A Scumbag Trying to Ride Her Coattails? The Prince Says: Your Marriage Contract Looks Like a Soul-Summoning Banner

Xu Wenli set down his teacup, unhurried but choosing his moment.

He had not spoken once during the six rounds of linked verses.

But he had noticed one detail.

For half a breath before Xie Wanqing answered each line, her gaze would drift an inch toward the women's seats before returning.

It had been most obvious in the third round. Her gaze had passed over Su Yao's shoulder and landed farther away, in Prince Yi's direction, before returning in less than a breath.

Others might not have noticed that glance.

Xu Wenli had.

"Duke Qian, linked verses are a contest of quick wits to begin with."

He looked at Xie Wanqing.

"Madam Xie's line just now, 'Why should writing serve private grudges?' was already mocking. The rules state that no one is to be insulted."

The women's seats fell quiet.

Shen Ling'er looked at Su Yao.

"Are Lord Xu's ears crooked?"

Su Yao pressed a fingertip against the lid of her cup without looking up.

"His ears aren't crooked. His chair is."

Gu Moran heard this and turned his folding fan halfway around in his palm before stopping it.

Uncle Fu bent down and leaned close.

"Your Highness, Xu Wenli has entered the fray."

"Let's listen first."

Qian Muzhi looked at Xu Wenli.

"Are you saying that line was insulting, Lord Xu?"

Xu Wenli said, "Young Master Ye does indeed have private affairs today. By putting the words 'private grudges' into her verse, Madam Xie inevitably gave the impression of an attack."

Xie Wanqing turned and bowed, her tone even.

"If Lord Xu finds it improper, Wanqing can change it."

Xu Wenli looked at her.

"How would you change it?"

Xie Wanqing raised her head.

"Why should writing serve one person alone?"

Murmurs spread through the audience.

Qian Muzhi slapped the table.

"Even better."

Han Heting smiled too.

"Less edge, but a broader outlook."

Xu Wenli's expression darkened slightly.

"Madam Xie, your revision is good. But fairness is essential in a contest of linked verses."

He raised his eyes, sweeping them first over Su Yao, then toward Gu Moran.

"During the six rounds just now, Madam Xie glanced toward Prince Yi's seat each time before putting brush to paper. If someone outside the contest was passing her hints, however well she answered onstage, the contest would inevitably lose its fairness."

Zhou Wenyuan immediately took up the point.

"Quite right. Su-shi of Prince Yi's Residence is also here today. It is only natural for sisters of the inner household to look after one another, but to bring household affairs into a poetry gathering..."

Xie Huai'an's expression darkened.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Do not be hasty, Academician Xie." Xu Wenli cupped his hands, his tone polite, though his words were anything but gentle. "Lord Zhou and I mean that the poetry gathering must give the scholars of the realm an explanation."

Xie Wanqing gripped her cuff and remained still.

"If Lord Xu wants an explanation, Wanqing will give him one."

She turned to Qian Muzhi.

"Duke Qian, in the linked verses just now, Young Master Ye gave six lines, and Wanqing answered six times. If someone really had been passing me hints, within five breaths Wanqing would have had to listen, think, and recite what she was told."

She looked at Xu Wenli.

"If Lord Xu can do that, Wanqing will admit that this suspicion is reasonable."

The audience fell silent for a beat.

Then someone chuckled quietly.

Leaning on his cane, Han Heting spoke in a voice that carried.

"Would Lord Xu and Lord Zhou care to try?"

Xu Wenli's expression grew even worse.

Zhou Wenyuan did not laugh.

"Madam Xie is quick-witted, so naturally she can talk her way around one point. But from the second round to the third, every line pressed Young Master Ye over his past. To say it was all coincidence would be too much of a coincidence."

Hearing this, Ye Qingyun straightened his chest and looked at Xie Wanqing.

"Madam Xie, I acknowledge your talent and learning. But today's contest has pressed on my sore spots at every turn, from beginning to end. I only want to ask one question."

Xie Wanqing looked at him.

"What does Young Master Ye want to ask?"

"Is there someone behind you, Madam Xie?"

The audience began murmuring again.

"Someone behind her?"

"Who is he aiming that at?"

"The people from Prince Yi's Residence are sitting right there."

Shen Ling'er put her pine-nut candy back on the dish.

"Is he ever going to stop?"

Su Yao picked up her tea, then set it down again.

"He can't accept losing."

Shen Ling'er said, "Then let's make him lose again."

Su Yao looked at Xie Wanqing but said nothing.

Uncle Fu bent down.

"Your Highness, Zhou Wenyuan and Xu Wenli are both directing their words toward the residence."

Gu Moran looked at the judges' seats, then glanced at the teahouse on the east side.

One of Boss Zhao's people held a teacup and gently pressed its base downward toward him.

Gu Moran looked away.

"This is getting interesting."

Uncle Fu asked quietly, "Will Your Highness step in?"

Xie Huai'an's hand was already on the armrest of his chair, half his body leaning an inch forward.

Gu Moran caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, and the ribs of his fan paused against his palm.

If Xie Huai'an spoke now, all anyone would see was a father protecting his daughter.

The accusation of father and daughter colluding would be impossible to shake off.

Gu Moran closed his folding fan.

"Xie Wanqing answered his verses. This basin of dirty water thrown from outside the contest is mine to catch."

He rose but did not hurry onto the stage. Instead, he first cupped his hands to Qian Muzhi.

"Wait, Duke Qian. May I ask a question?"

Qian Muzhi looked at him.

"Whom does Prince Yi wish to ask?"

"Lord Zhou."

Zhou Wenyuan's fingers stilled on the register, and a drop of ink spread along the edge of the paper.

"If Prince Yi has something to say, please say it."

Gu Moran strolled to a spot diagonally in front of the judges' seats. The wind lifted his moon-white brocade robe, and the jade pendant at his waist gave a faint chime. He walked as though he had casually wandered into a teahouse.

"Lord Xu just spoke of someone passing hints from outside the contest. I'm curious. What does that mean?"

Zhou Wenyuan said, "At a poetry gathering, if someone secretly gives hints, that is naturally passing hints from outside the contest."

Gu Moran nodded.

"Reasonable."

He looked at Xu Wenli.

"Does Lord Xu agree?"

"Naturally."

Gu Moran slapped his folding fan against his palm.

"Then I'm relieved."

Zhou Wenyuan's brows twitched.

"What does Prince Yi mean by that?"

"I was afraid I'd misunderstood the rules." Gu Moran smiled lazily. "Since both of you say passing hints from outside the contest is wrong, does running to someone's inn before the contest count?"

The writing brush in Zhou Wenyuan's hand stopped.

Xu Wenli stopped in the middle of lifting his tea. The cup hung in midair, neither lowered nor raised.

The square fell silent for half a beat.

Zhou Wenyuan spoke.

"Prince Yi, mind your words."

"I am minding them very carefully." Gu Moran's tone was even. "I didn't say who passed anything, or who received it. Why are you so anxious, Lord Zhou?"

Ye Qingyun's face looked troubled as he glanced at Zhou Wenyuan, then at Gu Moran.

"Prince Yi, are you slandering me?"

Gu Moran turned around.

"Great Talent Ye, why are you so anxious too? Did I mention you?"

Ye Qingyun pressed a hand against his cuff.

"At today's poetry gathering, I am the only one who came to the capital from elsewhere."

Gu Moran looked at him.

"Oh. So you know how unpleasant it feels to be suspected."

Ye Qingyun's face tightened, and he did not answer.

Zhou Wenyuan hurriedly stepped forward.

"Prince Yi, the poetry gathering is still underway. We can discuss this matter later."

Gu Moran raised a hand.

"Fine. Then let's finish the contest before us first."

He looked at Ye Qingyun and pointed his fan ribs at him.

"Great Talent Ye, stop chasing wind and clutching at shadows. If you think you can beat Xie Wanqing, use poetry to put her in her place. If you can't, stop passing guesses off as evidence."

Ye Qingyun clenched his back teeth.

"If Prince Yi intends to step forward and back Madam Xie, I can only accept it."

Gu Moran's lips twitched.

"Back her?"

"Great Talent Ye, you think far too highly of yourself. My beloved consort has almost fought her way through everyone onstage. Does she need me?"

Xie Wanqing pressed her fingertips against her cuff, heat rushing up behind her ears. She straightened her back even more.

Gu Moran pointed his fan ribs at Ye Qingyun again.

"I heard all three of your poems today. You have some talent."

Ye Qingyun's jaw tightened.

Gu Moran strolled forward two steps.

"Studying hard by a cold window, selling books for wine, listening to rain in a dilapidated house-it all sounds rather miserable. I won't go against my conscience and say your poems are terrible. Truly terrible poems wouldn't get through the doors of the Hanlin Academy."

Ye Qingyun did not answer.

Gu Moran folded his fan and tapped it twice against his palm.

"But you brought the Su Clan's past onto the stage and used a woman who married into my residence as a stepping stone. That's not integrity. That's shamelessly riding her coattails!"

The murmuring in the audience subsided.

Su Yao's grip on her teacup loosened a little.

Beside her, Shen Ling'er rubbed the back of her hand.

"I like what he's saying."

Gu Moran turned to Qian Muzhi.

"Duke Qian just laid down the rule: no regard for birth or gender. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll add another example for everyone."

He pointed his fan ribs toward the audience.

"From now on, any scholar who wants to use a woman's good name to build his own reputation had better watch out, or I'll knock him on the head with my fan."

Uncle Fu added from behind him.

"Your Highness, that fan is made of bamboo. It won't stand up to much knocking."

Gu Moran did not look at him.

"Then I'll replace it when it breaks."

Someone in the audience couldn't hold back a laugh.

Qian Muzhi stared at the prince rumored to be a good-for-nothing for a moment, then nodded.

"Crude words, perhaps, but sound reasoning."

Ye Qingyun's face stiffened.

"Does Prince Yi think I shouldn't seek an explanation for this?"

Gu Moran unfolded his folding fan and fanned himself hard twice.

"Seek one, of course. Why wouldn't you?"

"The gates of the chancellor's residence are open, the Ministry of Rites hasn't collapsed, and the grievance drum wasn't put there to bask in the sun."

"Yet you just had to pick the poetry gathering, and as if that weren't enough, you were afraid people wouldn't see, so you had to hold the marriage contract higher than a soul-summoning banner?"