Chapter 584: Are You Blind?
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Su Ying told everyone to rise.
“I believe that everyone has rested enough over the past few days. The second round of the test is actually not difficult. It will depend on your eyesight.”
Su Ying waved her hand, and the eunuchs carried a table over. On the table were three identical cups, and beside the cups were three balls of different colors, namely red, yellow, and blue.
The young ladies looked curiously at the things on the table, and some of them could not help revealing a smug smile of confidence.
In the capital city, there was a game that involved putting these balls into cups and changing the positions of the cups. After that, one had to guess which color ball was in which cup.
Some of the ladies who liked to play looked at each other. They were already very familiar with the tricks of this game, so no matter what Su Ying asked them, they would be able to answer.
After the eunuchs put down the table, Zhou Qing said, “Ladies, you have seen these small balls. The rule of today’s competition is to guess the balls. All of you only need to look clearly at the locations of these balls after the competition begins and then answer the Empress’s questions. The people who answer correctly will be able to proceed to the next round of the competition.”
True enough, it was as they had guessed!
Su Ying rested her forehead on her fingertips and said languidly, “Let’s begin if you’re ready.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”
Zhou Qing retreated to the side and a young palace maid came forward. Before starting, the young palace maid placed those few balls in front of everyone for them to verify. “Ladies, you can see these balls clearly. They are red, yellow, and blue respectively. There are three balls in total. Any questions?”
All the ladies shook their heads. “No question.”
“Alright. Then I shall begin.”
The palace maid placed three balls of different colors into the cups and then quickly began to move the cups around. All her movements were completed under everyone’s eyes.
“Ladies, when you say stop, I will stop.”
“Stop!”
The palace maid quickly moved the three cups into their final places and pulled her hands away.
Zhou Qing walked to Su Ying’s side and spoke softly, “Your Imperial Highness, you can ask the questions now.”
“Mm-hmm. My question is, how many balls are there in these cups, and what color are they?”
Su Ying’s words caused an uproar in the inner hall.
Was the Empress deliberately going easy on them? Just now, everyone saw the palace maid put three small balls into the cups. There were three small balls in the colors red, yellow, and blue!
However, Su Ying’s question was simply too easy. It was so easy that they weren’t sure if this was the answer.
There must be a trick in this. Perhaps when the palace maid was rotating the cups, she took out one, two, or even three balls!
Yes, that must be the case!
“Have all of you thought it through?” As soon as Su Ying finished speaking, the palace maid came forward with a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone for the young ladies to write their answers one by one.
“Don’t whisper to each other. After all, the person you’re talking to now is your competitor.”
As soon as these words were uttered, the inner hall was instantly so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Everyone silently wrote down their answers.
They had thought that the questions would be simple, but to their surprise, Su Ying didn’t play by the rules at all. Before the answer was revealed, everyone’s hearts were in their mouths.
“Your Imperial Highness, all the young ladies have written down their answers.”
“Mm-hmm.” Su Ying calmly gave her acknowledgment and straightened her body. She then told the palace maid to turn over the teacups to reveal the answer.
After receiving Su Ying’s order, the palace maid reached out with her two hands and turned over the three teacups one by one.
When everyone saw the three balls lying quietly on the table, they were so shocked that they were speechless.
The Empress genuinely didn’t get the palace maid to play any tricks. She really went easy on them!
The group of young ladies were so annoyed that they wanted to pound the ground!
Su Ying told the palace maid to read out all the answers in front of everyone. Almost no one wrote the correct answer. In the end, only three people
answered correctly.
Su Ying’s gaze swept across the faces of the frustrated young ladies. “Do you still remember what this question is testing you on?”
A young lady in a pink dress who answered correctly stood up and said, “Your imperial Highness, you said from the beginning that you wanted to test our eyesight.”
Su Ying nodded slightly. “That’s right, it’s eyesight. I don’t know if the rest of you are blind. Don’t tell me you didn’t see those three balls?”
Everyone was speechless.
“Alright, the rest of you can go back. The three of you just wait for me to send someone to pass the message to you.”
All the three who won had joyful expressions on their faces. “Thank you, Your Imperial Highness. Your subject will take her leave now.”
The group of noble ladies excused themselves in a disgruntled manner.
“I think the Empress is clearly toying around with us. She just doesn’t want us to enter the palace!”
“That’s right. In the past, the talent selection tests were never conducted in this way. The Empress had the final say on all the rules. The Emperor had no chance to see us at all. How are we to know that the Emperor would not be willing to keep us?”
“It’s fine if it’s just us, but how come even Yunn’er didn’t make the cut? She’s Duke Jingguo’s eldest granddaughter and the number one talented woman in the capital city. Her looks are unparalleled. It would be such a big pity if she can’t enter the palace.”
Among the group of delicate ladies, one figure stood out. Her black hair was tied up high, and there was only a pearl on her smooth and full forehead worn as an accessory. However, it was precisely this simple way of dressing that accentuated her otherworldly air.
She had a round oval face with a pair of bright slender eyes with corners that turned upwards. She also had a cherry-red small mouth under her pert and tiny nose. Coupled with her simple, elegant dress, she looked like a fairy who had descended to the mortal world. She was so exquisitely beautiful that people did not dare to say anything to defile her.
However, right now, there was a hint of worry on the forehead of this otherworldly beauty.
“His Majesty has arrived…”
The high-pitched announcement made all the young ladies excited.
Other than the rare palace banquets, this was the first time they were able to come into contact with the Emperor in such close quarters.
If they could win the Emperor’s favor at this moment…
Everyone retreated to two sides and bowed.
Chu Yunn retreated to one side near the palace wall and slowly bowed down. However, when she was bowing, she slipped and fell into the snow because the snow under her feet was slippery.
She got a shock but she still forced herself to stand up calmly.
In a flash, the corner of a bright yellow robe appeared in front of her.
Chu Yunn raised her head helplessly and her gaze met a pair of dark eyes that were as deep as an abyss. There seemed to be a pair of soul-stealing hands in the depths of his eyes that pulled away all her rationality.
Chu Yunn then heard a deep voice beside her ear which made her tremble. “You may rise.”
Before Chu Yunn could come back to her senses, that figure had already disappeared before her eyes.
After some time, someone came forward to help Chu Yunn up. “Miss Chu, are you alright?”
Chu Yunn returned to her senses and turned to look in the direction that the figure had headed. She wanted badly to go after him, but he had already disappeared from her sight.
“Miss Chu, how are you?”
When the young lady who was usually close to Chu Yunn saw that Chu Yunn didn’t say anything, she called out to her again.
Chu Yunn finally came back to her senses and realized that she had forgotten her manners just now.
“That was really close. I almost knocked into the Emperor just now..”
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