Chapter 3
In the following days, Ning Qingxi spent all her time sitting at the table except for eating, sleeping and going to the toilet, and the drawing under her hands gradually looked like it was actually working.
Because the area was large, Ning Qingxi only drew a rough sketch of each courtyard, and the layout could be vaguely seen.
The sun was shining brightly, and it was a rare sunny day. Ning Qingxi had been staying at the Zhang residence for the past few days and had long since ascended to heaven with him. She had also changed into two new sets of clothes. Her younger siblings were also enjoying the benefits. Although their clothes were not much better than those of the maids, Ning Qingxi herself could not afford them, so she was especially grateful.
Today is the day the results of the first round of competition will be revealed. Ning Qingxi got up very early and went out wearing a light yellow dress.
Her clothes were rather thin, and she carried a hot water bottle in her hand. As soon as she stepped outside, she felt the cold air, which smelled of snow, and shivered as she shrank her neck.
When she arrived at the living room, the hot water bottle was warm, but her hands were ice cold. She tried to unlock it many times but couldn't.
A large crowd had gathered around her, waiting for her.
Ning Qingxi hates these moments of being the center of attention the most. It's probably a psychological trauma left over from her school days. When she's surrounded by a group of people, she can't help but feel a little nervous.
The more nervous you are, the worse things will get.
With a "clatter," the key fell to the ground.
Ning Qingxi: "..."
This awful weather is so cold it's making her hands ache.
She sighed, resignedly preparing to squat down and pick up the keys, when suddenly a hand reached out from the side and grabbed the keys first.
Ning Qingxi's hand froze in mid-air.
The owner of that hand was quick and efficient; in the next moment, her drawings appeared on the table.
Ning Qingxi withdrew her hand and stood quietly to the side, holding the hot water bottle.
Aside from the show-off, there was only one other distinguished person present. The two seemed to have a close relationship, but the other person was much more mature and unlike the show-off, dressed in light pink...
Wait, light pink?
Ning Qingxi suddenly realized something and slowly turned her head.
She wasn't mistaken; the person was indeed wearing light pink.
Her face was the color of a delicate peach blossom, and her collar was adorned with a white fur collar. She had half of her flamboyant face hidden in the fur.
However, this person is tall and has long legs, and dressed like this, he does not look gaudy at all. On the contrary, he is gentle and refined, extremely mild-mannered.
Seeing that she was stunned, Huo Yanci was in a good mood and said with a smile, "Are you going to flatter me now?"
Ning Qingxi was speechless and choked with emotion.
Does this person have no shame at all?
Huo Yanci said, "Perhaps I can help you with this selection."
Ning Qingxi pulled her sleeves tighter, gripped the now-cold hot water bottle in her hand, and said, "No need. That would be unfair. What would people think of me?"
"You can't say that," Huo Yanci said. She was very close to Huo Yanci, and they could talk if Huo Yanci lowered his head. However, to outsiders, the two of them might seem a little too close.
Huo Yanci nodded slightly, looking at the other garden designers in the room: "Look at these people in front of you, they are all old-timers who became famous at a young age. Several of them offered to draw my designs, but I thought they were too old-fashioned and didn't accept them... If there were a few more people here to judge, do you think they would look at the designs or their reputation?"
He told a good story, and Ning Qingxi was drawn in by him, beginning to carefully observe the nine people besides her.
Two people were laughing and joking, their blueprints crumpled up in a mess, reminiscing about the days they had feasted and drunk at the Zhang residence.
The two were novices, seemingly only half-baked, but having spent so much time observing these veteran garden designers in Beijing, they had subtly developed a somewhat inflexible style.
The remaining five were what the show-off called "old-timers," and each of them looked confident and assured.
“That’s why I have high hopes for you,” Huo Yanci said. “What if you just mess around and happen to find some tricks?”
Ning Qingxi sighed: "You're really flattering me."
To be honest, she was initially very confident, but as the conversation progressed, Ning Qingxi suddenly wavered.
The garden she built may indeed be something no one has ever designed before, but novelty doesn't necessarily equate to goodness.
Seemingly sensing her wavering, Huo Yanci suddenly spoke up: "Experience is the easiest thing to accumulate, but talent is different."
Ning Qingxi turned her head to look, and Huo Yanci's eyes were smiling, as if he truly trusted her implicitly.
Ning Qingxi took a deep breath: "If you trust me, you can ask me to design the garden later."
"Never mind then," Huo Yanci smiled, "What if you're some kind of antique?"
"You just said you trusted me." Ning Qingxi's eyes darted around, a fleeting glance directed at him. "Liar."
The swindler acted as if he hadn't heard anything, and leisurely returned to Zhang Fuhu's side.
At this moment, the blueprints of all ten people were displayed in front of everyone.
Two scribbles, two rudimentary but clearly immature ones, five neatly arranged ones, and one more...
Huo Yanci walked closer and took a look.
Needless to say, he can already match the paintings with the people depicted.
This picture looks a bit strange, but upon closer inspection, it doesn't seem wrong at all.
Huo Yanci stood aside and examined the place for a long time, making everyone feel uneasy, before pointing to a certain spot: "Is this the corridor?"
Ning Qingxi walked over and saw that he was pointing to a spot on the edge of the garden: "Yes."
"Not straight?"
Ning Qingxi nodded and said, "Yes."
She pointed to the side: "I don't know about the terrain here, but Boss Zhang said he can build as big as he wants, so he probably doesn't plan to build it in the capital. No matter where the vacant land is outside the capital, it's all situated by mountains and water. If we were to level mountains and fill the sea, firstly, it would be too wasteful of manpower and resources, and secondly..."
She paused, pointed at the blueprints, and continued, "Such a beautiful scene, wouldn't it be a pity to waste it? Why not build a garden by the mountains and water?"
Huo Yanci straightened up, neither confirming nor denying: "A little cleverness."
“This isn’t clever trickery; it’s about spending money wisely.” Ning Qingxi pointed to the pond. “I had a little ingenuity here.”
Zhang Fuhu asked, "What clever idea?"
"Want to know? If you do, choose me, and I'll draw it in the next round."
Ning Qingxi smiled modestly, but Huo Yanci saw a hint of cunning in her eyes.
He suddenly became a little curious about what clever tricks this person had up their sleeve.
"What if we don't have mountains or water?" Huo Yanci asked.
"Then we'll just have to adjust accordingly based on the terrain."
She had never been to the land where Zhang Fuhu planned to build the garden. During construction, many adjustments would be made, such as whether excavation and filling were needed, and the amount of work involved. These were all variables. Judging from other people's flat garden plans, it was probably a huge project.
What she thought of was obviously something others had also thought of.
"Unorthodox and unorthodox methods are not part of the mainstream!"
A landscape architect standing nearby looked quite indignant.
Ning Qingxi wasn't annoyed by the scolding; she simply smiled and said, "Naturally, I can't compare to Master Sun, but in matters where everyone has their own opinion, it shouldn't be considered a heinous crime for me to express my views."
Another landscape architect was so angry that his hands trembled. He pointed at her and kept saying "you, you, you" for a long time before finally throwing his sleeves and turning away.
The others seemed to share the same sentiment, even those invited along with the show-off appeared to be somewhat disapproving.
However, Ning Qingxi maintained a good attitude and remained unmoved in the face of public criticism. Instead, she turned to Zhang Fuhu and asked, "Master Zhang, tell me, what is the most elegant thing to do in the garden?"
Zhang Fu, who was pointed at, began to consider it.
The word "elegance" is truly beyond his comprehension.
His room was filled with nothing but jade artifacts and calligraphy and paintings. They weren't particularly rare or precious, but they were all quite valuable. If you asked him to tell whether they were good or bad, he couldn't tell because he was barely literate.
If you ask him about elegance, he can only think of those gardens in the south, all of which are small and exquisite, each garden less than half the size of his house. He can't see what's so good about them, but everyone says they're good, so they probably are. Other than that, he really can't think of anything else.
He scratched his head and said honestly, "I really don't know."
Ning Qingxi, without changing his expression, made up a story: "Of course it's about floating wine cups on a winding stream and composing poems while drinking wine."
Immediately afterwards, Ning Qingxi recited the first half of Wang Xizhi's "Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion." After she finished reciting it, everyone present had different expressions, making it an extremely interesting performance.
Confused, enlightened, or still disdainful.
Ning Qingxi had everything under control. Although she was a little embarrassed that no one was responding to her after she pretended to be quiet, she didn't need to care about such details.
Surprisingly, one old-fashioned person present was actually persuaded by her and took the initiative to ask, "So, how do you plan to implement this 'floating wine cups on a winding stream'?"
“Naturally, we will modify the landscape while preserving its original appearance. For example, we will only add some arched bridge stones to the water, and leave the rest as they are.” Ning Qingxi said, “This is how, although it is made by man, it seems to have been created by nature.”[1]
The old man said, "From this perspective, wouldn't the construction difficulty be even greater? To preserve the landscape, many places will require a lot of effort and money. Moreover, Miss Ning, can you guarantee that this garden will be built exactly as you wish?"
Ning Qingxi glanced at Zhang Fuhu: "I'll only handle the design. As for the money, I'm sure Mr. Zhang won't care, will he?"
Zhang Fuhu was completely illiterate, but he was rich!
As soon as the topic of money came up, Zhang Fuhu's lisp immediately disappeared. He waved his hand and said generously, "Of course, there's no need to worry about money."
In this way, Ning Qingxi's own logic was closed, and others had no angle to ask questions. She passed the first hurdle without any major incident.
Afterwards, everyone else elaborated on their ideas, and the words of various great scholars from ancient and modern times made the audience drowsy. After they finally finished speaking, they couldn't wait to start voting.
The first to be eliminated were clearly the two who came to cause trouble. The old-timers and the young-timers had different qualifications and experience, and without a doubt, the young-timers had no chance either.
According to Huo Yanci, there were probably only five old fogies, but now Ning Qingxi has suddenly emerged as a dark horse, causing unexpected changes.
The problem now rests on the shoulders of the three.
Ning Qingxi continued, "Regardless of whether it's feasible or not, even if it's just a pie in the sky, it's a pie that's big and round, making people curious."
Apart from her, the other five were all prominent figures in the capital, and it would be unreasonable not to give them this much face.
However, this problem was no problem for Huo Yanci at all.
He cast his vote for Ning Qingxi first, then stood back up, his attitude very clear.
Of all these people's drawings, he favored Ning Qingxi the most, and only Ning Qingxi.
Seeing that the important person had cast his vote, Zhang Fuhu happily cast his vote for Ning Qingxi as well. He couldn't really understand the following drawings at all, so he just randomly distributed them. He voted for everyone except Ning Qingxi.
Ning Qingxi knew that she was being disliked.
Fortunately, she has little pride and is not easily discouraged.
One of the landscape architects only had one vote, and Ning Qingxi won without a doubt. However, at this moment, she also knew that she had taken a risky move. If she didn't perform well enough in the next round, she would undoubtedly be the one who lost.
Just as she was lost in thought, something warm touched the back of her hand.
She looked down and saw an exquisitely crafted hot water bottle. The hand holding it had long, slender fingers with distinct knuckles, and a small mole at the base of the index finger.
Huo Yanci laughed and said, "Is your hot water bottle cold? Use mine."
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