Power Up, Artist Yang!

Thinking back to Lingxin, Yujia took a bite of plain rice and responded, "I didn"t tell you this earlier, but I"m now a disciple at Lingxin Pavilion. You know of that place, right?"

"Lingxin Pavilion?" Xiaoyi"s large eyes widened and her lips parted in awe. "Of course I know of Lingxin! I"ve always wanted to see what the academy is like, but I didn"t think I would be allowed in. I thought they didn"t take female students?"

"They don"t. I happened to get in with some luck after finding a master who"s pretty important in the school." She held up the white jade pendant she wore on her waist.

Xiaoyi cupped her face with her hands as she leaned against the table. "Wow, Older Sister sure is impressive. It"s only a dream for me to go inside the academy, but you"re already a disciple!" 

"Do you want to go? I can take you after I finish eating, if you want," Yujia suggested. 

"Really? You would take me?" A smile of disbelief spread across Xiaoyi"s face.

"Since it"s your dream and an easy task for me, I don"t see why not." 

Xiaoyi clapped her hands together and she stood up. "Older Sister is the best!" She looked down at herself, then back up, her gaze wavering after a thought. "But… I don"t think it"s proper of me to go. You"re the… Fourth Miss, so you have more freedom of movement, but for me, it"s another case… if Father found out that you took me to Lingxin, he might get mad at you…" 

There definitely were too many limits on young ladies in ancient times. Yujia could see what Xiaoyi was saying though. The Fourth Miss was illegitimate, so she could go to different places more than a proper young miss since her reputation was already pretty bad. From what she had seen so far of this society, it wasn"t wrong for most young misses to go in public places like stores or marketplaces as long as she wasn"t alone, but Lingxin Pavilion was a place for men and numerous young masters of big families, and Xiaoyi"s reputation might be damaged because of this. 

It still seemed ridiculous to Yujia though. 

"If you think that Father will get mad at a small thing like this, then just dress up in a servant"s clothes and keep you eyes down. I"ll just say that you"re my maid, and I can take you with me then."

"Oh, that"s a good idea!" Xiaoyi spun to A"ling who stood behind her, asking, "Can you bring me a set of your clothes?"

Her maid agreed and left the room. Meanwhile, Yujia asked Hui"er, "Do you want to come as well?"

Hui"er shook her head. "No, Miss, I"m fine staying here. I"m that knowledgeable about art anyways, so there"s no point for me to go."

"If you say so." She wouldn"t force Hui"er to come if she didn"t want to, anyways. 

A few moments later, Yujia finished her meal, and Xiaoyi changed into the maid"s robes. The two headed off in the direction of Lingxin, exchanging a basic conversation as they walked. 

Right when they were at the front of Lingxin, Xiaoyi seemed undeniably excited. 

"Where do you want to go?" Yujia asked.

"Where is there to go? I don"t know the place well. How about you take me to wherever is fun?" She grinned.

"Then, I"ll let you show you around all the different pavilions," Yujia recommended. She still didn"t know the layout of the school well, but she was confident in her knowledge of how to get to the different pavilions. Xiaoyi would definitely enjoy walking around the garden paths too, based on Yujia"s predictions. 

Xiaoyi agreed, and the two headed off towards the direction of the Ice Lily Pavilion first, somewhere Yujia was at only around an hour ago. She didn"t expect that she was going to be returning to Lingxin so soon, but since Xiaoyi wanted to tour the academy, there was nothing wrong with revisiting the place. 

…

After the convention and everyone dispersed, Ye Yunhe only briefly had a simple meal for lunch before walking around the school. One of his junior brothers, Rong Yuan, wanted to get some critique on his recent painting, so Yunhe headed in the direction of the Half Moon Pavilion, a place where he thought that he might be able to find his junior brother. 

When he arrived, he noticed that the large pavilion had a few students eating lunch in it as well as the person he was looking for. Rong Yuan was talking with Jiang Muyun as they drank tea at a faraway table. Yunhe knew both of them quite well— they were both good junior brothers of his who learnt under his father— so he walked over. 

"Senior Brother Ye!" Both of them stood up and saluted him, which he returned politely, then sat down at the same table. 

"Junior Brother Rong, do you have the painting you wanted me to critique?" Yunhe got to the point of why he was here quickly. 

Rong Yuan shook his head. "No, I left it in the school center. I didn"t think that Senior Brother was going to agree to critique it so easily."

"I just want to make sure that my junior brothers improve quickly and bring honor to Lingxin"s name." Yunhe smiled gently. 

Junior Brother Rong was an artistic genius who was incredibly skilled at age eighteen, so critiquing his work often benefitedYunhe himself too. Yunhe liked seeing the paintings that Rong Yuan came up with. 

"Ah, well," Rong Yuan leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a hush, "Senior Brother, I do have another request." 

"What is it?" 

"So, you know, at today"s painting convention, we got to meet Junior Sister Yang, right?"

Yunhe frowned. What was Rong Yuan getting at? He couldn"t help but feel concern for his junior sister after this. Although Rong Yuan was an artistic genius, he wasn"t renown for this but rather his flirty personality. Often times, even though most of the paintings that Rong Yuan came up with were an obvious display of his talent, Yunhe heard criticism from his father that Rong Yuan would be at a better place if he put more effort into painting than chasing after women. 

"Well," Rong Yuan continued, "let"s be honest here that anyone with eyes can tell that she"s quite a beauty. Do you know if Junior Sister Yang is perhaps engaged? And if she"s free— you know— can you maybe arrange it so—" 

Yunhe cut off Rong Yuan before he finished with a solid refusal. "I can just tell you now that I"m not going to play matchmaker between you and her." 

"Oh, come on!" Rong Yuan groaned exasperatedly. "It"s just a small favor!" 

Yunhe shook his head again. 

Rong Yuan paused, then narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Or, is the reason for why you"re unwilling to do this for me because Junior Sister"s beauty has stunned you too, and you want to—" Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

"No." 

Blankly, Yunhe rejected Rong Yuan"s words once more. How was his junior brother so ridiculous when it came to women? He couldn"t understand him at all. 

Muyun, from the side, spoke up to Rong Yuan. "Alright, Junior Brother, stop being so ludicrous. Your good looks and family background will get you any woman that you want; why target your innocent Junior Sister?"

Rong Yuan huffed back, "You know, my criteria is someone smart, beautiful, and talented! Why do you think I haven"t gotten an official wife yet? I have not met anyone who met all three of those to the degree that I"m looking for yet. Junior Sister Yang, however, fits those conditions perfectly! She"s my ideal woman! No one can stop my love for her!"

"You"ve met her only once and barely know her," Yunhe scorned. "Isn"t it too soon to speak of love?"

"What does Senior Brother understand? You"re nearly thirty and still unmarried!" 

Muyun pointed out, "That"s only because Senior Brother Ye cares more about his career than getting wives and children. Rong Yuan, I think you can learn from him and put some more effort into your art. Perhaps then, you"ll learn to not throw your emotions around like that."

Yunhe smiled at Muyun, then gave a snide look at Rong Yuan. "Junior Brother, didn"t you say that your criteria is someone smart, beautiful, and talented? Why don"t you chase after Muyun instead? You"ll have a higher chance of getting with him than Junior Sister Yang." 

Upon hearing his words, both Rong Yuan and Jiang Muyun flushed red. Rong Yuan let out a roar of indignation while Muyun furrowed his brows and chided Yunhe. Yunhe only laughed. His junior brothers were fun to tease. 

Their conversation diverted soon from the topic of Rong Yuan"s instant infatuation, and went on to less romance-based topics. Half an hour later, Yunhe decided to excuse himself to go complete other tasks of his that he wanted to finish by the end of this day, particularly a painting of Lingxin Pavilion that he wanted to recreate, this time with more Spirit Resonance. 

That was when, along his way to Lingxin Pavilion, he ran into Junior Sister Yang and a maid that went along with her.