On the third day after the Dragon Boat Festival banquet, the late spring sunshine streamed through every corner of the General's Mansion like honey. Outside the Linshui Pavilion, a century-old sycamore tree stretched its branches, casting subtle light and shadows on the bluestone pavement, like a natural ink painting. Shen Weiwan reclined on the Xiangfei bamboo couch, her silver hairpin deftly picking a crystal-clear lychee. Her red lips pursed, and she idly swung her toes, embroidered with twin lotus flowers. The gold thread on her skirt flickered with her movements, like a flowing galaxy.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded outside the moon-shaped door, as if someone was running on the bluestone bricks. Then, Chuntao's breathless cry penetrated the carved wooden door: "Miss! Miss! Something big has happened—"

The bamboo couch made a long, drawn-out creaking sound, and Shen Weiwan sat up straight. With a flick of her fingertips, the peeled lychee flesh fell squarely into Chuntao's open mouth with a "pop." She raised an eyebrow and glanced at her maid. Chuntao's hair was askew, a few strands clinging to her sweaty forehead, and her embroidered shoes were stained with fresh mud. She looked both disheveled and comical. A playful smile played at the corner of Shen Weiwan's mouth. "What are you panicking about? Could it be that old hag Liu has been mixing croton powder into my rouge box again?"

"It's even stranger than that!" Chun Tao, not even bothering to chew the lychee in her mouth, reached into her bosom and rummaged around for a moment before pulling out a wrinkled piece of rice paper. On it lay the words "Champer Pot Poem," still wet in ink, the crooked handwriting revealing a hint of haste. "Just now, a scholar in a lake-blue gown came through the back door, holding this poem and insisting on seeing you. He said he'd pay ten taels of silver for the copyright!"

"Ten taels?" Shen Weiwan stood up suddenly, causing the bamboo couch to shake violently and make a protesting sound. The pearl tassel hairpin on her temples flashed a silver light with her movements, reflecting tiny rays of light in the sunlight. Shen Weiwan's beautiful eyes widened, with excitement flashing in her eyes: "Just buy a doggerel poem criticizing the sour Confucian scholars?" She suddenly slapped her thigh, startling the sparrows perched on the treetops and sending them flying in all directions, shaking the wisteria flowers on the trellis to fall, and the pink and purple petals fell like raindrops. "Yes! Chuntao, quickly get my snail ink and cicada wing paper! Copy one hundred copies of all the 'Spider Web Poems', 'Chamber Pot Poems' and 'Toilet Poems' that I have written, and we will set up a stall on Suzaku Street!"

Chun Tao's eyes widened, her fingertips twisting the handkerchief nervously, almost causing wrinkles at the corners. "Miss, this... this is not okay! How can a noble lady sell poetry on the street? If this gets out, she'll be impeached by the Censorate!"

"Impeachment?" Chen Weiwan deftly pulled a half-worn blue cloth skirt from the camphorwood box and changed in the blink of an eye. She removed her hair, adorned with pearls and jade, replacing it with a simple silver hairpin. She adjusted her hair in front of the bronze mirror, a sly smile playing on her lips. She swung the palm-sized Pisces jade pendant at her waist, like a successful thief. "I'm determined to be the first noblewoman in the capital to sell poetry! The title of my poetry collection is: 'The Stupid Poetry Collection of the Capital's Most Talented Woman!' And the subtitle is: See how a naive and innocent woman turns into a mudslide in the poetry world!"

Half an hour later, a simple but eye-catching bookstall was quietly set up opposite the busiest silk shop on Zhuque Street. Shen Weiwan wore a green gauze veil hat, revealing only a pair of rolling almond eyes, and her smart eyes seemed to hide stars. She deliberately exposed a corner of her pomegranate red skirt under the veil hat, and the bright red swayed outside the green cloth skirt, like the most gorgeous flower in spring, and like a piece of sweet honey, attracting the attention of passers-by. Chuntao held up a temporary sign made of a wooden board, on which was written crookedly in cinnabar: "Collection of doggerel poems by Shen Cainu, ten cents a poem, buy five get one free." She was so nervous that her voice was trembling, but she still mustered up the courage to shout: "Look, look! The poems written by the eldest daughter of the general's mansion are more exciting than the storytelling jokes in the teahouse-"

At first, passersby glanced curiously, thinking it was some poor scholar selling his writings. Then an old scholar with a goatee and a gray gown came over with his hands behind his back. He stroked his beard, glanced at the manuscript, and sneered: "'The chamber pot has a big belly and a small mouth'? Such vulgar language dares to be called poetry? It's a disgrace to society!"

"Old sir, please read carefully!" Chen Weiwan suddenly lifted a corner of her veil, revealing half her delicate face. The old scholar instinctively took a step back. She shook the manuscript in her hand, her voice as clear as a silver bell, each word laced with a playful smile. "Do you know that this poem contains the story of the prince spending fifty taels to buy a chamber pot for his favorite concubine? And that 'toilet poem', it amused the current emperor so much that he awarded it a jade ruyi on the spot!"

The moment these words were spoken, the crowd erupted in excitement, like a stone dropped into boiling oil. Several noble ladies who had attended the Spring Festival banquet covered their mouths with round fans, their brows curved in laughter, their folding fans waving like fallen leaves in the autumn wind. The old man selling candied haws put down his load, pulled out two copper coins with his rough hands, and grinned, "Girl, write me a poem that criticizes the sour Confucianists! Go home and read it to my son, a scholar, so he'll know that studying is not just a facade!"

Just as business was picking up, a sharp cry suddenly rang out from the corner of the street: "Stop it! How dare you do this in broad daylight!" Liu arrived, accompanied by Shen Ruorou, in a menacing manner, followed by four burly servants. The scarlet-gold phoenix hairpin on Liu's head tilted to the side as she hurried, and the pearls on her hairpin swayed, making her expression even more ferocious. She pointed at the bookstall with a jade-armored finger, her fingertips trembling with anger: "Chen Weiwan! As the eldest daughter of the General's family, you're selling vulgar poetry and prose in the street! You're a disgrace to your ancestors!"

Shen Weiwan was not in a hurry. She slowly put the copper coins into the bamboo basket one by one, and deliberately counted them three times in front of everyone. The sound of the copper coins colliding was crisp and pleasant, as if playing a victory melody. A sarcastic arc appeared at the corner of her lips: "What you said, aunt, the ten cents I earned from selling poems are much cleaner than the silver you withheld from the treasury." As she said, she suddenly pulled out another piece of paper from under the stall, on which was the "admonition letter" that Liu had sent the day before. Although the handwriting was beautiful, there was a lot of calculation between the lines. Shen Weiwan raised the letter paper, with a cunning light in her eyes, "How about I sell some of this? The title is "The Hundred Faces of Hypocritical Aunt", how about buying ten poems and getting a chapter of exclusive news?"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!