He didn’t take the incident to heart, dismissing it as a curious sighting. The competition was about to start, so he returned to the square. There was a commotion on the Wen Clan’s side.
Wei Wuxian asked Jiang Cheng, “How can their clan stir up so much trouble organizing a symposium? There’s drama every day. What’s the matter now?”
“What else?” Jiang Cheng scoffed. “The number of competition spots is limited. They’re all fighting over who gets to participate.” After a pause, he continued contemptuously, “That group of Wens are all equally terrible archers. It’s going to be like that no matter who participates. Why would fighting over it make any difference?”
From the other end of the square, Wen Chao barked, “One more! One more, we’re still one short! Last spot!”
The young man in white from before was also standing among the Wen Clan crowd. He looked left and right, then mustered up enough courage to lift his hand. But he didn’t hold it up high enough, and he didn’t dare to shout out his own name as the others did. It was only after he’d been shoved around for a while that someone noticed him and marveled aloud.
“Qionglin? You want to participate too?”
That young man named Qionglin nodded. Someone else laughed.
“I’ve never even seen you hold a bow before. What are you doing trying to participate in the competition?! Don’t waste the spot.”
Wen Qionglin seemed to want to defend himself, but that person continued, “All right, enough. Don’t try to sign up just for the novelty of it. The results are going to be officially counted. It won’t be my business if you go and humiliate yourself.”
Wei Wuxian thought, Humiliate? If there’s anyone in the Wen Clan who can save the lot of you any face, it’s him.
The disdain in the person’s tone came too easily, and it incurred Wei Wuxian’s displeasure to hear. He raised his voice. “Who said he’s never held a bow before? He has, and he’s very good at it!”
The crowd looked at him with slight surprise, then turned their eyes to the young man. Wen Qionglin’s face was somewhat pale to begin with, and suddenly having everyone’s attention on him turned it beet-red in no time. His pitch-black eyes stared hard at Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian walked over, hands clasped behind his back. “Weren’t you doing a pretty good job of it earlier in the garden?”
Wen Chao turned around and wondered dubiously, “Really? You’re good at archery? Why did I never hear about this?”
Wen Qionglin mumbled quietly, “…I…I only just started training recently…”
His voice was soft and also halting, as if he was preparing for someone to cut him off any time, which indeed happened often. Wen Chao impatiently interrupted him.
“All right then, there’s a target there. Go ahead and show us. If you’re good, you’re in. If not, get out of the way.”
The area around Wen Qionglin was vacated in no time. His grip on the bow tightened as he looked pleadingly left and right. Seeing how lacking he was in self-confidence, Wei Wuxian patted him on the shoulder.
“Relax. Just shoot as you did before.”
Wen Qionglin gave him a grateful look, took a deep breath, and drew the bow. But as soon as he did, Wei Wuxian shook his head inwardly and thought, No good.
Wen Qionglin had likely never shot an arrow in the presence of other people. He was shaking all over, from his arm to his fingertips. The arrow hurtled forth and missed the target totally.
The Wens watching him jeered.
“How is this good?!”
“I can shoot better than that with my eyes closed.”
“All right, let’s stop wasting time. Hurry up and pick someone!”
Wen Qionglin’s face flushed all the way to his ears. He didn’t even need the others to wave him away as he fled, mortified. Wei Wuxian chased after him.
“Hey, don’t run away! Um, what’s your… Qionglin-xiong, right? What are you running away for?”
Hearing Wei Wuxian calling after him, Wen Qionglin stopped and turned around. He hung his head, looking deeply ashamed. “…Sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing to me?” Wei Wuxian wondered.
Clearly feeling guilty, Wen Qionglin explained, “You…you recommended me, but I made you lose face…”
“What face is there for me to lose?” Wei Wuxian asked. “You don’t really shoot in front of others, right? Were you nervous just now?”
Wen Qionglin nodded, and Wei Wuxian said, “Have some confidence in yourself. I’ll be honest with you—you shoot better than anyone else in your clan. And of all the sect disciples I’ve seen, there are no more than three who are better at archery than you.”
Jiang Cheng walked over. “What are you up to now? Three what?”
Wei Wuxian pointed at Jiang Cheng. “There. This one, for example. He’s not as good as you in archery.”
Jiang Cheng flew into a rage. “You’re dead!”
Wei Wuxian accepted a blow from him. Without even batting an eyelash, he continued, “It’s true. There’s honestly nothing to be nervous about. Practice in front of others more often and you’ll get used to it. Next time, you’ll definitely make them see you in a new light.”
Wen Qionglin was probably a junior from a collateral branch of a collateral branch of the Wen Clan. His status was neither high nor low, but he was a timid, hesitant person with low self-esteem who stuttered when he spoke. He had finally mustered the courage to join the competition after much practice but had blown his chance because he was too nervous. Without proper guidance, this boy might withdraw even further from the world, never daring to show his skills in the presence of others again.
Wei Wuxian said a few words of encouragement, then briefly mentioned some key points that needed to be brought to his attention, correcting a few minor bad habits he’d noticed when he was shooting arrows in the garden. Wen Qionglin listened with rapt attention, nodding nonstop.
“How much bullshit do you want to spout?” Jiang Cheng said. “The competition is starting, so hurry up and get your ass to the arena!”
Wei Wuxian said to Wen Qionglin seriously, “I’m off to the competition now. You can watch how I shoot in the field…”
Jiang Cheng impatiently dragged him away, clicking his tongue as he did. “Watch what? You think you’re a role model?!”
Wei Wuxian pondered the question and responded in an amazed tone, “Yeah. Am I not?”
“Wei Wuxian! I’ve never seen anyone as shameless as you!”