A Poetry Contest (Continued)

Quite a few eyes lit up, but propriety kept them from speaking.

Shen Zhiyun said with a solemn expression, "Your Highness, that would be improper."

Wen Nihe's hand trembled around her cup.

"It's all right. Since this is a spring outing banquet, you may simply think of it as accompanying me to the Jade Grove Garden to enjoy the spring scenery."

"I won't force anyone who doesn't wish to go. Lianqiu, Fudong, take good care of the young ladies."

With that, Zhao Huiluan rose and headed for the small bridge.

Shen Zhiyun was pulled along by Zhao Huiluan, and she did indeed look as though she were being coerced.

"Jianjian, aren't you the one who has the least patience for poetry and verse?"

Shen Zhiyun asked in a low voice.

"I'm going to enjoy the spring scenery."

Zhao Huiluan patted the back of her hand, her words carrying a double meaning.

Wen Nihe glanced at the two of them from afar. She couldn't be bothered with those two hypocrites. All she wanted to know now was whether His Majesty had issued the marriage decree.

When the guards at the Jade Grove Garden saw a group of women approaching arm in arm, two or three together, they were about to stop them, but a single look from Zhao Huiluan frightened them back.

After all, the willful princess was not someone they could afford to provoke.

The women passed through the covered corridor and gradually slowed their steps, listening through the flowers to the voice of a palace attendant reciting inside.

"...a peerless sound summons the wind,

as though a nebula had fallen from the ninth heaven."

Amid the cries of praise, a man's gentle, modest voice rang out.

"Your Majesty and my lords are too kind. It is enough if my humble work can serve as a brick cast out to draw forth jade."

Then the Yongzhao Emperor said, "Minister Wang, you are our dynasty's third-place laureate. There is no need for such modesty."

"So that's the third-place laureate."

"How beautifully he writes!"

Hearing the whispers behind her, Zhao Huiluan asked Shen Zhiyun in a low voice, "We missed the beginning and the end. What was he writing about?"

"Winter snow, I think. Comparing falling snow to a nebula descending from the ninth heaven is certainly unusual. I wonder what his first two couplets were like."

"There's no hurry. I'll sneak it over for you to see later."

Zhao Huiluan had the best position and could clearly see the scene inside.

The Yongzhao Emperor sat in a pavilion. In the courtyard, the court officials kept him company on the left, while the newly successful palace examination candidates sat on the right. Two ropes stretched along the passageway, hung full of the candidates' poems on fluttering sheets of xuan paper.

The palace attendant hung up Wang He's poem and picked up another sheet.

"The sun climbs three thousand feet,

Cicadas sing as summer heat steams.

Little flies vie for the lotus,

Sudden rain turns out to be frogsong."

A man rose from among the guests and cupped his hands in apology.

"Your servant has little talent for poetry. I have made a laughingstock of myself before Your Majesty and my lords!"

A short, stout middle-aged man also rose from the seats on the left. "My son has no talent, yet he unworthily holds the rank of second-place laureate. I am ashamed."

Someone objected, "Minister Wang, you have taught your son well. He excels in discussions of rites and music, as well as policy essays on the classics, history, and current affairs. An official at court should above all put learning to practical use in governing the realm. If your son lacked genuine talent and learning, how could His Majesty have personally named him the second-place laureate?"

"Exactly!" The Yongzhao Emperor waved for the two men to sit.

"You are each more modest than the last. Take care not to carry your modesty too far, or I shall charge you with disrespect. Could it be that you doubt the fairness of our dynasty's imperial examinations?"

"We would not dare."

The Yongzhao Emperor looked at the reciting attendant. "Continue."

Shen Zhiyun said under her breath, "Wasn't this a poetry contest? How did they get onto putting learning to practical use in governing the realm?"

Zhao Huiluan, however, said nothing.

If Xiao Qinglan had not told her that the second-place laureate, Wang Wenhua, excelled at writing green verse, she would almost have believed that the man was no good at poetry.

He ghostwrote green verse for that old thief Wen Hong, so naturally he had to conceal his talent now.

Someone behind them said, "The third-place laureate wrote about winter snow, and the second-place laureate wrote about summer. That leaves spring and autumn. Could the first-place laureate have written two poems himself?"

"Surely not?"

The women all pricked up their ears in anticipation.

"On an eastern night, clouds and blossoms grace the path,

Yellow birds in green boughs, a jade-green stream.

Perhaps the spring breeze cannot fathom their intent,

The scarlet wisteria holds buds that have their time to bloom."

Silence filled the courtyard.

The Yongzhao Emperor savored it for a long moment before saying, "There is a trellis of scarlet wisteria at Zhenning's Jade Balance Palace. Every year when it blooms, waves of fragrance ride the breeze. But I never noticed how it looked when its jade-green buds had yet to open. Minister Rong, you truly deserve to be the first-place laureate who came first in all three examinations. What fine poetic talent!"

"Your Majesty flatters me."

Rong An rose, composed and unhurried, unmoved by favor or disgrace.

The attendant began to recite another poem.

"The parasol tree knows age, its leaves know the chill,

Half-trimmed plantains chill the painted hall.

I climb the high tower at leisure, the river's shadow recedes,

And laugh that moonlight envies the cold frost."

Silence fell again.

"What a line: 'The parasol tree knows age, its leaves know the chill'!"

The Yongzhao Emperor clapped slowly and nodded his approval.

The court officials joined in, and cries of praise filled the courtyard.

On Zhao Huiluan's side, too, sighs of admiration rose one after another.

"No wonder my father said the first-place laureate was brimming with talent. Every word and its meaning in his writing is precise and fitting."

"Look how he produced two fine poems in the space of a moment. He can truly be called a graceful and refined first-place laureate."

Even the talented Shen Zhiyun could not resist whispering in Zhao Huiluan's ear, "Jianjian, help me get the first-place laureate's poems. I must study them carefully when I get back."

At that moment, Wen Nihe's eyes were full of undisguised admiration. Hearing the murmurs around her, she snorted disdainfully.

No matter how much the others praised him, it would do them no good. The first-place laureate would soon be hers.

With that thought, Wen Nihe rose on tiptoe to look for her grandfather.

Zhao Huiluan noticed what she was doing.

In the courtyard, Wen Hong did indeed rise and step forward.

Wen Nihe gripped her handkerchief tightly, nervous.

"Your Majesty, this old minister has a request."

"I have a granddaughter at home. She came of age in the twelfth month of last year and is old enough to marry. I venture to ask that, with so many outstanding young men gathered here today, I might choose a fine match for her."

The women all turned to look at Wen Nihe. Her face turned red with shyness.

The Yongzhao Emperor laughed. "I have long heard that, in the previous dynasty, there was a custom of seizing sons-in-law beneath the examination results board. Since the matter has come up today, and the time, place, and company are all favorable, why don't we follow their example?"