"Please welcome Miss Pan'er!"
After Guan Yaoyuan finished speaking, a woman in a pink skirt and red dress walked out. Many men at the scene held their breath, while many women showed envy.
Fang Yun originally went to watch it with great hopes, and couldn't help but compare her with Yang Yuhuan, and then, nothing happened.
Fang Yun lowered his head to drink tea, thinking that she was a decent woman. Although she tried her best to hide her appearance, she was too worldly and pretended too much. As for what she looked like, he was too lazy to remember it. Even if he remembered it, he would forget it when he saw Yang Yuhuan at home.
Many men, including Guan Yaoyuan, were looking at Pan'er, but Fang Yun lowered his head to drink tea, then picked up a piece of mung bean cake with chopsticks and ate it leisurely.
Pan'er smiled like the moon surrounded by stars. She raised her chin and scanned the whole audience. Her expression remained consistent and was not affected by anyone, not even the person eating the mung bean cake.
Those scholars began to flatter Pan'er endlessly.
He Yutang, who was sitting next to Fang Yun, asked in a low voice: "Why, you don't like this? What kind of woman do you like? Tell me, I will definitely help you find a satisfactory one." After saying that, he showed a slightly obscene smile.
"Can she really earn 20,000 taels of silver a month?"
He Yutang suddenly realized, "It's no wonder you're suspicious. She can't make that much money just based on her looks. She's not selling her looks, she's selling her talent. There are rumors that her grandfather was a Hanlin, and that she can compose poems and write articles. Some people even touted her as a "female scholar," and then she became famous. Others took it seriously, but we all knew in our hearts that it was Mingyu Tower's way of promoting people."
Fang Yun glanced at Pan'er and asked, "Have some famous scholars been humiliated by her and then widely spread?"
"It's true. She is not from a good family. She is just playing for the occasion. If she can step on other scholars to get to the top, she can use you as a ladder. It seems you see through it." He Yutang looked at Fang Yun curiously, thinking that he was worthy of being a former sage. Compared with him, those who were deceived were living like dogs.
Fang Yun continued to eat lunch.
Pan'er walked down the stairs slowly. Le Ji, who was sitting on the low platform in the lobby, left. The maids from Mingyu Tower walked in front of Pan'er, throwing flower petals along the way, leaving a path filled with the fragrance of flowers.
Guan Yaoyuan, the organizer of the poetry meeting, and some scholars surrounded Pan'er and walked to the high platform. They stood behind a table with the four treasures of the study on it.
Guan Yaoyuan smiled and asked, "Who will be the first to come up and write lyrics?"
"I'll do it!" More than a dozen scholars stood up, wishing they could get into Pan'er's skirt.
Pan'er immediately covered her mouth and chuckled, and many people stared in amazement.
Guan Yaoyuan said, "Then please invite Brother Lai Yong to come first. He was one of the top ten scholars in Dayuan Prefecture and has been to Shushan. He will be of great help to today's poetry meeting."
The others sat down immediately. It was obvious that Guan Yaoyuan was helping Lai Yong, and any further argument would be tantamount to not giving Guan Yaoyuan face.
"Thank you for letting me." Lai Yong pretended to be polite, walked to the table and greeted Pan'er, then pondered for a moment and said, "Since the courtesan Pan'er is here, I will choose the tune 'Dian Jiang Chun'. Although I can't paint Pan'er's lips red with my own hands, I can think about it in my heart for a while."
Everyone laughed, Pan'er's pretty face turned slightly red, and she glared at Lai Yong with a look that seemed both happy and angry, which made many people feel itchy.
Lai Yong picked up the pen, thought for a long time, and wrote as he read: "Spring's heart, the subtle fragrance is inclined to the dusk. The jade skin is cold, and it becomes thinner and thinner. The shadow falls on the horizontal pond, and the moon is dim after people go home. Do you know? The first branch blooms first, and it should be played to the God of Spring."
When Lai Yong finished writing, everyone applauded.
"The word '逗' uses seconds to turn a still life into a living thing."
"One branch blooms first, this sentence is very beautiful!"
"Brother Lai is so talented, he will definitely be in the top three!"
Fang Yun nodded. This poem was really good and had the potential to be worthy of being published outside the county. It would be a pity to use it to please a woman.
Amid the cheers of the crowd, Lai Yong left the stage in a graceful manner and returned to the wine table.
The first poem was written so well that many people who were eager to try gave up the idea. Otherwise, it would be tantamount to sacrificing themselves to help Lai Yong. For a while, no one wanted to go up.
"Is there no one who wants to write another poem?" Guan Yaoyuan asked loudly.
No one responded.
The courtesan Pan'er suddenly asked, "Who is Fang Shuangjia? Pan'er dares to ask Fang Shuangjia to write a poem for me. I wonder if Pan'er is lucky enough to do so?"
Everyone looked at Fang Yun together, extremely envious of his treatment.
Fang Yun looked normal.
"Oh, you are the one with the mung bean cake?" Pan'er called out in a very innocent tone.
Guan Yaoyuan asked curiously, "What do you mean?"
Pan'er looked at Fang Yun with a sad look, and said aggrievedly: "When I went downstairs before, everyone was looking at me, except Fang Shuangjia, who was drinking tea and eating mung bean cakes. It seems that my humble appearance is not worthy of Fang Shuangjia's attention at all."
A few people were provoked by Pan'er and looked at Fang Yun with a little hostility, thinking that he was using this method to deliberately attract Pan'er.
Guan Yaoyuan laughed loudly and said, "Pan'er, you don't know this. Not to mention you, even the most beautiful woman in the capital is not taken seriously by him."
"Really?" Paner asked.
"Of course it's true. Fang Shuangjia's child bride is the famous Xi Shi of Jiangzhou in Ji County. Even Master Liu Zicheng was shocked by her beauty. As a result, Fang Yun misunderstood that someone wanted to take his child bride away, so he asked Magistrate Cai to force Liu Zicheng away. But it's not Fang Yun's fault at all, because it's Liu Zicheng's fault for speaking frivolously. Fang Yun was raised by the child bride, and he has deep feelings for her, so naturally he can't tolerate any disrespect. Fang Yun, your talent is famous in the ten countries. Why don't you write the second poem, win the first prize directly, and bring Pan'er into the new house." Guan Yaoyuan said.
"Hateful!" Pan'er turned around in shame, covering her red face with her hands.
Everyone started to urge Fang Yun to write a poem.
Fang Yun stood up slowly and said with a smile, "Liu Zicheng brought four servants to my doorstep and wrote the Yishui Song on paper to kill me and rob my sister Yuhuan. Fortunately, Captain Lu and Magistrate Cai's verbal battle came in time and killed one servant. How come Brother Guan said that Liu Zicheng was not wrong and I was wrong? You are clearing Liu Zicheng's name today. Are you going to go to the capital to beat the drum and file a complaint to the emperor tomorrow to redress the grievances for the dead servants?"
There was complete silence in Mingyue Tower; no one expected Fang Yun to be so direct.
Guan Yaoyuan immediately showed a look of grievance, and said: "Fang Shuangjia, you misunderstood, I really don't know the truth, I just heard it from others. I admit my mistake to you, I shouldn't have only listened to one side of the story, but you can't believe everything you say, otherwise I would still believe one side of the story. Today is the Beginning of Summer Ci Meeting, we only talk about love and nothing else, Fang Shuangjia, please write a poem for the sake of dozens of us scholars."
Fang Yun sneered, "No one present is stupid, but you are so stupid that you want to kidnap others to isolate me. Do you think these scholars will be fooled by you? You and Liu Zicheng have gone to great lengths to deal with me!"
He Yutang, who was beside Fang Yun, secretly thought that what a great Saint Student he was. Although this was too rough, he took the initiative to make things clear. Those who were originally neutral would basically not help Guan Yaoyuan.