An Yi continued her tearful offensive, crying and pleading, "Uncle Emperor, when have I ever asked you for anything? Please grant me this one request."
Emperor Zhou's heart softened. After all, it was just the unlikable Prince An. What harm would it do to agree? "Very well, I grant it..."
"Your Majesty!" Princess Pingyang cried out in fury.
Emperor Zhou felt as if he had been doused with cold water. Oh my god, he had been careless. With Prince An's problem, wouldn't An Yi be living a widow's life if she married him?
"Ahem, An Yi, let's think about this carefully. It seems there's a poetry writing session outside. Why don't you write one too? Your uncle will give you special treatment and make you the champion later."
The eldest prince, second prince, and third prince all breathed a sigh of relief. The eldest prince joked with a smile, "Yes, An Yi, without you, Miss Chu is going to win again."
Sure enough, as soon as Chu Yun was mentioned, An Yi stopped crying, wiped away her tears, and ran out.
Everyone in the pavilion couldn't help but chuckle at her behavior.
Only Zhou Huaichuan remained indifferent, his expression unchanged, showing no interest in joy or sorrow.
The people around him seemed to ignore him and continued chatting and laughing...
......
Outside the pavilion, a poetry competition themed "flowers" was in full swing.
Everyone was still racking their brains trying to figure it out, except for Chu Xinxin.
Chu Xinxin kept her gaze fixed on An Yi.
An Yi knew, but she didn't dare to look back, feeling inexplicably guilty.
So much so that she had no idea what kind of nonsense she had written before submitting it.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" An Yi mustered up her courage and asked Chu Xinxin.
A gust of wind blew by, and the veil clung tightly to Chu Xinxin's cheeks, outlining her very beautiful facial features.
An Yi swallowed hard: "Your face would probably be quite pretty if it weren't for the burns."
Chu Xinxin raised her hand and touched it, then suddenly smiled, her eyes sparkling like those of a newborn fawn.
She said, "Really?"
An Yi nodded: "Mmm! The eyes are so beautiful, like those of an elf from a storybook."
“Oh, you little fairy…” Chu Xinxin suddenly moved closer to her, almost whispering in her ear, “Actually, I’m a fox spirit with the ability to see a thousand miles and hear the wind. For example, I just heard you say in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion that I stole your sweetheart, Zhou Huai’an.”
"Wh-what!?"
An Yi was so frightened that she took two steps back: "I didn't, I'm not."
Seeing her startled cry, Chu Xinxin's playful side instantly arose: "No? I also heard you asking your emperor uncle to bestow a marriage upon you?"
"Waaah..."
"Don't cry! Confess!"
“If I didn’t say it this way, my mother wouldn’t let Doctor Wang treat your face.”
An Yi explained her plan in detail. It turned out that the doctor was very arrogant and didn't respect anyone except Princess Pingyang, the Emperor, and the Empress Dowager. Getting him to treat patients was harder than climbing to heaven.
An Yi said she wanted to marry Prince An, but the eldest princess would definitely disagree. Prince An has a problem with not being able to touch women, so wouldn't An Yi be ridiculed for the rest of her life if she married him?
However, if a woman whom Prince An could touch appeared at this time, regardless of her appearance, even if she was barely alive, the Princess would probably try to save her.
After listening, Chu Xinxin felt a mix of emotions.
What grudge did Chu Yun have against An Yi that made An Yi go to such lengths to attack her?
"I've even sacrificed my reputation for you," An Yi said, sounding aggrieved like a wronged wife.
Chu Xinxin finally stopped scaring her: "Okay, if that Doctor Wang really comes to examine my face, I'll give you a surprise."
After a moment of silence, An Yi secretly glanced at Chu Xinxin again.
"What's wrong?"
An Yi hesitated, "Do you really have eyes that can see a thousand miles and ears that can hear the wind?"
Chu Xinxin stared straight ahead: "No, I was lying to you, but I can read lips."
Chu Xinxin had An Yi completely fooled, her eyes growing increasingly cunning.
Just as she herself said, she was a fox.
Zhou Huaichuan spotted it immediately as he followed the crowd out and couldn't help but take a second look.
The eldest prince next to him thought he was looking at An Yi and said meaningfully, "The garden is full of spring colors, and the peony is the most beautiful, but not every family can afford to grow it."
Zhou Huaichuan withdrew his gaze and did not reply.
The eldest prince snorted coldly and left first.
In the garden of a hundred flowers, all the poems of noble ladies and gentlemen were hung up.
An Yi's poems were so terrible that Emperor Zhou couldn't possibly give her first place against his conscience.
After much deliberation, I still think Chu Yun's is the best.
An Yi said with a look of resentment, "It's her again!"
Chu Xinxin turned her head upon hearing this: "How about I help you beat her?"
An Yi didn't believe it: "You didn't even write it down, how can you win?"
Chu Xinxin smiled but didn't say anything.
Just as Emperor Zhou was about to announce that Chu Yun had won the championship, a gust of wind suddenly swept through the garden, petals fluttered down, and a piece of Xuan paper was blown to his feet.
Emperor Zhou glanced down at it, and his chief eunuch picked it up to take it away.
"Wait a minute."
Emperor Zhou snatched the sheet of Xuan paper and read it aloud word by word: "Admiring peonies... The peonies in the courtyard are charming but lack elegance, the lotuses on the pond are pure but lack passion, only the peony is truly the national beauty, when it blooms it stirs the capital."
"Only the peony is truly a national beauty; when it blooms, it stirs the capital... What a fine poem, what a fine poem!"
Emperor Zhou passed the Xuan paper down, and everyone eagerly read it, with bursts of amazement erupting from the crowd from time to time.
The Second Prince Zhou Rui, who was most skilled in literature, nodded repeatedly: "Wonderful! Who wrote this poem?"
The crowd looked at each other, but no one claimed it.
There was no signature on the Xuan paper.
Emperor Zhou's face was full of praise: "This poem is the best of the hundred flowers banquet, it is a reward!"
The chief eunuch clapped his hands, and dozens of treasures were brought out.
Everyone present had a burning desire in their eyes.
What we want is not the treasure itself, but the honor it represents!
"Yun'er, did you write this? Among us, you are the most talented." Yu Li, the wife of the Vice Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, asked Chu Yun.
A hint of hesitation flashed in Chu Yun's eyes; she neither admitted nor denied it.
Yu Li thought she was right and quickly said, "This poem was written by Chu Yun."
"I guessed it was her just now."
"The eldest daughter of the Chu family truly lives up to her reputation."
"Such a woman exists in the world."
As Chu Yun listened to the compliments around her, whether sincere or deliberate, she straightened her back even more and raised her head even higher.
A strange expression appeared on Emperor Zhou's face.
Upon seeing this, the second prince asked, "Father, what's wrong?"
Emperor Zhou handed the poem "Orchid" written by Chu Yun to the second prince.
The second prince noticed the problem at a glance: the handwriting of "Orchid" and "Appreciating Peonies" was different.
"Miss Chu, did you write 'Appreciating Peonies'?"
Chu Yun stood up and bowed, neither confirming nor denying, but simply picked up her pen and silently wrote down "Appreciating Peonies," and the handwriting matched perfectly.
The second prince noticed something amiss with the transition in the writing, but he didn't say anything under the watchful eyes of everyone.
"Then the champion this time will still be Miss Chu!"
Emperor Zhou glanced at the jewels briefly before bestowing them upon the emperor.
“Uncle Emperor!” An Yi’s voice rang out.
Emperor Zhou stiffened: "That An Yi, winning or losing is only temporary. If you want treasures, your uncle has more in his private treasury..."
“Uncle, the poem ‘Appreciating Peonies’ wasn’t written by Chu Yun.” An Yi’s words were astonishing.
Chu Yun held the jade ruyi tightly in her hand.
"Oh? Could it be that it was written by our An Yi?" the eldest prince joked.
An Yi didn't answer him, but instead asked Chu Yun, "Chu Yun, do you know the other four lines of this poem?"
Emperor Zhou: "Oh? An Yi, which four lines?"
An Yi didn't say anything, but presented a sheet of Xuan paper.
After reading it, Emperor Zhou raised his head and looked at Chu Yun.
Chu Yun broke out in a cold sweat. She had no idea what the last four lines were, but judging from Emperor Zhou's expression, there were clearly last four lines.
"I, Princess An Yi, wrote this poem. The last four lines are not included," Chu Yun explained, forcing herself to remain calm.
Emperor Zhou unfolded the sheet of Xuan paper, which was completely blank. Chu Yun, her face pale, breathed a sigh of relief.
You made the right bet.
Chu Yun looked at An Yi triumphantly, but to her surprise, An Yi smiled at her.
“Uncle Emperor, Chu Yun said that she wrote this poem, but the name is clearly written on the Xuan paper on which the peony was admired.”
An Yi asked for the poem, and dripped a drop of water onto a certain spot. The three characters "Chu Xinxin" slowly appeared on the paper.
The crowd gasped, and Chu Yun's legs buckled, causing her to kneel on the ground.
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