Lu Jin pushed Yu Qizhe and said, "He is acting like that."
The woman leaned forward and smiled, "Gentlemen, please follow me."
She led Yu Qizhe and Lu Jin to sit down at an empty low table, pointed to a calligraphy hanging high in the middle of the attic and said, "This is today's topic. Do you two gentlemen want me to help you polish it?"
Yu Qizhe shook his head, and Lu Jin picked up the ink stick on the table and said, "I'll do it."
The woman smiled and nodded, bending her beautiful white neck, and said, "I see that you two gentlemen are unfamiliar with each other. This must be your first time here. My name is Hualan. If you have any questions, you can call me."
Yu Qizhe's eyes fell on the question, and seeing that he remained silent, Lu Jin had no choice but to nod.
The woman named Hualan walked away gracefully and elegantly. After a while, she returned with a stick of incense in her hand and said to the two of them, "The rule here is that you have to finish your poem within one stick of incense."
Yu Qizhe withdrew his gaze. There were only two words "Xinglou" on the title. It was not difficult to write a poem with Xinglou as the theme. Any scholar who had been to Xinglou should be able to write two lines of poem on this theme.
Yu Qizhe raised his hand and picked up the wolf-hair brush on the table. It can be said that Xinglou is indeed a den of brothel, and the pens, ink and paper on the table are all good items.
"Sir, are you going to start writing?" Hua Lan lowered her eyes and smiled softly, kindly reminding, "Sir, please think about it for a while. The incense will be lit from the moment you start writing."
"Can you do it?" Lu Jin persuaded, "Why don't you think about it for a moment?"
Yu Qizhe shook his head.
Hualan smiled. She had been on the third floor for so many years and had never seen anyone pick up a pen so skillfully. Most people needed to think carefully for a moment and compose a poem in their minds before they dared to let anyone light incense.
"Young Master, you are so talented. I will light the incense then." She lit the incense in her hand, inserted it into the incense burner, stood up and left, acting very appropriately.
"Have you thought it through?" Lu Jin added a little water to the inkstone and continued grinding.
Yu Qizhe picked up the pen, dipped it in ink, lowered his eyes and put the pen on the paper.
Lu Jin didn't dare to say anything else, for fear of dividing Yu Qizhe's heart.
Just as Yu Qizhe wrote a word on the paper, there was a sudden loud noise from the low table diagonally opposite.
"Congratulations, Young Master Xiao, for this masterpiece!" said the woman kneeling beside the low table softly.
"Master Xiao, have you finished writing your poem? Let us see it!" Several people gathered around a young man dressed in gorgeous clothes with a green belt around his waist, who was obviously from an excellent family.
There were voices of praise one after another, "Master Xiao, this poem is very well written! It's really wonderful!"
"I think Young Master Xiao will definitely win the first place today!"
The young master Xiao who was being flattered in the middle of the crowd raised his eyebrows and instructed the woman kneeling beside him, "Quickly send this poem to the back hall and let them judge it!"
The woman who served him was the same as Hualan, both of whom were carefully educated in Xinglou. They were proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and were quite talented prostitutes, who were specifically responsible for serving pens and ink on the third floor.
The woman hurriedly stood up, holding Mr. Xiao's poem in both hands, and sent it to the back pavilion.
In the back pavilion of Xinglou, the person who set the questions for the day, the talented poet Liu Miwu, was there to comment on the poems.
"We are so ashamed. It seems that Miss Miwu's lover tonight must be Master Xiao!"
Young Master Xiao said in a loud voice, "If you win first place, I will pay for all your food and drinks today!"
As soon as these words were spoken, they attracted another round of compliments.
Lu Jin looked up and recognized that the young master Xiao who was calling his friends was Xiao Yantai, the son of the Minister of Personnel Xiao Yuan. He couldn't help but reveal contempt in his eyes.
In this autumn's imperial examination, Xiao Yantai was on the list. It was said that the Xiao residence set off firecrackers for three consecutive days. This man did have some talent, but he was extremely romantic and lustful. Relying on his good family background, he often flirted with decent girls.
Speaking of which, he has some grudges with Xiao Yantai.
At the beginning, this man was in Taoxi Lane. He saw that Miss Liang, who was selling soy milk, was pretty and started to tease her. He was caught by Lu Jin, who rescued her. Xiao Yantai might have been concerned about his identity as a Jinyiwei and did not dare to do anything wrong.
But secretly he asked the patrolling yamen runners to cause trouble for the Liang family's soy milk stall, forcing the Liang family's widow and daughter to almost close their business.
Thinking about how the Liang family's bean juice stall had become a steamed bun shop, and how Miss Liang and her daughter had also moved out of Taoxi Lane and disappeared, Lu Jin couldn't help feeling irritated, and his eyes turned cold as he looked at Xiao Yantai.
Xiao Yantai was drinking with a smug look on his face. He looked up and met Lu Jin's gaze. His face changed and he immediately laughed sarcastically, "General Lu Qian is just a warrior. Why are you here?"
Lu Jin said coldly, "Master Xiao can come but I can't?"
Xiao Yantai threw the wine cup on the table and sneered, "I didn't expect that General Lu Qian is a man of both civil and military talents."
He then stared at Lu Jin and said, "I'm curious, Mr. Lu Qian, can you write poetry?"
Lu Jin tightened his grip on the ink stick and said coldly, "What does it have to do with Mr. Xiao whether I can write poetry or not? You are meddling too much."
Xiao Yantai looked at his stern face without any fear. Xinglou had hired a lot of thugs and no one dared to cause trouble in Xinglou. If Lu Jin attacked him here, he would be beaten out by the people of Xinglou. Xinglou never cared about the identity of the troublemaker.
"Mr. Lu Qian, what you said is ridiculous. How can I be as nosy as you? Isn't Mr. Lu Qian the one who loves to meddle in other people's business and save the damsel in distress?" Xiao Yantai smiled casually and tapped his head lightly, "I actually forgot..."
He looked at the scholars who were surrounded by him and said with a smile, "Let me tell you a funny story. Our General Lu Qian was a hero who saved a beautiful girl, but the beautiful girl didn't give herself to him. Instead, she followed a rootless eunuch. Isn't it funny?"
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