The burst of laughter on this side immediately drew the other young ladies" interest. In but a moment, tens more girls came.

"Miss Wen, what are you guys laughing about?"

"Is there something funny happening? Tell us so we can share in the fun."

A few girls who were familiar with Wenwan"s group inquired, their gazes sweeping over Luo Qing Luan from time to time. They evidently also recognized her.

At the feast last time, Luo Qing Luan"s tune played like the sounds of nature, stunning countless numbers of people and word spread throughout the capital. However, as far as these young girls who aspired to be the crown prince"s consort where concerned, the more outstanding Luo Qing Luan was, the more she drew people"s attention, the more she"d seize attention away from them. How could they not be hateful and envious?

Just as she intended, seeing so many people drawn over, a sneer filled Fang Mingzhu"s face as she opened her mouth. "Everyone should already know that the second Miss Luo wanted to challenge Miss Yuchi tonight to fight over the t.i.tle of "most talented girl". Just now, we invited her to recite a poem and honor our ears. However, Miss Luo unexpectedly said that she didn"t know how. You guys tell us, is that not funny?"

That round faced girl among the trio, the Secretary of Agriculture"s daughter, Zhuang Yulan, immediately smiled coldly. "What"s so funny. Clearly, Miss Luo looks down on us and feels we"re beneath her dignity."

Wenwan added accordingly, pouring oil into the fire. "Naturally. Otherwise, how can Miss Luo not do us the honor and be unwilling to just recite a poem?" Having just finished speaking, she rolled her eyes and added. "Don"t tell me that Miss Luo really is unable and is really an idiot?"

"Miss Wen"s mouth stinks so much. Is it because you ate stinky tofu for lunch at home which hasn"t been digested, yet?"

Suddenly, Luo Qing Luan, who had been quiet, spoke out. She looked at Wenwan expressionlessly, with a smile that"s not a smile. "Miss Wenwan. It"s actually not good to eat too much of something like stinky tofu. Moreover, the gains don"t make up for the losses, if, on account of loving good food, such an odor on a precious young lady like you causes people to mock you, right?"

Alarmed, Wenwan blurted, "How did you know that I……"

Her voice came to an abrupt stop. She suddenly realized what she let slip, as her complexion changed from red to white. Unfortunately, there"s no longer a way to take back those words.

Her addiction to eating stinky tofu was a habit she acquired two years ago. Originally, she was merely curious what her servants were eating sneakily. Who could have imagined that after smelling the strange odor, she inexplicably could not give it up.

Her parents also once admonished her. This kind of food was something that lower cla.s.s people ate, so they wouldn"t allow her to touch it again. However, it was as if she was enchanted, and simply fell in love with this special smell, to the extent that she pilfered the food from time to time.

Now that she was put on the spot by Luo Qing Luan, the aristocratic ladies around her immediately looked at her strangely. Each and every one of them kept away from her at lightning speed, afraid that her smell would rub off on them, their faces full of revulsion as they even used their hands to fan their noses.

Wenwan was both angry and embarra.s.sed and flew into a rage out of humiliation at once. "Luo Qing Luan, you"re spouting rubbish. I haven"t eaten such things."

"You haven"t?"

Luo Qing Luan replied unflinchingly. "Impossible. I obviously smelled this kind of smell from Miss Wen"s mouth. It clearly the smell left over from eating stinky tofu without cleaning one"s mouth afterwards, ooh……otherwise, how can Miss Wen speak such smelly words?"

"Shut up! Luo Qing Luan, you"re spouting rubbish, shut up!"

Only now did she know that she"d been swindled, but Wenwan also couldn"t figure it out. How did Luo Qing Luan guess that she ate stinky tofu so easily? Without time to ponder these things, Wenwan"s expression distorted as her face changed from white to red almost red enough to drip blood. She could no longer stand the gazes from the surrounding people, as she lifted her dress and ran.

In the midst of uproarious laughter, everyone only recovered after a long while and looked at Luo Qing Luan again, a wisp of restraining fear residing in all of their gazes.

They didn"t expect it. When they saw her last time, she smiled gently in front of the empress while speaking in a soft voice. They even thought that Luo Qing Luan was someone with a good temper. Only meeting her today did they realize that she had no qualms about speaking out at all, able to kill people with her mouth alone.

It wasn"t at all because everyone was familiar with Wenwan. Rather, Luo Qing Luan"s words just now birthed a restraining fear in their hearts that caused them to be afraid of provoking her in their own carelessness and experiencing what Wenwan just experienced. Each and every one of them couldn"t help but distance themselves a little from her.

Seeing how everyone had been scared in place by Luo Qing Luan, how could Fang Mingzhu be willing to give up?

"Miss Luo, we were talking about reciting poetry just now, why would you turn the topic towards Miss Wen?" Fang Mingzhu laughed coldly and continued maliciously, "The bright moon is overhead tonight and it"s also a once a year gathering to recite poetry. It"s merely because heard that you wanted to challenge Miss Yuchi that we wanted to hear you compose poetry. What, now that everyone has arrived, you pretend to be incapable?"