Princess Anping had been worried that Hu Xiaotian would make a fool of himself on the spot, but when she saw the two paintings, she could scarcely believe her eyes. Hu Xiaotian had captured her likeness so vividly that it was like looking into a mirror. Stranger still, he had even captured the expression in her eyes. The woman in the picture seemed to be looking at her and smiling.
Princess Anping was not the only one who felt that way. Everyone present was astonished by the portrait, and each believed the woman in it was looking at them.
Wu Jingshan had already seen Wen Boyuan's painting, so he naturally knew who had produced each work. He sighed inwardly. It's over! Hu Xiaotian really is no ordinary man. This boy is unfathomable. How could anyone paint something this lifelike? Breathtaking. Simply breathtaking!
The voting began. Zijuan was the first to step forward, placing a copper coin in the bowl beneath the sketch. The others followed in an orderly fashion, each pausing before Hu Xiaotian's sketch for a while. The clinking of coins rang out without end. Most went into the bowl beneath the sketch, with only a scattered few landing beneath Wen Boyuan's work.
Watching this unfold, Wen Boyuan's expression grew uglier and uglier, until his face had turned livid.
"Why don't we invite the warriors outside to come in and vote too?" Wu Jingshan suggested. In truth, he knew the result would be the same no matter how many more people came. Hu Xiaotian's portrait was simply too lifelike. Given enough time to study them, genuine connoisseurs might still favor Wen Boyuan's painting, but these voters were judging by their first impressions. Naturally, they voted for whichever looked more like its subject.
The bowl beneath Hu Xiaotian's work was