"You really made her anxious. If you still didn't come, I'm afraid that she would poke a hole in Mingyue Restaurant.”Yan Jin covered his mouth and giggled. Yu Dai also laughed until her eyes curved.
Xia Yin blushed and said,"Bad sister, I'm ignoring you."”As she spoke, she turned her head to the side and ignored Yan Jin.
Su Qi looked at Xia Yin's child-like appearance and could not help but laugh. For a moment, the entire room was filled with moving laughter. It took a while before it calmed down. Yu Dai's eyes flashed with an inexplicable excitement, and her usual gentleness was completely gone. "Sister Ye, is the green and red dress ready? I've thought about it for a long time.”
Su Qi smiled mysteriously and said," You'll know in a while. If you like it, I'll give it to you later."”
Hearing this, Yu Dai's eyes immediately lit up.
"Sister Ye, I want it too.”Shayeen shouted, unwilling to be outdone.
"You, don't think about it. If Sister Su Qi really had such a flower, she would probably be chosen to enter the palace.”Yan Jin said.
The two of them immediately fell silent when they heard that.
Su Qi said," I only brought a few pots of ordinary ones today. If you like them, you can go to my residence to choose. I still have a lot of them."”
Xia Yin and Yu Dai immediately perked up, and even Yan Jin was moved.
At this moment, the drum on the opposite stage was sounded. The four of them walked to the window together.
"Looks like it's about to start. Let's go down.”Yan Jin said softly.
Su Qi looked at Yan Jin in confusion. However, there were too many people.
Yu Dai saw through Su Qi's thoughts. She smiled and said,""They have arranged seats for the participants. The men are on the left and the women are on the right.”
So that was how it was. Su Qi finally understood.
Thus, the four of them came to the right side of the stage under the protection of their guards. When they saw Wei Qianxue sitting at the front, they thought for a moment and decided to sit together in a slightly remote corner. They could clearly see the stage from an inconspicuous spot.
Wei Qianxue glanced at them before speaking to the other young ladies.
After a while, a man in green walked up the stage and bowed to the people below the stage. He smiled and said,"Hello everyone, I am Zhu Li. It's time for our annual autumn beauty pageant again. Regardless of whether it's your first time participating and you don't know the rules or you know the rules, please forgive me for my long-windedness.
The autumn 'beauty pageant' competition is mainly targeted at all kinds of chrysanthemums. From the rarity of the chrysanthemums, the shape of the flowers, the color, and the overall comparison, the scores will be given. Originally, the competition had a male group and a female group, but this time, we will break the convention and compete together. The final highest score will be the corolla, which will be awarded 500 taels of silver and will have priority to choose one of the three antiques provided by Gu Hongzhai. The second and third place will each receive 300 taels of silver, 100 cars, and one antique. In addition, the top ten flowers would be selected to enter the imperial garden of the palace.”
As soon as Zhu Li finished speaking, the audience below and on stage became lively, and all kinds of comments sounded.
The drums on the stage began to beat. Zhu Li wore her usual smile and stood to the side, quietly waiting for everyone to quieten down until only the drums were left in the entire venue.
Zhu Li then said," Next, let me introduce the five judges this time. They are Wu Chang, the flower manager of the Imperial Palace; Hua Huo and Hua Shuo, the flower masters; Lan Cangshu, the number one master of Beijing; and Jinsha Teng, the shopkeeper of Gu Hongzhai.”
Su Qi looked at the five people sitting on the high platform. Wu Chang looked like a eunuch who had a head full of fat and was probably not a good person. Hua Huo and Hua Shuo should be brothers. They looked strangely similar. Lan Cangshu was an old man who seemed to be in his prime. He looked kind and benevolent. If one ignored the light in his eyes, Su Qi would probably think that he was a harmless old man.
At this moment, Lan Cangshu seemed to have sensed Su Qi's gaze. He turned around and looked at her. The corners of his mouth curled up as he nodded at her.
Su Qi had a modest and generous smile on her face, but she was thinking in her heart,'What a sensitive perception.'
The Golden Sand Vine was wearing a flowing gold robe. It looked like a nouveau riche, but it was definitely a nouveau riche that was not to be trifled with.
"Sister Ye, what are you looking at?”Xia Yin and the other two looked at Su Qi curiously. They called out to her several times but did not answer. It was as if they were in a daze.
Hearing someone calling her, Su Qi came back to her senses and retracted her gaze. She saw the puzzled expressions of Xia Yin and the other two and smiled."It depends on the judges."
Xia Yin excitedly held Su Qi's hand and said,""Sister Ye, do you also think that Hua Huo and Hua Shuo are very good-looking?”
"Do you think Suqi is as stupid as you?”Yu Dai teased with a smile.
Su Qi said,"So Little Yin, you're still a love-struck fool!"”
"What's a love-struck fool?" Yan Jin asked curiously. Xia Yin and Yu Dai also didn't understand.
"She's someone who gets into a daze when she sees a beautiful man. Look at Little Yin now, doesn't she look like that?”As they spoke, they all felt that it was very vivid. All of them smiled gorgeously. Even the others at the side also laughed softly when they heard it. Shayeen pouted helplessly.
As there were more people participating, they were divided into about twenty groups with ten pots of flowers in each group. As Su Qi and the others teased each other, the first group had already walked up. Most of the people had their servants carry the flowers while they stood at the side, introducing their chrysanthemums one by one. Only a few people carried the flowers and introduced themselves.
Su Qi looked at those gorgeously dressed people and those flowers in boredom. Her eyes darted around as she looked at the people around her.
Suddenly, she felt a gaze following her. At first, Su Qi thought it was an illusion.
Xi Liyuan had been standing by the window of a private room in Mingyue Restaurant since the start of the competition. In fact, he did not like such a lively scene. However, if he stayed in the Imperial Palace, there would be some officials who would come to see him from time to time. They all wanted him to choose a concubine. Did they think that he didn't know what they were planning? They just wanted to plant some eyes by his side, or rather, they were plotting for their own interests. The so-called royal descendants were just an excuse. Thinking of those restless women in the harem, all of them only knew how to play tricks out of boredom.
At this moment, Xi Li Yuan saw the woman he had seen by the lake during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Although it had been a few months, he still remembered her clearly. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly. It seemed that she was a young lady from some family. He wondered if she would get a part in the consort selection if he agreed.
Eunuch Jin, who was standing at the side, seemed to have sensed something. He raised his head and saw the corner of the Xiliyuan's lips curling up. He immediately felt a chill pierce through his heart. Was the sun about to rise from the west? Eunuch Jin blinked his eyes hard and rubbed them with his hands. He looked over again to confirm that his eyes were not playing tricks on him. The Emperor seemed to be smiling. Heavens, this scene was really too rare!
Xi Liyuan did not care about the surprise he had brought to the people around him. He kept staring at the woman until she saw him. The smile on his lips deepened, and an unknown light flashed in his eyes.
"Suqi, what are you looking at? That Wei Qianxue is going up." Yan Jin's hand swayed in front of Su Qi's eyes. He followed Su Qi's gaze but did not see anything.
Su Qi came back to her senses. She seemed to have seen a familiar figure, but she couldn't remember. It was only after she heard Yan Jin's words that she looked towards the center of the stage.
Zhu Li was standing three feet away from Wei Qianxue, smiling like a spring breeze as she said,"This must be Miss Wei. I wonder what kind of flowers you brought for us to broaden our horizons.”
Wei Qianxue wore a golden bun on her head and a pearl hairpin with five phoenixes hanging from the sun. She wore a long, crescent-moon-colored dress with a bean-green palace sash at the hem and a hollowed-out jade pendant at her waist. She wore a plain veil on her face, revealing only a pair of smiling eyes.
She took a step to the side, and a servant behind her brought over a pot of green chrysanthemums. Wei Qianxue said,"This is a flower I found not long ago. It's called the Green Peony.”
"So this is the green peony. It is said that very few people have seen this flower before. I wonder if our judges can come and tell us about it.”Zhu Li was indeed a first-class host. After a moment of surprise, she calmed down. However, the others below the stage were not calm. They had never heard of this flower before.
Hua Shuo looked at the flower, his eyes shining with golden light."Green Peony, its branches are thick and green, and its leaves are irregularly shaped. The flowers are green, flat petals, many rings do not reveal the heart, belong to the peony flower type. When the flower bloomed, the outer petals were light green, and the middle petals were green and curled up. The heart petal was dark green, and the entire corolla was tight and flat.
When it first bloomed, the flowers were as green as jade, sparkling and translucent. After being exposed to the sun, it was green and yellow, dazzling. The diameter of the flower could reach 17 centimeters, and the flowering period could last for 35 days. Its foot bud sprouted less, the initial growth was slow, and the survival rate of cuttage was low. It was a rare representative variety of green chrysanthemums. It was named 'Green Peony', and the flower was in the shape of a peony, allowing people to admire the chrysanthemum and recall its name, recalling the delicate and beautiful appearance of the peony and peony. Peony and peony were known as the king of flowers and the appearance of flowers since ancient times. They had the reputation of being the two wonders of flowers.”
Lan Cangshu stroked his beard and said with a smile,"It's rare to see such a top-grade flower here. However, the leaves of this pot of green peony are slightly yellow. Although the flowers are blooming well, there are already some signs of withering.”
Wei Qianxue felt a little uncomfortable when she heard this. Her flowers were at their peak, so how could they show any signs of withering? It was clearly nonsense. However, she still thanked him politely. Lan Cangshu had lived for so long, so he could tell that Wei Qianxue was unhappy. However, he only smiled and didn't say anything.
"Then, please give your marks.”The sound of bamboo dripping rang out in a timely manner.
Hua Shuo and Wu Chang gave 10 points, Golden Sand Vine smiled and gave 9 points, while Blue Orchid Orchid and Anther only gave 8 points. The total score was 45 points, the highest among everyone.
Wei Qianxue looked at Ye Suqi with a smug smile and walked straight to her seat. The people around her started to suck up to her.
"Hmph, what's there to be proud of?" Xia Yin said unwillingly.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]