Praise

Xu Xi remained oblivious and continued writing his characters.

At first, when she was practicing calligraphy, she would look forward to the system's score announcement after writing thirty characters on a single sheet of paper, so she always counted the number of characters. But now that she has appreciated the beauty and charm of calligraphy and her own handwriting is improving little by little, all her attention is focused on practicing calligraphy. When she heard "Congratulations, host, Wisdom Points +3", she realized that she had written thirty characters and woke up from her state of absorption.

As soon as she came to her senses, she realized something was wrong. Why were the students in front of her and on either side constantly glancing in her direction? Xu Xue next to her had already stopped writing and was sitting there looking somewhat uneasy.

Just as she was about to ask Xu Xue, she suddenly heard a voice behind her. "How long have you been practicing calligraphy?"

Xu Xi then noticed several people standing behind her. Besides Madam Xiao and her maids and servants, several classmates were also peeking around.

She quickly stood up and stood there with her hands clasped.

If it were someone else, Madam Xiao might not have asked. Perhaps that person, like her, came from a family with a strong academic tradition, or had the opportunity to practice calligraphy from a young age and receive instruction from good teachers.

Because she was going to cooperate with Xu Xi, although Nanny Yun knew about the rumors of the Hou family switching babies, she didn't know Xu Xi's background. Yesterday, she specially sent someone to investigate and found out that Xu Xi was actually the daughter of a scholar. After her parents passed away one after another, she was taken back to the countryside by her uncle and aunt and stayed there for two years. She was only taken back by the Marquis of Suiping's Residence two days ago.

Calligraphy cannot be practiced by drawing on the ground with twigs or writing on a sand tray; it must be practiced on paper. To develop decent characters is not something that can be achieved in a day, and the cost of paper and ink is enormous. A family like Xu Yongzeng's and Xu Yongyi's could not afford to Xu Xi practice calligraphy at will, which is why Madam Xiao asked this question.

Xu Xi was quick-witted and immediately understood that Madam Xiao had investigated her, otherwise she wouldn't have asked that question.

She answered honestly, "I practiced reading for a while when I was learning to read as a child, and I've practiced a little bit more over the past two years. But it's only recently that I've really enjoyed it and felt I've made significant progress."

She deliberately blurred the concept of time to avoid revealing any flaws.

"So, you haven't been practicing calligraphy for very long?" Madam Xiao asked.

"I think so," Xu Xi said somewhat embarrassedly.

"Then you have quite a talent. With continued practice, you might very well achieve something in calligraphy," said Madam Xiao.

"Thank you for your encouragement, Master." Xu Xi quickly bowed.

She was Gao Xing to receive Madam Xiao's praise. The system had returned while she was practicing calligraphy, informing her that Madam Xiao's calligraphy teacher was none other than Master Mingcang's disciple, the most famous calligraphy master still alive today, Qin Zhe. In other words, Madam Xiao was Master Mingcang's grand-disciple. Although Madam Xiao was young, she possessed exceptional talent, and her calligraphy was quite well-known throughout the Great Jin.

How could Madam Xiao Gao Xing that her talent had been recognized?

"Sit down," Madam Xiao said, moving forward.

Once Madam Xiao was on stage, the other students stopped peeking around, afraid that Madam Xiao suddenly turn around and see them not writing seriously.

The woman in red sitting behind Xu Xi still craned her neck to look until Madam Xiao turned around and her gaze fell on her. Only then did she sit down at He Yuqi's prompting.

After class, she tapped Xu Xi on the back. "Let me take another look at your handwriting."

Xu Xue turned her head and looked at the woman in red with displeasure. The woman in red felt Xu Xue's gaze, glanced back at her, and looked blank, as if she did not understand why she was dissatisfied.

Seeing this, Xu Xi thought for a moment and handed over his calligraphy.

The woman in red took the paper, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Thank you."

Xu Xi paused for a moment, then smiled at her, "You're welcome."

At this moment, Zhang Lu and the woman in the pale yellow dress arrived. The woman in the pale yellow dress smiled at Xu Xi and said gently, "My name is Mu Qinglian, and my younger sister Mu Qingqiang. Please take care of me as you sit at the tables in front of and behind each other."

Xu Xi smiled and said, "Let's look after each other."

She stood up, took Xu Xue's hand, and walked outside. "Let's go for a walk."

There's only a 15-minute break at noon for everyone to have some snacks and rest. However, Xu Xi wanted to see if the academy sold lunch. It's fine now that it's hot, but when it's cold, just snacks aren't enough. It would be even better if they sold hot meals.

Once outside, Xu Xue muttered, "How could that person be like that? How could she ask someone to give up their seat?" She was clearly still bothered by Mu Qingqiang Zhang Lu to give up her seat.

"It takes two to tango," Xu Xi said.

"Huh?" Xu Xue didn't understand.

"They obviously know each other, but they only contacted Zhang Lu at first, not He Yuqi. Why is that?" Xu Xi asked. "If you're going to write storybooks, you have to observe life regularly. You can't just look at the surface of things."

Xu Xue seemed lost in thought.

Xu Xi pulled Xu Xue towards the dormitory. When they entered her room, she saw that the handkerchief Xu Xue had placed on her pillow was still there, untouched. Several items had been added to the other bed, and Xu Xi nodded in satisfaction.

It seems her roommate is quite nice.

She took out a snack box. "Eat quickly, class starts soon." The academy is quite large; a break of only 15 minutes is enough for a round trip. It seems we'll have to find somewhere to eat snacks near the classrooms from now on.

Since the Xu Family already owed Xu Xi quite a bit, Xu Xue didn't feel embarrassed about the few pastries. She quickly finished eating with Xu Xi and then returned to the classroom.

There was only one class in the afternoon, which was music. The music teacher was a woman in her forties named Tao. She introduced all the various musical instruments and let everyone choose the one they wanted to learn the most.

Xu Xi thought for a moment and then chose the guzheng.

Xu Xue then chose the flute.

Although she said she liked it, Xu Xi felt that the main reason she chose the flute was that it was the cheapest instrument. An ordinary bamboo flute only cost about a hundred coins, which was much cheaper than instruments like the guzheng, guqin, and konghou, which cost tens, hundreds, or even hundreds of taels of silver per set.

On the carriage back to the capital, Xu Xi closed her eyes and said to the system, "Calculate how many points I earned today."

The system Gao Xing agreed, calculated for a while, and then reported the number to Xu Xi: "You earned fifty-eight points today."

"Open the light screen, let me see the total score," Xu Xi said.

The system displayed a light screen in front of Xu Xi. It still showed a single product, and at the very top of the screen, Xu Xi's total score was displayed: 86.

Xu Xi stared at the number for a long time, then sighed deeply, feeling an overwhelming sadness.

Worried that she might get discouraged, the system quickly offered her some encouragement. "This is mainly because your calligraphy level was too low in the early stages, sometimes scoring 0 points, sometimes 1 point. Also, you haven't been in this world for very long, so you don't have much time to earn points. Now that you're in the academy, at least you'll have daily income. As your skills improve, you'll be able to rack up points much faster."