On the Qinhuai River pleasure boat, Zhao Shouzheng followed the direction of his classmate and saw another pleasure boat of similar size, blocking a small riverside pier with a "light pink" flag.

A dozen or so scholars in black silk round collars obviously wanted to go upstairs, but the maid from the pale pink building blocked their way at the dock with a few large teapots.

"Please forgive me, gentlemen. My daughter's contract has expired and she really cannot spare the time." The nanny smiled apologetically but refused to give in.

"Don't try this on us. Don't think we don't know. This is your usual trick!" Those candidates spoke with a distinct Zhejiang accent, and their faces were flushed, obviously because they drank too much after swimming in the river.

"That's right. How could there be any customers in broad daylight? Didn't we go to brothels when we were in Hangzhou?"

"We are the great Jie Yuan Gong, and even the governor can see us. Now you have come all the way from Zhejiang to admire our reputation. Don't be so shameless!"

"Hurry up and call Zheng Yanru out. You still dare to make excuses? Believe it or not, we can send a letter to Yingtian Prefecture and tear down your broken Helou!"

Zhao Shouzheng had been a young master for so many years, and it was obvious at a glance that he was another wealthy guest from outside the area who did not understand the rules of the Qinhuai River and was acting wildly in front of the Nushi Building.

Seeing this, he smiled and nodded, and said to his peers: "Meet them!"

Upon hearing the order, his classmates became even more excited and ordered the boatman to ram the pleasure boat directly into the other boat.

The boatmen were accustomed to the jealousy and quarrels on the Qinhuai River. They first made excuses to refuse, but after receiving the reward money, they slowly steered their boats into the pleasure boat of the Zhejiang scholar.

With a bang, the two pleasure boats collided head-on.

Although the impact was not severe, the deck was slippery due to the rain. The noisy Zhejiang candidates were caught off guard and fell to the ground one after another. Many of them had their round-necked robes splashed with water.

"Hahaha……"

Seeing the embarrassed look of the Zhejiang candidates, the Yingtian candidates burst into laughter.

"You are a toad that wants to eat swan meat. Why don't you look at the Qinhuai River and see what a mess you are in!"

"Don't you have eyes when you're driving a boat?"

The Zhejiang candidates looked over angrily, and when they saw that the other party was also a group of candidates, they knew that they had run into someone looking for trouble.

After they passed the imperial examination, they were in high spirits. They headed north to Nanjing, and wherever they went, they were welcomed and escorted. Naturally, they were in high spirits, so they didn't care about the principle that a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake.

He pointed at Zhao Shouzheng, Tang Hezheng and others and started cursing.

The candidate from Yingtian was equally arrogant and started cursing at them from across the boat.

For a while, all kinds of abusive Wu dialect and Mandarin were flying across the Qinhuai River, attracting pedestrians on both sides of the river to stop and watch, and the cruise ships on the river also stopped to watch the fun.

Seeing more than 30 scholars on both sides cursing in the street, people covered their mouths and laughed.

Among the gentry class in the Ming Dynasty, the poor and newly-arrived scholars had the worst reputation, and it was obviously not unjustified.

Just as the river was in chaos, the gentle and fluent sound of a pipa suddenly came from the pale pink building.

It was magical, but when the pipa started playing, the noisy voices of people became much quieter. When the melody started and the pipa sound became more meaningful and clear, there was no sound of people outside the pink building or on the river. Everyone held their breath and listened to the pipa music played by the owner of the pink building.

In the ups and downs of the pipa sound, people completely forgot that they were in the Qinhuai misty rain, as if they had come to the open plains with clear autumn air, calm wind and flat sand. Looking up, they saw thousands of miles of clouds and flying in the sky, and looking down, they felt relaxed and happy, and all their restlessness was gone... The candidates who were like fighting cocks finally calmed down.

It turned out that it was Zheng Yanru, the owner of Danfen Building, who finally took action to calm the situation.

She was selected as the most beautiful woman in Jinling last year, and she was very proud of her status. This kind of jealousy among patrons would only lower her reputation and make her peers laugh at her for not being able to control the situation.

When the song ended, the windows of the river defense hall opened, revealing Zheng Yanru's beautiful figure and perfect face.

There was immediate cheering from both sides of the Qinhuai River.

"Well, Mr. Zheng's pipa is indeed the best in Jinling!"

"As expected of Mr. Zheng!"

Zheng Yanru was upstairs, bowing to everyone and thanking Zhao Shouzheng and his group first. Then she looked at the Zhejiang scholar on the pleasure boat and said softly:

"I am deeply honored by your kindness, gentlemen. "

Zheng Yanru's voice, like the sound of her pipa, seems to have the magic power to conquer people's hearts.

The Zhejiang scholars who were so arrogant just now suddenly became well behaved. The one who was in the lead and looked pretty good hurriedly bowed and introduced himself politely.

"I am Huang Hongxian from Zhejiang. I was drunk and had no moral integrity. I offended Mr. Zheng."

"Brother Huang is the champion of this year's Zhejiang imperial examination!" The Zhejiang scholar standing beside him hurriedly helped him blow the conch.

"Mr. Zheng, you should know that we ranked first in the provincial examination in Zhejiang. Brother Huang was able to win the first place in our province, which means he has the talent to be the top scholar!"

It is a recognized fact that the culture and education of the Ming Dynasty flourished and Jiangnan was the best in the world. But who was the best in Jiangnan? Nanzhili and Zhejiang both thought they were the best. A group of Zhejiang people went to Nanzhili to brag about themselves, which naturally attracted boos from the Qinhuai River.

“Zhejiang people just love to brag!”

"Can you beat us, Nanzhi?"

"You people in Nanzhili just rely on your large numbers..." The Zhejiang scholar immediately retorted.

"When it comes to the number one scholar, we have to look at Zhejiang!"

Seeing that the situation, which had just been stabilized with great difficulty, was about to become chaotic again, Zheng Yanru hurriedly played the pipa to attract everyone's attention to herself.

"Zhili and Zhejiang are one, both are in the south of the Yangtze River, why do you have to compare who is better?"

"Miss Zheng, it's the Zhejiang people who are rude..."

"Ms. Zheng, please don't favor the locals..."

Zheng Yanru saw that there was no way to smooth things over, so she smiled and said, "How about this, how about a competition between the two sides?"

"Let's compete!"

"What are we competing in? Composing poems or lyrics!"

The situation has already risen to a regional level, so naturally neither side can retreat.

"Since we are on the Qinhuai River, we naturally wrote lyrics." Zheng Yanru smiled and said, "It will also be convenient for us ladies to sing for the gentlemen."

"Okay, Miss Zheng, please choose the tune!" People on both sides of the boat were ready to try.

"Well then..." Zheng Yanru thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "Young Master Zhao's "Dielianhua" has been sung along the Qinhuai River recently. Have you heard of it?"

"Of course I know..." The people of Jinling responded one after another.

Even among the candidates from Zhejiang, some nodded and said, "Is it 'the most difficult thing to keep in the world'? I have heard of it."

"Young Master Zhao's lyrics are of course superb, but I think all of you who have won the first prize are talented. Why don't you also write a song for 'Dielianhua' to not let Young Master Zhao have all the glory?"

Zheng Yanru looked at the candidates with a smile, obviously wanting to use Young Master Zhao's talent to suppress these ignorant Zhejiang candidates.

"This..." A group of Zhejiang scholars looked at each other in bewilderment. It was not difficult to write a poem about Butterfly Loves Flowers, but with the example of Young Master Zhao before them, how dare they show off their skills and bring disgrace upon themselves?

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