Green Mountain

Lin Chaojing’s laughter rang out, "I’ve figured out who our friend behind the curtain is, it’s none other than the Princely Heir. How about this, Brother Wenzong, it’s only nine autumn-related poems after all. You and I, having shared classes with the Princely Heir for three years, let’s help him out. I’ll write four, you write five. Then we’ll act as if it was all written by them and take down that curtain."

Chen Wenzong hesitated, "This doesn’t seem proper."

Lin Chaojing smiled faintly, "Then I shall write all nine."

He rolled up his sleeves and summoned an attendant of the embroidery building to bring ink, brush, paper, and inkstone. With a single flourish of his brush, a poem was settled.

The crowd gathered around only to see that the opponent had composed nine poems in one go, as effortlessly as picking flowers on a whim.

Lin Chaojing handed the poems to the attendant, "Go and show these to Liu Xingshou. If they are acceptable, then we should also take down the Princely Heir’s curtain."

The attendant smiled, "There’s no need to show them to Liu Xingshou; even a maid as crude as I can recognize the excellence of these poems. I’ll remove the curtains right away."

Indeed, the three elegant seating areas had been veiled for quite some time, and the embroidery building was growing anxious.

However, upon hearing Ji’s exquisitely worded poems and seeing Bai Li’s swift and robust handwriting, the Princely Heir immediately protested, "Wait, we can write our own; don’t remove the curtain!"