Chapter 101: Confessing guilt
Several people were shocked. The maid had already knelt on the ground. Madam Yu took a few steps forward and looked downstairs. People were talking a lot. She thought it was just praise, but now she knew it was all doubt and conjecture. Madam Yu stepped back and looked at the names of the two people with Princess Pingning. "Sheng Molan" and "Song Yunjin" were the two people that the appraisers had favored. They both had poetic talent. One had character and the other had spirit. Judging from the poems they wrote in the first two rounds, they were both talented and learned people. Neither of them looked like plagiarists and there was no need for them to plagiarize! Several people were shocked and uncertain.
"Award winners, the audience downstairs want to give their opinions. How should we comment on poems like this? They want an opinion. They want to know if anyone cheated or plagiarized!" The shopkeeper who presided over the poetry festival came to ask the judges for advice.
Molan couldn't hear the specific content of the people's shouting from across the room. She just listened to the heated discussions outside and thought that this poetry festival had many outstanding talents and everyone couldn't make up their minds. She waited quietly in the room, but Song Yunjin next door couldn't stop shaking. She couldn't tell whether it was excitement or something else.
"Go out and appease everyone first, then go and bring Sheng Molan and Song Yunjin here. As the judge of this poetry gathering, I will not allow anyone to cheat, and I must investigate this matter thoroughly!" Madam Yu said, and Princess Pingning did not comment at first. She originally wanted to come to see the appearance and character of the noble ladies of each family. Such things can better reflect a person's character.
Molan and Song Yunjin were brought here, and both of them looked like they knew nothing. Madam Yu showed each other's poems to the two of them respectively. After reading them, both of them were shocked. Madam Yu could not tell from their faces who cheated.
"Did you two see it? Two identical poems, I don't believe that you two are so in tune with each other, why don't one of you explain to me what's going on?" Madam Yu asked the two of them directly.
The people downstairs saw three talented women going downstairs, and the other two were left upstairs. They knew that the two women had the same poems, and the cheater was one of them.
"There is a talented woman named Yongxu? She has always been a scholar with a lot of knowledge, and her words and deeds are full of the style of a scholar. How could she be there?" said Scholar A.
"I expected her to be there, not because I doubt her talent, but because she is talented. Otherwise, look at the other three poems, which one can be compared with the same two poems?" said Scholar B.
"But the other one is a talented woman in Song Dynasty. She is also a wise woman with a wonderful pen, and she can write poems and chapters. The two have always been equal, and they are equally good!" said Scholar C.
"I came here today to see who is better between the two, but I didn't expect it to be like this! Alas!" said Scholar D.
Listening to the discussions downstairs, a young lady in an indigo dress walked up to Miss Han and asked in a lively tone, "Miss Han is writing poetry upstairs with the other two. I wonder if she knows something that we don't know?"
The people standing next to Miss Han thought that Miss Han was going to scold that person for being boring, because she always kept her distance from matters that did not concern her. Unexpectedly, this time she seemed happy to answer and answered patiently, "I was just concentrating on writing poetry. I don't know who plagiarized whom between the two of them, but I seemed to have heard some movement from Miss Sheng Si, and when I came out I saw Miss Song first."
When she said this, the girls were shocked. Miss Han said she knew nothing, but her words were still pointed at Molan.
Rulan was furious. This Miss Han knew nothing yet dared to talk nonsense. She pointed at Miss Han and was about to rush up to argue with her, but Minglan stopped her and said, "Fifth sister, don't be deceived by the evil person. She just wants us to mess up. We need to stay calm and not act rashly. The matter has not been concluded yet, and we can't cause trouble for Fourth sister."
Everyone noticed what Minglan and the others were doing and looked at them. Knowing that they were Molan's sisters, some of them were ready to make trouble. Lu Jinxuan stood up and said, "I, Lu Jinxuan, believe in Sheng Molan. She would never do anything like plagiarism." Rulan was moved by Lu Jinxuan's trust in Molan when she saw her stand up.
"Fourth Miss Lu is so eager to protect her friend, but I don't know if your friend is worthy of your protection. Don't let your sincerity go to the wrong place, right, Fourth Miss?" Miss Han said righteously, but emphasized the title of "Fourth Miss".
Lu Jinxuan suddenly became furious, "Han Yanran, don't go too far!"
Miss Han turned away disdainfully and ignored this side, as if she was sure that their persistence would not have a good result.
Back to the confrontation upstairs, facing Yu Niangzi's questioning, Molan remained calm and spoke leisurely, "I have loved orchids since I was a child. Now my home is planted with orchids. Later, I encountered a great change and fell in love with bamboo. These two gentlemen are what I desire, so this "Ode to Orchid and Bamboo" came into being. "
Molan's words made Yu Niangzi nod frequently. This state of mind, coupled with the poem Molan wrote before, the artistic conception is indeed consistent. Madam Yu looked at Song Yunjin again, and Song Yunjin was also calm, "I also love orchids and bamboos. There are many orchids and bamboos I painted in my studio at home, so when I wrote this poem, I first thought of orchids and bamboos, so I wrote this poem, and I used orchids and bamboos to show what I want in my heart." Song Yunjin's words were impeccable. This orchid and bamboo really fit the character shown in Miss Song's previous poems.
What the two said made sense, which made Madam Yu and other appraisers feel troubled, and the atmosphere became anxious. Everyone downstairs cheered for the talented women they supported, and the whole Moxiangju was noisy for a while.
"The two of you have your own opinions. You might as well go to the compartment to check. If someone really cheats, there will definitely be traces left!" In the crowd, someone suddenly shouted, which stood out among all the arguments.
Madam Yu heard it upstairs and thought what the man said made sense, so she ordered someone to check.
The person who went to the compartment to investigate came back and kept glancing at Molan. Although Minglan was downstairs, she saw it clearly. She became more and more panicked and her palms began to sweat. When the voice suddenly sounded just now, Minglan felt that there was something wrong, and now she was even more certain. Minglan held Rulan's hand tightly and heard the man's report.
"There is a secret compartment under Miss Song's desk, which leads directly to under Miss Sheng's desk. The secret compartment has a sloping slope. If you crumple up a piece of paper at Miss Song's place and throw it into the secret compartment, the paper ball will be able to roll along the slope to the secret compartment under Miss Sheng's table. But because of the slope on Miss Sheng's side, the paper ball cannot reach Miss Song's side."
As soon as the words fell, Molan was shocked, and the people downstairs were in an uproar. The people in this room were still in shock when they heard two sounds of people kneeling on the ground.
"I am guilty of a thousand crimes. I was greedy for money, so I agreed to cheat for the fourth lady Sheng. I had to do this shameful thing because my mother was seriously ill!" The maid who was writing in the Molan compartment kowtowed and confessed. "I
was also bewitched, so I agreed to let the fourth lady Sheng pass on the poem of the eldest lady Song for her. The maids in this Moxiangju can read and write. I took advantage of the time when the eldest lady Song was concentrating on writing poems to copy the poem on the prepared paper, crumpled it into a ball and stuffed it into the secret compartment. The ball of paper will roll to the fourth lady Sheng." The maid confessed what she had done.