The Western Territory's dancer had been waiting for a long time, but no one came on stage. Zhang Yang smiled and said, "I'll count to three. If still no one comes on stage to perform, the Western Territory will lose... One... Two..."

  She was just about to shout out the third word when a clear voice came from behind her, "I'll come and compete with you on how to do it?"

  She turned around in surprise and saw a woman of stunning beauty dressed in simple yet elegant attire, her face calm as she gazed at herself.

  The Western dancer looked at this still childish face in surprise, and seeing that she was several years younger than herself, she asked incredulously: "Are you going to compete with me?"

  Yan Xijun solemnly nodded: "Yes."

  The Western dancer laughed wildly: "Haha, you will lose miserably!"

  "That's not necessarily true!" Yan Xijun walked past her, towards the center of the stage, and bowed down to the audience, "I'm starting my dance now, please take a good look."

  Yan Xijun finished speaking, half-kneeling on the stage floor, one hand raised to her head, the other gesturing at her chest, proudly striking a pose.

  As the first note of the melody sounded, Yan Xijun suddenly jumped up and danced with the beautiful rhythm. The plain white dress on her body set off her delicate and agile figure, except for a few large red flowers at the cuffs, which danced out a magnificent scenery.

  Sometimes she was like a light swallow, flapping her two wings and throwing herself into the sky; sometimes she was like a wild horse that had escaped from its tether, jumping and spinning with excitement and frenzy.

  If one were to say that the Western Region's dancing girl had a flexible body like a soft snake, then Yan Xijun's current body flexibility would be many times more than hers.

  The dance of the two can be said to be evenly matched, but upon closer inspection, there are still some differences. From any angle, Yan Xijun is slightly better.

  This can be clearly seen from the increasingly pale face of the Western dancer, she understands very well, the trend is obvious, her previous dance compared to her current dance is simply a small trick compared to a big one.

  Yan Xijun swung her arms and sleeves with all her might, trying to keep her footsteps in pace with the rhythm. Her mind was filled with only one thought: dance, dance wholeheartedly, and dance out a dazzling performance.

  Let the Western Region dancers and envoys be convinced of their defeat, and then dispel their idea of attacking the city of Xi Lin.

  Her mother personally taught her to dance since she was a child, just because she had very good dancing talent, innate talent, which made her surpass her sister and even her mother at a young age.

  She completed that high-difficulty move when she was very young, her mother was so happy that she couldn't sleep all night. Later on, if it wasn't for her father stopping her from continuing to learn dance, I reckon she would have mastered all the dances in the world by now.

  Unfortunately, Father is just like all the stubborn royal relatives who think that dancing is only for lowly courtesans and as a general's daughter of noble birth, I am not allowed to learn the dances of those lowly courtesans.

  For this reason, she never had the opportunity to learn new dances until her mother passed away, and she didn't even master the solo dance that her mother taught her personally, especially the last move, which was even more difficult.

  The reason why she chose to dance this dance today is that previously, she didn't have the confidence to win against her, so she had no choice but to take a gamble and see if her dancing talent could bring her good luck.

  My mother once told me that this dance was created by Empress Zhao Feiyan of the Han Dynasty. The empress, who was as light as a swallow, danced at banquets in the imperial palace countless times, earning thunderous applause each time. I wonder if she also gained recognition from everyone.

  Yan Xikun's final movement was a very elegant dance pose, she jumped up lightly like the first movement, and landed on a step higher than the stage, covering her face with her sleeve, lowering her head and bowing to end the whole dance.

  She had just finished all this when she heard a loud voice of appreciation: "Good, good, good, what a beautiful dance!"

  Along with the sound of applause was a deafening round of clapping, Yan Xijun withdrew his sleeves, hung down his hands and looked downwards.

  The person who stood up to applaud was the beautiful young man who had bumped into her earlier, Yan Xizhen, the third prince of Xia's country. Yan Xizhen cast him a grateful glance, and it was because of his enthusiastic applause that others were also moved to do so.

  The outcome was already decided, Yan Xikun stood calmly on stage, smiling as he accepted the applause from the crowd.

  Xia Sa looked at the person on stage with joy, thinking to herself that she was a dancer from Xi Lin country. She thought that later when she asked the Emperor of Xi Lin for her hand in marriage, he would probably agree to her request!

  After the applause slowly subsided, Xia Sa sincerely congratulated Chu Yixuan in front of all the envoys and concubines: "The Western Border State is indeed a land of talents! The girl on stage has amazing dance skills. This time's dance competition has already produced a winner, it's truly a joyous occasion!"

  "Haha," Chu Yixuan burst out laughing, seemingly in a good mood. He looked at Xia Sa and smiled, saying: "Thank you for the praise of the Third Imperial Prince of Xia. I've said it before, but it's still too early for Western Domain to want my territory."

  The Western Envoy's face fell, and he said with a begrudging expression: "We, the Western Country, are willing to admit defeat. Since we lost the dance-off, we will also keep our promise and cede the three border cities to your country."

  "Haha, then I won't be polite, take them all down. After you return, thank your king on my behalf. I obtained three cities without even blowing a speck of dust." Chu Yixuan said with a smile.

  The Western envoy did not expect that he would directly accept the three cities of his country without even making an excuse, so he was clearly stunned for a moment. However, they soon regained their composure and said: "Your Majesty seems to have forgotten another thing, the couplet our country previously came up with, you still haven't matched it, if you can't match it again, don't blame us for taking away your country's national treasure."

  Chu Yixuan rubbed his left temple with a headache, and indeed he had carelessly forgotten this matter, it had been a long time, and he didn't know if anyone could figure it out.

  "Hmm, I'll also be willing to bet and admit defeat if necessary. But let's wait for a moment, I'll ask first if anyone can come up with the answer." Chu Yixuan looked down at the crowd below with his bright eyes and asked loudly: "Can any of you nobles and consorts come up with an answer to the riddle posed by the Western Regions' envoy?"

  The people below heard the words and all lowered their heads, not daring to breathe, feeling that they had lost face, and a couplet from another country's person had criticized them to death.

  Chu Yixuan continued: "Whoever can answer the riddle of the Western Regions, I will reward you with 10,000 taels of gold."

  His words were finished, but still no one dared to stand up and respond.

  The Western envoy burst out laughing, even bringing along the ridicule of other envoys. Their unbridled laughter made Chu Yixuan feel utterly humiliated and helpless.

  "Hahaha, Western Country won't be able to get out of this one! In that case, our country won't hold back either. I'm afraid we'll have to take your national treasure." The Western envoy said with a pleased smile, his already plump face becoming even redder from drinking wine.

  "Wait, I'll respond to your couplet." Yan Xijun ignored the suspicious and curious gazes of the crowd, walked down from the stage, and stood in front of the Western envoys. He said with a smile: "May I trouble you to recite the couplet again?"

  The Western Regions envoy did not expect it was her who came to pair up with him again and was stunned for a moment, but instead, a woman beside him stood up.

  "All I see is her reciting: 'Flowers and leaves, green and red, only the fragrance of the imperial guard's careful support, not allowing the wind and rain to be clear and cold.'"

  Yan Xijun thought for a moment, then smiled and said: "Butterflies fluttering, mandarin ducks playing, from life to life, I wish that people with feelings will eventually become a married couple, living happily together every morning and evening."

  Xia Sa couldn't help but applaud and praise: "Great, great, great!" The person he had taken a liking to was indeed extraordinary, a talented and beautiful young woman!

  It was the third prince of Xia Guo who was applauding again, and Yan Xikun shook his head helplessly.

  "Not bad!" The woman also praised and then said: "I'll come up with another pair, let's see if you can handle it!"

  "There is no relative inside, and there is no general outside. If we have to use jade silk as a general, what will happen in the future?"

  "Heaven is hard to ascend, earth is hard to measure, this is the ruler's magnanimity, and even measurement has no bounds!"

  "What is the bird saying?"

  "Who is smiling at the flowers?"

  A cup of clear tea, quenches the thirst of the soul.

  "A five-character quatrain, displaying Master Shi's talent."

  "The moon waxes and wanes, the years go by one after another, every dusk and dawn, at the end of the dark night, we see the sun."

  "Flowers bloom and fall, flowers fall and bloom, summer and autumn, hot and cool, after a severe winter comes spring."

  A talented woman from the Western Regions produced several pairs in a row, and Yan Xijun calmly matched them one by one.

  This not only made the envoys from the Western Regions look at her with new eyes, but even the envoys of other countries admired her very much. Only a few concubines looked down on her.