Qingying smiled gently and nodded in agreement.
Next, the two parties separated into two side rooms, which had already been arranged by the servants. Each room had six tables, four side by side and two separate tables on either side. The table at the head of the room was for the dealer, and the table at the far end was for the guesser.
A maid brought up the drafts they had written in advance, and a maid knelt beside each table to grind the ink and hand over the paper.
Qingying stood at the head of the table and gracefully curtsied, saying, "This humble girl, Qingying, greets you."
The other five people bowed to her in return and introduced themselves one by one.
Qingying couldn't possibly remember so many people at once, but among these few, she was certain that one of them was Lu Jingyan, the second son of the Lu family.
He wasn't particularly handsome, only barely deserving the description of being good-looking, but his strength lay in his refined and scholarly demeanor, making him look like a learned man.
With a "ding," the game officially began.
Qingying took out the first draft and showed it to the four painters. Then they began to paint.
Each person had a pen, and the puzzle was quickly passed to Lu Jingyan, who was in charge of guessing the questions.
In order to show his special qualities in front of her, Lu Jingyan volunteered to be the one to guess the questions.
only……
He was dumbfounded when he received the painting, which consisted of only a few strokes and resembled nothing at all. He didn't know whether he had overestimated himself or his friend's painting skills.
"What's this?"
Someone suggested: "Springtime."
His eye twitched. There were countless poems related to spring, so how was he supposed to guess?
He examined the painting carefully, but still couldn't figure out what it depicted. Seeing that the others were urging him on, he could only recite a few lines of poetry haphazardly.
The result was obvious: he guessed wrong three times.
Next question.
They added: "Autumn."
Lu Jingyan: "???"
Are you planning to talk about all four seasons?!
In order not to lose face in front of Qingying, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and guess. Fortunately, this time he accidentally guessed correctly on the third try.
We finally turned the tide.
Both games were in full swing.
After a stick of incense had burned, everyone gathered together again and presented the results: eighteen to twelve, the man suffered a crushing defeat.
The game is always best of three. In the second round, Qingying sat in the painting queue, and unsurprisingly, the dealer pushed out by the opponent was Lu Jingyan.
Qingying rested her chin on one hand, watching Lu Jingyan, who sat at the head of the table, with interest. For some reason, he seemed extremely nervous. Whether he was guessing the questions earlier or setting them now, he acted like a young lady who had been rushed onto the stage to perform.
She couldn't help but wonder, what if Wei Huaixu were sitting up there right now?
He would likely remain calm and composed, even elegantly sipping his tea, a gentle smile always playing on his warm and handsome face.
Lu Jingyan, who was already somewhat reserved, couldn't help but sweat when he felt that direct and intense gaze. He didn't even dare to look at him directly.
Only when the drawing paper was passed to Qingying did she lower her eyes, glance at it casually, and then casually draw a line on it before passing it to Xie Jiaoying, who was in charge of guessing the questions.
Xie Jiaoying was very clever and guessed it right away. Even when she made a mistake, the meaning of the question was very similar.
Soon, an incense stick's time passed, and the result was clear: they had won again, and by a significant margin, 21 to 9.
The man's side was quite dissatisfied and demanded to see the paintings they had made. When they took them over, they found that each one was quite similar to the theme.
"Impossible! How could a single stroke be so lifelike? Someone must have cheated!"
Upon hearing this, Lu Jingyan became displeased: "Does Young Master Tian mean that I, Lu, am covering for him?"
Just a second ago, Young Master Tian was being very arrogant, but the moment he faced Lu Jingyan, he became timid.
Lu Jingyan said, "I saw it clearly over there just now. Every stroke Miss Liu added was a stroke of genius. It was because of her that they were able to guess so smoothly."
These people all knew more or less the inside story. Today's situation was deliberately set up by the Duke of Lu's mansion in order to curry favor with the General's mansion. Therefore, to them, what he said sounded like Lu Jingyan trying to please Liu Qingying.
However, Qingying wasn't stupid. She could sense the subtle atmosphere around her, so in order to prove her innocence, she suggested, "Since some people are not convinced, how about this: we play another round, but the same few of us will continue playing, while you will be in charge of setting the questions and watching from the sidelines to see for yourselves whether we cheated. How about that?"
They were all stunned, looking at each other in bewilderment, none of them daring to speak.
In the end, Lu Xingli spoke first: "Sister Liu is right. Since some people have doubts, let's confront them face to face to prove our innocence."
So the group started a new round of games right there in the waterside pavilion.
This time, however, they did not set a time limit and only gave five questions.
Qingying was still the last to paint.
The drawing paper was handed to her, and she picked up her brush and sketched, making intricate and clean strokes, managing to draw a deer in a single stroke. Although it was just an outline, it was already remarkably lifelike.
When Xie Jiaoying received the painting, Qingying gave her two words as a hint: "Forest".
She immediately blurted out, "Deer are seen when the trees are deep."
The others were taken aback.
"So...you guessed right?"
Then they moved on to guessing the next question.
The results came out quickly: he only got one out of five questions wrong.
The young master Tian, who had just raised the loudest questions, now had a very interesting expression on his face.
Lu Jingyan looked at him and said, "This time, are you convinced?"
Young Master Tian nodded repeatedly, "I'm convinced."
Lu Xingli approached Qingying and said with a smile, "I never imagined that Sister Liu is not only exceptionally beautiful, but also an amazing painter."
Qingying smiled in response and said modestly, "I only paint to relieve boredom when I'm idle at home. It's nothing special."
The others surrounded her, chattering and flattering her. Qingying listened to it all until she was thoroughly annoyed, and finally excused herself under the pretext of changing clothes.
She stopped by a secluded bamboo grove and said to the maid who was leading the way, "I'm a little tired and would like to rest here. Could you please fetch me a cloak?"
The maid knew her identity and naturally dared not refuse.
Only after the maid had gone far away did Qingying dare to complain: "It was just winning a game, and I only played a supporting role, yet they praised me as if I had become the top scholar in the imperial examination."
Yu Yue, standing to the side, smiled helplessly and said, "These young masters and ladies from aristocratic families start learning to flatter and fawn from the moment they are born. You can't blame them for it."
Qingying understood, of course; she just wanted to get it off her chest.
She had rested for a while, but the maid still hadn't returned. She was about to get up when she suddenly heard voices coming from the side.
First came the woman's voice: "Am I right? That Miss Liu is indeed very beautiful?"
Then the man said, "She's not just beautiful, she's like a celestial being descended to earth."
It turned out to be the Lu siblings.
Qingying then realized that there were winding paths interspersed throughout the bamboo garden. Her side and their side were separated by a fork in the road not far away. She could hear the two people talking on the other side clearly.
She didn't intend to eavesdrop on other people's conversations, but as the person involved, that's a different story.
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