Gu Baozhu tilted her head, grimaced, and endured it for a long time, but she still couldn't help but retort, "Mother is making a big fuss over nothing. What's the big deal? I play with the Ninth Princess and play polo with those young ladies. I know all about these things. I'm just talking about it at home. Does that mean I can't mention it in front of my third sister-in-law? In the future, my third sister-in-law will have to go out to visit guests. Which person who can associate with our Dingbei Marquis's Mansion doesn't know some palace secrets?"
Madam Gu said angrily, "I only said one sentence, and you went on and on. Who would talk about the late Empress Dowager or the former Empress Dowager outside these days? The Empress Dowager and Empress Lin live in the inner palace now. Besides, there are some things that others can mention, but we can't."
Gu Baozhu's lips were so pouty you could hang a bottle on them.
Seeing that she was still unconvinced, Old Madam Gu slapped her thigh and said, "You troublesome child, you still won't listen to advice. How old are Kang-ge'er and Fu-ge'er? You talk nonsense in front of them and you can cause trouble even when there's nothing wrong. Do you think I don't know how to teach your sister-in-law to go out and meet guests? From now on, I'll just marry you off to the enemy of the Gu family and let you go and cause trouble for other families. Then I won't have to worry about you every day."
Gu Baozhu was initially annoyed by what was said, but after hearing the rest, she felt both ashamed and angry.
If her mother says such things to her in front of her third sister-in-law, what will her third sister-in-law think of her?
Gu Baozhu stamped her foot, grabbed Qin Yuan's hand and shook it again and again, saying, "Sister-in-law, I'm not that kind of person. I was just talking about that incense for you. Why did my mother say that about me? Do you think I'm being wronged?"
Qin Yuan, who was quietly drinking tea and eating candied fruit nearby, was speechless.
What... what does this have to do with her...?
Fortunately, Master Gu arrived and said as soon as he entered, "What are you making such a racket for, little sister? I could hear your voice from far away. These past few days you've been saying you want to learn from the young ladies of scholarly families, then you should learn more from your third sister-in-law. When have you ever seen your third sister-in-law so noisy?"
Gu Baozhu: "..."
If she keeps going like this, how can she possibly win over her third sister-in-law?
If her third sister-in-law looked down on her, would she speak well of her in front of Qin Siyuan?
Why are her family members holding her back like this!
Gu Baozhu lowered her voice and said, "Sixth Brother, guess who I saw yesterday and what news I heard?"
"who?"
Sixth Master Gu forced himself to ask.
Gu Baozhu said, "I met your cousin, your good brother, Qin Juren."
Everyone looked at her strangely.
Gu Baozhu's voice was somewhat hoarse.
Sixth Master Gu asked, voicing everyone's question: "How did you see him?"
Gu Baozhu chuckled dryly, "Why can't I see him? I thought he was going to attend Cheng Ge'er's family reunion banquet yesterday, but I didn't expect my sister-in-law to not invite him. I even told him to see him at the banquet."
Qin Yuan glanced at Gu Baozhu with a half-smile.
Master Gu was getting a little anxious.
“It’s perfectly normal that your third sister-in-law didn’t invite Brother Siyuan. Brother Cheng and Sister Yu have never had any dealings with the Xu or Qin families, and they only have face for your third sister-in-law. Why would your third sister-in-law invite him to the family reunion banquet? In my opinion, nothing is more important than his passing the imperial examination.”
They were practically saying that coming to the family reunion banquet was a waste of time.
Gu Baozhu said, "Sixth Brother is right."
After glancing at the pair of brilliant minds, Madam Gu was at a loss for words.
One person said that Qin Yuan didn't invite the Qin family to the twins' family reunion banquet, while another person directly said that Qin Yuan only had a superficial relationship with the twins.
They're truly siblings: equally speechless and equally baffling.
Master Gu was still pressing his younger sister for answers.
"You went out again yesterday? I knew you couldn't stay at home. Where did you see Brother Siyuan? What has he been busy with these days?"
One problem after another.
Gu Baozhu said, "Kang Ge'er and Fu Ge'er still need to take care of Sixth Sister-in-law while she is ill, so I can't keep asking them to play. Besides, I haven't been out for more than three months and I haven't seen many friends, so of course I should go out more often."
Madam Gu asked, "What did you do while you were out?"
Gu Baozhu said, "I went to the entertainment district, watched some acrobatics, then went to the teahouse to meet Meifeng and the others. I told them that my sixth brother had published a collection of poems, and then I took them to the Imperial College to watch the poetry competition."
This schedule sounds quite packed.
Qin Yuan seemed to be deep in thought. If she let Gu Baozhu go out for a few more days, all the little things between the Xu family and the Gu family would probably be exposed.
Then Gu Liuye asked, "Did you go and bother Brother Siyuan?"
Gu Baozhu said casually, "We're all relatives, can't we bother you? Since we can't get into the Imperial Academy, we naturally need to find someone to take us in. That's why I thought of Scholar Qin."
Sixth Master Gu breathed a sigh of relief, secretly glancing at Qin Yuan's expression before asking, "Didn't I keep Brother Siyuan up for too long? How was the arena match?"
Shen Changle handled all of this. Sixth Master Gu only had the title of providing the money. Even the money was provided by Marquis Gu. After Sixth Master Gu memorized the Complete Tang Poems as required by Mr. Songshan, he rewrote a few more poems and sent them over.
If it weren't for the Xu family's affairs, Master Gu would also like to visit the Imperial Academy.
I don't know if my own poems have been rejected, or what about others'.
Gu Baozhu nodded and then shook her head.
"As Qin, the scholar, said, that was a literary arena, not a martial arts arena. It was just a large screen placed in the courtyard, with a canopy built on top and covered with lots of paper to make a paper wall. Anyone who had a good poem could write it on it and leave their name."
Sixth Master Gu said, "Of course. Do you think this is a martial arts arena where people take turns using knives and guns?"
Gu Baozhu got annoyed: "Sixth Brother, do you still want to hear it?"
Sixth Master Gu fell silent.
Gu Baozhu continued, "Many students from the Imperial Academy were gathered there watching. There were people under the shed helping to grind ink and copy the poems. The paper wall had several layers, and it was covered with poems."
Sixth Master Gu hurriedly asked, "Did Brother Siyuan tell you whose poem is currently being used to defend the title?"
Gu Baozhu said, "Now you don't mind me bothering your brother Siyuan anymore?"
Madam Gu said, "Stop being so mysterious. You've already disturbed us, so hurry up and tell us, or I'll beat you up."
Gu Baozhu snorted and said, "Right now, it's still Mr. Songshan and Young Master Nantang's poems that are holding the top spot, posted separately on the wooden board. Many people are going to see them, and there are many comments below. I don't quite understand them either. Scholar Qin said they're all praise, all good words. As for Sixth Brother..."
Sixth Master Gu opened his mouth and asked, "...What?"
Gu Baozhu said, "They've already been pushed down."
Sixth Master Gu was a little disappointed, but not too much, and asked, "This isn't the last one, is it?"
“Of course not,” Gu Baozhu shook her head.
Master Gu became happy.
Then Gu Baozhu continued, "After all, there are many elementary school students at the Imperial Academy who aren't very good at writing poetry, but they still come to compete. If we hadn't called Kang Ge'er and the other two back, they might have joined in the fun too. I saw a lot of little kids, no bigger than a table, gathered there chattering away in classical Chinese."
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