Chapter 70 Part 1: He Came
The female students taking the examination arrived at almost the same time.
Jiang Li followed a teacher who guided them to one side to draw a number which would determine the order of the exam partic.i.p.ants. The ballot’s bamboo tubes were placed inside a long circular wooden pot. Jiang Li and Liu Xu took out a small piece of paper from inside, one after another.
The person in charge of recording read out: “Jiang Li, 13th. Liu Xu, 18th.”
Altogether, there were 30 people taking the exams, Jiang Li was positioned neither in the upper or lower position. The words had just been read out when from another side, Jiang Yu’e’s exaggerated “Aiyah” was heard. With a voice that could be heard by Jiang Li, she said: “Second sister is number 13. Just nice, she is behind third sister. Third sister is number 12, this is too much of a coincidence!”
Jiang You Yao is number 12?
Jiang Li was taken aback and her heart immediately broke into laughter. This was indeed very coincidental.
But Liu Xu wasn’t as relaxed as Jiang Li. Hearing Jiang Yu’e’s words, she shook her head and said: “This time it’s no good. Jiang You Yao’s guqin has always been one of Ming Yi Hall’s best. Last year, the song <> stunned everybody. This year, her skill would in all likelihood have gone up a notch. The better she plays, you will suffer more losses. Even if it is still pa.s.sable, it won’t be good to be contrasted with her.”
People were always ready to compare. After experiencing a jade dish of valuable delicacies then in the blink of an eye looking at food waste. Consequently, the harder it was to procure the exotic delicacies, the harder it became to swallow plain tea and simple food.
This was really unfavorable for Jiang Li.
“How could it happen that second girl is behind third girl?” old madam Jiang frowned. Both were the Jiang family members, if Jiang Li fell too much behind, it’s not a glorious thing for the Jiang family.
Jiang You Yao was very happy, she totally didn’t expect such a delightful coincidence to happen. She felt that heaven was standing on her side. This time, of course she had to make Jiang Li pale in comparison, it’s better if her face reached rock bottom.
Meng Hong Jin snorted coldly upon seeing this. She also took joy in other people’s misfortune. Her own guqin skill was incomparable to Jiang You Yao, but she was very willing to see Jiang Li making a fool out of herself.
Jiang Li didn’t have the mind to bother about these things. She looked at Princess Yongning, but still didn’t see Shen Yurong even after a long time. However, she was clear in her heart, Princess Yongning coming today was out of character which meant that Shen Yurong would definitely come.
As she was contemplating, the surrounding girls suddenly got excited, even the nearby crowd separated by the part.i.tion also became restless. Liu Xu’s startled voice sounded in her ear: “Why is his majesty Cheng w.a.n.g also here?”
“His majesty Chen w.a.n.g?” Jiang Li looked over to where the noise came from. Sure enough, she saw a male in blue was in the middle of taking a seat beside Princess Yongning. Indeed it was his majesty Cheng w.a.n.g.
Cheng w.a.n.g and Princess Yongning were brother and sisters from the same mother. Both were born from Imperial Concubine Liu. When jiang Li was still a member of the Shen family, through Shen Yurong, she would sometimes hear some court matters. When the former emperor was still alive, Imperial Consort Liu and Imperial Consort Xia fought for favor. It’s just that after Imperial Consort Xia pa.s.sed away due to illness, Emperor Hong Xiao was raised beside the empress and soon became the crown prince.
At that time, Cheng w.a.n.g’s distance from that position was very near, probably it was just a step away. However, it was unknown if it was because she was favored at that time, the current Imperial Concubine Liu was still as domineering as before. Even Cheng w.a.n.g didn’t exercise any restraint and was too sharp. If it wasn’t due to Emperor Hong Xiao’s benevolence and instead was a suspicious king, it’s unknown how much suffering Cheng w.a.n.g would have eaten.
Immediately after Cheng w.a.n.g entered the venue, the crowd boiled. Jiang Li even heard the n.o.ble ladies speak in a low voice and discussed shyly: “His majesty Cheng w.a.n.g is really extraordinarily handsome…….”