Fire Captain

On the second day of the selection, Chu Qiao stood out among the maids... Different? He first took a maid who had challenged him and tried to stretch out her hand, so that Yuwen Yue found that although she did not know martial arts, she was agile. After the competition began, it was divided into three games according to the rules, namely Chupu chess, brewing tea and writing, and two out of three games were best.

Chu Qiao knew that she couldn't do any of these three things, so she gave up the first game of the chess. She knew that she had to win the next two games, and when she was making tea in the second game, she watched the steps, movements and gestures of the people around her, and added a little bit of cleverness. Finally, Yan Xun came to the scene at some point and pretended to say a few good words for her casually, which helped her pass this level smoothly.

Yu Wen Yue looked at her and thought: Be bold and careful, and learn and apply what you have learned.

The third scene was to recite a Sanskrit Buddhist scripture from memory. It took one stick of incense to memorize it and another stick of incense to recite it from memory. Because of her previous amnesia, Chu Qiao didn't know how to hold a pen, let alone recognize words. After carefully observing the pen-holding postures of the people around her, she finally got the posture right. When she put pen to paper, no one knew, not even Chu Qiao herself, that she could remember everything she saw. She was the only one who recited this Sanskrit scripture word for word.

Yu Wenyue had seen that Chu Qiao was illiterate and couldn't hold a pen, so he asked, "Tell me, why didn't you sign your name?"

Seeing this, the maid next to her said, "Maybe she can't read at all!"

"How can I serve you if I can't read?"

Chu Qiao said: "I didn't hear the rules asking for signatures. The rules just said that it takes one stick of incense to memorize and one stick of incense to write from memory."

Yu Wenyue looked at her and said, "You are making up stories."

Chu Qiao retorted: "I am not making excuses. I am just following orders. The rules say so and I do so. Is there anything wrong with doing so?"

Yu Wen Yue deliberately said: "Okay, I will give you one more chance. If you add your signature, I will consider you the winner."

Chu Qiao looked at Yu Wen Yue and asked, "Sir, do you keep your word?"

Yu Wenyue said: "Of course."

Chu Qiao thought about it and immediately took off the iron bell on her head, dipped it in ink, and then printed it under the scripture. Her name was engraved on the iron bell.

Yuwen Yue originally wanted to embarrass Chu Qiao, but he didn't expect Chu Qiao to come up with such a method. Yan Xun, who was standing beside him, said with a smile, "A man of honor cannot take back his words once they are spoken."

Yu Wen Yue glanced at Yue Qi, flicked his sleeves and turned away.

Seeing this, Yue Qi said, "Jing Xiaoliu wins today's competition."

At night, Yue Qi brought the victorious Chu Qiao to Yu Wen Yue's bedroom. Along the way, Chu Qiao seemed to have thought a lot, but also seemed to have thought of nothing, and soon arrived at Yu Wen Yue's room.

Yu Wen Yue was wiping his razor. When he saw Chu Qiao coming, he said nonchalantly, "Tell me, why do you want to be my maid?"

Chu Qiao replied, "My lord, I promised you that I would take good care of my sisters."

Yu Wenyue asked, "Is it worth it?"

Chu Qiao said: "It's worth it."

"...Come here and help me shave!" said Yu Wen Yue after wiping the razor.

Chu Qiao understood that this was Yu Wen Yue testing her. He thought Chu Qiao would want to kill him, but he didn't know that Chu Qiao wanted to keep him alive so badly that she couldn't possibly kill him.

Chu Qiao held the razor and shaved it bit by bit. Where was the beard?

Yuwen Yue opened his eyes and said, "I've already given you a chance... Come with me..." Yuwen Yue took Chu Qiao to the window, looking at Xiao Qi and Xiao Ba outside the window, Yuwen Yue said, "I've already taken your two sisters to Qingshan Courtyard, don't worry!"

Chu Qiao was shocked and said quickly, "Thank you, sir."

Suddenly, there was a noise outside the courtyard, and Yue Qi ran over and said, "Young Master, someone came to visit Qingshan Courtyard at night."

Yu Wen Yue picked up his sword and said, "Let's go!"

Chu Qiao was left alone in the room. She kept waiting for Yu Wen Yue but he didn't come back. She fell asleep on the bed without knowing when. When she woke up again, it was the next morning. She was woken up by Yu Wen Yue hitting her with his scabbard.

Chu Qiao quickly stood up and covered her head, saying, "It hurts! ... Sir, have you caught the thief?"

Yu Wen Yue's face looked bad. He handed the sword to Chu Qiao without saying a word. Chu Qiao understood that it seemed that the person was not caught.

Yu Wen Yue looked at the bed sheet and suddenly said, "Why are you still standing there? Why don't you wash the bed sheet that you have soiled?"

Chu Qiao looked at the blood on the quilt and thought, "What do you mean by stained by me? It was obviously you who stained it on purpose, and you used my blood. Now your finger still hurts."

When Chu Qiao was carrying her bedding out of the house, she heard Yu Wen Yue say behind her: "I don't like the name Jing Xiaoliu, so don't call me that anymore. I'll give you a name, Xing'er."

Chu Qiao turned around and said, "Yes! Xing'er thanks you for giving me the name."

Yu Wenyue said: "Okay, go down."

Chu Qiao carried the bedding to wash. During this time, she was first picked on by Yin Lingdang's maid Jin Zhu, and then teased by Yan Xun: "Why do you look like you swallowed the stove fire? Oh... I know, no wonder you are so angry, I guess you didn't get what you wanted last night, and were kicked out of the room by Yu Wen Yue, that ice cube? Tsk tsk..."

Chu Qiao angrily said: "What nonsense are you talking about? A noble man should not lie on a lowly ground. You'd better stay away from here, or you'll get splashed with water!" As she spoke, she threw a basin of water at Yan Xun.

Yan Xun dodged and said with an even happier smile: "I am just kindly reminding you that Yuwen Yue is in the period of minor merit mourning now, he won't touch you."

Chu Qiao was speechless and said, "You...you...what do you mean by minor merit loss period? What does this have to do with me...with me..."

Yan Xun said: "He has to mourn, he has to observe filial piety, right? But I don't. We Yanbei men have eagles on our heads, horses under our feet, and open minds. Why don't you follow me..."

Chu Qiao was so angry that she raised the pestle in her hand and pretended to hit him. Yan Xun backed away and said, "No, no, no... If you throw such a big stick at me, it will kill me."

Chu Qiao said sternly, "I'm warning you, we don't interfere with each other, you'd better not provoke me. If you dare to provoke me again, be careful that I will be rude to you."

Yan Xun looked at Chu Qiao's aggressive movements without any fear, and smiled mischievously. Chu Qiao dropped the pestle in her hand, picked up the basin and left.

Chu Qiao was walking in the courtyard with no one around. Suddenly, a dark shadow hung upside down from the eaves, swaying back and forth. Chu Qiao said without even raising her eyelids, "Boring!"

Bai Ziyang hung upside down under the eaves, looking down and asked Chu Qiao: "You are not afraid at all?"

Chu Qiao said, "What is there to be afraid of?"

If any other woman suddenly saw a black shadow hanging upside down in front of her, she would probably be scared to death.

Chu Qiao told Bai Ziyang what Yan Xun said before. Bai Ziyang was speechless and said, "What's the matter with the minor merit mourning period? Why didn't he tell me earlier? Fei Liu and I had to take Yu Wen Yue out for a whole night yesterday. Now my legs are still sore."

Chu Qiao looked at Bai Ziyang and said, "Then why are you still hanging upside down here? Why don't you come down?"

Bai Ziyang saw someone coming from afar and said quickly, "Someone is coming. I'll leave first. Let's talk about the small and medium-sized achievements later. Don't forget to use your rouge."

Chu Qiao sent Bai Ziyang away, and watched from afar as Jin Zhu and a group of maids came to cause trouble again. However, she did not expect that Jin Zhu was quite skilled in fighting, and she was almost no match for her. If Yu Wen Yue had not appeared suddenly, Chu Qiao would have been injured by Jin Zhu.

In front of everyone, Yu Wen Yue angrily shouted at Chu Qiao: "How dare you!"

Chu Qiao knelt in front of Yu Wen Yue and said, "Sir, it was Jin Zhu who made the first move."

Jinzhu pretended to be pitiful and said, "My lord, it's unfair! I just wanted to teach them some rules, but I didn't expect that they would not only not listen, but also go against me in every way. If they continue like this, Qingshan Court will be ruined by them sooner or later."

Chu Qiao was about to say, "Sir, I..."

Yu Wen Yue scolded, "Shut up! You can't even learn the rules. Come here and be punished!"

Then Chu Qiao was taken away to be punished in front of everyone. Jin Zhu and others were very proud to hear this.

In the study, Yu Wen Yue asked Chu Qiao: "You really like to show off and win, don't you? Okay, I'll let you have your fill today!"

He then took her to the rockery pond behind the study and led her into a secret room hidden in the rocks. Chu Qiao looked around curiously but didn't dare to look any further. She found that the secret room they entered seemed to be a place for practicing martial arts. Yu Wen Yue handed her a bag of stones and said, "Throw stones."

The leopard head on the wall kept shooting arrows. Chu Qiao was able to dodge some of them, but some of them hit her body because she couldn't dodge in time. Although the arrows had no arrowheads, it was still very painful when they hit her body.

Yu Wen Yue said: "If Xiao Qi and Xiao Ba don't practice this well, they will never be able to leave Qingshan Court alive." After saying that, he turned and left.

Before leaving, Yu Wen Yue increased the number of leopard-head arrows and increased the speed of the arrows. Chu Qiao was unable to dodge and was hit by two arrows.

Yue Qi said at the side: "Now you know that throwing stones also requires precision, speed and accuracy, right? Practice this for the next three hours. If your skills are not up to par, these headless arrows will be enough to punish you." After saying that, he turned and left.

Chu Qiao was left alone to face these seemingly endless arrows. One hour passed, then two hours passed. In addition to her physical strength declining, she seemed to be hit by countless arrows, and the parts that were hit were aching slightly.

Three hours later, Yuwen Yue brought Yue Qi to the secret room. Chu Qiao threw away the arrow in her hand and asked, "Master, can I pass now?"

Yu Wen Yue said: "Do you think you can pass this level? This is only the second level. Now open the eight leopard heads. Yue Qi, let her see!"

"promise!"

After Yue Qi's demonstration, Yu Wen Yue said, "Now you should see clearly. If you pass the test successfully, you can ring the doorbell to come out. Otherwise, you will be punished until the third watch before you can go back."

In the end, Chu Qiao didn't even have the strength to go back, so Yue Qi brought Chu Qiao out and handed her to the maid, who then helped her back to her room.

The other maids were puzzled. Shouldn't this maidservant be serving in the master's room? Why did the master let her sleep in the maid's room?

Jinzhu took the opportunity to say smugly, "Because this maid offended me, the master punished her personally!"

After Jinzhu left, the other maids saw that Chu Qiao's exposed skin was covered with blue and purple patches, and exclaimed, "She was beaten so badly!"

Xiao Qi said angrily: "This Yuwen Yue really beat my sister like this without knowing right or wrong. It turns out that no one in the Yuwen family is a good person."

Chu Qiao, who was in a coma, seemed to have the same dream again, about that woman...

When Chu Qiao was practicing throwing stones the next day, she suddenly thought of her dream last night. In the dream, she seemed to be practicing martial arts, and the woman taught her: If you want to stop the flow, you must first cut off the source. After thinking it through, Chu Qiao grabbed the stones on the ground and threw them all at the leopard heads' shooting holes. When Yu Wen Yue came in, he saw eight leopard heads with their mouths blocked, and no arrows could be shot out. And Chu Qiao was standing in the middle.

Yu Wenyue's expressionless face finally showed a hint of smile, although it was so faint that it was almost invisible. Yue Qi said, "Does this count?"

Chu Qiao said, "How can this not be counted? Didn't you say that if I can deal with the eight leopard heads, I can ring the doorbell? I have already dealt with it."

Yue Qi said, "Sir, what I asked you to practice is your speed, not your cleverness."

Chu Qiao said: "Xing'er has figured out the trick, and now she can handle arrows flying from all directions."

Yue Qi said: "Sir, it took me a whole year to master this skill..."

Yu Wen Yue looked at Chu Qiao and said, "Very good! Now you are quick-witted! I will continue to punish you tomorrow!"