The Empress remarried, and I retaliated by wiping out the court.

"Your Majesty, there's been unusual activity from the Imperial Guards."

Ye Wudao was yawning when he heard Cao Ji's report. Suddenly, he shuddered and was wide awake.

No.

Is that old bastard Xiao Linyuan going to make a move so soon?

Indeed, having successfully thwarted their assassination attempt yesterday, it's understandable that they would resort to desperate measures.

but.

He sent Xie Bingyu to deliver a message to General Yuan, and judging by the time, it should arrive soon.

"Send men to keep an eye on the three main battalions of the Imperial Guards. Report any unusual activity immediately!"

"yes!"

Cao Ji accepted the order.

"Wait!"

Ye Wudao asked in a deep voice, "Has there been any news from Mo Jingyu?"

Cao Ji bowed and said, "Your Majesty, no! This old servant has not received any notification from the Embroidered Uniform Guard."

Upon hearing this...

Ye Wudao's eyes darkened.

The Imperial Guards were making moves, and even the Eastern Depot couldn't keep that from them, so how could the Embroidered Uniform Guard not know?

There is only one explanation for this.

Mo Jingyu either chose to sit back and watch the tigers fight, or she joined forces with Xiao Linyuan.

"That old guy has a knack for balancing!"

Ye Wudao silently made a note of Mo Jingyu in his mental notebook.

"Your Majesty, there is one more matter."

"explain!"

Cao Ji looked troubled: "Grand Secretary Li sent another memorial today, but..."

Ye Wudao raised an eyebrow: "Is it still a trivial matter?"

Cao Ji nodded slightly.

"This is outrageous!"

Ye Wudao slammed his hand on the table. "You old scoundrel, since you're so heartless, don't blame me for being ruthless too! Where is Li Yanran?"

"Your Majesty, the Second Empress is in Wenhua Palace."

"Go and summon her, no... I will go myself!"

…………

One day ago, at Wenhua Palace.

The bamboo sways in front of the courtyard, and the autumn water reflects the moonlight in the sky.

A few yellow leaves were blown down by the wind and swirled gently on the water's surface.

"The Moon-Reflecting Well, the Moon's Shadow, the Moon's Shadow Reflected in the Moon-Reflecting Well..."

Li Yanran sat alone by the lake, lost in thought.

Ye Wudao's previous second line of the couplet was like a thunderclap from a clear sky.

After returning to the palace, she lost her appetite and couldn't eat or drink for several days.

By day I peruse ancient texts, and by night I ponder deeply by lamplight.

Finally, at midnight yesterday.

She gazed at the bright moon reflected in the well, and suddenly a flash of inspiration struck her.

Locking Dragon Bridge, Locking Dragon Soul, Locking Dragon Soul beneath Locking Dragon Bridge.

She completed the second line, but felt no joy whatsoever.

"I racked my brains so hard that I barely managed to come up with one couplet, while Ye Wudao came up with four in one go!"

"I'm not as good as him..."

Li Yanran pursed her lips gently, a hint of stubbornness appearing in her eyes.

She had studied diligently for many years, yet she had lost to a dissolute emperor who had barely read any books.

Beside her, the maid Ping'er held a cup of tea and whispered:

"Your Majesty, perhaps... we should just let it go? Maybe His Majesty was just lucky."

Li Yanran gently shook her head.

"A good article is a gift from nature, and a skillful hand may occasionally produce a masterpiece. Good luck can bring you money, but it cannot create an absolute masterpiece for all time, much less write poems that will be remembered for eternity."

Li Yanran slowly got up and strolled along the edge of the pool.

She lost the couplet contest, but she's determined to win the next poetry contest!

She took a small sip of wine, and two delicate blushes appeared on her face.

She wanted to test Ye Wudao's ability to compose poetry; if it were a regular question, it would be too easy.

Praises of snow, plum blossoms, chrysanthemums... countless people have written about these since ancient times. If Ye Wudao had already prepared his drafts in advance, he might very well have won.

Suddenly, Li Yanran's eyes lit up.

"I've got it! I'll just write the first half and let him finish the second half."

"It must not only convey the intended meaning, but also maintain perfect parallelism, and it must not violate the rules of prosody."

"I'd like to see if he can come up with a response."

Ping'er couldn't help but clap her hands.

"Your Majesty's plan is brilliant! Who in the world can continue a poem that someone else has only written halfway through?"

Everyone has different artistic conceptions and poetic rules; how can one person perfectly continue another person's poetry?

"Ye Wudao hasn't had much schooling. If I were to test him like this, even the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy probably couldn't answer it..."

Li Yanran couldn't help but stick out her tongue.

She suddenly felt that she had been bullying him a bit too much.

But then she thought about it again, and how Ye Wudao had held her in his arms and bullied her like that, and she felt a sense of balance.

"Hmph! Ye Wudao, you asked for this!"

A smile appeared on Li Yanran's lips.

She ordered Ping'er to prepare paper and ink, and also brought out peach wine.

As night deepened, the autumn wind swept across the lake.

She drank one glass after another; the sweetness of the peach wine, paired with the cool night, brought her indescribable joy and comfort.

For scholars, the more intoxicated they are with wine, the better their poems become.

The more unrestrained and dissolute he became, the more amazing his poems became.

Li Yanran, dressed in a moon-white palace dress that trailed on the ground, picked up a pot of peach wine and slowly walked along the bluestone path toward the center of the lake.

Wenhua Palace is not large, but it has a delicate water garden inside.

The pond is only a few feet deep, yet it draws in fresh water. Willows sway gently along its banks, and several clumps of bamboo provide shade. A small, hexagonal pavilion with upturned eaves stands quietly on the shore.

Outside the pavilion, a small black-awning boat is moored beside the white jade railing.

The moonlight poured down.

Silver light filled the pond.

The entire lake was so still that there wasn't a ripple, like an ancient mirror that had been polished for a thousand years, reflecting the bright moon, the Milky Way, and the stars in the sky perfectly.

between heaven and earth.

There were two bright moons.

A sun hangs in the sky.

A wheel is in the water.

Li Yanran gently untied the rope.

As the small boat left the shore, ripples gently spread from its bow, and the once-whole moon was fragmented into countless pieces of silver, which quickly gathered together again.

She sat on the ground, her skirt spreading across the bow of the boat, like a lotus flower slowly blooming.

Her slender, jade-like fingers gently lifted the wine pot, and the aroma of wine, mingled with the moisture of the autumn night, slowly spread to her nose.

She tilted her head back and took a sip. A gentle evening breeze blew, ruffling a few strands of hair on her forehead and ruffling the starry sky.

The effects of the alcohol gradually crept into Li Yanran's heart.

Her thoughts flowed freely, and she quickly wrote down the first half of the poem on the paper:

"Wine floats like jade, reflecting the moon's image."

The first frost reflects on the jade pavilion in the water.

Li Yanran was extremely satisfied with the first half of her poem, but she couldn't write the second half no matter what she tried.

Whether it's the artistic conception or the meter, it's always just a little bit lacking.

After thinking for a long time, I still couldn't get a satisfactory answer.

And so, unable to hold her liquor, she finally drifted off to sleep.

Li Yanran had a very strange dream.

In her dream, she and Ye Wudao seemed to have been husband and wife for a long time. The two set off on a boat, arriving with great enthusiasm and returning when their enthusiasm waned.

In those fields, they lived a life like that of lovers.

In the latter half of the dream, Li Yanran was still thinking about what the second half of that poem was.

No matter how hard she racked her brains, she still couldn't figure it out.

See also…

In a blur, Li Yanran heard her maid Ping'er speaking.

Then.

A steady footstep approached from afar.

Li Yanran became anxious.

This is her back garden, who dares to be so bold?

then.

She heard someone pick up her papers.

Then, a familiar voice rang out:

"Why is there only the first half? What about the rest?"

You can't imagine the second half...

Li Yanran was very confident in the poems she wrote.

She couldn't understand how the other party could have done such a thing.

Suddenly.

The other party suddenly spoke:

"Drunk, I knew not that the sky was reflected in the water."

A boat full of sweet dreams presses down on the Milky Way.

boom!

Li Yanran felt that the problem that had troubled her for a long time had suddenly been solved!

Who?

Who is it?

Who could write such a wonderful poem!

Li Yanran, who was in a half-dream state, suddenly trembled slightly.

She slowly opened her eyes, and a familiar figure appeared before her...