âSecond missâs name is first, the best in this examination. Congratulations old madam!â
The smile on Ji Shuranâs face stiffened.
Jiang You Yao opened her mouth to speak, unable to endure and blurted out: âWhat did you say?â
Her voice was somewhat piercing and was panic-stricken.
âProbably misheard.â Jiang Yuâe felt unbelievable from the bottom of her heart and shook her head. As if by doing this she could persuade herself and said: âYouâve certainly misheardâŠâŠ.â
Itâs still Lu-shi who first reacted. Her smile immediately bloomed and she said: âIf I didnât hear wrongly just now, Li-er is ranked first?â She shot a glance at Ji Shuranâs frozen smile, a slight glee flashed in her heart.
Since an earlier time, she was already rather dissatisfied with Ji Shuran. Ji Shuran relied on the Vice Imperial Censor, Ji Yan Linâs promotion the past years and her weight had increasingly become bigger. Lu-shi was originally a proud person and couldnât stand Ji Shuran. Moreover, in every yearâs examination, Jiang You Yaoâs achievements became better which in turn made the two sons from the second branch seem mediocre. Nowadays, a Jiang Li came out, covering the sky with her attack, ferociously pressing down Ji Shuranâs might. Naturally Lu-shi was glad to see it happen.
âI didnât expect Li-er to be someone with ability.â Without hesitation, Lu-shi inserted a knife into Ji Shuran, âitâs only been a while since she attends Ming Yi Hall and seemingly hasnât learned all these before. In my opinion, she deserves to be called elder brotherâs biological daughter, both have such remarkable literary talent, innately clever ahâŠ..â
Everytime she spoke a sentence, the bitter resentment in Jiang You Yaoâs heart increased. The anger from being surpassed by Jiang Yuâe, had now been completely shifted to Jiang Li. Jiang Yuâe is fine, but what could Jiang Li be considered as? She has just attended Ming Yi hall for a few days and couldnât be compared with the people. Might as well say she is no better than rubbish?
At this moment, Jiang Yuâe was also squeezing the handkerchief in her hand tightly. Just now her whole heart was still delighted, but now her head felt as if it had been poured with ice cold water. A bone chilling cold that penetrated her bone marrow in the middle of summer, making her fingertips feel slight chills. Aside from this, thereâs still a deep-rooted unwillingness.
The only thing she was proud of, the only thing that put Jiang Li under her feet, now is no more! Why?!
Old madam Jiang merely glanced and understood, taking each personâs appearance and manner in her sight. She said indifferently: âYou see the results clearly, whether the second girl is really at the top of the list?â
âIndeed,â that young servant said: âOld madam, please see the transcribed red notice. Second missâs calligraphy, mathematics and etiquette, each one comes first, thereâs no need to doubt her being at the top of the list!â
Jiang You Yaoâs body became soft and almost slid down.
âŠâŠ
In Fang Fei Garden, Jiang Li was in the middle of watching Li-er looking after the plants and flowers.
âYou are really not going?â Jiang Jing Rui was sitting on a chair, drinking tea while couldnât help urging Jiang Li: âYou still have time to run away, at most people will mock you for going back on your words. If you really wait, later when you want to escape, you wonât be able to escape anymore. Kneeling down and apologizing to Meng Hong Jin, you could be said to be ruined in this lifetime. In my opinion, anyway you are not a gentleman. Moreover, being a gentleman would also need to look at the situation. While the green hills last, thereâll be wood to burn1, why should you make things difficult for yourself?â
Donât be fooled by Jiang Jing Ruiâs hedonistic appearance, he was meticulous when talking about this principle to soothe people that Jiang Li was almost persuaded by him. However, she merely glanced at him and said: âThat is silver needle tea from Hunan, I only boiled a pot today. You are like a cow chewing on a peony2, next time donât come here to drink tea.â
Jiang Jing Rui angrily slammed the tea cup: âListen to you, are you really the young lady coming from our Jiang family? So thrifty, the daughters in our family indulge in drinking and live a life of luxury. Like this you are too boring!â
Footnotes:
1: Where thereâs life, thereâs hope 1.:leftwards_arrow_with_hook:
2: Cannot appreciate good things 2.:leftwards_arrow_with_hook: