Chapter 10

On the day of Emperor Xingde's birthday banquet, the Xie family began preparations early. Although the Xie family had divided into separate households, they still maintained a good relationship with the eldest branch of the family, and this time they had arranged to enter the palace together. The eldest branch of the Xie family was the family of Xie Qinghong's uncle, the Marquis of Pingning. She had two older cousins ​​who were already married, an older cousin named Xie Qingke who was a few months older than her, and a younger cousin and a younger cousin.

After politely thanking her aunt for her kindness and seeing the family off, Xie Qinghong nestled on the couch to read a travelogue. She found it so pleasant to read so leisurely. She loved reading travelogues, but unfortunately, printing books was troublesome these days, and there weren't many people who would write about their experiences after traveling far and wide. She often browsed for books but rarely found anything good; most of what she found were travelogues about the scenery around Wangjing. This one her brother had given her was different; it was about the scenery of the south.

As Xie Qinghong looked around, he suddenly felt as if he had seen these scenes described in a book somewhere before: the mountain peaks stretched for miles, evergreen all year round, the sound of birds singing melodiously in the rustling of pines, the rushing river winding down, the withered flowers swirling and drifting with the flowing water, the forest shrouded in mist in the morning, the forest glowing with fireflies at night, and even in winter, there were still blooming flowers and rushing streams...

The words in the book seemed to create a picture, and she felt as if she were there, climbing mountains and crossing rivers. But she had never left Wangjing, so how could she feel familiar with the scenery of this southern region? Had she read a similar travelogue? But she had no memory of it.

The palace was bustling with activity. Song Lingxi, despite her injuries, attended the banquet, but felt uneasy seeing Xie Qinghong absent from the female guests' table. The novel she was reading didn't describe the birthday banquet in much detail, only mentioning that the female protagonist, Zheng Yingluo, was indifferent to Qin Erlang, which ironically fueled Qin Erlang's competitive spirit. Zheng Yingluo's cold rejection drew applause from readers, who said, "Late-blooming affection is cheaper than grass."

Song Lingxi transmigrated into the book and was familiar with the plot. She wasn't interested in the love story between the male and female leads, but since the male and female leads usually had protagonist auras, she tried to get close to them in the early stages. However, Zheng Yingluo was like a white lotus flower and always looked at her with probing eyes, so she stopped trying to befriend Zheng Yingluo.

However, the male lead, Qin Heng, is quite good. After being reborn, he has more experience than his peers and greatly admires her poetic talent. The two share similar ideals and are quite close friends.

Song Lingxi was quite pleased with herself. Even the male lead favored her, which showed that the characters in the book were nothing special. She had an omniscient perspective, so she could at least get rid of the characters she disliked sooner. Her least favorite character in the book was the supporting female character Xie Qinghong. Despite having a small role and having married far away in the south, many people still missed her.

The book describes her as a cinnabar mole. Even after she was married off to the tyrannical Prince of the South, Qin Heng felt guilty towards her. The Xie family in the capital often sent people to deliver things to the South. Her two brothers did not hesitate to seek appointments outside the capital to be closer to her, just to support her. Her sister-in-law from her maternal family never objected to this.

While reading the book, Song Lingxi wondered what merit Xie Qinghong possessed. The Xie family members were all brainless; once a daughter is married, she is like water spilled from a bowl. If she were Xie's sister-in-law, she would definitely keep an eye on the Xie family and never let them get close to the Prince of the South.

The emperor clearly disliked the Prince of the South. Why hesitate to sacrifice a daughter to secure a position of imperial confidant? If the daughter were sensible, she should provide information from within and without so that the emperor could eliminate this threat. In any case, in the end, the South is still a wild and undeveloped land in the book and will not amount to much.

Today, Song Lingxi originally wanted to embarrass Xie Qinghong in public at the palace banquet, but unfortunately Xie Qinghong was not there, so she could not use her plan. She also had no interest in chatting with the noble ladies and noble women in front of her. They were all women in the inner quarters, and their vision was too narrow.

As she was lost in thought, Song Lingyun suddenly nudged her with her elbow and whispered, "Her Majesty the Empress is talking about you. Listen carefully."

It turned out that the Empress had struck up a conversation with Madam Cui, mentioning that the Cui family bookstore had recently published a collection of essays, the first of which, "Ode to Tea," was quite excellent. As they talked, she learned that it was written by the second daughter of the Censor-in-Chief, so she asked her to get up so she could see what it looked like.

Song Lingxi rose and bowed. The Empress then asked her to compose a poem for all the ladies in public, using the freshly served bamboo shoots as the theme. After pondering for a moment, Song Lingxi recited aloud: "Tender bamboo shoots and fragrant buds emerge from the forest, their price in the capital as heavy as gold. Countless bamboo shoots must be found in the capital, yet I cannot bear to cut off even a sliver of their soaring spirit."

As soon as she finished speaking, the entire hall fell silent. Song Lingxi sensed something was wrong. Was this poem not good? She looked up to see the Empress's expression when Song Lingyun suddenly stood up and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I was nervous. I thought this poem was appropriate for the occasion, so I recited it to the ladies." After speaking, she gently touched Song Lingxi with her hand hidden in her sleeve. Song Lingxi realized what she had done wrong.

So this poem was actually written by someone! How is that possible? Logically speaking, given the background of the Sheng Dynasty, the poet who wrote this poem shouldn't even exist yet. How could this author be so lacking in common sense?

Song Lingxi's face paled. She wanted to compose another poem, but due to extreme nervousness, she couldn't recall any other lines describing bamboo shoots. Embarrassed, she stood in the main hall, cold sweat pouring down her face. Song Lingyun timely came to her rescue, saying that she had been inspired by her sister and had just composed a poem about bamboo shoots, thus covering up the situation.

After this incident, the atmosphere among the female guests became somewhat somber. The Empress did not call on any other young ladies to rise and answer, but only spoke to the ladies nearby. When speaking to Madam Xie Liang Yu, she couldn't help but ask about Xie Qinghong: "I heard that Qinghong was injured?"

“She was frightened that day and scraped her knee,” Liang Yu sighed. “She’s been pampered by the imperial concubines and needs to rest and recuperate.”

The Empress nodded and said, "Indeed, young ladies should be pampered. There is some white jade ointment in the palace for removing scars and beautifying the skin. Take it back for Qinghong to use."

"On behalf of Qinghong, I thank Your Majesty the Empress."

Hearing this, Song Lingxi felt increasingly resentful. Why did these people always favor Xie Qinghong? She had only scraped her knee, and the Empress bestowed upon her white jade ointment, while she herself had been grazed by a stray arrow while saving Xie Qingzhou, and her arm was still not healed, yet Madam Xie didn't even bother to inquire about it, acting as if nothing had happened. This was how the Xie family treated their benefactors who had saved their lives? She had misjudged them—Madam Xie was clearly no saint herself, having raised such a spoiled daughter as Xie Qinghong.

Little did she know, Liang Yu was completely unaware of this incident. He had only heard from his son that someone had been injured during the spring plowing season due to carelessness, and he never imagined that his mischievous son would one day be "rescued." Even Xie Qingzhou, he had never considered that Song Lingxi had rushed up to save him that day; he had assumed she wanted to claim credit for saving him.

However, Song Lingxi quickly stopped thinking about it. While she was out for some fresh air during the banquet, she overheard two noble ladies whispering about her outside the hall, saying that she was all show and no substance. She was furious and about to argue with them when Song Lingyun, who came out a step behind her, stopped her: "If you want to embarrass yourself, then go ahead."

She stopped in her tracks, only to find that one of the noble ladies had turned around, and one of them was none other than the female lead, Zheng Yingluo. Zheng Yingluo was not surprised to see the two sisters and smiled, "We were just talking about Lingxi. It's nothing serious. It's understandable that Lingxi is nervous at her first palace banquet, but no matter how nervous she is, she can't just recite someone else's poem as her own."

Having been reborn, Zheng Yingluo has shed her naivety and innocence from her previous life. She no longer harbors any affection for Qin Erlang. Feeling that she has seen through the ways of the world, she looks down on the little girl's attempt to show off her literary talent. She even tries to imitate her by dressing as a man, which is truly a case of trying to draw a tiger but ending up with a dog.

Song Lingxi's eyes immediately welled up with tears: "I'm sorry..."

Zheng Yingluo interrupted her with a smile: "Why are you crying? No one is laughing at you, Lingyun. I never believed you when you said your sister was shy, but I didn't expect this. Sigh, I shouldn't have been so blunt."

Song Lingxi nearly ground her teeth to powder. Her eyes flickered as she caught sight of a figure faintly visible behind a pillar. Remembering the plot of the book, she adopted a resolute expression and said, "I fear not being shattered to pieces, but only wish to leave my innocence in the world! I, Song Lingxi, have acted with integrity and uprightness. If you desire my reputation as a talented woman, then so be it!"