My husband, please respect yourself. The princess is here to grab the bride.

Song Zigui, the most talented man in Xiling City, wants to borrow 12,000 taels of silver!

This is a huge sum of money!

If this money were to be used elsewhere, these young masters here would probably hesitate.

They are rich, but not stupid!

But this money was used by Song Zigui to gamble with Bai Shaoqiu!

The one who gambled happened to be the leader of the Zhuxi Literary Society—

If both of them fail to win the championship, as long as Song Zigui goes further than Bai Shaoqiu in Zhuxi, Song Zigui will be considered the winner!

Song Zigui has entered the Lanting Pavilion and won the first place in the past three years!

And that good-for-nothing Bai Shaoqiu, whom they knew well and was a household name in Xiling City... he definitely couldn't cross the Zhuxi River!

How is this gambling?

This is simply that big fool giving money to Song Zigui!

"it is good!"

Ge Sanjie, who was sitting at the head of the table, clapped his hands and said, "I'll give you five thousand taels of silver!"

"But this money is not for nothing. If Brother Song wins, the ten thousand taels of silver he wins will be divided according to the amount of investment!"

Of course Song Zigui was willing.

He looked at the other four people with great joy.

The other four counted on their fingers and found that only 4,000 taels were left out of the 12,000 taels...

"Brother Song, can the stakes be higher?"

Song Zigui pondered for three breaths and shook his head: "I think it will be difficult for that loser to raise more money."

"He lost too much, so it's not good for him to go to the palace, right?"

Everyone thought about it and agreed.

After all, he is just a son-in-law of the royal family, and an unwelcome one at that. How could the royal family give him so much money?

So, the four of them each contributed one thousand taels, which made up the twelve thousand taels of silver that Song Zigui needed.

Ge Sanjie raised his glass:

"This young master doesn't dare to provoke Bai Shaoqiu anymore... Remember, don't provoke him lightly!"

"This is what my father told me carefully when he became the prince's son-in-law. It's not because he was afraid of him, but because he had to consider the reputation of the prince's palace, especially the reputation of Princess Changying!"

"Father said that even though Princess Changying and he haven't even met, with the Emperor's decree, they are already husband and wife!"

"And you probably don't know Princess Changying's personality... She protects her own people!"

"Very protective!"

"Father meant that unless there was a good reason, we shouldn't humiliate him for no reason."

"The prince, princess, and Princess Changying can humiliate him as much as they want, but neither you nor I can. He's taken now!"

Upon hearing this, Song Zigui hurriedly asked, "Young Master Ge, if I beat him in front of thousands of students, wouldn't that bring shame to Princess Changying?"

Ge Sanjie waved his hand: "This happened for a reason, it's not an unwarranted humiliation of him!"

"It's a literary gathering, so naturally there has to be a ranking of the best. Besides, he was the one who brought up the prize."

"A loser chose to challenge you to a literary duel... Princess Changying will only vent her anger on him. The more miserably he loses, the harder his days in the Princess's Mansion will be!"

"Cherish this opportunity. I think once Princess Changying returns and learns about this... it will be difficult for us to see Young Master Bai again in Xiling City."

"There will never be another opportunity like this again!"

"Come, come, let's have a drink together to celebrate Young Master Song's great victory!"

……

……

Bai Shaoqiu never expected that Song Zigui could actually raise a prize of 12,000 taels of silver.

On his way back to the academy, he bought a stick of charcoal and some cut paper from a grocery store.

The brush is really awkward to use, so he needs to use charcoal to make some charcoal pencils.

There are still many books to read in the library, and I need to hurry up and write a few chapters of "A Dream of Red Mansions" for Uncle Fu to read.

Uncle Fu is steady.

He won't release the eagle until he sees the rabbit!

There was also the Zhuxi Literary Society, which he had not originally planned to attend because it was boring.

But now he has changed his mind.

I am not famous yet.

Still a waste in everyone's eyes.

Now it must be reversed.

Fame is a very useful thing. If you are famous enough, you may be able to ask the world-famous scholar Si to write a preface for your "A Dream of Red Mansions".

If you want to catch the eye of Mr. Si, you really have to win the first place in the imperial examination!

fair enough.

Now that I'm here, there's no need to hide anything.

If he could really get the top prize, his reputation would surely spread throughout Xiling City overnight.

There is no harm in this.

It would be even better if this matter could be reported to Kyoto Chang'an!

The emperor likes literature, so it should be able to reach his ears.

What if the emperor is so pleased that he summons me to the capital to meet him... and if I can write a poem or a song to please the emperor, I might even be able to beg him to revoke the imperial edict.

Without the identity of a son-in-law, Princess Changying was freed, and she...she no longer needed to look at the face of the palace.

With this thought in mind, he walked into the academy.

He cut a thin bamboo in a bamboo forest in the academy, then went to the back of the library to get a knife and spent half an hour making two charcoal pencils.

When he happily arrived at the door of the library, Zhao Poshan, wearing black armor, was waiting for him at the door.

"My master invites you to come sit in the watchtower pavilion!"

Bai Shaoqiu raised his eyes, looked at the pair of cold eyes under the helmet, and hesitated for three breaths——

The hesitation meant that he wanted to ask the general about martial arts.

But he still gave up.

Because with money you can hire a good martial arts master to teach you.

At the moment, money is more important!

"Oh, I'm busy."

He was about to step into the threshold of the library.

Zhao Poshan obviously did not expect that the son-in-law would refuse His Highness's invitation, and refused so bluntly.

He stepped sideways to block the door.

Bai Shaoqiu retracted his forward leg, took a step back, and suddenly smiled:

"Is this your master's attitude towards inviting people?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the girl wearing a veil last night was your master, right?"

"To have a master like you as her guard, her status is obviously not low... But she doesn't necessarily have the ability to hire me!"

Bai Shaoqiu took out the palm-sized golden sign from his sleeve pocket and held it in front of Zhao Poshan:

"Look carefully, the emperor has bestowed upon us a son-in-law!"

"Go back and tell your master that I really don't have time!"

"Please get out of the way!"

Zhao Poshan was dumbfounded!

He originally thought that the identity of a son-in-law was too unpleasant and no one would mention it in front of outsiders.

But this son-in-law doesn't seem to be ashamed of it!

He even showed the badge bestowed by the emperor!

This thing works.

Not only can it save his life, but even Zhao Poshan cannot use force on him——

He originally wanted to test the skills of this son-in-law!

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the murderous intent last night came from this young man.

He had no choice but to give up the idea and move aside.

Bai Shaoqiu walked up the stairs and suddenly stopped.

He seemed to have thought of something. He turned to look at Zhao Poshan and said:

"If your master is free, please ask her to come to the library to meet me!"

Zhao Poshan was annoyed:

"My master is not someone who can be seen by anyone who wants to!"

Bai Shaoqiu smiled:

"Tell her I have a big business, um... I think it will be enough for her to earn enough for her dowry!"

"If she's interested, she can come. If not..."

Bai Shaoqiu turned and went upstairs: "If you're not interested, I'll find someone else!"