"Whatever is taught in the Imperial College is better than anything else." The girl said casually.
"In the Imperial College, etiquette, music, poetry, calligraphy, painting, chess, horse riding and archery are all taught—" Song Xian's eyes seemed to see through the girl's intention: "Madam Chang, do you want to compete in calligraphy and painting?"
After all, the most praised work of this girl from the Chang family is the painting of a tiger walking in the forest.
Although he had not seen it yet, he knew that she had some skills in calligraphy and painting, but if she wanted to compare with this, he would not be afraid.
After all, the best for women and the best for men are different.
Song Xian looked calm.
But the girl shook her head.
"Not calligraphy and painting." She actually said, "Not riding and archery either. I am very good at both of these and have a talent for them. Even if I win, it would be unfair and I would feel guilty."
She looked like she didn't want to use her talent to bully others.
Song Xian was stunned for a moment and almost sneered out loud.
The people behind him who were members of the poetry society or the scholars who came to participate in the poetry meeting all looked at each other in confusion. Someone in the crowd sneered on behalf of Song Xian.
This young girl is not very old, but she is just beginning to make a name for herself, but her tone is not small at all!
Did she really think that just because she had made a painting and received a lot of recognition and praise, she could look down on Mr. Song, the most promising candidate in the imperial examination next spring?
But there was no contempt in the girl's eyes.
On the contrary, she seemed to be expressing her respect very seriously and trying to make the competition as fair as possible.
In the private room on the second floor, someone was standing in front of the open window, just in time to take in the scene in the backyard.
Facing the girl's words, it would be a low grade to mock or ridicule her, so Song Xian said seriously, "Well, if that's the case, then we won't compare poems."
The implication is that poetry is what he is good at, and he cannot bully others - especially a girl.
Chang Suining nodded with a smile: "Okay."
In this situation, both sides were humble and courteous to each other, and at first glance, it really seemed like the courtesy of literati.
But the tension between the two parties still exists.
There were also some who came just to watch the fun, such as Tan Li and other outsiders who came to participate in the poetry reading, and they started talking in low voices at this time.
"Then what are you going to compare?"
"Ritual music?"
But the etiquette that men and women learn is different. It is said that it is taught by the Imperial College, but Ms. Chang has never really entered the Imperial College to learn etiquette, so it is still a bit bullying...
As for comparing musical instruments, this is actually a music hall...
While everyone was thinking, the girl raised her hand and pointed to the stone table beside her: "How about playing chess?"
The girl was wearing a scarlet silk skirt and had a slender figure. When she raised her hand, the shawl embroidered with cranes fluttered in the wind, making her posture seem more casual and even graceful.
The word "grace" has always been difficult for people to have such an intuitive feeling about me.
Song Xian looked at the stone table.
Playing chess is certainly more gentlemanly than playing any musical instrument, but unlike many other instruments, learning chess only requires a chess book, a chessboard, and a brain willing to study. His family was not wealthy, and since childhood he had spent almost all his time playing chess except for studying. It was one of the few elegant hobbies that could improve one's cultivation and temperament without spending too much money.
Later, he got to know more people who were good at chess, and step by step he became a juren, went to the capital, and entered the Imperial Academy. He had more good teachers and friends around him, and his chess skills improved day by day.
The other party is a lady from the capital, and learning chess is a must for her, but when it comes to chess, superficial skills are just the beginning.
The chessboard is also a world of its own, testing not only skills but also the player's mind, character, ideas, decisions, methods and vision.
Therefore, playing chess can improve one's character and is also a form of spiritual practice.
Frankly speaking, he didn't think that such a flamboyant young girl who had just come of age could understand these things.
"Ms. Chang, do you really want to play chess with Mr. Song?" he asked.
"Well, let's compare this." She said, "I'm pretty good at chess."
Someone in Xunmei Society who was familiar with Song Xian's chess skills sneered.
"Not bad" is not enough to play against Brother Song! Song Xian's face no longer showed those ups and downs: "In this case, let's play chess."
The two sides reached an agreement, and Cui Lang urged Yihu: "Go and get someone to fetch the chessboard!"
"Since we are going to compete, it would be more interesting if everyone can show off their talents." Chang Suining said.
Song Xian was on guard silently: "What kind of bet does Madam Chang want--"
He didn't have anything valuable on him... Could it be that the other party wanted to humiliate him in public? But the girl said, "It depends on who wins or loses. If I lose, I will never set foot in the Imperial College again, and Wuer Society will be disbanded."
There was a sudden noise all around.
Not only Song Xian and others were surprised, but Cui Lang and others were also shocked.
"Master, this..." Cui Lang came over and whispered tactfully, "Isn't this too risky?"
Why did the master bet on himself and the Jiju Club? He didn't want to lose his home in the Imperial College! Chang Suining disagreed: "Without stakes, no risk, no pain, no adventure, what's the fun in that?"
Cui Lang felt a pain in his heart when he heard this - of course he could gamble, but what about betting on something else? Betting his entire family on it, isn't this the behavior of a typical playboy and prodigal son?
Woo… He suddenly understood how his mother felt when she looked at him in the past! “Master…”
He wanted to say more, but saw the girl glanced at him, as if to say - if you say any more, I will crush you as well.
Cui Lang wanted to cry but had no tears, and his mouth pursed with a look of grievance.
"Very good, Madam Chang is courageous and admirable!" Someone from Xunmei Society spoke out in praise.
It seems to be a sign of agreement, but in fact it is putting people in a position of power and leaving no room for regret.
Song Xian did not comment on this, and only asked Chang Suining: "What if Song loses?"
Although the possibility is very small, he at least needs to know the other party's plan.
Chang Suining: "I heard that Mr. Song wanted to take Jijiu as his teacher before—"
After a moment of silence, everyone in Xunmei Society changed their expressions.
Is this an attempt to expose someone's scars and show off that he has Qiao Jijiu as his master?
It's just based on the original relationship, what's there to brag about? Song Xianwei pursed his lips and said, "What does Madam Chang want to say?"
"According to this statement, Mr. Song has never really worshipped anyone as his master, and he has no teacher, right?"
Song Xian looked at her.
Anyone who teaches, or an elder scholar who has helped someone, can be called a teacher, but there is no one who would actually offer a cup of tea to a teacher.
"No, so what?"
"Then Mr. Song may need a teacher soon." The girl looked at him and said, "If you lose, you can take me as your teacher, how about that?"
Song Xian almost laughed out loud.
As expected, he is still arrogant and conceited, and only cares about attracting attention! "This is clearly a rhetoric to mock Brother Song..."
"Brother Song, don't pay attention to such a ridiculous suggestion."
Amid the indignant persuasion of the crowd, Song Xian said: "Then let's make a bet on this."
No matter how ridiculous it is, it can never come true, so it can only allow the other party to show off their power verbally.
There is nothing he dare not gamble on.
Since he had agreed to compete with the opponent, there was no reason for him to back down.
He originally disdained to compete with a little girl in public, but his dissatisfaction with her had just been exposed. He needed to compete with her, and he needed to win in an upright and effortless manner.
Only in this way can his dissatisfaction seem justified and make him qualified to say those words, instead of being shameful and talking about her as a little girl only behind her back.
The chessboard was quickly set up and Song Xian had already sat down.
He did not mean to bully her. After winning, he would admit that it was unfair for him to win against a woman like her. He would not really force her to fulfill the bet, whether it was to leave the Imperial College or disband Wuershe.
He is not the aggressive type.
He just needed to prove that his dissatisfaction was justified, he just needed to dampen her self-righteous arrogance.
He was ready to win, and also ready to show the gentlemanly demeanor of a man after winning.
So he raised his hand: "Madam Chang, please go first."
Chang Suining didn't bother to be polite with him and raised his hand to take the white piece.
The two men first placed two pieces each at the diagonal positions, and then Chang Suining played first with the white pieces.
With a light "click" sound, the chessboard became a square and the chess pieces became a circle. Between the square and the circle, a new world was opened up by the white pieces in the girl's hands.
As the news spread in the music hall, more and more people came to watch.
"Who is betting on chess with whom?"
"That Mr. Song Xiansong... and a girl!"
"How do you compare with the girls?"
"It's not an ordinary girl, it's that Miss Chang..."
"That Miss Chang!"
Prince Rong, who was dressed in casual clothes, couldn't help but smile when he heard these voices: "From the words 'that Lady Chang', we can tell that Lady Chang has really become famous in the capital in just a few months, and everyone knows her."
If you think about it carefully, you will realize that few people throughout history have been able to become famous so quickly.
Could this be a sudden success by chance? "Let's go and take a look." He picked up the flute beside the table and stood up slowly.
He has always been fond of music and would come here to sit for half a day every ten days.
But I have heard elegant music every time, and it is a novelty to meet people playing chess.
As more and more people gathered around, Song Xian gradually began to feel uneasy.
If everything went as he expected, the more witnesses the better, but now...
He looked at the chessboard in front of him and the girl sitting opposite him playing chess.
The chess pieces fell one by one, and as the game became increasingly tense and dangerous, almost no one spoke, but there were occasional sighs of surprise.
The surroundings were quite quiet, with only the leaves and branches of the ginkgo tree nearby rustling in the wind.
This chess game has become a battlefield.
However, Heizi did not gain the upper hand as everyone expected.
The girl was always calm and composed. No matter how quick or slow her opponent was, the timing of her moves was almost consistent each time, as if she didn't need to think too much, and as if she was always looking at the overall situation.
Song Xian realized that this was also a kind of psychological oppression, so he reminded himself that he must deal with it calmly.
And, we must put away that contempt.
The young man sitting by the window on the second floor kept his eyes on the girl playing chess.
Her body was straight but not deliberate, and when she raised her hands and made a move, she had the momentum to deploy troops and build a world.
He couldn't see the details on the chessboard, but from the reactions of the people around him, he could tell that she played chess very well.
"…Is Grand Commander Cui listening to us?"
A suppressed voice of dissatisfaction was heard in the elegant room.
There were several middle-aged men sitting in the room, all wearing long gowns. One of them was an elder of the Cui family, and it was he who had invited Cui Jing here today.
Cui Jing had changed into his normal clothes and stood in front of the window. He did not turn around and said, "Cui Jing has made it very clear just now. It is difficult for Cui Jing to obey your orders."
"You... you are a descendant of the Cui family. Do you really want to become a minion of the Ming empress?"
"The Ming empress is monopolizing power. In order to eliminate dissidents, she willfully kills and banishes people. If this continues, the Cui family will also be in danger..."
"Since you hold the power of the Xuan Ce Army, the defense of the capital is under your control... If you use military force to persuade the empress to return power to the crown prince, you can restore peace and stability to the country!"
After listening to those heart-wrenching words, Cui Jing finally said, "The Crown Prince is young and his mind is weak. If I really rashly make a military appeal, it will only give those with ulterior motives an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Therefore, I will never agree to this."
"Then we four will be there to stabilize the situation!"
"Your Cui family will still be the leader..."
Cui Jing's expression was calm: "You have lived in the capital for a long time, and your eyes have only been on the court. You know that the overall situation in the world has changed a lot. You should know whether the four families still have the power to quell the chaos after they did in the past."
The faces of those people changed for a while: "That's because of the suppression by the Queen Ming. As long as we get rid of the Queen Ming, everything will be back to normal..."
Cui Jing still didn't turn around, and his words were cold and powerful: "Besides, the Xuan Ce Army is not Cui Jing's private property, but was founded by the late Crown Prince. If anyone wants to use it as a weapon to shake the stability of the country, Cui Jing will never agree to it."
"you……"
Someone stood up and pointed angrily at the young man's back: "You are the eldest grandson of the Cui family...but you don't care about the prosperity and decline of the whole family!"
Cui Jing was unmoved: "The rise and fall of the noble families cannot be reversed by my own strength. If you really want to survive, it is not the most difficult thing. The difficult part is that you want more than just survival--"
It is the arrogant and selfish desire to still want to be above the imperial power and stand at the top of all things.
And he couldn't let Xuan Ce's army become a knife to satisfy his selfish desires.
He is definitely not a knife.
"No need to say any more to this brat!"
"You keep saying that you are concerned about the overall interests of the country. If that is true, why would you be willing to be a lackey of the Ming Dynasty?"
"You can go out of this door and enter the palace, and tell the queen tomorrow what we said today, so that you can make more contributions!"
"You all have never hidden your intentions. This proposal has not yet been made, so why should I go and tell on you?" The young man standing in front of the window with his hands behind his back said seriously, "If I want to make a contribution, I should pretend to agree to your proposal first, and then turn against you at the critical moment, leaving you with no way out -"
"you!"
Several middle-aged men almost fell over in anger.
They should thank him for his consideration and mercy!
"You, the Cui family, have really raised a good son!"
"Da Lang, you... hey!"
The sounds of someone waving sleeves and pushing the door open to leave were heard one after another.
Watching those people leave, Yuan Xiang couldn't help but sigh: "This is rejuvenation, each and every one of them is so angry that they are like grandsons..."
Seeing the closed door, he gave affirmation: "You are indeed a nobleman. You didn't forget to close the door even when you were so angry."
As he said this, he walked behind the young man and reminded him, "Grand Commander, everyone has left. You can go back and sit down."
No need to pretend to look out the window anymore.
The young man ignored him.
Hey, isn't the Grand Commander pretending? Yuan Xiang looked over curiously.
He had vaguely heard someone playing chess early in the morning, but it was not unusual to see people playing chess in a place like this.
But...it turns out that the person playing chess with others was Madam Chang?
No wonder the Grand Commander was watching so seriously—that was the Grand Commander’s only friend playing chess with someone. Roughly speaking, it was the Grand Commander himself sitting there playing chess with someone! But why did it suddenly become noisy? Was the winner going to be decided?
Thanks to Le Sanye for the 10,000-yuan reward! Thanks to Shi Gan Dang Dang, Book Friend 20201201144042943, Book Friend 20220406221821315, Fan Bu Ming, Mu Wei Chengli and other book friends for their rewards! Thank you all for your monthly tickets~ (Good night)
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