novelz
Chapter 323: ?323?Brother is probably going to embarrass himself following you_1
Chapter 323: ?323?Brother is probably going to embarrass himself following you_1
Chapter 323: ?323?Brother is probably going to embarrass himself following you_1
Just when the contestants were fretting over the ceramics scattered around, a middle-aged man in his fifties approached and briefly explained the rules of the assessment.
“Among these pieces of porcelain, only twenty are genuine, the others are all fakes. You need to identify at least twelve authentic pieces within half an hour to successfully obtain the credentials of a junior appraiser. If you exceed the time limit or identify less than twelve, you will be deemed to have failed…”
The contestants were already familiar with these rules but still listened patiently, afraid to miss even a single word.
When they heard they had only half an hour for the assessment, many faces fell.
Two hundred pieces of porcelain, and to examine them all in half an hour was undoubtedly a daunting task.
Half an hour, that’s one thousand eight hundred seconds.
With two hundred pieces of porcelain.
That means, at the very least, nine seconds per piece.
This was without a doubt a huge challenge for the contestants’ visual acuity and experience.
The middle-aged man didn’t give them much time to prepare and immediately started the stopwatch and yelled, “Begin the assessment.”
As soon as his voice faded, the twenty-odd contestants charged up, not daring to waste a single second.
Zhong Pan’er was among them, and as Yao Guhuai’s disciple, she was under even greater pressure.
If she failed the first assessment, her master would be humiliated along with her.
While observing the ceramics, she glanced at Tang Feng and noticed he was still dallying leisurely, prompting her to sneer inwardly.
At such a critical moment, still putting on airs, truly hopeless.
When he fails the assessment later, what face will he have to pretend in front of her?
Tang Feng followed behind the others at a leisurely pace, picking up a ceramic piece to admire.
Actually, he was just putting on an act.
If he weren’t worried about appearing overly shocking, he wouldn’t even need to pick up the pieces to tell which were genuine.
But with so many contestants, spectators, and judges on site, if he really did so, he’d probably be captured for dissection immediately.
Despite this concern, he didn’t want to waste too much time on this matter.
After casually strolling through the ceramic area for about five minutes, he wrote the answers on his card and signed his name.
Then he handed it over to the middle-aged man in charge of their assessment area.
At this point, the other contestants had examined less than a fifth of the pieces, so his action was quite conspicuous.
All eyes on site turned to him in astonishment.
“He… He has the answers already? Is this a joke?”
“He didn’t even look at them carefully. He glanced over them and had the answers?”
Qiao Xuan could not help but feel sorry for Shao Yunduan, who looked furious as he sat on the chair with his hands on his knees, and a straight back.
Honestly, it was a misfortune for any family, when their daughter-in-law decided to hang herself on wedding night.
If the bride really died, the whole family would turn into a laughing stock in front of numerous households, and would be looked down upon by everyone around.
Anyone would get very angry and get furious…
But… that was not her business!
Qiao Xuan was groaning inwardly. What a shitty business she found herself in!
Shao Yunduan, who looked seriously annoyed, said coldly, “If you don’t want to marry me, fine! I will send you home early tomorrow morning. Don’t worry, I will tell the County Magistrate that it is we, the Shao Family, who don’t deserve you. I will mention that clearly on our divorce paper, so you won’t be blamed in any way.”
The couple had already exchanged the dowries and gifts, and done the wedding proceedings. In the modern world, it basically meant that the two of them had already got legally married at the Civil Affairs Office!
Although one night had passed and nothing happened, Qiao Xuan would either divorce on her own or get divorced by this man.
Startled, Qiao Xuan shook her head. “No, no. I will stay!”
She must not leave. If she was divorced by the husband the following day after the wedding, she would never be rid of the fact that she had been ‘rejected’ by her husband, no matter how well-written the divorce paper was.
Also, maybe her selfish and ruthless father would not accept her to the family either, claiming that no one from the Qiao Family would ever be divorced. After all, she was married off and basically given to her husband’s family. She believed that Mrs. Dong and her father would definitely do something like that.
When that moment came, her future would be nothing.
Even if there was the slightest possibility that her horrible father and Mrs. Dong decided to accept her, would she be able to live a good life? Would she have a completely new life ahead of herself?
…It would not be a matter of whether there would be a whole-new life, but whether she would even have a life!
However, if she stayed with the Shao Family, the situation might be a little more promising.
She was the daughter of the County Magistrate, which was nothing in her own family but could become her protection talisman in her husband’s family. As long as she made full use of her family background, she would definitely have a good life here.
Also, this husband of hers had a pair of broad shoulders and narrow waist, giving out an excellent air. His nose bridge was tall and he had a very sharp silhouette on his face. His eyes seemed sparkling as well!
Well, he was very handsome in her eyes, and she was not in a disadvantageous position either…
This husband of hers was a student at Minghua College in the county, and he had passed the imperial examination as the Cultivated Talent at this young age, so probably, he was going to become some Recommended Man, or even an Advanced Scholar in the future… that would make her life even more promising.
Besides, she could decide things later, looking at what happened in the future. At the moment, it was obvious that she should stay with her husband’s family so that her life could be better.
Hence, she was not leaving!
When the decision was made, Qiao Xuan struck her own thigh and squeezed out some tears from her eyes, remembering that she had time-traveled to such a terrible situation.
Tearfully, she looked at Shao Yunduan and sobbed. “It was my mistake a moment ago to have done such a stupid thing. Now I have realized what is more important for me, so don’t worry, I will never do that again!”
“Hehe!” Shao Yunduan sneered as if the ice in his eyes had been scattered. “You are the Miss of a noble family, but we are just a poor family in the countryside. I should not deserve you, so I won’t blame you for making that mistake! If you don’t like this arrangement, you truly don’t have to bear it. I will tell Officer Qiao that it was all my fault, and in a couple of years, when you move away with Officer Qiao when he gets transferred to somewhere else, no one will know about our wedding. By that time, you can find your own Mr. Right. That sounds perfect, doesn’t it, Second Miss?”
Shao Yunduan had not been very happy about this marital arrangement either, but what else could he possibly do about it all this while?
He jumped into the water to save someone, when he saw it happen in front of his eyes. He had not expected the consequences of it at the time.
Moreover, he had thought that he could tolerate this Second Miss of the Qiao Family by treating her well.
But he had not expected that she would rather kill herself on their wedding day, just because she disliked his family!
That irritated Shao Yunduan completely.
Tang Feng hadn’t looked at the ceramics closely at all; he’d just skimmed through them and then written down his answers.
If Tang Feng got them right by guessing, he would really start to doubt if he had wasted the last few decades.
“Kid, I’m afraid I’m going to be embarrassed because of you,” he lamented inwardly, feeling helpless.
He could only hope that Tang Feng might have guessed at least one or two correctly, to save a shred of his dignity.