The restaurant was crowded. There was a poetry recital going on. Many literati stood there, boasting and commenting on others.
Xie Qiao held her head low and stayed in silence.
"This person knows nothing about poetry, and he wants to be a graduate? Ridiculous!"
"Vulgar, so vulgar! Although his poems aren't good, how could you be so vulgar? You've polluted our ears!"
"It's a regret that I died so young. If I was still alive, how would these people have the chance of showing off?"
Xie Qiao felt her ears hurt from hearing all that.
She asked for a private room immediately.
She went upstairs right away. However, a cold wind was blowing as soon as she stepped on the stairs. She failed to hold her drape hat. It was flipped over directly.
Xie Qiao was stunned.
"I knew you're a beauty by looking at your body. As expected, you're a beauty indeed!" A scholar ghoul that was not far beneath said, looking elegant.
Xie Qiao clenched her teeth.
That was the scum of ghouls!
"Do you guys think that this young lady seems to be different from the rest? She looked at us as soon as her hat fell. Can she actually see us?"
"I heard there's an expert in the Imperial City indeed. She can communicate with both worlds. However, that's a female priest. This young lady is rather weak. I'm sure she's not capable."
Xie Qiao sighed.
"Young Lady Xie," Xie Qiao saw a few familiar faces as soon as she got upstairs, "I think the restaurant is pretty far from the Xie Residence? Why are you here?"
"I happen to pass by," Xie Qiao said.
The few people who were sitting upstairs were from Orchid Courtyard.
There were a total of four people. Fang Muxue, Xia Yayun, and the other two young ladies that Xie Qiao knew. They had never spoken before, but from what she remembered, they must be Meng Shuxiang and Feng Shuangshuang.
"Since you're here, why not sit with us? There are people reciting poems down there," Fang Muxue smiled and dragged Xie Qiao over immediately.
Since the forged painting incident, she had a pretty great relationship with the people from Orchid Courtyard.
At least they could maintain a daily conversation instead of standing against each other.
Naturally, that excluded Xia Yayun.
"No need," Xie Qiao said.
She wanted to be alone today.
"Xie Qiao, your house is so far away. It must be a lie that you happened to pass by?" Xia Yayun smiled and glanced at the scholars beneath, "Can it be that…your family arranged a marriage for you, and you're here to look for the man? Also, what are you wearing today? Clothes made of worn cloth and sack? Is the Xie family this poor?"
"Yayun!" Fang Muxue was rather upset, "We're from the same class. Can you not target Young Lady Xie all the time?"
The other two young ladies nodded too.
"I'm just telling the truth," Xia Yayun pouted.
"I was going to the academy, but the sedan chair broke. So I thought I'd rest here," Xie Qiao smiled, "Young Lady Xia, yes, I'm wearing clothes made of worn cloth and sack. It's much prettier than the beautiful clothes that you're wearing. It's futile even if you're unhappy about it. You can't compare my natural beauty."
Xie Qiao added after saying that, "I want to be alone, so I won't be sitting with you guys."
She smiled at them after she was done speaking and walked over directly.
"What's with that smug?!" Xia Yayun rolled her eyes.
Fang Muxue's facial expression looked rather stiff, "You're always saying terrible things whenever we chat with Xie Qiao. Yayun, if you won't change, I wouldn't dare to invite you out for tea again."
Xia Yayun's face became stiff, "Sister Muxue, I'm just helping you. If you really invited her over, would she really tell the differences of the tea? By then, wouldn't that become an embarrassment? It's not like you've never heard of the saying, 'A cow chewing on peonies'."