As soon as Madam Xu finished speaking, Xu Wanli said dissatisfiedly, "If that's the case, how can this gambling game be fair? In my opinion, Master Xiao is only fit to be a spectator in this gambling game."
Everyone thought about it and agreed. Although there was a change in the court this year, it was still much easier for Xiao Jingxi to guess the ranking of the competition than for others.
Xiao Jingxi couldn't help but smile: "Then I'll just be a spectator. The pleasure boat is parked nearby, how about you all move over first?"
No one had any objections and left the cabin with Xiao Jingxi.
As expected, the Yanbei Palace's pleasure boat was parked next to this boat. If they moved the boat closer, they could get on directly. Xiao Jingxi asked a few people to board the pleasure boat first, and he followed behind. After Pei Zhiyan and Xu's husband had boarded, Xiao Jingxi called Leshan and Leshui, who were beside Ren Yaoqi, over and told them to carefully support Ren Yaoqi. He then gently reminded Ren Yaoqi, "Be careful."
Ren Yaoqi smiled at him, got on the pleasure boat steadily, then paused for a moment and turned around to wait for him to come up.
Xiao Jingxi boarded the pleasure boat and looked at Ren Yaoqi, a smile of joy appearing on the corner of his mouth.
Xu Wanli was actually Xiao Jingxi's teacher, so he was not shy when he got on his student's boat. He and his wife took Pei Zhiyan to look around the pleasure boat.
After they had looked around enough, Xiao Jingxi led them to the flower hall on the pleasure boat, which had the best view. Xiao Jingxi seemed to have told them that guests would arrive later, and tea, snacks, and fruits were already prepared in the flower hall. It seemed that he had indeed gone to the Xu family's boat to entertain guests, as he had said before.
After the guests and hosts were seated, Xu Wanli glanced at the racing boats already positioned on the river and said, "Let's start betting."
Xiao Jingxi called a maid and whispered a few instructions to her. The maid then left and came in a short while later with a tea tray on which was a stack of cut rice paper. Behind her were several maids holding pens, ink, paper, and inkstone.
"Why don't you write down your bets on paper first, and then open them and look at the results after they come out. This will be fairer." Xiao Jingxi said.
"That's not bad." Mrs. Xu nodded and smiled.
The maids placed the pens, ink, paper, inkstone and the cut rice paper in front of everyone. Xiao Jingxi said he would not participate and indeed he did not participate. He just watched everyone place bets with paper and pen.
Ren Yaoqi glanced at the group. Xu Wanli and Madam Xu were whispering to each other as they wrote, seemingly discussing what to bet on. Their gambling was about elegance, so naturally, they wouldn't bet on money.
Pei Zhiyan was sipping tea with his head down, a leisurely smile between his eyebrows. He didn't seem to be in a hurry to place a bet. He just drank tea while tilting his head to chat about tea ceremony with Xiao Jingxi who was sitting next to him.
Ren Yaoqi didn't rush to write. She glanced out at the river and saw several dragon boats already spread out in the middle of the river. It was as if the entire river was covered in water. While previous years had been just a fun-filled event, this year, for some reason, there was a heightened sense of tension.
The imperial court's dragon boat was parked in the center, with the Yanbei Palace's Azure Dragon parked to its left. To the Yanbei Palace's left sat the Lei family's Red Dragon, while the Yun family's White Dragon sat to the other side of the imperial court's Golden Dragon, all like arrows poised to be released, ready to fly at the command.
Pei Zhiyan said, "Mr. Xiao doesn't seem to care about winning or losing this race?" Pei Zhiyan was talking about the outcome of the dragon boat race, not their guesses.
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