The Fourth Lady novel Chapter 49

"Min'er, what do you think of Yan'er's performance?" Chunyuan look to Mu Zhimin that was next to her and asked with a smile, "I very much like that girl."

Mu Zhimin casted her eyes on the not too distant Qingyan as she listened to what Chunyuan said. Qingyan's calm demeanor made her admire her a lot. She even was able to see on Qingyan some traces of Murong Jingxuan.

Murong Jingxuan was raised in Diqiu ever since he was young. Although on the surface he looked like a frivolous playboy, she couldn't be more clear to the talent he had behind him. After all, they were both gave off the feeling of 'people of the world's edge*'. That feeling they had was definitely similar, and she did admire that kind of Murong Jingxuan.

(*TN: This is a verse from Bai Juyi's long poem 'Song of the Pipa Player'; it means people that have both wandered far from home brought closer together because of similar bitter experiences.)

But that was definitely not 'like'; she only revered and respected him. And in Qingyan she could see that kind of shadow on her.

"I also like that girl too." Mu Zhimin looked towards Chunyuan with a gentle smile. "Min'er thinks that a girl that brother Jingxuan is interested in must not be ordinary."

Xuanyuan Yufan stared at Qingyan from the start to finish of her performance. He'd never thought that in a year's time, Su Qingyan would have this much of a drastic change. Or rather it was more accurate to say he didn't understand why Su Qingyan would have this drastic of a change. She was completely different from the Su Qingyan in his memories.

"Jingxuan, do you think second brother is also interested in that girl now?" Xuanyuan Yuzhen saw the look in Yufan's eyes and turned his attention to Murong Jingxuan.

Murong Jingxuan smirked, "Naturally I'd be more than happy if a lot of people like that girl."

His girl should be this outstanding.

"Brother Jingxuan, don't regret it, if when the time comes, second brother steals that fourth miss away." Xuanyuan Yukai look to Murong Jingxuan laughing, as he teased him, and behind him Xuanyuan Yuning also nodded in agreement.

"That girl's standards are very high." Murong Jingxuan still had a confident look.

He clearly knew in his heart that, his girl, was only using this as an opportunity to greatly show off in front of these princes. As for who she liked, he thinks that that person definitely must be someone she could really rely on, and as of now, the only one she trusted was probably just him.

Su Qingyan didn't trust anyone. Even if she greeted everyone with a smile, he could still feel that Su Qingyan really didn't believe in anyone around her. Even those servant girls she had by her side, she'd still kept things from them. But he really wanted to know just how many more surprises could she bring him.

In qin Qingyan took first place, in chess a girl in pink got first place, in calligraphy it was some illegitimate daughter of a noble, and in painting Luo Yixin took first. And the most important thing right now was to decide on a winner among these four first placers. That way, that person would undisputedly be the number one.

The second round of this competition was composing poetry verses. The judges would give a theme and let them compete to see who was the best through composing poetry.

The theme this time was: Plum Blossom.

The girl in pink was not well versed in this kind of thing and could only half heartedly get by with a verse of 'Singing Plum Flower'. The other girl also barely got by with a verse of 'Sighing Flower'. Thus in the end, it became a battle between Su Qingyan and Luo Yixin.

Luo Yixin was already very good with this kind of thing, that's why when she saw the theme, she immediately composed a piece. Furthermore, her piece was very well received by the judges.

However, Qingyan who was sitting to the side had yet to moved her hand. And just when they thought Qingyan had already given up, they found that Qingyan had already picked up the brush and began to write.