After my father was sent to marry into the princess's household, I became the darling of the en

Three snakes, their tongues flicking, slithered toward her feet, like a chilling breeze.

After calming down, Lü'e mustered her courage and stood in front of Shen Jingque, trembling as she said, "Miss, young lady, run!"

Although she knows martial arts, she's terrified of snakes!

Shen Jingque remained calm.

Her gaze passed over the snake and landed on the two heads peeking out from behind the artificial hill.

One of them had her hair in two buns; she was Zhao Yuwan's head maid. She had never seen the other servant in the short brown robe before; he was probably a snake-keeping servant in the Marquis's mansion.

The two of them craned their necks, staring at this side, their faces filled with excitement as they waited to see a good show.

Shen Jingque sneered inwardly and pushed Lü'e behind her.

"Sister Green Calyx, step back behind me!"

"Girl, what are you doing!"

Shen Jingque didn't answer, but moved with lightning speed, pinching the snake three inches away from her.

The snake's body suddenly tensed and coiled around her forearm, its cool, slippery scales brushing against her skin.

Green Calyx's screaming sound was stuck in her throat, and her eyeballs were about to pop out of their sockets.

Shen Jingque scooped up the second one with her left hand.

As soon as the third snake raised its head, she hooked its tail with her toes, tossed it upwards, and caught it with both hands.

She held all three snakes in her hands and twisted them around twice like braids.

In her past life, she had caught no fewer than ten of these non-venomous rat snakes in the mountains behind the orphanage and made soup for the director.

Of course, the result was that she got a beating from the headmistress and was told not to bring these kinds of random things home.

Therefore, when she entered the mansion and learned that Zhao Yuwan had prepared a good show for her, she was not afraid at all.

Shen Jingque weighed the contents of her hand.

The three together are quite heavy, and they feel good in the hand.

Then, like throwing a shot put, she took a running start, aimed at the back of the artificial hill, and swung her arm.

"Get out of here!"

Three snakes swooped down in an arc, leaping over the Taihu stone and crashing down with pinpoint accuracy.

Immediately following was a sharp scream.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Zhao Yuwan's voice.

Shen Jingque tilted her head and innocently patted the dust off her hands.

"Hey, why is someone behind the artificial hill?"

Green Calyx was completely dumbfounded.

Her daughter is really...

A heroine among women! A paragon of virtue!

Chickens and dogs were running rampant behind the artificial hill.

Zhao Yuwan scrambled out, two snakes dangling and writhing on her Ruyi Cloud shoulder, and a third fell into the back of her collar.

She ran away screaming, her hair disheveled.

"Snake! Snake! Help!"

Qiuju and the servant were so frightened that their faces turned pale. One wanted to chase after her master, and the other wanted to catch the snake. The two bumped into each other behind the artificial hill, and their noses bled profusely.

Shen Jingque admired the scene of people lying on their backs and snakes tumbling over for three seconds before turning her gaze away with satisfaction.

"Let's go, Sister Lü'e, let's go back to the flower hall for tea."

Green Calyx mechanically took a step forward to follow, her voice still trembling: "Miss, you...you just now..."

"Huh? Catching snakes? What's the big deal?"

"But that's a snake!"

"It doesn't bite, it's just a non-venomous flower snake. Maybe I'll catch a couple for you to roast next time?"

Green Calyx's lips trembled: "No, no, no, no."

Shen Jingque chuckled and pulled her hand back, secretly thinking that Zhao Yuwan must have made a complete fool of herself by now.

It's like trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice instead; it's like lifting a stone only to drop it on your own foot.

Live it!

When she returned to the flower hall, Xiao Changqi was sitting with his legs crossed, eating melon seeds. When he saw her return, he waved his golden fan at her.

"Why did you take so long? What happened?"

Shen Jingque leaned close to his ear and briefly recounted what had just happened.

Xiao Changqi immediately clapped his hands and looked her up and down.

Seeing that she was unharmed, his gaze slowly fell on her two fair and clean hands.

"You grabbed it with your hands?"

"yes."

Xiao Changqi shrank back in his chair, his face contorted with disgust.

"Did you...did you wash your hands?"

"It hasn't been washed."

As she spoke, she rubbed against the hem of Xiao Changqi's robe.

Sure enough, I received a huge eye roll in return.

Xiao Changqi pulled out a handkerchief from his bosom, grabbed her hand, and rubbed it back and forth.

"How dirty are you? You came back like this after touching a snake. Do you have any wounds on your hands? Did it bite you?"

"No, no, those aren't venomous snakes, just rat snakes."

Shen Jingque's hand was being held and rubbed by him, and she couldn't break free.

"Second brother, let go, it's not dirty anymore!"

Xiao Changqi released his grip and sighed with a complex expression.

"Aren't you afraid? Most young girls' legs go weak at the sight of that thing."

Shen Jingque tilted her head and gave an indifferent smile.

"When I was a child, there was a mountain outside the backyard of the Shen family. There were many snakes in the mountain. After catching them a lot, I got used to it."

That was close; I almost revealed the orphanage.

Xiao Changqi's expression turned serious. After a few moments of silence, he raised his hand and touched the top of her head.

"Don't handle snakes yourself if you encounter them in the future. What if you encounter a venomous one? Just call for help."

"If I call you here, would you dare to arrest me?"

"Can't I just hire someone to arrest it? What can't money solve?"

Fine, she doesn't understand the world of the richest man.

The two were arguing when a clear, crisp sound of a bronze chime suddenly rang out from the center of the flower hall.

The head maid of the Marquis's mansion stood in the center of the hall, followed by four maids who filed out carrying lacquer trays.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the first round of today's Flower Appreciation Gathering, the tea competition, shall begin."

In the center of the flower hall, twelve square tea tables are arranged in a row.

Jian ware, tea whisks, tea powder, teapots—all these utensils gleamed with a dark glaze under the candlelight.

The young ladies took their seats in turn, and the head maid of the Marquis's mansion personally served them tea powder before stepping aside and striking the chime three times.

Shen Jingque was placed in the far corner, with a half-open sill window on her left and a shelf for lacquer boxes on her right.

Xiao Changqi sat on a grand chair in the next viewing area, eating melon seeds and watching her.

"That Zhao family has such poor taste; they arranged a seat for you that looks like a place to put a broom."

"It's okay, the corner is fine, no one's watching me, I feel comfortable."

She wasn't really there to display her feathers; she was just looking for fun and participating was the main thing.

Shen Jingque tugged at her sleeve and glanced around at the scene.

The girls at the tables on either side had already started working.

The technique of pouring hot water and whisking the tea is fluid and graceful, with the whisk creating a dense white foam in the Jian ware bowl, showing that it is a skill honed from childhood.

The girl diagonally opposite, wearing a light purple jacket, stood out the most. With her wrists strong and even, a sprig of plum blossom gradually floated on the soup noodles, its petals clearly layered, and even the stamens were delicately dotted.

Shen Jingque glanced at it twice, then silently returned her gaze to the tea powder in front of her.

She doesn't know anything about tea ceremony.

The tea she drinks most often is jasmine tea, which costs 9.9 yuan for a large bag in the supermarket.

A big cup of tea can quench your thirst all day long.

However, the principle of tea art is similar to that of coffee latte art, both of which involve creating art on the surface of foam.

So Shen Jingque followed the example of the girl next to her, mixed the tea powder into a paste, and poured a thin stream of water into the Jianzhan teacup.

Then I picked up the tea whisk and began to whisk.

Compared to the graceful and skillful young ladies around her, her technique was so rough it was like mixing cement.

Green Calyx watched from the side, her lips twitching.

"Girl, be gentle, the whisk will break."

"I know I can't break it off."

After Shen Jingque whipped the foam until it was dense and even, she put down the tea whisk and picked up the bamboo stick.

She was already familiar with this step.

The tip of the bamboo skewer was dipped in strong tea and dripped onto the white soup noodles, making a series of strokes.

She drew with extreme concentration, her brows furrowed slightly, and the tip of her tongue unconsciously pressed against the roof of her mouth, just like when she was a child tracing characters in a book.

A moment later, Shen Jingque put down the bamboo skewer and let out a long sigh of relief.

That's it.

Sitting to her left, a round-faced young lady in a light purple dress curiously leaned over to look and chuckled.

"Sister Shen, what are you drawing?"