On the side, Xu Yun deftly slipped the visiting card through the gap.

The gatekeeper took the card, eyed its appearance, and his tone became much more polite:

"Oh, it's someone from Lord Su's mansion. Little Old Qin here, you may call me Uncle Qin. Please wait a moment, I'll inform the master."

Then the gatekeeper, surnamed Qin, closed the panel again and went to find his master.

After about a quarter of an hour.

Cre-eak—

The side door opened from within.

A meticulously dressed man, looking like a steward, stepped out and gave the group a once-over:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Li Gu, the master of affairs at Li Mansion. Please follow me."

Xu Yun and his group exchanged glances, obediently following along.

Upon entering the mansion.

Led by the steward, the group passed through several courtyard walls, finally stopping before a book pavilion.

The pavilion was two stories high, with a faint scent of sandalwood.

It was apparent that people frequently entered and exited the building, burning incense and reading.

At the pavilion entrance were a few sealed large boxes, with three or four guards watching over them, presumably containing the books to be exchanged.

The steward first led Xu Yun and company to the center of the courtyard, then approached the door of a small room on the left, bowing respectfully:

"Miss, the servants sent by Lord Su to fetch the books have arrived."

A moment later.

Cre-eak—

Another door opened, and a girl—perhaps more accurately a young woman—emerged from the small room.

The girl wasn't tall and appeared slender, resembling a little sprout, but was strikingly pretty.

Her face like pure white jade, lips like cherry blossoms, eyebrows drawn like ink, eyes like autumn pools, soft and delicate beyond words.

She wore a bright green dress that seemed extraordinarily vibrant amid the courtyard.

Upon seeing her, two words suddenly came to Xu Yun's mind:

Raindrops on green lotus, mist veiling solitary mountains.

Of course.

A woman who can write verses like "the most outstanding among flowers" wouldn't have low appearance.

But don't be fooled.

Though this girl appears gentle and dignified, she's actually quite the little sprout with a bold personality.

Playing Mahjong, gambling, drinking—she's tried them all, once losing 600 coins in a night with nothing to show, reminiscent of the initial appearances of Tsunade in Naruto.

Like the well-known "As if in a Dream":

At dusk by the creek pavilion,

Drunken to the point of losing my way home,

Full of joy, returning late by boat,

Accidentally straying into a deep lotus bloom,

Striving to row, striving to row,

Startling a flock of gulls and herons.

Seems poetic, right?

In reality, the poem means this young lady was already drunk, so drunk she couldn't find her way home.....

Incidentally.

This poem has just recently come out as the first work of a sixteen-year-old.

Indeed.

This is Li Qingzhao.

The greatest talent for all ages, the Great Song's foremost financial fairy, a lover of alcohol yet having a notoriously low tolerance.....

Layman Yi'an.

After exiting the small room, Xiaoli descended the stairs gracefully.

After taking a look at Xu Yun and others, she asked:

"Where are Lord Su's borrowing documents?"

Seeing this, Xu Yun stepped forward voluntarily, clasping his hands towards her:

"Reporting to Miss, the documents are with me, but we request you allow us to verify the book titles first, and if all is correct, the documents will be presented."

Xiaoli gave him a surprised glance, her tone gaining a few degrees of gravity:

"Among the books borrowed by Lord Su, there are many rare characters; do you recognize them?"

"I do indeed recognize them."

Xiaoli couldn't help but glance at him again.

In truth, from that sentence 'Do you know, do you know, should be green and red,' it wasn't hard to see, Xiaoli was quite down-to-earth and fond of going into detail.

This can be seen from the fact later she wrote books to mock Zhao Mingcheng's escape and reported Zhang Ruzhou.

This time, among the books borrowed by Old Su from Old Li, some were local anthologies unique to Huangzhou; even Xiaoli had to consult materials at first to understand them.

Thus upon hearing Xu Yun's 'reckless boasting', Xiaoli's stubborn streak came out.

But the young lady's demeanor didn't change much outwardly, just nodded quite ordinarily:

"Alright, then let's verify the book titles first."

Then the group moved to the side of the boxes, where Steward Li opened them, instructed the courtyard servants to spread a cloth on the ground, and withdrew behind the others.

Seeing this, Xu Yun looked at Xiaoli, receiving her nod of approval, stepped forward to verify the book titles.

"'Farewell to Lin Tongpan of Huangzhou'....."

"'Twelve Volumes of Yinque's Strange Chronicles'...."

"'Mr. Qingliu's Record of the Female Dormitory'....."

"'Walking Bag'....."

"'Miscellaneous Sequences by Ge Wu'....."

The transition between the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty wasn't smooth; there was the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms tumult in between.

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms seemed neither long nor short, stretching over sixty years approximately.

Huangzhou was right in the turmoil of Later Liang, during which Huangzhou's culture and scripts had numerous peculiarities.

While these altered scripts gradually returned to normal after the Song Dynasty.

Still, like local dialects in later eras, these altered scripts and languages were impossible to completely eradicate suddenly.

Li Gefei, influenced by Su Shi during his tenure in Huangzhou, collected numerous books and publications with Huangzhou characteristics, about twenty percent of which differed from the official culture of the current Great Song.

Some differences were in script, others were in the semantic combinations.

And when Old Li wrote letters to Old Su, it was obviously impossible to directly use the original book titles.

Therefore, the contents of the letters were actually simplified; though Old Su knew the titles were numerous, he didn't know they were this extensive, or else he might have come personally.

So Xiaoli's initial assumption wasn't pride but a genuine belief Xu Yun was boasting—this cunning girl was just waiting to ridicule Xu Yun after he faltered.

Unexpectedly, as the verification proceeded, this seemingly fair-skinned servant from Su Mansion fluently read the book titles correctly?

Is the cultural level of Su Mansion really this high nowadays?

After a quarter of an hour.

Xu Yun wiped the sweat from his forehead, holding a book he walked to Xiaoli:

"Miss, this book appears to differ from the listed title, please see for yourself."

Xiaoli took the list and the book, scanning them briefly.

Indeed, as Xu Yun stated, the list wrote and titled 'Huangzhou Nine Cities and Eight Counties Annals,' whereas Xu Yun held 'Huangzhou Nine Cities and Eight Counties' Gossip.'

Though both were similar types of volumes, with annals often authored by officials, gossip didn't necessarily follow that pattern.

They could be written by officials, hermits, or even some landlords.

Thus the contents might differ drastically, certainly constituting a miscatalogued error.

Faced with the evident mistake, Xiaoli first summoned Steward Li to instruct him to exchange the book, then asked Xu Yun:

"What's your name?"

"Wang Lin."

"Do you write poetry?"

"No."

"How about poems?"

"Also no."

"Do you write prose?"

"Even less so."

"Then what can you do?"

"Fetching water, chopping wood, and retrieving books."

"..."

Though Xiaoli didn't fully trust Xu Yun's words, seeing the clear refusal in his speech, she regretfully shook her head:

"Not writing poems nor prose, recognizing so many characters, isn't that talent wasted?"

Xu Yun smiled, choosing not to argue with this young lady.

At this point, the talented girl still remains unmarried, and neither her life's experiences nor character has reached a truly mature stage.

Perhaps it's only after the Jingkang Incident that Xiaoli will have a completely new answer to her own question.

Anyway, for Xu Yun, meeting Xiaoli herself, that goal is already achieved.

Perhaps in the future, there'll be no more intersections between the two....

Right?

.......

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