Female Supremacy and Rise to Power: Lin Shu's Imperial Examination Adventures

"presumptuous!"

With a sharp shout, the entire hall fell silent.

This eldest princess of Fengming Kingdom was not only dissolute in her behavior, but also notoriously violent in her temper. She would do anything to offend anyone in the slightest, which is why she was confined to her quarters by His Majesty for many years.

"Bangdang..."

A sound of something falling to the ground was heard. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the eldest princess seemed to be furious. Her face was as red as blood, and she kicked the table in front of her hard.

"Your Highness, you must not cause trouble today. If this gets back to His Majesty..." The maidservant beside her quickly stepped forward and whispered a few words in her ear...

"Hmph!" Upon hearing this, the eldest princess hesitated for a moment, then flicked her sleeves and snorted coldly.

Seeing that the eldest princess seemed to have calmed down a bit, the pimp was about to speak when she raised her hand to stop him. A cold smile appeared on her lips as she thought to herself, "Since someone dares to provoke me, I'll let her know the consequences of offending me."

"Very well, since you have such courage, then I will grant your wish. If you win, this person will be yours." The eldest princess's voice was as cold as ice, revealing unquestionable arrogance, before she changed the subject:

"But if you lose, you must kowtow and apologize in front of everyone, and cut off one of your fingers."

"Okay." Li Yun'er nodded in response after hearing this, glancing at Lin Shu beside her.

"Clap clap..."

As the eldest princess clapped her hands, the guards led in five women with scholarly airs.

"These must be the advisors recruited by the First Princess!"

"It should be her. The second one from the left is the renowned talented woman from Kyoto..."

"It will be difficult for that woman to win!"

"..."

Hearing the whispers around her, the eldest princess raised her head high, a look of disdain on her face, and said:

“These women are all renowned talents from various prefectures and states of my Fengming Kingdom. If they want to admit defeat now, it is already too late.”

Li Yun'er was also somewhat worried, but she had no choice but to agree as there was no time to back out.

"Hmph..." The eldest princess scoffed at Li Yun'er and the other girl before turning to Bai Yu and saying, "Young Master Ya, give me the question!"

"Yes!" Bai Yu first looked at Li Yun'er with guilt before continuing, "Today, I dare to start, and we will take turns using the last character of each other's poems as the beginning of a poem relay."

The first line is: "Beyond the mountains, green hills rise; beyond the towers, more towers stand; when will the songs and dances along the Huai River cease?"

Who wants to go first?

"Of course I'll go first." The eldest princess swiftly opened her folding fan, gave a wink to the people behind her, and immediately someone stepped forward:

"Retiring from office, I remain on horseback; new ideas enter the mountains."

The eldest princess was satisfied. She then looked at Li Yun'er with a provocative expression and said, "Please! Don't be unable to finish the first sentence! Hahaha!"

"Sisters?" Li Yun'er thought and thought, but couldn't think of how to use the character "中" in a poem. She turned to look at Lin Shu.

Lin Shu nodded slightly, her voice clear and cold: "The central army sets out wine to celebrate the returning guests, accompanied by the erhu, pipa, and qiang flute."

"The flute laments Green Pearl's departure, the xiao follows Nongyu's arrival."

Lin Shu: "By the window tomorrow, will the winter plum blossoms be in bloom?"

"Before even reaching Jiangnan, I smile; the painted boat faces Junshan Mountain."

Lin Shu: "Until the mountains crumble, the rivers run dry, winter thunder roars, summer snow falls, and heaven and earth unite, only then will I part from you."

"Absolutely, absolutely..."

Seeing the five self-proclaimed talented women beside her bowing their heads in deep thought and remaining speechless for a long time, the eldest princess felt utterly humiliated. She grabbed one of them by the collar and said in a deep voice, "You come here!"

The man pondered for a long time before finally stammering, "Absolutely..."

However, he still couldn't match her in the end, and had no choice but to kneel down with a thud, pleading in a trembling voice, "Your Highness, spare my life!"

The eldest princess was furious and kicked the woman in the chest. The others, seeing this, knelt down in fear and begged for mercy: "Your Highness, please calm down!"

"What kind of poem is this? No one can match it!" The eldest princess turned her attention to Lin Shu.

Lin Shu raised an eyebrow slightly, snorted coldly, and then continued to speak to herself: 'A peerless beauty dwells in a secluded valley.'

Valley birds sing in the sunny day, river monkeys howl in the evening breeze.

'The wind blows, her fairy sleeves flutter, like a dance of rainbow-colored feathers.'

'When did the dancing sleeves, once bound by arms, become entwined? The spiderweb has broken, and the jade hairpin is gone.'

……

"I wonder if we need to continue?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the surroundings fell into dead silence.

"You, you all... I'll remember what happened today!" The First Princess's face was extremely gloomy as she turned and kicked the kneeling people on the ground away: "A bunch of trash!"

After saying that, she led her maid and walked straight toward the door with an angry expression.

Watching the God of Wealth leave, the pimp could only wear a bitter expression and force a smile, saying, "Then this young master will be this young lady's tonight!"

After saying that, he glared fiercely at Lin Shu and the other person.

After exchanging a few words with Lin Shu, Li Yun'er went upstairs to the "Elegant Pavilion".

At this moment, Bai Yu's face was ashen, and he sat blankly in front of the mirror, his eyes vacant. Seeing Li Yun'er enter, he seemed to snap out of his daze, hastily wiping away the tears from the corners of his eyes, and said:

"Yunniang, you've arrived."

"What happened?" Li Yun'er asked anxiously when she saw that the man's eyes were slightly red and his expression was unusual.

"No, it's nothing." Bai Yu choked out a few words, seemingly on the verge of emotional collapse. He suddenly buried his face in Li Yun'er's arms and cried out:

"Yunniang, about today's events, that noble person behind the painted boat, in order not to offend the First Princess, she... she has ordered that I not leave with you, sob sob... It's all my fault! I caused you to offend that noble person. If I hadn't saved you back then, then..."

"Ayu, don't mention this again!" Li Yun'er interrupted him sternly before he could finish speaking.

Then, perhaps realizing that her words had been too harsh, Li Yun'er softened her tone and said:

"Don't worry, Ayu, no matter what, I will get you away from here. As for your benefactor behind the scenes, I will beg her! I will pay any price!"

"Really? Yunniang!" Bai Yu raised his head slightly, looked at her chest, and asked.

"of course."

"It's so kind of you……"

"..."

Just as the two were deeply in love, a cold female voice came from the doorway: "Young Master Ya, the master requests your presence."

Li Yun'er clearly noticed the slight trembling of the man in her arms, and her heart ached. She wondered how much suffering A-Yu had endured to be so afraid, so she comforted him:

"Don't be afraid, Yu, I'll go with you! We'll ask her to let us be together!"

"Mmm!" came the man's obedient voice, but Li Yun'er did not notice the triumphant smile on his face.

……

The third-floor boathouse.

As soon as Li Yun'er and Bai Yu entered, the door was tightly closed from the outside.

"Ha! Bai Yu, you have quite the nerve to offend the First Princess!"

A voice came from behind the beaded curtain, a deep yet slightly clear voice that made it difficult to tell whether it was male or female. Inside the room, only a dim candle flickered in the distance, revealing a figure whose face was completely obscured.

"Master, spare my life!" Upon hearing this, Bai Yu seemed extremely terrified and hurriedly knelt down.

Seeing this, Li Yun'er also knelt down and said:

"My esteemed sir, this whole affair started because of me. I have long been in love with Bai Yu, and I hope you can be lenient and grant us your blessing!"

"Bai Yu is the cash cow of my pleasure boat. What do you have to offer in exchange for his freedom?" The man's tone seemed quite amiable.

Li Yun'er was taken aback: "I...I have money! I can redeem him from his servitude."

The voice from behind the beaded curtain carried a hint of sarcasm: "Too bad! The one thing I have plenty of is money!"

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