Chapter 73 Part 8:
If this continued, she would lose her wager and be reduced to a laughingstock in the entire Yanjing at the Imperial College gate. She would definitely lose!
For a moment, there’s only this thought in Meng Hong Jin’s mind.
Ye Shijie breathed a sigh of relief from afar. Seeing Jiang Li get first place, he felt both unimaginable and a sure fire thing. Even he himself hadn’t discovered when he heard Jiang Li got first place, the corner of his mouth raised in a smile.
In the end it’s a victory.
Jiang Li smiled warmly at Liu Xu’s repeated congratulations, but she didn’t feel excited at all. In actuality, using what she had learnt to partic.i.p.ate in Ming Yi Hall’s examination was really bullying these students. However, Jiang Li had a small happiness listening to the boiling voices of the people in the exam venue.
In this battle, she could be considered a bit more famous. The road she walked on in the future would become a bit easier.
Jiang Li turned her head around again, wanting to see Ji Heng. But she only caught sight of the back view of a red cloth at the door of the exam venue, gradually disappearing in the afterglow of the sunlight.
No matter, Jiang Li thought, perhaps she was too suspicious. Duke Su had no a.s.sociation with the Jiang family, so why would he take note of a young girl like herself? It was nothing else but coming across each other by lucky coincidence and took a second glance at her out of novelty. Thus he looked at her like watching those operas.
Jiang Li felt relieved after she figured things out.
Liu Xu was happier and more excited than her for getting first place. She said: “Jiang Li, you came first, did you hear?”
“I heard.” Jiang Li smiled.
“Why you don’t appear excited?” Liu Xu was somewhat in doubt, “aren’t you happy?”
“How could I not be happy?” Jiang Li said: “I just remember there are still two more exams left, archery and riding, and I feel worried, that’s all.”
“That’s right.” Liu Xu also remembered, “the two things, archery and driving, except for those daughters from general families, us, these daughters in the college are mostly not so good at them. You….. can you?” She asked Jiang Li cautiously. If it was before, Liu Xu would definitely think without the slightest hesitation, that Jiang Li would certainly not be able to. But after several times, Liu Xu also didn’t know whether Jiang Li was able to or not. Time and time again, Jiang Li was always unexpected, making people wonder if there’s anything that she couldn’t do. For example, the three exams of calligraphy, mathematics and etiquette. Another example was the ability to distinguish a genuine and fake painting. Another example was the ability to play the 《Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute》 that n.o.body else was able to play well.
Jiang Li replied vaguely: “A little bit.”
Although it was just “a little bit”, Liu Xu was shocked by this reply. She nearly cried out “as expected, you really can”.
“Ok,” Jiang Li laughed: “It’s not a big deal, it’s also only for the sake of coping with the exam. Maybe my luck today is good, I don’t know if I will have this kind of luck in riding and archery.” She chatted with Liu Xu while walking towards the Jiang family’s place.
Jiang Yuan Bai saw the disappointment in his little girl, Jiang You Yao’s face and felt upset. He saw his elder daughter coming towards this side and had a complicated expression on his face. Jiang Li stayed in the nunnery for eight years without anybody instructing her, yet she could mature like this. This showed that Jiang Li was more intelligent than Jiang You Yao, yet such a bright daughter had been delayed.
On one hand, Jiang Yuan Bai felt guilty due to the many years of non-interaction with Jiang Li. On the other hand, he was unable to forget Jiang Li’s wrongdoing towards Ji Shuran eight years ago. Even though it’s a great virtue to stop recalling the mistake, the harm was already created. No matter what method was used, there’s still a crack. It applied to both Jiang Li and him.
Jiang Li ignored Jiang Yuan Bai’s complicated gaze and faced Lu-shi’s friendly smile. She said: “Li girl is truly courageous. You’ve just entered Ming Yi Hall for a few days, yet you’ve got first place. I see that Li girl is the most outstanding one from Ming Yi Hall’s previous years. The things others were unable to accomplish, Li girl could do it in one go.”