Chapter 45

After Xie Huaian woke up from his nap, he waited for a long time before Ji Yanming showed up. When he came up, he started to question him, “Where have you been just now? I haven’t seen you recently. Here, this is the first draft to be revised this afternoon. I just helped you finish your part.”

Ji Yanming doesn’t look like a person who likes to make friends, so why is he so wild around the people closest to him?

Ji Yanming thanked Xie Huaian but did not say much else, nor did he take the initiative to explain where he had been.

“I have helped you a lot now, you should return the favor a little.” Xie Huaian continued, “Recently, a good friend invited me to Muxuezhai ^[1]which is a tea house or gathering place for poetry. to participate in a poetry gathering, saying it was about chanting plum blossoms. Please help me with the rest.”

Ji Yanming responded with “OK.”

After Xie Huaian achieved his goal, he sighed to Ji Yanming and said, “I’m afraid I’ll have to meet the sixth son of the Murong family again at this poetry gathering. He’s always the one I can’t have fun with.”

Normally, when Xie Huaian talked about these insignificant things, Ji Yanming would just listen and not respond much. But today, Ji Yanming was obviously a little abnormal and immediately asked back, “Whose family is this Mr. Murong from?”

Xie Huaian said, “The one in Shihua Lane, his father works in the procuratorate ^[2]which refers to a legal office that oversees public prosecutions..”

Ji Yanming said calmly, “It turned out to be him. Are you familiar with him?”

Xie Huaian grew up in Beijing. He never liked being constrained, had a good personality, and made friends easily.

Generally, the second generation of such aristocratic families know each other.

“I know him,” Xie Huaian said. “But he has no ability and likes to brag. He always talks about the achievements of his ancestors and brags about them. He always says that Princess Heen’s Ning Garden is his, the shop on Nanshan Street is his, and the Ruiyun Villa awarded to the King of Chu by the Emperor is his… Even the new graceful poetry school in the capital was started by his ancestors!”

Is this man the origin of all things? Why doesn’t he say that the moon in the sky also belongs to him!

Xie Huaian’s voice was unconsciously filled with indignation: “There were several times when I wanted to slap him in the face, but because my father had a good relationship with his grandfather, this man was considered my junior, and as an elder, I couldn’t argue with a junior, so I never did it.”

Ji Yanming asked in a deep voice: “Do you want to try it once?”

Xie Huaian was surprised again when he heard Ji Yanming’s words. Ji Yanming never got involved in such boring trivial matters and didn’t seem like someone who liked to take care of these things.

Ji Yanming patted his shoulder: “I’ll help you.”

Xie Huaian was happy that his good friend took the initiative to help him do something bad, and he agreed with great expectations.

But then he thought again; they had originally agreed that he would go to the poetry reading and leave Ji Yanming here to work.

As a result, both of them had to attend the event, so it was inevitable that they would come back late. They still had to work overtime together and divide the work, half each.

If he thought about it carefully, he just couldn’t stand the fact that the sixth son of the Murong family was too pretentious. There was no essential grudge between them. It would not do him much good to bring misfortune to Master Murong.

Xie Huaian suddenly felt that Ji Yanming’s idea was not so good.

Soon Tao Sheng heard news about her fiancé, Mr. Murong Liu, whom she had never met. It was said that at a poetry gathering attended by noble young men in the capital one day, everyone was very curious to see Mr. Ji Zhuangyuan coming, and they all urged him to write a poem.

Ji Yanming readily wrote four poems, saying that this was both a poetry competition and could be used as riddles, the answers to which were the four hidden treasures.

When Sixth Master Murong heard the word “baby,” he leaned forward.

After seeing Ji Zhuangyuan’s poem, Murong Liu guessed that the first one was a jade disk, the second one was a golden crown, the third one was an auspicious beast, and the fourth one was a landscape painting. He then shook his fan and said that he had already guessed these things and also learned from the elders in his family that they were all things that their ancestors had owned in the past, so it was not surprising.

Ji Yanming asked back, “Are you serious?”

The Sixth Young Master Murong puffed out his chest and said confidently, “Of course I take it seriously.”

After getting a positive reply, Ji Yanming picked up his pen to write down the answers. One was the Western Hills used for royal hunting, one was Tai Ling^[3]is imperial tomb or mausoleum. It refers to a grand burial site for emperors. of the previous Emperor Hui, one was the Shanglin Garden that the royal family had just renovated, and one was the moat surrounding the capital.

After these words were spoken, Murong Liu’s expression changed, knowing that he was in trouble this time.

The Sixth Young Master Murong likes to talk about the glory of his ancestors the most. Everyone treats him as a clown, and at most they will make a few provocative remarks about him directly or indirectly, or simply ignore him.

However, he did not expect that he would meet such a serious person at this poetry gathering, who actually made him look very embarrassed and even charged him with disrespect.

Now it is not only a matter of embarrassing oneself in front of others, but also a huge political mistake.

There were quite a lot of people participating in the poetry gathering this time, many of whom were royal relatives and nobles. In the end, Murong Liu’s father was forced to go to the palace to apologize and beg the emperor not to pursue the matter.

The Murong family really lost face this time. Even people like Zhang Xinyue’s family, who were not in this circle, knew about it and even came excitedly to discuss it with Tao Sheng, which shows how heated the matter was.

Tao Sheng didn’t expect that her first blind date after traveling to this world would fail before it even started, and it was her cousin who ruined it personally after he noticed something was wrong.

Although Tao Sheng was grateful in her heart, she still unconsciously doubted some things related to metaphysics ^[4]which refers to the study of the nature of reality and existence..

It is said that people become redder if they are around redder ones, and blacker^[5]It means being around lucky people can make you luckier, while being around unlucky people can bring bad luck. if they are around blacker ones. There is also a mutual influence of magnetic fields between people.

After hanging out for so long with a villain cousin like Ji Yanming, who didn’t find his true love until the end of the series, wouldn’t his luck with women also be gone?

She doesn’t mind if the Red Luan Star doesn’t move, but this means her children won’t be able to care for her cousin when he gets old.

Two lonely cousins depend on each other for survival.

_

Xuanzheng Hall.

On the chessboard, the King of Chu had already lost. He sat frowning, with his hands on his cheeks, unable to make a move.

The emperor waited for a cup of tea, but the King of Chu still didn’t move. Feeling helpless about his son, who was weak but determined, he said kindly, “Okay, no more moves. Have some tea.”

“Your son admits defeat.” The King of Chu laughed, “I haven’t heard Lord Luo’s zither music in a long time, and it has confused my mind. Your Majesty is a great chess player, so I deserve to lose this time.”

The emperor had heard people say that Tao Sheng’s zither playing was amazing and had spread throughout the cities. He wanted to hear it but couldn’t let himself lose face, so he turned away.

“I heard from Duke Lingguo two days ago that a distant relative of your family is the best at playing. He has a zither named ‘Autumn Water’ and wanted to give it to me. How about you arrange for Miss Luo to go to Duke Lingguo’s mansion to get the zither, and then come to Xuanzheng Hall to play it for me? I want to see if it’s really as good as Duke Lingguo says.”

Now that he had a good reason to see Tao Sheng, the King of Chu was excited.

After arriving at Ji’s house, the King of Chu first played with Xiao Feng for a while, then fed it some special rice he had brought. He then told Tao Sheng about the emperor’s plans.

Tao Sheng became worried when she learned she had to go to Duke Lingguo’s Mansion.

She realized that the events of the original story were still affecting her life.