In Xie Qiao’s eyes, the atmosphere in the royal family was quite down-to-earth.
At least it did not have the confrontational, back-and-forth, and conspiratorial atmosphere, which made Xie Qiao feel a little more comfortable.
It was not a sign of prosperity if the in-laws’ family was too messy.
Once the Emperor came, the young ladies behaved better. They all watched the singing and dancing obediently. Not long after, the dean of the Royal Academy and several teachers came.
Xie Qiao saw seven teachers in total. Besides the dean and deputy dean, Master Qiu, Xiao Yurong was here as well.
“Look at this painting. Is it the famous world map of the Baili Family?” The Emperor asked casually.
He guessed that it was definitely not it.
How could a treasure that had been missing for many years appear so easily?
The moment they heard the words “famous world map”, the teachers became serious and quickly went up to take a look.
All of them were either stretching their necks or staring with their eyes wide open. There were people standing carefully in every corner, as if they were afraid that they would misjudge anything.
Dong Xiyun’s breathing almost stopped. Both of her hands were drenched in sweat. After looking at the teachers for a while, she looked at Xie Qiao.
She did not know what Xie Qiao was saying to Xie Xi, which made Xie Xi nod her head repeatedly.
Xie Qiao was not in a hurry.
All these years, she had not learned for nothing. If she could not even recognize the world map, Li Shiyan would not have taken a fancy to her back then and insisted on making her his first disciple!
The few teachers dawdled for about 15 minutes.
All of their hands were trembling slightly.
Finally, with a few “plop” sounds, they knelt on the ground. “Your Majesty, this map is indeed the world map! It’s just that… It’s not well preserved. I don’t know what caused the creases on it to be so serious. It would be difficult to recover it…”
The Emperor was also stunned when he heard that.
He was a little absent-minded. “Are you saying this is an authentic painting? The map that the Baili family of the previous dynasty spent hundreds of years creating?”
As the Emperor, it was impossible for him not to be curious about this kind of map!
When every Emperor of this dynasty ascended to the throne, almost all of them went to the national treasury to search for it. All of them thought that this thing had been obtained long ago, but they had been hiding it from others. However, whether it was him or the previous Emperor, they experienced disappointment and finally accepted their fate.
Later on, they thought that this thing might have already been destroyed by the Baili family.
He did not expect…
To obtain it without any effort?
“Your Majesty, the Baili family’s calligraphy and paintings aren’t passed down very much. Even an ordinary landscape painting is worth quite a lot. This world painting… is priceless. Why don’t we take it and make a few more copies to prevent it from being lost again in the future…” The dean of the Royal Academy, who was also a member of the royal family, said shamelessly at the moment.
The Emperor huffed and glared at them. “All of you will copy it in the palace. If you take it away, who knows if I will ever get it back?”
The teachers’ eyes turned red.
They could not do that. If they copied it in the palace, they were afraid that they would not be able to copy the style of the painting since it was already in a bad state!
The sheepskin was both a geomancy map and a feng shui painting. The geographical features of each country were painted clearly on the top half of it. The mountains and rivers, as well as the characteristics of the main mineral veins. They were all very clear.
Dong Xiyun was truly dumbfounded.
Xie Qiao must have lost her mind!
Was It really the world map?!
She was actually giving the real world map in order to compete with her?!
This was too much, too much!
Dong Xiyun thought Xie Qiao’s move had crushed her bright moon pearl into dust. She looked really lost. She could not help but think everyone around her was looking at her. She was too ashamed to face anyone!
