212: Was the poem about the wild geese in Chapter 212 written only in a dream?

Palace Master Su Jianqing tapped her jade finger lightly.

"Swish!"

A wisp of gentle True Essence instantly coiled around Chen Shanzhi's waist like a ribbon.

Then, it pulled him into the air, and he landed steadily on the Martial Arts Arena.

Once Chen Shanzhi stood steady, the Formation runes around the edge of the high platform instantly lit up.

"Hum—"

A thick, milky-white barrier of True Essence shot into the sky, forming a massive, inverted hemisphere that enclosed the two people on the platform.

On the platform, Ouyang Wanqing held her water-blue longsword with one hand. Her water-blue dress swayed slightly in the wind, accentuating her graceful figure.

Yet, on her exquisite, picturesque face hung a dangerous sneer.

"Young Lord Chen..."

Ouyang Wanqing stepped forward half a step, her clear, beautiful eyes locked onto Chen Shanzhi. Her red lips parted slightly, but the words that spilled out were icy cold:

"Now that His Majesty has personally issued a decree for your marriage, and you are to marry none other than that Martial Artist Genius of the Murong Family, Murong Zhaoling."

She let out a cold laugh, her lips curling with a hint of playfulness and mockery: "How does it feel to have such a beauty in your arms? Is it very satisfying?"

Chen Shanzhi looked at Ouyang Wanqing before him and twitched his lips, feeling a toothache.

He rubbed his nose, took the opportunity to fold up the fan in his hand, and put on an innocent and aggrieved expression:

"Wan... Wanqing... you know me."

Chen Shanzhi sighed, his face full of misery: "When the decree for the marriage was issued, I was still in the illusion."

"By the time I woke up, I was confusedly informed that I had gained a fiancée. I am the most bewildered victim here!"

"Hmph, you've gained an advantage and are still acting coy."

Ouyang Wanqing let out a soft hmph, clearly not buying Chen Shanzhi's practiced glibness.

However, although she kept a cold face, the icy chill in her beautiful eyes finally dissipated a little.

She stared fixedly at Chen Shanzhi, her jade hands nervously gripping the hem of her clothes.

Biting her red lips with her pearly teeth, she remained silent for a moment before seeming to make a great decision. In a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, she asked cautiously:

"That... that "ode to the wild goose"."

Ouyang Wanqing raised her head, her eyes flickering with complexity, and even a hint of trepidation:

"Was it truly composed specifically for me while you were in that coma-like illusion?"

Hearing this question, alarm bells rang in Chen Shanzhi's heart.

As a man who had shared joys and sorrows with Ouyang Wanqing for decades in that illusion.

He knew Ouyang Wanqing all too well, and understood the weight and trap contained in this question.

This was a life-or-death question.

If he answered that the poem had already been composed in reality, then in Ouyang Wanqing's eyes.

All the oaths and promises he had made to her in the illusion would become a carefully orchestrated scam.

And that poem, naturally, would not have been composed for her.

"Naturally, it was composed in the illusion."

Chen Shanzhi did not hesitate for a second, his expression instantly becoming incredibly serious.

He stared straight into Ouyang Wanqing's slightly nervous eyes, and said, word by word, with extreme sincerity:

"In this Mortal World of reality, This Heir was muddled all day long; how could I have written such verses?"

"Only in that illusion, where we were childhood sweethearts, did I find inspiration."

"Finally, at that poetry gathering, looking into your eyes, This Heir was struck by inspiration, and I wrote it in one go."

He patted his chest, his acting skills reaching their Peak at this moment:

"In reality, This Heir swears, I have absolutely never written this poem for a second person."

After hearing Chen Shanzhi's resonant reply, Ouyang Wanqing's delicate hands, which had been gripping her clothes tightly, finally relaxed.

The cold frost that had been tight on her face melted in an instant.

Two captivating blushes quietly crept up her fair cheeks, and even her breathing became a little lighter.

"I suppose you still have a bit of conscience."

Ouyang Wanqing turned her head away to avoid looking at him. Although she was still muttering in a tsundere manner, the joy and tenderness in her eyes could not be hidden.

However, as the Young Miss of the Prime Ministers Mansion, she was not so easily fooled.

Ouyang Wanqing turned around, her beautiful eyes narrowing dangerously again, and a cold, ambiguous smile played on her lips:

"Since the "ode to the wild goose" is true, then what about that "little pond" that was spread far and wide in the capital before..."

"That was also the handiwork of our Young Lord Chen, right?"

Chen Shanzhi gave a dry laugh and nodded helplessly.

Ouyang Wanqing had likely known about this for a long time, so naturally, Chen Shanzhi could not deny it.

"Hehe, Heir Chen really has great literary talent."

Ouyang Wanqing sneered, a sour and dangerous glint in her beautiful eyes, and asked slowly and deliberately:

"But how come I heard that when "little pond" was first published, it was written by a certain great talent specifically to win a glance from a certain beauty?"

"May I ask our erudite Young Lord Chen, which beauty are you cherishing in 'cherishing the slender stream' and 'loving the clear softness'?"

"This..." Cold sweat instantly appeared on Chen Shanzhi's forehead.

He rubbed his chin awkwardly, his lips moving, but he was at a loss for how to fabricate an excuse.

A woman's intuition and jealousy are truly metaphysical.

"Hmph." Seeing Chen Shanzhi's tongue-tied and guilty appearance, Ouyang Wanqing furrowed her willow-leaf eyebrows and snorted coldly.

"Even if you don't say it, I know."

She stared at Chen Shanzhi, gritting her teeth, and lowered her voice: "It's that Tang Xiaowu, right?"

"That girl in the academy used to follow that commoner Martial Artist named Tang Liu around, inseparable."

"If His Highness the Heir hadn't been so fawning, even going so far as to write such peerless poetry, how could you have snatched her away from Tang Liu?"

Ouyang Wanqing's beautiful eyes were full of coldness: "Young Lord Chen, you truly have excellent methods."

Chen Shanzhi coughed dryly, feeling guilty. He focused on his nose and his heart, wisely choosing to shut up and play dead, not daring to say a single extra word.

At this time, any explanation in a woman's eyes is equivalent to a cover-up.

Fortunately, although Ouyang Wanqing was jealous, she knew when to stop.

She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the sourness in her heart, and with a slight turn of her beautiful eyes, she suddenly asked:

"Tomorrow, our Prime Ministers Mansion is holding a small poetry gathering. Are you coming?"

"Ah?" Chen Shanzhi was slightly stunned, not reacting in time. Why was Ouyang Wanqing's topic jumping so much?

Fortunately, his memory was Heaven-Defying. Although he had spent decades with this woman in the illusion while in a coma.

He still clearly remembered that before he fell into a coma, he had promised Ouyang Wanqing that he would attend the poetry gathering at the Prime Ministers Mansion.

"I'll come! I'll definitely come!"

Chen Shanzhi hurriedly patted his chest, fearing that if he promised too late, Ouyang Wanqing would fly into a rage on the spot:

"Since This Heir promised the Young Miss, even if it rains knives tomorrow, I will definitely arrive on time!"