After Xu Jinghong finished speaking, she looked toward the young ladies on her team and asked: “What do you all think?”

The ladies all said in unison: “Excellent!”

They looked at Qiao Zhao without exception. Qiao Zhao said frankly: “This seems like overstepping my bounds—I’m not a member of your team.”

If not for Lan Xinong insulting her father, she wouldn’t have intended to steal this limelight. Now that she had shown off and vented her anger, she wasn’t here to build a reputation as a talented woman. Finding a way to draw closer to Kou Zimo was the real business.

“Oh my, Miss Li San, our Vice President Xu has spoken—please don’t decline. Perhaps you could even create an absolute couplet to challenge them.”

“Yes, Miss Li San should present something challenging to make it interesting.”

Lan Xinong raised her eyebrows and said with slight impatience: “Miss Li San, it’s just a game—it’s not like we can’t afford to lose. Your hesitation is quite tedious. What’s this? Do you perhaps look down on us, afraid that if you present a couplet none of us can match, it would embarrass you?”

She curved her lips with a proud expression: “Don’t worry. The Fushan Society was founded to let sisters learn from each other and improve together. Whether it’s me, Lan Xinong, or anyone else, we all have this tolerance—we certainly won’t make things difficult for you over differences in learning.”

This wretched girl had just slapped her face quite soundly, hadn’t she? She had said nothing even then, so what was this playing hard to get about now?

With Lan Xinong speaking to this extent and numerous noble ladies echoing her words, it would look bad for Qiao Zhao to continue declining. Being naturally straightforward, she considered briefly, then said: “In that case, I’ll present a chain couplet.”

A so-called chain couplet used the last character of the previous line as the first character of the next line, requiring sentences to connect head to tail, link by link—quite challenging indeed.

With these words, the ladies were startled.

Lan Xinong had just presented a palindromic couplet, and now Miss Li San wanted to present a chain couplet. What was happening today? Each one was more difficult than the last—truly spectacular and thrilling, rivaling the grand occasion of the Fushan Society’s founding.

It was only a pity that the society president couldn’t see it.

This thought suddenly flashed through many young ladies’ minds before they quickly suppressed it.

“Everyone, listen carefully.” Qiao Zhao cleared her throat. Her voice was sweet and soft, yet her demeanor leaned toward cool aloofness, making this thirteen-year-old girl particularly striking.

She enunciated clearly and spoke slowly: “Gazing at sky’s void, void gazing at sky, daily there is void gazing at void sky.”

Once this couplet was presented, there was prolonged silence.

This young lady had come to wreck the place, hadn’t she? Such a first line could almost be considered an absolute couplet—how were they supposed to match it?

At this point, the young ladies from both teams no longer distinguished between enemy and friend, all racking their brains to ponder.

Miss Qiao quietly curved her lips.

The world had finally become peaceful—she needed to cozy up to Cousin Zimo.

Since Kou Zimo enjoyed matching couplets, if these people couldn’t match any, she might find an opportunity to ask her. Through such back-and-forth exchanges, they would gradually become familiar.

So as long as one could arrive, opportunities would always be created through various means. Perhaps even better opportunities would appear.

Qiao Zhao’s first line was too difficult. Everyone concentrated intensely in deep thought, so for a moment, the pavilion was quiet, with only the sounds of cicadas and birdsong.

No—even the usually annoying cicada sounds that disturbed afternoon rest couldn’t enter the young ladies’ ears now. Some unconsciously bit their lips, others gently tugged at their handkerchiefs, and still others gripped their teacups tightly, rubbing them back and forth.

Among all the young ladies in the pavilion, only Qiao Zhao remained an outsider.

Oh, there should be one other person who had been coldly observing throughout, completely out of step with this relaxed yet tense atmosphere.

It was tense because competitive spirit and vanity combined—the noble ladies present all wanted to match the second line. It was relaxed because no matter how intense or nerve-wracking, this was merely a game for young ladies to pass the time and display themselves. It involved neither livelihood nor life and death—how tense could it be?

Only one person was different.

Qiao Zhao lowered her eyes, using her peripheral vision to search for Ouyang Wei Yu’s figure. This sweep gave her quite a shock: Ouyang Wei Yu was no longer in her original position!

Qiao Zhao hurriedly looked around, her heart inevitably sinking: sure enough, Ouyang Wei Yu had somehow moved to stand behind Lan Xinong.

With all the noble ladies’ attention focused on thinking of matching lines, when Qiao Zhao quietly moved to Ouyang Wei Yu’s side, she didn’t attract anyone’s notice.

This made Qiao Zhao even more certain that if Ouyang Wei Yu wanted to do something to Lan Xinong, this was undoubtedly the best opportunity.

She stood behind Ouyang Wei Yu. Perhaps Ouyang Wei Yu was too focused on what she was about to do—she didn’t even notice Qiao Zhao’s approach.

Time passed quickly for the young ladies immersed in thinking of matching lines, but extremely slowly for Qiao Zhao. Her eyes didn’t waver once as she coldly watched Ouyang Wei Yu’s every move.

Ouyang Wei Yu was nervous, her body tense and face expressionless, yet her complexion was faintly pale. Fine beads of sweat rolled down from her forehead, which she had no mind to wipe away.

Qiao Zhao watched silently and finally saw Ouyang Wei Yu carefully extract a small paper packet from her sleeve. Holding it between her fingertips, she quickly shook it, and white powder fell into the teacup placed beside Ouyang Wei Yu.

Qiao Zhao’s eyes suddenly contracted.

After Ouyang Wei Yu completed this action, sweat had already soaked through her back. She quickly looked left and right, and seeing no one had noticed, quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to step back, she suddenly saw a pale hand reach in front of her, immediately followed by that hand picking up the teacup beside Lan Xinong.

That hand was slender and beautiful, without a single flaw, truly deserving of being called jade-like skin. Yet in Ouyang Wei Yu’s eyes, it was as if she had seen a malevolent ghost.

She suddenly turned to look back and saw that the young lady who had just stolen all the limelight was somehow standing behind her. Holding that cup of deadly tea with a calm expression, she turned and walked toward the outside of the pavilion.

Ouyang Wei Yu’s face changed drastically as she lifted her feet to pursue.

The two went out into the garden one after the other.

The sun had somehow climbed to directly overhead. As soon as they left the cool pavilion, heat waves struck their faces.

Yet Ouyang Wei Yu felt cold all over, walking on the level path as if stepping on cotton, unsteady with each step, as though all her strength had been drained away with the appearance of that hand.

Qiao Zhao stopped under the crabapple tree, turned around, and looked at Ouyang Wei Yu.

“Miss Li San, give me that teacup!”

Qiao Zhao swirled the water in the teacup, held it up, and asked: “Miss Ouyang, what’s in here?”

Panic flashed in Ouyang Wei Yu’s eyes as she quickly said: “Tea water, of course. Miss Li San, why are you taking that?”

“I’m somewhat thirsty.”

Ouyang Wei Yu’s expression changed: “That’s not your teacup—how can you randomly take someone else’s?”

Qiao Zhao smiled: “The serving maids just brought up fresh tea water, and no one has drunk from it anyway.”

As she spoke, she used her sleeve to shield her mouth and brought the teacup toward her lips.

“Don’t drink it!” Ouyang Wei Yu lunged forward and knocked the teacup from Qiao Zhao’s hand.