Chapter 22

Cars and horses flowed outside the window.

Sunlight was occasionally blocked by clouds, and occasionally peeked out.

Sitting on her schoolbag, Su Xiaoqi had just finished reading the life story of Princess Changsun.

This woman only lived for 36 years. However, she was Emperor Taizong of Tang's only empress. After she died, Taizong did not establish another empress, and continued to grant her posthumous honors.

She lost her father at the age of eight and was raised by her uncle. She married Taizong at 13.

Xiaoqi is 17 years old this year.

If she were Princess Changsun, she would have already married for four years.

From imperial consort to crown princess to empress, she gave birth to seven children. Historically, rather than describing her as virtuous, the word "capable" suits her better.

As Xiaoqi read from beginning to end, she felt that the story was more like describing a female business partner, who considered everything for Taizong, from the court to the harem. She even wrote precepts for women and was a very resourceful woman.

But after reading, she still felt somewhat unsatisfied.

36 years old was too short a life.

The second introduction was about Diao Chan. The evaluation of her was female spy. There have been too many TV shows and books about Diao Chan, one of the Four Beauties, with a closed moon beauty. It sounds more like folklore.

It talked about her life's love, hate and intrigue, and how she carried out the beauties' scheme and the serial scheme.

Xiaoqi skimmed through it quickly.

The third was also an empress, Emperor Gaozu of Han's Empress Lü Zhi. She was labeled as a female politician and also the most vicious woman. The human swine incident in history came from her hands.

Reading it made Xiaoqi' hair stand on end.

Empress Lü outlived Emperor Liu Bang and died in her sixties.

Her ability and political strategy were very powerful. She laid a good foundation for the rule of Emperor Wen and Jing in the Han dynasty.

Sima Qian spoke highly of her.

The fourth turned out to be Liu Ruosi... Xiaoqi wondered if she had picked up a somewhat frivolous book. It didn't seem like official history but made up stories.

Liu Ruosi was a famous singer and talented courtesan in the Ming and Qing dynasties. She was also a righteous fighter against the Qing.

Xiaoqi didn't appreciate it much and skimmed through it. She turned to the fifth woman.

Qiu Jin was a progressive young female. From a bureaucratic family, she went to study in Japan ten years after her marriage. She founded newspapers and schools, and died at the age of 32 when she was fighting against the Qing government.

The sixth was Li Qingzhao, known as the most talented woman. Xiaoqi read extra carefully because she had learned many of Li’s poems at school. Her poems were very beautiful, but her personal experience was somewhat complicated. Her life didn't seem happy after her second marriage in ancient times. It was also because of different life experiences that she felt sorrowful emotions, which contributed to her different poetic styles.

The seventh was Xia Ji. Xiaoqi didn’t have any impression of her at all.

Xia Ji was a great beauty in the Spring and Autumn Period and a princess of the State of Zheng. What followed made Xiaoqi a little confused. This princess actually married ten times, becoming a queen three times. Nine men died because of her, “killing three husbands and a lord and a son, destroying one country and two ministers.” It was said that the likes of Daji and Bao Si were not even fit to carry her shoes. Xia Ji had peerless beauty and was skilled in bedroom arts.

Seeing the illustrations, Xiaoqi blushed to her ears. She could only quickly flip past, afraid that others might see her reading strange books in the bookstore.

The eighth was Princess Wencheng, known as the most outstanding diplomat. The content overlapped with what Xiaoqi had learned in textbooks at school, so she skimmed past it.

The ninth was Concubine Wan, known as the most charming woman. Xiaoqi felt that it was probably from TV dramas mingled in. It was said that she was 19 years older than the emperor and was favored throughout her life.

The tenth was Tu Youyou. Xiaoqi felt that all the previous women were frivolous stories, as if the author had randomly picked someone around them when they couldn't make up stories anymore.

Tu Youyou discovered artemisinin. This drug can effectively reduce the mortality rate of malaria patients. She was the first Chinese person to win the Nobel Prize in Medicine. She graduated from Peking University School of Medicine.

When Xiaoqi finished reading the whole book, her legs were numb. She felt it was hard to describe her feelings.

It seemed she had picked the wrong book, which felt like a hodgepodge. It was very thick with many illustrations, but talked more about unofficial history.

She got up, intending to put the book back and find another book to read carefully.

"The host has read a book and come up with her own views and insights. She will be rewarded with a random learning ordinary card, which only works for the characters in this book. A character will be randomly selected and one of her abilities will be randomly selected. Does the host want to use this card?"

Xiaoqi: ...Can it really work like this?

"Use it."

She flipped through the book again. Although it seemed made up, every woman in it appeared very outstanding.

If she accidentally learned some strange bedroom skills from Xia Ji, wouldn't she...

However, if she accidentally learned Empress Lü's method of making human swine, it would probably never be used in her lifetime.

"The host has successfully selected the singing ability of courtesan Liu Ruosi. Does the host want to learn it?"

"Learn it." Xiaoqi breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, there were no strange abilities.

When she skimmed over Liu Ruosi earlier, she felt it was still hard to describe and skipped past it. Liu Ruosi's life seemed miserable. She became a high-end socialite courtesan in ancient times. Her skills must have been very powerful, with many trysts.

The book did not describe how she sang. However, it said that she was also very skilled in calligraphy and painting, and also wrote good poems.

For Xiaoqi, this was already a pleasant surprise.

She had gone to KTV with her classmates before. She would usually sit in the corner from beginning to end, not singing as she was tone deaf.

At her village elementary school in Gumu Village, music was not tested at all. At Huanghe Middle School, no one paid attention to it either. As No. 1 High School focused on preparing students for college entrance exams, she remained tone deaf until the age of 17.

With this new ability, at least she wouldn't embarrass herself when singing anymore.

Xiaoqi thought to herself.

Just then, her new cell phone suddenly vibrated. She picked up the phone her father had bought for her and received only the second phone call to it so far.

The previous one was from her parents.

It took her a while to react that it was ringing.

She hadn't shared her phone number with too many people, only her dormmate Xia Zhen from high school.

It was an unfamiliar number. Seeing that it was about noon, she decided to go eat first before taking the call. So she left the bookstore and answered the phone.

"Class monitor? What's the matter?"

"We'll get together tonight for dinner and karaoke at Fire Bar. You must come. Our whole class will be there. After this, we'll all go our separate ways. Consider this our last get-together. 7:30 PM at Fire Bar, Store No. 4." The class monitor said cheerfully.

"Okay." Xiaoqi nodded by habit.

After hanging up, she then realized that she had already graduated.