Counterattack of the Concubine’s Invincible Daughter

13. The Poetry Competition

Translator: Snowball

The man’s face stiffened for a second and then he looked at Mu Yingxue with the intent of threat and intimidation in his eyes.

Without showing the slightest hint of fear, Mu Yingxue suddenly reached out and grabbed him by the right hand. To his surprise, the maiden’s slender arms were so powerful that when he tried to break free from her grip, he only found that he couldn’t move at all.

“Look at his index and middle fingers! Do you know why his two fingers are of the same length? To facilitate his pickpocketing, he deliberately cut a part of his middle finger off. Not only does this make it easier for him to grab things, but it also makes it harder for the victims to find out.”

Mu Yingxue’s words caused an immediate stir in the crowd. Though the man was scared inwardly, he put on righteous airs and quibbled, “That doesn’t mean anything! I injured my finger cutting wood when I was a child.”

“Look at your hands! There’s not even a single callus on them. How dare you say you live by selling firewood?” Mu Yingxue continued with a faint smile.

The man obviously got flustered. “I told you either showed us the evidence or let go of me!” he roared angrily.

“According to what I’ve seen, you were trying to cut the purse cord of my maid with the tiny blade between your fingers. Now the blade is right in your sleeve.”

“You… Nonsense!”

Mu Yingxue didn’t want to waste her time arguing with him, so she applied more strength to her arm and ripped that man’s sleeve off. Sure enough, he had a box tied to his arm, which had a mechanism with tiny blades hidden in it.

Everyone was shocked and they immediately joined Mu Yingxue to condemn him.

“There must be some wallets in your pocket you just stole from the others. Do you want me to show them to everyone present?”

The man’s face turned pale. Seeing that the situation was turning out to be disadvantageous to them, his accomplice was about to flee before Mu Yingxue knocked him over.

Hearing what Mu Yingxue said, a bold man stepped out of the crowd and ripped open the pickpocket’s clothes, from which five wallets rolled out.

The onlookers were infuriated, especially those who had lost their wallets. They picked up what was at hand and smashed them onto the pickpockets. Soon, the two were left in black and blue before they were finally sent to the government office.

After solving the problem, Mu Yingxue walked forward and was about to leave with Liu’er. An Ning immediately reached out and expressed her gratitude.

“Thank you!” she said, blushing.

“Anytime!” Mu Yingxue nodded.

Sensing that someone was watching them from behind, Mu Yingxue turned around and cast a glance at the third floor of the teahouse across the road. However, though she summoned her spiritual energy as fast as she could, she failed to find that person. Mu Yingxue could tell that person wouldn’t do anything harmful to them, so she stopped probing and turned to leave.

Watching her back receding, An Ning withdrew her hand and stroked her own head with embarrassment.

Having learned the lesson, Liu’er pressed her purse against her chest while looking around warily, as if everyone in the street looked like a pickpocket.

Although Mu Yingxue didn’t behave as a country girl in town for the first time, she was filled with curiosity about the things on the roadside. In her previous life, she was a collector and fancied artistic items.

Halfway down the street, they both felt tired. At the sight of a teahouse, Mu Yingxue decided to have a rest there.

“Moonlight Pavilion? The name of the teahouse is kind of elegant.”

However, when they were about to step in, a waiter stopped them. He looked at them up and down and then revealed a look of disdain on his face.

“Stop! Have you ever gotten the permission to get in? Stay away!”

“Ha! I’ve never heard a shop that shuts its guests out!”

“Bah! Though it’s a teahouse, the Moonlight Pavilion is a place only for noble clients. How can a nobody like you even think about getting in? Take a look at yourself!”

“This a noble place, so why did I hear a dog barking wildly?”

The waiter knew Mu Yingxue was swearing at him, so he immediately flared up.

“What’s going on?”

When the waiter was about to retort, he suddenly heard a familiar voice ringing nearby. He immediately put on a smile and greeted that person warmly. “Oh, Miss Mei! It’s a pleasure to see you! This way please!”

The waiter was so welcoming that he looked like a totally different person. When he saw Mu Yingxue and Liu’er were still standing by the front door, he immediately shouted impatiently.

“Get out of my way! Can’t you see Miss Mei here?”

Mei Qianqian sized Mu Yingxue up, feeling as if she had seen her somewhere, but she couldn’t recall. Seeing that the girl and her maidservant were in plain clothes, Mei Qianqin could tell that she wasn’t from a very rich family, so she became cocky at once. “Two bumpkins!” she murmured.

Meanwhile, Mu Yingxue also cast a few glances at Mei Qianqian. This girl was about fifteen or sixteen, who was wearing a pink dress with a snow-white cloak of fur over it and in her hands, there was a warmer.

Though Mei Qianqian couldn’t remember who Mu Yingxue was, Mu Yingxue knew Mei Qianqian was the richest businessman’s daughter in the capital city, who had humiliated her to the extreme with Mu Yueli when she visited the Mu’s Mansion eight years ago. They hadn’t not only forced Mu Yingxue to bark like a dog but also to swallow a steamed bun stained with mud.

Old memories immediately welled up in her mind. Though she wasn’t the original Mu Yingxue, after all, they shared the same body, so she couldn’t help bursting into anger at the sight of Mei Qianqian. Now that she had met this person, she had no reason to spare her. The best way to get back at someone was to deprive her of what she cared about the most.

“You said not everyone was allowed to get into the Moonlight Pavilion, buy why can she come in but I have to make way for her?”

From what she had said, the waiter could tell that Mu Yingxue seldom came out. Mei Qianqian turned up her nose at Mu Yingxue, as if even a glance at the latter would stain her eyes.

“Unlike the ordinary teahouse, the Moonlight Pavilion is the most high-end place in the capital city. Guests here communicate and make friends by reciting and writing poems and articles, so those who are eligible to come are all knowledgeable noble childes and young ladies. Because of this, my lord especially set up the Talented List, on which only those who ranked top 100 can become our guests.”

Following the direction in which the waiter pointed, Mu Yingxue saw the Talented List in the middle of the lobby, on which were the names of seventy childes and thirty young ladies.

Mei Qianqian raised her head high and said triumphantly, “Get out of my way right now, you bumpkin!”

“Why should I make way for you? First come, first served. As I came earlier than you, there’s no reason that I should let you in first.”

“You… Humph! Because my name is on the Talented List! Because I’m their guest! Because a hick like you are not eligible to enter such a high-class teahouse!”

“It seems I have to get into the Moonlight Pavilion today.” With that, Mu Yingxue turned to ask the waiter, “Does that mean as long as I beat her in poetry, I can replace her and take the eleventh place?”

Before the waiter could say anything, Mei Qianqian and her maid couldn’t help bursting into laughter. “Stop being delusional! It won’t come true even in your next life!!”

The waiter didn’t answer but asked back with a smirk, “Miss Mei is one of the most well-known talented young ladies in the capital city. As for you… Can you even read?”

“Just tell me yes or no!” Mu Ying continued.

The sudden change in Mu Yingxue’s attitude made the waiter feel invisible pressure. He didn’t dare to make fun of her anymore and immediately answered, “Yes! Yes!”

“Fine, I’ll give you an opportunity to compete with me.”

As if she had just heard an extremely funny joke, Mei Qianqian was close to tears with laughter while she granted Mu Yingxue’s request seemingly out of pity.

Needless to say, since they were going to compete, there had to be a referee. After a short while, the waiter brought an old man who had a solemn look on his face.

Hearing that someone was going to challenge Mei Qianqian, who ranked eleventh on the Talented Young Ladies’ List, many noble childes and beautiful young ladies came to watch their competition.

As Mei Qianqian was a regular visitor of the Moonlight Pavilion, she was familiar with all the guests here, so after a short while, a bunch of people had gathered around her.

“It’s not a big deal. Actually, I don’t even think she deserves to be my opponent!”

“You’re right, Qianqian! We all know how talented you’re. Teach the country girl a good lesson, or she will think you’re easy to mess with!”

Bearing those people’s words in mind, Mei Qianqian glanced at Mu Yingxue’s calm, pretty face and suddenly had an impulse to trample on it.

Sitting behind the referee’s table, the serious old man looked at Mu Yingxue expressionlessly and said, “Since you want to challenge someone on the Talented List, I must inform you of the rules of the game. If you want to defeat Miss Mei Qianqian, you have to give a proper answer to the question left by Miss Mei when she took the eleventh place. Only then will you be eligible to challenge her.”

Looking at Mei Qianqian’s face, Mu Xueyan rolled her eyes slightly. “No problem! Please go ahead!”

“Okay! Listen carefully…”

Before the old man could finish his words, Mei Qianqian suddenly cut in on him, “Wait a moment, Senior Feng! I have something to say.”

Annoyed at being suddenly interrupted, Senior Feng waved his hand impatiently, signaling to Mei Qianqin to hurry up.

“Since it’s a match, we should set up rules for punishment, right?”

“As you’re the challenged party, it’s up to you,” Mu Yingxue answered with a charming smile.

Mei Qianqian waved her hand and revealed a big smile while a flicker of triumph flashing in her eyes. “If you lose, you have to get down on your knees outside of the gate of the Moonlight Pavilion and let a hundred passers-by kick your ass!”

Everyone was in an uproar and some literary men even blushed at her words, denouncing this as insulting to the entire intellectual class. Senior Feng banged the table and shouted angrily, “Miss Mei, the Moonlight Pavilion is a place for well educated people, how could you say such vulgar things?”

Disregarding what Senior Feng had said, Mei Qianqian became even more arrogant. “Senior Feng, the rules are between the challenger and me. As you’re just the referee, it has nothing to do with you. What’s more, she acceded to my request just now.”

Senior Feng widened his eyes with anger, but as Mu Yingxue had agreed to let Mei Qianqian set the rules of punishment, he couldn’t say anything.