The Rebirth of the Empress

Drawing Lots

Fu Xiu Yi belonged to the Imperial family and would naturally not ignore the methods the Imperial family used. The clear sound of a teacup may seem like an accident but it has disrupted the rhythm of the musician and can no longer arouse the feelings of everyone. He naturally wanted to know who the originator was. Fu XiuYi had a cautious and suspicious temperament so he did not think that others did it by accident.

The purple-clothed woman was talking to someone else with her chin resting on her hand. He looked indifferent and distant but there was an indescribable atmosphere about him that clearly distinguished him from others.

"Who is Ninth Brother looking at?" Prince Zhuo, Fu Xiu An followed Fu Xiu Yi's gaze and showed a clear smile. “Talking about among us brothers, only Ninth Sister has not had a wife. The imperial father had mentioned many times about the selection of a wife for Ninth Young Brother. So, which young family women do the women below? He looks pretty good. Not sure which one is her relative and do we know any of them?”

"This is the Fifth Young Miss of the Great General's formidable residence and this one's disciple." Pei Lang stood not far away and replied after hearing what was said.

"Fifth Young Miss of the Great General's formidable residence?" Prince Jing, Fu Xiu Xuan, his memories are good but perhaps Shen Miao's reputation is so great that the Imperial family is no stranger to his name. She said, “Isn't that Di's daughter from General Shen Xin? It looks like it's called Shen Miao?”

“How is Shen Miao possible?” Fu Xiu An smiled without a care, “The problem of Shen Miao chasing after our Ninth Brother is something the entire capital is aware of and a few days ago didn't he fall into the water just to see Ninth Brother? If Ninth Brother was really happy with Shen Miao, it wouldn't be too troublesome. Moreover, Shen Miao is an idiot but you see the young lady on the other hand has an elegant and noble aura. How could he be Shen Miao?”

"The Fourth Sister should speak carefully since Xiu Yi has no such intention." Fu XiuYi shook his head but his gaze was fixed on the purple-clothed young lady far away on the other side of the female banquet section.

In his heart, it was not that he was not surprised. Shen Miao in his eyes was no different from any other young lady who admired him. The young ladies who liked her would pretend to be simple on the surface and understand etiquette and go forward or backward appropriately but Shen Miao, he doesn't know anything anymore. He was obviously not going to consider an idiot being ridiculed by the entire capital city of Ding. If not for Shen Xin, she would have clearly shown some disgust on her face.

Moreover, his memory of Shen Miao was of someone who had always liked to wear bright red or green robes and liked to wear gold jewelry as he ferociously wore a thick blush on his face, like a clown on a country stage. But the purple-clothed young lady had clean and bright skin as well as graceful eyebrows and a noble aura that distinguished her from the surrounding women. How could it be Shen Miao?

He's not the only one confused. So did Pei Lang.

As Shen Miao's teacher for two years, Pei Lang undoubtedly understood Shen Miao more than Fu XiuYi. It is said that a person can change appearance and clothing can be replaced but the nature of his personality is different. Pei Lang is a scholar and scholar values personality traits more than any other. Shen Miao practically became someone else overnight. How could there be such a thing?

She did not think about the matter of the tea cup even though she felt that there was something wrong with the music as in her mind, how could a young woman hear the matter. Not to mention that Shen Miao was never an expert in qin.

Everyone was in their own minds when the musician ended their performance. The academy exam is about to begin.

This year's academy exam is different from before. It does not distinguish between men and women but separates the scientific and military arts. Although Guang Wen Tang required his students to be proficient in the scientific and military arts and both arts were in the curriculum, but by a hundred-year rule, the, very few women would choose military art and in scientific art, most men would usually choose military art. This is because this is the way the court selects their talent, as one Daren put it, "It's common knowledge that successful talented candidates will often become generals and officials."

As for women, most scientific art topics traditionally fall into four categories of literature and poetry. It was much more demanding for women not only in Ming Qi, but all other countries. The place of women is at home to support the husband and educate the children and sing about the wind and the moon.

The Ming Qi Trials were all divided into three parts for one to draw out, one to choose from and one to challenge.

Everyone needs to draw but the school breaks the order and gets everyone participating to pull the topic of the academy exam. To avoid being too or very difficult, women will choose in the four scientific arts whereas men will draw in both the military and scientific fields.

Since this was something that could not be avoided, Shen Miao would be humiliated in this case because he was unaware of any of the four scientific arts.

As for the second part of the selection, one can choose which areas are good to show off. Like Shen Yue who often chose to play qin and Shen Qing would choose the calculation.

As for the final challenging part, it's not about challenging the topic but challenging others. One would be able to go up on stage to challenge one of the students as opposed to in a certain area. Such scenes are often done when both talents are in balance. As for Shen Miao, those who challenged him would only insult their own strength. There were also others who wanted to watch Shen Miao humiliate himself and deliberately challenge Shen Miao onto the stage and attack him in other ways. The result was one that did not require much guessing, no matter what topic, Shen Miao would suffer a crushing defeat.

That was why for Shen Miao the annual academy examination was like a nightmare because she would be treated as a joke by everyone. Days like this are countless.And it is also the same this year.

As in previous years, the main examiner went up on stage and said many things while the other two came out from behind with two small wooden barrels filled with paper. These papers all had the topic of the academy examination and the students who would draw them themselves.

Both men and women need to draw. One man walked to the male side of the banquet and one by one the male students began to draw. The other tall women brought wooden barrels to the female side of the banquet and the female students began to draw in an orderly manner.

Feng An Ning blinked his eyes, “May the Gods give their blessings. I just hope to draw a qin topic or a poem. I really don't know anything about painting and chess.” He looked towards Shen Miao, “You really don't seem worried at all. Do you have a card on your sleeve? Or just go with the flow?” He didn't mean to be too hard but Shen Miao was a fool who didn't have much knowledge about anything.

Shen Miao declined to comment. What is the purpose of drawing? Qin, chess, poetry, and painting were things he could not do.

When the wooden barrel reached Shen Miao's table, Feng An Ning drew first and could not wait to open the paper he made. She feels relieved, “This is qin! It's qin! Lfs nice. Today's qin practice is not in vain. Shen Miao, is that yours?”

Shen Miao's hand had just been taken out of the barrel and there was a piece of white paper on his palm that was folded into a long piece. He opened it and there was only a word on it.