At the other end of the pavilion, countless women raised their heads and looked in a certain direction, their hearts filled with anticipation.
In the pavilion where the competition was taking place, other than a few talented women, almost all of them were men. With their status, it was naturally not appropriate for them to go over.
"Who do you guys think will win this competition?" A pretty woman asked with her hand on her cheek.
"Of course it will be Young Master Shen!"
"I also think it will be Young Master Shen."
"Yes, Young Master Shen is so talented, how could he lose to a nobody?"
The surrounding women all spoke up, their thoughts shockingly in unison.
No one felt that the nameless scholar could win against the second talent of Qing An Fu, Shen Zhao. After all, Shen Zhao had been famous in Qing An Fu for a long time. In the hearts of these women, his position was naturally higher.
"But, that Young Master isn't a nobody!" A young girl interrupted.
Hearing this, a woman asked: "Right, I still don't know what his name is, Xiao Yun, do you know?"
The young woman shook her head and said: "I also don't know what that young master is called, but when I came over from that side, I heard them say that young master is the one who composed" Drinking Alone Under the Moon "and" Nian Nu "yesterday."
"What?"
"It's actually that scholar!"
Among these women, there were clearly many who knew these two poems. After a moment of surprise, they said hesitantly: "If it's that scholar, he might not necessarily lose. But, why is Young Master Shen competing with that young master in poetry?"
Competing in poetry between scholars was a very common thing and not something to be surprised about. But usually, if there was no conflict between the two, it would just be a normal exchange of pointers. But if it was elevated to the level of a battle, it meant that the conflict between the two could not be resolved.
The young woman who had just spoken looked around and said somewhat mysteriously: "I heard that because Young Master Shen made things difficult for the talented women of the Yunying Poetry Society, that young master, as a member of the Yunying Poetry Society, could not stand Young Master Shen's actions, so he stood out … Everyone knows what happened next …"
"Ah, how is it possible, how could Young Master Shen be this kind of person?"
"I've heard before that Shen Zhao was arrogant and narrow-minded, I thought it was just a rumor, who would have thought …"
"I suddenly don't want Young Master Shen to win …"
"Me too …"
After the young girl's words were confirmed by a few other women who were also in the know, the balance in these women's hearts finally tilted.
At this moment, a young lady dressed like a servant ran over from afar with a paper raft in her hand. She ran to the lady's side and handed the paper raft to her while panting.
"Is there any news from there?"
When the women saw this, they all crowded around him.
"How was it? How was it? Who won?"
"When will the bright moon appear? I ask the clear sky with a cup of wine in my hand. I wonder what year it is in the heavenly palace …" That woman cast her gaze up and recited in a low voice. Her beautiful eyes suddenly burst out with a strange splendor …
The few women gathered their heads, and after a moment, their pretty faces revealed the same expression as hers.
"This, this was written by that young master?" After a moment, the woman raised her head and looked at the young servant girl. She asked in disbelief.
"Miss, name, name!"
The young maid had run all the way here and was panting from exhaustion. She finally caught her breath and opened her big eyes wide. She hurriedly pointed at the bottom corner of the paper raft and said.
"Name? What name?"
The young lady, who looked like a well-bred lady, looked in the direction that the young maid was pointing. In the next moment, her beautiful eyes involuntarily widened. Her cherry lips slightly parted as she cried out in surprise, "Li Yi!"
The name Li Yi was not an unfamiliar name to the women of Qing 'an Fu.
Ever since the "Immortal Magpie Bridge" came out, it was unknown how many young girls in love, young married women, on lonely nights, in the depths of their chambers, would recite, "If the feelings between two could last forever, why would they stay together day and night?" while thinking of their absent lovers.
Even those unmarried young girls would imagine a certain scene in their minds. Perhaps in their erotic dreams at night, they would occasionally dream of that scholar named "Li Yi."
For the women of this era, a man's talent was, without a doubt, a fatal attraction to them. Appearance was actually ranked lower.
Of course, if he was a scholar with both talent and appearance, he would certainly be pursued by countless women.
"Is that the Li Yi from" The Immortal of the Magpie Bridge "?"
"Ah, that handsome gentleman, is that Li Yi?"
In an instant, countless women raised their heads and looked in the direction of the water pavilion in the center. Their eyes were filled with a strange light …
…
…
"I hope that people live long, thousands … thousands of miles apart …" When Shen Zhao read to this point, his voice was already trembling. Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He suddenly raised his head to look at him and said in a trembling voice, "You are that" The Immortal of the Magpie Bridge "…"
"Brother, if you have finished writing, why don't you hand it over to the scholars to judge?" Li Yi looked at him and asked with a smile.
Hearing this, Shen Zhao's face turned pale.
He knew his own limits. The other party had even brought out such words, what need was there to judge?
He was just asking to be humiliated.
"I … lost."
Shen Zhao's face was pale. After squeezing out these words from between his teeth, he turned and left.
"Brother, please wait!" Seeing that Shen Zhao was about to leave, Li Yi hurriedly called out to him.
"What else do you want?"
A trace of anger appeared on Shen Zhao's face. He had already lost face in front of everyone today. Was the other party still not willing to let it go?
Li Yi didn't speak, but his eyes looked at his waist.
Shen Zhao finally remembered something. His face darkened even more. He tore off the jade pendant at his waist and casually threw it over.
Li Yi hurriedly caught it. If it was broken, three hundred liang of silver would be gone.
When he walked to the side of his table, Shen Zhao's footsteps paused. He grabbed the poem he had just written and tore it into pieces.
The scholars saw this familiar scene and couldn't help but sigh in their hearts …
If they had known this would happen, they wouldn't have done it in the first place!
Li Yi held the jade pendant in his hand. In his heart, he was thinking about going to a pawn shop later. Three hundred liang of silver was enough to rent a shop in a slightly more prosperous area in Qing 'an Prefecture …
At that moment, a delicate young girl walked in from outside. She walked to Li Yi's side and asked gently, "May I ask if you are Li Yi, Li?"
Li Yi didn't know what this young girl wanted. He nodded in confusion.
The young girl smiled and handed over a piece of paper. "Will you be free tomorrow? My young mistress would like to invite you to her residence for a chat."
"This, this looks like Miss Chen's servant …"
"Miss Chen is Official Chen's daughter …"
Seeing this, all of the candidates had expressions of shock and envy on their faces.
Before Li Yi could react, a few more young girls walked in from outside. After bowing to Li Yi, they spoke in a gentle voice.
"My young mistress admires your talent very much. Tomorrow, there will be a banquet at the Drunken Fragrance Brothel. Will you be free?"
"My young mistress …"
"My young mistress …"
…
…
"That's Miss Chen's servant, that's Lu Qiaoqiao's servant, even Prefectural Magistrate Dong's daughter …"
Behind Li Yi, the little prince, Li Xuan, stared blankly at this scene. His expression was incomparably complicated.
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