Gu Chengyan and Gu Jiaojiao were covered in sweat. What happened? How could there be a collection of poems?
These days, Gu Chengyan is with Guan Yingying. He has poems written by Guan Yingying, so why would he go to a bookstore?
Gu Jiaojiao would never go to a bookstore. With her brother writing for her, she could just memorize the texts. Why bother reading these things?
She was preoccupied with how to dress up in a way that would make her incomparably beautiful and catch the eye of the Crown Prince and the Empress.
Originally, the Crown Prince could have let the matter slide, but Gu Jiaojiao accused Liu Xian and Li Tang of stealing their poems, and the matter began to escalate.
Madam Liu and the Duchess of England firmly demanded an explanation from the Marquis's mansion.
Crucially, Consort De also stirred things up.
Currently, there are three adult princes: the Crown Prince is the legitimate son, Prince Qi is the second son, Prince Jin is the third son, and the fourth prince, Zhou Jingyi, is still young and has not yet been granted a title.
Besides the Crown Prince, Prince Qi is the most popular candidate to inherit the throne.
Prince Qi's birth mother was Consort De.
Consort De would certainly not let go of any opportunity to sow discord between the Crown Prince and the Crown Prince.
Seeing that the peony festival was about to be ruined, she was so happy... that she dared not show her joy.
He instigated, "The Crown Prince is too kind and has been deceived by an ignorant and arrogant minister who makes excuses for him at every turn. Even if Prince Gu were to give his life to the Crown Prince, it would not be enough to repay him."
They said the Crown Prince was foolish and incapable of achieving great things, and they also wanted the Empress to kill Gu Chengyan, thus offending Grand Secretary Gu.
The Empress frowned: "Your Highness, Consort De, please be careful with your words. Your subjects are His Majesty's subjects, and any repayment must be made to His Majesty."
The two exchanged witty remarks, and just as His Majesty was about to get angry at the Crown Prince for being "too kind," Gu Jiaojiao's eyes lit up, and she came up with a new trick.
She cried and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down. These poems really are my brother's. He... he had them printed into a book and took advantage of the peony festival to exchange them for some silver."
The audience booed loudly, and Old Madam Hou wished she could throw her unfortunate granddaughter out.
The Empress found a way out and said with a smile, "Prince Gu, it's a good thing that you publish your poems and sell them to more people so that they can see them and benefit from them."
He turned to Emperor Hui and said, "Your Majesty, everyone has been looking forward to the flower festival for a long time. Shall we continue?"
Upon hearing the Empress's words, Gu Chengyan immediately kowtowed and changed his words: "Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty, and thank you for your wisdom. I am honored to be able to do something small for the students..."
Emperor Hui knew exactly what was on his mind. He had never liked Gu Chengyan, and now he loathed him even more.
However, he had to save face for his beloved Grand Secretary Gu.
He looked at the Duchess of England and the young mistress of Liu and said, "Have the young master Gu go to the Liu residence and the Duke of England's residence to apologize afterwards."
He said calmly to the Crown Prince, "Continue."
Gu Chengyan and Gu Jiaojiao immediately kowtowed to express their gratitude, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Your Majesty, I have something to say."
The empress wanted to portray the situation as peaceful, but some people refused to allow it.
One of the invited scholars stood up and knelt before the emperor: "Your Majesty, those poems were not written by Prince Gu. They were manuscripts collected by my grandfather when he traveled the world in his youth. I compiled his letters and collected 156 poems about flowers and birds, hence the title of the collection."
The man presented two stacks of original manuscripts.
One stack consisted of letters, which looked somewhat old and quite old. The handwriting in the manuscripts was inconsistent, so it seemed that they were not written by the same person.
One stack consists of new manuscripts, some handwritten and some printed, all of which are manuscripts for organizing letters.
Hua Zisheng inwardly cried out "It's all over!" but had no choice but to take the manuscript and hand it to Emperor Hui.
Emperor Hui looked at the manuscripts. The handwriting was old and worn. The two stacks of paper and the handwriting were indeed different. The revisions and refinements from the draft to the finished product were clear at a glance.
The man took out another box, which Hua Zisheng accepted and presented to Emperor Hui.
The box was full of printed typefaces. Emperor Hui gestured for Hua Zisheng to take out a few characters and print them on paper. The characters were exactly the same as those in the printed poetry collection.
What's unclear about this? The poem is someone else's poem, and the book is someone else's book.
However, for some reason, it was such a coincidence that the other side was so well prepared, as if they were waiting for Gu Chengyan to run into the line of fire.
The man seemed to have guessed what Emperor Hui was thinking and replied, "Your Majesty, I did not know that Prince Gu wanted to recite this poem. I only wanted to present the results of movable type printing to Your Majesty."
Who would have thought that Prince Gu would claim my grandfather's poems as his own, and that the poetry collection I printed was a benefit to scholars everywhere? I had no choice but to come forward and clarify.
His original intention was to present the movable type molds to His Majesty; the manuscript was for comparison purposes and not intended to target Gu Chengyan.
He only wanted to show His Majesty that this printing technique could greatly improve printing efficiency and reduce the cost of books.
The crown prince, seeing that the man was unfamiliar, asked in a sarcastic tone, "Who are you?"
The man, dressed in white, exuding elegance and grace, declared in a clear voice, “Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince, my surname is Lin, my given name is Mengzhou, I am from Zhuozhou, and I am a ninth-rank official in the Ministry of Works.”
He was a lowly errand boy in the Ministry of Works.
Emperor Hui now fully understood that no one stole Gu Shizi's poems; rather, Gu Shizi stole Lin Mengzhou's poems.
They printed a collection of poems, and the original manuscripts from decades ago are still there. Isn't it obvious who stole whose?
Looking at Gu Chengyan, with a hint of anger in her eyes, she asked, "Young Master Gu, what do you have to say?"
What could Gu Chengyan say? He had completely broken down.
What's wrong with Guan Yingying? Why is she copying other people's poems?
By the way, Lin Mengzhou's book has already been published and distributed, and I guess Guan Yingying bought a copy as well.
Stupid woman!
You scoundrel!
Terrified, he begged for mercy, "Your Majesty, please forgive me! I know I was wrong! These poems... I, I..."
They had unspeakable suffering.
“The young master Gu is a fraud and a scoundrel. He is hereby demoted from a fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Rites to a seventh-rank official, his salary is reduced for three years, and he is expelled from the palace.”
"Gu Jiaojiao is disrespectful and lies constantly. She is expelled from the palace and shall never set foot in the palace again."
Gu Jiaojiao has no chance of ever being born into the royal family again.
In her previous life, during the Peony Festival, she was betrothed to the Crown Prince's concubine. After the Crown Prince ascended the throne, she was promoted to the rank of concubine, returning to the Marquis's mansion in a yellow robe and a phoenix crown, radiating glory.
He summoned Xie Zhaozhao and said that her kneeling was not up to standard, and punished her by making her kneel in the freezing cold for five hours.
That incident left Xie Zhaozhao with joint pain in both knees, and she was unable to stand upright until her death.
In this life, Gu Jiaojiao will not have the chance to show off her power like that.
Xie Xiangxiang sat in her seat, her mind completely blank.
"How could this be? Isn't he unmatched in poetry? How could he plagiarize someone else's work?" Xie Tingting muttered to herself.
Not only Xie Tingting muttered to herself, but everyone present who knew about the marriage alliance between the Xie family and the Marquis's family also looked around for members of the Xie family.
Madam Xu's face was extremely ugly; she had lost all face and dignity.
Xie Zhaozhao has always been very well-mannered, and no one could tell that this incident had any impact on her.
She glanced at Lin Mengzhou, who seemed completely unconcerned. What was his relationship with Dong Qin?
The arrangements were so meticulous, and the evidence so complete, striking at Gu Chengyan's Achilles' heel, leaving him no chance of recovery. How could he be just a lowly ninth-rank official?
As she pondered to herself, she heard Emperor Hui say calmly, "I've heard there's a scholar named Ling Xun who writes excellent poetry. Is he here?"
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