Zong Ce spread his arms, barring the household servants from Wang Yang. "Nobody lay a hand on him!"
He looked at Xie Xinghan. "Girl, what are you doing?"
Anger sharpened Xie Xinghan's willow-leaf brows. "Ask him yourself!"
Zong Ce turned to Wang Yang. "What exactly did you do? A Don Juan... could you have...?" His gaze instantly filled with admiration.
What kind of look was that?!
Wang Yang had no time to complain. He hurriedly explained:
"Nothing of the sort! Yesterday morning, Lady Xie asked about my family background. I thought-I thought she wanted to..."
"You dare bring that up!" Xie Xinghan's cheeks burned at the memory.
"I don't want to bring it up either! It was a misunderstanding!"
"Then what about 'Wandering the rivers and lakes, down and out, with wine in tow'? Was that a misunderstanding too?!"
Xie Xinghan's eyes reddened. She was a young woman of spotless reputation, yet because of that poem, frivolous young men had spread rumors and gossiped about her. It had even become a popular song in the brothels. It was utterly humiliating!!!
Zong Ce was amused. He asked Wang Yang, "I heard people singing that verse a while ago. So you wrote it? Did you compose the tune or the lyrics? The lyrics are excellent! The tune doesn't fit..."
"No... I wrote neither the lyrics nor the tune! I know nothing about poetry! Even less about music!" Wang Yang hurriedly denied it. At the same time, doubts stirred in his mind. Why are people out there singing this poem? I never told anyone else about it! Could Little Fatty have told someone? No, that doesn't make sense either. He wouldn't even let people see what he wrote before. Why would he spread this poem?
*Even if it did spread, surely it wouldn't