Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?

At the time when the street lamps were first lit, Li Xuan rode his horse to Duke Xuguo's mansion. Needless to mention the bustling traffic, horse carriages were queued up to three blocks away.

As Li Xuan entered the gate, he could already see his two friends Zhang Taishan and Peng Fulai from afar, expressing a face of astonishment.

Peng Fulai was unexpectedly wearing a snow-white robe of a scholar, with a scholar's cap on his head and a folding fan in his hand, looking every bit the refined gentleman. Regrettably, his size was too big to exude the elegance of the literati.

Zhang Taishan was similarly attired, except his outfit was in a treasured blue. The effect? Think ancient warriors Dian Wei and Zhang Fei putting on a scholar's attire.

The infuriating part was this guy even had a flower donned at his temple.

Li Xuan felt a shiver run down his spine, "What got into you two? Why are you dressed like this?"

"It's you who got into something!" Peng Fulai automatically retorted, before, with a flick of his fan, glossing over his slip, "Regrettably! Regrettably! My dear Qianzhi, you too are a learned individual, you can't be this rude!"

Zhang Taishan also gave a shake of his folding fan, "Exactly! As Zi Qiong rightly pointed out, we, being men of culture, should show mutual respect."

"Buzz off! Mutual respect isn't used like this." Peng Fulai finished speaking, then exploded, "Zhang Yue! If you call me Zi Qiong again, we're done! You're the poor one, your whole family is poor!"

Li Xuan couldn't help but laugh at hearing this. He knew 'Zi Qiong' was Peng Fulai's nickname, given to him by a notable scholar.

That scholar probably looked down on Peng Fulai's merchant family background, hence when the Peng Family sought his presence, gave the nickname 'Zi Qiong', literally 'Child of Poverty', as a jest.

Actually it wasn't a big deal. The names and nicknames of ancient people often shared similar, related, agreeable, or contrasting meanings.

Peng Fulai's father was delighted and reportedly gave the scholar a fortune on the spot. However, Peng Fulai considered this nickname a lifelong disgrace.

Zhang Taishan froze for a moment, "So, what should I call you, brother Fulai?"

Peng Fulai involuntarily grimaced. It felt to him like being called a rustic peasant.

"Fine, call me Zi Qiong. I'll make an exception for you today."

"What on earth is happening?" Li Xuan asked impatiently, "Why are you two dressed like peacocks and acting so refined?"

"You didn't know, Qianzhi?" Peng Fulai was genuinely surprised, "Today's garden party at Duke Xuguo's mansion is in fact Madam Xuguo, on behalf of Consort Zhang, selecting a royal son-in-law for Princess Changle."

Li Xuan knitted his brows, "Didn't Princess Changle disappear?"

As far as he knew, she along with the second prince had both gone missing and their whereabouts are still unknown.

He had previously found it astonishing that, despite the disappearance of the royal family members, this garden party was still being held as scheduled. The nobles of Nanjing City seemed to have little regard for the imperial authority, didn't they?

"Exactly because the princess is not participating, it's good. Otherwise, I wouldn't like to come. Who would want to be the Prince Consort? Not only unable to hold any office, but also need to obey the Princess, have to always be deferential even during intimacy, 'Your Highness, I'm here to undress you', 'Your Highness, I'm coming in', isn't that stifling?"

Zhang Taishan sniggered. But then he realized that both Li Xuan and Peng Fulai were looking at him in a kind of thoughtful way, left confused, "Why are you guys looking at me?"

"We were studying how thick-skinned you are," Peng Fulai laughed lighting shifting from Zhang to Li Xuan "What he said is actually right. Indeed, because the princess isn't coming, today's banquet has attracted so many attendees. Of the legendary 'Twelve Beauties of Jinling', nine are here on this occasion. However, whom we aspire to court is Miss Xue Yunrou from the capital city."

Inside Li Xuan's mind, bits of information about this Miss Xue flashed through- rumored that her father died early leaving her a massive fortune and her uncle is among the top five martial arts experts of this era, having surpassed the 12th house level, and entered the heavenly level.

What's rare is that this woman was not only exceptionally beautiful, and unmatched in elegance, but she also had a gentle personality and was multi-talented. Her cultivation was also very extraordinary, being an external direct disciple of the Taoist Tianshi's Mansion.

With such thoughts in mind, Li Xuan was slightly moved, realizing that this could save him decades of striving, and also provide him with a powerful backer.

"But what does that have to do with the ghostly state you guys are in now?"

Peng Fulai couldn't help but snort: "It is said that Miss Xue and her mother are fans of scholars. Haven't you noticed all these people trying to appear refined?"

Only then did Li Xuan notice that a large group of martial arts nobles here today were dressed up like scholars. Some of them, who usually jumped at every opportunity to cuss, had today switched to a gentle, refined demeanor.

Li Xuan hesitated for a moment, but eventually gave up on the idea of changing his clothes and followed Peng Fulai to the back yard of Duke Xuguo's mansion.

It was just about time for the banquet to begin, the garden party would not start until after nightfall.

Li Xuan regretted that although the people's nature in this world was relatively open, similar to the Tang Dynasty of another world, basic gender segregation was still in place, and so men and women guests at the garden party couldn't sit together.

Furthermore, the literati of Nanjing and the martial arts nobility couldn't mix. Though a group of noble children dressed themselves to appear gentle and refined, when it was time for the banquet to begin, clear lines were drawn once again.

Perhaps the Duke Xuguo Mansion was also worried about fights breaking out or incidents of bullying, so they arranged for both parties to each have their own pavilion.

—Li Xuan's predecessor had done such a distasteful thing before, once ganging up with a bunch of prodigal sons to beat a group of scholars till they cried for mercy.

When everyone took their seats, the situation became awkward. In another pavilion across a flower field, people were constantly reciting poetry, emitting resonant chants, whereas the atmosphere over here was extremely quiet. After the banquet began, half a moment passed without anyone saying a word.

After a long while, probably unable to bear the heavy silence, the son of Chang Wenbo cleared his throat and proactively raised his wine glass: "Gentlemen, let's not drink in silence. Why don't we make a drinking game to liven things up?"

"We were thinking the same!" Immediately someone responded enthusiastically: "What are the rules?"

The son of Chang Wenbo pondered for a bit: "How about we play a game that tests our knowledge today? Let's use the character 'xia' (summer) as a prompt and each recite an ancient poem?"

Yet, the whole pavilion fell into silence again. All eyes narrowing into knife-like glares towards the one who suggested the game.

Peng Fulai leaned over to Li Xuan's ear: "Isn't he making things difficult for us? He'll have no friends in the future."

The son of Chang Wenbo was already breaking out into a cold sweat: "If the poetry game isn't going well, then how about couplets? Flower Branch, Change Character, Allusion, Toothpick games or Tossing Jars?"

The atmosphere in the pavilion turned colder and colder, and in a chilling silence, Zhang Taishan couldn't help but put in his word: "How about we play rock-paper-scissors?"

In that split moment, everyone's gaze shifted from the son of Chang Wenbo to Zhang Taishan. Most of them were filled with contempt and disdain.

About a quarter later, the wife of Duke Xuguo, along with several other wives, entered this pavilion known as 'Tingyu House' through the back door.

"Madam Xue, if you do not fancy the scholars from prominent families, you could consider the noble families from Nanjing City. Jiangnan is thriving in a literary atmosphere, which means that even children from martial families here often turn out to be gentleman."

But when she pulled back the curtains and looked through the screen, she was stunned.

She saw here more than half the people were stripped to the waist, faces red and ears fiery, waving their hands and shouting: "Triple Yuan! One must end! Two good luck! Four fortune—— "