The next day, the news about Fan Lanying got chosen by the princess spread among the girls. But no matter how jealous they are, they know that the reason is because of her poor playing. Even if they want the spot no one wants to bear the title of poor ability in music.
Jun Hua continues to study under the abuse of Teacher Xun. A few days after her coming to the palace, she hears interesting news. General Lan Ping has returned.
"He returned today?" Jun Hua asked.
Xia nodded. As her Miss busy studying, she had been gathering news from the palace maid and all. Girls love to gossip so it doesn't take her a long time to collect a lot of information to pass off to Jun Hua during the night she learns embroidery.
"He sure takes his time," Jun Hua calculated the time calmly, "With how he fared in the battle, I'm sure he doesn't have any face to meet with the emperor. Tomorrow morning court is going to be interesting."
Xia doesn't really understand, but she knows that Lan Ping fate is bad. He has once hailed as the most genius young general, but then Soujin appeared. Before long another one appeared, Jun Min. With the three of them competed against each other in the similar situation, the difference in their skill stood out.
As the oldest of them all, Lan Ping actually fared the worst. This will become a huge stain in his name and Jun Hua is sure that someone as arrogant as Lan Ping won't be able to accept it easily.
Jun Hua continues her embroidery. It's not her business, so she won't meddle. The most important thing, for her, is to learn how to walk elegantly as quickly as possible. She doesn't want to be a complete disgrace to her family. At least, a little bit.
"Miss, you have made a huge improvement," Xiao Yun said in admiration.
Jun Hua smiled, "It's thanks to your guidance."
"Xiao Yun didn't do much, but Xiao Yun will help Miss get even better!"
Seeing the little girl is so eager to help her, Jun Hua smiled. At least she got another good teacher here. But when she looks at her hands that filled with scratches, she sighed and takes another medicine.
...
Lan family residence
Lan Teng expression hadn't been good. When he heard the discussion of people outside, he knows that his son hadn't done well in the test. It's not like he's not a good general, but rather his opponent are two monsters.
Lan Ping finally arrived back to the capital. His face is dark because of the rumors he had heard on the way back. There's no way he could explain himself fully without letting the people see him as someone weak. If any other general were to be chosen they might not fare as better as him, but if he said it, there will be another round of problem.
Arriving home, Lan Ping chooses to meet with his father first. The old man face is dark as he sees his son coming.
"How's the situation when you go there?"
"The battle is not that hard, but it's harder to finish it in such a short time. Although the imperial armies are elites, they fall short to the Lan family army."
Lan Teng has expected it to be that way. There's no way the imperial family can groom better soldier than the three families who invested heavily on their army. Lan Teng has confidence that only these three families have the best armies with the Nanglong family has the least amount of the soldiers and he has the most.
He looks at the complexion on Lan Ping face. The young man face is pale, but more than anything it's dark. For him to get tough competitor during his youth is truly challenging.
"You may take some rest," Lan Teng said.
Lan Ping raised his head. "Father, what should I do to surpass Soujin and Jun Min? Both of them are younger than me, but they manage to finish earlier."
"Do you know why Jun Min can finish earlier than both of you by far?"
"I don't know."
The amounts of information spread are limited. He only knows that Jun Min manages to take down cities faster than them although he started later than them. In the end, he manages to gain complete control of the kingdom only after 1 month. Although the size of the kingdom is really small, it is nevertheless still a kingdom with a ruler.
"He negotiates with the king."
Lan Ping eyes widen. That little kid actually negotiates? He didn't actually conquer all the cities there? And here he thinks that the boy has great fighting ability.
"He threatens the king with some things that I myself don't know too," Lan Teng continues. "If you want to fight him, in terms of martial arts, you're definitely better but in terms of using wits and tricks, he's better than you."
"What about Soujin?"
Lan Teng sighed. "He's what you would call an outstanding general. He completely captures most of the cities in the shortest time possible and force the king to hand over the remaining city to him. With that his victory is on hand."
Lan Ping brows rose. The way Soujin forces the king is the same with him, but he takes much longer time than him. It makes him enraged whenever he thoughts about his lose over them.
"Don't mind it. You still have more chances in the future to prove your name. Besides, you are only older by 3 years from Soujin."
Lan Ping joined the army when he's still 12 years old and since then he has makes a lot of accomplishment. Soujin appeared 2 years after he joins the army but rose through ranks even faster. Then that little boy joins at a mere age of 11 too and uses 3 years to become a general because of his outstanding feats in the battle. No matter from which angle he looks, the two of them are better than him in many aspects.
"Where are the two of them?"
"There are some disturbances on the east. Both of them are dispatched to their grounds."
Lan Ping eyes gleamed. "Then I will be off to the border too. It's better to train harder than be surpassed by them!"
Lan Teng let his son walks away as he leaned back on his chair. If one is inferior, they should find another way to make up for that.
"Lan Pan, watch over your brother. Don't let him do anything reckless."
A man similar with Lan Ping walked out lazily. He seems to blend completely within the darkness thus makes it hard to detect him. The man smiled devilishly.
"You're finally using me, old man?"
"Do it, Lan Pan!"
"Fine, fine, you're truly a bother."
Lan Teng stared at the man with dark face. He doesn't really want to use him, but without him, how can Lan Ping contend with the other two? Lan Teng shifted his gaze again. He wants to see what their reaction will be after Lan Ping achieved another big leap in military contribution.
