With Lan Xinong’s question, the young ladies on the other team immediately fell silent.

The first line was already difficult enough, and being able to match it with a second line was no simple feat. Miss Kou had already provided another match, but asking for a third was truly too challenging.

For a moment, the pavilion was silent as a tomb. Some young ladies held their teacups in deep contemplation, others unconsciously twisted their handkerchiefs. Everyone knew that whoever could produce a third match at this moment would earn tremendous glory.

The wind stirred the green wisteria hanging from the pavilion roof, bringing in a faint fragrance of flowers, yet no one had the leisure to appreciate it.

Lan Xinong laughed softly: “Do my sisters have a third match?”

As she spoke, she glanced lightly at Xu Jinghong across from her.

Xu Jinghong held her round fan, fanning herself gently, showing not the slightest trace of anxiety.

“Has Miss Xu thought of one?” Lan Xinong asked directly.

The ladies cast hopeful glances toward Xu Jinghong.

Chief Minister Lan Shan and Vice Minister Xu Mingda were both renowned for their literary talents. Young ladies raised in such scholarly households naturally surpassed those from military noble families by three points in matters of poetry and literature.

Seeing everyone looking her way, Xu Jinghong said coldly: “I can’t think of one. Why doesn’t Miss Lan ask someone else?”

Who decreed that just because her grandfather was Vice Minister, she should be able to match couplets? Xu Jinghong sneered inwardly.

“What about the rest of you?”

The young ladies on Xu Jinghong’s team grew somewhat panicked.

Although they had said that matching two lines would be sufficient to pass without drinking wine, matching three would earn extra points. If they couldn’t match now, and when it was their turn to present a first line, the other side matched three, then, according to the rules, they would still be penalized.

They were all young ladies, and today’s gathering featured fruit wine. Though drinking one cup wouldn’t matter much, being penalized with a cup would be shameful.

In such occasions, didn’t you face everything? Moreover, they were all daughters of heaven who had been outstanding since childhood, accustomed to others’ envious gazes.

“Miss Lan, please allow us to think a bit more,” someone said.

Another person quietly tugged at Kou Zimo: “Miss Kou, have you thought of one?”

Kou Zimo shook her head gently.

Matching couplets required quick wit, a flash of inspiration. Having already produced one match, how could she easily think of another? After all, Lan Xinong’s first line wasn’t as simple as ordinary couplets.

Lan Xinong curved her lips and suddenly glanced toward Qiao Zhao, calling out: “Miss Li—”

Qiao Zhao had focused most of her attention on Ouyang Wei Yu and didn’t immediately realize she was being called.

Li Jiǎo, harboring thoughts of making a stunning impression, was racking her brains to think of a matching line. Hearing the call, she instinctively looked up and responded: “Yes, is Miss Lan calling me?”

Lan Xinong paused, glanced at Qiao Zhao, then suddenly smiled: “I had forgotten that you two, Miss Lis, are sisters.”

With these words, Li Jiǎo’s face immediately turned bright red.

Among all the young ladies present, she was the only one who wasn’t a member of the Fushan Society. She had already harbored unspeakable feelings of inferiority, and now, becoming the focus of all the ladies, shame, indignation, and humiliation burned and churned in Miss Li’s heart, making her wish she could faint.

But fainting would undoubtedly be even more shameful. Li Jiǎo could only secretly clench her fists, digging her nails into her palms, enduring the burning embarrassment.

She shouldn’t have come, especially since Li San had joined the Fushan Society—she should have stayed far away to avoid disgrace. It was all Li San’s malicious scheming! Why had she kept this news so tightly hidden?

For the first time, Li Jiǎo regretted attending such a gathering, and her hatred for Qiao Zhao deepened by three parts.

Fortunately, this awkwardness didn’t last long. Lan Xinong smiled lightly: “Since you’re sisters, you’re both the same. Miss Li, your father is a Scholar at the Hanlin Academy, isn’t he?”

Li Jiǎo was certain that this time “Miss Li” referred to her without doubt, but this question also made her face burn with heat.

Among the noble ladies present, they were either daughters of marquises or earl households, or granddaughters of elder statesmen or ministers. Yet she was merely the daughter of a minor Hanlin Scholar. What did Miss Lan mean by mentioning her father in such a setting?

“I heard that your esteemed father once achieved the rank of Third Place Scholar. With such talent, surely Miss Li is equally capable. Have you perhaps thought of a matching line?” Lan Xinong asked with a smile.

Seeing the faint smile that didn’t reach Lan Xinong’s eyes, Li Jiǎo suddenly understood: this was trouble her father had caused, and they were making her, the daughter, pay for it!

Realizing this, Li Jiǎo felt secretly furious.

The Hanlin Academy was the most prestigious place in the realm. Having someone enter the Hanlin Academy brought honor to the entire family, and perhaps in twenty or thirty years, they might produce an elder statesman. Yet her father had somehow become a laughingstock within the Hanlin Academy!

Did her father have even half a brain? He constantly criticized Chief Minister Lan Shan. Since walls have ears, this naturally earned resentment. Now they were only making things difficult for her, but if this continued, they might face house raids and clan extermination, just like Ouyang Wei Yu’s father!

“Has Miss Li thought of one or not?” Seeing Li Jiǎo’s prolonged silence, Lan Xinong asked with slight impatience.

Li Jiǎo endured her shame and indignation, saying softly: “Miss Lan’s first line is quite challenging. The sisters have already thought of two matches, and I can’t think of a third so quickly.”

It wasn’t just her who couldn’t think of one—there was nothing particularly shameful about it. It was simply her father’s official position and conduct that made her too embarrassed.

“It’s not strange that others can’t think of one, but from what I understand, none of the fathers of the sisters present achieved Third Place Scholar like your esteemed father. Don’t they say, ‘A heroic father has no mediocre daughter’?”

By this point, the ladies could see that Lan Xinong was deliberately targeting the Li sisters.

Of the two Li sisters, the third daughter had just joined the society, and this eldest daughter was even more laughable—she had gotten in purely through Du Feixue’s favor. Therefore, no one was willing to smooth things over in this situation.

Although Su Luo Yi and Zhu Yán were Qiao Zhao’s sponsors, since Li Jiǎo had responded when Lan Xinong called “Miss Li” earlier, and it wasn’t Qiao Zhao being troubled now, given their personalities, they were too lazy to interfere.

The most appropriate person to intervene would be Du Feixue, but she didn’t want to offend the granddaughter of the all-powerful Chief Minister Lan for the sake of a cousin, so she remained silent.

Lan Xinong chuckled, her provocative eyes full of mockery: “Or perhaps a great reputation is difficult to live up to?”

Whether this remark humiliated Li Guangwen or Li Jiǎo was hard to say.

“Phoenix falls on phoenix tree, phoenix tree drops phoenix—” Qiao Zhao, who had been standing quietly, suddenly spoke, drawing all the ladies’ attention to her.

She paid no heed to their stares and said indifferently: “For the matching line, I offer: Pearls link jade discs, jade discs link pearls.”

As the ladies showed surprise, she turned with a smile, looking steadily at Lan Xinong: “I can also match: Sky connects emerald water, emerald connects sky. Or I could match: Mist locks mountain peaks, mountain locks mist. I could also match: Flowers fill courtyard, courtyard fills flowers…”

Having her parents insulted had touched Miss Qiao’s bottom line. Her voice was sweet, but her expression was cold. After providing seven or eight matching lines in succession, she said indifferently: “Actually, there’s one matching line I think is most fitting: Dragon lurks in stream cave, stream lurks dragon.”