When Lin San heard about the opportunity to study in the palace, she got totally excited and had even completely forgotten about her mother's situation. She kept on walking all around the place preparing the things she would bring upon reaching the palace.

Chun Maora was still feeling depressed over her being grounded, but she still managed to smile when her daughter mentioned about going to the palace for the princess' birthday.

"Lin Hong, I will be going to the palace! You will be in charged to take care of mother these few days!" Lin San said happily.

Lin Hong nodded. "Mother is going to be alright. Concubine Sie won't make things difficult for her."

"What do you know," Lin San stretched her tongue out.

Lin Hong sighed at his playful sister. "Anyway, just do your best there."

"Of course, who do you think I am?" Lin San said proudly. Compared with Lin Yuan, she had been learning under the very best teacher from the start. Thus, her skills in etiquette were far better than most people. Especially if she compared it with people like Jun Hua, there's no way Jun Hua could beat her to it in such a short time.

Under the teaching of people from the imperial family, Lin San was sure that she would be able to advance even further and become better. As she was the main wife's daughter of the Lin family, there was no way she would waste this precious chance.

Concubine Sie was very happy for her daughter. She had been reviewing the list of husband candidates to choose someone suitable for her daughter.

"When you return, mom would be finished with your husband candidate. Don't worry about anything and do your best there."

"Of course mom," Lin Yuan did not want to embarra.s.s her mother. She may only be a concubine-born, but she certainly received good lessons.

On the contrary, Jun Hua was still busy learning the needlework with Madam Xie's help.

"You have been focusing on needlework lately, what about the other things?"

Jun Hua pursed her lips. She could draw pretty well because she had been drawing maps to make military strategies and she could do math expertly. As for music, there's no way she could play the zither* nor the likes. She could only play one musical instrument but that was not something she had the heart to reveal.

Additionally, the etiquette she had learned was quite good. Despite studying for only one week, Jun Hua managed to imitate it perfectly due to her past training as a soldier. She only needed to have good grasp of her body movements which enabled her to imitate the graceful movements. It was still slightly unnatural, but it was enough to make people look at her as a dignified young lady.

The reason why she chose embroidery was because it was the most useful. She wanted to have at least some practical skills she could use and embroidery was her number one choice.

"It's the most useful and practical for me."

"This is the one skill that Miss fares the worst," Xia answered the real reason.

"…." These two answers made Madam Xie speechless.

Jun Hua wanted to knock Xia's mouth for blabbering about that one. She sighed and continued to move her needles.

Xia watched her miss struggle. "Miss, why don't you treat it like your training?"

Her training? Jun Hua still remembered the time when she was holding the sword and had to practice from morning until late at night. They would not let her rest before she could do it right. Then there was also the training to control her body movements and let her feel everything up to the tiniest touch on her fingers.

Jun Hua stared at her fingers and remembered those feelings once again when she had been able to perfectly control her movements. Jun Hua closed her eyes for a while and when she opened them again, her hands started to move at high speed. It lasted for a few minutes before Jun Hua was completely drenched in sweats before she stopped.

Madam Xie peered on to the silk and she was completely startled. Xia smiled slightly.

On the silk that previously only had a very few lines, now there was a beautiful shape of a flower. The color of the flower was red because Jun Hua only used the red thread, but it was still very beautiful.

"Miss, you're amazing," Madam Xie exclaimed.

Jun Hua looked at the flower pattern she made and sighed. This was the first time she used her martial arts to do things other than fighting. Although it was useful, it was really tiring. At least, she was able to cut short the time required to make the embroidery.

"Your skill has improved a lot. You can now make it easily," commented Madam Xie.

"It's not really easy… besides, I have been training a lot lately," Jun Hua didn't have enough energy left to continue her training. Using high concentration to finish up the needlework was truly a waste of her martial arts and energy. At least after this, she would have easier time to do embroidery as she had done this once.

"Next time, I will teach you some advanced technique," Madam Xie said.

"Once I returned from the palace will be a good time. But for now, this is enough," Jun Hua didn't really have any interest towards embroidery and it was only because she needed to learn something as a girl that she chose it. If possible, she just wanted to pa.s.s off her days lazily.

Xia nodded. "Right, Miss, who will go with you to the palace?"

"You and Xiao Yun," Jun Hua answered. "Remember to teach her the proper manners at the palace."

"Leave it to me, Miss," Xia answered confidently.

Jun Hua asked Madam Xie to prepare additional food to replenish her energy. She used up most of her energy to maintain high concentration for a couple of minutes. Even though she had just eaten some food, she already felt hungry again.

Madam Xie hurriedly prepared the food for Jun Hua. As Jun Hua ate, the servant girls are all busy preparing for things she needed in the palace.