Summary of the previous chapter: Ma Xiaoquan warned Ma Bing, and Ma Bing was smart enough to admit his mistakes tactfully. Ma Xiaoquan liked to deal with such smart people, and the two complimented each other, and they seemed to be very harmonious...
The next day, the last two competitions of "The Most Beautiful Lady" officially began.
The fourth item is to test the personal talents of these ladies. Of course, the piano playing that has been compared before cannot be repeated again.
Speaking of women in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there are not many women like Cai Yan, but in addition to playing the piano, there are still some who play chess, write, and draw.
A few ladies asked for pens, inks, paper and inkstones, and a few ladies simply found a nobleman to play chess on the spot.
Women's chess skills are relatively inferior to men, but women have a natural advantage, and that is intuition.
You know, when playing chess, sometimes you don't rely on your own high chess skills to win. On the contrary, there are occasional upsets like "beating the master to death with a blind fist".
This was the case for a young man from a noble family. He thought he was a superb chess player, but unexpectedly he was defeated at the hands of a young lady.
Ma Xiaoquan didn't know much about Go either, but judging from the information fed back by the horse soldiers, the noble boy indeed made a fatal and careless mistake, which led to the total loss.
The nobleman who lost the chess game was ridiculed by everyone and ran away in shame, while the young lady who won the chess game was praised to the heavens by everyone.
On the other side, several ladies who were writing and painting were also competing secretly.
Compared with the silence over the chess playing area, writing and drawing seemed much more casual. However, everyone still chose silence in a very polite manner. Even if they wanted to speak, they all whispered.
The morning passed quickly, and at noon, a lady took the lead in stretching her waist and raising her hand to indicate that her painting was completed.
Ma Bing invited several well-known painters in the Xiangyang painting circle to come forward to observe. After burning incense, these painters gave pertinent evaluations. However, since the other ladies had not yet finished, this evaluation was given by Ma Bing first.
The soldiers suppressed him.
Then, another lady raised her hand. Her work was not a painting, but a short story. The content was a familiar left turn. However, due to time issues, the lady only copied an excerpt.
Small portion.
Calligraphy and painting have similar approaches, that is, both emphasize an "artistic conception." Don't underestimate the word "artistic conception." Some people study all their lives for the artistic conception, and only achieve little success in their later years.
Examples abound from ancient times to the present.
The evaluation of calligraphy is more difficult than that of paintings, but Ma Bing was well prepared. He not only invited several famous calligraphy masters in Xiangyang City, but also two famous calligraphy masters from Jingzhou. Of course,
With Ma Bing's cleverness and cunning, he would not pay for the invitation so easily. Ma Xiaoquan asked Ma Bing how to calculate the expense for the invitation. Ma Bing quietly told Ma Xiaoquan that Quan had come to attend the banquet.
Got it from the gift money from the noble family.
"You are so awesome." Ma Xiaoquan secretly gave Ma Bing a thumbs up.
The horse soldier chuckled, pointed at a copy of the cheat sheet and said, "Sir, what do you think of that copy of the cheat sheet?"
Ma Xiaoquan rolled his eyes at Ma Bing and thought to himself: Damn it, I'm not interested in such sour things, yet you still want to stimulate me?
Ma Xiaoquan smiled and said: "Brother Tongxin is joking, I don't have much research on this thing, haha, you better come, you come..."
The horse soldier did not refuse, nodded, stepped forward, looked at the cheat sheet carefully, and then came back and said: "This handwriting is beautiful. At first glance, it is written by a woman with a grudge. As for..."
Listening to the horse soldiers talking, Ma Xiaoquan couldn't help but be a little stunned. Of course, what Ma Xiaoquan was thinking about at this time was his loyalty to the emperor...
After listening to Ma Bing's evaluation, Ma Xiaoquan nodded pretendingly and said: "Brother Tongxin is indeed amazing. I didn't expect that he has such attainments in calligraphy!"
The horse soldier chuckled, shook his head and said: "Master Immortal has given me many awards, but my skills are nothing more than trivial skills in front of those masters."
...
After another round of courtesy and flattery, the competition was coming to an end. At this time, several masters walked up to Ma Bing at the same time and submitted their opinions and results of the competition.
The horse soldier politely took the result sheet, looked at it for a few times, then smiled and introduced several masters to the table, and then clapped his hands and shouted to everyone.
"Everyone, everyone..." Ma Bing looked at everyone, then at Ma Xiaoquan, and said, "The results of the fourth test have come out. This game really opened our eyes.
.....Now I announce that the winner of this competition will enter the final game, then...the winner is..."
The horse soldier paused for a moment, then said the names of several ladies one by one.
The ladies who were named were naturally very happy, and even their husbands were very happy, while the ladies who were not named were a little unconvinced and even had a confrontation on the spot.
Ma Bing had already expected this. He took out the opinions of the masters and handed them to the unconvinced noble lady. Then, she was immediately replaced by a submissive silence.
"The fifth competition..." Ma Bing nodded to Ma Xiaoquan, "It will be personally supervised by Lord Shangxian, oh, the Immortal Marquis, Marquis Ma Xiaoquan. I believe everyone will look forward to this competition.
, Haha, I will announce the content of the competition now..."
The horse soldier chuckled and announced the content of the competition to the public.
This announcement shocked everyone present.
Kuai Yue frowned and asked, "Brother Tongxin, can this be considered a competition?"
The horse soldier nodded and said: "This is what I decided after discussing with the Marquis. Of course, if you are not satisfied, you can abstain. There is only one pill left. Everyone has seen it, right? It was refined by Master Shangxian."
Making elixirs is very hard, and the ingredients for elixirs are also very expensive, but, one elixir in exchange for 10 years of life, is this a cost-effective deal no matter what?"
What Ma Bing said was right, one pill can be exchanged for 10 years of life. Everyone is happy with this transaction, not to mention that the nobles and nobles present are basically owners who are not short of money.
Kuai Yue glanced at his brother Kuai Liang. When his brother nodded, he gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it, let's compete!"
The Kuai family decided, and the remaining people responded one after another.
"Just compare, what's the big deal."
"That's right, there's nothing to be afraid of, just compare..."
...
Seeing the emotions of everyone present being aroused by the cavalry soldiers, Ma Xiaoquan's lips slightly raised, and he thought to himself: Interesting, it seems that this kind of contestant will be eliminated by voting, no matter in modern or ancient times, it is very heart-wrenching.
The fifth competition is not actually a competition. Its content is very simple, that is, all the ladies who have participated in the competition are asked to vote for the ladies who have won the right to compete in the last competition. The person with the most votes will be directly eliminated. However,
, since you cast that vote, you naturally have to explain why. If the reason is insufficient or there is obvious bias in the rationale, the vote will be invalid.
...
When the cavalry soldiers informed everyone of the requirements for the last match, the venue suddenly became quiet.
Women in the late Han Dynasty did not have the three obediences and four virtues as imagined in history. Women in the late Han Dynasty were also relatively active in thinking. Therefore, after Ma Bing explained the rules again, the ladies were gearing up to prepare.
Some ladies' "educational level" is not high, so their husbands ghostwrite them. During this period, these ladies also communicate with their families from time to time to see who should be eliminated and who should stay; while others "
Women with a higher "educational level" think more assertively on their own. Every time they think about something, they pick up a pen and write down the key points of their arguments on silk.
An hour passed quickly. Looking at the busy people in the venue, Ma Xiaoquan whispered to Ling'er: "Go and get Zi Yan out. She should be resting in the bedroom."
Ling'er nodded, bowed her body and retreated. After a while, two gorgeous and lovely people appeared in front of Ma Xiaoquan.
Ma Xiaoquan stepped forward and hugged him unceremoniously.
Ling'er was fine, but Murong Ziyan's pretty face turned red with embarrassment.
Ma Xiaoquan leaned into Murong Ziyan's ear and said, "Ziyan, among the ladies present, who do you want to win?"
Zi Yan was stunned for a moment and looked at Ma Xiaoquan, not understanding what he meant.
Ma Xiaoquan quietly told Zi Yan that Cai Hao had agreed to surrender to Cao Cao. After hearing this, Zi Yan was very excited. It seemed that her efforts were not in vain, but her body had been touched by that beast Cai Hao.
....
Ma Xiaoquan saw Zi Yan's thoughts and whispered: "Don't worry, my sister Zi Yan, I don't mind if Cai Hao touches you. You are still intact. Remember, you have to keep your body for me."
Murong Ziyan's eyes were red and she nodded vigorously.
...
The voting was divided into three stages. In the first stage, the ladies who were eliminated in the first three rounds began to vote. As a result, among the ladies who entered the fifth round, one was eliminated. Ma Xiaoquan, Ma Bing and others listened.
After opinions, it was unanimously decided to eliminate this lady.
In the second stage, the wives who were eliminated in the fourth round voted. In this round, two people were selected, but because the reasons were far-fetched and insufficient, only one lady was eliminated.
In the third stage, the ladies who are competing in the fifth round will start voting. In this stage, the winner will be directly selected.
Because the atmosphere was too tense, Ma Xiaoquan asked everyone to pause for a while before voting.
After a while, voting continued.
Murong Ziyan suddenly leaned into Ma Xiaoquan's ear and said: "Brother Ma, I hope the winning lady is..."
Murong Ziyan expressed his thoughts, which happened to coincide with Ma Xiaoquan's. Of course, although the idea was very good, if the voting results did not match, he had nothing to do. After all, this competition was based on "
It is conducted on the principle of “fairness, impartiality and openness”.