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

Tomorrow is Xiling City’s literary event!

Tonight, many people are awake.

In stark contrast to the tranquility and peace of the Liyuan Cottage are the teahouses, taverns and brothels in Xiling City!

The business of teahouses and taverns was very good, but the business of brothels and gambling houses plummeted.

Too many people invested their spare money into this gambling game, and almost everyone bet on Bai Shaoqiu... to lose!

Although Song Zigui won the first place in the Zhuxi Literary Society for three consecutive years, three times the limit is always a sure thing. If you bet on him to win again, he will certainly earn more, but the probability of him losing this time is also about half.

After all, Qi Shaotong from Changxing Academy and Zhuo Yixing from Changning Academy are coming with great momentum.

The safest way is to bet on Bai Shaoqiu to lose.

At the end of the Shen time tonight, the gambling game at Jubao Money House was closed.

The enthusiasm shown by the neighbors all over the city is even more lively than the Chinese New Year!

Without money in his pocket, he couldn't go to the brothel to listen to music for the time being, let alone go to the gambling house.

But tea is still affordable.

Teahouses are where most people gather. Those tea drinkers all have smiles on their faces. When they meet, they no longer ask if you have eaten, but if you have bought anything.

How much did you buy?

They congratulated each other and chatted while waiting for the Zhuxi Literary Festival to start tomorrow.

Wait for Jubao Money House to pay compensation.

Qianweilou, in a spacious private room on the second floor.

Chang Huan, the second son of Chang's Bookstore, hosted a banquet here to entertain many friends.

They are all young.

They are all famous young men in Xiling City!

In addition to Ge Sanjie and Song Zigui, there were also Qi Shaotong from Changxing Academy, Zhuo Yixing from Changning Academy and others.

After thirty years of drinking.

The slightly tipsy Chang Huan lifted his sleeves and raised his hands. All the young men at the table fell silent and looked towards him.

"Everyone..."

"Today we are drinking and chatting happily, and my intention is threefold!"

"The first one... is, of course, to wish all of you talented people victory in the Zhuxi Literary Competition tomorrow!"

"Well... no matter who wins first place, my father has instructed that Chang's Bookstore will give you a thousand taels of silver as a reward!"

When Song Zigui and other students heard this, they immediately smiled happily.

One thousand taels of silver is not a small amount!

If I win first place, plus the three thousand taels of silver reward for the champion of this Zhuxi Literary Competition...

This is a huge sum of money!

With this money, I won’t have to worry about the huge expenses when I go to Kyoto to attend the Xiangshan Literary Festival next autumn.

Looking at the smiling faces of these students, Chang Huan said:

"The second thing is some information about the gambling game set up by Jubao Bank..."

"There are 200,000 people in Xiling City, with more than 50,000 households."

"By the time Jubao Money House closed, I heard that the amount of silver lost by betting on Bai Shaoqiu was... over two million taels!"

"That's normal. I bought it for 50,000 taels of silver, but..."

"I heard a piece of news. In the last incense stick of time before the market closed, someone actually bet on Bai Shaoqiu to win with a hundred thousand taels of silver!"

When Chang Huan said this, everyone's face showed an expression of disbelief.

Qi Shaotong frowned:

"One hundred thousand taels of silver for Bai Shaoqiu to win?"

"Correct!"

"So if he wins, Jubao Bank will have to pay him one million taels of silver?"

"exactly!"

"Master Chang, do you know who bought it?"

Chang Huan shook his head: "I don't know... I'm wondering who else in Xiling City is willing to come up with such a large sum of money to give Bai Shaoqiu courage?"

Everyone looked puzzled and looked at Ge Sanjie.

After all, he is the son of the City Guard Mansion, so I think he knows more information.

But Ge Sanjie smiled bitterly and shook his head:

"There are only a handful of wealthy families in Xiling City who would dare to waste 100,000 taels of silver, and the Prince's Mansion is naturally the first."

"Mother has been to the palace these past few days, and I heard from the princess that the palace and Bai Shaoqiu seem to have reached an agreement not to interfere with each other."

"After all, Bai Shaoqiu is the son-in-law bestowed by the Emperor. The palace really doesn't have much to do with him. The most they can do is give him some respect and control his spending."

"Mother said that the princess's attitude towards Bai Shaoqiu remains cold, and no one in the palace wants to mention this son-in-law. He hasn't been in the princess's residence these past two days, and no one knows where he went. The princess doesn't seem to care at all about this."

"This means the palace won't spend a hundred thousand taels of silver to support this son-in-law... Everyone in Xiling City knows that Bai Shaoqiu is a loser, so even the wealthy merchants in Xiling City, even if they were once close friends with his father, Bai Changgeng, wouldn't hesitate to give him money."

"So... there's only one person who did this!"

"Who?"

Ge Sanjie took a deep breath, a rather solemn expression on his face:

"Her Royal Highness the Ninth Princess!"

Everyone was shocked. Song Zigui had known for a long time that the Ninth Princess Tang Xianxian had been at Shangling Academy for several days, while the others thought that Tang Xianxian had only arrived two days ago.

It is rumored that a distinguished person from Kyoto will be attending the Zhuxi Literary Gathering this time, and it must be Her Royal Highness the Ninth Princess.

She should have come with Mr. Wen.

So she had just arrived here two days ago.

Two days to make such a big decision...

"Master Ge, you just said that even the palace didn't know where Bai Shaoqiu had gone these past two days..."

Zhuo Yixing from Changning Academy said solemnly:

"I heard that Elder Wen went straight to Zhuxi, so Her Highness the Ninth Princess might also be in Zhuxi."

"Will Bai Shaoqiu be in Zhuxi these two days?"

As soon as he said this, everyone fell into deep thought.

Zhuxi is the residence of Mr. Si!

I heard that Princess Changying has taken Mr. Si as her teacher!

I heard that Princess Changying got along very well with the Ninth Princess when they were in Kyoto.

Bai Shaoqiu is at least nominally the husband of Princess Changying!

Princess Changying leads 3,000 Red Tassel soldiers to battle...

It was reasonable for the Ninth Princess to summon Bai Shaoqiu to see what her best friend's husband was like.

Bai Shaoqiu spent three days studying at Shangling Academy, and won over Song Zigui in couplet composition...

Qi Shaotong looked at Song Zigui, feeling a little nervous, and asked very seriously:

"Brother Song, does Bai Shaoqiu have any real skills?"

Song Zigui shook his head decisively: "How is this possible?"

Chang Huan also waved his hand at this time: "Bai Shaoqiu is not in Zhuxi!"

"..."

Song Zigui hesitated for a moment and ultimately did not say that the Ninth Princess had been in Shangling Academy a few days ago.

The Ninth Princess and Bai Shaoqiu have met before!

Under everyone's gaze, Chang Huan pondered for three breaths and said:

"But no matter what, the fact that the Ninth Princess dared to spend 100,000 taels of silver to bet on Bai Shaoqiu to win... this needs to attract everyone's attention!"

"Sometimes, success or failure doesn't necessarily depend on talent or knowledge, just like in business, success or failure doesn't necessarily depend on the product."

"Even if the Ninth Princess supports Bai Shaoqiu out of respect for Princess Changying, her wealth doesn't just come from the wind..."

"Do you understand what I mean?"

Song Zigui's eyes widened. "What? Could it be that the Ninth Princess is using her status as a princess to force the judges to cheat?"

Chang Huan glanced at Song Zigui and said, "Don't say that!"

"Now that the market is closed, there's no chance for anyone to change their minds."

"The third meaning of this drinking party tonight is... my father learned the final question after entering Lanting from a student in Zhuxi!"

Everyone was shocked and looked at Chang Huan with horror and anticipation in their eyes.