Chapter 184
Chapter 184
The gathering had fallen silent.
Sensing Li Shuyu’s gaze, Ji Hanyi raised her head slightly and met her eyes. She smiled faintly. “What others think of me matters little. Besides, when something comes from hearsay, it is difficult to tell truth from falsehood. As a woman myself, I would never casually make reckless judgments about another woman.”
Li Shuyu froze. She had not expected Ji Hanyi to be so thick-skinned. Not only did she show no trace of guilt, but she had even mocked Li Shuyu for drawing conclusions from hearsay.
One of the young ladies spoke up. “Miss Ji is right. If it is only hearsay and no one knows the truth, how can we ruin a woman’s reputation over it?”
Li Shuyu could only grit her teeth and let the matter drop.
Sun Baoqiong glanced at Li Shuyu, then turned to the Empress and proposed with a smile, “Since we are holding a flower-viewing banquet today, merely admiring the flowers seems a little dull. Why don’t we play the Flying Flower Order with flowers as our theme? Anyone who fails to produce a line will drink a cup of wine as a forfeit. It should make things more entertaining.”
The Empress looked first at Sun Baoqiong, then at Li Shuyu. She might have invited Ji Hanyi here today for another purpose, and Li Shuyu might not yet know Ji Hanyi’s identity, but if Shen Si remained determined to have his way, Ji Hanyi would become a member of the Shen Family.
For a member of the Shen Family to be humiliated by some young lady would be an insult to the entire Shen Family.
The Empress understood perfectly well what Sun Baoqiong intended with this suggestion. Nevertheless, she turned to Ji Hanyi and asked, “What do you think?”
She had deliberately asked for Ji Hanyi’s opinion because she did not want Ji Hanyi to embarrass herself too badly. The Empress might not like her, but Ji Hanyi was still the woman her younger brother loved and was doing everything in his power to marry.
Ji Hanyi rose and answered respectfully, “The proposal from the Lady of the Commandery Mingchang is an excellent one. It will make the banquet more enjoyable.”
The Empress gave Ji Hanyi a meaningful look before nodding to the young ladies. “Very well.”
Sun Baoqiong then said to the Empress, “Your Majesty, please choose a flower for us. We can take its name as the theme.”
With those words, Sun Baoqiong had made the game even more difficult.
The Empress knew that Sun Baoqiong was deliberately making things hard for Ji Hanyi.
However, when she saw how composed Ji Hanyi remained, she said, “The White Snow Pagoda Magnolia outside the pavilion was planted on Emperor Taizu’s orders. Let us use the magnolia as our theme.”
When the Flying Flower Order began, Li Shuyu was the first to recite a poem:
“A jade tree greets the breeze in a quiet court,
Its orchid heart and stainless soul shine crystal clear.
It vies not with peach or plum for the colors of spring,
But breathes its cool perfume beneath the clear sky.”
Although Li Shuyu came from a military family, her mother belonged to a prominent scholarly clan in Jiangnan. With her mother’s guidance, Li Shuyu had styled herself as one of the capital’s talented young ladies from an early age.
Her opening poem was clear and fluent. It likened the magnolia to a jade tree with an orchid heart, praising both its outer elegance and inner purity. It was conventional but undoubtedly well written.
After everyone had taken a turn, one young lady composed:
“With rouge washed away, its truest hue appears;
By which bridge does it alone command the pristine cold?”
Another recited:
“A jade cup rises to the sky to catch the pale dew;
An orchid oar parts the waves, bearing faint perfume.”
Commandery Princess Fengning cast a sidelong glance at Ji Hanyi before reciting:
“Jade makes its frame and snow its face;
It flaunts itself through spring till the east wind is spent.”
The gathering fell briefly silent when the poem was heard. Then everyone began praising Commandery Princess Fengning’s talent.
Ji Hanyi glanced at Commandery Princess Fengning.
Commandery Princess Fengning had been looking directly at her as she recited it, so the poem was most likely a veiled insult, mocking Ji Hanyi for possessing nothing but a pretty face while being frivolous in character.
Ji Hanyi merely pressed her lips together, betraying no reaction.
By now, she could clearly sense Commandery Princess Fengning’s hostility toward her at every turn.
The Empress also narrowed her eyes at Commandery Princess Fengning. The others might not know the identity of the woman betrothed to her younger brother, but Fengning did. The Empress’s gaze immediately turned cold.
Fengning noticed the Empress’s stare as well. A moment ago, she had been too intent on venting her anger to think of anything else. Now, a sudden chill ran through her as she realized what she had done. She immediately shrank into herself and did not dare say another word.
By then, only Ji Hanyi and Sun Baoqiong had yet to present their verses.
Sun Baoqiong smiled at Ji Hanyi. “Would you care to go first, Sister?”
Ji Hanyi returned a faint smile. “I don’t mind. Lady of the Commandery may go first.”
Sun Baoqiong gave Ji Hanyi a long look. Given her status, she ordinarily considered disdain itself beneath her. Yet as she regarded Ji Hanyi now, she truly could not think much of her. Without any genuine talent or learning, dragging matters out until the very end would only make her eventual humiliation worse.
Judging from her expression, she probably had not even caught the mockery in Fengning’s earlier poem.
Very well. This was the choice she had made.
A faint smile remained on Sun Baoqiong’s face as she calmly began:
“Snow thunders from jade mountains, falling on the jeweled capital;
An orchid leaves its garden, taking root beneath the clearing dusk.
Do not wonder that such lonely grace forsakes the warmth of spring;
In all the mortal world, how rare it is to remain clear-eyed.”
The entire gathering was visibly moved as soon as the poem was spoken.
The opening image of snow avalanching down a jade mountain possessed magnificent force, while the transplanted orchid subtly invoked Qu Yuan’s fragrant-plant imagery. The allusion was sophisticated and the conception lofty, instantly outshining every verse that had come before it.
Even Princess Fu’an could not resist praising her. “Lady of the Commandery Bao, you truly are the most remarkable person I have ever met.”
Sun Baoqiong remained serene and demure, a faint smile on her lips. She swept a glance over Ji Hanyi, every inch the noble young lady long accustomed to praise.
After thanking Princess Fu’an, she turned to Ji Hanyi once more. “Have you thought of yours yet, Sister?”
Ji Hanyi lowered her gaze to the magnolia blossoms outside the pavilion and slowly recited:
“Jade clad in snowy robes is vainly called a treasure;
Only when the wind blows does dust within its bones appear.
Though fallen into mud, it still affects a graceful air;
How laughable – the Lord of Spring mistook it for spring.
Beyond three thousand worlds drifts its exquisite shadow;
Along twelve balustrades, lamps kindle one by one.
The east wind cannot fathom the pain of weighing worth;
One tree bears joys and sorrows, each unto its own.”
Ji Hanyi had answered not with a quatrain, but with an eight-line regulated verse, a form that demanded far greater skill.
In truth, the later one’s turn came, the harder it was. Yet even as the very last to answer, Ji Hanyi had produced such an exceptional poem. The entire gathering fell silent.
Even Li Shuyu’s expression shifted slightly. Had she not witnessed Ji Hanyi reciting it with her own eyes, she would have suspected the poem had not come from Ji Hanyi at all.
The “twelve balustrades” invoked in the poem was a Buddhist expression. Those few lines alone spoke volumes about Ji Hanyi’s talent.
More thought-provoking still were the pointed phrases “vainly called a treasure” and “dust within its bones.” The former implied mediocrity, while the latter suggested moral filth. And at whom, exactly, were those barbs aimed?
The “pain of weighing worth” and “each unto its own” went even further, accusing someone of narrow-mindedness and a lack of magnanimity.
The entire poem was laced with veiled mockery.
Shen Suyi’s expression changed slightly. She had known that Ji Hanyi was well-read, but Ji Hanyi’s verses at the previous poetry gathering had been unremarkable, so she had assumed poetry was not her strength. Hearing this now and recalling Li Shuyu’s earlier taunts toward Ji Hanyi, Shen Suyi pursed her lips.
A flicker passed through Sun Baoqiong’s eyes as she studied Ji Hanyi, her gaze full of scrutiny.
But the greatest change came over Commandery Princess Fengning. The glance Ji Hanyi had cast at her while reciting the poem made her understand at once: Ji Hanyi was mocking her as vulgar and mean-spirited.
However, the Empress had already given her a warning look earlier. No matter how furious she was now, she could only grind her teeth and swallow her rage.
Opposite the pavilion stood a viewing tower built into the mountainside. Shen Si and His Majesty the Emperor stood on its outer gallery, both gazing down at the gathering across the way.
His Majesty the Emperor’s gaze settled on Ji Hanyi. Though he could not hear what was being said on the other side, that quiet, graceful figure truly did draw the eye.
That was Ji Jing’s daughter.
His Majesty the Emperor’s feelings toward Ji Jing were complicated.