The Fourth Miss Takes a Leisurely Walk

There were two sheets of paper pasted on the board when the person putting up the results finally stepped aside. One of them were the results to the last round, and one was the list of those who were scored best in all three and were chosen to pass.

At the first list, Yujia was pleasantly shocked to find that Yu Ziyang's name was written at the top of the chart, ranked at number one. Yu Zixu's name was written right below hers, when before, his name was always at the spot she held now.

Seeing "her" name written at such a high spot, she felt somewhat more relieved. Nevertheless, her heart was still pounding furiously when she looked to the second paper, the final results. It didn't matter how well she did on the last exam if she didn't manage to pass overall.

Her eyes anxiously looked through the rows of names, finding that at the very last tenth slot where the last person who qualified was written, the name there was Yu Ziyang.

A deep sigh of relief escaped from her.

She passed the overall exam!

She, the one who nearly failed the first two, by some extreme, unexplainable miracle, made it on the list of students who passed!

Yujia couldn't hold back a exhilarated smile from spreading on her lips.

Next to her, Yu Zixu clasped his hands and saluted her. "Little brother Ziyang, congratulations for making it in."

Yujia didn't particularly care what he thought about her anymore and any previous worries she still had about him exposing her. She bowed back to him and replied, "You scored too well on all the previous exams; of course you would pass too. Congrats."

He looked up, and she noticed the mixed expression in his eyes while he stared at the name written in the first blank of the first rankings sheet, almost a little bit in disbelief that the person who scored in the lowest ranks would get such a high score, even beating him, for the last exam.

"You must be a genius at painting," he murmured, his gaze still fixed on one name, Yu Ziyang. A second later, he tore his gaze away and looked back at her, as if silently asking her how she did it.

"Ah, no, not really," Yujia quickly denied, "Brother Zixu is still the truly talented one at art. This younger brother only had a little more luck."

She wasn't about to explain to him how she did it! What was she supposed to say? That she came from the modern world so she was absolutely pathetic at ancient art knowledge but great at copying the future artists that hadn't yet come to pass in this time period?

Their "brotherly" conversation was cut short when a declaration was made by the examiner who was testing them a few moments ago, telling all that passed, soon to be accepted as official students of Lingxin Pavilion, were supposed to go to the Ice Lily Pavilion where they were supposed to formally register their names.

Yujia, walking next to Yu Zixu, followed the directions and headed along with him. She had no idea where the location she was supposed to go to was, but it seemed like he did. Perhaps he had previously visited Lingxin frequently to know his way around the academy so much. He seemed like the kind of person to have connections with the academy in the first place.

Anyways, besides her high spirits from passing the exam, Yujia was also fairly excited to see the inside of the academy. Surely, it must be very picturesque, and a place called "Ice Lily Pavilion" also sounded rather poetic and pretty.

Their way to the pavilion was, as Yujia predicted, a wonderful walk. The path that the ten accepted students walked on was decorated with well-trimmed plants on either side, with lots of exotic flowers and small trees that definitely would've been rarities in this time period. Along with the sound of a babbling brook in the distance, Yujia would confidently say that compared to what she imagined the palace gardens to look like, the inside of the academy seemed just as excellent. Every plant and grass was planted carefully to compliment the overall scenery.

She doubted that she would ever get a chance to see what a palace garden looked like in the first place, so she simply admired the greenery of Lingxin while she still could.

The moment that they arrived to the Ice Lily Pavilion, Yujia wasn't disappointed either.

The roof of the pavilion was painted with a pale green shade while the poles that held it up were ivory white, giving the impression of a frosted winter pavilion. Around the pavilion, in the pond, were some carefully planted white water lilies. It was still spring so none of them had bloomed yet, but from the buds and the arrangement of the flowers, Yujia could imagine how beautiful and fragrant it must've been when the buds opened up. In the background, decorational rocks framed the pavilion.

It was somewhat odd to think that a mere art academy was able to afford so much effort and money into making beautiful gardens like these, but Yujia assumed that it must've been because they had some sort of backing or supporter behind the scenes. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to see such stunning sights today.

Following the other nine, Yujia stopped admiring and walked into the pavilion. There was a table at the back of the pavilion, with four individuals standing there. Three of them were middle aged men, while one was much younger.

The ten of them, Yujia included, formed two rows of five in the pavilion. Yujia automatically assumed that this was just for formalities, so she stood next to Yu Zixu and waited for the four of the people in the front to speak.

The youngest individual looked in her direction. At first, Yujia was a bit confused why he was directing his attention to her, but then he noticed that it was Yu Zixu he was looking at with a bright smile. When all ten were settled down, he was also the one who spoke up, to Yujia's surprise.

"I suppose that now would be a good time to give all of you a formal welcome to Lingxin Pavilion. Although right now, we are in the Ice Lily Pavilion, this is the official spot where all new students enter our school, so by tradition, it is good enough of a place to welcome all of you. I," he gestured to himself briefly, "am the son of the school head, Ye Yunhe. Today, the school head will not be greeting all of you, so I was sent to administer and receive you all to Lingxin."

He then went on to some elaborate speech about how great artists were and how they would be the new future of this generation. Yujia only half listened, more intent on observing everyone around her.

Besides Yu Zixu who resembled Wu Hao and was obviously visually attractive in her opinion because of his defined features and composed stance, Ye Yunhe wasn't that bad either. His features were much softer though, making him likely look younger than his age. As Yujia observed everyone else, she discovered that they shared many things alike. All of them were dressed in clothing that looked like decent quality, and they were all average to above average in terms of physical attractiveness.

It seemed like Lingxin Pavilion really only did accept fancy young masters from big families. Yujia made a good choice by going undercover as Yu Ziyang.

Eventually, Ye Yunhe's speech ended with him asking, "Before we begin the induction ceremony, does anyone have any questions?"

Hearing this, Yujia instantly looked up, finally paying her full attention. She was about to ask when another person from the row behind her stood forward, clasping his hands and asking if besides painting, Lingxin also taught calligraphy. Ye Yunhe responded that yes, they did have calligraphy, but it wasn't a main focus.

Mimicking him, Yujia stepped forward following the end of his answer, clasping her hands and asking, "Are we allowed to sell art immediately after registering names?"

The students and others immediately stilled. Yujia noticed it and wasn't really sure why.

It was because no one expected the first question from a student who should be overly grateful to entering Lingxin to want to know about selling art, out of all things. Selling the art was only something created to cause discussion and critique amongst students in the first place, not for profit. When she asked the question, her tone of speaking seemed like she was only in it for monetary gain.

The nine others who took the exam with her looked at her with a judgemental gaze. Wasn't this Yu Ziyang? Being in the Yu family, why would he care so much about earning money? The Yu family already had enough. They should've been able to sustain him comfortably for the rest of his life.

Yu Zixu was also looking at her, skepticism in his gaze, his thoughts still unreadable.

An awkward smile traced Ye Yunhe's lips while he explained, "Students of Lingxin are only allowed to sell art after six months of studying and improving. After the six months, they must also apply to the head of the school for permission to do so."

Yujia blinked.