Counterattack of the Concubine’s Invincible Daughter

14. A Complete Victory

Translator: Snowball

“Can you accept this punishment rule? I’m not an unreasonable person, so as long as you concede right now, keel on the ground and cry out loudly three times ‘I’m even worse than pigs and dogs!’ I’ll spare you.”

Senior Feng thought it over and was certain that no matter which of them lost, it would be a laughingstock and affect the Moonlight Pavilion’s reputation. If his boss knew about it, he would definitely hit the ceiling.

After weighing the pros and cons, Senior Feng decided to persuade Mu Yingxue to suck it up and minimize the impact of this incident. He then shifted his gaze to Mu Yingxue while whispering in the waiter’s ear. The waiter turned to walk to Mu Yingxue and said in a low voice, “Senior Feng asked me to tell you that as long as you drop out of the game, he would give you a thousand ingots of silver and rank you 30th on the Talented Young Ladies’ List.”

“What if I say no?”

“Senior Feng also said if you refuse to take his advice and lose the competition, it will ruin your own reputation and you might not be able to marry an ideal husband in the future.”

Mu Yingxue couldn’t help sneering at his words. When she raised her head, she saw Senior Feng looking at her with a hint of threat in his eyes.

Mu Yingxue shrugged with a snort. “Senior Feng, please set the theme.”

Seeing the unappreciative Mu Yingxue, Senior Feng flicked his sleeve hard with his brows knitted.

“Listen carefully! Miss Mei gave the first line of the couplet—Ocean tides bulge and fall day by day.

As soon as Senior Feng finished his words, Mu Yingxue gave the second line of the couplet.

“Here’s my answer—Floating clouds gather and dissipate from time to time.”

Everyone was surprised by Mu Yingxue’s immediate response.

“How come you came up with an answer so quickly?” Some of the noble childes asked.

“I don’t think it’s that difficult,” Mu Yingxue said with a shrug.

Mei Qianqian didn’t expect that Mu Yingxue would have given the answer so quickly, so she had to announce, gritting her teeth, “Then let’s start!”

Senior Feng wasn’t in the mood to host the game for them, but he also wanted to teach Mu Yingxue a lesson. Though no one in Mei Qianqian’s family was an official, her auntie, Princess Mei, was the emperor’s favored concubine, so Senior Feng didn’t dare to offend Mei Qianqian. “Miss Mei, as the challenged party, please set the theme.”

“Okay!” Mei Qianqian looked around, putting on airs of a noble young lady. “Although I’m the challenged party, I don’t want to be called a bully. How about we see who has read more poems? Now that it’s the snow season and the plum blossoms are in full bloom, I suggest we take ‘flower’ as the theme and see which of us can recite more poems about it.”

“Does every line we recite have to do with flowers?”

“Sure.”

“All right. Go ahead!”

Mei Qianqian got the ball rolling triumphantly. “A number of plum blossoms are in full bloom in the corner in spite of the cold winter.”

“Recalling the sound of the stormy rain last night, which made flowers fall with all their might.”

“Sentimental about the calamity of our nation, I will shed tears at the sight of a blooming flower. Nostalgic heartache for the separation of my family can even be triggered by a bird’s twitter.”

“I can even hear the flowers falling when no one bothers me. In the quiet spring night, the valley seems particularly empty.”

Being overconfident in her own talent, Mei Qianqin flung out a mass of lines in a moment. Mu Yingxue didn’t dare to be careless, so she answered quickly as well.

However, as time went on, Mei Qianqian gradually found it harder to recall more poems, while Mu Yingxue was still at ease and tossed off breezy replies.

“The green of lotus leaves stretches endlessly into the distance, on which water lilies reflecting sunlight adds to its brilliance.”

Gritting her teeth, Mei Qianqian continued, “Next year at the Double Ninth Festival, hopefully the chrysanthemums will bloom upon my arrival.”

“The rustle of spring rain falling on the lawn, makes me wonder whether pedlars will come selling apricot flowers tomorrow at dawn.”

Mei Qianqian’s face grew even paler and she couldn’t stop crumpling the handkerchief in her hands out of tension.

“It’s your turn, Miss Mei.”

“I… I… Listen! Reed catkins turned grey along with my sideburns, the homeless swallows had nowhere to return.”

“The wintersweet lurking in the bamboo forest out of sight, whose fragrance wafted across the bridge overnight.”

“Spring in the air that walls cannot contain, while a spray of apricots on top of it remains.”

Mei Qianqian uttered another line of poetry defiantly and couldn’t help admiring for her own wit secretly.

After she finished her words, everyone fell silent. After waiting for a while, Mei Qianqian didn’t hear Mu Yingxue’s response, so she was sure that she would definitely be the winner.

“Go ahead! You can’t think of a line to match, can you?

Curving up her lips into a smile, Mu Yingxue said, “Miss Mei, you’ve lost.”

Mei Qianqian was so shocked that her face turned ashen. “Impossible! It’s your turn but you haven’t recited any line yet!”

“According to the rule, each line of the poems must be related to a kind of flower at least, but there are no flowers in the line you just gave.”

“There are ‘apricots’ in…”

Mei Qianqian was about to retort, but she suddenly realized the mistake she had made. With a ghastly pale face, she swayed a few times and almost fell to the ground.

“Apricots are not flowers. Senior Feng, I believe you can announce the result of the competition now.”

With a grim look, Senior Feng opened his mouth. “I declare this young lady the winner of the competition. She will replace Miss Mei and take the 11th place on the Talented Young Ladies’ List. Miss Mei’s name will be removed from the list and all treatment and qualifications she has enjoyed at our teahouse will be canceled.”

Mei Qianqian was irritated, but at the thought of the punishment rule she had set just now, she couldn’t be more regret. The waiter took her writing brushes, ink sticks, paper and inkstones out and gave them to her maid, hinting Mei Qianqian to leave as soon as possible, which almost helped her get away with it.

“Miss Mei, even if you are in a hurry, you shouldn’t leave until you have fulfilled our agreement.”

“What do you want?” Mei Qianqian became angry with embarrassment.

“I’m not the one who set the rule. Miss Mei, after all, you’re the young lady of a noble family. Don’t tell me what you said just now was bullshit!”

“You…”

“Did I say anything wrong?”

Knowing that she had no reason to accuse anyone else, Mei Qianqian was on the verge of tears. If she really knelt on the ground outside of the Moonlight Pavilion and got kicked in the ass by a hundred people, her reputation would be ruined.

When Mei Qianqian was struggling to think of a solution, she suddenly saw a familiar figure coming out of the Moonlight Pavilion.

“Prince Jin…” Mei Qianqian cried out joyfully.

Following the direction Mei Qianqin was looking in, Mu Yingxue saw a tall, strong figure coming over. With his back against the sun, his long shadow was reflected on the ground.

Though it wasn’t perfect, his face was well outlined. With a tall, sturdy figure and the honey-colored skin, everyone could feel the mighty aura in him.

Seeing the crowds, Xuanyuan Jin knew something unusual had happened, so he turned around and said to his guard in a low voice, “Expand the search for the princess.”

At his command, the guard bowed to him and left with a team of soldiers.

“Your Highness!”

“All of you may rise.” Xuanyuan Jin waved his big hand, gesturing them to rise to their feet.

“Thank you, Prince Jin.”

The waiter immediately brought Xuanyuan Jin a chair. “What happened? Why are you gathering here?” After sitting down, Xuanyuan Jin asked.

Senior Feng clasped his hands and answered, “Prince Jin, this young lady challenged Miss Mei to her place on the Talented List, so everyone came to watch their competition.”

Hearing that, Xuanyuan Jin smiled, as if he was very interested in this topic. He looked around and found that Mu Yingxue was the only young lady he had never seen, so he was sure it must have been this girl, who had challenged Mei Qianqian.

“It has been a long time since the last challenge on the Talented List. This young lady’s courage is commendable. Could you please tell me the result of the competition?”

However, before Senior Feng could answer, Mei Qianqian suddenly moved a step forward and knelt on the floor. “I lost and disgraced Mei’s family. Prince Jin, I’m ready for your punishment!”

Mu Yingxue had figured out Mei Qianqian’s intention, but she didn’t say anything.

“Oh?”

After all, Mei Qianqian was one of the well-known noble young ladies in the capital city, so Xuanyuan Jin couldn’t help feeling curious about Mu Yingxue when he was told that Mei Qianian had lost the game to this girl dressed in plain clothes.