Fire

"I heard Green Willow Pavilion recently acquired a girl. She played the pipa superbly, and her voice was like an oriole's song. Why not invite her over later?"

"Excellent! Drinking alone on the boat is truly rather dull. Having a few ladies play some tunes would be an elegant affair, fitting for men of our status!"

"Precisely, precisely."

"If you ask me, even that girl from before cannot compare to the ladies of Green Willow Pavilion. Miss Peony's chess skills far surpass that girl's. Why not invite Miss Peony over as well, to play a few games with us?"

"Good idea. Perhaps we might even take first place, hahaha!"

As the scholars spoke with increasing enthusiasm, they felt some of their pent-up resentment dissipate. It was as if, by gaining a little verbal advantage, losing to a young girl no longer seemed so humiliating.

One Examination Student saw that Zheng Yingci still wore a gloomy expression and could not help feeling displeased. He walked over and asked, "Brother Zheng, what do you think?"

"Huh?" Startled from his thoughts, Zheng Yingci looked at the Examination Student. Seeing his unpleasant expression, the man repeated what had just been said.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Yingci's already sullen mood worsened further.

What sort of trash were these people?

The Su Ziji he had wished to befriend possessed the air of clear breeze and bright moon, yet he was slippery as an eel and had no intention of attaching himself to the Zheng Family. As for these men, though they had some learning, they had not even earned a degree, yet they were already thinking of such pleasures. Zheng Yingci truly looked down on them.

What made him feel even more ashamed was the filthiness of their thoughts.

Even if they were narrow-minded, using such a thing to humiliate Ye Buhui for winning the chess match—how was that humiliating her? It was plainly humiliating themselves!

Zheng Yingci's expression cooled. No longer bothering with empty politeness, he said directly, "Zheng has matters to attend to, so I will not be going. Gentlemen, please do as you please."

Without looking at the others' reactions, he walked toward Chen Ziyi, the only friend on this pleasure barge with whom he still had a reasonably good relationship.

"Brother Chen, let us return." Since he had already given up on making connections, he might as well take Chen Ziyi's boat downriver and find his own diversion.

Chen Ziyi had not participated in the chess match and had not heard the conversation just now. Seeing Zheng Yingci's dejected expression, he assumed he was upset over losing the match and comforted him. "My worthy brother, with your learning, you will surely enter officialdom someday. Chess is merely a pastime. You need not take it too much to heart."

"I understand." Zheng Yingci was not depressed over the chess match. He simply felt ashamed that he had judged people poorly and mistaken garbage for those worth befriending.

Moreover, he kept feeling that he had forgotten something, yet he could not recall what it was. The feeling left him unable to let it go.

Most importantly, he felt stifled aboard the pleasure barge.

Still, unwilling to make Chen Ziyi worry, Zheng Yingci forced a smile. "With my chess skill, even if I made it into the round of sixteen and went to Capital City, I would find it hard to take first place. Better to devote all my thoughts to the Imperial Examinations."

Seeing this, Chen Ziyi was reassured.

The two departed on their own boat. Catching sight of the angry looks cast at them from the pleasure barge, Chen Ziyi sighed again.

"Losing this chess match to a young girl seems to have dealt my worthy brother quite a blow. Ordinarily, you are not the sort to offend people like this."

"Not only my worthy brother—even the many students aboard the pleasure barge have changed expression. The blow seems no small one." With that thought, Chen Ziyi planned to return and properly console him.

The boat they rode was naturally larger than the one Su Ziji and Ye Buhui had taken. Though it could not compare to the pleasure barge, it was only somewhat smaller. Not only did it have several cabins, but it also had several household servants aboard.

This was originally the Zheng Family's own boat. Though they did not engage directly in trade, it was perfectly normal for the Zheng Family to possess a boat of their own. Like an ox cart, it was merely a means of transportation.

"Speaking of which, Miss Ye, who won the chess match, came with Su Ziji. Wasn't Su Ziji on rather good terms with you?" Once aboard and seated by the window in the cabin, Chen Ziyi took a sip of the hot tea brought to him and asked.

He had not asked earlier because there had been people all around, and such matters were unsuitable to discuss before outsiders. Now that everyone on the boat was one of their own, Chen Ziyi had no such concern about Gu.

Zheng Yingci's expression stiffened. Under Chen Ziyi's gaze, he smiled. "We are merely from the same county and know each other. Speaking of which, he is rather close with Fang Xi."

More precisely, he was close with the Fang Family.

At that thought, Zheng Yingci found the reason he had been unable to recruit Su Ziji.

"This Su Ziji has already latched onto the Fang Family, so perhaps he feels there is no need to attach himself to the Zheng Family."

"Though he is only a scholar from a poor family, Fang Xi said his learning was quite good?" Chen Ziyi asked curiously. "Yet he only ranked eleventh in the County Examination. That is not particularly high!"

"Fairly speaking, Su Ziji's essay was indeed quite good. That ranking was given a little too low." Zheng Yingci had read Su Ziji's essay. By custom, the papers of those who passed as Examination Students were copied and posted on the rankings; the same was true later for Cultivated Talents, Provincial Graduates, and presented scholars.

In this way, though examiners could show favoritism toward Gu, someone of truly poor ability still could not make the list.

"Forget it, let us not speak of it." Thinking of these matters, Zheng Yingci was suddenly seized by irritation. He did not know why he felt this way, but he directly suggested to Chen Ziyi, "I heard there is a most authentic tavern by Coiling Dragon Lake. Why not go and taste it?"

"Agreed!"

The boat headed toward shore. Just then, a gust of wind swept over them, stinging their eyes so badly that they could barely open them.

When the wind passed through the window, Zheng Yingci and Chen Ziyi opened their eyes again and realized how heavily overcast the sky had become. Fine threads of rain began to fall once more.

Chen Ziyi could not help laughing. "The weather has been strange these past few days. It is raining again, but admiring the scenery in the rain is also an elegant pleasure."

He had barely finished speaking when a servant suddenly pointed behind them and shouted in terror, "Young Master, something is wrong!"

"What do you mean, 'Young Master, something is wrong'? Can you speak like a human?" Zheng Yingci had already been in a bad mood and immediately flew into a rage. If his self-cultivation had not been fairly good, he would have grabbed something and smashed that dog head before him!

"My worthy brother, something truly is wrong. Look..." Chen Ziyi's face changed as he pointed toward the lake.

Zheng Yingci looked over and was instantly dumbstruck.

"The pleasure barge, the pleasure barge is on fire!" A household servant beside him pointed at the exquisitely decorated pleasure barge not far away and cried out.

The pleasure barge that bore the chess players' hopes of the Capital City competition was now engulfed in flames that shot into the sky. Perhaps because the sky had darkened earlier, some careless fool had lit a candle, resulting in the fire.

Through the firelight, they could see that chaos had already erupted aboard the pleasure barge. More importantly, the pleasure barges had been lashed together for the chess match. Once the flames spread, the fine wood of the vessels caught fire with terrifying speed. In the blink of an eye, the surrounding waters were dyed red.

The scholars aboard, along with the boatmen, either screamed as they fell into the water or jumped in of their own accord.

Another gust of wind blew past, causing the flames that had only just been somewhat suppressed to surge fiercely once more. Those still fighting the fire could no longer spare a thought for Gu or anything else and leaped into the water one after another to save themselves.

The smaller boats farther away scattered in fright, rowing away as fast as they could, terrified of following in the pleasure barge's footsteps.

"Help! Help!" Cries for help rose one after another.

By then, the raging flames had already burned through the canopy overhead. The great beam collapsed, sealing off the cabins, and the roaring inferno shattered every hope of escape.