"Huh, what are you talking about?beauty pageant?" Lu Baifeng almost squirted out a sip of wine when he heard this.

Sun Songxing smiled helplessly: "Yes, but it's a little different from the beauty pageant you imagined." The city lord said that no matter who becomes the head of the Sun family in the future, the wife must be a person who can make careful calculations and help her husband take care of the family business. In addition, it is required that the appearance should not be bad, because she represents the image of the Sun family, and the Sun family has trade contacts with other states and cities, and the wife must be a woman with grace and temperament. Therefore, all of us who want to inherit the throne of the head of the family must find a woman who is in love with us and participate in the contest in the square at the end of this month. The competition is divided into five games: Douwen, Douwu, Doushu, Douyi, and Doumei, and the one with the most points wins in the end. ”

"Then you want me to participate? No, no, I won't eat, I don't want to marry you. Zhu Xiaomin listened and waved his hand again and again.

Sun Songxing laughed: "The girl misunderstood, I didn't really want to marry you." I already have a beloved, but her family background is not good, her body is relatively thin, and her appearance is not outstanding, so if she is allowed to participate, I am afraid that she will lose. Therefore, I would like to invite the girl to participate, pretending to be my lover for the time being, and helping me. ”

"You mean to make a fake show? Then won't we be exposed after we leave Yanzhou? If we know that you are looking for someone to cheat, the city lord will probably not give up, right?"

"'Licking and laughing' brother, don't you know, the city lord will leave his post at the beginning of next month, so he is so anxious to set the competition at the end of this month. When I become the head of the house, there is no need to trouble you anymore, and when the city lord knows that I am cheating, he will already be in the boat, and he will no longer have the right to interfere in this matter. Sun Songxing explained.

Tianyao asked curiously: "Brother Sun, there is still something I don't understand." Neither your eldest brother nor your second brother is married? Also, your fifth brother is only fifteen years old, how can he find a suitable lover to participate in the competition?"

"'Licking Demon' brother, think about it, how can the city lord not favor my fourth mother? The city lord only has one daughter, it is said that she is very beautiful, and her roots and bones are good, and now she is cultivating immortals in the Yulan Sect in the Wanfeng Forest outside Yanzhou City, and the fifth brother will also worship the Yulan Sect at the end of this year. The lord of the castle personally promised that he would marry his daughter to him in the future. For those who cultivate immortals, Douwu will definitely have an advantage, so she is likely to win the two competitions of Douwu and Doumei, which is not good. If the fifth brother inherits the head of the family, he has no time to take care of business affairs, and the real power still falls into the hands of Siniang. My eldest brother and second brother are only slightly older than me, unmarried, and I don't know who they will find to participate in the competition. Taking a step back, even if they were married, the city lord would directly ask their wives to participate in the competition. ”

"Then why did you choose me? Are you sure I will win?" Zhu Xiaomin asked with interest.

Sun Songxing replied with a smile: "Of course. Needless to say, the girl's appearance is not to mention, in addition, when the domestic servant Lao Wu Fang reported to me, he said that he saw a lively and healthy girl who looked like a fairy, and I took a closer look, and sure enough. In the following medical path, the girl's ruddy face indicates that the qi and veins in the body are connected, which is the appearance of health and vitality, and I can trust the girl. In fact, it's not just you, even the girl's two sisters, at first glance, are also people with excellent physique and good looks. ”

"Sun Gongzi has won the award. Since you asked the little sister first, let her help you, and the third sister and I will not participate in this matter. Tang Junhe said and winked at Xiao Liying.

Xiao Liying understood and persuaded Zhu Xiaomin: "Little sister, you see that people are sincere, just agree to him." We also really want to see this beauty pageant, and we are not in a hurry to leave Yanzhou anyway. But don't lose then. ”

Zhu Xiaomin nodded and agreed: "Since my sisters agree, then I will help you with this, and you will be responsible for settling my brothers and sisters during this period." ”

Seeing that Zhu Xiaomin agreed, Sun Songxing was overjoyed: "Girl, don't worry." When you come to Yanzhou to play, you should live in an inn, right? Not only is it expensive, but it is also inconvenient for people to come and go. I will arrange a clean place for you to stay, and if you need anything, please do not hesitate to mention it. After the completion of the matter, there is another thanks. ”

Lu Baifeng asked: "Brother Sun, I don't know what the specific content of these five competitions is? ”

Sun Songxing replied: "Douwen, it's a test pair. Fighting martial arts is a test of strength. Fighting arithmetic is naturally a test of arithmetic. Fighting art is a talent test, not limited to the form. The final doumei is simply to see whose appearance is more outstanding. I don't know the detailed rules, but I won't know until the day of the competition. ”

Knowing the ins and outs of this incident, everyone continued to enjoy the luxurious Qinglong Banquet with peace of mind. After the banquet was dismissed, Sun Songxing arranged for everyone to live in a quiet courtyard in the north of the city. The courtyard was quiet and tidy, and everyone was very happy.

That night, Xiao Liying, Tang Junhe and Zhu Xiaomin enjoyed the shade in the gazebo. Tang Junhe said to Zhu Xiaomin: "Xiaomin, you have already promised others, are you sure?"

"When I was a child, I also read books at home for a few years, but I don't remember much now, and I'm not sure about Douwen. Fighting martial arts, I have confidence. Fighting, most of the time it doesn't work, anyway, do your best. Douyi, I will embroider with one hand, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. As for Doumei, hehe......" Speaking of this, Zhu Xiaomin smiled.

Xiao Liying and Tang Junhe looked at Zhu Xiaomin in surprise, and Xiao Liying asked, "You still embroider?"

Zhu Xiaomin pouted: "In the kind of place where Taiqing Sect cultivates immortals, how can I have the opportunity to show me the craft of embroidery? I have been learning embroidery from the old grandmother at home since I was five years old, and the level is not low. ”

"Then we're going to have to see what we want. Tang Junhe said with a smile.

There are still a few days left before the competition at the end of the month, and Sun Songxing took two days to lead everyone to visit Yanzhou City. He never knew that the group of people in front of him was actually an immortal cultivator of the Taiqing Sect. But if he knew, he probably wouldn't dare to ask Zhu Xiaomin for help.

The contest was scheduled to be held on the evening of the 30th, which was also the last day of the Lin Xiang Festival, and the lantern riddle party and various opera performances that were supposed to be held were canceled because of this contest, and people were more interested in the beauty pageant that decided the head of the Sun family.

In the evening, as soon as it got dark, people gathered in the square early to occupy a higher position. The layout of the plaza is also different from what it used to be. A wide square platform was erected in the center of the field, a ceiling was erected on the top of the platform, which was hung with large palace lanterns, and two rows of incense lamps were also placed on the edge of the platform, and various lights reflected each other, illuminating the stage as if it was day. There are two sets of tables and chairs on each side of the platform, and there are pen, ink, paper and inkstones on the table. Behind the platform is a stepped VIP seat, which is reserved for the people of the four major families and the city lord. The Taiqing Sect and his party are all VIPs of the Sun family, and they can also sit on the seats and watch during the competition. Tang Junhe and Xiao Liying both wore veils, this is what Lu Baifeng meant, such a beautiful two girls appeared on the VIP seat, it was too eye-catching.

There are more and more people in the square, and such a novel and important competition is probably something that people from all over Yanzhou want to watch. Zhu Xiaomin followed Sun Songxing to prepare elsewhere, and Tianxiao and Tianyao were all seated. Soon, the city lord and the people of the four major families were in place. The city lord of Yanzhou is called Zhou Hexing, a middle-aged man, not tall, slightly bald on the top of his head, small eyes, and a little fat.

As soon as the time came, Zhou Hexing cleared his throat and said loudly: "Residents of Yanzhou City, at the end of this Lin Xiang Festival, we have the honor to see who is the real talent and appearance among the four daughters-in-law of the Sun family in the future. I announce, the competition begins. Let's invite the four girls to the stage!"

The audience immediately fell silent, and everyone was waiting for it, everyone wanted to take a good look at what the four girls looked like. After a while, two people came up from each side of the table and sat down at their respective tables. As soon as they saw their faces, everyone exploded with a "boom", and it turned out that the four girls were all veiled.

"Everyone, don't be impatient, the veils of the four girls will be lifted in the fight against the beauty, so it will be fairer. Alright, now let's start the first competition, Douwen!" Zhou Hexing shouted.

As soon as the words fell, an old man with a slightly hunchback walked up to the stage, and there was a lot of discussion in the audience.

"Isn't that Mr. Liao from the Scholarly Hall?"

"Mr. Liao's question is just right. There is no more learned man in the city than he is. ”

"I don't know what he's going to do......?

......

The hunchbacked old man's name is Liao Wenfeng, a teacher in the study hall, and he is a well-known scholar in Yanzhou City. He explained to the four girls: "In this competition, I will produce five sentences, please write the next sentence within the specified time, write it on a piece of paper and hand it to me, I think whoever is the best will score, each sentence is two points, and the total score is ten points." The following is the first sentence, listen well: 'Spring goes to autumn and the sky is light, and the autumn is sad about the homeland'. ”

None of the four girls immediately started writing, apparently thinking. The people in the audience were also whispering, discussing how to correct this sentence. After a while, the four of them picked up the pen one after another to answer, and after answering all of them, the four maids sent the girls' answer sheets to Liao Wenfeng. After he browsed it, he couldn't help nodding at one of them and said: "This sentence is the best: 'The south comes to the north, and the north and the moon go back to the country'." The other three only noticed the 'lightness' of the first and second sentences, and the third word of each sentence was the same word "autumn", but they did not find that the 'autumn' and 'heart' of the second sentence corresponded to the word 'sorrow' after it. In the next sentence of the third girl's right, 'north' and 'moon' are combined into 'back', and two points are awarded. ”

After writing down a stroke, Liao Wenfeng came out with a second sentence: "The thunder roars in the mountains, the wind in the mountains makes thunder, and the lightning shines in the mountains." The difficulty of this sentence lies not only in the homonyms of "mountain", "thunder" and "ten thousand mountains", but also in the homonyms of the two different words "Ming" and "Ming". The result is that the No. 2 girl is the best: "The wind is howling for nine days, the world is thunderous, and people laugh wildly for nine days." With "howling" and "laughing" to "mingling" and "bright", neat. Liao Wenfeng was amazed after reading it: "There are clouds in the art book: 'Wind and thunder are thin'." In the previous sentence, there is 'thunder' and 'wind', and in the next sentence, I dare to use 'wind' and 'thunder' as opposites, wonderful, wonderful!"

The third sentence: "Yigu Shuangquan shows wealth". The typical ligature interpretation pair, the words "clothes" and "valley" are combined as "yu", and "clothes and valleys" are naturally rich. This time, it was the third girl who was the most right: "The sun and the moon shine brightly".

The fourth sentence: "Add a wooden flail and a heavy frame". At first glance, this sentence is a polyphonic overlapping word pair, the first "heavy" is the "many" sound, and the last two "heavy" are "worm" sounds; at the same time, it is also a double ligonal pair, and the words "plus" and "wood" can be used as both "flail" and "frame". The second girl said: "Today's mouth is happy and musical." The first "music" is the "Yue" sound, and the last two "music" are the "Le" sound. The words "today" and "mouth" can be both "containing" and "groaning". That's right.

The fifth sentence: "smoke lock pond willow". This is a well-known pair of five elements, one on each of the five characters "metal", "wood", "water", "fire" and "earth". Or the No. 2 girl said this sentence: "The lamp is loose on the embankment of the river."

It seems that among the four, only the two girls, No. 2 and No. 3, have higher literary talents, scoring six and four points respectively. At this point, the competition is over. Liao Wenfeng announced loudly.

The VIPs on the stage and everyone in the audience are talking about it, just a few sentences, the number of words is getting smaller and smaller, at first glance it is getting simpler and simpler, but in fact, the difficulties are hidden in the dark and not easy to find. There is no single answer to the couplet, and only the best sentence is selected when scoring, so the key is still in the word "wonderful". The number of words is small, not only to make a neat next sentence, but also to connect with the artistic conception expressed in the previous sentence, so that it can be regarded as a wonderful pair. Therefore, the more difficult it is to deal with this fight, the second, fourth, and fifth sentences are all from the No. 2 girl, and her literary talent can be seen.

Tianyao in the VIP seat asked Tianxiao: "Brother, do you think that No. 2 girl will be Xiaomin?"

Tianxiao shook his head: "I'm afraid not." Xiaomin was only twelve years old when she joined the sect, how many books could she read? I guess Xiaomin is number one or four, and we'll see after a while. ”

Immediately after that, it was the second fight. A few strong men came out of the stage and opened some black iron ingots in a row in the center of the stage. Everyone was wondering, and Liao Wenfeng said: "The content of fighting martial arts is to compare strength. There are ten dark iron ingots on the stage, the lightest No. 1 black iron ingot weighs 20 catties, and the heaviest No. 10 dark iron ingot weighs 200 catties, and the weight of each dark iron ingot in the middle is 20 catties. One point for the first ingot, ten points for the tenth ingot, and so on. Let's start with Girl No. 1. ”

Girl No. 1 walked to the platform, first walked to the No. 6 ingot, grabbed the iron chain at the top of the ingot with both hands, and lifted it up vigorously, but the iron ingot did not move at all. Many in the audience laughed.

"This number one is definitely not Xiaomin. Tianxiao smiled.

"Then Xiaomin is number four?" Xiao Liying guessed.

Tianxiao said: "No. 2 and No. 3 are not completely impossible. Let's look down first, we all know Xiaomin's strength, even the No. 10 Xuantie Ingot is not difficult for her. ”

In the end, Girl No. 1 lifted the No. 4 blackiron ingot and scored four points.

After the second girl came on the field, she didn't even look at the iron ingot in front of her, and went straight to the last No. 10 ingot, holding the chain with both hands and pulling it up at will, and the No. 10 black iron ingot was lifted. "Wow-", there was a sound of surprise on and off the stage, two hundred catties of black iron ingots, even if an adult man went to get it, it was estimated that it would not be so easy.

"Could it be that this number two is Xiaomin?" said Tang Junhe.

Lu Baifeng said: "That's not necessarily. Have you forgotten? One of the other three is also an immortal cultivator. ”

Girl No. 3 reached the center of the stage and also walked towards the last No. 10 ingot. The crowd was in an uproar again, could it be that the strength of the girl's family is so great now? Girl No. 3 picked up the chain with one hand, and lifted it up more easily than Miss No. 2 just now, and the No. 10 ingot left the ground.

Girl No. 4 had the least strength and only lifted the No. 3 ingot.

"The second fight is over, and now No. 1 has four points, No. 2 has 16 points, No. 3 has 14 points, and No. 4 has three points. Liao Wenfeng announced the results of the first two matches.

"Now it can be determined that one of the No. 2 and No. 3 must be Xiaomin. She's really not bad, and Dou Wen has scored at least four points. Tianyao praised.

"Let's start the third game, fight the calculation. I will give ten arithmetic questions, one point for each question, out of 10. The first to calculate the correct answer will be scored. "The third game began.

"Question 1 ,......"

......

The ten questions in the battle arithmetic competition are a bit brain-consuming, and the No. 1 girl shines in this round, seven of the ten questions are answered correctly, and the other three are answered correctly by the No. 4 girl. Neither No. 2 nor No. 3 had rushed to answer, so Tianxiao and Tianyao were still not sure which one was Zhu Xiaomin.

"When you wait for the fourth round of fighting, you will know, Xiaomin's talent is embroidery. Tang Junhe said suddenly.

Tianxiao, Tianyao, and Lu Baifeng immediately looked at Tang Junhe with wide eyes.

Looking at the surprised eyes of several people, Tang Junhe smiled: "Heh, don't stare at me, when she told me and Senior Sister Xiao, the two of us were also startled." ”

On stage, the talent show has begun.

Girl No. 1 sang a little song, and there was a group of musicians who had been specially invited to play in the corner of the stage.

"After the rain the sky is bright,

Colorful neon clouds hidden,

The water is murmuring, the wind is swinging,

Grass and potpourri.

Butterflies dance, bees are busy,

Mandarin ducks play in the water and swallows into pairs ......"

A song "Spring Scene Where the Rain Stops", paired with her melodious voice like a warbler's cry, is refreshing.

For the sake of fairness, each person's score will be determined by the patriarchs of the three major families in the VIP table after all four people have been shown.

The talent shown by the second girl is dance. With beautiful music, the second girl danced a "Phoenix Seeking Phoenix". Na's figure danced, although she couldn't see her face, but just looking at the beautiful shadow, you could imagine what a charming face she was under the veil.

"No. 2's talent is not embroidery, so it seems that No. 3 is Xiaomin. Tang Junhe's face was full of expectation.

Sure enough, the No. 3 girl was dancing in the field, and after a while, she embroidered a "Peony Reflecting the Moon". The peony on the embroidered cloth is blooming red, and under the background of green leaves, reflecting the bright moon above, although I know that it is embroidery, I still seem to be able to smell the fragrance of the dark night. There is no doubt that this No. 3 girl must be Zhu Xiaomin.

Girl No. 4's talent is calligraphy and painting, she twisted the pen, soaked up the paint, and walked on the rice paper like a swimming dragon. Soon, a magnificent "Ten Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" was presented in front of everyone, and there were four lines of elegant italics inscribed below the picture:

"Under the heavens,

Shenzhou is vast.

Thousands of miles of rivers and mountains,

Picturesque. ”

This round of scoring has made the patriarchs of the three major families very worried. Each girl's talent is outstanding, and it is really difficult to decide which is better or worse. After discussing for a long time, the patriarchs decided: seven points for No. 1, seven points for No. 2, eight points for No. 3, and nine points for No. 4, so that after the four rounds, the total score of Miss No. 1 is eighteen, Miss No. 2 is twenty-three, Miss No. 3 is twenty-two points, and Miss No. 4 is fifteen points.

The final beauty competition finally began, and the audience was most interested in this round. In the fighting art just now, the four girls showed an elegant temperament, which made people want to know how beautiful they really looked.

The four girls on the stage lifted the veils on their faces one by one, and there was a burst of admiration on and off the stage, and the four girls all had beautiful faces, which was rare to see. However, Zhu Xiaomin's advantage among the four is obvious, Tingting's posture is like a willow, his delicate face is like a hibiscus out of water, his eyes are like shining stars, and his elegant temperament is like a warm breeze.

The three patriarchs of the VIP seat also continued to "tsk" in approval, but the city lord Zhou Hexing and a bewitching beautiful woman next to him did not look good.

Soon, the three patriarchs finished discussing and unanimously gave Zhu Xiaomin ten points. The No. 2 woman scored eight points, and the No. 1 and No. 4 both scored six. The score is not high because they are not good-looking, but because Zhu Xiaomin is so good-looking, standing on the stage together and competing, the gap is revealed.

The five rounds of competition ended here, and finally Zhu Xiaomin received the highest score. Sun Songxing was very excited, and hurriedly thanked Lu Baifeng and the others. Zhu Xiaomin also happily ran to the VIP seat.

"Hehe, I'm doing well, right? Haha!" Zhu Xiaomin was happy and proud.

"Well, yes, we knew you were a beauty embryo as early as we were kids. Tianyao smiled.

"Don't get too carried away, a lot of people are paying attention to you, be reserved, hehe. Lu Baifeng also smiled.

Tang Junhe patted Zhu Xiaomin on the shoulder: "Congratulations, I won the first place in the beauty pageant." Now you're going to have to show off. ”

Sun Songxing walked over and whispered, "Miss Xiaomin, thank you so much this time." It's not convenient to talk here, so I'll make a special trip to thank you another day. ”

"Haha, you don't need to make a special trip to say thank you, just invite us to a green dragon banquet!" Zhu Xiaomin said with a smile.

In the VIP seat, Zhou Hexing and the woman next to him got up and left with gloomy faces, and the patriarchs of the three major families glanced at each other and laughed secretly. They also don't like the city lord to interfere in the internal affairs of the four major families with his power, and they are a little gloating when they see Zhou Hexing deflated, and they are a little gloated when they see that his always proud baby girl loses to others in the beauty pageant.

As soon as the three patriarchs were about to leave, they heard a loud shout: "You guys stop me!"