re all yours if you can catch them,” called out a maid standing beside one of the girls, unable to restrain herself when she saw that Sun Changze wasn’t joining in the scramble.

Sun Changze laughed and said, “Thank you, but I’ve already received plenty of rewards today. Let’s leave the rest for the other brothers.” After saying this, he turned to glance at Dong Yuanyao upstairs, then cheerfully took the purse and returned to his dragon boat to happily share the Gold and Silver Barley with his companions.

“What’s the matter, just because Miss Dong’s purse has silver doesn’t mean ours don’t. Why did he only catch hers?”

Seeing Sun Changze leave, the corner of Dong Yuanyao’s mouth curved into a smile, especially when she overheard the surrounding murmurs, a different kind of emotion began to spread through her heart.

After watching the Dragon Boat Race, the madams from various families continued to sit upstairs and chat, while the noble daughters went downstairs.

There were quite a few places near Ningmen Pass that formed low-lying river channel waterfalls, which offered a breathtaking spectacle, so naturally the young ladies did not want to miss out.

Especially after seeing that the young masters from the male side had also descended the building, they became even more restless.

Daohua’s foot was not yet fully healed, and she did not want to walk around, so she said to Dong Yuanyao and Su Shiyu, “Go ahead and enjoy yourselves.”

Dong Yuanyao glanced at Daohua’s foot and did not say much else, only responding, “We’ll tell you about the beautiful sceneries we see when we get back.”

Daohua smiled and nodded her head, then turned to look at Yan Yihuan and her two companions, cautioning them, “Don’t just focus on enjoying the scenery, try not to get too close to the water.”

Yan Yihuan and the others nodded, “Big sister, don’t worry, we’ll be careful.”

Soon, everyone had left.

Daohua saw Zhu Qiyun sitting motionless and laughed, “Aren’t you going down to check out the scenery here, Miss Zhu?”

Zhu Qiyun laughed and shook her head, “I don’t know any of the other girls; it’s quite boring to enjoy the scenery alone.”

Daohua smiled and nodded her head, then noticing that the madams from other families occasionally glanced over at them, she suggested to Zhu Qiyun, “Let’s go sit downstairs.”

Zhu Qiyun nodded, quickly glanced at her mother, and seeing that she was properly seated beside her three aunts, Zhu Qiyun then followed Daohua downstairs.

After the two left, Madam Zhu couldn’t resist asking Zhu Si’s Madam, “When did Qiyun get to know the eldest Miss of the Yan Family?”

Zhu Si’s Madam shook her head, “I don’t know either.”

Madam Zhu looked at Zhu Si’s Madam reproachfully, “How can you be this careless as a mother? You don’t even pay attention to the company your daughter keeps.” She paused for a moment before continuing.

“That eldest Miss of the Yan Family has a prideful personality. Back when the Prefectural Governor of Yan was still the County Magistrate, she and my Xiuyun had a small conflict. Even after we moved to Xingzhou, she still held a grudge and was the kind of person who would never let things go when she’s in the right.”

Zhu Si’s Madam did not respond, as she thought quite highly of the eldest Miss of the Yan Family. When her daughter made a public faux pas, it was she who stood up to help, and later, aware that her daughter would feel awkward, considerately let her stay with them and even included her when they went downstairs without any companions.

Seeing that Zhu Si’s Madam did not respond, Madam Zhu lost the desire to say more and turned her attention to the Magistrate’s wife of Pingzhou. Seeing her just chatting and laughing with the others, ignoring them, Madam Zhu felt stifled with annoyance.

With such a foolish son, she wondered what the Magistrate’s wife was being so proud of. Did she really think their Qiyun couldn’t find a husband?