The examiner was Zhong Ziqi, a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet. He was a small, gray-haired old man, but usually very serious and upright. He simply opened the scroll in his hand and began to read out the questions for the day.

Regarding the "painting" aspect, it actually changes every year, but this year, the verification and the Chrysanthemum Banquet happened to be combined, so the theme was much simpler. For example, the "book" was themed around chrysanthemums, and the "painting" was also themed around chrysanthemums.

There are five long tables on the stage, with writing brushes, inkstones, and paper on them. People walk to the tables in order, and the drummers will beat the drums loudly, and the verification begins.

Everyone stretched their necks to look up.

These five people are also very distinctive. Shen Yue is a well-known talented woman, Qin Qing is beautiful and arrogant, Fan Liu'er and Zhao Yan are a pair of sisters with a good relationship, and Shen Miao is naturally the stupid and ignorant fool.

The male relatives mostly looked at Shen Yue and Qin Qing, while the female relatives mostly looked at Shen Miao.

Bai Wei covered her mouth and said, "Chen Miao seems to be behaving well today. She hasn't made any strange movements. It seems that everything is normal."

Including this one, Shen Miao had already passed four tests. The first time she drew the chess piece, she made a few random moves and was defeated. The second time she drew the book, she knocked over the inkstone and stained her clothes. The third time she drew the zither, she broke the strings of the fine bamboo zither. Rather than watching Shen Miao take the stage, it was more like watching her make a fool of herself in front of everyone's eyes.

But today is a little different.

A young girl sat at the table on a spacious platform. Her pen-holding was perfectly executed, as if she had undergone rigorous training, as if not even the slightest mistake could be found. In the golden autumn of October, a cold wind rustled through the hall, ruffling the strands of hair across her forehead. She lowered her head slightly, revealing only her oval face, her drooping eyelashes forming a beautiful arc.

There is actually something beautiful about it.

The lotus-green cloak rustled fiercely. She sat upright, yet wrote with ease and grace. She seemed not to care as she wrote eloquently. However, her confident demeanor was like the crabapple blossoms in her black hair, blooming ostentatiously in a restrained way.

Madam Yi pursed her lips and said to Ren Wanyun with an ambiguous tone, "Wu Niang has really grown up."

Ren Wanyun forced a smile, but her hands clenched quietly.

The sound of girls talking could be heard from behind.

“Shen Miao hasn’t made any embarrassing moves until now, could it be that she has really changed her personality?”

"That's impossible. She must be just pretending. Didn't you see she didn't even think before she put pen to paper? Even Chen Yue would need to think for a few moments, so the most likely thing she did was just scribbling."

Feng An Ning looked at Shen Miao on the stage, and that strange feeling came back. She suddenly had a hunch that today's Chrysanthemum Banquet might not be like the past. For example, Shen Miao on the stage, would she really make a fool of herself?

Or, in an irresistible posture, destroy all people's misconceptions about her.

At the men's table, some people gradually noticed the difference.

This group was arguably the most pleasing of the entire female group. Chen Yue, in her elegant pink dress, was soft and graceful. Qin Qing, in her wide-sleeved green dress, was proud and beautiful. Fan Liu'er was charming and charming, Zhao Yan was quirky and clever. If there was anyone with the least distinctive qualities, it would be the foolish, cowardly, and tacky Chen Miao.

But at a glance, among the five people, Shen Miao was not only not outshined, but appeared to be particularly outstanding.

She just sat there quietly, with her head clearly lowered, but she had a feeling of looking down on everyone, as if... as if that frail figure was standing in a high position of decisive killing, making people involuntarily feel submissive.

Pei Lang frowned. How could a person's temperament change so drastically? Was this person really Shen Miao?

Fu Xiuyi could hardly hide his surprise. It was not that he noticed the drastic difference between Shen Miao now and before, but Shen Miao's sitting posture, straight back, and every gesture reminded him of someone.

The current master of the six palaces, the Queen.

Fu Xiuyi knew his idea was absurd. Everyone in the capital knew that Shen Miao loved him, and he hated being admired by such a woman. But most of the time, all he heard about Shen Miao was rumors. Rumors said she was uneducated, vulgar, crude, stupid, and cowardly. Now, he had a feeling: those rumors weren't entirely true.

"How strange." The blue-shirted youth who had been scolded by Cai Lin earlier said in surprise, "Didn't they say that Shen Miao from the eighth grade was a idiot? She doesn't look like one."

Cai Lin was also stunned. His eyes had been following Shen Yue, but Shen Miao seemed to have a magical power that could make people pay attention to her involuntarily. It was as if she was born to be in a position to be seen, and today was particularly noticeable. He tried hard to suppress his strange thoughts and snorted, "Just pretending."

"Brother, she will win, right?" Su Minglang tugged at the sleeve of the person next to him.

Su Mingfeng had a smile on his face, but his expression was a little strange.

"Shen Miao?"

After a stick of incense, the drummer beat the drum again to indicate that the time was up.

Chen Yue put down her brush. She was very confident in her painting today. To her left was Qin Qing, who had also finished painting and was washing his brush. Even a simple movement, when performed by her, was as moving as a painting.

But no matter how attractive a person is, beauty is never the only thing that matters in the testing field.

She turned her head and looked at Shen Miao again, thinking that Shen Miao always failed to accomplish anything, but today she didn't make any mistakes. Perhaps she really had become smarter because of the advice given by someone around her. But people can pretend, but talent cannot be faked. At this moment, she must be in a mess and unfinished.

However, in front of her eyes, Shen Miao had already put down her pen and looked calmly at the person who came to collect the scroll.

Shen Yue’s smile froze.

"Okay, go down." After everyone's scrolls were collected, it was time to check and judge the second-grade girls, which also took time.

"Fifth sister, what exactly did you draw?" After Shen Yue got off the stage, she couldn't wait to ask Shen Miao tentatively.

She didn't know why, but Shen Miao made her feel uneasy.

“You’ll know in a moment.” Shen Miao smiled slightly, and her smile seemed to contain something even more profound.

She turned around and walked out of sight before saying to Guyu beside her, "Find a way to get this to the second young master of the Jingdianshi Mansion. Look, those are the three people in lake green clothes sitting opposite, from the left."

Guyu hesitated for a moment, still a little confused, and then said, "That's all for you."

"Go ahead." Shen Miao patted her shoulder, walked back to her original seat, and looked at Pei Lang from a distance.

Pei Lang looked up and met a pair of eyes. Even from a distance, he could see the scrutiny contained in them.

I'm sorry, Pei Lang. Shen Miao thought to herself, let me borrow your hand to shake the unbreakable foundation of the Mingqi royal family.

After all, you owe me.