Qin Yuan sat by the table, just smiling.
Sixth Master Gu felt inexplicably excited, stepped forward, and with a smile said, "May I ask your honorable surname?"
Qin Yuan had no choice but to stand up and bow: "My humble surname is Qin, first name Yuan, known as Young Master Nantang."
"Nantang... hiss... oh, turns out to be my third sister-in-law..." Sixth Master Gu finally understood, immediately blushing.
Gu Baoshu was already laughing so hard she fell onto the chair: "My Sixth Brother thought he found another soulmate, didn’t he? Doesn’t he feel that she’s somewhat familiar, a bit like your close friend Mr. Qin. Haha."
Qin Yuan quickly offered a seat: "Sixth Brother, please sit. It’s all this girl’s fault for not explaining clearly. We won’t have time to celebrate today, let’s just have a casual bite, and tomorrow we’ll make up for Mid-Autumn Festival."
Having said that, she sat down herself.
Sixth Master Gu smelled the delicious aroma of the food on the table, his stomach couldn’t help but rumble like thunder.
Gu Baoshu had just stopped laughing, but hearing it, she burst into laughter again.
"Treasure Bead!" Sixth Master Gu was annoyed.
Gu Baoshu pleaded for mercy: "Alright, alright, Sixth Brother, I won’t laugh anymore. If you want to blame, you can only blame Third Sister-in-law for dressing up so convincingly, even her voice pretends to be that of a man."
"No matter how convincing, can she be as convincing as you? You wander around like a little rascal all day, walk past that group outside now, and no one will recognize you."
Upon hearing Qin Yuan say that she was good at disguising as a boy, Gu Baoshu cheerfully started making up nonsense: "I think Sixth Brother, if dressed as a woman, would be quite the beauty. It’s just that Sixth Brother doesn’t like acting in plays, otherwise tomorrow Aunt Zheng could dress you as a dan character to perform a scene, and Mother wouldn’t even recognize her own eldest son."
Qin Yuan immediately interrupted: "You even know how to entertain your family now, you’ve made great progress. No idea what you’ll become after returning from White Crane Academy."
Once these words were said, no matter how angry Sixth Master Gu was, he couldn’t show it.
"Third Sister-in-law, Treasure Bead, the food is getting cold, let’s eat quickly. I just overheard, there are lots of people outside, later Treasure Bead should protect Third Sister-in-law."
"Got it..."
Gu Baoshu was really hungry and immediately started eating wholeheartedly.
The garden party outside was indeed lively, not only were scholars flocking in, but even those who didn’t study much wanted to join in to see the literati spectacle.
Shen Changle was standing at the exit, holding a box filled with scraps of paper, all topics thought up by talented scholars who met the requirements.
"Why hasn’t Young Master Nantang and Mr. Songshan arrived yet?"
"Wait a bit more, this road is so crowded, even if they came, it’d take half an hour of squeezing to get in."
The scholars whispered among themselves.
Shen Changle was also a bit anxious, but he maintained a smiling appearance, showing no signs of worry.
Hearing people say the lanterns were exquisite and novel, he said: "These all come from the south, Southern people love these small trinkets."
This topic sparked some discussion, so Shen Changle continued: "Several shops in West Market have been selling popular goods from the south, making enviable sales. Whatever they stock sells hot, which makes me jealous. Unfortunately, Ranxiang Inn only sells incense pills, and even the poetry collections are just on consignment here."
With nothing better to do, and since lady guests generally like southern goods, some people asked, "What are they selling? Where is it?"
Shen Changle thus helped other shopkeepers recruit a batch of customers.
There were some visitors at the garden party who still couldn’t guess three lantern riddles no matter how hard they tried, and they wanted to see Young Master Nantang in person, pestering him to plead.
"Relax a bit, here’s some silver for tea."
"That won’t work. This is the rule set by the Marchioness. If others find out, it’ll be troublesome."
Shen Changle quickly refused.
"We won’t get in Young Master Nantang’s way, just a glance from afar is enough."
Some spoke even more pitifully: "We’ve guessed all the lantern riddles on this road and still can’t figure them out, does this mean we can’t see Young Master Nantang?
We aren’t asking for much, it’s just our old mothers, sisters, and brothers all love Young Master Nantang’s poetry. If they know I didn’t enter, the whole year will feel off.
Just do a good deed, be convenient to others, convenient to yourself, right?"
Shen Changle was pestered until his head ached.
Smart as he was, he found himself at a loss for words for a moment.
At this point, Lin Ziqi squeezed through, smiled and said: "Manager Shen, looking at these people’s attire, they are all students of the Imperial College. Can’t you do me a favor?"
Manager Shen felt a bit regretful, if Manager Leng were here, even Lin Ziqi wouldn’t say such things.
But as a companion to Miss Qin, he couldn’t disregard the Second Young Master.
He was somewhat troubled: "Second Young Master, this is a rule set by the Marchioness, wouldn’t it be better if you helped guess a few lantern riddles, and see if you can pass?"