After I traveled through the book, I fought back in the Hou Mansion

Chapter 97

The old woman bowed respectfully, took the poem and led the maid out.

Ye Yunzhou watched their backs gradually disappear, then stood up and walked to the lake, stood with his hands behind his back, and looked towards the opposite bank.

The lights on the other side of the river were bright, and between the shades of the trees, one could vaguely see the figures of girls and the sounds of their laughter and playfulness.

Because of Luo Dajun's incident before, he had some opinions about Luo Dajun's daughter, and because of Aunt Wu's incident, he took out all his anger on her.

Now it seems that Luo Shuiyao is a rare insightful person, at least smarter than Lu Zhaozhao.

He had never heard of this poem, and neither had any of the other young men present. It would not be difficult for Luo Shuiyao to steal this reputation.

By the time these gentlemen spread the word, she would surely find a husband of her dreams. However, she was not moved at all by such temptation. She truly had a good character.

At this moment, he finally let go of the last bit of prejudice in his heart and no longer rejected the idea of her becoming the cousin of the Marquis's Mansion.

…………

On this side, Luo Shuiyao was isolated by many noble ladies and could only sit alone at the table and drink by herself. She looked up and saw the nanny and the maid entering the yard, but she did not stand up.

Lu Zhaozhao had been keeping an eye on the courtyard gate. Seeing the maid come in, she quickly stood up to greet her. She was filled with pride, thinking that her poem was written by a great scholar from Ping'an County, and she didn't believe she couldn't win over this "country girl."

He was sure to win first place today, so he stepped forward, suppressed his complacency, and asked the nanny, "I wonder what the prince's reply is?"

The nanny glanced at her and bowed respectfully, "Miss Lu, please wait a moment."

Then she walked to the center of the courtyard, glanced around, bowed again, and said, "I have taken all the poems to the gentlemen on the male side for their review. The first place in this poetry competition is Miss Luo Biao."

"what?"

Lu Zhaozhao couldn't help but scream, her voice was abnormal.

The noble ladies were suddenly in an uproar. They began to whisper to each other, their eyes full of disbelief.

Lu Zhaozhao stepped forward and said excitedly, "How is that possible? Madam, are you mistaken? She comes from the countryside. How could she possibly write a poem better than the one I've produced? Which of these noble ladies here isn't better than her?"

"Yes, she is just a village girl. How can she be better than us and get the first place?" The rest of the noble ladies echoed.

The nanny was used to big scenes in the Marquis' Mansion. Seeing this situation, she did not move an inch. She remained calm and said, "This is what the prince and the other young masters said. If you have any opinions, you can go and ask."

Hearing this, everyone was silent and dared not say a word.

Seeing them speechless, Su Yu'an slowly sat up straight and said to the nanny, "Why don't you pass down this cousin Luo's poem for us to see? Otherwise, we will definitely doubt whether this matter is unfair."

Naturally, the nanny agreed. She took out the top piece of poem and handed it over.

Su Yu'an took it nonchalantly, glanced at the contents on it, and suddenly froze in place.

She looked at the poem, muttering it over and over again, and finally stared at Luo Shuiyao for a long while, then slowly raised the corner of her lips and said, "I underestimated a country girl like you."

As he said this, he casually handed the piece of paper with the poem to Lu Zhaozhao who was sitting in the front row.

Lu Zhaozhao took it, looked at it for a few seconds, and his expression became ugly.

When the noble ladies saw this, they looked at each other. A noble lady came forward and took the poem from her hand, and everyone passed it around to look at it.

After a while, the yard was silent.

Seeing that everyone had finally quieted down, Luo Shuiyao slowly stood up, walked forward and said, "I wonder if you are all convinced?"

Lu Zhaozhao stared at her intently with a cold gaze, squeezing out a few words from between his teeth: "Don't be too proud. Who knows if this poem was written for you?"

Luo Shuiyao smiled and replied calmly, "Sister Zhao, what do you mean by that? In our poetry competition, didn't we say you can't use other people's poems? If you have any objections, you might as well borrow someone else's poem and compete with me."

Everyone was speechless for a moment.

If they could compete, they would have stood up long ago. Why would they remain silent here?

Luo Shuiyao's eyes swept over everyone. Seeing that no one responded, she smiled and said, "Since all the sisters have already accepted, I will have no choice but to accept this prize."

After saying that, he called Dujuan over and asked her to pack up all the precious jewelry and take them back to Chunhuayuan.

Dujuan walked forward, holding the pile of gold and silver jewelry on the table tightly in her arms with slightly trembling hands, and walked towards Chunhuayuan.

Luo Shuiyao watched her quickly walk away, nodded with satisfaction, and thought to herself, "Today's welcoming banquet has yielded quite a lot!"

The yard was silent for a moment.

Luo Shuiyao looked back and found that all the noble ladies were looking at her with complicated eyes, especially Lu Zhaozhao, whose eyes were even colder.

She smiled softly, walked nonchalantly to her previous seat and sat down, saying with a smile: "Why don't you ladies sit down? Although I come from the countryside, I can recognize a few words. I wonder if I can satisfy you today?"

Her eyes slowly swept over the crowd, but no one spoke. She gracefully poured a glass of fruit wine. This wine was young, light, and mild, and was a favorite among the young ladies, so it was usually always on hand in banquet halls hosting guests.

She stood up, holding her wine glass, and bowed to the ladies. "I come from the countryside and don't understand the customs of Kyoto. I'm afraid I might have offended you ladies, but I hope you won't blame me. I'll drink three glasses of wine as punishment, and I hope you'll forgive me."

The noble ladies looked at each other. They were currently in the residence of Marquis Zhongyong. Marquis Zhongyong and his eldest son, Prince Ye, were deeply favored by the emperor.

When they arrived, the elders in their family had already warned them to establish good relations with the two cousins who had been brought into the Marquis's mansion. Although the jewelry they had given as a prize was quite expensive, it was not a rare item considering their family background.

Now seeing Luo Shuiyao bowing her head to apologize, they all echoed: "It's okay, this sister has a generous personality, we won't blame her."

Someone then spoke up, "This is just a game. There's no point in blaming anyone. Sister Luo, you're overthinking it."

When the noble ladies saw someone taking the lead, they all started to speak in her defense.

Luo Shuiyao smiled and drank the fruit wine. "In that case, please help yourself. The snacks on the table were made by the cook in the Marquis' Mansion. They are quite delicious. Please enjoy them."

She put down her wine glass and was about to turn around and leave when she heard Hongying beside Lu Zhaozhao shout, "Miss Luo, please wait!"

Luo Shuiyao lowered her head, and no one could see the expression in her eyes. The corners of her mouth curled up slightly: Okay, is the highlight about to begin?