Xie's insults never contained dirty words, but always hit the opponent's weak spot. He made He Le An laugh and glanced at the red-faced Shao Yingxiu and the invincible Xiao Qi, saying calmly: "Winning or losing a game is an ordinary thing. Even if I win, you won't change your opinion of me. If I lose, you'll just use words to kick me when I'm down. Since winning or losing doesn't bring me any benefits, why should I play this game for your amusement?"

  "Alright, let's raise the stakes then." Xue Shiz suddenly said with a playful tone: "Xiao Qi and Miss Shao have been constantly urging He Liu to participate in the competition. With ill intentions or not, they're still not willing to put out anything, if it were me, I wouldn't be happy playing with you guys either."

  "Who's got a guilty conscience now!" Shao Yingxiu sneered, "I just want everyone to see her true face!" She glared at He Le'an and Xū Xiāo, "He Le'an, you don't dare participate in the competition and make up all sorts of excuses. Only someone blind would believe your nonsense about being skilled with your hands!"

  He Le'an rolled her eyes and looked at Shao Yingxiu with a silly expression, saying: "So what if I'm not clever and skilled? In the future, when I marry into the Xiufu family, I'll be a young lady who only needs to open my mouth for food and stretch out my hand for clothes. I'll just spend money and enjoy myself. I won't let go of this reputation of being clever and skilled, it's people like you who can't get what they want that are eager for it."

  "Ah!" Shaoying Xiu was deeply hurt by her arrogant and complacent appearance, and she said angrily: "Isn't it just marrying a merchant as a wife? What's so great about that? Enjoying wealth and luxury, what's the point? The nobles make you kneel, and you still have to kneel! One day, I will marry a high-ranking man as my husband, and I will use every means to humiliate this despicable woman He Lian!"

  "Fengzhou City still doesn't have the power to make others kneel down at will." Xū Xié said, "Even if it's a merchant, it's not like anyone can marry whoever they want. Someone like you, I'm afraid even as a concubine, no one would be willing to take you in. Before looking down on others, first take a look in the mirror and see how much you're worth yourself, don't make a joke out of it and bring shame to the Zhuō Yì Bó Fǔ."

  Shaoyingxiu didn't expect that the dignified and majestic Xi Dao would actually be so unscrupulous in front of everyone, making things difficult for a woman. His face turned red and then pale, almost biting his teeth to pieces. Shaoyingxuan couldn't bear to watch, furrowing her brow as she said: "Xi Shaozhu, my sister indeed made some mistakes, but a woman's sharp tongue is only temporary, you're a man who uses such sharp words to deal with a weak woman, isn't that too petty?!!"

  He coldly sneered, "When she bullied others, her momentum was not weak. As a man, seeing my fiancée being slandered and not taking action to protect her, that's what's truly incompetent. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, you dare to humiliate her like this, who knows how you'll secretly abuse her behind closed doors."

  "I've heard that when An Er was serving the old Zhuo Yitai, you people deliberately framed and slandered her. Now that things have come to this point, don't think that only officials can set fires while commoners are not allowed to light lamps. The only ones who would indulge your nonsense are your parents. If you want to cause trouble, go back home and do it there. Don't just allow yourselves to use underhanded tactics without letting An Er fight back. She still considers the relationships between the two families, but I won't let anyone harm her through this."

  "Hmph, so many people are willing to be her knife. Who can bully her in any case!" Shao Yingxiu said with hatred, she was fed up with He Le'an always having so many people helping her and singing against her, obviously just a lowly illegitimate child, why did she get so much favoritism!

  What an old lady treasures, the legitimate children of various mansions are also happy to be with her! Even the old lady of Jin Ning Hou and the princess of Yi Qin Wang looked at her with different eyes! If she had never appeared in Fengzhou City, all this would have been hers! It was she who cruelly robbed her of her honor!

  Shaoyingxiu clenched her fists tightly. With a fierce intent in her heart, she put on a smile and said: "Isn't it just about the stakes? Alright, if you win, from now on I'll respectfully call you 'older sister' and never say another word against you. But if you lose, you have to restore my reputation, make it public, and admit that I've never framed or slandered you!"

  He Le'an sneered, "This bet can't even stir up my desire to gamble." Jokingly, it's well-known that this matter was exposed by the Duke of Yue. Now that the Duke of Yue is 'dead', if she were to clear her name, wouldn't that be slapping the Duke of Yue in the face?

  "What about the most prosperous shops on Changqing Street?" Xiao Qi asked with a proud smile.

  Xie Dao: "Whatever."

  "What does Miss He Liu want to bet on? Speak up quickly, or else the registration will be closed soon." said Dongfang Shizi.

  He Le'an said: "It's simple, if I win, you Xiao Qi and you Shao Yingxiu each say a word on the stage. If I lose, then return this word to you, you agree with me to participate, disagree then give up." Anyway, she originally had no intention of participating in the competition.

  "What's going on?" asked Xiao Qi and Shao Yingxiu almost in unison.

  He Le'an asked the young servant standing beside him to bring over paper, brush and ink. He wrote a few words on a small table in a corner, folded the paper neatly and handed it to Xue Shi-zi who was watching with interest: "What I want to say is written on this piece of paper, let Xue Shi-zi take charge of it, and Dongfang Shi-zi supervise. In this way, regardless of whether I win or lose, I won't be able to alter it, so you can avoid blaming me for being arrogant when I win."

  "This idea indeed avoids all sorts of disputes afterwards." The Eastern Prince nodded his head in agreement, willing to help supervise.

  Shaoyingxiu didn't need to guess that those words were definitely not good, but she was still fair and had a lot of confidence in winning. In order to win the championship this Flower Festival, she had been practicing hard for half a year already, just to take down the title of Flower Fairy and wash away the dirty water splashed on her by He Le'an. Shaoyingyuan and Shao Yingshuang also came to help her brush off other contestants and assist her in winning, so she readily agreed: "I agree."

  It's just a sentence that doesn't hurt or itch, and Xiao Qi didn't have any other opinions.

  Then, He Le'an signed up at the last minute before the deadline. The copper drum sounded excitingly after that. The competition began, and the first round was flower poetry. Within a limited time, they took turns reciting their own original poems related to flowers. You are currently reading Chapter 50 of "The Concubine". I won't let anyone harm her because of this. This is only half a chapter; to read the full version, please search for "(ice + thunder + Chinese)" on Baidu and then search for "The Concubine" again.