Chapter 74 The Assassin

    Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu seemed to be calm in the north, but every time they got the news from the capital, they couldn't calm down. After all, they were still in the state of planning. If something happened suddenly in the capital, could they return to the capital immediately?

    Everything was unknown.

    Although it was too cold to go out in winter, when it was not snowing, people here felt bored and would still go out to have fun.

    In the first year after being reborn, Luo Shuyu saw Li Mingjin in a Cuju competition. In the three years in Gucheng, they were afraid of the invasion of the Guiyan Kingdom every year, so they could never relax, and never thought about going out to have fun.

    In the past few years, the opponent's strength was not very clear, but now, they were studying their attack patterns all the time. Another group of spies was sent to sabotage the Guiyan Kingdom, and all the thirty-six stratagems were used on the Guiyan royal clan.
[三十六计 sān shí liù jì: The Thirty-Six Stratagems, a Chinese essay used to illustrate a series of stratagems used in politics, war, and in civil interaction; all the possible schemes and stratagems]

    A year had passed, and they were still too busy to take care of themselves, let alone Li Mingjin. The Guiyan Kingdom was unaware of the further development of Gucheng. By the time they realized it, they had already lost the best time to capture Gucheng.

    At this time, Li Mingjin already had a team of elite soldiers belonging to him in Gucheng, which far surpassed other teams in terms of equipment and ability. They had been trained for three years. The scattered group of people back then were all full of energy now. Compared with the soldiers led by the old general Wei at his peak, it was not to be inferior in any aspects.
[有过之而无不及 yǒu guò zhī ér wú bù jí: not to be inferior in any aspects (idiom); to surpass; to outdo; (derog.) to be even worse]

    Last year, the Guiyan Kingdom invaded their territory. This year, several tribes in the Guiyan Kingdom were fighting every day. The internal friction was still high, and there was no time to approach Gucheng, and Gucheng had time to recuperate.

    Since the safety of Gucheng could be guaranteed for the time being, Li Mingjin gave benefits to the people in winter and held a winter Cuju competition in Gucheng.

    The ice cuju competition was arranged in advance before the winter, and all teams were free to form teams. Now it had reached the final stage, and four strong teams stood out. The third place was determined yesterday, and the champion and runner-up would be determined today.

    Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu went to the competition venue to watch the final.

    The people who went out to watch the game had already sat down in the spectator area. Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu were sitting in the windshield shed with two pots of charcoal burning inside, and it was not cold at all. Compared with the people who were standing against the wind, they were obviously much more comfortable.

    Today's Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu were well-received by the people in Gucheng, and they were loved by these common people. Seeing them appeared, the people spontaneously cheered.

    Luo Shuyu stood up and waved at them. He was actually a little moved. He didn't expect that he would get such feedback for what he did within his ability. The feeling of being remembered seemed to be quite good.

    "What's wrong?" Li Mingjin saw that Luo Shuyu's eyes were slightly red, and wondered what touched him.

    Luo Shuyu shook his head: "No, I just feel that my efforts are really rewarded, and I'm just a little moved."

    Li Mingjin looked towards the public audience area, and put his arm around Luo Shuyu's shoulder: "Naturally there must be rewards, if you raise white eyed wolf, I will be the first to not let them go."
[白眼狼 bái yǎn láng: white eyed wolf; thankless wretch, an ingrate]

    Luo Shuyu agreed: "Indeed."

    The game would start immediately, and Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu were no longer entangled in the rewards matter.

    They listened to the referee shouted to start of the game, and began to watch the Cuju final seriously.

    Although it was a folk team, there were always many folk masters. Today's game was very exciting. Although it was not as good as Li Mingjin's superb performance back then, but it was still very worth to watch. As long as a goal was scored, there would be cheers, and the smiles on the faces of the common people were very simple. If this kind of game could make everyone happy, why not made it as a regular event, which not only exercised people's ability to unite, but also mobilized the participation of the common people.

    Luo Shuyu told Li Mingjin his thoughts, and the latter thought it was very good idea. In the past, there were Cuju competitions in the capital, but they were held at irregular times. It would be a feat if the competitions were held in Gucheng at a fixed time every year.

    The champion team was finally decided, and Li Mingjin stepped forward to present the awards to them. This was an unprecedented awards ceremony. To receive the prizes presented by Li Mingjin himself, the members of the champion team were so excited that they couldn't even speak clearly.

    However, Li Mingjin noticed that one of them was relatively calm, and when he took the prize that Li Mingjin handed over, the smile on his face was very stiff.

    The next moment, the prize that was just handed out suddenly fell to the ground, and the man drew a dagger from his arms and stabbed Li Mingjin!

    Li Mingjin cleverly avoided this dagger. He was already vigilant when presenting the award. It was too late for common people to be happy when the prince himself presented the award in person, but this man still had a calm face, as if he knew this beforehand, and it would be difficult for Li Mingjin not to notice.

    As expected, this person was already prepared!

    The incident happened suddenly, and everyone else was dumbfounded.

    An assassin appeared!