Fu Xiuyi was a member of the royal family, and it was impossible for him to be completely unaware of the means used by the royal family. The crisp sound of the teacup falling to the ground seemed unintentional, but it had already disrupted the rhythm of the musicians on stage, preventing those enchanting melodies from continuing. He naturally wanted to take a look at who was responsible, and Fu Xiuyi himself was a cautious and suspicious person, he didn't think the other party was innocent.

  The girl in purple clothes was leaning against her cheek and saying something to the person next to her, her expression was cold and distant, but there was an inexplicable aura that clearly set her apart from the people around her.

  "Who is Ninth Brother looking at?" King Zhou Wang Fu Xiu An followed Fu Xiu Yi's gaze and smiled knowingly: "Speaking of which, among us brothers, only Ninth Brother has not taken a wife. Father Emperor hasn't mentioned several times about Ninth Brother selecting a consort? How come that girl looks like she's from a certain noble family, and seems quite good-looking too. I wonder whose relative she is, does anyone recognize her?"

  "It's the Fifth Miss of the Wei Wu Da Jiang Jun Fu, and she is one of my students." Pei Lang stood not far away, and replied as soon as he heard.

  "Isn't that the fifth young lady of the Great General's mansion?" Jing Wang Fu Xiu Yan had a good memory, perhaps Shen Miao's name was too big, even in the imperial family, they were not unfamiliar with her name. He said: "Isn't she the legitimate daughter of General Shen Xin, named Shen Miao?"

  "How could it be Shen Miao?" Fu Xiu'an smiled casually: "Shen Miao's pursuit of our Ninth Brother is known throughout the city, and just a few days ago, didn't she even fall into the water to see Ninth Brother? If Ninth Brother really liked Shen Miao, why would he need to go through so much trouble. Besides, Shen Miao is a country bumpkin, look at that girl over there, her temperament is calm and noble, how could it be Shen Miao?"

  "Fourth brother, be careful what you say, it's not what I meant." Fu Xiuyi shook his head, but his gaze fell far away on the purple-clothed girl in the women's seats.

  His heart was not immune to shock, Shen Miao was what kind of person, in his eyes, no different from those girls who had a crush on him. Those girls who had a crush on him at least pretended to be reserved on the surface and understood some etiquette, but Shen Miao... probably wouldn't do anything except stare at him foolishly. He naturally wouldn't take a liking to someone who was the laughing stock of the entire capital, if not for Shen Xin's face, he would definitely show his disgust clearly.

  But the Shen Miao in his memory always wore big red and green clothes, loved gold ornaments, and applied heavy makeup to her face, looking like a clown on a rural opera stage. And now, the purple-clothed girl in front of him had skin as white as jade, elegant eyebrows and eyes, and an air of nobility that clearly distinguished her from the other women around her - how could she possibly be Shen Miao?

  Not just him, Pei Lang was also confused.

  As Shen Miao's teacher for two years, Pei Lang undoubtedly understood Shen Miao better than Fu Xiuyi. If one says that a person's attire can be changed and their clothes can be adjusted, but the overall temperament is different. Pei Lang was a scholar, and scholars attach more importance to temperament than others. How could Shen Miao change overnight like a completely different person?

  He didn't expect the teacup incident just now, although he also felt that the music was not right, but in his heart, how could a little girl possibly hear the problem. Moreover, Shen Miao had never been a master of piano skills.

  Everyone in their hearts had their own thoughts, but the musicians on stage had already finished. The inspection is about to begin.

  This year's assessment is different from previous years, not divided into male and female, but only into Wen and Wu. Although the Guangwen Hall requires students to be well-versed in both literature and martial arts, and both types of classes are taught, the rules over the past hundred years have been that few women choose the Wu category, while men dominate the Wen category, particularly in the areas of policy discussion, poetry composition, and classical interpretation. This is because these three subjects are actually pathways for selecting talent for the imperial court, as one high-ranking official once said: "Those who pass the imperial examination often become high-ranking officials, all of whom are highly respected."

  Martial arts candidates need to take riding and shooting, walking and shooting, horse guns, weight-bearing and other exams. But after all, it's not a real martial arts test, so there is no need for military training exercises or specific arena tests.

  While most women were tested on the four traditional subjects of poetry, lyrics, odes and rhapsodies, this was a default tradition. Even in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which were considered open-minded, they were still strict with women, not just the Ming and Qing, almost all countries were like this. Women should stay at home to take care of their husbands and children, and indulge in poetry and nature appreciation.

  Ming Qi's verification has always been divided into three parts: extraction, selection and challenge.

  Drawing lots is something that everyone has to do, with the referee shuffling the order. The drawing determines what verification project each person gets. In order to avoid getting something too difficult and increasing the difficulty, women all draw from the four items in the Wen class, while men draw from both the Wu class and the Wen class's Ce Shi Jing.

  Because this is an inevitable item, Shen Miao will lose face every year in this item, just because she doesn't know any of the four items of poetry, lyrics and songs.

  While electing, it is the second stage, you can choose a class that you are good at to show yourself on stage, just like Shen Yue often chooses to play the piano, and Shen Qing chooses bookkeeping.

  As for the last one, it's a challenge. This challenge is not about choosing, but about challenging. Someone can go on stage and arbitrarily choose a student to come up and be an opponent for a certain item. Such scenes often occur when the strengths are evenly matched. For example, Shen Miao, if challenged, would be insulting her own strength. However, there are also those who want to see Shen Miao make a fool of herself, so they deliberately choose Shen Miao to go on stage and compare with others in a certain item. The outcome is naturally not worth guessing, no matter which item it is, Shen Miao always ends up losing miserably.

  So for Shen Miao, every year's verification was a nightmare, and every year it was ridiculed by everyone as a joke. Such days were countless.

  This year is no exception.

  The chief examiner on the platform spoke as usual, and the other two took out two small wooden buckets from behind. The buckets contained slips of paper with the examination subjects written on them, which were to be drawn by the students themselves.

  The boys and girls all had to draw lots, one of them walked onto the boys' seats, handing it over to the boys one by one. Another tall girl held a lottery bucket and went to the girls' seats, letting the girls draw lots in order.

  Feng Anning blinked her eyes: "I wish heaven would bless me, I just hope to draw the music and book categories, painting and chess are really not my thing." She looked at Shen Miao: "You seem to be not worried at all, could it be that you have a plan? Or is it because you're a broken pot?" It wasn't that she was speaking sarcastically, but Shen Miao was indeed such an airhead who didn't understand anything.

  Shen Miao didn't give a clear answer, what's the point of asking anyway? As for zither, chess, calligraphy and painting, she was never proficient in any of them.

  When the wooden barrel was passed to Shen Miao's table, Feng Anning drew first. After drawing the paper slip, he hastily opened it and let out a sigh of relief: "It's Qin! It's Qin! Now that's good, all these days of practicing Qin weren't in vain. What did you get, Shen Miao?"

  Shen Miao's hand had just come out of the sign bucket, with a white slip of paper lying in her palm, folded into a long strip. She opened it to take a look, and inside was indeed a single character.

  Painting.