Duan Chaoyin, who had kept her silence, finally laughed out loud. She said to Feng Wu, "Miss Feng Wu, you can have as much confidence in yourself as you want, but as for Duan Chaoge... I'm afraid you've made the wrong judgment."
"Really?" Feng Wu raised an eyebrow.
"Duan Chaoge is my younger sister from a different mother and I know her better than anyone else. All she could write down on that paper was her name. Pass the written exam? That's never going to happen!"
Ye Yafei chuckled as well. "I'll be a royal princess before Duan Chaoge passes the written exam!"
Duan Chaoyin added, "I'll be the empress if she passes!"
In the crowd, Emperor Wu's face darkened! But the two girls weren't aware of it.
Seeing the look on His Majesty's face, the chief steward knew that he was offended. The chief steward said a silent prayer for the heads of the Duan and Ye clans.
"Miss, Miss." Duan Chaoyin's maid tugged her sleeve.
"Hm?"
"Miss, passed, passed..." The maid tried to drop a hint.
Duan Chaoyin arrogantly said, "I know I passed..."
Xiaohuan was almost in tears. "Miss, your sister passed..."
WHAT?! Those words rumbled like thunder in Duan Chaoyin's ears! After all, only a handful of people had been able to see the list that Mr Zuo had leaked.
Mu Yaoyao was one of them, but her servants were so considerate that they had crossed out Duan Chaoge's name in advance, so as not to upset their master. So Mu Yaoyao missed Duan Chaoge's name.
Everyone turned to look at Duan Chaoge now.
The onlookers were all eager for more gossip and people started yelling immediately.
"Duan Chaoge? She's on the list!"
"She didn't pass? Says who? She's the second name on the list and it's written in bold strokes, too!"
"Why did Princess Mu think that Duan Chaoge failed? Is she blind or something?"
"And those two girls, why are they still talking nonsense?"
The crowd looked at Mu Yaoyao, Duan Chaoyin, and Ye Yafei as if they were clowns. The three girls looked at one another in bewilderment before turning to their servants!
"Miss..." Xiaohuan was almost in tears. "Duan Chaoge... is second."
"Pfft." Mu Yaoyao spat out a mouthful of blood!
But Duan Chaoyin was the most astonished! After living under the same roof for so many years, she knew perfectly well what Duan Chaoge was like! That girl was hopeless when it came to exams!
But she got the second highest score? Just behind Feng Wu?! "No, no, no! That's impossible! I won't believe it! There's no way Duan Chaoge is second! She knows nothing! She can't even get into the first 2000, let alone be second!"
However, the others only snorted at her in return. "Duan Chaoge really is second in the written exam." Everyone gave her that answer.
Pfft.
"Wait, is she Duan Chaoyin?"
"I think so. Her maid called her 'Miss,' didn't she?"
"Why didn't I see her name up there?"
"I think I did. There, in the last hundred. Isn't that Duan Chaoyin?"
"No! That's Duan Chaoyue! There's no Duan Chaoyin on the list."
Duan Chaoyin was dumbfounded when she heard that. What the hell?