"These are all timeless quatrains!" The Grand Tutor laughed. The Crown Prince looked at Qingyao with eyes full of love. He felt that having such a beautiful woman by his side in this life was enough.
Qing Yao, facing the praise from the Grand Tutor and the others, remained calm, leaning forward gently before saying, "Thank you all for the compliments. I only had a few inspirational ideas for my performance. If we're to talk about true great writers, they'd be the Grand Tutor and the others. I'm ashamed of myself."
The Grand Tutor quickly waved his hand and said, "Miss Qingyao is too modest. Such talent is truly rare."
Everyone chimed in. The prince smiled and took Qingyao's hand, saying, "Don't be so modest. Your talent is obvious to all."
Qingyao nodded slightly, a blush appeared on her face, she lowered her head, a trace of disgust and murderous intent flashed in her eyes, this bastard actually dared to pull her hand.
At this moment, at a corner on the third floor, the emperor saw the scene downstairs, and a murderous intent towards the prince flashed in his eyes. That bastard actually dared to hold Qing'er's hand. This hand would be crippled tonight. With a gesture from the emperor, the servants immediately retreated and prepared to assassinate the prince tonight.
At this moment, Qingyao just chuckled, calmly pulled her hand out of the Crown Prince's grasp, and said to the crowd, "Dear guests, the next step is the real poetry competition. Please take a seat and wait for a moment."
Upon hearing this, the Grand Tutor and the others immediately asked, "Miss Qingyao, what are you going to do with these screens?"
Qing Yao saw the expectant expressions on the Taifu and the others' faces and knew they wanted the screens. So she nodded and said, "This time, our teahouse is offering three prizes. The first place winner will receive one thousand taels of silver, the second place winner can take the screens away and receive five hundred taels of silver, and the third place winner will receive three hundred taels of silver and free tea at the Seven Days Teahouse."
Everyone nodded in satisfaction, indicating that they understood. Then everyone politely returned to their own boxes.
After everyone retreated to the box, Qingyao's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and then she turned to look at the audience, wondering what she was thinking in her heart. At this time, the Emperor was in the box upstairs, his face gloomy, his eyes fixed on the direction of the prince.
Qingyao gracefully walked onto the stage, smiling and bowing to the crowd. Her voice was clear and melodious: "Thank you all for coming today. Next up is the poetry competition you've all been waiting for."
Everyone immediately became excited and started to get ready to show their talents.
Qingyao's clear voice rang out, saying, "Everyone, today's first question is the poem on the white cloth hanging in this hall. Those who are interested in participating, please take up your pen and write down the next line of these poems on a piece of paper. We will then judge and announce the results. If there are no objections, then that person will be deemed the winner."
So everyone looked at the poems hanging in the hall: "The withered lotus listens to the broken autumn rain, the thin willows sway in the wind, the evening is cold." "The solitary cloud goes away, and idle worries linger; the tired birds return, and the parting sorrow increases." "The flowers fly in the secluded path, and the spring dreams are far away; the ancient bridge and flowing water tug at the traveler's heart." The Taifu and others frowned when they saw these poems. They were also thinking about how to respond to the next sentence, and the prince and others also frowned. Everyone nodded slightly and lowered their heads to discuss.
No one could complete these poems on their own, so they gathered in groups of three or five to discuss them.
Qingyao saw that the incense in the incense burner on the stage was about to burn out, so she signaled the servants to beat the gongs and drums. As soon as the servants beat the gongs and drums, everyone stopped writing immediately.
The servants collected all the poems in response to each other on the first, second and third floors, but the number of papers collected was only a handful, less than ten.
Qingyao opened the corresponding poems that everyone answered and frowned slightly. These were not the best answers.
Qingyao then recited the collected poems in front of everyone. After she finished, she said, "These poems cannot win the championship because they do not rhyme or antithesize with the original poems in the hall. Therefore, everyone loses this first round."
When the Grand Tutor and the others heard that none of them had passed, they all looked at Qingyao in surprise. The Grand Tutor asked loudly, puzzled, "Miss Qingyao, what's wrong? Do you have a satisfactory response?"
Qingyao nodded slightly when she heard this and said, "Come here."
Then Dongxue and the others came out and stood beside the three white cloths. Qingyao then recited the second half of the three lines of poetry. Dongxue, on the other hand, had to take a pen and write the next line of poetry that Qingyao had said in front of the hanging white cloths.
"The old chrysanthemums are filled with frosty fragrance and the withered vines are wrapped around the rocks in the evening mist." "The setting sun leaves behind a long loneliness and the cicadas are about to be silent with lovesickness." "The singing birds in the fragrant forest add to the artistic conception and the green mountains reflect the traveler's soul." Dongxue and others quickly and neatly wrote down the verses chanted by Qingyao. The handwriting was so vigorous that it could be seen through the back of the paper.
Everyone gathered around to watch, gasping in amazement. The Grand Tutor carefully examined the verses, nodding frequently and saying, "Wonderful, wonderful! This kind of couplet is truly a perfect match."
The prince also showed admiration on his face, and there was even more admiration in his eyes when he looked at Qingyao.
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