Su Lijin looked at her and the exaggerated pink flower on her head, and the corners of her mouth curled up: "The flower on your head is quite nice, Concubine Shu."
Hearing this, Concubine Shu stroked the flower on her head with pride and said, "Of course, this is the best quality one I specially selected. Unlike you, Your Majesty, you don't care about the Emperor's competition at all."
"Well, it's worthy of being a top-notch product. It's much more beautiful than humans." Ignoring the hidden meaning in her words, Su Lijin praised.
The other concubines in the palace couldn't help but look up at Concubine Shu's head. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, they all covered their mouths and laughed.
There are no allies in the harem. Everyone is fighting for their own interests. When they see someone at a disadvantage, they want to step on them.
"You!" Concubine Shu's face turned pale instantly. The laughter of others made her face look even uglier: "What are you all laughing at!"
Staring at Su Lijin, she wished she could tear her mouth open.
Su Lijin raised her eyebrows and smiled provocatively.
She is not a pushover. Every time Concubine Shu provokes her, she retorts. Can't Concubine Shu learn to be more honest?
It’s best not to mess with her, otherwise, she won’t care who she is!
Xiao Shengxing glanced at Su Lijin, his eyes fell on the flowers on Concubine Shu's head, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, it seemed that he could not appreciate such aesthetics.
The eunuch on the side received Xiao Shengxing's instructions and said, "The competition begins now!"
The concubines were excited and came on stage one by one according to the predetermined order and positions.
Most of them were daughters of officials, and regardless of their rank, they all learned music, chess, calligraphy and painting while in their boudoirs.
At this moment, the concubines, who were dressed up carefully, were painting flowers and birds on rice paper, and from time to time they would seize the opportunity to secretly cast a coquettish glance at Xiao Shengxing.
Soon, it was Concubine Shu's turn to paint.
Concubine Shu glared at Su Lijin, then walked up to the platform in a haughty manner.
The ink she used was excellent, the rice paper was the best, and even the brush in her hand was first-rate.
This was something she had prepared early on. She knew very well that only with good paper, pen, and ink could she achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Drawing confidently, after a while, a pair of mandarin ducks appeared on the paper, playing in the pond.
"Shufei is quite good. In my opinion, she has the talent to be number one." The empress dowager nodded repeatedly with a look of satisfaction on her face.
Xiao Shengxing raised his eyes, his face expressionless, and did not express his opinion.
Su Lijin took a look and raised the corners of her lips: "Not bad."
To be fair, Concubine Shu's painting skills are outstanding among all the concubines, and the pair of mandarin ducks are quite lively.
When the other concubines saw this, they felt jealous and unwilling.
Concubine Shu was very proud. When she sat down, she looked at Su Lijin with provocative eyes: "Empress, why don't you go up and paint? Don't you know how to paint at all?"
Everyone looked over, as if urging him with their eyes.
Su Lijin stood up and smiled faintly: "This painting of yours requires some preparation, so I hope you will wait patiently."
Xiao Shengxing nodded: "Then go and get ready. I'll be waiting for you."
Leaving her seat, Su Lijin went directly to the back of the platform, where a maid was already standing there carrying items.
"Put everything evenly around the platform."
After saying that, she went behind a curtain.
In an instant, wisps of smoke rose from the platform, like a fairyland, which surprised everyone.
Immediately afterwards, majestic music sounded, and Su Lijin, dressed in a light gauze, came out from the smoke and danced gracefully.
These smokes were a good thing she found in the brothel, and they could create a very good atmosphere effect.
The light feather gauze dress was so beautiful that she looked like a fairy.
"Is she dancing? Are you kidding me?" Concubine Shu scoffed, "This is a calligraphy and painting discussion, not a dance competition!"
The others were also confused.
Xiao Shengxing's dark eyes showed surprise. He looked at her thoughtfully and asked curiously, "What exactly is she going to do?"
Su Lijin saw the scene below the stage. She turned over beautifully, flicked her sleeves, and something flew out.
"Ah! What is this!"
One of the concubines had something thrown on her face. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be black ink!
"It was the Queen who dumped me!" Concubine Shu narrowed her eyes.
Everyone looked up and discovered that Su Lijin's long sleeves were covered in ink!
"What does this mean? Dancing with ink?" Everyone looked surprised.
The Queen Mother, who was about to find fault, was also drawn to the current scene and asked, "Is this some new kind of dance?"
This dance is very attractive and the dance moves are extremely beautiful, which is rare in the world.
Xiao Shengxing stared at it intently, his heart slightly moved. Although he didn't understand it, he couldn't take his eyes off it.
White mist was swirling on the high platform, and Su Lijin was dancing like a fairy from heaven.
The majestic music is not abrupt, but adds a touch of charm.
The music stopped, the dance ended, and Su Lijin stood up gracefully.
The Queen Mother wanted to ask something but didn't want to be too hasty, so she asked with a cold face and aloof airs, "Dancing is dancing, Queen, where are your paintings?"
Concubine Shu snorted coldly, "The Queen isn't trying to get away with this by dancing, is she? Humph, since you lost the competition, Your Majesty must fulfill the bet!"
Everyone else also looked at Su Lijin on the platform, wondering how she would explain.
"Don't worry, wait until the fog clears and you'll see the painting." Su Lijin said calmly.
After saying that, he stopped talking and waited calmly.
Everyone looked at each other.
They didn't see Su Lijin painting. Even if the fog dissipated, it would just be a bare platform, right?
Concubine Shu laughed loudly, "Empress, you should at least find a better excuse to delay. Such a lame excuse, do you really think you can conjure up a painting?"
She paused abruptly at the last word and widened her eyes in disbelief.
Because, after the fog on the platform dissipated, a magnificent ink painting of mountains and rivers appeared before everyone's eyes!
After the white mist dissipated, everyone discovered that there was a white flower scroll standing on the high platform.
The flower scroll was very large and blended into the white mist, so they had not noticed it before.
At this time, the white mist dissipated, and everyone was surprised to find that Su Lijin had actually painted such a large painting right under their noses, without anyone noticing!
“It’s actually an ink painting of mountains and rivers!”
Everyone exclaimed in surprise.
"It's rare to be able to create such a large painting with such exquisite brushwork in such a short time!"
Xiao Shengxing's eyes sparkled with amazement, and the eunuch beside him couldn't help but exclaim, "This is the emperor's beautiful mountains and rivers. I didn't expect it to be painted so majestically!"
Su Lijin smiled faintly and said, "The mountains and rivers are already majestic and magnificent. I just painted it as it was."
The Queen Mother stared at the painting, her heart filled with astonishment. She looked from the painting to Su Lijin, wondering, "Was this really painted by the Queen?"
"I don't think so. No one has seen her paint. Maybe this was painted before, or by someone else!"
Concubine Shu was jealous and sneered.
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