In the absolute silence, the fruit stood as a massive irony, reflecting Cai Lin’s scratched face and fearful tears, reflecting Shen Miao standing with her chin held high and calm demeanor.

She lowered her bow, bent down to pick up the fruit from the ground, glanced at Cai Lin, and suddenly said with a smile: “You lost.”

She naturally looked somewhat young and had appeared excessively calm from beginning to end today, making people forget her age. Now with her gentle smile, she suddenly displayed a trace of innocence. As people examined her carefully, they realized her previous perceived foolishness wasn’t foolishness at all—this young lady had bright eyes and white teeth, with quite an elegant and magnificent presence.

Cai Lin couldn’t utter a word. His face still bore the unwashed blood from the earlier cuts, while tears streamed down, blurring the blood and making his entire face a mess of red and pink patches, thoroughly disheveled. At this moment, he cared nothing for his dignity, only staring at Shen Miao with eyes full of terror.

Shen Miao raised an eyebrow—it seemed he finally knew fear. Fear was good. Killing the chicken to scare the monkey; from now on, all these snakes and rats around her would have to behave.

Servants hurried to help the terrified Cai Lin, whose legs had gone soft, down from the platform. The examining official walked to Shen Miao’s side, took the fruit that had been thoroughly pierced by the arrow, and asked in surprise: “Miss Shen, have you practiced archery before?”

It required not only good aim but also strength in drawing the bow. For Shen Miao, a delicate young lady, to draw so skillfully—moreover, everyone could see clearly that with the last arrow, Cai Lin had collapsed in fear, yet Shen Miao still hit the fruit despite his movement—was remarkable indeed.

Practiced? Shen Miao tilted her head slightly, falling into contemplation.

That was during her first year as a hostage in Qin. The Qin royal family, whether princesses or princes, enjoyed bullying her. Watching the Empress being humiliated seemed to be an extremely interesting thing, yet she couldn’t get angry because at that time, Qin was lending troops to Ming Qi.

Those princesses and princes invented a new game, with the same rules Cai Lin had established today on the examination field. They took turns placing fruit on their heads. When it was her turn to be the target, those Qin royals deliberately shot to mess up her hair, ruin her clothes, and even “occasionally” accidentally wounded her arms, neck, and other parts. And she could only endure it, gritting her teeth.

At that time, night after night, she would carefully set up a target in her room and diligently practice. She imagined those targets as the people who had hurt her, practicing earnestly, shooting with determination, until she could hit the mark with every shot.

But during the day, when it was her turn to shoot, she would still deliberately miss or be unable to draw the bow fully. There was no choice; living under someone else’s roof meant having to bow her head. She had to stay alive and return to Ming Qi to see Wanyu and Fu Ming.

That exhausting way of life continued for a full year. Today, when Cai Lin brought it up again, it suddenly took her back to those days of humiliation. In this life, she had no vulnerabilities in others’ hands, so naturally she could kill as she wished, shoot as she pleased. In a life free from constraints, whoever provoked her, she would ferociously retaliate. If the Cai family dared to speak about Shen Xin, she would make them so afraid they’d shut their mouths!

This was what she should do.

She smiled slightly: “I’ve often seen my brother practicing in the courtyard. Seeing it many times, I just imitated him. I didn’t expect to hit the mark by chance today.”

This statement infuriated the Cai couple below the platform. Their son had once been a top-ranked archer, yet today he hadn’t hit a single mark and had been publicly humiliated. And Shen Miao claimed that by merely imitating what she’d seen, drawing a bow for the first time, she’d hit the fruit. What nonsense!

“Clap, clap, clap.” Crisp applause rang out. Everyone turned to see the Prince of Yu clapping: “Truly excellent.”

Shen Miao glanced at him but said nothing.

The examining official announced loudly: “For this archery event, is there anyone else who wishes to challenge?”

In this round, Shen Miao had naturally won. Others could certainly come up to challenge Shen Miao. If no one challenged, Shen Miao would undisputedly be the top-ranked.

Hearing these words, Shen Yue’s face immediately darkened. In the first examination, she had been completely overshadowed by Shen Miao. She gazed from afar at Fu Xiuyi, who was saying something to the Prince of Zhou and the Prince of Jin, tightly gripping her hand then releasing it. In her heart, she cursed the spineless Cai Lin thoroughly.

But the next moment, she heard someone on the field call out: “I wish to challenge Shen Miao!”

From the men’s section, a young man stood up. He appeared to be only sixteen or seventeen years old and was quite handsome, but unfortunately, his eyes revealed undisguised worldliness and shrewdness. Even with his modest tone, there was a sense of affectation.

With just one glance, Shen Miao knew who he was. She found it somewhat amusing—this was the illegitimate son of the Marquis of Lin’an, Xie Jingxing’s half-brother, the second young master Xie Changwu.

This person had no other talents but was extremely smooth and worldly, an expert at flattery and ingratiating himself in official circles. Later, when the entire Xie family collapsed, the pair of illegitimate sons and Madam Fang lived quite comfortably thanks to the new Emperor’s relief for the Xie family. Xie Changwu and his brother Xie Changchao even entered the court as officials. She deeply disliked these two brothers at that time because they stood on Madam Mei’s side, were friendly with Fu Sheng, and even often helped Fu Sheng suppress Fu Ming.

The reason Shen Miao reminded Xie Jingxing to find an opportunity to eliminate his half-brothers was also because she harbored resentment for what happened in her previous life. These two couldn’t be allowed to remain; keeping them meant keeping enemies.

Now, before she could take revenge, this person had come forward voluntarily. But for what purpose? She looked at Official Cai’s position; Official Cai sat with a grave face while Xie Changchao seemed to be comforting him.

That’s right, recently the two Xie brothers were trying to secure positions under Official Cai, the Court Ceremonial, and had been actively befriending Cai Lin. Unfortunately, Cai Lin had always wanted to associate with Xie Jingxing and ignored the two brothers. But now wasn’t this a good opportunity?

She knew that in her previous life, by the end of this year—around the time she had successfully forced Fu Xiuyi to marry her—Xie Changwu and Xie Changchao had both entered Official Cai’s service. And then… two years later, the Cai family was implicated in an embezzlement case and the entire family was executed.

Many things had changed, but many things remained unchanged. It seemed the path had altered, but the outcome had not yet changed.

Did the Xie brothers want to use this method to curry favor with the Cai family while making her lose face?

Just as Shen Miao was about to answer, a voice suddenly emerged from the side.

The voice was lazy and filled with undisguised mockery: “You don’t practice with your brother at home, but now you come to challenge a young girl? Xie Changwu, you’re regressing.”

Xie Jingxing appeared on the platform. With his arms folded, he looked at his two half-brothers who had suddenly frozen below, and smiled: “How about I challenge you two instead? Let me discipline my brothers, so they don’t learn to be cowards, fighting with women and embarrassing themselves in public.”

He then glanced at Shen Miao and said: “You may leave.”