"Waiter, guess how many people will go early because of this good impression," Xiaoyao asked with a smile.
"I don't know. Probably many," The waiter was stunned, then thought before answering.
"Mm, many people. If it were just one or two people, your Princess Wen Ya would naturally have a good impression. But with so many people, even if there is one, what's divided among them would be just a tiny bit. For this tiny bit of good impression, if I went now, I'd have no time to eat breakfast and would need to stand waiting, wouldn't that be asking for trouble?" Xiaoyao flicked Chi Chi on the table and said indifferently.
"That seems to be the logic. I understand now," After hearing Xiaoyao's words, the waiter understood. The reasoning was so clear that even if the waiter were stupid, he would know.
"You understand? Then quickly bring the food," Xiaoyao urged.
"Right away. Should I bring some for you first? Your friends are coming, and I can serve theirs later, otherwise it'll get cold and won't taste good," the waiter suggested, flicking his table cloth.
"Friends? I don't have any friends coming!" Xiaoyao said, somewhat confused.
"You ordered so much food, isn't it for eating together with friends?"
...
"Who said I invited friends? All this food is for me and it to eat... Hmm, I guess you can't count this little glutton as a person. Should say one person and one monster beast..." Xiaoyao said, patting Chi Chi.
"Ah, this is for you alone to eat, plus this little ball..." The waiter was stunned. Even ten people might not finish all this food, but now there was only one person eating, how was this possible?
At this moment, the waiter directly ignored Chi Chi's existence because he felt that no matter how much Chi Chi could eat, it couldn't possibly consume things larger than its own body, this wasn't scientific.
But this unscientific event happened right before his eyes, making everyone's eyeballs drop to the ground.
After Chi Chi finished eating things several times larger than its body volume, it jumped onto Xiaoyao's head to sleep, licking its face as if still not satisfied.
This... this really was a monster beast! After eating so much, its body didn't change at all. Where did all that food go?
Everyone picked up their dropped eyeballs, looking at Chi Chi's unchanged body. They could only say: the world is vast and full of wonders.
"Waiter, the bill!"
Xiaoyao's checkout and departure made everyone react, but by this time, Xiaoyao and Chi Chi had long disappeared. Even if they wanted to ask questions, it was too late.
Actually, the waiter also wanted to ask what kind of monster beast Chi Chi was. He decided that if anyone around him wanted to raise such a monster beast, he would object to the end, because such a glutton simply wasn't something they could afford to raise.
When Xiaoyao leisurely appeared at the royal palace square, it was already quite overcrowded. Although he arrived quite late, he wasn't the last to arrive. After him came Li Cheng and some young masters who considered themselves of noble status, they felt they couldn't wait here foolishly like everyone else.
These people were similar to Li Cheng, they would all appear at the last moment, entering under everyone's gaze, not only displaying their status but also avoiding the trouble of waiting.
Actually, Xiaoyao also avoided the trouble of waiting, but he didn't make a grand entrance, so at most he was just considered someone who arrived late, he wouldn't be as conspicuous as Li Cheng and others.
Li Cheng and others rode luxurious carriages, then had a team of their guards help clear the way, allowing them to easily reach front positions with no other commoners in their vicinity.
Soon after Li Cheng and others arrived, the marriage competition began punctually. Hosting this competition was a civil official from Baiyue Kingdom, but Princess Wen Ya never appeared, greatly disappointing those who had arrived early. So much for making a good impression.
Xiaoyao's decision was indeed correct, eating first then leisurely strolling over could both digest food and pass time, killing two birds with one stone.
Soon, after some pleasantries, the civil official announced today's competition. It was very simple, true or false questions to first eliminate some people from the scene, as there were too many otherwise.
The rules were also simple. The civil official would read questions above, then people would choose true or false by standing in corresponding positions in the square. Xiaoyao had noticed earlier that the front half of the square was empty with everyone in the back half. In the empty area, a line divided it in half, left side was true, right side was false.
This method was quite good, efficiently screening out some people. The only tools needed were the civil official's mouth and an open space.
"First question: The first famous sword forged by swordsmith Ou Jiangzi was called Qiu Mou. True or false? If true, go to your left; if false, go right."
"Such an easy question, seems like a warm-up," Xiaoyao directly walked left. For him, this was completely trivial.
For most people, this was also a small matter, and they walked left. For some who thought there might be issues, seeing so many people on the left, they naturally followed. Of course, a few people who felt they grasped the truth stood on the right.
"The answer is true. Ou Jiangzi's first famous sword was indeed Qiu Mou! Those who chose false, please leave."
"Damn, really? Shouldn't it be the Azure Rainbow Sword?"
"Fool, they said famous sword. Azure Rainbow was his first divine weapon..."
A small portion of people left. This wasn't much regarding numbers, but as long as some people had left, the purpose was achieved.
Next, the civil official continued with questions, and subsequent problems became increasingly difficult. Those who knew might be split fifty-fifty, and among those who knew, many weren't certain. So the numbers on left and right sides didn't have such absolute differences, preventing people from choosing based on crowd size.
Moreover, sometimes the side with more people was wrong. This had happened once or twice, making people understand that to continue playing, they needed ability, or rather—
Luck!!
With two-choice questions, the probability of choosing correctly was fifty percent. Quite a few people got by on luck. Of course, if relying completely on luck, such people were extremely rare. The more questions, the lower the probability of consecutive correct choices, to an unbelievable degree.
As the number of people decreased, the remaining ones became easier to see clearly. If anyone knew them, they should be visible now. Therefore, Xiaoyao's presence also attracted some attention.
Similarly, Xiaoyao also noticed these people. His roommates like Tian He, they had all chosen correctly. It seemed they also had considerable ability.
Li Cheng was also one of those paying attention to Xiaoyao, but he didn't greet him because he felt a spoiled Young Prince like Xiaoyao wasn't worth it. However, he was curious about what Xiaoyao's name actually was. This time he felt he should have hope of seeing it, because no matter how spoiled Xiaoyao was, he should use his real name when participating in this competition, right?
Besides this, someone was coldly staring at Xiaoyao, wanting to devour him. This was the line-cutter Xiaoyao had exposed, and he seemed to lead a team that bore ill will toward Xiaoyao.
Xiaoyao tossed his head and completely smiled it off, not taking this team seriously at all.
What Xiaoyao did next gave Li Cheng a headache, because he felt that wherever he went, Xiaoyao would go. He felt Xiaoyao was following his answers, which made him even more convinced that Xiaoyao might be an unlearned person.
Although he found Xiaoyao's behavior annoying, he didn't say much. After all, besides Xiaoyao, there was also a group of people making the same choices as him.
After all, quite a few people had real talent, and Baiyue Kingdom couldn't eliminate everyone at once!!
Anyway, there had to be opponents, otherwise how could one display their strength? Let this kid follow.
"The next question will test everyone's sword-forging knowledge. When master craftsman Chen forged the Heaven-Splitting Sword, the smelted materials included iron, bronze, chromium... Azure Dragon monster beast blood..." The civil official read out a long list of materials that looked very complex, though for forging a divine weapon like the Heaven-Splitting Sword, such complex materials weren't surprising.
"This is everything. Is this all or not?"
"Is this all or not?" Li Cheng frowned. He heard these materials and they all seemed to match up, but the question asked whether this was everything, perhaps one or two items were missing.
Generally, such questions often omitted some materials people wouldn't notice, so it probably wasn't everything. But it was also possible this was just psychological warfare, perhaps everything really was listed.
How should he choose? Li Cheng hesitated.
"Prince Li Cheng, choose true for this one. Don't hesitate," Xiaoyao suddenly approached Li Cheng and said. This behavior attracted attention from some people, not only those watching Li Cheng, but also those watching Xiaoyao.
Hmph, you dare talk to Prince Li Cheng? Who do you think you are, trying to flatter him? As if Prince Li Cheng would pay attention to you.
The few people who lived with Xiaoyao, plus the line-cutter, were very disdainful, feeling Prince Li Cheng shouldn't pay attention to Xiaoyao.
"Since Young Prince says so, then why aren't you going to the 'true' side?" Li Cheng asked Xiaoyao with a smile. This behavior made those waiting to watch the show drop their jaws.
(End of Chapter)