Lian Erye in the Red Mansion

"Alright, don't be so sad yet. Perhaps I didn't look carefully enough. Let me take a closer look."

As Jia Lian spoke, he picked Qingwen up from the ground, placed her on his lap, and examined her face with his hands...

In this way, Jia Lian realized that this girl truly deserved the title of "naturally beautiful"! Everyone's eyes were indeed discerning.

Generally speaking, ordinary beauties cannot be examined closely because they inevitably have flaws and imperfections.

This explains why the same beautiful woman appears beautiful in different ways to different people, and why different women are ranked differently in terms of beauty and ugliness by different people.

In other words, it's a difference in aesthetics.

But what's amazing about Qingwen is that her face is beautiful no matter what angle you look at it from.

Her skin was radiant and flawless, and her exquisitely beautiful features seemed to have been sculpted by nature itself, without any room for addition or subtraction.

Even when Jia Lian pressed down on her lower eyelids with his thumb and forefinger and forced her to make a funny face, she didn't look ugly at all; instead, she looked playful and cute.

Qingwen felt extremely uncomfortable with Jia Lian's behavior. If she hadn't thought this was her chance to turn the tables, she would have broken free long ago.

Even so, seeing that Jia Lian hadn't figured it out after looking at it for a long time, she reached out and pushed his hand away, sat up straight, and asked angrily, "Have you figured it out yet?"

There was a hint of threat in her beautiful, large eyes, as if to say, "If you say anything wrong again, you'll lose her forever."

Jia Lian, amused, teased her, laughing, "Looking closely, hmm, her eyes are beautiful, her cherry lips are beautiful, hmm, her little nose is beautiful too. She really is a little beauty!"

Hearing Jia Lian say this, Qingwen was finally much more satisfied.

She also noticed that Jia Lian deliberately stopped comparing her to Xiang Ling. Normally, she would have stopped there, but Jia Lian had just said that she couldn't compare to Xiang Ling.

Her competitive spirit had been ignited and could no longer be contained, so she said in a coquettish voice, "Second Master only said that I am beautiful, but he didn't say who is more beautiful, me or Xiangling. I don't care. If Second Master has judged me, he should also judge Xiangling. I want to see where I am inferior to her."

"Sister Qingwen..."

Xiangling, too embarrassed to continue massaging Jia Lian's legs, stood up.

It's incredibly embarrassing to have someone criticize you to your face, even if it's your own master. Qingwen, aren't you ashamed?

As for Jia Lian, his two maids were rare treasures, so he was exceptionally lenient with them.

With nothing else to do, it might be a good time to appreciate and comment on beautiful women.

So he held Qingwen in his arms and looked at Xiangling, who was bowing her head shyly in front of him.

The Twelve Beauties of Jinling consists of three volumes and contains four firsts.

The top two on the list of "Major Beauties" are, without a doubt, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai.

As for Xiangling and Qingwen, one is ranked first in the secondary register of the Twelve Beauties and the other is ranked first in the secondary register. In terms of appearance alone, they should not be inferior to Xue and Lin.

Compared to Xue Lin, they lost out in terms of status, talent, and refinement.

Therefore, Xiangling's appearance was also first-rate. If we were to compare her to Qingwen, she was just not as flamboyant or domineering in her beauty.

Her eyes were gentle and kind, curving into crescents when she smiled; her nose was delicate and upright, her thin lips were fragrant, and her skin was so smooth and flawless that it seemed as if you could pinch water out of it.

Then Jia Lian laughed and said, "You two are both beauties that are hard to find in this world. You are about the same age, and when it comes to beauty, you each have your own merits."

However, if we really want to compare them separately, it's not impossible...

In terms of eyebrows and eyes, they are evenly matched; in terms of nose, well, Qingwen's is a little more delicate and refined; in terms of mouth, well, your little mouth usually chatters away like it's an abacus, so you're only slightly better...

Qingwen thought Jia Lian would continue to try to smooth things over by saying that everything was beautiful and attractive, but who knew that Jia Lian would actually make a single, objective comparison!

Hearing that he had won two games, he was already feeling happy.

Then Jia Lian continued, "Paired with their respective faces, Xiangling is like a white lotus blooming silently on the water, gentle, compliant, pure and fragrant. Qingwen, on the other hand, is like a lotus emerging from the water, naturally beautiful and breathtaking."

Overall, they're about even.

Hearing Jia Lian compare them to lotus flowers and hibiscus, Xiangling and Qingwen felt both shy and secretly pleased.

Comparing beautiful women to flowers is a universally accepted practice, especially since the Second Master compared them to such exquisite flowers.

But Qingwen was still unconvinced. She twisted her body and scolded coquettishly, "Second Master, you're being biased! You said that my nose and mouth are better than Xiangling's, so how can you say that we're equally good overall? Is my face really not as pretty as Xiangling's, or is a lotus flower inferior to a hibiscus?"

Jia Lian chuckled, "Oh, really? Then I'll re-evaluate and decide that Xiangling's eyebrows and eyes are superior to yours."

Qingwen glared at Jia Lian with a bitter and resentful expression, and said in a forced voice, "Then, with a score of two to one, I should still win!"

"Heh heh heh, how many eyes do you have?"

"Two of them..."

Qingwen realized what she had said and immediately burst into tears.

Seeing that Jia Lian was still laughing, she turned around and pounced on him, biting him as soon as she opened her mouth.

Second Master is too much of a bully...!

Seeing this, even Xiangling couldn't help but laugh, her face indeed looking like two crescent moons.

In fact, an outsider's perspective is clearer. Xiangling had already deduced from Jia Lian's words that in the Second Master's eyes, Qingwen's appearance was still superior to hers.

But she wasn't discouraged. Firstly, she herself thought that Sister Qingwen was indeed very beautiful and charming; even she liked her. She just wished Qingwen wouldn't swear.

Secondly, she had no interest in comparing herself to anyone else in these external things. Her second master had brought her back from the clutches of kidnappers, giving her a stable and carefree life she could never have imagined before. He also cared for and doted on her, and even allowed her to study. She only wished to stay by her second master's side for the rest of her life; nothing else mattered.

However, on the other hand, she still envied Qingwen's personality, who could express whatever she thought and could run wild with the Second Master at any time...

Lifting the puppy-like Qingwen off his body, Jia Lian said solemnly:

"Arrogant personality, minus one point."

"One point deducted for using foul language indiscriminately."

"Disobedient and even dared to bite me, another point deducted."

"Alright, even if you add a point to your mouth and nose, it's still not enough. So I've decided that Xiangling is prettier than you. Do you agree?"

Qingwen's face was puffed up with anger and flushed red.

Knowing that if she didn't go down, the Second Master would definitely want her to do something shameful again, she shrank back and jumped off Jia Lian.

"Hmph, since you're so biased towards Xiangling, Second Master, then let her serve you."

As Qingwen spoke, she glanced back at Jia Lian, pouted, and walked away, not knowing where she was going.

The room fell silent, and Xiangling knelt down on the footstool again, preparing to massage Jia Lian's legs.

Seeing that Jia Lian's clothes were in a mess because of Qingwen, she reached out to tidy them up.

Suddenly, she pulled her hand back, looked up at Jia Lian, and saw him smiling at her. Her cheeks flushed uncontrollably.

She gently adjusted Jia Lian's clothes, then lowered her head and silently massaged his legs...