Gu Fenghua said nothing and simply continued to eat and drink leisurely. The more Zhong Wanying looked at her, the more annoyed she felt.
"Fenghua, you could do anything you liked with your brothers around, but now they are never coming home. Can you grow up a little?" scolded Zhong Wanying even more loudly. She could not help feeling angry when she saw Gu Fenghua's actions.
"Sigh. Okay. Don't worry," said Gu Fenghua lazily. "Why are you so anxious? Can I offer you some melon seeds or tea to douse the heat?"
"Y-you are going to be the death of me. Don't come running to me when you become a laughingstock." Zhong Wanying stood up huffily before she turned and left hurriedly.
After Zhong Wanying had gone far, Shiliu could not help saying, "Didn't Miss Zhong used to be very gentle and ladylike? What's gotten into her today?"
"I think so too. What's gotten into her? Even if she was worried about you, she didn't have to speak so harshly, right?" said Pingguo as she frowned.
Gu Fenghua glanced at her maids happily. Fortunately, they were not entirely naive.
Was Zhong Wanying really her only girlfriend?
Humph…
Gu Fenghua looked at the koi in the pond with her eyes narrowed and suddenly looked forward to the future. She felt that things were about to become quite interesting.
Before long, Celestial Academy's entrance exam started with a bang. Since it was a major event, hordes of people swarmed to the capital every year and the inns would get packed with people taking the entrance exam.
Many people in the capital were waiting for Gu Fenghua to come for the exam to see her make a joke of herself.
A few youngsters could not wait to see this, so they took shifts standing guard at the entrance waiting to see Gu Fenghua make a fool of herself. Strangely, she was nowhere to be seen after they waited for three days in a row.
"Why isn't she here yet? The results are going to be out soon but that useless girl hasn't come yet," said a girl impatiently. In an hour, the entrance exam would be over. However, Gu Fenghua was nowhere to be seen.
"Maybe it was just a rumor. Why would anyone ask for humiliation?"
"Perhaps she wanted to take the entrance exam but chickened out in the end?"
"Darn it. She made us wait for days for nothing! It was a complete waste of our time!"
The bell rang marking the end of the entrance exam. The people lying in wait to see Gu Fenghua embarrass herself were about to leave when a delicate silhouette walked over slowly.
It was none other than Gu Fenghua! She had surprisingly arrived.
"What are you doing here?"
"I am here to see the results." Gu Fenghua looked at the young woman talking to her as though she was asking the obvious like an idiot.
"The results have nothing to do with you. It's not like you attended the entrance exam."
"Who said I didn't?" scoffed Gu Fenghua. Even though Gu Fenghua was sneering, she came off defenseless and triggered everyone's sense of protectiveness. This was the reason that a lot of the girls in the capital hated her.
"We waited for three days and didn't see you."
"Well, that's only because you have bad vision. Oh yes. I remember my third older brother beating you up until your eyes became blue-black when you were a kid. Haven't they recovered by now?" Despite Gu Fenghua's gentle smile, her words sounded nothing of the sort.
"Y-you can't stay cocky for much longer. So what if you took part in the exam? Everyone knows you are useless. If you can make it into the academy, pigs will fly." The moment Gu Fenghua mentioned her older brother, these audacious young men and women felt afraid and instantly stammered. However, at the thought that Gu Fenghua's older brothers were still missing, all of them puffed their chests out confidently.
Gu Fenghua could not be bothered with these retards. Instead, she looked at the list of accepted candidates that was released.
Everyone else was looking at the list as well.
Before long, everyone exploded into a commotion.
Gu Fenghua's name was first on the list of accepted candidates! The red words were particularly jarring to the eye.
Gu Fenghua? Was it some other candidate who happened to have the same name as her? How could she have come in first?
Everyone was dumbstruck when the person who read the list confirmed that it was none other than Gu Fenghua, granddaughter of the Prime Minister.
Before the crowd even wrapped their minds around it, the person left.
"There must be some conspiracy!" roared someone angrily. However, no one chimed in and many of the people even looked at him like he was an idiot. Celestial Academy has been standing strong for almost a millennia. Everyone looked up to the academy and it was highly revered. No one was ever allowed to use the back door to enter it. How could it possibly risk its reputation for Gu Fenghua?
All kinds of speculation rose in their hearts. Someone suddenly stated that there were other ways to get into Celestial Academy other than testing her abilities but they were incredibly hard. Did Gu Fenghua's older brothers do something to help her enter the school? Otherwise, it was inexplicable how someone incapable of practicing martial arts could get accepted by Celestial Academy. Considering how powerful her four older brothers were, this was the most likely possibility.
There was one other little-known way someone could enter Celestial Academy. Those who have made an immense contribution to the country or Celestial Academy were given a free pass to study in it without taking the entrance exam. All the powerful families knew about this, so most of them felt that that was how Gu Fenghua made it into the school.
***
Gu Fenghua glanced at the list of accepted candidates before she turned to leave smugly. Everyone stood where they were with shock in their eyes.
After the results were released, Zhong Wanying came knocking on her doors once more.
She was incapable of keeping her poise and composure this time around. She charged over to Gu Fenghua angrily as she questioned her, "Fenghua, how did you pass and even come in first? How could you resort to underhanded means as the Prime Minister's offspring? Don't you know that your actions will bring shame to the Prime Minister and your older brothers?"
Gu Fenghua glanced at Zhong Wanying calmly as she smiled ambiguously. "I find it odd. Even though you are my best friend, you didn't congratulate me when I passed. Instead, you questioned how I managed to do it. When you failed to hear the truth, you accused me of cheating. You are acting pretty strange today…"
Zhong Wanying was startled when she realized that she was overreacting. She squeezed a smile before she said earnestly, "I'm just worried about you. I don't want you to destroy Prime Minister Gu's reputation recklessly."
Shiliu and Pingui were furious. Even though Zhong Wanying sounded like she was showing concern for Gu Fenghua, she was implying that Gu Fenghua had cheated. Sadly, they were maids, so it was not their place to interrupt them.
"You will learn how I managed to pass the exam in time. Enough. I'm exhausted. See her out." Gu Fenghua could not be bothered wasting her time. She stood up and coughed gently. Shiliu and Pingguo hurried over to help her and looked at Zhong Wanying accusingly.