Chapter 33 Blood Feud
The teller turned to the last page, which contained the correct answer to this set of data.
The result was determined by the old accountant of Caiyuelou after three calculations.
After the answer was announced, all eyes turned to Tang Xinuan.
"Exactly the same as the answer."
"My God, she actually got it right."
"How is that possible? Everyone else uses an abacus, but hers didn't move at all. That's not scientific."
"Could he be a celestial being descended to earth? Otherwise, how could he be so intelligent?"
"I don't believe it, I don't believe it. Am I just here to make up the numbers?"
...
There were many gasps of surprise and skepticism at the scene.
Tang Xinu seemed not to hear, and looked at Sun Qingzhao with a smug expression.
"What do you have to say now?"
Sun Qingzhao stood up, his face showing shame, and bowed with his hands clasped. "It was my petty mind that was jealous of your talent, sir. I misjudged you in my haste. You are a learned and talented man, the most intelligent person in the Great Zhou Dynasty."
"Did you see it? It was Sun Qingzhao who was jealous that others answered quickly and accurately."
"I've apologized to them now."
"So it was jealousy."
"This young master Han is truly remarkable. If I were falsely accused, I would be furious, but look at him, he remains calm and composed, and he still won first place."
"What kind of divine prince is this? Is he married? I want to have his babies."
...
Sun Qingzhao's series of stunts drew everyone's attention to Tang Xinuan.
Before the first match was even over, she had already become the most watched focus of the entire Caiyue Tower.
Prince Duan finally realized what was happening.
This Sun Qingzhao is truly a genius with a twisted talent.
Zhou Chuanxing was sitting far away, but when the results were announced, even he, who was usually so composed, stood up.
Prince Rui, who was also implicated, got up as well.
"Second brother, what are you looking at?"
Zhou Chuanxing naturally wouldn't tell Prince Rui.
"Just watching the fun."
Prince Rui didn't find anything below that could attract his second brother's attention.
He moved closer to his second brother and followed his gaze.
Chu Yanqing's graceful figure came into his view.
Chu Yanqing is beautiful, and she also has a free-spirited and unrestrained youthful vibe.
Prince Rui teased, "Second Brother wouldn't happen to have a crush on Miss Chu, would he?"
Zhou Chuanxing casually asked, "Isn't Fourth Brother getting married soon? How are the preparations going?"
Prince Rui did not reply to him, but instead said, "If Second Brother is in love with Miss Chu, I'm afraid the two of you will not be able to get married."
Zhou Chuanxing frowned: "Fourth brother has also taken a liking to her, and wants to compete with me for her?"
Prince Rui scoffed, "I already have a princess consort, what's there to fight over? I'm just reminding my second brother that the Empress will never allow a girl from the Chu family to marry into the royal family."
Zhou Chuanxing had been leading troops in battles for many years and only returned to the capital last year.
They were too busy with political affairs to know anything about matters of the inner quarters.
"Why? I remember that the second young lady of the Chu family married into the Empress's family."
Prince Rui knew that his second brother was unaware of the intricacies of the situation.
However, he did not intend to explain, only giving a vague statement: "Madam Hou is a member of the Tang family."
"Second Brother, Fourth Brother, you're all here," Princess Chaoli said with great effort as she squeezed through the crowd.
"What are you saying?"
Zhou Chuanxing truthfully replied, "Your fourth brother told me to stay away from Miss Chu, because the Empress will not agree to this marriage."
Chao Li was completely confused. Was his second brother going to propose marriage?
How come she hadn't heard about it?
Moreover, Third Brother likes Miss Chu.
They're right downstairs watching, their eyes practically glued to her.
However, the Empress disagreed with the marriage, and she did come up with some reasons.
"Second brother, the Tang family, the maternal family of the Marquis, was wiped out. On the surface, it was because the Tang family was corrupt and committed murder, but I heard that the Tang family impeached the Emperor's father-in-law first. I don't know why, but the Emperor's father-in-law was fine, but the Tang family was wiped out, leaving only a silly girl."
The silly girl is Tang Xinuan, who has been raised in the Marquis's mansion.
Chao Li had heard a little gossip about this before, but he hadn't taken it to heart.
A while ago, a banquet was held in the palace, inviting all the noble ladies of the capital to the palace. She saw that Tang Xinuan was beautiful, and afterwards she made a special investigation and learned about this secret.
However, it's been more than ten years, so what she found out might not be accurate.
If this is true, the Tang family and the Empress have a blood feud.
The Marquis's family is the son-in-law of the Tang family, so the Empress will definitely be wary of them.
Moreover, when the Tang family ran into trouble, the eldest brother was not yet the emperor, and the empress was not yet the empress.
The emperor's father-in-law is no longer the emperor's father-in-law.
At that time, neither the Tang family nor the Marquis's mansion could do anything to the Emperor's father-in-law.
Now that the Empress holds a high position and the Tang family is wiped out, the Chu family can no longer cause any trouble.
However, the Empress will continue to suppress the Chu family and will never allow them to marry into the princes.
Especially since Zhou Chuanxing is the regent, the empress would be even less likely to agree.
After analyzing the situation, Chao Li returned to his previous question, "Second Brother, what are you thinking? Third Brother likes Miss Chu, so why don't you find someone else to like?"
Zhou Chuanxing poked her head, somewhat speechless. "You don't even have a husband yet. Instead of worrying about these things, you should focus on making plans for yourself."
With the scores of all participants in the tenth group calculated, the second round of the competition officially began.
Fifty-seven participants successfully passed the first round and are eligible to participate in the second round.
This time, we won't divide into groups; everyone will go together.
Caiyuelou only prepared one question.
Because there were too many participants and the crowds occupied most of the hall, it was impossible to set up 57 tables.
Li Taotie then had the fifty-seven people disperse among the audience.
But it can't be too far away, otherwise the person announcing the numbers won't be able to hear it clearly.
Tang Xinuan remained seated in her original position.
Li Taotie was angry that Sun Qingzhao was causing trouble, so he deliberately put him in the farthest place.
The match begins.
The young lady lifting the red silk cloth from the drawing board revealed the questions she had prepared beforehand.
After explaining the competition rules, she spoke at a steady pace, raising her voice to read the questions twice.
Before she could finish speaking, Tang Xinuan had already written the answer on the paper.
Then the bell was rung.
This time, Xiaoqian stood beside her and watched her write down the answer.
She had never believed that the young lady could calculate the result.
Because she grew up with the young lady, everyone thought the young lady was stupid.
She naturally concluded that the young lady was not very smart.
After all, the young lady can't dress properly, she makes mistakes even after being told to do things several times, she doesn't fight back when bullied, she doesn't understand social etiquette, and she doesn't know how to protect herself.
Even the crown prince thought the young lady was a fool, and wouldn't let her be his wife or have children.
Living in such an environment, Xiaoqian naturally overlooked her mistress's strengths, magnified her weaknesses, and even assumed that she was that kind of person.
Today's contestant was first questioned by Sun Qingzhao, and then asked by the onlookers to re-enter the competition. She won first place twice, which completely surprised her.
Xiaoqian's mind gradually conjured up scenes from years ago when the master in the manor taught the young ladies to read and write.
I heard he is a very talented old gentleman.
But the crown prince disliked him, thinking he was just a swindling old scholar.
However, both the young lady and the third young lady liked him very much and studied under him for many years.
The young master only attended two classes before he wanted to send them away.
The young lady kept crying and insisted that the old man teach her.
Only then did the young master keep the person.
When Xiaoqian was serving her mistress, she attended a few classes. The old teacher praised her as a genius, the smartest girl in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Xiaoqian thought that the old gentleman must be reluctant to part with the tuition fees given by the Marquis's mansion, so he coaxed the young lady to stay.
They deliberately praised the young lady to the skies.
Looking back now, I'm afraid the old gentleman was indeed learned and genuinely praising the young lady.
Not long after Tang Xinuan rang her bell, Sun Qingzhao also rang his bell.
Li Pixiu looked down on him with both eyes and pretended not to hear.
Then someone next to Sun Qingzhao shouted loudly to him, "Sun Qingzhao has finished too."
Li Pixiu reluctantly allowed the scorekeeper to tally the results.
I never expected that this scoundrel would actually have some skills.
Appearances can indeed be deceiving.
Chu Yanqing was the fourth to ring the bell.
Prince Duan's eyes were full of surprise. The little girl was wearing a purple dress, full of confidence and pride. He felt that Chu Yanqing was even more beautiful than usual.
"Wow, you're amazing. You can even solve such a complicated problem."
Chu Yanqing glanced at the Prince Duan, whose head was blank, and said, "Why don't you just say you're stupid?"
Prince Duan gave her a fierce look.
"You're really pushing your luck!"
Chu Yanqing mocked him: "If you're so capable, then you should try to calculate one for me too."
Prince Duan naturally couldn't figure it out. He hadn't studied arithmetic; he could barely manage addition and subtraction, but multiplication and division were a problem, since he had spent half a month memorizing the multiplication table.
My father passed away early, my mother was in poor health, my eldest brother was in trouble with internal and external troubles after he took office, and my second brother was constantly fighting. He and my younger sister were busy just trying to survive, so they had no time to pursue their studies.
It's still the most useless form of mathematics.
"I'm not as capable as you."
After the second round of competition, only twenty-one players advanced.
Tang Xinuan was the first to answer correctly, scoring 57 points.
Sun Qingzhao was the second, with a total of fifty-six points.
Chu Yanqing is the fourth, with a total of 54 points.
...
This is the final round.
Twenty-one tables were set up on site, one for each person.
Tang Xinuan was behind Chu Yanqing again.
The topic this time is about a pile-laying boss who has been very busy for the past two months, but he is still unable to make ends meet every month.
Given the purchase cost of various fabrics, the damage per piece of fabric, the turnover, and various expenses such as staff wages, rent, and food expenses, how much silver did his employee embezzle?
The moment this question was posed, the accountant at Caiyuelou panicked.
After much deliberation, he realized that he had been very discreet in the past two months and should not have been discovered.
But he always felt that Li Pixiu was suspicious of him.
When Chu Yanqing participated in the second competition, she felt that she calculated very quickly, but she still ranked fourth.
She felt at ease once the questions for the third round were announced.
In the past two years, she has been helping her mother manage the household affairs. The Marquis's mansion also has several shops. She has personally checked the accounts, so this kind of question is a piece of cake for her.
The result can be quickly calculated by adding and subtracting.
But before she could write it down on the paper, someone rang a bell.
I don't know who was so quick.
She didn't dare delay, so she hurriedly wrote down the answer and went to ring the bell.
At almost the same time, someone else rang a bell.
She turned the answer face down on the table and went to find the bell ringer.
As luck would have it, Prince Duan happened to be blocking his view.
Chu Yanqing glanced at him speechlessly.
Prince Duan didn't take it seriously and even gave her a thumbs up.
Chu Yanqing couldn't help but mouth the words "scumbag!" to him.
Only ten contestants made it through the third round.
Tang Xinuan firmly held onto first place with a record of first place in every round.
Sun Qingzhao came in second.
Chu Yanqing still ranked fourth overall.
She was just one point away from third place.
The disadvantage was that Tang Xinuan and Sun Qingzhao both participated in the first round of the competition twice.
Otherwise, in the tenth group, she should be ranked second.
At least two points can be added.
This way, her total score would be higher than the third-place winner.
Fortunately, the final is tomorrow, so the results aren't final yet.
Then Prince Duan and Li Pixiu started arguing.
"Why did Han Xi and Sun Qingzhao participate in the competition in the tenth group, squeezing out Miss Chu's ranking? Otherwise, she could have added two points, and she would have been third."
Li Pixiu: "..."
He can't afford to offend Prince Duan.
However, although their Caiyuelou competition was planned by many people, it was ultimately an entertainment-oriented competition, and loopholes were inevitable.
"Your Highness," Li Pixiu was almost in tears, "what should we do?"
Prince Duan said without hesitation, "Han Xi and Sun Qingzhao will remain in their original group. Their scores from the second competition will not be counted. Each person in the tenth group will automatically be ranked two places higher."
Yao Qilin, who ranked third overall, was unhappy.
"If that's the case, there are only eight people in the tenth group, so the first place should have eight points."
Prince Duan was unaware that it could be calculated this way.
"You are insolent!"
At the crucial moment, he simply displayed the majesty of a prince.
Yao Qilin wasn't afraid of him at all. "What, are you bullying people just because you're a prince?"
Prince Duan wanted to say more, but Chu Yanqing stopped him.
She didn't want to be stared at like a monkey by hundreds of people.
"Fourth place is fine. Today isn't the final. We'll compete again tomorrow."
The argument ended with Chu Yanqing not taking it to heart.
Tang Xinuan saw Chu Yanqing during the second round of the competition.
After the third round of the competition ended, she hurriedly pulled Xiaoqian to hide behind the crowd.
The matches tomorrow are still scheduled for the same time, and today's matches are now completely over.
All those who passed the first round but did not make it to the finals should go to the accountant to collect two taels of silver.
Those who pass the second round but do not make it to the finals will receive an additional three taels of silver.
To prevent the Third Miss from discovering her mistress, Xiaoqian pulled her out the door as soon as the competition ended.
"Young master, let's hurry. The third young lady is busy with the competition and hasn't seen you yet. If we delay any longer, things might get complicated."
Tang Xinuan wasn't afraid of her cousin seeing her.
I just didn't want to cause trouble for my cousin.
It's such a coincidence that as soon as Xiaoqian stepped out, she saw the young master squatting in the corner with a wine gourd in his arms.
There were too many people at Caiyue Tower to watch the excitement today. If it weren't for the two guards holding him back, he would probably have been trampled into mincemeat.
Xiaoqian was startled and quickly pulled the young lady back into the house.
Tang Xinuan didn't see Chu Yannuo, but she noticed Xiaoqian's pale face. "What's wrong?"
Xiaoqian whispered, "Young Master, the Young Master is right outside."
Tang Xinuan had no desire to return to the Marquis's mansion and live a life where she could only breathe the air of the Marquis's mansion.
She was even more nervous than Xiaoqian, and kept pushing her way in against the flow of people.
As the event ended and everyone started to leave, the two of them, being too small and thin, were swept away by the crowd and had no control over themselves.
Fortunately, someone blocked the flow of people.
Then both of them put on a straw hat.
“Young master,” Xiaoqian exclaimed with delight, “we can go out now.”
...
Chu Yannuo has searched the entire capital city several times over these past few days, but his cousin seems to have grown wings and flown away.
No matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find a trace of him.
Now, drunk, he was squeezing through the crowd, clutching his wine gourd, shoving at everyone he saw and asking if they had seen a girl who was exceptionally beautiful.
They were pushed around and rejected by others.
He then collapsed in the corner and has been feeling resentful ever since.
My cousin can't even take care of herself, and she's so pretty. If she runs away alone, she'll definitely attract unwanted attention...
Thinking about all this, his heart felt as if it were being squeezed and twisted into a pretzel, the pain so intense he couldn't breathe.
"Someone come here..." Upon noticing the surging crowd, he suddenly struggled to his feet. "Investigate every brothel, casino, restaurant, and tavern in the capital."
He refused to believe he couldn't find his cousin.
"Cousin, wait for me, wait for me, I will definitely find you, I will definitely find you."
At this moment, Tang Xinuan was jostled by the crowd and brushed past Chu Yannuo.
She was so nervous that her palms were sweating. Luckily, she was dressed in men's clothing and wearing a straw hat, so her cousin didn't recognize her.
"Young Master Han," Tang Xinuan was planning to return to the palace as soon as possible, but someone grabbed her wrist.
It turned out that Sun Qingzhao had chased after them.
She instinctively pulled away, "Young Master Sun..."
Sun Qingzhao was completely impressed by Tang Xinuan's intelligence. It was a pity that he had no money, otherwise he would have definitely taken Tang Xinuan to the most expensive restaurant to eat the most expensive food.
“We’re already friends, right? You can call me Qing Zhao, or… I’m a few years older than you, so you can call me Brother Sun.”
Tang Xinuan's eyes lit up, "We're friends now?"
Sun Qingzhao felt a little embarrassed, because he had just been seen as a beggar by others.
"If you don't mind how I looked just now..."
"I don't mind at all," Tang Xinuan said happily. "You are my second best friend."
Sun Qingzhao said with great confidence, "Don't worry, I will definitely make something of myself and will never let you down as my friend."
In Tang Xinuan's heart, there is no distinction between high and low, noble and base.
She's willing to date anyone, regardless of their background, as long as they're genuinely interested.
"Now that we're good friends, what should we do next?"
Zisu was separated from the crowd and worried that Tang Xinuan would be bumped into, so she was so anxious that she broke out in a cold sweat in the hot weather.
They finally arrived at her side.
"Young master, it's getting late. It's past lunchtime, so we should head back."
Tang Xinuan looked up at the sun. "It's time to go back. But what about my new friends?"
Zisu didn't like Sun Qingzhao very much, so she naturally wanted to get as far away from him as possible. "There's a competition tomorrow, and Young Master Sun will definitely need to go back and review his lessons. We can't disturb him."
Tang Xinuan asked in surprise, "Then can't I take him home?"
Zisu: "..."
Miss Tang went out once and brought a stinky man back with her. The prince couldn't bear to scold her, but he would rather skin her and her sister alive.
At this moment, Lian Qiao also squeezed out, glaring fiercely at Sun Qingzhao, "Despicable scoundrel!"
He then pulled Tang Xinuan towards the carriage, saying, "Young Master, you need to go back for dinner. If you're late, my sister and I will be punished."
Tang Xinuan took a few steps, but still felt that something was on her mind.
As she approached the carriage, she finally remembered, "Oh right, Brother Sun doesn't have any money. Could you take some to him?"
She gave instructions to Lianqiao.
Lian Qiao refused to go, saying, "Why should we? We just helped him, and he accused you of cheating. He's a despicable person."
Tang Xinuan didn't think so. "He said he wanted me to give him a step up to the clouds."
Although she didn't know what the Azure Cloud Ladder was, the name sounded good.
"If you're not going, I will."
Lian Qiao could only raise her hands in surrender, "Okay, I'll go."
She took out two taels of silver from her pocket and tossed it to Sun Qingzhao from a distance, saying, "Don't starve to death, or you won't be able to participate in the finals tomorrow."
This time, Sun Qingzhao didn't mince words and readily accepted the money.
Face is no longer important to him; he'll repay Young Master Han properly if he gets a good ranking tomorrow.
Tang Xinuan, Xiaoqian, and the others found the carriage.
Just as she was about to climb up, she saw the curtain of the carriage next to her open, and Zhou Chuanxing waved to her with a gentle smile, "Come here."
Tang Xinuan was overjoyed to have won the competition and made a good friend. When she saw Zhou Chuanxing, her smile widened, her face full of joy that she wanted to share with him.
"Erlang, what brings you here?"
She ran over, grabbed Zhou Chuanxing's hand, and climbed onto the carriage.
Then I told him about the interesting things that happened that day.
"Erlang, didn't you see that I just participated in a competition? The Caiyue Tower was selecting the smartest person in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Guess what place I got?"
Zhou Chuanxing watched the whole thing, so how could he not know which number the little girl was?
He deliberately said, "The fifth?"
Tang Xinuan sat down next to him, smiling sweetly and smugly, "No, guess again."
Zhou Chuanxing continued to tease her, "That's... third place."
"No, no, still no, guess again, guess again." Tang Xinuan's smile grew even brighter.
As Zhou Chuanxing watched, he couldn't help but feel dazed.
It's just a pity we met so late; otherwise, the young girl's life would have been even more brilliant.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Red envelopes will be given randomly.
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