Burning desire filled their eyes when they looked at the teacher.
"Teacher, which His Highness… are you talking about? Can it be the Fourth Imperial Highness?" asked someone.
The teacher frowned slightly. "It's His Highness, the Crown Prince."
Xie Qiao heard those young ladies sigh softly as soon as the teacher spoke. Were they disappointed?
The Crown Prince was less likable than that Fourth Imperial Highness?
Xie Qiao thought it was interesting. However, she despised gossip like this, so she asked nothing.
A young lady who was straightforward among the crowd spoke. "Oh, so His Highness the Crown Prince is coming.. So what if we perform a perfect sword dance? Do we expect His Highness, the Crown Prince, to admire us? If His Highness really likes us, it'll be troublesome, not a blessing. What's there to be happy about?"
"Shh! That's the Crown Prince. Aren't you worried about your head if this spreads? If the Crown Prince really heard this, your entire family would be doomed!" Someone next to her reminded her softly.
That young lady lowered her head upon hearing that. She rubbed her feet against each other and harrumphed.
"You don't like His Highness, but there are people who like him! Also, he's not really here to see us."
There was more than one person who mumbled.
Some of them despised the Crown Prince, but they still looked happy.
"I heard the Crown Prince solved a big case. My father has been upset because of that lately. Many people hate him. When the items His Highness submitted have been investigated, I'm afraid the execution ground will be drowned with blood."
"Such a big case?"
"Of course, it involves many people. No matter what, His Highness has made a great contribution and offended many at the same time."
They were all daughters of officials, so they knew a little something about what was going on.
They were excited during the discussion.
However, they were just talking about it privately. They dared not discuss it loudly.
Xie Qiao was standing close to them. She heard some terms on and off and then connected the dots herself.
The swordsmanship teacher glanced at the students and said, "Alright, those who want to participate will stand on the right side."
For some strange reason, Xie Qiao had a feeling that the teacher seemed to have peeped at her.
She wondered what that meant.
She remained standing where she was obediently. She was not going to try.
Although her strength was pretty good now, she would take a while to catch her breath every time she played with a sword. Her body would feel terrible!
"Xie Qiao, aren't you going to earn the silver beans for the donation yourself? There are so many silver beans over there. Aren't you going to compete for them?" Xia Yayun appeared again.
Xie Qiao was not shy, so she admitted openly, "I've never learned the Moon Dance."
"I think you've never learned anything?" Xia Yayun snickered. "Xie Qiao, I'm saying this for your own good. Our Orchid Courtyard has many classes, and there are more apart from swordsmanship. You've never learned anything. If you stand among us, won't you be a piece of rotten wood within gold?"
Xia Yayun and the few young ladies around her could not help but laugh as soon as she said that.
"Yayun, you can't say that to Young lady Xie." Fang Muxue frowned. "There aren't many ladies who learn swordsmanship anyway."
"I'm just telling the truth. I'm not in the wrong. If she doesn't deserve the spot, she should give it to someone else!" Xia Yayun said stubbornly.
At that moment, Xie Qiao suddenly realized why the old man had been insisting that she had to get off the mountain.
During those years on the mountain, she had learned not to be upset or happy. She was like an old person who was in meditation.
Meanwhile, beneath the mountain, there were people like Xia Yayun—a pain in the *ss.
She had been trying to trigger her enlightened mind nonstop and would never stop.
It was a test!