The beauty of the Hou family and the king's plan

Everyone is curious about what kind of test questions Mr. Su Zhi will give this time?

"Everyone, on the occasion of the eldest princess' birthday, I am deeply honored that the ladies have shown me favor and allowed me to set the test questions for you young ladies."

Although Ms. Suzhi is a role model of talent among women in the Dali period, she is also very humble in front of others.

Moreover, the Queen Mother once praised her, saying that "her temperament is as beautiful as orchid, and her talent is as fragrant as fairy", but she never saw her being arrogant or putting on airs.

This not only made the ladies not jealous of her, but also made them feel very favorable towards her.

"Now, ladies who want to participate, please go here to register."

There was a desk standing nearby, and Mr. Suzhi's child was sitting on one side. On the desk was spread white rice paper, and he was holding a wolf-hair brush in his hand, ready to take notes.

After that, the ladies who lived nearby lined up in groups of two or three to sign up.

Shen Baozhao originally wanted to wait until everyone had registered before she went, but Su Yuheng walked over to her tea table as if she was afraid that she would escape.

"Miss Shen, please."

Shen Baozhao naturally accepted the invitation and left leisurely.

Although Feng Feiyan had also dabbled in poetry and songs since she was a child, she had no interest in this kind of competition, so she sat with Cui Mingzhu.

Cui Mingzhu is also good at everything, but she escaped from the Cui family and came to Kyoto. Today, she came to celebrate Shen Baozhao's birthday as a good friend.

To put it bluntly, it was incidental. I was already trembling with fear for being recognized by the Cui clan members at the banquet.

It is even more impossible for him to come forward and participate in any competition.

He was happy and relaxed, sitting still with Feng Feiyan.

It was her turn in Shen Baozhao's team. Mr. Su Zhi was on one side. She bowed to him and said with a smile, "Mr. Su Zhi, how are you?"

Mr. Su Zhi obviously still had an impression of her, and nodded with a smile: "Miss Shen Fourth is becoming more and more radiant and charming."

Su Yuheng, who was standing behind, frowned when she saw that Shen Baozhao had already attracted Mr. Suzhi's attention before the competition even started.

She said with concern: "Mr. Suzhi, although Miss Shen is familiar with you. I think with your temperament, you will only look at the work and not the relationship when judging, right?"

Mr. Suzhi was stunned, but when he saw the noble ladies surrounding her greeting her and Fourth Miss Shen, they all looked worried.

She was bright and cheerful, and didn't think too much about it.

Shen Baozhao only saw that Ms. Suzhi was different from other women in Beijing, so she admired him and greeted him. Unfortunately, this brought her trouble.

Su Yuheng put it forward so bluntly. If she lost, it would be fine, but if she won, it would give people the feeling that she won unfairly.

It will also give Mr. Suzhi more things to talk about.

I regretted my previous actions and lack of consideration. Maybe I can only withdraw from the competition, so as not to cause gossip?

However, if he withdraws from the competition, Su Yuheng and others will not let him go, and there is also Madam Li, who has been cheated, watching him closely from behind.

Before Shen Baozhao could make a decision, Mr. Suzhi came to his senses.

She was not angry, but just secretly sighed that these young ladies nowadays have so many thoughts.

"It's my fault for not making it clear in advance. Today we're going to compete in calligraphy and painting. Since we're going to compete, how about we imitate the autumn imperial examination?"

"I will seal the names of all the ladies, so that I can only see your works but not know who produced them.

This way, you don't have to worry about me having to save face for anyone."

After Mr. Su Zhi said this, everyone present was speechless.

To show fairness, Mr. Ran Suzhi continued to suggest: “Today’s test questions involve writing.

If there are still people who are afraid that I can recognize the handwriting of someone I know, how about writing in small regular script with flower-shaped characters?"

Nowadays, all girls in the Dali period were introduced to calligraphy through the hairpin-flowered small regular script, so Mr. Suzhi was not worried that someone would not be able to do it.

"Furthermore, if you still have objections. Today's banquet has countless princes and ministers from the court present, including great scholars such as Mei Hanlin.

I think they would be happy to judge for the ladies."

After saying that, the ladies below began to whisper to each other, and their eyes were secretly glancing at Su Yuheng.

Su Yuheng was annoyed. Mr. Suzhi looked easy-going on weekdays, but she didn't expect that he was so proud.

Such a thoughtful approach only makes Su Yuheng look mean.

"No need for that. Mr. Su Zhi has noble character, and no one doubts it. We all believe that he will uphold fairness."

A crisp sound like pearls falling on a jade plate was heard, and everyone looked in the direction of the sound.

I saw a woman wearing a long white cloud silk dress, a misty pink gauze outer garment, an exquisite bun, and a pearl magnolia hairpin and tassel hairpin in her hair.

Her waist is slender and soft, like a fairy falling from the moon, coming slowly.

Just as Mr. Su Zhi's child was stunned, she took the wolf-hair brush with her bare hands and wrote her name, Mei Ruolan.

It turned out that she was the granddaughter of Mei Hanlin who was raised in Jizhao Temple.

Jizhao Temple is a nunnery for women, a thousand-year-old temple. It is close to Fahua Temple and has a similar reputation.

It is said that as soon as Mei Ruolan was born, a large group of crows swarmed into Mei Hanlin's house.

The abbess of Jizhao Temple happened to pass by and told her fortune, saying that four of the five elements were missing and she would be weak, poor and suffer from injuries.

Mei Hanlin was so panicked that he asked for a solution. The abbot saw that although Mei Ruolan had a bad fate, there was a faint red light on her forehead.

He asserted that if the girl was sent to a nunnery, away from the secular world until she reached the age of marriage, she would live a life of wealth and worry-free.

I think that since Mei Ruolan appeared today, she must have already passed the age of coming of age.

Mei Ruolan turned around, smiled, and all her beauty disappeared.

Many of the women present felt jealous and ashamed of themselves.

Shen Baozhao had met Mei Ruolan several times in his previous life, all in Xiao Yuanhuai's study.

She is Xiao Yuanhuai's biological cousin.

Unlike Shen Baozhao's pure and elegant appearance, Mei Ruolan has a charming appearance.

But she was well-versed in poetry and literature. Although she lived in a nunnery, Mei Hanlin never neglected her education.

It seems that it is not easy to win the championship and get all the prizes today.

Shen Baozhao didn't have to win first place, she just had to beat Su Yuheng. She didn't have to be so witty every time they met, she really didn't like it.

When the other young ladies saw Mei Ruolan, they were probably filled with jealousy.

Although Mei Ruohua spoke up to defend Mr. Suzhi, Mr. Suzhi just smiled calmly.

He still instructed the children that when the competition time came, they had to collect all the young ladies' paintings and cover up their names.

A requirement was also added that everyone should answer questions using the hairpin-flowered small regular script.

However, he did not mention submitting the painting to other great scholars for judgment.

After saying this, Lady Duanning led people to clean up the area around Hefeng Lake.

The desks were placed one by one, and the participating ladies sat down facing the Hefeng Lake.

The children were given uniform rice paper, and when everything was ready, Mr. Suzhi began to ask questions.

"In previous years, the competitions were all about playing the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting or other things. This time, we're going to try something different."