This chapter is edited by Amaranth

The Autumn wind was amiable, and the shadows of the trees were slim. The broad Xuanwu Lake’s surface was like a gigantic and smooth mirror. Under the bright sunset afterglow, it was glittering with a golden radiance.

On the s.p.a.cious surface of the glittering lake, pleasure boats traveled back and forth as constant peals of laughter were coming from boats? One did not know from which family the young ladies on boards came from, but the scene was very lively.

Countless scholar-officials apprehensively stood on the bow, their eyes longingly looking towards the rich young ladies who were riding the flower boats, which made them look like wolves. As the flower boats came closer to them, their expressions  immediately changed drastically as they started to put an air of upright, n.o.ble with a virtuous appearance. Their eyes were  looking straight ahead, hands gently rocking the folding fan as they recited poems and proses, showing off their distinguished and outstanding talents to the utmost.

Several curtains immediately covered the windows on the boats which were floating on the lake. The rich young ladies who were hiding behind the curtains secretly sized up distinguished and accomplished gifted scholars as they come and go, trying to pick a favorite.

Standing on the edge of the Xuanwu Lake, if one had to choose two words to describe Lin Wanrong’s current mood, it would be – bad luck, really his d.a.m.n mother’s bad luck.

Even though he arrived this place about a month ago, the bad luck still followed him. Perhaps the bad luck started to follow him since when he decided to partic.i.p.ate in the Company’s tourist group to tour the Mount Tai. Especially when he saw that chick’s name on the tour list, he had a restless feeling.

And the fact also proved that his guess was correct.

After fiercely spitting toward the lake,Lin Wanrong’s mood became a bit better as a carefree feeling arose spontaneously. This act of spitting out saliva is truly invigorating, I haven’t had so much joy in quite a while, his d.a.m.n mother, this era should not have an elderly lady with an armband who will eagerly come to penalize me with 50 bucks, right?

Lin Wanrong looked at his reflection on the clear water surface: Eyebrows which curved like blades, a nose hanging like a lamp and an amiable smile. If he was also dressed in an official attire, perhaps he would put all those silly talented scholars, who were blindly reciting broken poetry on the lake, to shame.

Unfortunately, he was dressed in a dark blue cloth gown and a pair of worn out shoes with holes in front. Compared to those talented scholar’s clothing Lin Wanrong’s clothing looked quite poor. Coupled with the fact that he wasn’t wearing a silk cloth over his head like other pedestrians because his hair was short made him look out of place in this environment.

As soon as the young girls on the roadside sized up Lin Wanrong’s dress they simply skipped his face and directly pa.s.sed him. Their eyes immediately reached towards the people shivering from the cold caused by the howling of cold wind on the bow of boats on the lake, those so-called talented scholars.

Suddenly, the beautiful women on the roadside squeezed themselves towards the lakeside like crazy, constantly gazing towards a certain location. These crowd of young women started to yell with sweet sounding voices.

“Wow, look, look, it’s Jinling number one talented scholar Hou Yuebai, Hou gongzi!”

“Wow, so handsome…”

“Wow, so pa.s.sionate…”

“Ai, which young lady would have this good fortune…”

Lin Wanrong looked towards the direction those young women were gazing.

He saw three gorgeous boats floating downstream on the lake, each boat had two floors, with the height was approximately six or seven meters. The lanterns hung high on the upturned eaves of the pavilions; Their appearance could be called imposing.

Banners fluttered on top of those three gorgeous boats, on both left and right side of each boat there was a huge wall where scrolls were hanging from top to bottom.

On the right “Spring wind caresses my mind,” was written and on the left “Being admired by the ruler.”

A young gongzi was standing on the bow of the boat which was in the middle like a piece of jade adorning the surface of a hat. He was lightly stroking a fan with a smiling face while his long gown fluttered in the breeze. All of which showed his outstanding talent, and dashing taste.

Across the three gorgeous boats, there was a bigger and finer boat than Hou gongzi’s three gorgeous boats. It’s upturned eaves pavilion gave off an indescribable style. Unfortunately, all the curtains on that boat was closed, making one unable to see the appearance of the people inside.  There was a large bronze word “Luo” written on the huge lantern which was fluttering in the wind on the bow of the ship.”

“It’s Miss Luo, the number one beauty and most talented woman in Jinling City, Luo xiaojie.” A woman standing next to Lin Wanrong shouted, her face showed an excited look; clearly she was a fan of this Miss Luo.

What kind of thing is this most talented in Jinling City? Lin Wanrong completely did not care about what Jinling talent was. Lin Wanrong somehow felt disdain towards this Jinling’s number one beauty who was also a Jinling’s number one talent . In this age, women who were able to play with a few characters all called themselves beautiful women. In his era, beautiful women authors who relied on themselves to compose or write were more than the lice on the head of an ox. Therefore, he was long accustomed to this sight.

“I heard Hou gongzi has been pursuing Luo xiaojie for about two years now. He is son of Jinling’s Magistrate and he is also a very famous as a gifted scholar in Jiangsu Province. With his family background and literary talent, alas, if I was Miss Luo I would have died happy,” a love-struck woman said.

“Cut, Luo xiaojie is known as Jinling’s number one talented woman as well as number one beauty. Her work collection is better than Hou gongzi’s, and she is also the daughter of Jiangsu Province Governor. Just with her family background, she is one rank higher than Hou gongzi. Therefore, Miss Luo would not necessarily look up to Hou gongzi.” Another woman who was apparently a die-hard fan of Miss Luo a.n.a.lyzed.

“In my opinion, Jinling most talented scholar and Jinling number one talented woman are a perfect match, an ideal couple. Do not say in this Jinling City, even in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, it would be very difficult to find such a perfect couple like them.” The love-struck woman replied.

Lin Wanrong helplessly shook his head; women were born with a good ability to gossip, in whatever era they were all the same.

Hou gongzi’s gorgeous boat had already parked next to Miss Luo’s boat. He was cupping his hands while bending his waist. Evidently he was saying something towards the interior of Miss Luo pleasure ship.

After a while, a pretty maid walked out from that pleasure boat of Miss Luo and said something to Hougongzi who was still standing on the bow. That Hou gongzi’s face showed a burst of disappointment, and then a spell of happiness.

Lin Wanrong’s was too far away from them, and can not hear what they were saying, however after he saw the strange change in Hou gongzi’s face, he wondered in the end, did the girl named Luo accepted or rejected him? How could this monkey gongzi’s (monkey in Chinese is Hou, but has a different character from the name Hou here) face which was filled with disappointment suddenly turned happy?

The love-struck and the die-hard women next to him also had the same doubts. Seeing Miss Luo’s boat slowly moved to the center of the lake, the die-hard fan of Miss Luo happily said: “Well, I did not say wrong right, Hou gongzi may not be able to impress Miss Luo’s heart.”

Another love-struck woman interrupted her: “I do not think so, seeing Hou gongzi’s appearance seems to be very happy, perhaps on the next willow moon, the beautiful woman probably made an appointment with him.”

This was also the social customs of this era, after all, men and women were different. To discuss pa.s.sion and talk of love, naturally they would have to find a place with no prying eyes; the moonless night is the best night for the great talent to work.

Hou gongzi saw Miss Luo’s pleasure boat which was gradually receding from his line of sight, but he was still rocking his fan with a smile on his face and his attention focused on gazing. This so-called pa.s.sionate appearance of the distinguished and accomplished scholar suddenly made Lin Wanrong upset.

Kid, how can you be proud of your skills about how to pick up girls, I, your grandpa’s game is tens of thousands of times more sophisticated than yours, look at your foolish smitten look. Lin Wanrong indignantly thought.

This was already late in Autumn, and winter was slowly coming. Cold wind gently blew on the surface of the lake; Hou gongzi seemed unable to withstand the cold breeze as his shoulders slightly trembled.

Lin Wanrong had sharp eyes so he clearly saw that slight movement, therefore, he could not help but sneer, Go freeze to death, you, the guy who is trying to maintain an elegant poise but still cannot withstand the temperature. I thought the Spring season would come early, turns out you are just the same as these h.o.r.n.y chicks.

Lin Wanrong’s sneer has attracted the attention of several women next to him. Their eyes fell upon Lin Wanrong’s body. Seeing his shabby dress and short hair, all of them covered their mouths to chuckle that was until they saw his face, their face immediately blushed and did not dare to look at him.

Lin Wanrong was 1.77 m long, his physique is straight like a plank and br.i.m.m.i.n.g with power due to his relentless physical training. His look is also very good with his healthy wheat colored (tan) skin, which if compared with this era’s uniformly white flour skin (pale), had a certain captivating charm.

It was no wonder that several women who looked at him would not dare to look at him again. The appearance of this man had a quite big of an impact in their hearts.

In the past when he was still a college student in Beijing University, Lin Wanrong was also known as the dark horse prince, the number of girls who secretly fell in love with him is not small.

“Where did this country b.u.mpkin coming from…”

“Look at his wretched appearance…”

“Brother Huang, standing together with this guy is an insult to your status, let us stay away from him…”

After watching Hou gongzi’s performance, the self-confidence of several nearby talented scholars was completely shaken. The nearby beautiful women actually completely disregarded them and instead their eyes were focused on Lin Wanrong, how could these scholars not be angry.

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