Ming Hui laughed seeing her brother's reaction. "You shouldn't judge them by normal standards, they are much more than that."
"You're correct."
Soujin ignored the two and turned his attention back to Jun Min. As he had expected after careful examination, the two people were highly similar. It made him want to know more, but at the same time, not really.
"Your face is truly similar to your sister."
Soujin's remark made Jun Hua remember the scene from just now. Soujin had surprisingly walked towards her and asked the same question. For her, it was weird that he didn't go straight to Jun Min. But now, it seems he wanted to ask Jun Min too.
"It's just coincidence," Jun Hua answered, partially lying.
Soujin raised his eyebrows. "It's alright if you don't want to answer. There are things we need to talk about after this event."
Jun Hua nodded, she doesn't know what he wanted to talk about, but she knows that it was something serious. Normally, he would only ask for ordinary things and banter around, but she was sure that he had his own reason for getting close to Jun Min. They might have been together for some time, but they were still probing each other.
Ming Hui stared at Soujin. "You finally want to tell him about it?"
"Why not?" Soujin retorted.
"Fine, he's a good friend after all," Ming Hui commented.
Jun Hua looked at them with interest. It seems that there is indeed something. She will soon find out about it.
As they were talking with each other, the performances of the girls who picked out music finally finished. Many of them played excellently and they would get a good score. Now, it was time for the girls who picked drawing to show their works.
The first girl to come up was Lin San. The girl stayed calm and picked her canvas leisurely. She stared at the audience with confidence and unfolded the drawing in front of them. The audience looked in surprise at the picture she had shown.
The was no theme for this test drawing so Lin San had chosen to draw an image of flowers. There were several flowers in a field with the sun shining. The flowers were in different conditions, some were blooming, some were dying. All of them looked different and they all looked so beautiful. The arrangement of the flowers made every single one of them display their beauty perfectly. On top of them, there were several butterflies flying and some of them landed on the flowers.
Lin San smiled. "This is my drawing. I chose this theme because girls are often associated with flowers and these different kinds of flowers symbolize all of us. There will come a time when flowers wither, but when we are young, we are like blooming flowers that attract bees and butterflies. Thank you."
Jun Hua smiled slightly. She could see that Lin San's ability in drawing was truly perfect. That single piece of drawing made them think of her as a highly talented person who did not only think of herself but also others. She used this chance to completely change how people thought of her ever since her mother's incident. This girl has surprisingly matured at an alarming speed.
Some of the girls in the hall blushed at Lin San's explanation, but they didn't disagree. The faces of the other girls who chose painting fell because they were sure that the first place would belong to Lin San.
"She changed a lot," Ming Hui said. "Probably, there will be a lot of people who will want her again after this."
"She truly used her chance perfectly. She might become someone important in the future," Yan commented.
Jun Hua nodded. When people experience setbacks, they might change. Some of them may open their eyes and see the world for better while others will instead dig their own grave. Whatever they choose, they have to follow that path till the end.
Lin San was smart, she was not an ordinary girl as she had already learnt more than her mother. Previously, her arrogance was truly annoying, but now, she had perfectly hidden it and portrayed herself better in front of many people. Probably, she can achieve things on her own in the future. Jun Hua won't bother with her anymore.
After the girls finished, it was time for the boys to show off their skills. They can choose archery or essay. Most of the boys were already proficient in it especially if they were already in the academy for years or have had their family lessons. Boys studied in the academy for 5 years, from 13 to 17 unless they were enlisted in the military or for scholars who needed to finish their lessons.
"Those scholarly people are not bad," said Yan.
"You want to recruit them?" Ming Hui raised her eyebrow.
"Not them, who I want is that top scorer, Xuan Pei. But it seems like he won't accept the offer easily," Yan said.
Jun Hua remembered her teacher. Is he really that good? She doesn't really think that highly of him although he was a good teacher. Besides, he detested going into fights with the imperial family members for the throne and he doesn't even want to be an official.
"Soujin, do you know how to persuade him?" Yan grinned.
"No, he's a double-edged sword."
"What?" Yan stared at the man with confusion. What does he not have that made Soujin dislike him? He seemed to be a good one.
"Let the other princes take him if they want. We don't need someone like him," Soujin answered calmly.
Yan and Ming Hui stared at each other before giving up their intentions. They don't understand what Soujin wanted, but since he said that, there must be a reason behind it.
Jun Hua didn't understand what this guy wanted too. She doesn't see anything wrong with Xuan Pei, aside from his weird interest. In the test, he may be challenged by one of the students later since he was a good scholar.
Returning her attention towards the boys who were showing off their archery skills, she felt that it was ridiculous. Even she, a girl, can do better than them. Some of them almost could not hit the target correctly and nearly hit the wall. Then there were also those who did well but didn't stand out among the others.
The second part of the test soon finished and it was time for the third. This one was for those who didn't get their choice in the test or merely wanted to show off their skill by challenging other people. They can challenge everyone in the hall even if that person was the teacher.
Soon, one person stood up and announced. "I want to challenge Jun Min."
This sentence caused an uproar.
