The voice was hoarse and grating, like rough stones of different sizes scraping across the ground. It was nothing like the crisp and clear voice a normal child should have.
But the most important thing was: Lianyi couldn't speak!
After a brief moment of silence, everyone couldn't help but let out a shrill scream and instinctively took a panicked step back.
"Shut up!"
Luo Fuxian's heart was pounding wildly, and goosebumps covered his body. But as the head of the family, he had to hold his ground.
Flipping his wide sleeve, Luo Fuxian shouted sternly,
"Anyone who screams again will be dragged out and beaten to death immediately!"
Everyone immediately fell silent, shivering with fear and lowering their heads. Luo Fuxian let out a cold snort and turned to walk towards Lianyi, saying,
"Lianyi, what are you doing standing here? And when did you learn to..."
Luo Fuxian suddenly froze in his tracks.
A figure in green rushed out of the main house, gesturing happily:
"Greetings to grandfather, grandmother, father, and auntie."
Luo Fuxian quickly turned around, and the "Lianyi" under the big tree was gone!
Everyone felt a chill run down their spines. Zhou Zhanlan couldn't help but say,
"See, Xiaobaobao was right. There really is something unclean about her. I've always said she's inauspicious..."
"Shut up!"
Luo Fuxian couldn't help but scold her severely.
"Playing tricks. Lianyi, come here! The rest of you, go in and search! I'd like to see who dares to cause trouble in my Luo Mansion."
After a chaotic and busy search, Luo Fuxian himself searched Lianyi several times, but they found nothing.
Helplessly, Luo Fuxian had to come up with a lame excuse to cover it up. He ordered the servants to keep a close eye on Lianyi and then led everyone back dejectedly.
With so many strange things happening one after another, the entire Luo family was in a state of panic.
Especially Zhou Zhanlan, who became more and more convinced that Lianyi was inauspicious. She pestered Luo Fuxian day in and day out to send Lianyi away.
At first, Luo Fuxian disagreed. After all, she was his own flesh and blood. If word got out that he sent her away or something happened to her, it would definitely affect his official career. But as he himself became more and more unlucky and Lianyi's behavior became more and more strange. Several of the younger generations in the Luo family, especially his youngest son who was about to take the imperial examinations and Luo Xiaobao, the apple of everyone's eye in the family, encountered many strange things for no reason.
Luo Xiaobao was relatively lucky because he had the amulet given by Zhou Qingqing. But once the amulet was given to Luo Xiaobao, strange things started to happen to Zhou Qingqing one after another, forcing the mother and son to stay together all the time. As for Luo Fuxian's youngest son, with the imperial examinations approaching and strange things happening to him, he couldn't concentrate on his studies at all.
Luo Fuxian had no choice but to ask Zhou Zhanlan or Luo Ji to lend the amulet to his youngest son for a while. Luo Ji naturally didn't want to. He had just started his official career, and if something happened to him without the amulet and it affected his future, what would he do? Zhou Zhanlan was even more unwilling. She would rather see the concubine's child die than help him.
After several days of arguing, Luo Fuxian was exhausted. Finally, after some discussion, they decided to send Lianyi to the manor on the outskirts of the capital first. After the autumn imperial examinations were over and Su Xin came back, they would let her take Lianyi back to their hometown for a few years, under the pretext of praying for the elders of the Luo family.
They wasted no time. On a cool day when autumn was in the air, Lianyi was finally sent out of the Luo family as they wished.
Every day when Ye Xi went to practice horseback riding, Yi Yaofeng would go with her - to find Lianyi.
In the carefree days of childhood innocence, the solemn autumn imperial examinations and the relaxing Qingyun Tournament came one after another.
After several days of continuous rain, the stuffy and sticky air of summer was washed away completely. After the most difficult days passed, the long - suppressed atmosphere in the entire capital suddenly boiled over.
All kinds of entertainment activities, novel gadgets, and delicious snacks emerged one after another. The whole city was decorated with lanterns and festoons, looking as festive as if it were a holiday. Not only did it attract many tourists from the Great Yin Dynasty, but also many people from vassal states and foreign countries came here out of curiosity.
The capital was bustling like never before.
This year's Qingyun Tournament was held in Xiangheng Palace, located in the southeast of the capital. The palace was surrounded by mountains and rivers, with a vast and beautiful view. The buildings in the palace were scattered in an orderly manner. Palace maids in pink long dresses walked in pairs, shuttling through the corridors to guide the nobles.
The morning session was the men's competition. Since Yi Yuan didn't participate, Ye Xi didn't go either. But the discussions from outside still reached her ears. It was said that Shen Zhou galloped ahead of the other young masters from noble families by a large margin, which made the ladies and young misses watching the competition cheer and inquire about his marital status.
Ye Xi was too nervous about her own competition in the afternoon to listen carefully. She just made full preparations. When the time came, she changed into the dress made of floating mist gauze that Jiang Ning had just woven and headed to Xiangheng Palace with Sai Xing and Ling Yan.
It wasn't appropriate to wear a veil hat for this competition. But Cao Wei and Cao Sheng were sure to be among the spectators, and they had seen Ye Xi's true face before. Before she got the bracelet, Ye Xi didn't want any trouble. So she wore a veil herself, and Ling Yan chose a mask.
As soon as they appeared in Xiangheng Palace, they attracted all kinds of looks and whispers.
Ye Xi ignored them all. She scanned the spectator seats and saw many familiar faces. Shen Zhou, Yun Qianying, Cao Sheng, Cao Wei and others were all there. And in the lower right corner, Yi Yuan was quietly looking at her. Her heart settled down a bit. She calmly followed the palace maid through the curious or contemptuous looks and went straight to her waiting area.
Coincidentally, Qiao Yan was sitting right next to her.
When Qiao Yan saw Ye Xi coming, she became a bit shy and greeted Ye Xi awkwardly.
Knowing that Qiao Yan was still feeling embarrassed about misunderstanding her and challenging her in public before, Ye Xi gave her a shallow smile and started chatting with her generously.
Qiao Yan said,
"I'm a person who clearly distinguishes between love and hate. Since I misunderstood you before, I will definitely make it up to you.
"I've thought for a long time and finally come up with a wonderful gift for you. Just wait. I'm sure you'll be satisfied."
"Thank you for your kindness, Miss Qiao,"
Ye Xi said with a charming smile.
"Since it was just a misunderstanding, it's enough to clear it up. There's no need to prepare any gifts."
"No way,"
Qiao Yan waved her hand.
"If I don't prepare a gift, I'll feel guilty."
Just then, they heard a long and melodious bell ring. Someone on the arc - shaped platform shouted,
"The time is up - all the young ladies, please take your seats and keep quiet."
Then the judges' wives read out the rules. After three strikes on the bronze bell, the competition officially started.
The first round was the piano - playing competition.
Ye Xi took a deep breath and walked gracefully to the prepared desk with the others. Her mist - like dress fluttered in the wind, making her look like a fairy from the clouds. The young ladies around her were immediately fascinated and started inquiring about her dress.
Here, Ye Xi concentrated and calmly plucked the strings to test the sound. The sound was like flowing water. She nodded in satisfaction and started playing.
There were three rounds in the afternoon, all of which were elegant activities like playing music and dancing. Everything went smoothly without any problems.
After the competition ended successfully, the judges' wives began to announce the rankings. Ye Xi got first - class in two rounds and second - class in one round; Qiao Yan wasn't good at these things and only got first - class in one round. It was a young lady from the Liu family, a family of literati, who excelled in everything and won the first place.
For a moment, she attracted a lot of attention.
The competition ended today, and tomorrow would be the highlight. The young ladies from various families were busy packing up their things and getting ready for the horse - riding and archery competition tomorrow.
Ye Xi had only taken two steps when she heard someone call out from behind,
"Miss Xi."