C13

Gu Xiaoran closed her eyes to rest. It was so noisy and rowdy that it seemed as if she didn't hear anything, as if everyone else in the surroundings seemed to have disappeared. Like this, she actually fell asleep. Although it would be a bit indecent for her to be lying on her stomach, Gu Xiaoran was sure that no one would notice her, because everyone had already gone to admire the flowers.

The imperial garden's scenery was absolutely beautiful. There were green trees and flowers everywhere, as well as rock gardens and gurgling rivers. It was rather refreshing and pleasant. Gu Xiaoran had a calm personality and knew how wonderful it was to admire the flowers and birds in the mountains. If it was before, she wouldn't have bothered to look at these things. Now, she understood that a person had to be calm and collected in order to live for a long period of time. She didn't want to keep thinking about things that involved scheming and scheming. As for her desire for revenge, that was her greatest goal in life, and it was not one of them.

However, it was just a flower, so there was no need for so many people to look at it together. If there were many people, it would inevitably cause a commotion. Even the flowers would have to be divided into different grades. It was simply boring.

By the time Gu Xiaoran woke up, the flower appreciation was almost over. The so-called talent competition was about to begin. At this time, all the girls were going to be present, and even if they didn't participate, they were going to be spectators.

The talent competition had a lot of content, including zither, chess, calligraphy, and even singing and dancing. However, Gu Xiaoran didn't intend to do anything.

Gu Xiaoran followed the last stream of people to an open space. Of course, she quietly sat in the last corner and looked up only to find that there were about two hundred people there. Most of them were girls. At this moment, the girls were gathered together. Naturally, they were all chatting away in soft voices. For a moment, there were whispers everywhere.

Gu Xiaoran silently watched as a few lively and cheerful girls greeted her. She also chatted with them for a while to prevent herself from looking awkward while sitting here foolishly. From the way these girls dressed, she could deduce that their families weren't that powerful; they were just small officials.

In this kind of family, they usually wouldn't think about things that were too unrealistic, and their attitude towards Shu Jinghan was also indifferent.

It was because Shu Jinghan was sitting on it.

As the most favored prince, he was naturally a judge. While he was talking with the people around him, his gaze was wandering between the people below. Unfortunately, there was a huge black mass around him, and he couldn't find Gu Xiaoran even after searching for a long time, so he had no choice but to give up.

Suddenly, the whole hall became silent. Gu Xiaoran thought for a moment and understood what was going on. It must be the Emperor, Shu Yuze, who had come.

She raised her head to look. The emperor's seat had already been prepared for her. At this moment, she saw a bright yellow figure slowly walking towards his seat with the aura of a king. It was undoubtedly the emperor.

The emperor showed his face. The servants did not need any instructions, they had already kneeled on the ground and paid their respects to the emperor in unison. Gu Xiaoran also knelt down, though her voice was a bit softer.

The moment Shu Yuze appeared, the entire venue became quiet. Most people shut their mouths, and even those who were whispering to each other were quiet. Gu Xiaoran knew that the talent competition was about to begin. Although it had nothing to do with her, it was still a good show to watch.

There were already a few girls eager to give it a try. This was a great opportunity for them to show their faces in the upper class. How could they miss it?

Gu Xiaoran looked at the stage before her. The emperor was seated on the opposite side of the stage, and there were a few well-known people on the side. Their opinions were of utmost importance. On all four sides of the stage were the ordinary seats for the audience. However, most of the important officials were gathered together, and they were even closer to the emperor.

Shu Jinghan started to look around without any change in his expression, but Gu Xiaoran kept her head down. She just couldn't let him do as he wished. En, he had to keep a low profile. He had to keep a low profile again …

Shu Jinghan was extremely depressed. Previously, when he asked Gu Yunpeng, he clearly said that Gu Xiaoran came today, but no matter what, he couldn't see where she was. He was truly depressed. How had he managed to make her hate him? The other girls tried their best to please him, but Gu Xiaoran didn't take him seriously at all.

Even though he knew that not everyone would like him, he could not accept that someone could turn a blind eye to him or even avoid him like a scorpion. After sending her the items twice, the person sent out returned with a box. He thought it was a return gift, but he didn't expect Gu Xiaoran to return it to him. She even enclosed a letter saying that she was unworthy of him. Shu Jinghan felt a burst of anger when he saw it.

The situation now was that everyone knew that he liked Gu Xiaoran. Could he just let it go like this? Even if they didn't fight for the steamed buns, they still had to fight for their pride.

In the following performance, Shu Jinghan watched with a bored expression and a face full of impatience.

The people around him saw all his actions and exchanged a few glances. They all understood it in their hearts and believed some of the rumors. However, no one understood what was wrong with Gu Xiaoran. How could she receive Prince Han's favor?

There were also people who indicated for her to stay calm. They would know what kind of woman Gu Xiaoran was today.

On the other side, Gu Xiaoran was leisurely sipping her tea and watching the performance of these young ladies. It had to be said that the Tianxiang Dynasty was truly filled with beauties. Not only did these girls have good looks, their talents were also excellent. Their songs were nice to listen to, their dances were pleasing to the eyes, and their poems and paintings also had places to point.

What the girls were looking forward to the most was Shu Jinghan's acknowledgement, which was why they put in so much effort. It was just that Shu Jinghan was in a bad mood and was expressionless. No matter how good something was, it would be boring. Naturally, he wouldn't have a good impression of it. The people next to him naturally had the same thoughts as Shu Jinghan. The evaluation they gave was very standard and there wasn't much of a difference.

Gu Xiaoran was thinking that compared to them, she knew nothing at all. Because she did not have a proper education, she had to specialize in zither, chess and painting. As for her, there was no need to talk about her situation in Minister's Mansion. Therefore, if anyone wanted her to perform today, she could only apologize.

In fact, if one thought carefully, what Gu Xiaoran was most adept at was unexpected to many. It had nothing to do with life at all. It was her military strategy. She had been reading military and historical books for a very long time. Although she didn't dare to say that she had read them all, after two lifetimes of experience, her harvest was still not small. However, there would still be some problems when it was used in practice.

Just like her current situation, if she was decisive enough, she would have gone to Shu Jingyan to seek cooperation. However, this was not without problems. For example, how could she explain her purpose and motives? Shu Jingyan hated Shu Jinghan because of their identity, but what reason did she have to have a grudge against Shu Jinghan?

As Gu Xiaoran thought of this, her mind started to wander again, and she stopped paying attention to the situation on the field. She began to seriously consider how to find a justification for her revenge on Shu Jinghan, so that she could borrow Shu Jingyan's strength in the future.