Insufficient balance

  At the invitation of Jie Xiang, I came to a mansion, which looked like an ordinary hotel attic, but also like a private club, because there was someone guarding the entrance, and not just anyone could enter at will.

  Yi Han walked past, the two men looked at Yi Han's extraordinary appearance and didn't dare to offend him. They politely said: "Young master, please stay, this is a private club, please show your invitation letter." Generally, those who come to Fengya Songlou are familiar with the young masters, even if they don't have an invitation letter, they can easily enter.

  Yi Han said: "I was invited by Jie, he didn't mention the invitation card to me, otherwise you can go in and report", The two were shocked when they heard Jie's name and politely said: "Young master please come in, I apologize for the rudeness just now".

  Yi Han smiled lightly and said: "You two are too polite, it's nothing to thank me for, you're also doing what you should be doing."

  The place wasn't big, to put it bluntly, it was just a three-story pavilion. As soon as he stepped outside, Yi Han could hear the sound of people reciting poetry and composing verses inside. He climbed up to the third floor, where everyone had been engaged in reciting poetry and composing verses, but suddenly stopped when they saw someone climbing up. They all turned to look at Yi Han, seeing a man with an extraordinary appearance, yet unfamiliar. The buzzing noise subsided.

  Yi Han's gaze swept across the room, where everyone was dressed in luxurious attire and handsome young men, but he revealed a hint of a smile to the crowd.

  Everyone was slightly taken aback, but Yu Jie burst out laughing and strode towards Yi Han, saying: "Brother Yi, you've finally arrived." He laughed and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to this person I just mentioned - Yi Han." Brother Yi, come, let me introduce you to everyone. This is the young master of the Prefect's household, Lin Mu Sen. Yu Jie pointed to a refined and handsome man who introduced himself with a courteous bow. Then he pointed to another man with an elegant and refined demeanor, saying: "This is Jiangnan's number one beauty, known as the number one talented scholar - Ming Xiu, Young Master Ming." Ming Xiu was somewhat haughty, but still smiled and greeted Yi Han politely. Next, Yu Jie introduced several more people, mostly young masters from official and wealthy families. The saying that "birds of a feather flock together" really wasn't wrong.

  Yi Han arrived, and everyone stopped reciting poetry, having a new topic, they all exchanged enthusiastically.

  Ming Xiuzhen said with a smile, "Just now, Jie told us about last night's events. I deeply feel that Brother Yi is highly talented. I wonder where Brother Yi lives?" This remark was meant to probe into Yi Han's identity and whether he was qualified to compose poems with them.

  Yi Han bowed his fist and said, "I am alone, the four seas are my home, I have no fixed residence." When Yi Han said this, everyone thought that he was not convenient to reveal his origin, and instead did not dare to underestimate him, and they all stood up to bow their fists in return.

  Yu Jie had Yi Han sit down beside him and said warmly: "Brother Yi, did you know that we missed a good show last night?"

  Yi Han smiled lightly and said: "If you miss a good play, please ask Brother Yu to point it out."

  Yu Jie smiled at a man and said, "Brother Ma, you'd better speak, I'm also listening to your words, don't know where to start", this man Yu Jie had just introduced, named Ma Huateng, was a rich young master.

  All eyes were on him, and he slowly began to speak: "The thing is, last night, I didn't go to recite poetry like Brother Yu. Instead, I went onto Dong Xiaowen's flower boat. Who knew that I wasn't talented enough? At the entrance of the cabin, I was stumped by the topic and had no choice but to accept the punishment, jumping into the lake for a bath." After finishing speaking, he laughed loudly at himself.

  Yi Han asked in confusion: "Who is this Dong Xiaowan?"

  Everyone whispered to each other, and I didn't know why Yihuan would ask such a stupid question.

  Mingxiu wood but An Zu, see the crowd did not have any explanation of meaning, this just smiled and said: "Dong Xiaoyan, one of the ten beauties of Qinhuai, affectionate, autumn waves flowing wisdom, spirit, weak and elegant posture, eighteen years old, good at Kunqu opera, especially good at gentle and melancholic sounds, once in the midst of laughter and mixed sounds, listening to Xiaoyan's song, makes people feel refreshed.

  Ma Hua Deng was displeased, and before Ming Xiu could finish speaking, he interrupted: "Brother Ming, don't interrupt me, I haven't finished yet. This matter of Dong Xiaowan, who in Jiangnan doesn't know about it? Why bother with this extra move? Just listen to my subsequent encounter."

  Ming Xi smiled slightly and said: "Brother Yi is an outsider."

  "Hum, oh yeah!" he said, "I forgot", and then continued to talk: "After I fell into the water, I was in a sorry state. When I boarded the boat and changed into some clean clothes, my mood was quite gloomy. I was preparing to head back home when I stood at the bow of the boat, gazing longingly at those ten painted pleasure boats. That's when I saw a large, extremely luxurious pleasure boat in the middle of the lake, not far away. The lights were shining brightly, and it seemed to be facing off against the Qinhuai River's Ten Beauties' flower boat from afar. Although it was just one boat, its presence was by no means inferior."

  "I was curious, so I sent someone to row over and see what's going on. Guess what I saw? I saw a couplet that read: 'The Qinhuai Ten Beauties are empty fame, not yet worthy of being crowned among the flowers.' I thought to myself, what a big mouth! Not even putting the Qinhuai Ten Beauties in their eyes. Brother, I felt injustice for the Qinhuai Ten Beauties at the time and wanted to go meet the women on that flower boat."

  Without any obstruction, I easily boarded the boat. A maidservant enthusiastically led me into the cabin, where there were many familiar faces of elegant scholars, all with the same intention as mine to explore the boat. When I saw the owner of the painted barge, I was stunned. There actually existed such a beautiful and unparalleled woman in the world, with noble and elegant temperament.

  "What's even more surprising is that this woman's talent, poetry and music, among the people present, there are many talented scholars, but none can match her. The woman played a tune on the zither to help the atmosphere, to be honest, I've been in the wind and moon for a long time, but the sound of those brothel girls' zithers is simply unbearable compared to the sound of this boat girl's zither. Everyone was amazed by this, the owner of the boat is so beautiful, so talented, yet not arrogant, showing her true face to everyone, and performing her piano skills for everyone, instantly winning over everyone's favor. But just like that, being surpassed by a woman, what face do we Jiangnan scholars have to see people? So someone suggested competing with the woman in painting, Ma Huateng sighed "only after comparing will you know this is self-inflicted humiliation". Gentlemen, this matter has already spread among the Jinling scholars today, this mysterious woman also excels at dance, tonight she will perform a dance, we should go early, otherwise it will be too late, even the place to moor the boat will not be available."

  Yu Jiedao said: "Hua Teng's words are so mysterious, it has piqued my interest", he turned to look at Yi Han, "Brother Yi, what do you think?"

  Ma Hua saw that everyone's expression was calm and didn't think much of it, so he said decisively: "Yu brother, although I have never seen Shishi girl before, but I can absolutely confirm that the mysterious woman is absolutely a hundred times stronger than Shishi".

  Yi Han had planned to stroll around the Qing Lou tonight, but this courtesan was not as beautiful as he imagined. The Qin Huai Lantern Festival wasn't as wonderful as he thought it would be either. However, Ma Hua Teng's words piqued his interest, especially when he heard that the mysterious woman was skilled in music and painting. He nodded: "I'll go with you to take a look."

  Ming Xiu suddenly interrupted: "Everyone, don't be in a hurry, have you all forgotten about Yun Gutian?"

  Yi Han said: "Who is Yun Gutian again".

  Everyone listened but did not speak, with an expression of wanting to say something but not daring to speak.

  Yu Jiedao said, "Yi brother, to say that this is a matter of no face. Originally three years ago, we formed the Fengya Song Poetry Society, and many talented scholars joined in admiration, many talented women competed for love and admiration. Suddenly, the Fengya Song Poetry Society was unmatched in Jinling, attracting countless young girls' hearts. Those famous merchants also often invited us to compose poems and give calligraphy as gifts.

  *Sigh* "Alas, about a year ago, out of nowhere appeared someone named Yun Gu Tian and a few others who formed a poetry club called Hua Xiang. At first, we all burst out laughing when we heard the name, thinking it sounded like a bunch of effeminate nonsense, and didn't take them seriously, treating them as jesters. But for some reason, the people from Hua Xiang Poetry Club gradually gained popularity, their fame rivaling that of Feng Ya Song. We felt threatened, so we challenged them to a poetry duel at Feng Lou. Originally, we thought it was a sure win, but unexpectedly, those people were not weak in learning, and only Ming Xiong's scholarship could barely hold his own against them. The rest of us were defeated."

  "This is a very shameful thing for us, after an hour of poetry recitation, it's finally over, ending the torture. But then the other side provokes us, saying they want to have a martial arts competition, we are all literary people, how can we possibly know martial arts? We couldn't withstand their taunts and agreed to compete, but the other side saw that we didn't know martial arts and suggested letting someone else replace us in the name of elegance. This was also good for us, as we had bodyguards with us, so we sent them to compete against the other side. But it turned out they were no match for them, suffering a great humiliation, our hearts felt unresigned. So we made another appointment to come back and compete again the next day. The next day, we brought the best martial artists from each household, I even brought my father's instructor over, but still couldn't defeat the other side. The other side said: 'From now on, wherever there is Flower Anger, Wind Elegance will not be allowed to appear, unless we have the ability to win over them with our martial arts or surrender to their literary talents.' From then on, in the eyes of Jinling's young women, there was only Flower Anger and no Wind Elegance. Jinling's scholars only knew Flower Anger but not Wind Elegance." Yu Zhe's face fell at the memory of this embarrassing incident.

  Yi Han said coldly, "As for you brothers, Lin's identity and status, who dares to be so disrespectful to you?" Under his words, one of you is the son of a governor, and the other is the son of a prefectural magistrate, yet you are being bullied by a group of young masters.

  Yu Jie sighed: "Father would never allow us to be so reckless, besides, the other party's background is also not small."

  Yi Han smiled lightly and said: "The poem of flower sorrow is really what people say, in martial arts and talent, it's enough to convince them."

  Yi Han's expression was leisurely, and Ming Xiu raised a pair of eyes to him, with a questioning tone, saying: "Brother Yi, do you have any way?"

  Yi Han Shao said: "As for Wen Bi's matter, I can help a bit, but as for Wu Bi, I'm just a scholar with no ability to tie up a chicken, please forgive me, I love him but cannot assist".

  Yu Jie said: "Brother Yi has already said so, we can only try our best. This martial art is not as good as mine, but no matter what, I must win this match."

  Everyone nodded in agreement. Lin Mu Sen said: "Alright, tonight we'll go meet that mysterious woman and challenge Hua Xiang at the same time."