Fu Xiuyi was a member of the royal family, so he couldn't be completely ignorant of the royal methods. The crisp sound of the teacup falling to the ground, seemingly inadvertent, had already disrupted the rhythm of the musicians on stage, interrupting the seductive tunes. Naturally, he wanted to find out who was behind this. Fu Xiuyi himself was cautious and suspicious, and he didn't think the other party was being unintentional.
The girl in purple was holding her chin and talking to the people around her. She had an indifferent expression and from a distance, but there was an indescribable aura that clearly separated her from the people around her.
"Ninth brother, who are you looking at?" Prince Zhou Fu Xiu'an followed Fu Xiuyi's gaze and smiled knowingly, "Speaking of which, among all of us brothers, only ninth brother has never married. Father has mentioned the matter of ninth brother's selection of concubines many times. Why, that girl seems to be from some family, and she looks quite good. I wonder whose relative she is here? Does anyone know her?"
"She is the fifth young lady of the mighty general's mansion, and my student." Pei Lang was standing not far away and answered as soon as he heard the words.
"The fifth young lady from the mighty general's mansion?" Prince Jing Fu Xiuxuan had a good memory. Perhaps because Shen Miao was so famous, even the royal family was familiar with her name. He asked, "Isn't that General Shen Xin's legitimate daughter? Her name seems to be Shen Miao?"
"How could it be Shen Miao?" Fu Xiu'an smiled nonchalantly. "The whole capital knows that Shen Miao is pursuing our ninth brother. Didn't she even fall into the water a few days ago just to see our ninth brother? If our ninth brother really liked Shen Miao, why would he have gone through so much trouble? Besides, Shen Miao is a complete fool. Look at the girl opposite. She has a calm and noble temperament. How could she be Shen Miao?"
"Fourth brother, be careful with your words. Xiuyi didn't mean that." Fu Xiuyi shook his head, but his eyes fell on the purple-clothed girl sitting at the female seat from afar.
He was also shocked. Who was Shen Miao? In his eyes, she was no different from those girls who admired him. Those girls who admired him would at least pretend to be reserved on the surface and always know some etiquette. But Shen Miao... apart from watching him look foolishly, she could do nothing else. He naturally would not look down on a joker in the entire Dingjing capital. If it weren't for Shen Xin, he would definitely show his disgust clearly.
In his memory, Shen Miao always loved wearing bright red and green clothes, was fond of gold jewelry, and smeared rouge and powder all over her face, like a clown in a rural opera. And the purple-clad girl across from him, with skin as white as cream, graceful eyebrows and eyes, and an aura of nobility that clearly distinguished her from the other women around her, how could she be Shen Miao?
He was not the only one confused, Pei Lang was also confused.
As a teacher who had taught Shen Miao for two years, Pei Lang undoubtedly understood her better than Fu Xiuyi. While one's attire could be altered and their clothes adjusted, their overall aura was different. Pei Lang was a scholar, and scholars valued temperament more than others. How could Shen Miao have become a completely different person overnight?
He didn't think about the teacup incident just now. Although he also felt that the music sounded wrong, in his mind, how could a little girl hear the problem. Moreover, Shen Miao had never been an expert in qin skills.
Everyone was thinking about their own things, but the musicians on stage had already finished their performance. The verification was about to begin.
This year's exam was different from previous years. There was no gender distinction, only civil and military examinations. Although Guangwen Hall required students to be both civil and military, with instruction in both subjects, centuries of tradition had held that few women chose the military exam. And within the civil exams, policy essays, contemporary essays, and classics were essentially reserved for men. This was because these three subjects were essentially a means of selecting talent for the imperial court. As one scholar once said, "Those who pass the Jinshi exam often become generals and ministers, all of whom are extremely accomplished and prominent."
The martial arts exams required tests on horseback archery, foot archery, horse spears, and weight-bearing. However, since it was not a true martial arts exam, military drills and specific arenas were not required.
Women were mostly tested on the four literary categories of poetry, lyrics, and songs. This was a tacit tradition. Even during the Ming and Qi dynasties, where customs were relatively open, women were often held to much higher standards. This wasn't unique to Ming and Qi; it was common in almost all states. Women were expected to stay home, taking care of their husbands and children, and enjoying the beauty of the wind and the moon.
Mingqi's verification has always been divided into three parts: sampling, selection, and picking.
Everyone had to draw a lottery, with the examiner shuffling the order. The pattern of the draw determined which event each person would be assigned. To avoid adding to the difficulty by drawing too difficult an event, women drew from the four civil arts events, while men drew from the military and civil arts events.
Because this is an unavoidable item, Shen Miao will be embarrassed in this area every year, simply because she can't do any of the four items of poetry, songs and prose.
The second stage is selection. You can choose a field that you are good at and perform it on stage, just like Shen Yue often chooses to play the piano and Shen Qing chooses to do math.
As for the finale, there's the "pick," which isn't a selection, but a challenge. Someone can go on stage and randomly choose a student to compete against in a specific event. This often happens when the two are evenly matched. For someone like Shen Miao, choosing her would be an insult to their own abilities. However, there are also those who, wanting to see Shen Miao laugh, have deliberately chosen her to come on stage and compare her in a specific event. The outcome is predictable: no matter which event, Shen Miao will be completely defeated.
Therefore, for Shen Miao, every year's verification was a nightmare, and every year she was treated as a joke and laughed at by everyone. There were countless days like this.
And this year is no different.
The chief examiner on the stage gave a solemn speech as usual, while the other two people took out two small wooden buckets from the back. Inside the buckets were paper slips. The paper slips were written with the examination items, and the students drew them by themselves.
Both men and women had to draw lots. One person walked to the men's seats and handed lots to the male students one by one. Another tall woman took the lot bucket and walked to the women's seats, letting the female students draw lots in turn.
Feng An Ning blinked her eyes: "May God bless me, I only hope to draw the music and calligraphy, painting and chess are really not my cup of tea." She looked at Shen Miao: "You don't seem worried at all, could it be that you are confident? Or are you just giving up?" She didn't mean to be harsh, but Shen Miao was indeed such a fool who knew nothing.
Shen Miao remained silent. What was the point of drawing anything? She was not good at anything, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
When the wooden barrel was passed to Shen Miao's table, Feng An Ning drew first. After drawing the paper, he took it out and opened it impatiently, immediately breathing a sigh of relief: "It's Qin! It's Qin! This is great, all these days of practicing Qin have finally paid off. Shen Miao, what's yours?"
Shen Miao had just withdrawn her hand from the bucket of sticks. In her palm lay a piece of white sticky paper, folded into a long strip. She unfolded it and saw exactly one word inside.
painting.
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