Shen Miao stood on the periphery of the crowd. For a moment, she didn't see clearly what Shen Lihua had painted.
"Humph! A dullard still dares to learn painting! Let's see how she'll end up this time!" Shen Miao sneered inwardly, but there was always an innocent and lively smile on her face.
Two people beside Shen Miao had only taken a hasty glance at Shen Li's painting just now. Now they were whispering behind.
"What on earth is that painting? It's such a mess!"
"Exactly! Princess Wu ordered them to paint with 'spring' as the theme. Well, she can't even make out other scenery clearly! She only painted a person!"
"Moreover, I just saw that the person only had a back view. She didn't even show her face!"
"I feel like she just scribbled casually!"
...
Because of their conversation, Shen Miao was even more convinced that Shen Li would surely make a fool of herself later.
But looking at Shen Li who was constantly surrounded by the three princesses, she felt a faint uneasiness in her heart. She thought about walking in to see what exactly Shen Li had painted!
She had just taken three or four steps when she heard Princess Luoyao's loud voice from the front, "Great! The painting is truly excellent! I haven't seen such a painting technique until now!"
"This fair - skinned beauty is painted so vividly! The painting skill is really remarkable!"
"How many years have you been learning painting? Who is your teacher?"
Princess Luoyao kept talking non - stop. Everyone except Shen Li was greatly surprised.
You know, as a noble princess, Princess Luoyao had seen countless famous paintings and met numerous great masters. It was rare for a painting to surprise and impress her like this.
Thus, everyone became curious about Shen Li's painting.
In the face of Princess Luoyao's praise, Shen Li remained as calm as usual. There was still a proper and polite smile on her lips. "Thank you, Princess, for your praise! I came up with this painting technique by myself for fun. No one taught me. I've only been learning painting for three years."
Hearing that she had no teacher at first, Princess Luoyao didn't believe it. And then when she heard that Shen Li had only learned painting for three years but could come up with such a novel painting technique on her own, her excitement overshadowed her doubts.
Princess Luoyao still wanted to ask more questions, but when she turned around and saw the puzzled looks of the people around, she had to stop. She explained to everyone, "Miss Shen's painting has a novel technique! It's different from the previous realistic painting techniques! You may not understand it at first, but if you taste it carefully, you'll find a unique charm!"
Luoyao pointed at the three pots of peonies in the middle of the painting and said, "These three pots are those three pots of peonies. This painting is different from our previous way of magnifying and outlining. Instead, it only faintly outlined the three plants of flowers, creating a hazy and misty feeling!"
"The unclear scenery around the painting is also the imperial garden where we are now!"
Then she pointed at the woman in white in the painting, whose toes were gently touching the flower buds and dancing gracefully. "This woman has a slender figure. Dancing among the flowers, her dance is so charming and sways with the wind!"
"Just look at how delicately she painted the fluttering corners of the woman's clothes. It shows that her painting skill is extraordinary!"
After listening to Princess Luoyao's explanation, everyone suddenly realized. Then they asked, "Even if this woman has a very slender figure, how could she stand on the flowers, let alone dance?"
"Moreover, it's during the painting process!"
Since the current painting was all about painstakingly outlining and depicting bit by bit, the more realistic the painting was, the more remarkable the painting skill was!
It was rumored that in the previous dynasty, a great master's painted flowers could even attract butterflies to dance. It was extremely rare and widely spread.
The painting technique like Shen Li's today, where she seemed to just casually brush over the surrounding scenery but spent more efforts on the beauty, was something they had never seen before!
At first, they only thought that she couldn't paint and just scribbled a few strokes to make up the number.
Princess Luoyao's continuous praises just now couldn't satisfy them for a while.
Although Princess Luoyao was smiling on the surface, there were still doubts in her heart: This painting technique was novel, but it really shouldn't be something a teenage girl still in the boudoir could research out!
Let's see how she would explain this problem later. If she couldn't satisfy and convince herself, then whether this painting technique was really researched by her was still to be verified!
Under the scrutiny of dozens of pairs of suspicious or dissatisfied eyes, it was normal for a teenage girl to either be scared to cry and unable to speak or change her complexion.
But to everyone's surprise, Shen Li always had a dignified and generous smile on her lips. When Princess Luoyao praised her, she didn't become arrogant. Now, facing everyone's doubts, she remained calm.
Just this attitude of being unperturbed by honor or disgrace was admirable.
"This beauty is not a real person!"
As soon as Shen Li said this, people frowned.
"Not a person? Then what is she? Could it be..."
The person was just about to say, "Could it be a ghost?" But then he thought that there were three princesses present, and talking about ghosts and spirits was most taboo in the palace. So he immediately shut up.
"This beauty is just a flower!"
This time, without waiting for others to interrupt, Shen Li continued in one breath, "Or rather, she is the flower spirit or the flower goddess born from the Snow Pagoda peony. In this spring when all flowers are vying for beauty, red, purple, yellow... each has its own color, but only she is in white and has never been dyed!"
"Without bright colors, she neither strives nor contends. She seems like an outsider in this spring. But unfortunately, she can't have her wish. She doesn't want to strive, but others want to seize. Against the backdrop of other flowers, even though she is as noble as a peony, she seems like an ordinary white flower by the roadside!"
"When the spring breeze blows, she dances with the wind! Just one dance makes the once gorgeous flowers far behind. The fact shows that she is not without the capital to strive. She just doesn't have such a competitive heart!"
"Unwilling to strive for spring in vain, she lets the other flowers envy her!"
Just as Shen Li's voice fell, a gentle voice sounded. Different from Shen Miao's affectedly soft and weak voice meant to seek protection, this voice was gentle but also showed a trace of firmness inside.
This made people curious about who the owner of this voice was!
Driven by curiosity, Shen Li looked in the direction of the voice.
She was in the sixth position, and there were still two people painting behind her. The one who had just spoken was the person painting in the last position.
Seeing Shen Li looking over, she just raised the corners of her mouth, showing a kind smile, and nodded politely at Shen Li.
"Excellent! Unwilling to strive for spring in vain, she lets the other flowers envy her! Miss Shen's painting is good, and Miss He's poem is also good!"
"Just now, after listening to Miss Shen's words, I suddenly see the light. If even flowers are like this, how about us humans?" Princess Luoyao murmured with a sigh.
Looking at this painting, she thought of herself.
As a noble princess, even though she had no intention of competing with others, she would still be compared with others.
For the face of the royal family and the dignity of her mother, she was forced to compete and lost the freedom to admit defeat.