The storm over the annulment finally came to an end.
After the three members of the Li family left, Zhu Lian came out from the inner room into the sitting room. She had heard every single word of the conversation outside, and she had been on tenterhooks for her son.
Yet, everything had been resolved with surprising ease. Not only was her Lie'er unharmed, but Li Gang, a towering pillar of the imperial court, even seemed exceedingly wary of him. Why was that?
She turned to Zhao Lie and said, "You scared your mother to death just now. You are far too bold! What would you have done if Lord Li had turned hostile?"
Zhao Lie smiled. "Mother, I told you long ago that the Li father and daughter are nothing to fear. They wouldn't dare make a reckless move in front of your son!"
Puzzled, Zhu Lian asked, "Why is that?"
Zhao Lie chuckled. "Because I am the Ninth Prince, and my father is the current Emperor!"
Hearing this, a pang of sorrow pierced Zhu Lian's heart: *You may be the Ninth Prince, but your father doesn't take you seriously at all! Ah, I can only blame myself as your mother...*
With a bitter effort, Zhu Lian forced a smile. "Oh! So that's how it is."
Zhao Lie did not want his mother to know too many of his secrets, fearing she might inadvertently reveal his true depth while chatting with others in the palace. He wanted to explain everything to her when the right time came, but now was definitely not the moment.
Time flies, and the years are hard to hold onto. In the blink of an eye, like a sudden clap of thunder, it was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month—the Lantern Festival in the twenty-second year of Emperor Yuan's reign.
The Emperor held a grand Lantern Festival banquet in the palace, inviting all civil and military officials along with members of the imperial clan and noble youths to attend.
As the Ninth Prince, and one who had been conferred the title of Prince of Yelang a little over a month prior, Zhao Lie and his mother were naturally among those invited.
During the banquet, song and dance filled the air, creating an atmosphere of peace and prosperity.
Zhao Lie and the other twelve princes and princesses sat together at a single table, surrounded by mountains of meat and oceans of wine, their wine cups crossing in a merry din!
After three rounds of drinking and five courses of food, the Eighth Prince, riding high on his surging alcohol-fueled spirits, proposed that everyone compose poems on the spot, with each poem required to contain the word "wine."
Everyone agreed to the Eighth Prince's proposal, except for Zhao Lie, who remained silent.
The Thirteenth Princess assumed Zhao Lie was against it because her Ninth Brother had read very little; how could he possibly compose poetry on the spur of the moment?
Thus, the Thirteenth Princess spoke up: "My imperial brothers and sisters, we all know the extent of Ninth Brother's learning. Perhaps we should leave him out of this!"
The other imperial brothers and sisters kept quiet, but the Eighth Prince, Zhao Jian, smiled and said, "What kind of talk is that, little imperial sister? Your Ninth Brother is a big figure in the capital now, a prince known to every household, old and young alike. At such a grand gathering for poetry and verse, how could we possibly leave out someone of Ninth Brother's stature? Don't you agree, Ninth Brother?"
Inwardly, Zhao Lie sneered: *In my past life, I was a top student. During the nine years of compulsory education, I memorized three hundred poems each from the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties. Not to mention the Three Character Classic, the Hundred Family Surnames, and the Standards for Students... These classics of traditional Chinese learning were long committed to memory.*
*You punk Zhao Jian, you're merely using this Lantern Festival drinking party to mock the original owner's complete lack of literary talent, hoping to humiliate him and avenge yourself for what happened a month ago.*
With a faint smile, Zhao Lie replied, "Little Sister, so as not to spoil everyone's fun, Ninth Brother will join in. I'll just make up the numbers. Only, if my poem turns out poorly, I hope my imperial brothers and sisters won't laugh at me."
The Eighth Prince, Zhao Jian, hurriedly cut in. "What is Ninth Brother saying? We're all family here, no need for such formalities. If the poem isn't good, which member of our own family would laugh?"
The other princes and princesses chimed in. Knowing full well that the Eighth Prince deliberately intended to make a fool of the Ninth Brother, they were content to stand by as spectators and enjoy the good show.
The Eighth Prince's words sounded completely innocent, but Zhao Lie knew he was being lured into a trap. Feigning ignorance, he smiled and said, "Eighth Brother is right. We're family, no one will laugh."
The Thirteenth Princess knew her eighth brother wanted to humiliate her ninth brother. Driven by personal concern, she secretly whispered to Zhao Lie: *Ninth Brother, you'd better not take part!* Zhao Lie indicated it was fine, saying it was just for fun at the Lantern Festival banquet.
To her surprise, upon seeing Zhao Lie agree to join the impromptu poetry game, the Eighth Prince was secretly overjoyed. He intended to vent the pent-up frustration from a month ago and regain his face.
Leaning onto his wooden chair, he threw his arms up and shouted, "Everyone! Good news! Good news! Tremendous good news! It is a rare gathering for the thirteen of us royal siblings, and now we are going to compose impromptu poems on the theme of 'wine.' As long as the character for 'wine' appears in the poem, anyone who is interested may participate! Don't worry, even my ninth younger brother dares to join, so what is there to be afraid of? As everyone knows, my ninth younger brother is a bit... well, you know. So nobody needs to be afraid! I, the Prince, will offer rewards to all participants: first place will receive one thousand liang of gold, second place five hundred liang of gold, and third place three hundred liang of gold!"
The banquet hall instantly erupted into a din. Those who fancied themselves talented in poetry eagerly rushed to sign up, quickly surrounding Zhao Lie's table so tightly not even water could leak through.
Of course, not everyone in the crowd was participating; the majority were just onlookers waiting to watch the fun. Many of them had come specifically for the Ninth Prince, curious about the poem he would write. This Ninth Prince was far too famous—a prince who could neither hold a brush for literature nor a saber for martial arts, he was truly good for nothing.
Who would have thought that today he would actually dare to join an impromptu poetry game? Didn't he have any self-awareness of his own limits?
Among the crowd stood two special figures: one was Li Lihua, the Ninth Prince Zhao Lie's betrothed, and the other was the Ninth Prince's mother, Zhu Lian.
Hearing that her son Zhao Lie had joined the impromptu poetry game, Zhu Lian inwardly bewailed his foolishness: *Lie'er, why put yourself through this? Haven't you been mocked enough by these royal brothers and sisters in the past?*
Zhu Lian tried to squeeze through the crowd to persuade her son to give up the poetry game, but there were simply too many onlookers, and even some civil and military officials had their curiosity piqued and were watching from the outer ring.
Consequently, Zhu Lian could not take a single step forward! She could only pray silently in her heart, wishing the Bodhisattva would bless Zhao Lie and spare him from too much humiliation.
Li Lihua, on the other hand, had originally wanted nothing to do with this boring poetry game. Being a proud and aloof woman, she knew full well how much ink the noble youths of the capital actually had in their bellies.
She sneered at their so-called "talent" and disdained to participate, feeling it beneath her dignity.
Yet, when she heard that Zhao Lie, that good-for-nothing prince, was also joining, a strong urge for revenge flared up within her. She wanted to teach Zhao Lie a lesson in what true poetic talent was! She wanted him to see just how far apart the two of them really were.
Li Lihua had all along harbored deep resentment over the way Zhao Lie had extorted a huge sum of money from her following the annulment, considering it an unbearable humiliation! Therefore, she had always looked for an opportunity to humiliate Zhao Lie, and tonight, she had finally found it.
She immediately stepped forward to sign up. The playboys of Ancheng naturally knew all about Li Lihua, this peerless beauty, and when they saw her register, cheers shook the air.
With Li Lihua participating tonight, first place would undoubtedly fall into her hands without a shadow of a doubt.
Dozens of pampered young nobles came forward to register with the Eighth Prince.
As Zhao Lie looked over these registrants, he didn't find a single one pleasing to the eye—they were all a bunch of good-for-nothing gluttons. With a cold sneer, he sighed to himself: *No wonder Northern Chu was destroyed. When the second-generation officials in the entire imperial court are this devoid of ambition, it just shows that if the upper beam is crooked, the lower ones will follow.*
However, Zhao Lie noticed that Li Lihua had also signed up. Tonight, she was wearing a white gauze veil over her face, still concealing her true appearance.
Li Lihua wanted to watch Zhao Lie make a fool of himself, but Zhao Lie also wanted to match wits with the number one talented woman of the capital. He wanted to see just how comical the face of this conceited, arrogant woman would look when she was slapped across the face by him!