Since it is a flower viewing banquet, the focus must be on the flowers.
The only place that can provide a large amount of flowers for everyone to appreciate at this time of year is the Princess's place.
Although the eldest princess destroyed all the orchids because of the orchid incident, the flower viewing banquet still had to be held every year, so she replanted other exotic flowers and plants the following year.
The eldest princess was also very clear that as the emperor's sister, her identity was actually quite embarrassing.
Once Li Zhuo is gone in the future and a new emperor ascends the throne, her identity as the eldest princess will no longer be so useful.
So while Li Zhuo is still in power, she should find ways to improve her reputation. This will only benefit her and not harm her.
So after a few years of silence, she plans to host the flower viewing banquet in person again this year.
"The eldest princess!"
Speaking of the eldest princess, Wei Caier's eyes showed awe and envy.
Although the eldest princess does not have a good reputation in the capital, in the minds of the girls, her image is very glorious.
After all, there are not many people in the Great Qi Dynasty who can live as freely as the eldest princess.
Chen Bijun also said excitedly: "I haven't seen the eldest princess for a long time. I am so lucky today."
As they were talking, the two of them had already walked into the eldest princess's garden, walked along the corridor, and soon arrived at the place for the flower viewing banquet.
Now there are quite a lot of people gathered here. Everyone gathers together with people they are familiar with, chattering in low voices, and the scene is very lively.
On the other side of the corridor, there stood a group of literati and poets. At this moment, they were holding folding fans in their hands, pointing at the scenery here, and some of them couldn't help shaking their heads.
Many girls were covering their faces with the round fans in their hands, revealing only a pair of bright and charming eyes, looking at these talented and elegant men with great curiosity and longing.
Chen Bijun excitedly grabbed Wei Cai'er's hand, like a fervent fan chasing her idol, and said, "Cai'er, look! It's Master Zhang Xiuzhi! He's here today! Oh my god, I love his poetry so much. Do you think he'll have any masterpieces published today?"
Wei Cai'er helplessly pulled the somewhat fanatical Shen Bijun and said, "Calm down. We are here to see your future husband today. Maybe your future husband is also secretly watching you right now. If he sees you being infatuated with other men, what do you think he will think? Will he spank you in the future?"
"Huh? Cai'er, you actually joked with me like that. It seems like you're in a much better mood now. You're right. I need to be calmer and more reserved. I can't lose face for my family. But Young Master Zhang is so handsome. What should I do? He's so talented and handsome!"
Wei Caier stroked her forehead gently with her hand. She felt that her best friend was really hopeless.
It was at this time that the discussion on the other side suddenly became louder, enough for the girls to hear.
Everyone stretched their necks curiously, wanting to see what was happening over there.
"What's wrong with me? I was just stating a fact. Since you, Master Zhang, are already in love with the girl from Yanlai Tower and even said you wanted to redeem her, why are you getting involved here?"
"Brother Zhao, you're wrong. Even if Brother Zhang and the girl from Yanlai Tower are in love, he can't marry her as his principal wife. Being a concubine would be good enough. Brother Zhang is extremely talented and will surely pass the imperial examination. When that happens, he'll still have to marry a noble lady."
After hearing this, the girls probably understood why these talented men were arguing.
Zhang Xiuzhi has been living in Yanlai Tower all this time, and his story with the top performer in Yanlai Tower can be written into a vernacular novel.
Even these young ladies living in seclusion had heard of the story between him and the girl from Yanlai Tower.
While lamenting Mr. Zhang's amorous nature, the girls also felt that the girl was very lucky.
But from beginning to end, the noble ladies who had feelings for Zhang Xiuzhi never took this matter to heart.
As someone said before, no matter how much Zhang Xiuzhi loved the girl in Yanlai Tower, she could only be a concubine at best.
If he wanted to make further progress in his official career, he would definitely choose his wife from among these noble ladies.
Once they become the legal wife, they are just concubines, and they can do whatever they want to them.
These noble ladies don't just sit at home and do nothing all day. They have to learn a lot of things every day, including how to win favor in the harem and how to control the concubines.
The concubines of the Great Qi Dynasty were not protected by law and could even be exchanged at will. What did these noble ladies have to worry about regarding such people?
As for why there is such a debate, it is simply because some people are jealous of Zhang Xiuzhi's talent and know that many noble ladies want to marry him.
You see, humans are animals after all, and males will show considerable aggressiveness when it comes to anything related to reproduction.
Perhaps realizing his words weren't having much of an impact, the man spoke again, "Come to think of it, the last time you wrote a lyric at Yanlai Tower, it was truly stunning. I heard that Miss Zi Yan from Nuanxiang Pavilion almost withdrew from the competition after hearing it. But then a talented poet from Nuanchun Pavilion emerged and defeated you with just a simple lyric. They say your poetry is powerful, but I don't think it's anything more than that!"
Zhang Xiuzhi would not get angry when people talked about his relationship with the top prostitute at Yanlai Tower. The more people talked about it, the more talented and suave he seemed. In the eyes of many girls, this was actually an advantage.
But suddenly they started talking about poetry, especially about the last time he confidently wrote a poem that he had carefully considered, thinking that it would break Zi Yan's Daoist faith from Nuanxiang Pavilion and make her withdraw from the competition. Who could have thought that something went wrong?
Thinking of this, Zhang Xiuzhi snorted in displeasure and said, "It's just an erotic poem. How can it be compared with my poems? It's really ridiculous!"
"Hahaha, I've read that poem too. 'As the wine grows stronger, spring thoughts drift away, and the mandarin duck embroidered quilt flutters in the red waves.' It's indeed a erotic poem. But if you say it can't compare to your poetry, I think that's a bit biased. I think the word choice and sentence structure in that poem are very sophisticated, and his literary skills are not much worse than your great talent, Zhang!"
Being mocked like this, especially since his own poetry couldn't even surpass such an erotic poem, Zhang Xiuzhi was furious. "Hmph, I checked afterwards and found out the author of this poem didn't leave his name. He's just a secretive person. I don't even bother to be compared to him!"
Most of the girls here kept nodding their heads. It was obvious that they were Zhang Xiuzhi's die-hard fans and were definitely standing on the side of their idol at this time.
But Wei Cai'er couldn't help but frown when she heard this. For the first time, a look of displeasure appeared on her face. She said, "Everyone says that this Mr. Zhang is unparalleled in talent and ability, but now I see that he's just so-so. He's really a bit narrow-minded!"
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