Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Lu Yunqi cleared his throat and said, "Oh, nothing, hahaha! Hey, what's the theme today? How about I compose one too?"

Murong Jie said nothing, but Lu Yunqi could see a hint of mockery brewing in his cold eyes.

Yeah, that was a pretty nasty unspoken insult.

But Lu Yunqi wasn't about to back down. Annoyed, he said, "Hey, am I really that useless to you? How about I recite a poem for you too? Let me think... I need something obscure, just in case Fairy Liuyi's already written it. Otherwise, it'd look like I'm ripping her off!"

Murong Jie still said nothing. Lu Yunqi thought for a moment, then said, "Got it! How about a little poem from *Dream of the Red Chamber*?"

With that, he snapped open his fan and started swaying his head all pretentious-like: "Sleeping, I drift off with the wild geese; startled awake, I'm annoyed by the crickets' chirping. Awake, who can I share my sorrow with? Withered grass and cold mist—an endless ache."

Finally, Murong Jie's eyes flickered with some reaction. He frowned at Lu Yunqi and asked, "You wrote that?"

Lu Yunqi chuckled. "Copied, copied! What do you think? Pretty good, right?"

Murong Jie snorted coldly. Lu Yunqi continued, "I've got a ton more where that came from. Winning first place at tonight's literary gathering is a piece of cake. How about I take first place and bring you to meet that Miss Xie?"

Murong Jie said quickly, "No need!"

Lu Yunqi smirked, fanning himself as he spoke, "Murong Jie, you should really see me as an ally. Tonight's little scheme..."

He leaned in close and whispered in Murong Jie's ear, "You arranged this, didn't you?"

Murong Jie frowned. "Don't talk crap."

Lu Yunqi chuckled twice and said, "Using Xie Lianyi to split the three legitimate princes apart. You know your Murong family best—each one claims to be the most loyal lover in the world. But in the end? Every single one is more heartless than the last! The eldest prince wants money, the second wants fame, and the third wants women. Your three brothers are each more despicable than the last. They never dreamed you'd have them eating out of the palm of your hand, did they?"

The coldness in Murong Jie's eyes seemed about to spill over. He lowered his voice and asked Lu Yunqi, "Got any proof?"

Lu Yunqi tilted his head. "Do I need proof? Why not ask your own heart? Actually..."

He poured Murong Jie a cup of wine. "You really don't need to see me as an enemy. I'm on your side. Murong Jie..."

With that, he reached out and slung his arm around Murong Jie's neck, whispering in his ear, "I don't have much time left to live. After I'm gone, all six hundred thousand elite troops of the Lu family will be yours. Fifty thousand is just the start. Once you've got full control of my family's six hundred thousand elite soldiers, you won't need to give the Murong family a second thought."

Murong Jie's brows furrowed tightly, but Lu Yunqi reached up and smoothed the crease away, saying, "You're only nineteen. Don't carry so much weight on your shoulders. With Lord Nine Thousand Years backing you, why do everything yourself?"

A moment later, Murong Jie shoved him away and said icily, "Lu Yunqi, are you trying to bribe me? Do you think your little handout can erase everything you've done to me? If I weren't lucky, I'd have been killed by you countless times by now. You and I—we're sworn enemies!"

With that, he turned and left the room without looking back at Lu Yunqi.

Only after he left did Lu Yunqi let out a sigh. "This is tough," he muttered. "All the sins of the original body's owner. Looks like my death sentence is hard to escape!"

No matter—the system had his back. He still had a chance to live.

Just then, the drums and music downstairs stopped. Xie Lianyi stepped forward and announced, "Today's literary gathering brings together the best young talents in the realm. The one who takes first place will receive a collection of frontier poems personally written by my master."

At the mention of frontier poems, all the scholars below went wild.

They hadn't expected Fairy Liuyi to have a frontier poetry collection!

To get Fairy Liuyi's poetry collection was a dream for many.

Xie Lianyi continued, "The rules are simple. All the talented gentlemen present will write their poems, and my maidservant will collect them and bring them to me. The top three will be invited behind the curtain to discuss poetry with me. The final winner will receive my master's frontier poetry collection."

The crowd buzzed with discussion. Xie Lianyi added, "For the sake of fairness, all poems will be posted on the poetry wall outside. Please give it your all. Everyone here is a model of literary excellence, and all expenses for today's banquet are covered by me. I do this for no other reason than to fulfill my master's last wish—to compile a comprehensive anthology of poetry as soon as possible."

As she spoke, the literati below showered her with praise: "Miss Xie truly lives up to being Fairy Liuyi's disciple—she considers the welfare of all scholars!"

"Yes! Miss Xie is beautiful and kind, with brilliant literary talent—truly a great scholar among women."

"Alas, half of the realm's literary legacy belongs to Fairy Liuyi, and her disciple is certainly extraordinary."

"Hey, look! Isn't that Prince De?"

At that moment, a plainly dressed young man walked in, accompanied by a single servant. As soon as he entered, the crowd automatically parted to make way for him.

Upon seeing Prince De, Xie Lianyi stepped forward and bowed, saying, "I pay my respects to Prince De."

Prince De looked at her and let out a slight sigh. "I never thought Liuyi would take on such an outstanding disciple."

He glanced at the jade pendant hanging from Xie Lianyi's waist—the keepsake Fairy Liuyi had always carried with her.

Prince De said nothing more, but produced an identical jade pendant of his own, sighing, "I knew Liuyi for twenty-three years, yet I never imagined she would leave before me. This must be what they mean when they say great brilliance invites early ruin. By the way, did Liuyi leave any message for me before she passed?"

Xie Lianyi was briefly taken aback, then shook her head. "No, she didn't."

A flicker of suspicion crossed Prince De's eyes, but he merely lamented how things had changed.

Xie Lianyi consoled him, "Please don't grieve too much, Prince De. My master departed in haste—perhaps she simply didn't have time to bid farewell to old friends."

Prince De nodded. "I only came today to see my old friend's disciple. Nothing else. Miss Xie, you're welcome to visit the Prince De residence whenever you have time."

Xie Lianyi nodded and instructed her maidservant to distribute writing materials to the assembled scholars.

Lu Yunqi received his brush and ink as well. He'd initially thought about showing off, but then he reconsidered—tonight's gathering was almost certainly Murong Jie's doing, so why cause him trouble?

So he stood up, tossed aside his writing materials, and went to find Murong Jie instead.

Murong Jie hadn't gone far. He was standing in a corner by the railing on the second floor, quietly observing everything below.

Lu Yunqi walked over and asked, "Who do you think will win tonight?"

Murong Jie countered, "What does Young Lord Lu think?"

Lu Yunqi laughed. "Them? Ha! The sons of the Murong family—while I wouldn't call them complete idiots, none of them can compose poetry worth a damn. Their ghostwriters, though, are decent enough. But which poem will catch Miss Xie's eye... well, that depends on Your Highness the Sixth Prince's scheming."

Murong Jie had a nagging feeling Lu Yunqi would meddle in his plans, but he also thought it impossible—the man was just a useless wastrel, good for nothing but causing trouble.

But then Lu Yunqi continued, "Hey, let me take a guess? The eldest prince's persona is that of Miss Xie's close friend, and they've supposedly known each other for six months. The eldest prince probably thinks he's got Miss Xie in the bag. So the winner tonight definitely won't be the eldest prince."

Murong Jie gave no reaction. Lu Yunqi went on, "As for the third prince—alas, he's a real blockhead. No offense to blockheads, since I'm one myself. But being a blockhead has its advantages. He's probably the easiest of the three princes to control. Even if he doesn't win first place, he'll still cling to Xie Lianyi like a leech. So the winner won't be him either."

Murong Jie remained still. Lu Yunqi chuckled twice. "Once you eliminate the impossibilities, whatever remains—no matter how absurd—must be the truth. Tonight's winner will definitely be the second prince, and it has to be him. Because he's the only one with the power to contend with the eldest prince!"

Murong Jie sneered. "You think you're clever?"

Lu Yunqi waved his hand. "Not really. I just know you well enough."

After being hunted by you for nine lifetimes, I know you better than I know myself, brother!

Murong Jie said, "You guessed right, but also wrong. This setup tonight is indeed mine. But it's not to pit the second prince against the eldest. That would be far too boring."

Lu Yunqi froze for a moment, a thought crossing his mind. He couldn't be...

Lu Yunqi's face changed dramatically. He grabbed Murong Jie's arm and said, "Don't do anything reckless. Your strength is still too weak right now—you can't contend with all three of them! If something goes wrong, you'll be the first one they sacrifice! Murong Jie, listen to me. I know you want revenge, but don't throw yourself away!"

Murong Jie stepped back and said, "I don't understand what the Young Marquis is talking about. I was just brought here by you to watch the show today, and I have done nothing else."

With that, he returned to the private room, only to see that Xie Lianyi had already started collecting the submissions.

She went through each poet's work one by one, commenting as she did, "As they say, in writing there's no absolute best, just as in martial arts there's no second place. The top three I pick might not win everyone's approval. Therefore, today's poems will all be posted on the poetry wall outside. I'll have them copied out with the names hidden. Everyone can toss their flower token for whichever poem they think is best, and the one with the highest count will be ranked first."

The crowd below nodded, all agreeing that Miss Xie's approach was really fair.

Thus, everyone went to the poetry wall outside, holding their flower tokens to vote for their preferred poems.

Moments later, Xie Lianyi's maid brought in the three poems with the highest votes. Xie Lianyi looked at them, a smile curling at the corners of her lips, and said, "It seems great minds really do think alike this time, as nearly all votes went to these three masterpieces. Indeed, the works of these three talents are outstanding. Shall we reveal their names?"

With that, Xie Lianyi retrieved the original manuscripts of the three poems and read out the names of their authors.

The whole place buzzed with murmurs of surprise. Even though everyone knew the princes were all here for Miss Xie, they couldn't really complain out loud.

Seeing this, Xie Lianyi felt somewhat helpless and continued, "At today's gathering, I'll pick ten outstanding poems to go into the anthology. Thanks for coming, everyone. Now, the three princes, please follow me in one at a time for our poetry talk."

She then turned and ascended the stairs, instructing her maids to escort them in one at a time.

Upon hearing this, the Third Prince stepped forward eagerly, saying, "Me first, me first! I'll go in! Big Brother, Second Brother, do let me have this!"

Lu Yunqi: Heh, truly worthy of being the spoiled heir among the princes.

==========Author's Note:==========

"Sleeping, I follow the wild geese into the distance; startled awake, I'm vexed by the cricket's cry. Awake, to whom can I pour out my melancholy? Withered grass and cold mist hold boundless sorrow." — From Dream of the Red Chamber~