Poetry Gathering, Mockery

The Yunying Poetry Gathering.

It was a fairly well-known poetry gathering in Tianfu City and throughout Jiangnan.

Whenever the Qixi Festival drew near,

many young men and women who considered themselves quite talented would gather here, ostensibly to compete in poetry.

To measure their literary talents against one another.

But they also hoped to find a partner, or even amaze everyone with a single brilliant feat and make a name for themselves.

After all, this was a feudal dynasty.

Ordinarily, women could not meet men alone.

An occasion like this made things seem more aboveboard for both sides whose hearts were stirring with love.

And to win a beauty's favor and make her spare them another glance,

young talents would generally show off their gifts, composing poetry and matching verses.

If, by some chance, they produced an extraordinary poem that won everyone's approval, they would be crowned the foremost young literary talent of Jiangnan.

Or perhaps the foremost literary talent of Tianfu City.

Then, even if they went to the Capital the following year to sit the imperial examinations and pursue an official career, the officials there, and even the examiners, would be bound to give them extra attention.

That was why the Yunying Poetry Gathering was always a major event in Tianfu City at this time of year.

At the entrance,

lanterns hung in rows.

A riddle was written on each one.

An invitation was needed to enter the Yunying Poetry Gathering, but anyone who believed their literary talent surpassed all others could also gain entry by solving a lantern riddle if they had no invitation.

Of course, Jun Jingyi did not need to go to that trouble.

He handed his invitation to the gatekeeper and stepped inside, looking at the literary talents striking poses and thinking themselves graceful and dashing.

Then he looked at the many young women laughing together in the distance, shyly glancing over from time to time.

Jun Jingyi felt as though his head had doubled in size.

He really did not care for this sort of occasion.

If he could, he would much rather be sitting in a pleasure house at that very moment, cracking a handful of melon seeds as he listened to a storyteller.

Then he could clap happily when the story reached its climax.

But there was no helping it. He was already here!

"Brother!"

Beside him, Jun Yixue, dressed in a long blue-green gown and made up like a little fairy, pursed her lips, somewhat displeased with Jun Jingyi's attitude.

"Oh, all right, all right, I know. I'm here, aren't I?"

Jun Jingyi surrendered.

He raised his hands helplessly and called out in an exaggerated, aggrieved voice.

"Pfft..."

"Then it's a deal. You're not allowed to sneak away, or I'll tell Father and Mother everything you've been up to lately and have them come and drag you back to the Capital themselves."

The corners of Jun Yixue's mouth curled upward as she threatened him smugly.

Jun Jingyi pressed a hand to his forehead. He had been an only child in his previous life and had even thought how nice it would be to have a cute little sister.

But now he felt he must have been out of his mind in his previous life to have had such a thought!

He nodded helplessly.

He watched Jun Yixue walk away toward her young lady friends in the distance, then looked around and wandered over to sit in an empty pavilion beside a small river, bored.

"Oh, melon seeds. Nice!"

Jun Jingyi casually grabbed a handful and gazed at the slowly flowing river, his thoughts drifting.

Making money is underway, so next... it's time to build up my forces.

But how should I go about it without anyone noticing?

After all, his goal was to bring down this nation.

He certainly could not let the imperial family find out, but that was no small challenge...

He had considered many methods lately, but none of them seemed reliable.

He had some complaints about those transmigrator seniors of his.

They were truly unreliable. Their methods were riddled with holes, every last one of them. Heaven knew how they had succeeded.

Perhaps they had relied on their protagonist halos.

But unfortunately... he was a villain!

And a minor villain without even a villain's bonus. In short, cannon fodder!

When someone like that did anything, never mind having good luck-they could thank heaven and earth if they avoided bad luck. So he had to come up with a very good idea.

Otherwise, it simply would not work.

"Hey, isn't that Jun Jingyi?"

On a lawn in the distance, several young men looked over in surprise as one of them spoke.

"It really is him. Sitting alone in a little pavilion by the river, quietly watching the water flow by... it does have a certain charm."

"As expected of the Handsome Young Master, one of the Ten Young Masters of Tianfu!"

"What Handsome Young Master? Don't tell me you haven't heard about something that happened in Tianfu City recently!"

A young man in black sneered disdainfully.

"Our Young Master Jun is a successful restaurant proprietor, you know. He's made quite a fortune lately. It makes the rest of us terribly envious."

"A restaurant proprietor? Engaging in commerce? Brother, what do you mean by that?"

"Exactly! Young Master Jun is a legitimate son of the Jun Family. With a status like his, how could he have anything to do with lowly trade?"

"Heh, who would disagree? But..."

The young man's words flowed like a river as he recounted everything that had happened in Tianfu City recently in one breath.

The young men were left dumbfounded.

Silence fell.

After a long while, someone shook his head and shouted angrily, bitterly disappointed in him: "He's truly choosing to sink into depravity!"

"Exactly! A dignified legitimate son of the Jun Family, a literary talent, actually going into trade!"

"What literary talent? I'll wager most of you don't know this, but the poems Young Master Jun wrote at previous poetry gatherings were all bought."

The young man sneered again. "I even know where he bought them. Ten taels of silver apiece, from a scholar named Li Ran in the west of the city."

"Is that true?"

An uproar broke out among them.

In the distance,

Bai Ruoli gazed on, her eyes distant and utterly untroubled.