The Academy's Annual Examination
Once the answer was revealed, Zhao Ruxi lost interest in it, yawned, and said, "Prepare some water, I'm going to take a bath and go to bed."
Over the course of a few months, she transformed herself from a night owl into someone who works at sunrise and rests at sunset. Terrifying.
Although there was no internet in ancient times, the speed at which gossip was transmitted was by no means slow.
The next day, Zhao Ruxi went to the Beining Women's Academy to take the exam, where she overheard her classmates, who usually studied diligently, discussing the auction from the previous night.
"Zhiwei, did you go to the auction with Mister Kumu last night? I heard that one of Mister Kumu's paintings sold for 25,000 taels of silver, is that true?" Someone asked as soon as they saw Zhao Ruxi come in.
"Yes, we went." Zhao Ruxi nodded with a smile. "It was very lively."
Everyone looked at her with envy and asked her for details.
Zhao Ruxi gave a brief explanation.
"What a pity, we can't go and see this excitement."
The classmate, quite disappointed, asked again, "I also heard that at the end of the auction, the auction house gave each guest a piece of silk. The silk was very beautiful; the flowers were printed on, the colors were vibrant, and they didn't fade. Did you receive one? Is it really true that it doesn't fade?"
This advertisement is really effective.
Zhao Ruxi said, "When I got home last night, I saw that silk and had the maid wash it in a basin of water. It really didn't fade, and the patterns on it are very beautiful. It's perfect for making a dress, and there's no need for embroidery."
They were all young girls, and they were even more excited to hear this news than Zhao Ruxi was when she recounted the auction process.
Another classmate asked, "Where can I buy these silks, Zhiwei? Do you know?"
"I saw the words ' Brocade Cloud Workshop ' engraved on the box, so it should be sold by this shop. If you want it, you can send someone to the capital to inquire. This shop should be on one of the busiest streets in the south of the city, maybe even next to the auction house. It was dark last night, so I didn't notice."
Xiao Lingyan wouldn't set up a shop selling high-end silks in the west or north of the city; nor would he locate the shop in some remote corner.
While others might not be able to buy shops in prime locations in the capital, it shouldn't be difficult for him and Prince Xiao Lingpu to buy or rent such shops. If they don't have them themselves, the Cen Family certainly does.
"There's no need to send anyone; I'll go myself tomorrow. I haven't been shopping in ages while studying at the academy. The annual exams are over today, and we're on holiday; I really need to go shopping."
"Me too! Me too!"
Hearing the girls chattering about where to go shopping the next day and where to find good cosmetics, Zhao Ruxi felt as if she had returned to a modern classroom.
Some were uninterested in these topics, complaining that their classmates were too noisy and disturbing their studies. One of them shouted at everyone, "It's getting late, the exam is coming up soon, don't you all need to study?"
Upon hearing the word "exam," everyone immediately scattered like birds and beasts, returned to their seats, and picked up their books to study.
At the beginning of the morning, Madam Cui entered, accompanied by two middle-aged women with serious expressions.
"This is Madam Zhang, and this is Madam Tao. They are both managers of the Capital Women's Academy. They will be supervising today's examination," Madam Cui introduced.
After Madam Cui finished her introductions, one of the women, dressed in dark purple, said, "I am Steward Zhang. At Grand Princess Shangde's request, your academy will use the same exam papers as the Capital Women's Academy for this year's annual examinations."
Steward Zhang glanced at the group below. "To prevent cheating, Consort Jin specially assigned Steward Tao and me to supervise the exam. As everyone knows, since its inception, our Women's Academy has placed the utmost importance on moral character..."
She spoke at length about discipline for a full fifteen minutes before nodding to Steward Tao: "Alright, let's begin."
Steward Tao gestured to the people she brought to open the sealed exam papers and hand them to Steward Zhang for a quick look before having them distributed.
While Steward Zhang was giving a long lecture on discipline, Zhao Ruxi kept her eyes glued to Madam Cui.
Zhao Ruxi was never one to just focus on her work without looking up to see where she was going. After entering the North Academy of the Women's Academy, she befriended everyone, from Madam Cui and Madam Chen to the old woman guarding the gate. She knew everything that was going on in the academy.
Because Grand Princess Shangde and Consort Jin did not have a harmonious relationship, even though Beining Women's Academy was very close to the Capital Women's Academy, they always prepared their own exam papers for the annual examinations and never used the same set of questions.
Now that Grand Princess Shangde has actually bowed down to Consort Jin and proposed to share the same set of questions with her, and even had to accept the condescending supervisors sent down by the Capital Women's Academy, Zhao Ruxi strongly suspects that this was Madam Cui's idea.
Because she had been ranked first in the monthly and biannual exams for the past two months, and had almost always achieved a perfect score, Grand Princess Shangde and Madam Cui were getting carried away and might have even considered putting her up for a competition with the Capital Women's Academy.
After Madam Cui entered and introduced the two women, she stood there like a backdrop. But now, she felt extremely uncomfortable under Zhao Ruxi's intense gaze.
She simply lowered her head and stared at the ground.
Seeing her like this, Zhao Ruxi became even more certain of her guess.
There weren't many students in North Academy Class A, so even though Zhao Ruxi was sitting at the back, the exam papers were quickly handed to her.
She regained her composure and began to focus on answering the questions.
Now that things have come to this, she has no choice but to do everything she can to save face for Grand Princess Shangde and Madam Cui.
To demonstrate the idea that "women are not inferior to men," the monthly and annual exams at the Women's Academy were basically based on the standards of the preliminary imperial examinations, and each exam lasted all day. The academy provided one meal, and candidates were accompanied by an old woman when they needed to use the restroom.
In the past, Zhao Ruxi would finish the monthly exams in half a day, hand in her paper early, and then go back to her little courtyard to have a nice lunch.
With people from the Capital Women's Academy present, she didn't want to go too far.
If there were truly more capable students than her at the Capital Women's Academy, or if the Capital Women's Academy intentionally lowered her score during the grading process, making her score lower than other students from the Capital Women's Academy, and she lost the competition, the Capital Women's Academy might use her early submission as a pretext to make trouble.
She deliberately slowed down, carefully considering her answer before finally picking up her pen and writing it down meticulously, making sure her handwriting was exceptionally neat and beautiful.
Although this examination followed the rules of the preliminary examinations for candidates for the imperial examinations, the papers were not anonymously submitted. Judging from the situation, their papers would definitely be sent to the Capital Women's Academy for grading. In order to protect the reputation of the Capital Women's Academy and maintain its superior status, the graders, no matter how impartial they were, would subconsciously favor the Capital Women's Academy and be more strict with the papers from the Beining Women's Academy.
Therefore, she had to try her best to write a standard and perfect answer, with neat handwriting, so that no one would have the chance to lose points.