The two children paused for a moment, disturbed by Gu Jiaojiao's voice.
All eyes immediately turned to the women of the Pingyang Marquis's residence.
Madam Hou immediately covered Gu Jiaojiao's mouth and whispered angrily, "Shut up!"
Liu Yiyi and Li Ranran exchanged glances, encouraging the two little ones to continue reciting.
Peach and plum blossoms bloom, but no one comes to see them.
The best time to see flowers is when the peony is in bloom.
Peony blossoms increase the price of wine.
The travelers had not yet returned home by midnight.
...
He recited five poems about peonies in one go, drawing continuous applause from the audience.
Not only is the poem excellent, perfectly capturing the unparalleled beauty of the Queen of Flowers, but the two children also possess excellent manners, great courage, and fluent recitation skills. Despite their young age, they display the demeanor of masters.
Emperor Hui immediately shouted "Reward!" and Hua Zisheng had already ordered people to bring up the rewards that had been prepared.
Each of the two young men had a set of writing implements; Liu Yiyi had a jade-inlaid butterfly and flower hairpin, and Li Ranran had a gilded kingfisher-shaped hairpin.
After being rewarded, the four happily returned to their respective family and relatives' quarters.
His Majesty was pleased and specially rewarded the two children with two plates of pastries. Liu Xian took the pastries and offered them to the elders: "Auntie, eat; Grandmother, eat; Mother, eat."
The Empress was pleased and said, "This child is filial. He should come to the palace more often in the future."
Madam Liu immediately knelt down with her little baby and kowtowed to express her gratitude.
Xie Zhaozhao watched Liu Xian receive the reward, she just smiled faintly, her eyes habitually lowered, sitting quietly, her eyes catching the dramatic change in Gu Chengyan and Gu Jiaojiao's expressions out of the corner of her eye.
But then she heard Xie Xiangxiang pleading softly with Madam Xu, "Mother, please let me go and take a look?"
Madam Xu held her tightly, scolding her in a low voice, "His Majesty and the Empress are both up there, why are you running away?"
"But Mother, look, Gu Jiaojiao is pale and about to cry."
"Let her cry, can't you just pretend you don't see it?"
The performance continued, and Gu Chengyan and Gu Jiaojiao were extremely anxious. The brother and sister pretended to go to the toilet and secretly left the Imperial Garden.
"Brother, what should we do? How could they know the poems in advance? They've already recited them all. Why don't you compose a few more right away?"
Gu Chengyan's mind was also in turmoil. He clutched his hair, his face pale, and whispered, "Jiaojiao, you immediately go out of the palace gates and find your sister-in-law. Oh, right, it's Fugui who came with me this morning. That's your sister-in-law in disguise. Ask her for the poem..."
Gu Jiaojiao's sadness was completely disrupted, and she exclaimed in surprise, "She's dressed as a man?"
"Stop talking nonsense, go now!"
"Brother, the poems weren't written by you?" What's going on?
“If you don’t want to die, go find her right now. If we can’t come up with a new poem today, we won’t be able to plug this hole.”
"But she might not be able to come up with it!"
"Stop arguing, go already!"
Gu Chengyan started to get angry. What kind of time is this to be spouting nonsense?
Gu Jiaojiao stamped her foot and immediately left the palace.
They looked for Guan Yingying by the carriage, but couldn't find her.
Where did they go?
Gu Chengyan was so anxious in the Imperial Garden that he couldn't even wipe the cold sweat from his forehead. Several times the old lady spoke to him, but he was absent-minded and kept looking towards the entrance.
A short while later, Shi Xiu, the Crown Prince's chief attendant, came over and said with a smile, "Young Master Gu, it's about to officially begin. His Highness wants to see you."
Gu Chengyan pulled him aside and said in a low voice, "Eunuch Shi, how could the five peony poems that my sister and I prepared have been recited by the Liu family's grandson?"
"What? You're saying those two children were reciting your poem?" Shi Xiu was shocked. Why didn't Prince Gu point this out sooner?
"Come with me quickly." Shi Xiu didn't want to argue with him about how the poems were leaked; the important thing was to get to the Crown Prince and cover it up.
Gu Chengyan hurriedly followed Shi Xiu to the waiting room. A moment later, the Crown Prince followed Shi Xiu in, his face grim: "Young Master Gu, what's going on?"
Gu Chengyan knelt down in front of the Crown Prince with a thud and said in fear, "I don't know what happened. The five poems that Liu Xian and Li Tang recited were peony poems that my sister and I had prepared beforehand. I can swear to heaven that we really didn't tell anyone else."
The Crown Prince's mind went blank for a moment. He sat down, calmed himself down, and said to Shi Xiu, "Go and find the Duchess of Yingguo and ask Prince Li where he got those poems."
Shi Xiu quickly brought the news back, and when he came, he also brought a collection of poems with him.
The prince was a little confused when he saw the cover. Someone had shown him the book that morning and said the poems inside were good.
He was too busy, and poetry was neither a source of sustenance nor a means of warding off enemies. Anyway, Gu Chengyan wrote about the Peony Pavilion, so it didn't matter whether he read it or not.
I just tossed it onto the table and didn't even look at it!
Now he opened the book, and sure enough, it began with five poems about peonies.
The prince flipped through the book for a while and found that the author was not signed, nor was the compiler's name; only the words "Anonymous" were written.
There's no time to replace someone or compose a new poem on the spot. Looking at the terrified Gu Chengyan, he said persistently, "You only need to compose two poems, one for the opening and one for the closing. Compose one now, and another for the closing. I can extend the flower festival and give you enough time to finish the second one. Is that alright?"
Gu Chengyan said tremblingly, "I am currently in a state of mental turmoil and cannot think of a better poem..."
"It doesn't need to be particularly good, just enough to get by."
The Crown Prince did not understand poetry, nor was he interested in it. The reason he fawned over Gu Chengyan was because Gu Chengyan's original poems were quite popular.
Most literati are skilled in poetry and take pride in their excellent writing. He used Gu Chengyan to win over literati from all over the world.
However, with the event about to begin, the quality of the poems is not important; what matters is that the event proceeds smoothly.
Even if it's just a mess of vomit, people will only criticize Gu Chengyan for losing his talent, not the Crown Prince for poor planning.
Gu Chengyan was no poet; he couldn't even come up with a poem to get by. He just hoped his sister would arrive quickly, much faster.
"Your Highness, could you please delay a little longer? I must compose an even better one." That was all he could say.
He was mentally calculating when Gu Jiaojiao would arrive.
“We can’t delay,” the Crown Prince said with a grim face. “Gu Chengyan, if you really can’t do it, I will call that talented scholar from Jiangnan, Ling Xun, to take charge.”
"No, no, Your Highness, I will think of something right away."
The Crown Prince went out, but he didn't think highly of Gu Chengyan. Just in case, he said to Shi Xiu, "If Prince Gu can't think of anything, then start with the peony poem in this book. Anyway, it was written by Prince Gu, so it doesn't matter if it's leaked in advance."
Although leaks are not uncommon, a good poem is a good poem, and we should openly say that this poem was written by Gu Chengyan.
So what if it wasn't written by Prince Gu? Anyway, the "anonymous" compiler can't enter the Imperial Garden. After the flower festival, have Gu Chengyan negotiate with him. He's just a pedantic scholar; kill him.
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