Happy Little Scholar

At the other end of the central waterside pavilion, countless women looked forward to a certain direction, looking forward to it.

In the pavilion opposite where the competition was taking place, except for a few talented women, almost all of them were men. With their status, it was naturally difficult for them to get close.

"Who do you think will win this competition?" A pretty woman asked with her hand on her cheek.

"Of course it's Mr. Shen!"

"I think it's Mr. Shen too."

"Yes, Mr. Shen is so talented, how could he lose to an unknown person?"

The women around spoke up one after another, and their thoughts were surprisingly consistent.

No one thought that the unknown scholar could beat Shen Zhao, the second most talented person in Qing'an Prefecture. After all, Shen Zhao had been famous in Qing'an Prefecture for a long time, and in the hearts of these women, of course, his status was higher.

"But, that young man is not an unknown person either!" A young girl interrupted.

A woman asked, "By the way, I don't know his name yet, Xiaoyun, do you know him?"

The girl shook her head and said, "I don't know the name of that young man either, but when I came over just now, I heard them say that the young man was the one who wrote "Drinking Alone Under the Moon" and "Nian Nu Jiao" yesterday."

"What?"

"It was that talented man!"

Many of these women obviously knew these two poems, and they were surprised for a while, and said hesitantly, "If it was that talented man, he wouldn't necessarily lose, but why did Mr. Shen want to compete with that young man in poetry?"

It is very common for talented men to compete in poetry and prose, and it is not surprising. But generally speaking, if the two have no grudges, it will only be a general exchange, but if it is elevated to the level of a competition, it means that the conflict between the two is irreconcilable.

The girl who spoke just now looked around and said mysteriously: "I heard that it was because Mr. Shen embarrassed the talented woman of Yunying Poetry Club. As a member of Yunying Poetry Club, the young man couldn't stand Mr. Shen's actions, so he stood up... Everyone knows what happened afterwards..."

"Ah, how is it possible? How could Mr. Shen be such a person?"

"I have heard that Shen Zhao is arrogant and narrow-minded before. I thought it was a rumor, but I didn't expect..."

"I suddenly don't want Mr. Shen to win..."

"Me too..."

After the girl's words were confirmed by several women who also knew the situation, the balance in the hearts of these women finally tilted.

At this time, a girl dressed as a maid, holding a paper raft in her hand, trotted over from a distance, ran to a certain woman, and handed the raft to her breathlessly.

"Is there any news over there?"

Seeing this, the women gathered around.

"How is it, how is it, who won?"

"When will the bright moon appear? I raise my cup to ask the blue sky. I don't know what year it is in the palace in the sky..." The woman cast her eyes upwards and whispered, her beautiful eyes suddenly bursting with a strange light...

Several women leaned over, and after a moment, their pretty faces showed the same expression as hers.

"This, is this written by that young master?" After a moment, the woman raised her head and looked at the little maid, asking in disbelief.

"Miss, name, name!"

The little maid had just trotted over, panting with exhaustion. She finally took a breath, stared with a pair of big eyes, and hurriedly pointed to the lower corner of the paper raft and said.

"Name, what name?"

The young lady, who looked like a lady from a noble family, looked in the direction the little maid pointed. The next moment, her beautiful eyes widened, her cherry lips slightly opened, and she exclaimed: "Li Yi!"

The two words Li Yi were indeed not unfamiliar names to the women of Qing'an Prefecture.

Since the release of "Magpie Bridge Fairy", countless young girls and empty-hearted women have been chanting "If love lasts forever, why should we be together day and night" in the lonely nights, while missing their lovers who are not around.

Even those girls who have not yet married will imagine a certain picture in their minds, and perhaps in their dreams at night, they will sometimes dream of the talented man named "Li Yi".

For women of this era, men's talent is undoubtedly a fatal attraction to them, and appearance is ranked behind.

Of course, if a talented man is both talented and beautiful, he will definitely be sought after by countless women.

"But the Li Yi of "Magpie Bridge Fairy"?"

"Ah, that handsome young man is Li Yi?"

For a moment, countless women raised their heads and looked towards the central waterside pavilion, their eyes surging with strange colors...

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"May we live long, thousands... thousands of miles apart, sharing the beauty of the moon..." When Shen Zhao read this, his voice was already trembling, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He suddenly raised his head and looked at him, trembling: "You are the "Magpie Bridge Fairy"..."

"If this brother has finished writing, why not give it to the talented scholars for review?" Li Yi looked at him and asked with a smile.

Shen Zhao's face turned pale when he heard this.

He was self-aware. The other party even took out such words, so what was the need for review?

It was nothing more than self-humiliation.

"I... lost."

Shen Zhao's face turned pale, squeezed out these words from his teeth, turned around and left.

"Brother, please stay!" Seeing Shen Zhao was about to leave, Li Yi hurriedly called him back.

"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. Would the other party still not give up?

Li Yi did not speak, but his eyes looked at his waist.

Shen Zhao finally remembered something, his face became even gloomier, he pulled off the jade pendant from his waist and threw it over.

Li Yi hurriedly caught it. If it broke, the three hundred taels of silver would be gone.

When he walked to his desk, Shen Zhao paused, grabbed the poem he had just written, and tore it to pieces.

The talented people saw a familiar scene, and they couldn't help but sigh in their hearts...

If I had known this, why did I do it in the first place!

Li Yi held the jade pendant in his hand, thinking that he would go to a pawnshop to pawn it. Three hundred taels of silver could rent a shop in a slightly more prosperous place in Qing'an Prefecture...

At this moment, a pretty girl came in from outside, walked to Li Yi, and asked softly: "Excuse me, is this Mr. Li Yi?"

Not knowing what the girl wanted, Li Yi nodded in confusion.

The girl smiled and handed over a paper raft, saying: "I wonder if you are free tomorrow. My lady wants to invite you to come to the mansion for a chat."

"This, this seems to be Miss Chen's maid..."

"Miss Chen is the daughter of Mr. Chen's mansion..."

Seeing this scene, these talented men showed expressions of surprise and envy on their faces.

Before Li Yi came back to his senses, several more girls came in from outside, bowed to Li Yi, and spoke softly.

"My young lady admires your talent very much and will hold a banquet at Zui Xiang Lou tomorrow. I wonder if you have time?"

"My young lady..."

"My family..."

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"That's Miss Chen's maid, that's Lu Qiaoqiao's maid, the top courtesan at Yichun Lou, and even the daughter of Prefect Dong..."

Behind Li Yi, the young prince Li Xuan stared at the scene with a dull look on his face, with an extremely complicated expression.