Fifteen minutes later, after the silver-armored Prefecture Guards hauled the weeping Deputy Magistrate Zhou away in iron chains and swept the last of the splintered wood off Arena Stage #1. Fifty-two-year-aged Prefecture Lord Qin Zheng , at Rank 3 Mid, personally took the chief referee’s seat at the center of the amphitheater!
Looking out over the twenty thousand cheering citizens packed into the tiered stone bleachers, Prefecture Lord Qin Zheng smiled warmly and projected his resonant Grandmaster voice across the stadium:.
“Citizens of Azure-Cloud Prefecture! With the corrupt official arrested and every other semifinalist eliminated, we have arrived at the Grand Championship Finals of our triennial Prefecture Junior Martial Tournament! And after all of the three-hundred-year history of our prefecture, both finalists standing on the Championship Stage hail from the exact same household and the exact same primary school in Frost-Pine Town!”
“On the western mark: Contestant #199, nine-year-old Class President Gu Nian—who swept through his entire bracket using one finger and a cast-iron pencil case! And on the eastern mark: Contestant #200, seven-year-old Flower-Monitor Gu Nuannuan—who put three seventeen-year-old elite swordsmen to sleep with three pink candy bubbles!”
CLAP-CLAP-CLAP-ROOOOAR!
All twenty thousand spectators in the Grand Prefecture Arena rose to their feet in a thunderous roar of applause, leaning forward on the edge of their stone seats with breathless anticipation!
Around the ringside plaza, the seventeen- and eighteen-year-old martial prodigies from all twelve counties—including a fully healed Young Master Tie Ba and the newly awakened Wind-Blade swordsmen—debated excitedly at the top of their lungs:.
“Who do you think is going to win the Grand Finals between the two monster siblings of Frost-Pine Town?!”
“It has to be nine-year-old Little Brother Nian! Did you see that thirty-foot golden Chaos Sovereign phantom behind his back when he smacked Lin Fan out of the ring with his pencil case?! That’s Rank 2 Late power at age nine!”
“Don’t underestimate seven-year-old Little Sister Nuannuan! Captain Tie told us at the noodle stand that two weeks ago, she melted five hundred steel battle-axes into black taffy with a single sneeze! If she sneezes on Little Brother Nian’s iron pencil case, we’re going to see an earth-shaking clash between a Sovereign Fist and a Honey-Mist Empress!”
Up on the center of Championship Stage #1. Nine-year-old Gu Nian (in his freshly washed yellow bunny apron and yellow bunny slippers) and seven-year-old Su Nuannuan (in her fluffy pink rabbit dress with her two pink pom-pom hair-buns) walked forward. They stood just two paces apart in the middle of the bluestone ring.
First, brother and sister turned together toward the VIP stand and bowed at a polite ninety-degree angle to Prefecture Lord Qin Zheng.
Next, they turned toward the ringside family bench—where twenty-nine-year-old Gu Changsheng was holding up the sparkling. Three-foot-tall [Rank 3 Golden-Dragon & Rainbow-Bunny Sugar-Painting Trophy] alongside Auntie Qin, Grandpa Fu, and Grandpa Yao—and bowed politely to their dad.
Down by the eastern bleachers, Bookmaker Qian cautiously poked his head out from behind his betting booth, holding a fresh chalk board in his trembling hands:.
“Ladies and gentlemen! For the Grand Championship Finals between nine-year-old Class President Gu Nian and seven-year-old Flower-Monitor Gu Nuannuan, the betting booth is now taking wagers on how many moves the match will last! Will it be thirty moves of Dragon-Bone Fist versus Honey-Sleep Mist, or fifty moves?!”
Over at the Frost-Pine ringside bench, sixty-two-year-old Grandpa Fu didn’t even bother walking over to the betting booth—he simply smiled with his single eye crinkling warmly:.
“Young Master, the city folks still think our Young Master Nian and Little Miss Nuannuan are going to trade punches on stage like those greedy aristocratic clan cousins who fight over family inheritances.”
“Let them watch,” twenty-nine-year-old Gu Changsheng chuckled, leaning back comfortably on the bench with his arms around Little Snowball while twenty-four-year-old Auntie Qin poured him a cup of warm wolfberry tea. “If my son and daughter ever raised a fist against each other over a tournament trophy. I’d put the [Golden-Dragon & Rainbow-Bunny Sugar-Painting Trophy] back in the pantry for a month and assign them both ten pages of calligraphy.”
“Hmph! Those city bumpkins have no idea how strict our Gu Family house rules are!” three-hundred-and-eighty-year-old Grandpa Yao nodded smugly from his velvet cushion, adjusting his tiny gold spectacles with his fuzzy green flipper.
“Back at Frost-Pine Elementary School, whenever there’s only one golden-crusted drumstick left in the lunch pot, there is only one sacred martial technique permitted under Patriarch Gu’s roof!”
And then, as Prefecture Lord Qin Zheng rang the golden Championship Bell and twenty thousand people held their breath waiting for a heaven-shaking clash of Rank 2 martial arts—.
Nine-year-old Gu Nian and seven-year-old Su Nuannuan faced each other in the center of the ring, put their small right hands behind their backs, grinned from ear to ear. Chanted in unison at the top of their lungs:.
“Gu Family Sibling Sparring Rule Number One: Brother and Sister never hit each other! ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS—SHOOT!”
THUD-FLOP!
Across the twenty-thousand-seat stadium, five thousand spectators nearly fell off their benches!
“R-Rock, Paper, Scissors?! They’re deciding the Grand Championship of Azure-Cloud Prefecture with Rock-Paper-Scissors?!”
“Wait—look at their footwork and hand-speed! Even when they’re playing Rock-Paper-Scissors, the air around their sleeves is humming with Rank 2 martial resonance!”
In the center of the stage:.
- Round One: Gu Nian threw Rock (a chubby little fist); Su Nuannuan threw Rock (a tinier chubby fist)!
“A tie! Again, Big Brother Nian!” seven-year-old Nuannuan giggled, bouncing on her toes as her pink rabbit dress fluttered.
- Round Two: Gu Nian threw Paper; Su Nuannuan also threw Paper!
“Whoa! Another tie! Big Brother Nian knows what Nuannuan is thinking!”
Up in the competitor stands, eighteen-year-old Young Master Tie Ba of the Iron-Fist Clan. Seventeen-year-old Senior Brother Feng Liu of the Wind-Blade School leaned over the iron railing with their eyes wide. Watching a children’s hand-game more intensely than if two Rank 3 Grandmasters were dueling with broadswords:.
“Did you see Round Two?! Both of them threw Paper at the exact same millisecond! If this goes to Round Three, what is Little Sister Nuannuan going to throw?!”
As they prepared for the third and final tie-breaker throw, seven-year-old Su Nuannuan bit her lower lip in cute concentration. Her little right hand balling tightly into a tiny fist behind her back while her left pink hair-bun wiggled twice.
Down by the front row, Gu Changsheng leaned back on his bench with his arms folded across his clean apron. Letting the two kids settle the grand championship with rock-paper-scissors is much easier on the arena floorboards, Gu Changsheng thought with a dry chuckle. Besides, whoever wins still gets the exact same braised pork ribs for dinner.
Standing two feet in front of her, nine-year-old Gu Nian noticed that wiggling pink hair-bun right away.
Because he brushed his little sister’s hair and helped her with her counting beans every single morning. Nine-year-old Gu Nian knew her secret habit by heart: Whenever Nuannuan gets excited and her left hair-bun wiggles, she ALWAYS throws Rock!
Gu Nian’s right hand behind his back was already formed into Paper—which would wrap around Nuannuan’s Rock and make him the Grand Champion.
Then the nine-year-old boy looked at his seven-year-old sister’s sparkling, hopeful dark eyes, remembered how she had spent six years locked in a cold dark basement before Dad brought her home. Remembered how happy she looked earlier when she saw the pink candy bunny at the top of the sugar-painting trophy.
I’m nine years old and the Class President, nine-year-old Gu Nian thought with a quiet, mature warmth in his chest. Dad says the older brother’s job is to block the wind at the gate and let his little sister have the sweetest piece of candy first.
With a tiny, imperceptible smile that only a loving big brother could make. Nine-year-old Gu Nian quietly tucked his thumb and three fingers in behind his back—switching his hand from Paper to two extended fingers: Scissors!
“Rock, Paper, Scissors—SHOOT!”
Seven-year-old Su Nuannuan threw out a chubby little Rock!
And nine-year-old Gu Nian threw out a neat two-finger Scissors!
For one second, seven-year-old Su Nuannuan stared at her little fist and her big brother’s two fingers—and then she jumped two feet into the air with her arms raised high:.
“YAAAAY! Rock beats Scissors! Nuannuan won First Place Champion!
Big Brother Nian, we get to eat the giant rainbow sugar bunny together!”
“Congratulations, Champion Nuannuan—your Rock was super strong today,” nine-year-old Gu Nian said earnestly, applauding for his little sister with a warm, proud smile on his face!
Right after cheering, however, seven-year-old Su Nuannuan ran two steps forward, threw both small arms around nine-year-old Gu Nian’s neck in a big hug on the center of the stage. Whispered into his ear loud enough for the front row to hear:.
“Big Brother Nian, Nuannuan knows you saw my hair-bun wiggle and threw Scissors on purpose so Nuannuan could be First Place! When Dad gives us the giant sugar-painting trophy, Big Brother gets the golden dragon’s head AND half of the pink bunny’s ears!”
“Deal,” nine-year-old Gu Nian grinned, hugging his little sister back and patting her pink hair-bun gently. “And we’ll save the sugar clouds at the bottom for Dad, Auntie Qin, Grandpa Fu, and Grandpa Yao!”
Across the tiered bleachers of the Grand Prefecture Arena, hundreds of mothers, fathers. Grizzled martial artists who had spent their lives watching clan brothers stab each other in the back over a single pill bottle felt their throats tighten with emotion. They rose to their feet and clapped until their palms turned red!
“Look at Patriarch Gu’s two children from Frost-Pine Town! Either one of them could sweep every eighteen-year-old in the twelve counties with a single finger. On the Grand Championship stage, the older brother intentionally threw Scissors to make his little sister smile, and the little sister immediately offered him the best half of the prize!”
“No wonder twelve thousand families moved to Frost-Pine Town this winter! Tomorrow morning I’m packing up my carpentry shop and moving my three sons to Frost-Pine Town so they can study at Patriarch Gu’s Elementary School!”
Down at the ringside family bench, twenty-four-year-old Auntie Qin wiped away a proud tear with her handkerchief. Sixty-two-year-old Grandpa Fu nodded with a beaming smile; Captain One-Ear Scar and his fifty pink-aproned security uncles bawled with emotion while waving pink banners. And up on the stage, Prefecture Lord Qin Zheng—who had clearly seen the nine-year-old boy switch his fingers.
From Paper to Scissors behind his back for his little sister!—laughed until his eyes shone with deep admiration:.
“What a pair of peerless, big-hearted siblings! By order of this Prefecture Lord, Gu Nuannuan is crowned Grand Champion of Azure-Cloud Prefecture, and Gu Nian is crowned Co-Champion of Martial Virtue!”
Down at the ringside balustrade, eighteen-year-old Young Master Tie Ba of the Iron-Fist Clan wiped his eyes with his thick forearm and turned to his father:.
“Father! When I stepped onto Stage One this morning. I was bragging about how hard my fists were—yet nine-year-old Little Brother Nian could have crushed my breastplate with two fingers and chose to spare my pride instead!
And in the Grand Finals, he gave First Place to his seven-year-old sister with a smile! Compared to Frost-Pine Town’s Class President, I was acting like a three-year-old!”
“It is never too late to learn true martial virtue, my son,” Patriarch Tie said solemnly, clapping his hands with the twenty thousand cheering citizens. “After the awards ceremony, we will formally apply to enroll our Iron-Fist Clan’s younger cousins in Patriarch Gu’s Frost-Pine Elementary School!”
And beside them, seventeen-year-old Senior Brother Feng Liu and his two Wind-Blade School junior brothers held up a hastily painted silk banner reading [CHAMPION NUANNUAN & CO-CHAMPION NIAN. NUMBER ONE IN AZURE-CLOUD PREFECTURE!], cheering until their voices went hoarse!
Even sixty-year-old Town Magistrate Liu stood up in the front row of the county magistrates’ box, dabbing his eyes with his silk sleeve while bowing proudly to his eleven fellow county magistrates:.
“Gentlemen, when our caravan Returns to Frost-Pine Town next week, you are all invited to visit our Frost-Pine Elementary School! Not only do our first-graders sweep the Prefecture Arena with one finger and a candy bubble, their Rock-Paper-Scissors sportsmanship is the pride of all twelve counties!”
Watching his son and daughter hold up the championship banner together, Gu Changsheng smiled warmly. Two first-place trophies and zero bruised knuckles, Gu Changsheng thought. That is what I call a successful parent-teacher field trip.
[ DING! SIBLING FINALS COMPLETE — 20,000 CITIZENS DEEPLY MOVED! ]
* Grand Champions: Su Nuannuan (1st) & Gu Nian (Co-Champion)!
* Warmth Surge : 20,000 Prefecture Citizens & Prefecture Lord.
Qin Zheng [Warmth: 85/100]!
* Daily Income : +172,000 DP/day -> +176,000 DP/day!