Chapter 230: Comparing Poetry_i

Translator: 549690339

After the meal, everyone began to talk about the food they had just eaten.

“Has the Zuixian Residence hired a new chef? This food is even more delicious than before, full of flavors, which makes the food from other places taste bland after eating theirs.”

“I don’t know about that, I just know that their food tastes extremely good, our cooks at home could never achieve This level.”

“My Madam also recently became a fan of their dishes, she has specially ordered the staff at home to buy their food several times.”

“There’s also a pudding shop nearby, the taste of their pudding is also different from elsewhere, it’s extremely good. Compared with it, all others seem to lack some flavors.”

Wei Ruo listened quietly on the side without interrupting, but she was happy inside.

The more people talk like this, the more beneficial it is for her little workshop, not only would Fan Chengxu be more willing to cooperate with her, but it would also be easier to expand other sales channels in the future.

Meanwhile, the students from the Anzhou Academy next door also had the same lunch, with a slight difference being that they had a snake soup specially ordered by Master Lu.

However, Lu Yuhong didn’t seem to be very satisfied with this soup, as he found it bland and felt that it didn’t bring out the wonderful flavor of snake soup.

However, he was quite satisfied with the dishes from the Zuixian Residence.

“That Fan fellow, he must have hired a new cook recently, had I known, I would have gone to his restaurant to eat earlier.” Lu Yuhong somewhat regretted that he hadn’t found out sooner.

As Lu Yuhong finished his mumbling, he found Xiu Fengyuan next to him peering at the women through the bamboo fence.

“Xiu Fengyuan, what are you looking at?” Lu Yuhong asked.

“I’m looking at my younger sister.” Xiu Fengyuan immediately explained.

“What are you looking at your sister for?” Lu Yuhong asked again.

“I… my sister tends to be a bit troublesome, I want to see if she behaves well today.” Xiu Fengyuan explained, his eyes somewhat evasive.

“Really?” Lu Yuhong thought Xiu Fengyuan’s expression was a bit odd.

“Brother Lu, how was the food today? Was it to your liking?” Xiu Fengyuan deliberately changed the topic.

“The food prepared by your home cook was mediocre, but the novelty of the dishes made up for it. I’ve never tasted these wild vegetables when I was in the north. The dishes of Zuixian Residences were good, especially the plate of marinated meat, it left me wanting more.” Lu Yuhong remarked.

“When we return to the city later, I’ll have a page boy go and buy more marinated meat from that restaurant for brother Lu.” Xiu Fengyuan offered.

“What? That marinated meat isn’t from the Zuixian Residence?” Lu Yuhong asked.

“Hmm, it’s not from the Zuixian Residence. It’s from a marinated meat shop. Although the store looks usual, the flavor is great. Many wealthy families in the Government City buy marinated meat from them.” Xiu Fengyuan explained.

“That good, even better than Mr. Fan?” Lu Yuhong immediately showed interest.

Seeing Lu Yuhong’s interest, Xiu Fengyuan started sharing more about the marinated meat shop with him.

Master Lu seldom showed interest in things other than war and martial arts, Xiu Fengyuan naturally wanted to cater to his interest.

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After the meal, the ladies rested for a while. Xiu Yaojun proposed that everyone should create a verse of a poem with ‘spring’ as the theme.

This proposal quickly received approval from all the ladies present.

Wei Qingwan at this time also came out of her trance.

Wei Ruo didn’t say anything. She did not originally want to participate but seeing everyone else’s enthusiasm, there was no excuse for her to refuse.

Firstly, Xiu Yaojun led, then the young ladies from each family joined in.

The scene turned quite lively, whenever there was a good verse, there would always be a cheer.

These cheers were also mixed with men’s voices coming from next door.

The scholars of the Anzhou Academy were just a bamboo fence away from them. Even though the overlapping flower shadows made it hard to glimpse clearly, they could hear their voices very clearly if they remained quiet.

It seemed that the scholars knew they were reciting poems, there was a pause to listen to their poetry.

When it was Wei Ruo’s table’s turn, Wei Qingwan started, reciting a sentence that Wei Ruo didn’t pay close attention to because she was somewhat distracted. And then she heard a round of cheers around her. These cheers were more enthusiastic than any earlier ones, the men’s voices from the neighboring group were louder than before as well.

It seemed that all the ladies and young girls present were praising Wei Qingwan, while Wei Qingwan was modestly saying some words.

Wei Ruo didn’t pay close attention to these, because firstly she was not interested in such activities and secondly, poetry was not her forte.

Immediately after this, she heard Madam Yun and Wei Qingwan calling her.

“Ruo Ruo, it’s your turn now.”

“Sister, it’s your turn to recite a poem.”

Wei Ruo then returned to reality, calmly replying: “I’m not good at poetry.”

Wei Ruo knew that making such a statement would certainly deal a blow to her image in the eyes of everyone, but she did not mind. The earlier enthusiasm of Madam Tongzhi and Madam Jin towards her had already left her somewhat overwhelmed.

She didn’t really want to gain a good reputation among them, so she simply admitted candidly that she was not good at poetry.

Seeing Wei Ruo refusing in this way, the others also fell silent.

However, Wei Qingwan said: “Sister, you are a student of Master Wang, who is recognized as a lady of extraordinary talent in Jiangnan, her poetry is unmatched, you must be modest when you say this.”

Hearing these words, Wei Ruo was completely sober now.

Others didn’t know, but Wei Qingwan should be very clear that she had only been back to the Military Prefecture for just over a year and she had only been studying under Wang Caiwei for half a year.

Writing poetry is not a simple task, it requires profound accumulation.

Wei Qingwan knew very well that Wei Ruo had not been studying for a long time, but she still said such things in front of everyone, which made it difficult for Wei Ruo to not suspect her of some ulterior motive.

“I really am not good at poetry, sister, don’t force me,” said Wei Ruo, making her stance clear once more.

At this point, Madam Tongzhi wanted to help Wei Ruo to get out of the situation by skipping her turn.

The poetry of this Miss Wei was probably not very good, otherwise, she wouldn’t have said so bluntly that she was not good at poetry at this moment.

Madam Tongzhi didn’t think it was a big deal, it didn’t matter if her poetry was slightly inferior. From the perspective of choosing a main mother for the family, this did not pose a big issue.

Just before Madam Tongzhi could speak, Wei Qingwan once again said to Wei Ruo: “Sister, stop being so modest. Everyone has created poems, just you haven’t.”

If everyone had recited and only Wei Ruo insisted on refusing, it would make her seem quite unsociable.

At least say a verse or two, not all of the verses recited previously were spectacular after all.

As she spoke, Wei Qingwan looked at Wei Ruo with eyes full of anticipation.

Looking into Wei Qingwan’s watery eyes, Wei Ruo suddenly changed her mind and blurted out, “Then I’ll create one.”

Wei Ruo looked around, then her gaze fell on the peach forest behind her. Then she said to Xiu Yaojun, who was responsible for writing: “The fallen flowers are not heartless, but turn into spring mud to nourish the blossoms.”

After Wei Ruo finished, everyone fell into silence..