Chapter 378: A lucky draw at the poetry gathering? The first prize goes to the queen.

In fact, everyone in the hall was concerned about Su Zifan's question.

The main fear was that the Empress and the Emperor would suddenly appear again.

Although there are not many people wearing masks in the hall, there are many outside.

So many people were watching more and more people entering the hall while also paying attention to what was happening outside the door.

I was afraid that the emperor and the empress had arrived, but I didn't notice them.

However, the Emperor and the Empress did not arrive.

But Li Jiulang came.

Li Jiulang, as the main person in charge of the Shangyuan Poetry Festival, arrived late.

When he arrived and saw so many people had come, he naturally bowed and apologized repeatedly.

After that, it was Xia Tingyu and his group.

Xia Tingyu was still dressed like a man. His fox eyes swept around after he came in. After lingering on Su Linhan for a while, he glanced at Su Zifan, then looked at Zhou Xiaoan and smiled. After that, he greeted several elders including Prince An, as well as teachers Yao Yuanzai and Zhao Shi, and then went to his seat.

No one thought much of Xia Tingyu's arrival, but everyone's eyes were on the three people who were traveling with Xia Tingyu.

There is no need to say much about Lin Ruoyun, who ranks fourth on the poetry list.

Tan Songyan, whose appearance is only slightly inferior to Zhou Xiaoan in this hall, is also a man of some talent.

It was that Zhai Zhiqiu.

Never heard of it.

Therefore, many people took a few more glances at Zhai Zhiqiu, and those who were familiar with Lin Ruoyun and Tan Songyan, after a round of greetings, began to inquire about Zhai Zhiqiu.

Xia Tingyu heard all of this, but didn't care. He just looked towards Su Linhan.

Seeing Xia Tingyu looking over, Su Zifan was shocked: "This girl's eyes are much more powerful than when she was a child. No wonder Chen Xin told me to avoid her when I see her."

Su Linhan heard it from the side but didn't say anything. She was just thinking about what happened between her and Lian Wei.

But suddenly Su Linhan felt that her father was looking at her, but when she raised her head and looked at Su Zimu.

Su Zimu immediately turned back and remained silent.

Su Linhan immediately put a big question mark in her head.

Xia Tingyu looked at Liu Donglai, Zhang Weisong, and Zuo Cunxu.

The first two are okay, and have a strong scholarly feel.

As for Zuo Cunxu, Xia Tingyu found him quite interesting.

Finally, Xia Tingyu looked at Zhou Xiaoan.

but.

When Her Highness the Princess looked at Zhou Xiaoan, she couldn't help but frowned.

Hmm~~

Others sat down, either cross-legged or took a small stool and sat on it, which made it look like they were sitting on the ground and their legs didn't feel numb.

but

You, Zhou Xiaoan, are a man, what does it mean for you to sit on your side?

"What a monster!" Xia Tingyu couldn't help but say.

Zhou Xiaoan seemed to feel Xia Tingyu's gaze. He turned around and stood up, holding a round fan and bowed to Xia Tingyu. Then he sat down again. Without speaking to the people around him, he looked at the door and then at Su Linhan.

Xia Tingyu no longer paid attention to Zhou Xiaoan. After all, he had seen Zhou Xiaoan like this before. It was just that after she put on the lip rouge, she looked more and more charming.

but.

Looking at Zhou Xiaoan, Xia Tingyu thought of Su Changan for no reason.

In terms of appearance, Zhou Xiaoan is naturally ranked first among the men in the hall, but if the women are included, he is a little behind.

But

Xia Tingyu's mind once again reappeared the fleeting moment when Su Changan passed by her that day.

Although it was only a moment, that moment was charming, seductive, shocking, and like a spring breeze.

There is really no comparison.

Xia Tingyu glanced at Zhou Xiaoan and sighed. If Su Changan just sat there, he would be so charming to the core!

Thinking of this, Xia Tingyu looked at Chen Xin at the next table.

But when he looked over, he found that Chen Xin was gone. When he looked again, he found that he had run to Su Zifan's side without knowing when, and even pulled Xia Yaomo with him.

This made Xia Tingyu puff out his cheeks and feel a little angry. It was so hard for the brother and sister to meet, but they couldn't just have a good chat.

At this time.

Seeing that almost all the guests for the poetry party had arrived in the hall, Li Jiulang glanced at the sky outside and saw that it was already dusk. He picked up his wine glass, stood up and said, "Everyone!"

Li Jiulang spoke.

The people who were originally talking with their friends, or other people, had returned to their respective seats and looked at Li Jiulang in unison.

Li Jiulang holds a wine glass in his hand: "Today is the Lantern Festival. Lord Wei and I have specially set up a banquet on the orders of the Queen to entertain you all. First, we appreciate your poems and second, we celebrate the festival together. The Queen specifically ordered that if she comes late, there is no need to wait for her and Your Majesty. We can start first. Let's celebrate the festival together. There is no distinction between high and low status. It's best to drink and chat happily!"

Lord Wei Jiuwei on the side also stood up.

After saying that, Li Jiulang and Wei Jiu drank it all in one gulp.

When the guests saw this, they all picked up their wine glasses and drank them all.

Just as Li Jiulang drank the glass of wine, the music started again, and several servants came out carrying something that looked like a rotating lantern.

Wei Jiu looked at the puzzled eyes of the crowd and said with a smile: "Everyone, the Queen said that although it is a poetry gathering, it is still a bit monotonous. Moreover, today is the Lantern Festival, so we have to wait until night to enjoy the lanterns. However, how can we miss lantern riddles? That's why the Queen specially asked the two of us to make this little thing."

As he spoke, Wei Jiu gently grasped the rotating handle and turned it slightly. Immediately, a folded note fell out.

There was a word "Fu" written on the note.

Wei Jiu picked up the note and said, "You all should know that the Queen has created many small games for the palace maids in the palace to let them draw lots for good fortune. The Queen has also asked us to create one here. A piece of paper is a lantern riddle. If you answer it correctly, you can exchange it for a lottery code."

When Wei Jiu talked about the lottery codes, he still felt weird, just like when he first heard the Queen talk about this.

Li Jiulang added: "The Queen said that the difficulty of the riddles varies, it all depends on luck. If you are lucky, all the riddles are the simplest. If you are unlucky, don't blame anyone. Of course, there is also a piece of paper with the word "Grand Prize" written on it. If you draw it, you will get the special prize. As for the prizes, I, Li Jiulang, am from a poor family and I really can't afford anything."

Everyone was immediately interested when they heard what Wei Jiu and Li Jiulang said. Even Master Zhao, Master Yao, Li Chunfang, Cao Shen and the others wanted to join in the fun, but they were still a little confused about the prize.

Especially when I heard Li Jiulang say, I, Li Jiulang, come from a poor family.

Everyone immediately looked at him with disdain. What nonsense are you talking about? Li Jiulang, you come from a poor family? ! Are there still rich people in Daxia?

Wei Jiu smiled and said, "Her Majesty said that there will be prizes for participation, it's just a matter of how much. But I want to tell you that the other prizes are just antique calligraphy and paintings, but the grand prize is the [Water Melody·When Will the Bright Moon Appear] written by Her Majesty herself."

As for the grand prize, it was Li Jiulang and Wei Jiu who asked Su Changan to arrange it.

At that time, after Su Changan told them about this, they naturally found it interesting, but when it came to the prize.

Li Jiulang directly stepped forward and said that he could prepare the prizes, but the grand prize required the Queen's calligraphy.

Su Changan heard this and immediately said, "No one wants it. I know people outside want it very much, but it doesn't feel good to use it as a prize."

Then, Li Jiulang vowed, "My queen, any of the poems you wrote yourself, such as "Shui Tiao Ge Tou" or "Jun Bu Jian", will surely attract everyone."

As expected!

As soon as Wei Jiu said this, everyone immediately became energized.

Don't talk about the value.

The "Water Melody: When Will the Bright Moon Appear" written by the Empress herself is like a treasure that will be passed down from generation to generation!

It is enough to be passed down to future generations!

Xu Zuiyin has been busy these days. He never interferes with things he doesn't understand, but he has been studying Su Changan's calligraphy and poetry. The more he studies, the more he finds them amazing!

But it is a bit difficult to copy it, mainly because there are too few words.

Therefore, upon hearing this, Xu Zuiyin immediately stood up and said, "May I ask, Lord Wei, you just said that there is a special prize note inside this lantern. If I draw it, I will get the [Song of Water Melody] written by the Empress herself?"

Wei Jiu smiled and said, "Mr. Xu, the queen said that you can discuss with her for other special prizes. And if you win the special prize, you can also participate in the grand prize draw."

As soon as these words came out.

There was an uproar again.

Doesn’t this mean that the Empress can also write other things?

for example

[Have you not seen that the water of the Yellow River comes from the sky]!

And if you're luckier, there's a chance you can get them all.

Suddenly!

Everyone in the hall was eager to try.

Zhou Xiaoan, who had been silent all this time, stood up, bowed to everyone, and said, "In that case, I will throw out some ideas first."

After saying that, he looked at Li Jiulang and Wei Jiu and bowed again.

Wei Jiu gently turned the joystick.

immediately

The origami fell down.

Zhou Xiaoan stared at the ball of paper with sharp eyes.

The people around also came over to watch.

But unfortunately, after opening it, what was written on it was a riddle, not the unique word "grand prize".

Zhou Xiaoan also sighed, but it didn't matter. He put the round fan in front of his mouth and said, "Please ask the two adults."

Li Jiulang looked at the question in his hand and said with a smile: "Why did you pick a difficult one?"

After that, he looked at Zhou Xiaoan and read out the title on the paper: "Two shapes in one, four branches and eight heads. Four eights and one eight, the flying spring flows upwards."

After hearing this topic, everyone present, who were all quick-witted, fell into deep thought.

Among them, Master Yao smiled immediately and knew the answer.

However, many people frowned as they couldn't think of what the word was.

Su Zifan asked his elder brother and niece.

But Su Zimu was drawing gently with his hands, when he suddenly realized something and whispered the answer to Su Zifan, who was surprised.

Zhou Xiaoan smiled at this time: "But it's the word 'jing' for well water."

As soon as these words were spoken, many people suddenly understood.

Two shapes in one refers to the fact that the character "井" is composed of two horizontal and two vertical lines. The two horizontal and two vertical lines are like the "limbs" of a person, and when they are crossed, eight heads appear, so it is said to be "four limbs and eight heads". "Four eights and one eight" add up to five eights, or forty, and the character "井" is exactly four tens when it is split. "Flying springs flowing upward" refers to the situation of drawing water from a well and flowing from the bottom to the top.

"That's great." Someone couldn't help but sigh.

In Daxia, riddles have only been around for a few decades, but we thought the riddle-making techniques were clever enough. We never expected that riddles could be made in this way.

Li Jiulang took out another piece of paper with the number 21 written on it. After handing it to Zhou Xiaoan, Li Jiulang said, "When the poetry gathering is about to end today, we will use this trick to draw a lottery. The number drawn will be the number that wins the grand prize, and so on."

Zhou Xiaoan took the paper, bowed, and was about to leave, but he looked at Li Jiulang: "Master Li, may I ask who wrote this riddle?"

Li Jiulang immediately said, "These were all written by the Queen, and we copied them down."

When everyone heard this, they were secretly amazed.

Zhou Xiaoan was even more surprised. He bowed again and turned to leave.

When everyone looked at Zhou Xiaoan's charming appearance, although each of them was a little bit unbearable, the admiration in their eyes was not stingy.

The riddle has been answered so easily, which is something that no ordinary person can do.

but.

Thinking of this wonderful riddle, everyone was filled with emotion. It was truly wonderful and amazing, and she was truly worthy of being the Queen.

There are also ways to play lottery, which is novel!

I don't know how the lady came up with these ideas.

but

Now that there is the first person, there will naturally be the second person. Besides, the grand prize and the special prize are so tempting!

The second person to participate was Cao Shen. However, this Minister of Rites was lucky as he drew a simple riddle, "half true, half false". He did not even need to think about it and directly answered the word "value".

Then it was Master Yao's turn, but the riddle he drew was not about guessing words, but about a festival, 'In early September, the geese begin to fly, and one must return home with a head full of chrysanthemums'.

Mr. Yao naturally thought of the Double Ninth Festival first.

But because of this, Li Jiulang and Wei Jiu immediately told everyone that what the Queen wrote was not only riddles, but also many other things.

Everyone became more and more interested and urged them to start quickly.

Hence.

This moment

The atmosphere in the hall became lively.

Those who guessed correctly naturally got the number plate, while those who didn’t guess correctly could only stand at the back and queue up again.

Yan Shu, Zuo Shaoweng and their group are not all here today.

People like Liu Xuan, Liu Sanbai, Wei Zijian and others did not come, mainly because they did not receive an invitation.

The reason why Yan Shu and Zuo Shaoweng were able to come was because of their relationship with the top three.

As for Levi, he is here because of his father.

but.

Yan Shu was lucky. The riddle he drew was not difficult and he answered it easily.

Zuo Shaoweng’s question was a little more difficult, but he still managed to answer it.

But Li Wei was not able to do so. It was an idiom riddle, and he couldn't think of the answer. Not only him, but also Yan Shu and others had not thought of it either. So he had to queue up again.

But there were more than twenty or thirty people, and the special prize note had not come out, so Levi was thinking that he could win the special prize!

Gu Chiyu walked up to Yan Shu.

Yan Shu saw that Gu Chiyu didn't have a number plate in his hand, so he couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you going to participate?"

Gu Chiyu shook his head: "I am working with Lord Li and his people, I cannot participate, otherwise it will cause gossip and bring bad reputation to the queen."

Yan Shu nodded.

Then he looked down at his sign with the word '60' on it and handed it to Gu Chiyu: "Then you take this. I don't know if I can win."

Gu Chiyu raised an eyebrow and looked at Yan Shu, then smiled and said to Yan Shu: "Is this what you want to give me?"

Yan Shu was stunned for a moment, feeling a little overwhelmed. He was really not good at matters between men and women, so he turned to Zuo Shaoweng for help.

Little did he know that Zuo Shao Weng had already left when Gu Chiyu just came over.

Gu Chiyu looked at Yan Shu's flustered look and smiled gently.

But then you have to speak.

Mu Xu's voice came from the screen behind the door: "Hey, what are you doing with so many people surrounding you?"

Everyone turned their heads and saw Mu Xu with narrowed eyes and a grin on his face, followed by Xun Kuang, and then...

Um?

When everyone saw the person walking with Ji Shuying, they were all startled because the person was wearing a bamboo hat and a veil, and Ji Shuying looked very respectful, and Xun Siye also looked respectful.

She has a graceful figure, and is a woman.

Thinking of this, a few people stood up silently.

It doesn’t matter whether she is the Empress or not. What matters is that you should be well prepared for the ceremony to avoid being rude.

Seeing everyone looking at them like this, Mu Xu couldn't help but say, "What are you looking at? Many of you have seen my junior sister Pei Nanzhi, haven't you?"

As soon as these words came out.

The woman wearing the straw hat took it off and bowed to everyone.

Some people breathed a sigh of relief immediately.

I thought it was the Queen!

but.

Even if she isn't the Queen, this is scary enough!

Pei Nanzhi, the second person on the poetry list.

Moreover, in terms of knowledge, he is not inferior to those teachers in the Imperial College. He was as famous as Mr. Shuiyun in the past. But now, they cannot be compared because they take different paths.

He had achieved great success and was the top scholar of that year.

Just because she didn't want to be an official, after resigning, she went to Changyang to study. The late Queen Mother even personally awarded her a residence in Changyang. She seldom came out since then, but her poems have always appeared in the market, and it is said that her most recent poem was bought by a wealthy businessman for more than 1,300 taels of silver!

This is still the cheapest!

Mu Xu looked at Ji Shuying and said, "Take your teacher to sit down."

Ji Shuying nodded.

Pei Nanzhi looked curiously at the lantern that was spinning paper strips in the hall, and then looked at the number plates in everyone's hands.

When Pei Nanzhi looked at her like this, she reached out and gently lifted her hair, and then the bracelet appeared from her clothes.

But I don’t know if it’s a bracelet.

Because it is made up of seven or eight small dice.

It is somewhat puzzling that a man of letters, or a famous scholar, would wear such a bracelet.

Mu Xu, on the other hand, looked at his troublesome junior sister, shook his head and said, "So what are you doing? What is that?"

Mu Xu also noticed the lantern turntable and was a little curious.

But haven't left yet.

Mu Xu saw that everyone in the hall stood up and looked at him. He said, "So you were looking at me and doing this and that just now. I am the chief academic officer of the Imperial College. Why do I think it's so strange to be here? You people are really something!"

When Mu Xu finished speaking.

Mu Xu heard a familiar voice.

"Master Jijiu, why are you standing here instead of going in?"

In addition to this voice, there was another one.

"Mu Xu, don't block the way."

This voice is also familiar.

Mu Xu swallowed.

In just a moment, Mu Xu immediately understood why these people suddenly said nothing and stared at him.

Immediately!

Mu Xu turned around and immediately bowed: "Greetings to Your Majesty, and to the Queen."

…

PS: I am trying to adjust my normal schedule and return to updating during the day, but it may be a bit difficult.

(End of this chapter)