Chapter 37: The Original Male Leader

“Mother wait a moment, I’ll go and inquire.” Wei Yi Chen replied, and immediately afterward, he dismounted and walked into the crowd.

After waiting for a while, Wei Yichen returned, his expression quite a bit more excited than when he went.

“Mother, it’s a new store that’s hosting a tournament.”

“What store, what competition?” Yun’s curiosity grew even more when she saw her son’s excited demeanor.

It’s not often that I get to see my son show so much excitement about something.

“It’s the Four Treasures, which has come to Xingshan County to open a branch, competing in calligraphy and essays, with the winner getting the ink treasure of the Zanglin Jushi.”

“Four Treasures? Those papers your father brought back last time seem to have come from the Four Treasures.”

“It’s exactly this Four Treasures!” Wei Yichen sounded excited.

“There is also that Zanglin Jushi, is a famous gentleman in Huzhou Prefecture, right? I heard your father mention this person last time, the article is very good, once served as an academician of the Hanlin Academy, after retiring, he retired to the Huzhou Prefecture, planted a bamboo forest in front of his house, and called himself the Hidden Forest Dweller.”

“That’s exactly who it is!”

That’s why Wei Yichen is so agitated right now.

Whether it was the paper of Sibaozhai or the ink treasures of Zanglin Jushi, Wei Yi-chen was extremely interested.

Seeing her son’s thoughts, Yun said, “Then what are you still waiting for? In terms of calligraphy and writing, my son is one of the best in this Xingshan County.”

At those words Wei Yi Chen looked at his father on the side again.

Wei Mingting agreed, “Go, my father also wants to see my son’s literary skills.”

“There goes the son then.”

Wei Yi Sum excitedly walked into the crowd.

Wei Mingting added to the few people inside the carriage, “You guys get off and walk around as well.”

Wei Ming Ting had given the word, so Yun didn’t hold the three children back, letting Wei Qing Wan and Wei Ruo put on the drapery and instructing their maids to follow the two closely.

As for Wei Yi Lin, she personally watched over him, lest the boy go wild somewhere.

After getting out of the car, Wei Ruo took Xiu Mei and squeezed into the crowd to watch the crowd compete for the ink treasure of the Hidden Forest Dweller.

Both of them had excitement on their faces, and although they were not as good as Wei Yi Chen, they were obviously quite a bit more attentive than they were to other things, especially Wei Ruo.

The content of the contest is simple, the participants in the contest make a small short piece of writing on the spot according to the given topic, and write it on a piece of paper.

In the end, you will be judged based on the content of the essay and the calligraphy.

In presiding over this competition, the four treasures of the shopkeeper is a middle-aged man with a beard, a slightly fat figure and a simple smile.

He warmly greeted every scholar attracted to him, explaining the rules of the competition to them and inviting them to participate.

And the pen, ink, paper and inkstone used in the competition are all provided by their Four Treasures.

After Wei Yi Chen squeezed into the crowd, the shopkeeper introduced him with a smile.

“Your Excellency only needs to write some thoughts according to the title, we are not competing on the content of the article, only on the calligraphy.”

“Okay, I’ll try. Please give me a pen and paper from the shopkeeper.”

The shopkeeper hurriedly asked the store assistant to prepare new paper and pens for Wei Yi-chen.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Wei Yichen put pen to paper and wrote a hundred or so words.

The strong and powerful strokes of the brush and the full and rounded handwriting immediately triggered a burst of applause from the crowd of onlookers.

After writing, the shopkeeper didn’t make any comments, but just asked the store assistant to carefully hang Wei Yi Chen’s work as well.

At this time, there were already many copies of the work hanging on the rack next to it, all written by the participants in today’s competition, and they were all hanging side by side, so that anyone passing by could appreciate and judge them.

A luxuriously decorated carriage in the distance had been parked in place for a while.

The people in the car were also looking over.

“Is Brother Yu also interested?” Chu Lan asked Lu Yuhong, who had been watching the action beside him.

Lu Yuhong busy shaking his head: “Your Highness do not want to make fun of me, my martial arts than martial arts can be, horseback riding archery cu jiu can be, on the battlefield to kill the enemy can also be. But than calligraphy literary talent, I am not, just think this store is interesting, opening even get out of these novelty trick to, and also took the hidden forest priest’s ink treasure as a lottery, also do not know true or false.”

“Indeed more means than the average store.” Chu Lan commented, his tone was rather bland, not as fervent as Lu Yuhong.

“Say, isn’t the one riding on the horse over there someone from the Zhongyi Burial House in the capital? It looks quite familiar.” Lu Yuhong asked.

Following the direction Lu Yuhong’s finger was pointing, Chu Lan saw Wei Mingting.

“It’s him, the third son of Uncle Zhongyi, Wei Mingting, currently serving as a lieutenant of Zhongxian from the sixth rank.”

“It’s still Your Highness who remembers clearly, I can’t remember these well, I can’t remember the ones left in the capital too well, let alone the ones outside the capital.”

“Zhongyi Burial Mansion even with Zhongyi Burial himself within are a group of no long bones, only this Wei Mingting is an exception, only a pity that there is only a body of reckless strength, do not know how to change, if not would have long left this place.” Chu Lan commented.

“No wonder the Zhongyi Burial Mansion has been in shambles all these years, it dares to say that there is no one to succeed it, it’s a pity, I even heard my father say that Zhongyi Burial’s ancestor was a renowned founding general!”

Lu Yuhong although from a scholarly family, but inexplicably revered martial arts people, especially worship those who have had heroic deeds of the famous generals.

“Let’s go.” Chu Lan suddenly lifted the curtain of the car and got up.

“Where to?”

“Competition.”

“Uh? Your Highness, you’re interested?” Lu Yuhong curiously chased after him.

Chu Lan did not reply and walked straight towards the crowd.

The competition continued, pretty much everyone had tried, and the pieces were hung up for all to see.

Of the many works, Wei Yichen’s is clearly the most striking one.

It’s also the one that draws the most crowds.

Yun is right, in terms of calligraphy and articles, Wei Yi Chen is definitely one of the best in Xingshan County.

The others were outclassed by him after he took part in the contest.

With victory in sight, Wei Qingwan was very happy for Wei Yi Chen.

Just then, a man in brocade clothes walked over.

“I’ll give it a try.”

The crowd consciously made way for the brocade-clothed man.

Just from the man’s clothes and the entourage following him, it is not difficult to guess that this person’s identity is not ordinary.

Wei Mingting also looked over and was shocked.

He couldn’t be sure of the identity of the man in front of him, but he could tell by the accessories of the entourage the man was carrying.

Wei Ruo recognized the man’s identity at a glance – Seventh Prince Chu Lan.

It is the hero of the original story and the one who executed himself in the original story.

Thinking of this, Wei Ruo subconsciously walked towards the periphery of the crowd, pulling away the distance between himself and these two.

Though she wasn’t sure how that would help, only in instinctively wanting to distance herself from what she considered to be a dangerous element.

Wei Ruo looked at Wei Qingwan again and saw that Wei Qingwan was looking at Chu Lan.

Chu Lan should have met Wei Qingwan right at the Fahua Temple, but missed it because of her absence as a supporting character.

Is it hard to believe that this belated encounter is going to happen today?