In the Northern Song Dynasty, he started by marrying the eighth daughter of the Su family.

After Han Zhi finished reading, Bao Wan and Bao Fu looked at each other and saw surprise in each other's eyes—it was not bad, almost on par with Su Niangzi's first poem.

Bao Zheng nodded in approval, but amidst the approval of the crowd, Su Zhen said:

"This one is not good."

Han Zhi seemed to have expected this, and asked with a smile, "What is it that you find unpleasant, Eighth Sister?"

Su Zhen stretched out his finger and gently pointed to the words "snow," "ice," and "winter" on it. Even Bao Wan and the others leaned over to look, but they didn't see anything wrong with it, so they asked:

"Madam Su, is there something wrong with these words?"

“Of course there are, and the problems are huge,” Su Zhen said. “My lord, do you remember that I just mentioned using summer scenery as an image?”

Han Zhi nodded, and Su Zhen continued, "But sir, you used the imagery of winter, doesn't that break the initial rules?"

"hiss……"

Han Zhi awkwardly touched his chin, and then Su Zhen snatched the pen from his hand.

“My lord, please watch carefully. I will only write this one poem.”

Immediately, Su Zhen put pen to paper, without even thinking, and a poem in the form of two verses appeared on the page:

Willow branches dance lightly in my dreams, a gentle breeze returns to the garden. A small pavilion is hidden deep in the green, recalling the ripples of summer lotus. My heart is drawn, my heart is drawn, the melody lingers by the green waves and lotus shore.

A gentle ripple on the water before my dreams, the summer moon still shines on my sleepless night. The sound of a flute breaks the dawn's mist, dragonflies flutter once more. Tender feelings, tender feelings, the verdant summer's destiny cannot be concealed.

Now, it wasn't just Han Zhi who gasped; everyone in the pavilion gasped in shock.

"Well written! Truly wondrous. Just by looking at my little pond, you can depict summer scenes in winter, and summer nights in winter mornings, writing with a dreamlike quality." Bao Zheng greatly praised Su Zhen's poem, then looked at Han Zhi and added:

"I was unaware that Lady Su possessed such literary talent, which seems to surpass even yours, Mr. Han."

Han Zhi was not annoyed, after all, this was a fact. He bowed slightly and said, "My wife's talent is far superior to mys; I am far inferior to her in terms of ability."

Su Zhen quickly patted him and said, "Master Bao, you flatter me. I have only read some poems and books, and I am not much of a scholar. If we are talking about writing, my husband is the one who is good."

Bao Wan and Bao Fu then smelled a slightly sour scent, and Bao Fu's gossiping began at that moment:

"The snow scene was originally tasteless, but I wondered what was sour about it. It turns out that Lady Su and Master Han are inseparable here."

Although she wouldn't admit it, Su Niangzi was incredibly happy to be recognized by her husband in this way.

Upon hearing this, the thin-skinned Su Zhen blushed again. At this moment, Bao Wan gently tapped Bao Fu and said:

"My dear sister, what nonsense are you spouting now? If you're so capable, why don't you write one yourself?"

At this moment, Bao Fu lost her arrogance and stopped talking.

Bao Zheng then laughed and said, "Madam Su, my youngest daughter is just like this, you don't need to take it to heart."

Su Zhen shook his head, and Bao Yi said, "Didn't we say we were going to write some poems? Are you planning to come up with new topics, or just use the topics that Su Niangzi used?"

Bao Wan said, "We can't think of such a good topic, so let's stick with Su Niangzi's topic. Let's use the winter scene as the theme and the summer scene as the imagery, and compose a poem in two verses."

"Then who are the judges?" Bao Zheng asked.

“Of course it’s Lady Su. Do you think you, the master, should be the one to write one? Don’t forget, my lord, you also have to write one.” Madam Bao said with a smile.

"Then let's go, I'll give it a try."

……

"Young Master Han, rest well for today. I will come to find you again tomorrow and take you to the Ministry of Personnel."

After Han Zhi and Su Zhen finished their meal, they prepared to leave. Bao Zheng didn't linger and saw them to the door.

"Thank you for your hospitality today, Master Bao. I dare not trouble you any further. Therefore, I take my leave." Han Zhi bowed respectfully, then got into his carriage and went home.

As soon as they got home, they saw Yueping and Qian Su directing several strong men to carry things into the house from the doorway. The young couple exchanged a glance instinctively—both with the same question in their minds.

Because I didn't plan to move anything in.

At this moment, Su Zhen called out to Yueping, "Yueping! Come here for a moment."

When Yueping saw Han Zhi and Su Zhen, she happily ran over and respectfully bowed to them, saying, "My lord, my lady."

"Are you moving something? I don't remember my husband and I buying anything," Su Zhen asked, pointing to the boxes they were carrying in.

At this moment, Qian Su also came up and said respectfully, "My lord, my wife. These are statues of gods that the women in the family have obtained. They were found elsewhere and are intended to be enshrined in the side temple of our home to protect you and my wife."

Han Zhi was also puzzled, tilting his head and asking, "But Ba Niang and I are healthy, have a good appetite, are not short of money, and have not broken the law, so what are you praying for?"

Qian Su smiled and said, "I heard from the old women that what they got back was a pair of Qilin!"

Kirin?

Su Zhen was taken aback for a moment, but quickly understood what he meant. Han Zhi, on the other hand, frowned and asked, "A Qilin? What do you need a Qilin statue for?"

But Su Zhen slapped him, which stunned him even more. Seeing Su Zhen blush, Han Zhi asked in a low voice, "What does this mean?"

"Well..." Su Zhen felt a little embarrassed for a moment, and finally stood on tiptoe and whispered four words in Han Zhi's ear:

"A Qilin delivers a child..."

Han Zhi now understood; this was an attempt to encourage childbirth!

He looked up at Yueping, then at Qian Su, and said directly, "Hey, no, they don't know, Yueping, don't you know? I've only been married to Ba Niang for a short time, and you're already doing this kind of thing?"

"If you're going to do this, you should at least consider Eighth Sister, not me. Eighth Sister is only sixteen years old, and now..."

At this moment, an old woman came out and said, "Young master, it is precisely because your wife is only sixteen years old and in good health that now is the best time to pray for a child."

Han Zhi looked at Su Zhen and said, "Eighth Sister, look at them, tell me what you think of them. They really are..."

"Ouch!" Su Zhen slapped Han Zhi away. "My lord, you really... you really have no shame!"

After saying that, Su Zhen blushed and ran into the mansion. Han Zhi stood there alone, pointing at Su Zhen who had run away, his eyes darting between the maids.

"What...what's going on? What am I...?"

Yueping said, "My lord, don't worry about these things. Why don't you go and coax him?"

These words reminded Han Zhi, who quickly nodded and said, "Yes, yes, I'll go right away, I'll go right away!"