"Zixi."
The Son of Heaven turned around, wearing the smile of a doting father.
"Father! You agreed?!"
Xiao Zixi's lovely eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"That... what was your gathering called again?"
Xiao Zixi protested:
"The Sailing Boat Gathering! The Sailing Boat Gathering! Father, you-"
"Oh, right, the Sailing Boat Gathering." The Son of Heaven nodded leisurely, then furrowed his brows. "Has this Sailing Boat Gathering of yours amounted to anything? Surely you didn't just treat people to a few meals and call it a literary gathering!"
Xiao Zixi grew anxious:
"Father, what are you talking about! How could this be just me treating people to meals and calling it a gathering! It's a proper literary gathering! We discuss poetry and rhapsodies,
"Exchange verses and answer one another in song! Everyone who comes is an accomplished writer, a celebrated figure of our age! We're not much worse than Second Brother's Western Residence-"
The Son of Heaven nearly burst out laughing:
"You really have a thick skin! You actually have the nerve to compare it to the Western Residence! Aren't you afraid people will laugh their teeth out!"
Xiao Zixi huffed:
"Go ahead, Father, just keep making fun of your own daughter! If your teeth fall out from laughing, no one will bother with you! Besides, I never said my gathering could surpass the Western Residence. I said we're 'not much worse than the Western Residence.' How long has the Western Residence been running! My gathering started late, so of course it's perfectly normal that we can't match it yet! But the future is another matter! The Western Residence studies both literature and the classics. We specialize in literary studies, just as the Academy of State Sons specializes in the classics! Once we've made something of it, I'm even planning to petition