Chapter 163

Cui Fei, who witnessed the whole process, was dumbfounded.

Li Rufeng quickly got up from the ground—there was thick snow, so he didn’t hurt himself, but his whole face was buried in the snow, making him look like a “white-bearded old man,” which was quite funny.

Embarrassed and angry at falling in front of Cui Fei, he glared at the girl with anger, “What do you mean I dirtied your shoes? Clearly, you tripped me.”

The girl was not intimidated, just calmly asked, “Why would I deliberately trip you? Is it because you do so many bad things that you think others would want to harm you?”

The other party looked sweet and somewhat spirited, and in the background of the snow-covered red plum blossoms, she was as beautiful as a painting.

Li Rufeng, still angry, saw this situation and his anger diminished somewhat, but he still forced himself to maintain his composure, “How would I know why you tripped me? Anyway, it wasn’t me who stepped on you!”

He was sure he had been tripped, so he spoke with confidence.

However, his confident tone sounded like he was shouting in the ears of others.

The girl remained unafraid, looking at him with clenched fists, and asked, “What, do you want to hit me?”

“When did I ever want to hit you?” Li Rufeng raised his voice even more, “Really…really ‘difficult to raise women and small-minded people’!”

“I’m a woman, so what are you?” The girl asked calmly, “A small-minded person?”

Seeing the two of them arguing, Cui Fei was about to step forward.

However, after Li Rufeng fell, the commoners who had come to admire the plum blossoms rushed over at lightning speed, eager to see the commotion.

Although he was still considerably larger than others, he didn’t want to push too hard, so he couldn’t get through the crowd!

As the situation developed, the onlookers began to express their opinions.

“Listening to both of you, it seems like you don’t know each other. Without any grievances, who would trip you?”

“That’s right, with so many people admiring the plum blossoms, it’s inevitable that there will be pushing and shoving. If everyone were as meticulous as you, would this scene still be enjoyable?”

“Yeah, and with such thick snow, falling or tripping is unavoidable. How can a grown man like you argue with a young girl?”

Li Rufeng was only powerful when he was alone with Cui Fei.

Now, under the accusations of the crowd, he looked very ugly.

In fact, what everyone said was not wrong.

As a grown man, he wasn’t hurt from falling, and in such a lively atmosphere of admiring the plum blossoms, it was difficult to avoid stepping on or tripping over someone.

Normally, he wouldn’t have minded.

But this wasn’t in front of Cui Fei… Li Rufeng glanced quickly at Cui Fei, and then he didn’t care about settling accounts with others, he just pushed through the crowd and hurried away.

After he left, the girl politely thanked the bystanders who had helped express dissatisfaction.

The crowd returned to its previous state, and Cui Fei, who was sweating profusely, finally managed to approach.

However, now that others no longer needed his help, going forward again would seem overly eager, like a vagrant.

So, when they were only a few steps apart, Cui Fei suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Seeing Cui Fei push forward with all his might one moment and then abruptly stop the next, the girl couldn’t help but laugh.

Her laughter, which was like a crescent moon, reduced her heroic aura and added a few more touches of sweetness, making her very charming.

But Cui Fei was about to get married, so he immediately lowered his eyes and dared not look too much, while also preparing to leave.

“Cui Fei, why are you leaving?” The girl’s voice was very crisp, and it stopped him, “I helped you, don’t you want to thank me?”

Hearing her call his name, Cui Fei was naturally a bit surprised.

However, thinking of Li Rufeng talking to him earlier, she was not far away.

So, it wasn’t surprising that she knew his name.

She said she had helped him, so just now he didn’t misjudge her; she did trip Li Rufeng on purpose.

She didn’t know Li Rufeng, so she must have heard what Li Rufeng said to him and felt it was unfair?

It was really admirable.

“Miss, thank you for your help. But if you encounter such a situation again, you should think of yourself first and not put yourself in danger.”

Danger?” The girl tilted her head, raised an eyebrow, and smiled, “What danger could he pose to me?”

Cui Fei hurriedly said, “He is a man after all. What if he really loses his temper and attacks you? There were so many people just now, I couldn’t get through to help you.”

“Well… if he attacks me, would you fight him?”

” A gentleman settles disputes with words, not fists,” Cui Fei replied honestly. “And I’ve never been in a fight, but I can help you block.”

“I saw how anxious you were just now, so you wanted to come and block punches for me?” She laughed heartily. “You’re really a fool.”

Her eyes were bright, her nose slightly red from the cold.

She was both carefree and charming, causing Cui Fei to quickly look away, bowing. “Anyway, thank you for your help.”

The girl continued to laugh. “Words of thanks are useless. Come, take me for a walk. It’s my first time at this Fragrance Temple.”

Cui Fei immediately shook his head, saying it was not possible.

The girl’s smile faded slightly. “Didn’t you just say you wanted to thank me? Just take me for a walk, is that not possible?”

Cui Fei stepped back, lowering his eyes. “I can thank you in other ways, but accompanying you is not possible. I am about to start a family, so it wouldn’t be appropriate.”

The girl was first puzzled, then laughed even more heartily. “I said you’re foolish, and you really are, not pretending.”

Cui Fei felt as confused as his friend Mu Er Pang in front of him, and he blushed slightly.

If it were someone else, they might have been annoyed or displeased by the girl’s laughter in public.

Cui Fei was good-natured, and since the girl had bravely helped him, he was not upset. He just felt a bit embarrassed and quietly turned his toes, ready to leave at any time.

Seeing him embarrassed, and with her maid gently tugging her sleeve, reminding her, the girl finally stopped laughing and said, “It’s true, my shoes are dirty, and I don’t want to stay outside for long. Next time we can go out together.”

“There won’t be a next time.” Cui Fei replied softly. “There won’t be any next time.”

She said, “It really won’t happen. My stomach hurts from laughing.”

Then she waved goodbye to him and turned away with her entourage.

When the girl was laughing, her maidservant and servant also covered their mouths and chuckled.

Finally, one of the servants, whose face had turned sour from laughing, felt sorry and fell behind the others, reminding Cui Fei, “Master Cui, don’t mind. Our miss is not calling you foolish as an insult, but… our miss’s surname is Sun!”

Cui Fei finally came to his senses!

Yes, who would help a stranger vent their anger for no reason? Because the other person was his unknown fiancée!

His head spun, and he quickly looked up, but Miss Sun was already far away.

However, it seemed that she noticed his gaze, so Miss Sun turned back and waved goodbye to him.

Cui Fei didn’t need to avoid suspicion this time, so he awkwardly raised his hand and waved back.

He stood there for a while, until Mu Er Pang came out to find him, before he came back to his senses.

The theme of the poetry gathering, of course, was to write poems on the spot, with the topic being snow and plum blossoms.

Zhao, the son of the poetry society, had specially set up rewards.

All the people present could vote, and the three people with the most votes and the best poems would receive a set of four treasures of the study.

The four treasures of the study were not very expensive, but it was a gesture of elegance.

After that, it was the time for everyone to write their poems.

However, to ensure fairness—especially since Cui Wei’s academy had brought several people, it was easy for unfairness to occur in the voting process.

So, after everyone had written their poems, they didn’t show them directly to everyone. Instead, they handed them to Zhao, who had them copied by a young boy.

Then everyone voted.

The people who participated in this poetry gathering were all talented poets, and their poems were all very good.

Mu Er Pang found it a bit difficult to write his exam-style poems, so it was hard for him to stand out.

However, he hadn’t come for this in the first place, just to broaden his horizons and join in the fun.

So, when it came to the selection process, Mu Er Pang didn’t have much hope.

After all, with Mei Ruochu and Shen Aoshuang, the reputation of their academy would not be tarnished.

Sure enough, when Zhao announced the vote counts, he said, “The highest number of votes goes to Mei Ruochu, followed by Shen Aoshuang. The third is… Cui Fei!”

There were quite a few who were as surprised as him. Zhao then put their original poems in front of them.

Cui Fei’s third place was well-deserved.

His poetry talent was only average, but maybe today he had a moment of inspiration.

Instead of writing about the pride of the plum blossom like everyone else, he found an angle that was pleasing and lively.

The poem was both innovative and beautifully crafted, far surpassing his usual level of writing.

After this, the scholars who had previously ignored Cui Fei began to chat with him.

The poetry gathering lasted until the afternoon.

After a vegetarian meal at the Book Fragrance Temple, Zhao extended an olive branch—they definitely had an agenda for organizing the poetry gathering, which was to have these talented individuals authorize their poems for publication in their poetry society’s collection.

Of course, they would receive corresponding rewards.

After some negotiation, in the late afternoon, when the Cui Wei group returned to the academy from the poetry gathering, they noticed that Cui Fei seemed a bit absent-minded.

Mu Er Pang and Mei Ruochu exchanged glances, both privately guessing that Cui Fei might be unhappy because of the initial cold treatment he received at the poetry gathering.

But that didn’t seem quite right, especially since Cui Fei had changed others’ opinions of him with his excellent poems later on, and he was usually quite bold and wouldn’t care about such things.

While they were pondering, they saw Cui Fei suddenly burst into laughter.

The classroom was usually quiet, and the others were all concerned about him, so there was no other sound.

His laughter was abrupt and shattered the room’s tranquility.

They all turned to look at him, and Cui Fei didn’t hide it. “I really didn’t expect her to be her, because in my impression, she was gentle and quiet. But the her I saw today was so lively and vibrant…”

Cui Fei spoke as if he were reciting a tongue twister, still smiling foolishly. “Now I realize I was wrong before. She’s great this way, especially great. Whatever she does is great.”