Chapter 48: Su Yue, who is not presentable
In the back garden of the Dongyou Kingdom’s palace, a grand poetry gathering is in full swing.
Although it was drizzling today, in order not to disturb the normal poetry reading, a huge roof was erected above the venue.
Under the ceiling, the dancers from Taichung finished their dance and then bowed and left.
"The poetry reading has officially begun~" As the queen struck the gongs and drums with a hammer, a man in gray eunuch clothes hurried to the center of the stage and announced loudly.
Afterwards, many women in palace dress came up to the scene. They cleaned up the fruit plates and other things on the tables in front of the young ladies one by one, and placed pens, ink, paper and inkstones on the desks of the young ladies.
After everything was put away, the eunuch cleared his throat again and loudly announced the rules that were different from previous years.
"Ladies, this poetry contest will be anonymous. To prevent biased judging, everyone will answer anonymously on a piece of paper in front of them. The answers will be presented directly to the empress and concubines, who will then select the best poem."
"Next, it's the first question." A woman in palace dress was seen holding a bone china plate in her hand. On the plate was a golden cloth rolled into a tube. The cloth was extremely exquisite, and it was embroidered with delicate patterns.
The girl in palace dress walked to the center of the stage, and the eunuch took the cloth and slowly opened it.
"The first question of the poetry competition is to write a poem about flowers. There is no limit to the style of writing." After saying this, he bowed and left.
At this moment, Su Xin suddenly stood up, looking a little hesitant, as if he wanted to say something but didn't dare to.
"Which family is the lady standing here? What's the matter?" When the queen saw a girl standing up, she gestured to Nanny Wang who was beside her. Nanny Wang had been with the queen for a long time, so she naturally understood what the queen meant, and so she asked.
"In reply to the Queen, I am the daughter of Prime Minister Su, Su Xin." Su Xin bowed slightly, looking graceful and elegant.
"I wonder why you suddenly stood up?" Nanny Wang restrained her expression and looked extremely serious and majestic.
The queen looked at the graceful girl standing in front of her, whose dress and appearance were impeccable, so she nodded slightly.
"Miss Su, if you have anything to say, feel free to tell me." Nanny Wang glanced at the Queen's actions and knew that the Queen was not angry with Su Xin, so she also softened her expression.
Su Xin lowered her head, twisting a handkerchief in her hands, as if she was in a dilemma. Finally, she seemed to have made up her mind, and knelt down with a "boom".
"Empress, Imperial Concubine, I am asking for forgiveness in advance on behalf of my younger sister." After saying this, Su Xin kowtowed three times.
With the Queen and the Imperial Concubine looking puzzled, Su Xin finally raised her head, looked at Su Yue with apology, and said softly, "My sister Su Yue, you didn't like studying much when you were in the Prime Minister's Mansion before, and your handwriting is really not good enough.
Later, her father sent her to the countryside for five years and she just came back some time ago. I heard that my sister had not attended school for a single day in these five years, let alone practiced calligraphy.
Now the poetry gathering requires us all to write. I am afraid that my sister's handwriting will pollute the eyes of the majesties. I am also afraid that the majesties will think that my sister deliberately wrote ugly handwriting to disrupt the poetry gathering.
So I'd like to tell the Queen and the Imperial Concubine in advance that my sister's handwriting is ugly and it was indeed not intentional. If you ladies want to blame me, please blame me as your elder sister as well. ”
After saying that, she looked at Su Yue with a worried look on her face, as if she were really an older sister who was worried that her younger sister would be punished.
After hearing the rules of this poetry reading, Su Xin didn't want to miss the opportunity to embarrass Su Yue in public.
She had seen Su Yue's handwriting five years ago. Because of Aunt Liu's favor, Su Yue seldom went to school. Even the teacher shook his head when he saw her handwriting.
However, she had to say it in advance so that everyone present would know that the ugliest handwriting came from the Prime Minister's daughter.
As for why we didn't say it after everyone had finished writing, firstly, it was anonymous. If the Queen and the Imperial Concubine didn't intend to find fault, then even if the handwriting was extremely ugly, they wouldn't care, let alone ask who wrote it.
Second, she couldn't wait any longer. She really couldn't wait to embarrass Su Yue.
Su Xin's words seemed to be extremely protective of her sister, but in fact they conveyed a lot of information to everyone. First, the prime minister's daughter was unruly and willful, she didn't study hard, and she couldn't even write ordinary words.
Secondly, Su Yue had been in the countryside for five years and had not learned any literacy or etiquette. In that case, during these five years, the daughter of the Prime Minister's Mansion must have learned a lot of the country folk's vulgar character.
Several young ladies present reacted quickly and laughed softly. Looking at Su Xin's pretentious appearance, Chen Wanwan couldn't help but want to stand up for Su Yue, but Su Yue just patted Chen Wanwan lightly, chuckled at her, and shook his head.
The Queen's expression did not change much after hearing Su Xin's words, but Concubine Yu laughed softly and said jokingly, "This Prime Minister's Mansion is really full of sisterly love."
Among the three ladies present here, each one of them has fought her way out of the harem from thousands of miles away, and even the Empress has used many tricks.
The three ladies present saw clearly Su Xin's impatience and despicable tactics, but they did not point it out.
After the ladies present heard Concubine Yu's sarcastic words, some of the brave ones even laughed at Su Yue.
For these young ladies who have been raised in seclusion, their handwriting is a symbol of their dignity. If the handwriting of the prime minister's daughter is really as bad as her sister said, then she would lose all her dignity.
At this time, Su Yue, who was the center of everyone's attention, had no expression on her face. She had neither the anger of being exposed nor the shame of being inferior to others.
Seeing Su Yue so calm, some young ladies began to discuss in a low voice: "Maybe the Prime Minister's daughter is not as bad as her sister said. Look at her expression, it seems that she is not the one being talked about."
"Yes, she hasn't even started writing yet, but her sister is so impatient to tell us that Su Yue's handwriting is not up to par and her sister is not a good person either." Another lady looked at Su Xin and whispered.
Everyone present was talking at once, some talking about Su Xin, some talking about Su Yue. Su Xin had never expected that he would bring disaster upon himself, so he became anxious and left his seat to walk to Su Yue's side.
"Sister, I protect you so much, why don't you speak up for me?" She was anxious, she was really anxious.
Su Yue met Su Xin's seemingly concerned eyes. She originally wanted to give her a chance to answer two questions so that she could be proud in front of everyone. But now, she didn't want to give her any answer at all.
This poetry gathering was nothing more than a show in which the Queen openly looked for chess pieces.
In her previous life, Su Xin, who was awarded the title of the most talented woman, was often used as a tool by the queen. Besides, she didn't want to participate in this poetry meeting in the first place.
Thinking of this, Su Yue stared at Su Xin with a hint of calculation in her eyes. This so-called sister had tried time and again to embarrass herself in public, so today, she, Su Yue, would give her the biggest embarrassment of all.
Looking at Su Xin who was so close, since her elder sister wanted to be in the spotlight so much, let her end the poetry reading that has not even started yet.
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