As a member of the royal family, Fu Xiuyi certainly couldn’t be ignorant of imperial methods. The crisp sound of the teacup falling to the ground, seemingly accidental, had already disrupted the rhythm of the musicians on stage, preventing those bewitching tones from continuing. He naturally wanted to see who had caused this. Fu Xiuyi himself was cautious and suspicious by nature; he didn’t believe it was unintentional.
The purple-robed young lady was resting her chin on her hand, saying something to the person beside her. Her expression was cold, and from afar, there was an indescribable dignity about her that separated her from those around her.
“Who is Ninth Brother looking at?” Prince Zhou Fu Xiu’an followed Fu Xiuyi’s gaze and revealed a knowing smile. “Speaking of which, among us brothers, only Ninth Brother hasn’t taken a wife. Father has mentioned the matter of the Ninth Brother selecting a consort many times. Who is that young lady? Which family’s daughter is she? She looks quite good. Does anyone know whose relative she is?”
“She is the fifth miss of the Mighty General’s mansion, this humble one’s student,” Pei Lang, standing not far away, answered when he heard the question.
“The fifth miss of the Mighty General’s mansion?” Prince Jing Fu Xiuxuan had a good memory. Perhaps because Shen Miao’s reputation was too significant, even the royal family was not unfamiliar with her name. He said, “Isn’t that General Shen Xin’s legitimate daughter? Seems she’s called Shen Miao?”
“How could it be Shen Miao?” Fu Xiu’an dismissed with a smile. “Everyone in the capital knows about Shen Miao chasing after our Ninth Brother. Didn’t she fall into the water some days ago just to see Ninth Brother? If Ninth Brother truly cared for Shen Miao, why would it be so troublesome? Besides, Shen Miao is a fool. Look at that young lady across—calm and noble in temperament. How could she possibly be Shen Miao?”
“Fourth Brother, mind your words. I have no such intentions,” Fu Xiuyi shook his head, but his gaze fell on the purple-robed young lady in the women’s section from afar.
He was indeed shocked in his heart. Who was Shen Miao? In his eyes, she was no different from those young ladies who admired him. Those admirers at least pretended to be reserved on the surface and understood some etiquette, but Shen Miao… apart from staring at him foolishly, she couldn’t do anything else. He naturally wouldn’t look favorably upon the laughingstock of the entire capital. If not for Shen Xin’s sake, he would certainly have shown his disgust openly.
And the Shen Miao in his memory always wore bright red and green clothes, loved gold ornaments, and smeared her face with rouge and powder, looking like a clown from a stage play, and a rural stage at that. But the purple-robed young lady across from him now had skin like cream, gentle features, and an air of nobility that clearly distinguished her from the women around her. How could she be Shen Miao?
He wasn’t the only one confused; so was Pei Lang.
As a teacher who had taught Shen Miao for two years, Pei Lang undoubtedly knew her better than Fu Xiuyi. While a person’s appearance could be changed and clothes could be adjusted, the overall temperament was different. Pei Lang was a scholar, and scholars valued temperament more than others. How could Shen Miao have transformed overnight as if she had become a different person?
He hadn’t thought about the teacup incident earlier. Although he had also sensed something off about the music, in his mind, how could a young girl possibly discern such issues? Moreover, Shen Miao had never been a master of musical instruments.
As everyone pondered these thoughts, the musicians on stage had finished. The examination was about to begin.
This year’s examination was different from previous years. It wasn’t divided by gender but by literary and martial arts. Although Guangwen Hall required students to be proficient in both literary and martial arts, the century-old custom had rarely seen girls choose martial arts. In the literary category, essays, policy discussions, and classical interpretations were dominated by males. This was because these three subjects were pathways for selecting talents for the court. As an official once said, “The examination for scholars often selects future ministers and generals, all of whom achieve great prominence.”
The martial category required testing in horseback archery, foot archery, horsemanship, spear techniques, weight-bearing, and more. But since this wasn’t a true military examination, there was no need for military drills or actual arena competitions.
Most girls were examined in poetry, lyrics, songs, and rhapsodies—the four items in the literary category. This was a default tradition. Even though Ming Qi’s customs were relatively open, they were much stricter with women. This wasn’t unique to Ming Qi; almost all countries were like this. Women were supposed to stay at home, support their husbands, teach their children, and engage in poetic pursuits.
Ming Qi’s examination had always been divided into three parts: drawing, selecting, and challenging.
Drawing was required for everyone. The examination officials would scramble the order, and the drawing of lots would determine which examination item each person got. To avoid drawing something too difficult, girls drew from the four items in the literary category, while boys drew from martial arts and the policy and classics sections of the literary category.
Since this was unavoidable, Shen Miao would disgrace herself in this section every year, as she wasn’t proficient in any of the four literary items: poetry, lyrics, songs, and rhapsodies.
Selection was the second stage, where one could choose a category they excelled to demonstrate on stage. For instance, Shen Yue often chose to play the zither, while Shen Qing chose calligraphy and calculations.
As for the final stage, challenging, it wasn’t about selection but confrontation. Someone could go on stage and challenge any student to compete in a particular item. Such scenarios often occurred between evenly matched opponents. Challenging someone like Shen Miao would be an insult to one’s abilities. Nevertheless, some who wanted to see Shen Miao make a fool of herself would deliberately challenge her on stage to compare in some category. The outcome was predictable—regardless of the category, Shen Miao would be utterly defeated.
So for Shen Miao, every year’s examination was a nightmare, where she was ridiculed and laughed at as a joke. Such days were countless.
And this year would be no different.
On stage, the chief examination official made a speech as in previous years, while two others brought out two small wooden buckets containing the lots. These lots had the examination items written on them, for students to draw.
Both boys and girls had to draw. One person went to the men’s section, passing the bucket to each male student in turn. Another tall woman took the lot bucket to the women’s section, allowing female students to draw in sequence.
Feng Anning blinked her eyes. “May heaven bless me. I just hope to draw the zither and calligraphy categories. I’m not good at painting and chess.” She looked at Shen Miao. “You don’t seem worried at all. Is it because you’re confident? Or have you given up completely?” She wasn’t being mean, but Shen Miao truly was a fool who was incompetent in everything.
Shen Miao didn’t respond. What was the point of drawing? Whether it was zither, chess, calligraphy, or painting, she wasn’t good at any of them.
When the wooden bucket reached Shen Miao’s table, Feng Anning drew first. After taking out her lot, she eagerly opened it and immediately sighed in relief. “It’s zither! It’s a zither! Now that’s good. All these days of practicing the zither haven’t been wasted. Shen Miao, what’s yours?”
Shen Miao had just withdrawn her hand from the bucket, with a white lot folded into a long strip lying in her palm. She opened it to see, and there was one character written inside.
Painting.