Chapter 441 - Qualifications (2/2)

Yu Xiaocao slightly sneered but she decided to assent to Royal Princess Minglan’s suggestion. It looked like she and Miss Li weren’t fated to get along, but it wasn’t a big deal! In any case, she would take things as they came and react accordingly.

After looking around, she saw He Wanning waving a hand towards her, so she walked to that table. That table only had He Wanning, who was dressed in fiery red, and Yuan Xueyan, who was dressed entirely in white sitting there. Thus, she also took a seat at the table.

However, one of the maidens in the room, who she didn’t know, sourly remarked, “That table either has the daughter of a first-ranked official or the relative of the imperial family or the Royal Princess herself. Even the daughters of third-ranked officials don’t have the guts to go up there. Why should she sit there?”

Royal Princess Minglan was in a very good mood after getting to see a ‘Two Qiaos’ chrysanthemum. When she heard this particular maiden stating a remark meant to cause trouble, she lightly gave her a glance that held a hint of warning.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Xueyan, who had been sitting at this table silently, spoke up in a cool tone, “If we’re speaking about qualifications, in this entire room full of people, other than the royal princess having her own title, only Miss Yu is personally titled as a sixth-level official. Although sixth-level officials don’t amount to much in court, many of the people here have fathers and brothers who aren’t high-ranked either. She is the person most qualified to sit at the head table here.”

The so-called ‘four talented girls of the capital’ only had male relatives that were lowly ranked. In fact, the highest ranked among them was only a fifth-ranked official. Compared to Yu Xiaocao’s sixth-level official title, it wasn’t that much higher. In this room full of young maidens who were the daughters of second-ranked and third-ranked officials, they were only here because of their fame as ‘talented girls’. Otherwise, if they relied on their status as daughters of fifth-ranked officials or lower, they didn’t have the qualifications to be invited to a party held by Royal Princess Minglan as there were plenty of girls of their status on the capital’s streets. After hearing the ‘icy beauty’ Yuan Xueyan speak up, these four girls all blushed in embarrassment and lowered their heads.

The other girls in the room, who had originally wanted to cause problems, also reined themselves in when they saw Royal Princess Minglan and the other ‘two beauties of the capital’, who were unspoken heads of this circle, speak up for Yu Xiaocao.

“Many thanks, Miss Yuan, for helping me. Let me take this cup of tea in place of wine to toast you a cup.” Yu Xiaocao held up her cup of tea and took a big drink from it.

Yuan Xueyan’s lips slightly curved up in what could be considered a smile and also took a gentle sip from her cup. After placing down her teacup, she lightly said, “Yu Fan is the last disciple of my grandfather, so our two families are actually connected in this way. My grandfather always praises your younger brother and states that his scholarly abilities are similar to my father’s when he was young. Not everyone can understand the struggles of a talented young man who is born in humble circumstances.”

Although her voice wasn’t loud, it was enough that everyone in the room could hear her words clearly. Someone who was praised by Great Scholar Yuan to be similar to his most talented son likely was truly a talented youth! Yu Xiaocao didn’t look much older than ten to eleven, which meant that her younger brother was even younger. However, he had been taken in by Great Scholar Yuan as his last disciple. His future career and connections was not something to be taken for granted.

The vast majority of the young maidens here silently rejoiced that they didn’t blatantly reveal their disgust and contempt towards Yu Xiaocao. The interpersonal relationships between the young maidens in the capital were actually miniaturized versions between the officials and wealthy nobles. If they couldn’t help their fathers and brothers, then, at the very least, they shouldn’t be causing trouble for them.

Yu Xiaocao could easily tell that the looks that were on her had now held less contempt and more kindness now. She gratefully nodded her head towards Yuan Xueyan and said, “Headmaster Yuan’s takes good care of my younger brother, so I am very grateful towards him. I will definitely come and visit him on another day…”

“Miss Yu is being too polite! Before the end of the year, Grandfather came back to the capital from Tanggu Town. He is very fond of your culinary talents and often talks about the snacks that you make. If he found out that you, Miss Yu, was coming over to visit, he would definitely be extremely happy.” Yuan Xueyan also felt a bit helpless at her foodie grandfather’s gluttonous actions. In the past, her grandfather would be more restrained for the sake of his reputation. However, now he was acting more and more like an unruly urchin. For the sake of eating good food, he had done many things that made other people laugh. However, because of his status, no one actually showed their ridicule.

The smile on Yu Xiaocao’s face became a few fractions more sincere when she thought of Headmaster Yuan’s true personality. Even her attitude towards Yuan Xueyan became more intimate.

He Wanning had finally finished inspecting the set of clothing Xiaocao was wearing. She raised her eyes to look at the other girl's face and noticed the younger girl’s smooth and perfect skin. She felt her own skin on her face and sighed, “It’s truly nice to be young. Younger Sister Yu’s face has skin that looks as smooth and glossy as a freshly peeled boiled egg. It’s glowing with health and full of moisture. With my personality, I can’t stand spending the entire day cooped up at home, so I have to go out to ride my horse or practice archery...under the insults of the sun and wind, my skin is so dry that it seems like tree bark now…”

[1] Wu Lingyun - Her name is also Wu Lingfu in other chapters.

[2] Two Qiaos hidden deeply within the Bronze Sparrow Platform - Three Kingdom's era, there were two sisters (Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao) that were well-known beauties. They were married to Sun Ce and Zhou Yu. Allegedly, Warlord Caocao wanted to take them from their husbands and lock them into his Bronze Sparrow Platform. His son, Cao Zhi, had composed a poem about this.