The Taifu's wife watched the two of them interacting, her eyes narrowed with laughter. "You two, one like a flying monkey, the other like a sticky candy, you really are a perfect match!"
As they were talking, the housekeeper hurried in and whispered something in the Taifu's wife's ear. Shen Weiwan saw that the smile on the wife's face faded a little, but she waved her hand and said, "Let Madam Liu wait in the side hall." Turning back to Shen Weiwan, she smiled and said, "Don't worry about those filthy people. Let's continue talking about "Folk Jokes."
In the side hall, Liu's feet were numb from waiting. She stared at the painting "Pine and Crane Longevity" hanging on the wall, her nails digging deep into her palms—she had given the painting two years before, but now it seemed to mock her. When the Imperial Tutor's wife finally entered, she immediately bowed, "Madam, you must make the decision for me! Chen Weiwan..."
"I know what you're going to say." Madam Taifu sat down and picked up her teacup. "Is it a poem written for Weiwan? I think it's quite good. At least it tells the truth—unlike some people who appear virtuous on the surface but are actually more calculating than an abacus."
Liu choked so hard her face turned purple: "Madam, it's so shameful for an unmarried girl like her to sell poems on the street! It's really a disgrace to the General's Mansion..."
"That's enough." Madam Taifu put down her teacup, her voice suddenly cold. "Young people have their own way of living. As an aunt, instead of focusing on the poems of your juniors, why don't you pay more attention to your own accounts in the treasury? I heard that the monthly wages you withheld from the servants are enough to buy several carts of crystal pork elbows?"
Liu shuddered, not daring to say anything more. She could only clutch her handkerchief and leave in anger. Shen Weiwan, who was hiding behind the screen, felt relieved and couldn't help but give a thumbs-up to Madam Taifu's back. Madam Taifu turned around and glared at her: "Why don't you come out? If you keep hiding, Yu'er will eat up all the remaining elbows!"
Sure enough, Xiao Yu was poking the last piece of pork elbow with a silver fork. When he saw her come out, he deliberately put it into his mouth slowly, smacking his lips exaggeratedly: "Hmm, it smells so good." Shen Weiwan quickly grabbed the plate, but only got a small piece of pork skin. She stomped her feet in anger.
The Taifu's wife looked at the two people's noisy appearance and suddenly sighed: "I say, you two, if you want to bicker, just get married quickly, so you don't have to come to me every day!"
Shen Weiwan and Xiao Yu were both stunned. One almost choked on the skin, and the other's hand trembled, and the silver fork fell onto the plate. The warm room suddenly became quiet, with only the cicadas outside the window chirping louder and louder.
When leaving the Taifu Mansion, Shen Weiwan was still a little dazed sitting in the carriage. Chun Tao took off her hairpin for her and couldn't help asking: "Miss, does the Taifu Madam really want to match you with the Seventh Prince?"
Chen Weiwan touched her burning cheeks and looked at the willow branches passing by the car window: "It doesn't matter whether it's a match or not—" She suddenly sat up straight, "Chun Tao, find all my poems and pick out the interesting ones to copy into a book!"
"Miss, are you really planning to show it to the Emperor?" Chuntao widened her eyes.
"Why not?" Shen Weiwan raised a confident smile on her lips, "There are more people in this world who can write poems than just those sour Confucian scholars who shake their heads and nod their heads!" When the carriage passed through Zhuque Street, she lifted the curtain and saw the Seventh Prince riding a white horse following behind the carriage, waving a folding fan with "Aunt's Abacus Poem" painted on it in his hand, and smiling at her with raised eyebrows.
At that moment, in the Liu residence, Liu Shi swept the jadeite headpiece off the dressing table to the floor. Shen Ruorou timidly offered her hot tea, but she knocked it over: "I'm so angry! Madam Taifu is actually protecting that little bitch!" Suddenly, she heard the servants talking outside the window: "I heard that the Emperor is in the Imperial Garden, having the eunuchs recite Miss Shen's 'Chamber Pot Poem'..."
Liu suddenly looked up, a sinister look flashing in her eyes. "Your Majesty?" She grabbed the gold-inlaid jade abacus on the table and smashed it to the ground, sending the beads tumbling across the floor. "Fine! Let the Emperor see her worthless possessions!"
The setting sun stained the eaves of the General's Mansion a golden red. In her study, Shen Weiwan spread out rice paper and wrote the words "Sand Sculpture Poetry Collection Volume Two." Chuntao brought her some iced sour plum soup and saw her copying "Poems of the Liu Mansion's Servants on the Rampant Road." She couldn't help but laugh and said, "Miss, if the Emperor saw this poem..."
"It would be nice to see it!" Shen Weiwan dipped her pen in ink, drawing a neat arc across the paper. "Perhaps the Emperor, if pleased, would reward me with a few carts of crystal pork elbows!" Outside the window, the familiar scent of osmanthus drifted from the direction of the Seventh Prince's residence. Someone's lotus lantern had been placed in the moat ahead of time, its shadows swaying in the water, evoking the sly smile in Madam Taifu's eyes. Her poetry was destined to make the capital's atmosphere even more lively.
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