Chapter 450

"Oh? So when this widow left, such an interesting thing happened? Ning 'er, I never thought that you would also know how to compose poems and want to compete with miss Xia. Good, good, this widow and the emperor can have a feast today and enjoy the poems of two talented women from my West Chu Country. "

Empress Dowager Zhou pushed the boat with the current. After saying this, she looked at Mo Chuan with a smile and patted the back of his hand. With a smile, she said, "Emperor, let's discuss it together in a bit."

Mo Chuan's face was a bit ugly. Although he had confidence in Chen Ning, he never thought that Empress Dowager Zhou would give them this kind of tricky problem, actually making them compose a poem in seven steps!

Composing poems was not like other skills. If one didn't have any knowledge, not to mention seven steps, they wouldn't be able to compose a poem in seventy or seven hundred steps!

"Ding Yuan Princess, miss Xia wants to compete in seven steps with you, are you willing?"

He didn't look at anyone else and only looked at Chen Ning. As long as she said she was unwilling, he wouldn't care what others thought and would immediately propose another way to compete.

When Chen Ning heard this, she knew that he was trying to find an excuse for her. She revealed a faint smile and said with a nod, "I'm willing."

It was just composing poems, how hard was that?

Although she didn't know how to compose poems, there were over a thousand poems stored in the memory palace in her mind. Not to mention the spring scenery, even if it was summer, autumn, and winter, it wouldn't be hard for her.

"You're really willing?" Mo Chuan stared at her, not feeling assured.

He was very clear on how much ink this girl had in her stomach. Just looking at her crooked Sichuan characters, she couldn't even write well, so how could she compose poems?

Although she was extremely intelligent and quick-witted, poetry wasn't something that could be done well just by being intelligent and quick-witted.

You had to pay attention to the rhythm and balance. Even a scholar might not be able to compose a good poem in seven steps, not to mention a sixteen year old girl like her!

"Does the emperor not believe me?"

Chen Ning raised her brows and her eyes lit up. Mo Chuan looked at her and unknowingly fell into a daze.

When Empress Dowager Zhou saw the two of them looking at each other, her heart was filled with displeasure. With a forceful cough, she said, "Emperor, if Ning 'er is willing to compete, then let's listen. Perhaps Ning' er will give us a large surprise."

"Alright, then this one will wait for mother's surprise." Mo Chuan's expression did not change as he sat back down, but there was a faint smile on his lips.

From the exchange of gazes just now, he already knew that she had a well-thought-out plan and would definitely not lose!

Xia Yu Yan bit her lips. She didn't think that after all this talk, they would actually agree to compose a poem in seven steps. Although she was known as the number one talented woman and had a great talent in poetry, she couldn't just casually compose a poem in seven steps. If she couldn't do it, wouldn't she be making a fool of herself in front of everyone?

What she was more worried about was that if she couldn't do it and the other could compose a poem in seven steps, then wouldn't her title as the most talented woman be taken away by that idiot princess?

"Reporting to the Empress Dowager, since we are competing, it would be too easy to just compose a spring scenery poem. How about we ask the Empress Dowager to come up with a topic and me and miss Xia will compose a poem in seven steps?"

Chen Ning saw that Xia Yu Yan did not say anything and knew that she did not have any confidence. She might as well come up with a topic and increase the difficulty, pushing her a bit.