The Reborn Princess Has Turned Evil

As for the men's seats, due to Emperor Jing's departure, the Prime Minister had to temporarily preside over the proceedings. Jing Anle's poem had not yet been recited. There were eighteen people in the audience, including the four foreign princes, among whom was Murong Peifeng. They were all looking forward to the female guests' champion.

Everyone was looking at the Prime Minister, but Xiao Heng fiddled with his paintbrush, a smile playing on his lips.

The Prime Minister opened a scroll of paper, on which was written Princess Anle. He paused slightly, then handed the poem to the palace attendant who was to read it aloud. As soon as the poem was finished, everyone felt it was full of brilliance and deserved to be first, but they were all curious about who it was.

Murong Peifeng assumed it was Jing Rou and said, "Whoever it is, she certainly deserves first place in this round." His friend Mu Ziqi next to him echoed, "Brother Murong is absolutely right."

At this moment, the youngest son, Jing Fengyu, could no longer contain himself and asked eagerly, "Prime Minister, who wrote this poem? It's so well written."

The Prime Minister stroked his beard and replied, "Your Highness, it is indeed your elder sister, Princess Anle!"

These words elicited shock, disbelief, and of course, some who expected them.

Xiao Heng had already known this would be the outcome, but after the Prime Minister said it, he stopped playing with the objects and thought to himself: Is Princess Anle so outstanding even in her literary talent?

Jing Fengyao was also quite surprised. Last time, Jing Anle's rendition of "Riding the Wind and Breaking the Sky" had taken him a long time to process, and now she had given him another unexpected surprise. On the contrary, Jing Fengyu blurted out, "Royal Sister is too amazing!" Her face was full of sincere praise, and Consort Yu would probably faint with anger if she saw it.

The most shocked person was, of course, Murong Peifeng. He had already assumed that Jing Anle was an ignorant fool, but now that the facts were right in front of him, no, no, he still refused to believe it. He felt that Jing Anle must have secretly used her status as a princess to do something shady.

Just as he was deep in thought, his friend Mu Ziqi told him, "I heard that the princess's zither playing was also superb at His Majesty's birthday celebration last time!"

"A zither?" Murong Peifeng asked in confusion.

"Yes, Brother Murong, you didn't know?" Mu Ziqi asked, looking at him.

Of course, he had no idea why Jing Rou would tell him such a thing, since the stunning Jing Anle and Jing Rou were talking about two different people.

He paused for a moment, unable to describe the feeling, but when he thought of Jing Anle's tricks on him last time, Murong Peifeng suddenly felt that she was just a woman with a bad temper and some skills but no talent.

Aside from Xiao Heng, the other princes of the three kingdoms reacted differently. Yelü Yuanxiu was drowsy, while Xia Tingfu and Luo Wei also showed signs of agreement.

No one noticed Qin Xiuyuan in the third row, his eyes gleaming with admiration. Ever since their last meeting at the General's Mansion, his heart had been lost. He had been longing to see Jing Anle again, but Qin Xiuyuan knew that Jing Anle was of noble status and he dared not presume to presume upon her. He could only watch her from afar and protect her.

Emperor Jing had not yet returned, so the Prime Minister said according to the test question he had prepared earlier: "Please compose a poem on the theme of orchids. You will have half an incense stick's time."

Some people began to ponder, while others had already picked up their pens. Only Yelü Yuanxiu looked impatient. He hated fiddling with writing and only wanted to go back to his residence and get a good night's sleep.

Before long, the time was up. After the poems were submitted, Xiao Heng was judged to be in first place again. Everyone looked at him with admiration. Even Murong Peifeng and Qin Xiuyuan behind him noticed this Crown Prince Xiao.

At this moment, the palace servant who delivered the poems brought over the poem that won first place in the second round. This time, everyone's curiosity was even greater!

After the palace attendant finished reciting the poem, everyone was captivated by it. Even the prime minister was surprised. If he hadn't been certain that it came from the female guests at the poetry gathering, he would have suspected that it was written by a man.

Xiao Heng thought the poem was good, but it was different from Jing Anle's style. Sure enough, the Prime Minister announced that the first place winner of this round was Princess Jingrou.

Xiao Heng was taken aback, wondering what was going on. Then he realized that this girl must have caused trouble again.

This time, Murong Peifeng was quite proud. Sure enough, her Rou'er was the best. That Jing Anle was just lucky. How could she compare to his beloved?

At this moment, Eunuch Feng, who was by Emperor Jing's side, came to tell the Prime Minister, "His Majesty has important matters to attend to and requests that the Prime Minister continue to preside over the proceedings." This meant that Emperor Jing would not be coming.

After everyone found out, the competition continued.

As for Emperor Jing Anle, after dealing with this matter, he had no intention of continuing to preside over the affairs and returned to the palace to review memorials.

Consort Yu, recalling Emperor Jing's displeased expression as he left, felt a headache coming on. Now, the eldest prince was favored, and her own son wasn't particularly clever; moreover, she had lost her power over the harem. Thinking of this, she secretly vowed to find the scribe and find out what had happened!

Although such an incident occurred at the women's table, the flower appreciation and poetry gathering still had to continue. However, no one had the same enthusiasm as before, after watching such a scene, Consort Yu, who was sitting at the head of the table, had a face as black as the bottom of a pot.

Then a palace maid announced, "For the third round, I would like all the noble ladies to compose a poem on the theme of roses!" This was originally supposed to be said by Consort Yu, but she was probably too angry to speak, so the palace maid did it for her.

Everyone continued writing, but the atmosphere was somewhat somber. Soon, the results of the third round came out, and Jing Anle won first place again. When Jing Rou heard the result, her eyes widened, and she thought: How is this possible? With her?

The other noble ladies were also very surprised. Although Jing Anle had already won the first round, winning again was not a coincidence but a true display of talent. Many noble ladies cast admiring and envious glances at Jing Anle.

Cousin Qin Zhihua also thought Jing Anle's poem was excellent, with rhyme, parallelism, and relevance to the theme. She thought to herself: "Truly worthy of being my aunt's daughter." She had heard her grandmother and father Qin Xu say when she was very young that her aunt Qin Yin had started her education at the age of three and was proficient in all the arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. However, Qin Yin had already entered the palace when she was born.

Having been reborn, Jing Anle naturally knew what the poetry competition for flower appreciation would test this time. From the moment Yu Yuanxiang entered the palace, she had been thinking about it and making thorough preparations.

Winning the first round was to force Jing Rou to make a move and fall into the trap. Letting her win the second round was something Jing Anle hadn't expected. Since that's the case, she would win every round after that. She wanted to make Jing Rou's controversial first-round win seem all the more debatable.

Time flew by. In eight rounds, Jing Anle won seven first places. After the judges tallied the results, Jing Rou came in second, and her cousin Qin Zhihua came in third. Jing Rou looked deflated, but still smiled and congratulated Jing Anle on the other ladies.