Chapter 318 Extra Story— Gongsun Weiwei’s Challenge
Gongsun Weiwei thought herself incomparable in talent. After all, few women in the country of Mu Xia were versed in the musical instruments, chess-playing, painting, and calligraphy, like her. It was why she was so confident about herself.

Besides, she believed she was one of the few women who were both pretty and intelligent in the world, so, even though she was not as gorgeous as Yun Muxi, she might be able to win Duanmu Gongyu’s favor with her talent, and if she did, she didn’t mind sharing this man with Yun Muxi.

By then, with her intelligence, she absolutely could dominate Yun Muxi.

Proud as Gongsun Weiwei used to be, she became so humble just to win Duanmu Gongyu’s heart.

In Yun Muxi’s eyes, Gongsun Weiwei was too arrogant and even dared to provoke her. However, as a veritable straight-A student who had received education in the modern world, in no way would she lose to a girl living in ancient times.

Except for needlework, she believed she was better than Gongsun Weiwei regardless of music, art or literature.

Moreover, she had taken in Duanmu Gongyu’s kindness and treated him as her friend despite that she did not accept his love, so, of course, she would not stand by watching Duanmu Gongyu being harassed by such an arrogant woman.

If it were a woman that Duanmu Gongyu was in love with, Yun Muxi would like to be the first one to help him get her. However, Gongsun Weiwei was not such a woman. Even worse, she did not realize it and even pestered him, which utterly disgusted Yun Muxi.

“Well, what an eye-opener! Who would have thought you were such a shameless woman? You coveted my husband while you still think so highly and is so proud of yourself. Let me say, you’re too conceited! It seemed that I avoiding lowering myself to argue with you emboldened you, didn’t it? Do you really regard yourself as Helen of Troy? You even slandered me because you envy my beauty. You’re really a woman with no virtue or intelligence!” said Yun Muxi in a cold tone.

Gongsun Weiwei’s face turned purple at the words. Nevertheless, Yun Muxi would not stop rebuking her unless she finished. “I would never condescend myself to talk to you if it was not for you coveting my dear Yu. Please don’t talk to him anymore, you will lower his IQ. And stop coveting him, it’s a dishonor for him. He is married, so, give up your dirty designs on him.”

Never had Yun Muxi said such harsh words before, and she did it all for Duanmu Gongyu.

For the first time, Duanmu Gongyu learned Yun Muxi’s clever tongue, and he felt quite surprised when he realized that she was defending him and declaring he was her man. Calm on the surface, Duanmu Gongyu was overjoyed inside.

Gongsun Weiwei’s face was red with anger, and she was in an impulse to slap Yun Muxi, but she suppressed her feeling out of the fear of Duanmu Gongyu. The next second, she came up with another way to take revenge.

She chuckled before replying, “How about we have a competition since you think so highly of yourself?”

Yun Muxi answered with disdain, “Why would I? I don’t want to disgrace myself to agree with your words.”

Taking in Yun Muxi’s reaction, Gongsun Weiwei thought Yun Muxi chickened out. However, it was, in fact, Yun Muxi’s stratagem. She intended to have Gongsun Weiwei believe she was only a bragger so that she could catch her unguarded and frustrate her.

Knowing little about this, Gongsun Weiwei took the bait. She was determined to strike Yun Muxi.

With a sneer, Gongsun Weiwei said, “You chickened out, didn’t you? You were just bragging and dare not compete with me!”

Yun Muxi pretended to look hesitant and embarrassed as she replied, “But… I…”

From the looks of Yun Muxi, Gongsun Weiwei confirmed that Yun Muxi was just a pretty airhead. Complacent, she was resolute to slap Yun Muxi on the face and expose this simple-minded woman in front of Duanmu Gongyu, so that he would adore her and divorce Yun Muxi.

Happiness grew inside Gongsun Weiwei. She yelled at Yun Muxi even more arrogantly. “I see. You’re nothing more than a pretty airhead despite your seductive face. Hump, you’re just afraid to lose to me.”

Yun Muxi tried to look calm. “Well, what I was trying to say just now is, we should set a rule for the competition.”

. Having believed that Yun Muxi was an inept woman, Gongsun Weiwei became careless as she replied, “I agree. It’s up to you as long as you accept my challenge.”

Seeing that Gongsun Weiwei rose to her bait, Yun Muxi suggested in a seemingly tentative way, “How… how about the loser will have to accept one request from the winner?”

Upon hearing the words, Gongsun Weiwei became visibly excited. “Okay! Let’s do as you say. Since we are going to compete, we should have an all-round competition, covering the fields of music, chess-playing, calligraphy, painting, poems, and songs.”

Gongsun Weiwei’s confidence in her skills of each above fields contributed to the proposal. On the one hand, she wanted to best and embarrass Yun Muxi in all these respects. On the other hand, she wanted to seize the chance to show all her strength in front of Duanmu Gongyu so as to capture his heart.

Once again, Yun Muxi pretended to look hesitant as she replied, “Well, there isn’t much time left for us. It will take us two days and two nights to conduct the said competition.”

Sure that Yun Muxi was weak in these fields, Yun Muxi mocked to prod her. “Are you inept for this? If so, you may as well surrender now.”

Time was ripe, Yun Muxi thought. She said to Gongsun Weiwei in a graceful and proud tone, “You hear me wrong. You denied it, but you’re truly as stupid as I said. What I was trying to say is, I don’t have so much time to waste on you, so, let’s make it simple.

“In the first round, we will compete in poems and painting. The one who finishes a drawing in less time, with a poem on the painting in echo with the theme, will win. Both of us will have to finish it within two hours, and if we fail, it will be regarded as a draw.

“In the second round, we’ll compete in odes and music of the Qin dynasty. Sing an ode and the accompaniment will have to be done ourselves. The one with better performance will win the second round.

“As for the last round, we compete in chess-playing. Within two hours, the one who wins the game wins the round, otherwise, it’s a draw.

“And the final winner will be the one with two wins out of three. What do you say?”

As they had to hurry on their way, they didn’t want to stay there long. Having a competition of only three rounds within a limited period time would save their time, and meanwhile, the competition was set more difficult that Yun Muxi could frustrate Gongsun Weiwei more hardly.

Gongsun Weiwei looked hesitant after hearing the rules; it was a little too hard for her. However, considering that Yun Muxi was just an airhead, she thought she would win her anyway. She even felt it a pity that she could not embarrass Yun Muxi bit by bit.

“I’m okay with it.” Gongsun Weiwei answered decisively.

Duanmu Gongyu watched the two girls talking with an indifferent expression all along. He did not stand out to help Yun Muxi because he had confidence in her ability and expected her to surprise him again with her hidden talent, but if she needed, he would lend her a hand at once.

The people of the two sides chose an entertaining academy in the town as their arena. Just like the community center in modern times where people could hold various activities, the academy was designed to entertain the villagers. Well-equipped, it was a perfect site for competition.

Gongsun Weiwei requested the owner of the academy to act as the judge. The man agreed with pleasure as the competition might attract many spectators, and help the cheerless academy gain more customers and some fame.

Those who were reading, playing chess, doing drawings, and etc. in the academy all gathered around to join the fun. Spotting the bustling scene in the academy, the passers-by also stepped in. People were in a rush to join the fun especially after they heard that the popular Gongsun Weiwei also participated in the competition. After all, no one could resist to be a sightseer, especially one of the scene involving a beauty.

The academy was soon crowded with onlookers.

Sitting and watching beside quietly, Duanmu Gongyu expected to see Yun Muxi show her extraordinary talents.

Having learned the contents and rules of the competition, the owner of the academy had the needed items prepared quickly. With his shouts, the competition started.

The first round—painting with a poem.

Yun Muxi and Gongsun Weiwei each stood in front of a table respectively, and on the tables, brushes, ink sticks, paper, and inkstones were placed. Gongsun Weiwei thought hard how to start but no inspiration struck her. This round was really a bit difficult for her as she never had such an experience before.

By contrast, this round was quite easy for Yun Muxi, a straight-A student. She once learned how to draw when she was a child and mastered the skills to an extent and even had won some prizes in terms of painting and calligraphy in her city.

Besides, she had appreciated a lot of artworks of famous artists in modern times. Any imitation of these paintings would best Gongsun Weiwei’s. Writing poems was even easier for her as studying poems was a required course in schools. She had those poems written by renowned ancient poets at her fingertips.

Without such an education experience, Gongsun Weiwei was put at a great disadvantage as she had to create a poem.

While Gongsun Weiwei racked her brains for inspiration, Yun Muxi had begun her creation. With great concentration, she did the drawing with free and fluent strokes. Looking from afar, the brush held in her hand danced on the paper swiftly.

In less than fifteen minutes, Yun Muxi completed an imitation of Zhang Daqian’s lotus paintings. From the perspective of the professionals of modern times, the imitation was flawed. Nevertheless, the people of ancient times knew nothing about Zhang Daqian, plus Yun Muxi did a great job in imitating the painting with her own ideas, the imitation appeared perfect to the people present.

Gongsun Weiwei barely started drawing when Yun Muxi finished. The latter nodded at her own painting, looking pleased. As Yun Muxi looked up and saw Gongsun Weiwei, who just started working, a smile escaped the corner of her mouth. “Well, sweetie, you’re no match for me.” she sneered to herself.

After that, to the top left of the lotus on the painting, Yun Muxi wrote in a standard script: The rivers grow clearer in autumn; the swirls shine like gems. Swaying with the wind, the lotus’ shadows lie in profusion.

Until then, a complete imitation of Zhang Daqian’s work was done. Since it was a copy of a renowned artist, no one could find fault with it. Yun Muxi did make a wise choice.

After smiling at Gongsun Weiwei with raised eyebrows, Yun Muxi lifted her right hand and said to the owner of the academy in a loud and confident tone, “Sir, I’m done.”

Gongsun Weiwei, who was focused on drawing, was shocked on hearing Yun Muxi’s voice. She wondered if Yun Muxi really had done when her painting was merely half-finished. She raised her head and looked at Yun Muxi in disbelief. However, the latter just smiled complacently at her.