Chen Wulang was invited away by a head of misty water, Chen Ke and others had already finished their wine, so they didn't open the banquet again. They went to the cold drink shed outside Yuexian Building, ordered some Luomei water, ginger honey water, purple perilla drinks and other sobering drinks, and waited for Wulang to come out.

  Su Shi took a sip of his purple perilla drink and slightly furrowed his brow, asking: "Third Brother, isn't teasing like this too presumptuous towards everyone?"

  This is a conflict of ideas, for people in this era... especially for such artistic young men, those famous courtesans are all elegant and refined, untainted by even half a point of vulgarity, goddesses in dreams who embody the favors of thousands, dazzling jewels, truly not to be profaned in the slightest.

  But Chen Ke still used the mentality of looking at female stars in his previous life to look at the leader of the Huā Kuí line in this life, so it was inevitable that he lacked respect: "What's the big deal? Can't my family's Wu Lang sit and have a cup of tea with the leader of the Huā Kuí line?" He smiled and said: "Tomorrow Wu Lang will be twenty years old, I want to give him a special birthday gift." Sighing, he said: "This guy has never been interested in women, I'm worried about him..."

  "Can he stay overnight?" Song Duanping asked curiously.

  "Impossible," Zeng Bu shook his head, in a cold tone: "When prostitutes get to the front of the line, whether they stay overnight or not is up to them. These people are used to teasing men's appetites; if she lets someone succeed just once, she'll be worthless afterwards."

  "Alas..." Su Shi shook his head and said, "A wonderful time together was like a dream, but Zi Xuan spoke of it in such a coarse way, it's really enough to make one burn their zither and cook their crane."

  "Zi Zhan is right." Chen Ke nodded and said: "You care about what he encounters inside, even if it's just drinking a cup of tea or chatting, for my brother, it's all a good memory, and in the future, it's also good to brag to others."

  "Why don't you say it's me?" Su Shi finally revealed his true intention: "I also want to see the flower queen..."

  "Don't worry, in the future, you will be chased by many beauties." Chen Xiao Bai said with a glance.

  "Speaking of which," Su Zhan asked quietly, "What's the whole phrase for 'life is like first sight'?"

  "Yes," everyone's attention was focused on Chen Ke, they eagerly wanted to know what kind of poem could move the flower queen of Bianjing.

  "I can sing, but I absolutely won't admit it was me who did it." Chen Ke put away his smile.

  "Know that Mr. Ouyang doesn't like you guys filling in words, right?" Zeng Fu said with a smile. Because of his youthful and romantic nature, Ouyang Xiu had written many sensual poems, which later brought him much trouble in his old age, so he didn't support his students writing such poems.

  "Haha......" Chen Ke Xin said, your understanding is also acceptable. Don't be angry, Old Na, you will definitely come up with better words. Then smiled and said: "This 'Mu Lan Ci' is in the tune of 'Yu Lou Chun', who can give me a beat."

  "I'll come." Su Shi volunteered and used a bamboo chopstick to knock against the bowl.

  Following the rhythm, Chen Ke began to sing clearly. After finishing the song, everyone sincerely praised: "In the past, Sanlang didn't even see filling words, and with a casual stroke, he shocked people!"

  "Life would be but a fleeting glance, what sorrow is autumn breeze and painted fan. Easily changing yet the heart of old friends remains, yet they say the heart of old friends is easily changed..." Su Shi couldn't help but indulge in saying: "It's really too beautiful, rivaling Liu Zongyuan."

  "I said it wasn't me who did it." Chen Ke's face turned red with embarrassment, and he patted his buttocks as he stood up, saying: "How can you come out so quickly?" Then he saw Wu Lang walking out of the Yu Xian Building.

  Everyone asked him if he had seen Du and what they had talked about... Wu Lang transformed into a gourd with a sealed mouth, refusing to speak. It was already the third watch of the night; if they returned any later, they wouldn't have to go to school tomorrow. The crowd could only head home to sleep first and continue questioning him the next day.

  On the way home, without outsiders, Chen Ke and several others asked him again, Wu Lang said in a low voice: "Third brother, Du sister is a good person, I think you are wrong to do this..."

  "Hey......" Chen Ke was depressed: "You little stinker, I gave you the chance to meet with Hua Kui, but instead you blame me. And Du sister, when did you get so close?"

  "She told me to call her that." Gorō said in a low voice: "I told her the truth, and not only did she not blame me, but also asked me to stay for tea and even acknowledged me as her sworn brother."

  "Fine, Chen Xiao Wu..." Chen Ke was on the verge of going crazy: "You look so loyal and reliable, but it turns out you're so easily bought? Being made a brother-in-law to a courtesan, do you think that's something to be proud of?"

  "Hmm..." Gorō thought for a moment and said, "Nothing's wrong with it."

  "......" Chen Ke almost fainted: "I don't have a brother like you!" How strange, this courtesan from the Song Dynasty has such great charm, and even her own brothers and friends are standing on her side.

  "Oh, right," said Wulang: "Du sister also asked me to give this to you." He took out a letter from his bosom and said: "Let you appreciate it another day..."

  Chen Ke didn't even look up and said with a huff: "I'm not going! I'm not going!"

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The next day at school, I heard students discussing the story that happened at Yuexian Building last night.

  "Have you heard? Song Xian Du Qingfeng performed at Yu Xian Lou yesterday and received a wonderful poem. It's said that no one saw him leave that night, he just left the poem and stayed in the imperial chamber." This is an exaggeration.

  "Nonsense! Is Du Jiahui that kind of careless person?" This is what a die-hard fan said: "Du Jiahui is as pure and noble as ice and jade!"

  It is said that the author of this poem was at a banquet, and judging from his attire, he was undoubtedly one of our fellow students. This is what the well-informed person said.

  "Wow, so brilliant? That must be Liu Ji! Liu Ji is a few years older than Chen Qian and others. He has been studying at the Imperial Academy for several years and always comes first in every exam, known as the number one scholar of the Imperial Academy... or rather, the number one handsome scholar of the Imperial Academy. This person must be his brainless fan."

  "It wasn't me!" Liu Ji immediately denied the rumor, saying: "I was at home studying last night and didn't go to any music venues!" He's joking, but he's still a celebrity after all. In a year of big comparisons, if there are any indecent songs linked to him, and he encounters a strict examiner, they won't hesitate to eliminate him.

  Su Shi and others, because Chen Ke had previously warned them, could not reveal the truth. This kind of pain from knowing but being unable to speak is enough to make one suffocate with internal injuries.

  On Chen's side, due to the popularity of "Dictionary", not only did it not subside, but it became more and more intense. More and more people flocked to Guozi Jian, not all for autographs, but many came to pick holes in his work.

  Although this dictionary took ten years to compile, with the help of Wang Fang and Ouyang Xiu in revising it, it was still difficult to make it uncontroversial, especially for those rare and unusual characters. Even a scholar like Ouyang Xiu could not recognize them all... For such characters, Chen Kui only annotated their pronunciation, while copying the explanations from Guangyun, Erya, and Shuowen Jiezi.

  This is already the limit that a person can reach, yet there are still so many nitpicky people who insist on getting hung up on such trivial details, or to show off their own erudition, constantly picking faults.

  Chen Ke explained that it was indeed interpreted this way in "Guangyun" and "Shuowen", those people would look at him with a face of disbelief, saying how dare he call himself a dictionary if he didn't even understand this. Then they would painstakingly explain to him the differences between '糭' and '蘻', that '褎' was not just an alternative form of '袖', but actually a word in its own right... Chen Ke's head spun as he listened, regretting why he had created such a big headache for himself.

  Some people even came to invite him in person, asking him to attend a gathering held somewhere on a certain day. As the saying goes, "Don't hit someone with a smiling face," Chen Ke couldn't shut the door and shoo them away, so he could only ask if he could bring some friends along?

  After getting an affirmative reply, Chen Ke had no reason to refuse again.

  Although Xing Shanzhai is a good student, he also admires Chen Ke very much. However, the learning environment in the school is now like a bustling market... Although Chen Ke is a kind and enthusiastic person and has a good relationship with many people in the school, if this continues, the students' academic performance will definitely be greatly affected. Therefore, Xue Yan and Chen Ke discussed that during non-class hours, could you please stay out of the school?

  Chen Ke had never been one to turn people off, so he readily agreed. As soon as the class was over, he slipped out and went to chat with Su Shi and others. During lunch break, he would go to the tea stall by the Auspicious Pool, order a pot of cold drink, and sit on the shore surrounded by weeping willows, lotus flowers, and swimming ducks and geese, admiring the scenery while reading some examination essays. It wasn't that he was trying to create a petit-bourgeois atmosphere, but rather that without some beautiful scenery to inspire him, he couldn't stomach those detestable Imperial Academy-style essays...

  It wasn't just him, several other scholars from Fujian who had also discovered this great place to read, came every day to study. Chen Ke saw that they looked quite similar, so he took the initiative to greet them, and after introducing himself, the others obviously had heard of him before, and stood up to return his courtesy with great politeness.

  After introducing themselves one by one, they were indeed brothers of the same family, from eldest to youngest, named Lü Huìqīng, Lü Déqīng, Lü Yúqīng, Lü Héqīng, Lü Jīngqīng...

  But that's all there is to it, everyone came to read books, not to chat idly, so afterwards they just exchanged nods and still sat in their respective corners of the teahouse, each reading their own book.

  It's not that Chen Ke considered himself to be noble, but rather he was afraid of getting too entangled with these scholars and implicating the fish in the pond... In reality, he was using himself as bait, waiting for the so-called "Worry-Free Cave" people to appear again.

  Wu Lang, Song Duanping, and several guards from the Wang Mansion lay in ambush every day, waiting for those people to appear, so they could catch a few tongues and ask about their organization... Chen Ke had already told Zhao Zongji about his encounter with the robbers. The young master was very angry when he heard it, but "Wu You Dong" was the general term for the underground black forces in Bianjing City. In this city of over a million people, there were dozens of large and small gangs. Without figuring out which one specifically was involved, it would be impossible to determine who was behind it all, and Zhao Zongji couldn't take action to stop them either.

  Who would have thought that after waiting for over ten days, no one from the Worry-Free Cave appeared, but instead I ran into that fierce girl riding a red horse again.

  Still... still...