Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 1018 - 1016_1

Chapter 1018: Chapter 1016_1

The palace banquet in the evening was not pleasant. As expected, the Empress Dowager took advantage of Shen Xiao’er and Du Yijin. Luckily, Shangguan Xuanyi remained by Xiao’er’s side, protecting her from any blow intended. This infuriated the Empress Dowager, leaving her full of anger without having eaten a bite. She decided to assert dominance over Xiao’er the next day.

The next day, the flower appreciation banquet hosted by the Empress Dowager resembled a beauty contest. Many officials’ daughters, beautiful and yet unmarried, were all invited.

Xiao’er arrived last, looking at the beautiful, unfamiliar faces. She couldn’t help but admire the effort the Empress Dowager was putting in for her grandsons.

Xiao’er approached the Empress Dowager and paid her respects.

In front of so many people, the Empress Dowager naturally wouldn’t be too harsh on her granddaughter-in-law. However, she also wouldn’t let people think she was satisfied with Xiao’er. Thus, she coldly jabbed at her, "Get up! I thought Princess Rui wasn’t coming, the sun is already three bamboo sticks high!"

Xiao’er did arrive intentionally late. After all, the Empress Dowager was holding this banquet only to vex her.

"How could that be, Your Noble Highness? I woke up early this morning and rushed here to pay my respects. Normally, I don’t even get up until noon." Xiao’er responded with a respectful tone but her words left the Empress Dowager fuming.

The noblewomen and young ladies present instantly fell silent. It was audacious for Princess Rui to challenge the Empress Dowager!

Furious, the Empress Dowager chilled in her tone. "Not getting up until noon! Although you live outside the palace and hence aren’t bound by the morning and evening court rituals, as the Princess to Prince Rui who attends court early every morning, shouldn’t you rise early to attend to his grooming?"

"Your Noble Highness is correct. But aren’t you eager for a great-grandson? We’ve been working hard late into the night, and so I can’t help but sleep in. I’m only following your orders. Is there something wrong with that?" Xiao’er finished her sentence, feigning shyness as she lowered her head.

Usually, the Empress Dowager loved to call her a sly fox, a vixen! She would show her how a true vixen behaves!

The noblewomen in the garden reacted with various expressions to her words, their faces shifting in shades as colorful as a painter’s palette.

Working hard all night? Such audacity from Princess Rui to dare to speak these words out loud!

"You..." The Empress Dowager wanted to call her shameless but held her tongue fearing Xiao’er would respond with something even more angering. So she could only dismiss her, "As you came from a farming family, it’s understandable that you haven’t studied ’Lessons for Women’. I won’t blame you. But now, you should transcribe ’Lessons for Women’ hundred times until you can recite it backwards! Otherwise, don’t participate in this flower appreciation banquet!"

"Are you suggesting that once I’m able to recite ’Lessons for Women’ backwards, I won’t have to copy it anymore?" Xiao’er had to take part in this banquet for choosing a concubine for Shangguan Xuanyi. Otherwise, how would she know which lucky girl could become her "sister"?

"Correct!" The Empress Dowager nodded. Huh! Reciting ’Lessons for Women’ backward is easier said than done. Even if Xiao’er copied the book a thousand times, The Empress Dowager doubted she could accomplish it.

"Then I will recite it for Your Noble Highness now."

Upon hearing Xiao’er’s response, the Empress Dowager laughed, "Are you sure you want to recite it now, Princess Rui? I’ve heard about your ability to memorize at a glance. If that’s the case, if you recite even a single word incorrectly, I’ll have you copy it ten thousand times. Each mispronounced word will add another ten thousand transcriptions. Dare to recite it now?"

The Empress Dowager decided to strip Shen Xiao’er of her pride and arrogance today. How dare she challenge her in front of so many people? If she doesn’t demonstrate her dominance now, where would her dignity as the Empress Dowager be?

She refused to believe that Xiao’er could truly recite ’Lessons for Women’ backward. After all, who would recite this book backward in their free time!

Even if Xiao’er had the ability to memorize things at a glance, she wouldn’t be perusing ’Lessons for Women’ backward!

As Xiao’er and the Empress Dowager went head-to-head, the noblewomen and young ladies dared not to comment. Only the Empress couldn’t help but voice her opinion, "Mother, isn’t ten thousand times too much?"

The Empress was confident Xiao’er could recite ’Lessons for Women’ without missing a word, but reciting the book backward was a different matter. Since she was used to memorizing it forward, it was very easy to accidentally fall into the forward recitation when she tried reciting it backward.

She wasn’t the only one who thought this. Many noblewomen present felt Xiao’er was showing off!

Although everyone knew Princess Rui of her many talents and abilities, no one believed she could recite ’Lessons for Women’ backward without missing a word. Reading the book backward, even when reading directly from it, is not easy, to begin with. And it’s even harder to recite it!

"How could that be too much? Princess Rui can memorize at a glance. She is talented and bravely matches men in intelligence. It’s just ’Lessons for Women’ that will be read backward. This is a piece of cake for her! I haven’t misspoken, right Princess Rui?" The Empress Dowager deliberately praised her to set her up for a higher fall later on.

"You’re right, Your Noble Highness!" Xiao’er winked at the Empress, indicating that she didn’t need to worry, she could do it.

Not to mention reciting ’Lessons for Women’ backward, she could even recite ’The Art of War’ backward!

The Empress Dowager wanted to specifically make things difficult for her, but Xiao’er would remind her that she herself was not so easily challenged. With the Empress Dowager’s intelligence, even two of her would not be enough to match!

"Summon the maids to bring several copies of ’Lessons for Women’. Let the Empress and several respected noblewomen review it. Everyone can also help keep track of how many words she got incorrect! Don’t let it be said that we’ve treated Princess Rui unjustly!"

"Your Noble Highness’s proposal aligns with my wishes. I was worried that no one would believe me if I recited the book flawlessly."

Let her boast for a while!

Soon, several maids brought several copies of ’Lessons for Women’, and distributed them to several of the closest noblewomen to the Empress Dowager.

Seeing the noblewomen with the books, Xiao’er asked, "Can I start reciting now, Your Noble Highness?"

The Empress Dowager nodded, "You may begin!"

By now, The Empress Dowager’s eyes were not functioning as well, and she could not read the characters in the books. She had to rely on her chief maid to watch closely.

"Also, this is why the saying ’the target isn’t here, and the harm isn’t there’ ..." Xiao’er spoke at a steady pace. She was afraid that others might overlook something, mishear, and then accuse her of reciting wrong word. After all, everyone was used to reading in an orderly fashion and reading backward was not familiar to them, making it easy to make mistakes.

"... uneducated people." ’Lessons for Women’ consisted of seven Chapters. Xiao’er recited it neither too quickly nor too slowly. It took her a little over half an hour to recite the entire book flawlessly.

The reason why it took this long was that, as expected, some people had misread it and then accused Xiao’er of making mistakes. Fortunately, not everyone made this error and there were those who pointed out that Xiao’er made no mistakes.

The Empress Dowager too, was thrown into a whirl of emotions as not all accusations were accurate!

The Imperial Garden was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop!