The Xie family in the capital, listen to Xue Xuan.

Maids dressed in uniform shuttle in front of the various tables, placing various fruit plates, tea and wine. The outside of the Xuan is covered with snow, but the four seasons are like spring in the Xuan, and there are many girls of the same age who have not yet decided to marry, they gather together in twos and threes, enjoy the scenery outside the Xuan, and praise a few words from time to time.

Ye Qiong sat in the corner, with an aura that no one should enter, quietly drinking tea.

This snow banquet is a family banquet, and most of the people invited are people who have in-laws with the Xie family in the capital, most of Ye Qiong don't know each other, and even if they do, they only had some contact in their previous lives.

Ye Qiong didn't bother to pay attention to the others, and only quietly paid attention to Xie Wanlan's movements.

Because it was the host's house, Xie Wanlan was standing in the crowd and talking, as if he could talk to anyone, but he was a little alienated from all the guests, and only cared about telling the maid how to take care of all the guests.

Ye Qiong seized the opportunity, pretending to go to the other side to see the scenery, and inadvertently bumped into the maid who was holding tea, the maid stumbled, and the tea bowl in the tray fell and smashed at Xie Wanlan's feet, staining half of her skirt.

Ye Qiong pretended to be frightened, and hurriedly asked, "How is my cousin, have you ever been burned?" ”

Xie Wanlan frowned, but still waved his hand and said, "It's okay, it's just that I soiled my skirt, I'll go and change it." ”

Ye Qiong said apologetically: "It's all my fault, it just so happens that there is some tea on the corner of my skirt, why don't I go with my cousin." ”

Xie Wanlan loosened her brows, although she was not used to Ye Qiong following, but it was not easy to refuse, so she said, "It's okay." As he spoke, he commanded the maid a few more words, confessed to everyone in the Xuan, and retreated with Ye Qiong.

When the family holds a banquet, most of them will set up a special place for changing clothes, and prepare several sets of clothes for change inside. Ye Qiong followed Xie Wanlan into a small room for changing clothes, and when the maids helped pick out clothes, she quickly stuffed the plain silver orchid hairpin into Xie Wanlan's hand.

Xie Wanlan was startled, and was about to scold Ye Qiong, but when she saw the orchid hairpin's face suddenly changed, she stared at Ye Qiong deadly. Ye Qiong's mouth opened and closed, and made a mouth shape of "let people retreat", Xie Wanlan was helpless, and said to the maids: "Second Miss Ye and I don't like others to look at me when we change clothes, you can stand down." ”

The maids were a little strange, but they still obeyed the order and retreated.

Xie Wanlan was full of suspicion and panic, holding the hairpin and asking anxiously in a low voice, "Where did you get this hairpin?" You know what! ”

Ye Qiong did not answer Xie Wanlan's words directly, but first took out Lu Yi's letter from her arms and handed it to Xie Wanlan, saying, "You will understand after reading this letter. ”

Xie Wanlan recognized that the "Visit Lan Qinqi" on the envelope was Lu Yi's handwriting, snatched the envelope, and after confirming that the seal was intact, he opened the envelope and pulled out the letter paper, looking at it while paying attention to Ye Qiong's expression from time to time.

After reading the letter, Xie Wanlan swallowed the letter paper together, and when Ye Qiong didn't have time to stop it, she lifted her skirt and knelt in front of Ye Qiong, and said, "Second Miss Ye, if Brother Yi is willing to believe you, I will also believe you!" I have understood what has happened, and I have asked the girl to plan for us. ”

Saying that, Xie Wanlan kowtowed to Ye Qiong sincerely, and when she was about to kowtow again, she was pulled up by Ye Qiong, Ye Qiong said, "I don't deserve this great gift from my aunt." I made a deal with Lu Yi's clan brothers, but it was just an exchange of interests, and my cousin didn't have to be like this. ”

Xie Wanlan shook her head and said, "You and I are both daughters of official families, how can we not know the danger of elopement?" You are willing to help me, you are taking a risk, my brother may not understand, I know. ”

Ye Qiong sighed in her heart, she had a better impression of Xie Wanlan, and she could understand the difficulties of others, there was still such a girl in the Xie family. Ye Qiong said: "Okay, don't talk about this, now Brother Ling wants to match my cousin with my fifth uncle, and I won't stop you from going to the Ye family, and it will be more convenient for you and me to come and go." Let's make a long story short, and ask my cousin to tell me about the situation in the house, and I can plan for you. ”

Xie Wanlan was stunned for a moment, and then spoke after pondering for a while: "The Xie family in the capital is headed by my father. I'm a concubine, because my biological mother was raised by my mother, so my relationship with my mother's brother is acceptable. The Xie family likes to use their in-laws to maintain the relationship between the court and the court, and most of the marriages of the women in the clan are this ending, and the same is true for the women who marry in, and they are all very pitiful...... Ye Er Girl, don't marry in, even if she wants to marry in, don't marry her brother's second son. That kid is a fool! ”

Ye Qiong's eyes widened in surprise and said, "I only heard that he has been weak and sickly since he was a child, so he doesn't often come out to meet people, is he actually a fool?" ”

Even in her previous life, Ye Qiong had never heard of such a thing, and she had no impression of the woman who married Xie Wanlan's second son. It can be seen how well the Xie family hid this matter.

Xie Wanlan nodded, she had been paying attention to the movement outside the wing, and at this moment she heard footsteps approaching, so she quickly changed her skirt and said, "Someone is coming." Second Miss Ye, let me say one more thing, you remember, you must stay away from my sister-in-law, I will go out first, and if I don't go out, it will cause suspicion. ”

Saying that, Xie Wanlan pushed open the side room, and Mrs. You was standing outside the door of the side room, seeing Xie Wanlan pushing open the door, she laughed and said, "Where have I got, it turned out that I came to change clothes." Listen to Xue Xuan, I can't leave you. ”

Xie Wanlan also smiled: "My skirt was stained by tea, so I came to change it." What about sister-in-law? ”

Mrs. You glanced at Ye Qiong, who was pretending to be picking out a skirt, and said, "Me? It's just a matter of sitting down, and the kitchen is finally ready, and I can come and be lazy. ”

Xie Wanlan nodded, didn't say anything, and left first.

Ye Qiong also picked out a skirt and put it on, and when she came out, she saw that Mrs. You was still in the wing, so she nodded to her with a smile, and then walked out of the room.

It wasn't until Ye Qiong walked a long way away that she felt that Mrs. You's cold and sticky gaze like a leech had finally disappeared.

Ye Qiong exhaled, and she understood a little in her heart why Xie Wanlan said to keep her away from Mrs. You.

The way Mrs. You looked at her was not like staring at a guest who had come to visit, but more like a wolf staring at its prey after being hungry for days.

Back in Tingxue Xuan, there was some noise in the Xuan for some reason, Ye Qiong took a closer look, only to find that there were more young men in the Xuan, and the maids were busy cleaning up the table and putting some painting tools.

As soon as Ye Qiong stepped into Tingxue Xuan, she heard a familiar shout: "Senior sister, where have I been with you?" ”

This shout was not loud, but it successfully diverted most of Xuan's eyes to Ye Qiong's body, fortunately, the gaze could not hurt anyone, otherwise Ye Qiong would be cut by a thousand knives.

Ye Qiong resisted the urge to hold her forehead, walked to Zhang Jingzhi, who was smiling brightly, and said with a smile: "Senior brother, I haven't seen you for a long time." ”

The girls in the Xuan suddenly chattered, most of them saying that Ye Qiong didn't know how to lift, and she really dared to call the prince of the Korean government as a junior brother.

Ye Qiong ignored these, and only lowered her voice and asked Zhang Jingzhi: "You brought the male guest here?" ”

Zhang Jingzhi blinked his eyes and said with a smile: "Senior sister really understands me. I knew you were here today, and I wanted to see you, but I couldn't see you alone, so I simply brought them all. ”

Ye Qiongxin said that this was indeed the case, and asked curiously: "What excuse did you use?" ”

Zhang Jingyi spread the painting paper on his side, and said: "This is a snow appreciation banquet, and it is naturally mainly for snow appreciation." I told them, anyway, listening to Xue Xuan is ventilated on all sides, so you don't have to take care of the defense of men and women, so it's better to come here and hold a competition with the female guests on the theme of 'snow', no matter which kind of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting you can. You see, I only came up with a plan, and they dragged me over happily. ”

Ye Qiong smiled, looking at the girls who were suddenly much more reserved in Tingxue Xuan, and the peacock-like teenagers who opened the screen, she felt that her inner soul seemed to have really become twelve years old, and looked at Zhang Jingzhi's paved drawing paper curiously and said, "Do you want to paint?" ”

Zhang Jingzhi saw that Ye Qiong was interested, so he smiled and took the initiative to give up his position, saying, "I'm too lazy to move." This drawing paper is for you, senior sister. ”

Ye Qiong sneered, but a voice interjected at this time, saying, "Is Cousin Ye Qiong good at drawing?" ”

The source of the voice is Xie Maoshi's eldest son Xie Xuanjie.

Xie Xuanjie looks like Zhou Zheng, he is wearing a royal blue tuan-patterned shirt today, and he looks very jeweled, but he heard that there was still a Zhang Jingzhi standing in Xue Xuan, and compared the two, Xie Xuanjie was suddenly suppressed.

Who is Zhang Jingzhi? The doting prince of the Korean government, not to mention the noble status, just because of his appearance, he is already the best among the sons of the family in the capital, although the boys and girls are too beautiful, but they are not feminine, even the men can't take their eyes off it.

was suppressed by Zhang Jingzhi, although Xie Xuanjie was not very comfortable, he was also convinced, but he didn't expect Zhang Jingzhi to really recognize Ye Qiong as his senior sister.

Xie Xuanjie thought, Ye Qiong is just a twelve-year-old girl, and she has won a few more firsts in Wenshan Academy, why is she standing with Zhang Jingzhi, and why can she say that her knowledge is not as good as him in front of her father, so she asked.

Zhang Jingzhi squinted his eyes and looked at Xie Xuanjie coldly, Ye Qiong also felt that the comer was not good, so he smiled politely: "I'm not good at it, I just can smear a few strokes at will." ”

Xie Xuanjie laughed out loud and said disdainfully, "Haha, I didn't expect that Zou Shuangrui, the disciple of Mr. Zou, didn't even know how to paint." Mr. Zou also has such a time to look away? ”

Listening to the silence in Xue Xuan, the first to break the silence was Zhang Jingzhi's sneer, he slapped his nose: "Xie Xuanjie, your Xie family's listening to Xue Xuan, how does it smell, it doesn't smell good?" ”

Xie Xuanjie was stunned, and many people followed Zhang Jingzhi to learn the movements, and muttered in a low voice: "I didn't smell anything?" ”

Zhang Jingzhi sneered: "It's probably because someone's mouth is too stinky." Eh, it's also true, how can a dog's mouth not stink, and besides, dogs look down on people. ”

Everyone burst into laughter, and Xie Xuanjie suddenly blushed with anger.

Zhang Jingzhi is scolding him for being a dog! It's hateful that he can't scold back, because that's Zhang Jingzhi! Zhang Jingzhi is not something he can scold, even if he really scolds back, Zhang Jingzhi will scold back even more ugly.

Ye Qiong also laughed, and said in a timely manner: "Cousin Xie will talk about my master, and it's over." Besides, I didn't say I couldn't draw, I just wasn't good at it......"

The more Ye Qiong said this, the more Xie Xuanjie felt that Ye Qiong's talent was nothing more than that, snorted coldly, and said, "Isn't it not good at it." Ye Qiong, do you dare to take my challenge and compare yourself with me to paint? ”

Ye Qiong hesitated for a long time before agreeing: "Okay." If Cousin Xie is determined to take a look, it's not that I can't paint, but I also ask Cousin Xie to retract what he said about my master. ”

Xie Xuanjie snorted, and glanced at Zhang Jingyi beside Ye Qiong again, but he didn't dare to continue to say evil things related to Mr. Zou.

Ye Qiong smiled confidently in her heart.

Most people in Beijing reacted to the master's acceptance of him as an apprentice in the same way as Xie Xuanjie.

I should have shown my hand a long time ago and broke this rumor, Ye Qiong didn't care about herself, but Xie Xuanjie's words also involved Mr. Zou, which Ye Qiong couldn't bear.

What's more, what the Xie family wants is an obedient chess piece, and the more their talent is revealed, the more the Xie family will feel that they can't control it.

It's just to paint a painting, in the days of widowhood in the Korean government in her previous life, Ye Qiong didn't paint less, not to mention that the most important thing in painting is never the layout and brushstrokes, but the idea and creativity.

How can an empty-minded son like Xie Xuanjie come up with an idea, how can it compare to Ye Qiong's understanding of being a human being?

Listening to the commotion in Xue Xuan, most of them said that Ye Qiong was not self-sufficient, Xie Xuanjie learned from a famous teacher, although Mr. Zou was famous, but he had never heard of any talent in painting, besides, how long Ye Qiong had only been apprenticed, how could he compare to Xie Xuanjie.

Among the guests invited today, there were also the two sisters Ye Mei and Ye Qin in the second room of the Ye family, Ye Mei looked at the joke and whispered: "I haven't heard that she has ever learned painting, don't all paintings have to follow famous teachers?" What talent she can have, she is definitely not as good as Cousin Xie's. ”

Ye Qin also smiled in agreement: "What my sister said is reasonable, let's see the joke." ”

Zhang Jingzhi couldn't hear this, so he deliberately raised his voice and said to Ye Qiong and said: "Senior sister, in the lottery of this game, I added five thousand taels of silver tickets, you must win!" ”

Ye Qiong glared at Zhang Jingyi, but the corners of her mouth curled, and said with a smile: "It's too nonsense, punish you for washing my pen." ”

Zhang Jingzhi said "Okay" happily, and everyone in the Xuan was stunned.

The little bully of the Korean government turned into an obedient little quail in front of Ye Qiong?

Ye Mei clenched her handkerchief.

In the Ye family grange, Zhang Jingzhi didn't give her and Ye Qin face, Ye Mei still remembered it very clearly.

What's so good about Ye Qiong that she deserves Zhang Jingzhi's treatment like this?

Xie Xuanjie also thought so, he picked up the pen and hooked the line, and peeked at Ye Qiong with his spare eyes.

Ye Qiong picked up the paintbrush and seemed to be a different person, not like a girl, but like a recluse family who had gone through thousands of sails.

Ye Qiong's gaze was focused, and even Zhang Jingzhi, who was standing beside her and handed her a pen, couldn't help but slow down her breathing, for fear that it would disturb her between breaths.

Xie Xuanjie's hand holding the paintbrush trembled, and he had some bad premonitions in his heart.