Pei Wanyue sounded sarcastic.
Those young ladies were not fools. They instantly felt that she was talking badly about Xie Qiao intentionally.
They could not help but be vigilant against Pei Wanyue.
Nonetheless, the badmouthing was rather interesting.
Someone asked in confusion, "What do you mean by bringing a painting casually?"
Xie Qiao had attracted quite a lot of attention when she enrolled in the academy. Back then, many had been guessing whether her father would carry silver over. Never had they imagined there would be no silver. Xie Qiao had gifted a painting instead. Paintings were something elegant, and they did not match the Xie family's styles at all..
Now that Pei Wanyue had said that, could it be that something was wrong with the painting?
Pei Wanyue was hesitating. "Actually, Eldest Sister grew up in a Taoist temple in Yunjing. When Mother brought her home, she had not much experience. When she arrived in the Imperial City, our family wanted to send her into the academy with silver. However, she brought out Master Yun Wei's masterpiece. He has few masterpieces in the world. The one that sister had… must be from someone who forged it with the Master's name."
Everyone was surprised when they heard that. That was something serious.
"Young Lady Pei, we understand that you despise Xie Qiao, but you can't just say things like that," someone said while frowning.
Indeed, there were many who hated Xie Qiao. Who asked her to have such a stunning appearance?
Nevertheless, nobody would suspect that Xie Qiao had forged a painting.
"That's right. Although Master Yun Wei has few masterpieces, one can still buy them. What proof do you have to say that your sister's painting is forged?"
Pei Wanyue realized that she had spoken too rashly. It was hard for her to enroll in the Royal Academy. She should seize the opportunity to make connections.
However, in Class D, although some of them were not from wealthy business families, they were daughters of low-level officials. What was the point of her being friends with them?
If she were to do that, she would rather stay with the Xie family. Her sacrifice would be wasted.
Now she could only get people's attention for her to stand out.
Moreover, Xie Qiao's painting had to be fake, right?
When she had brought out the painting, even Xie Niushan suspected it to be fake!
"Eldest Sister's painting has chickens and bulls in them. It looked ordinary. Also, she showed it off to Father and Mother at home before. They asked her not to use that as a gift, but she insisted," Pei Wanyue added.
Some of them felt disturbed. Some of them had their guards up, while others were irritated by Pei Wanyue now.
Pei Wanyue kept calling Xie Qiao sister. However, from what she said, how did she sound like a sister?
She was eager to stomp Xie Qiao into the mud.
However, what Pei Wanyue said took effect.
On that day, the news spread.
It was difficult to enroll into the Royal Academy. Everyone gave gifts, so what right did Xie Qiao have to be able to bypass that?
Also, what everyone cared about was not the gift alone. It was mainly because the painting was forged!
The academy was a sacred place, and she had brought something forged here. It was unprecedented. She must be punished heavily!
At that moment, many judgemental voices could be heard around Xie Qiao.
"Someone is so shameless to stay at the academy?"
"I heard she came from a Taoist temple in a poor, secluded area. She doesn't know what's good and figured a forged item is precious."
"It was Mr. Xu who was in charge, right? Why couldn't he tell that it was forged? Can it be that there was a misunderstanding?"
"What misunderstanding? Master Yun Wei has only gained fame during recent years. There are only a couple of masterpieces available in the Imperial City. The Xie family are hillbillies. How would they spend so much money to buy a painting?"