Quick Wear: Cousin, Come to the Bowl Quickly

After lunch, the ladies drank tea and rested for a while, then went to the new venue under the guidance of the female officials.

The Spring Banquet was originally held for the marriageable men and women in Jiankang to meet each other. In the morning, the male and female guests were independent and naturally had no chance for contact, so the afternoon arrangement was the highlight of this Spring Banquet.

Lin Xi learned from the original owner's memory that the entertainment activities of this era were quite rich and colorful. The more elegant ones included chess, hidden hooks, and cover shooting, while the more heroic ones included fencing, cuju, hunting, etc. However, those who came today were all young men and ladies, and they were all dressed up, so they naturally couldn't move so much that their hair and clothes were wet with sweat. Considering that everyone had to participate, the eldest princess first arranged a hidden hook game.

The game of hiding a jade hook originated in the previous dynasty. It is said that when Emperor Wu was on a tour, he met a woman. The woman was very beautiful, but she was born with her fists clenched, which no one could open. Emperor Wu ordered her to come forward. As a result, as soon as his hands were touched, the woman's hands stretched out, and there was a jade hook in her hands. Later, she was brought back to the palace by Emperor Wu and was named a lady. The story spread among the people, and women followed her example and clenched their fists. This behavior gradually evolved into a game at banquets.

The rules of the game are also simple. Divide the participants into two groups. If the number of people is an even number, the two groups will confront each other. If the number of people is an odd number, one of them will be the "鵨鸱" and he can choose to join either side.

At the beginning of the game, the group hiding will hold a small jade hook or other small object in their hands, and the other side will send someone to guess which person's hand the object is held in. If they guess correctly, the person hiding will be fined a glass of wine, and vice versa. This activity has a low threshold, is suitable for all ages, and has strong group participation, so it is very popular among the people of Jiankang.

The game was played beside the Lanting Creek. Young men and women sat on both sides of the creek, while the ladies sat in a pavilion on a higher place. The female official counted the number of guests and found that there were fifteen male guests and twelve female guests. The difference in number was a bit too much, so the eldest princess asked three young maids to sit on the side of the female guests to make up the number.

Although there were elders watching over them and a stream of neither narrow nor wide separated them, the young men and women were at the age of youth, and when they looked at each other, their faces blushed.

Lin Xi was quite calm. She looked at the noblemen on the other side inconspicuously. The most outstanding one among them was a man sitting diagonally opposite her in a sky-blue wide-sleeved robe. He had a pair of passionate peach blossom eyes, and facial features like the finest fine brush paintings, with a kind of androgynous beauty. His robe was a little loose, revealing a section of his snow-white neck. He sat in an unrestrained posture, with a free and elegant demeanor.

Another young man not far from him had a completely different style. He was dressed in white and looked very handsome. He sat upright, acting like a gentleman, and looked very pleasing to the eye. However, Lin Xi had seen countless people, and could tell from his slightly inward-turned shoulders and unnatural eyes that this man was inferior and sensitive, and cared a lot about other people's opinions. His gentlemanly appearance was just a disguise, and compared with He Lanting sitting next to him, he looked even more inferior.

"That is Cui Xu, the man Cen Yan pursued all her life in her first life, and he is also the scumbag she wants to kill in this life." The system gave a timely reminder.

Lin Xi couldn't help but secretly curl her lips. The heroine's taste was really poor. Although Cui Xu looked good, he was not so stunning that it would shock the world and make ghosts weep. Moreover, his temperament was too bad. How could he make her chase him desperately?

"The host of the love-brained world will never understand."

That's right, although Lin Xi has played the infatuated cousin who is willing to give up everything for the second male lead in many worlds, that is only limited to the acting level. Deep down, she strongly disagrees with the behavior of being willing to die for a man or a woman, as if love is the only belief in their life.

As a sickly girl, what she longed for more was to be able to breathe freely, run without restraint, eat whatever she wanted, and she wanted to see all the beautiful scenery in the world. Compared with these things, love seemed particularly insignificant.

After complaining in his heart, Lin Xi continued to look towards the other side. After looking around, he didn't see anyone particularly outstanding, but the young masters of the aristocratic families were all made of gorgeous things, and there was no ugly one.

The game officially began. In the first round, the ladies hid the hook and the gentlemen guessed it. The ladies gathered together and discussed for a long time, and finally decided to hide the jade hook in Lou Shuwen's right hand.

Lou Shuwen was a model of a noble lady who had been personally named and praised by the Queen. She had dignified manners, and was quiet and elegant. Compared to several young ladies who blushed after speaking a few words, she was very calm when facing the gazes of the young men, without showing any strange look.

Sure enough, when the first incense stick burned out, the young man who was sent out first to guess had no idea and could only randomly point to a lady. The lady smiled playfully and spread out her empty hands. Everyone burst into laughter. The young man drank the wine with a red face and stepped aside.

Then the second round began. The ladies wanted to change someone to hide the jade hook, but the lady who was wrongly guessed just now suddenly had an idea and suggested, "Why don't we hide it in Sister Lou's hands? They will never expect us to use the same trick again." Everyone thought it made sense, so the jade hook was hidden in Lou Shuwen's hands again.

At the end of the second round, just as the young lady said, the young man first avoided Lou Shuwen, and only looked at the faces and hands of those young ladies who looked quite nervous. Finally, he chose the young lady in the yellow dress who looked the most unnatural with great hesitation, and was then fined to drink without a doubt.

Halfway through the game, the men were basically losing more than they were winning, so they no longer cared about the rule of not being able to help each other, and they all came together to come up with ideas.

In the tenth round, the jade hook was stuffed into Lin Xi's hand. After passing through so many people's hands, the surface of the jade hook felt a little sticky, but Lin Xi still clenched it carefully with a calm expression.

Looking across, she saw that the young masters, who had just been in low spirits, were all cheering and pushing out a man in a white robe. Lin Xi looked closely and saw that it was Cui Xu. Thinking of the fact that Cui Xu had a reputation of "nine out of ten" in playing the game of hidden hook in the original plot, she couldn't help but become curious and wanted to see whether she, the master of disguise, was better or Cui Xu, who was good at observing people's words and expressions, was better.

Over there, Cui Xu, facing the eager gazes of a group of young masters, first quickly glanced at the young ladies opposite who stretched out their fists, quickly eliminated a few, and then briefly asked the remaining young ladies. Finally, he locked his gaze on two people, one was the overly nervous Cen Yan, and the other was the overly calm Lin Xi.

He looked at Cen Yan, and was slightly stunned when he met her pair of icy eyes. He didn't understand why she looked at him so coldly when they didn't know each other. Under such a cold gaze, he didn't even have the courage to look at her a second time, and could only quickly turn his gaze to Lin Xi.

Lin Xi still looked calm and composed. Cui Xu looked at her beautiful face for a long time but could not see anything wrong. The gentlemen behind him who had high hopes for him had begun to urge him. He hesitated for a moment and was about to open his mouth to give the answer when he suddenly heard a scream from the other side of the river.

"what!"