Chapter 38: Poetry Becomes

“If Yang Ziqian has not gone to Qingzhou, this job can be pushed to him.” Zhang Shen said:

“Of the few of us, he’s the best at it.”

The mountain breeze fluttered into the room, blowing Chen Tai’s long whiskers as he laughed, “Brother Jingyan is more suitable for an official in the dynasty than I am.”

“Old piker, are you mocking me for kicking the can?” Zhang Shen was not angry, and had a patronizing stance, “If you’re good, you do it, I’m all ears.”

Seeing that there was going to be another argument, Zhang Shen’s scribe lowered his head and walked in briskly, bowing and saying, “Sir, your student Xu Ruilao is here.”

Xu Ruixu? What’s he doing here? Has he finished copying the Sage’s Quotations 300 times? Zhang Shen nodded, “Invite him in.”

When the book boy left, Zhang Shen looked at Chen Tai across the chessboard and said with a smile, “Speaking of which, the old man has recently taken in a new student, a cousin of this Xu Rui Lao, with astounding poetic talent.”

Li Mu Bai immediately added, “That’s also my student.”

Chen Tai glanced at the one surnamed Zhang, and then at the one surnamed Li, and his heart moved: “The poet who wrote the song, “Don’t worry about not having a friend in front of you, and who in the world doesn’t know you”?”

Li Mu Bai and Zhang Shen laughed triumphantly.

“Hahahaha ….” Chen Tai laughed out loud, pointing his finger at his two best friends.

“What are you laughing at?”

“I laugh at you all being blinded by fame and fortune, oh, and jealousy.” Chen Tai stopped his smile, half admonishing and half mocking:

“Yang Ziqian’s name must have been passed down to future generations because of this poem, which is indeed enviable. But you two don’t think about it, good lines are hard to come by, how many readers only have a few good poems in their lives, and the ones that can go down in history are even less.”

“Out of the line “Mo worry about the road ahead without a friend, who in the world do not know the gentleman” is already a masterpiece, heard the glad, and expect another song, no, two, so that you two together in the name of the ages?”

“Care too much about fame and fortune, and over time, how will the greatness in your bellies survive?”

After a taunt, Li Mu Bai and Zhang Shen were a bit embarrassed.

I know that Chen Tai is right, the best lines that have been passed down through the ages, which can be made casually, and the other side is not a scholar, a wonderful hand accidentally got a song, it is the fate of the world.

It is indeed a bit too delusional to expect that a suxun to produce even good poems that will make them famous in history.

“What You Ping said is very true.” The two made a bow and said in a deep voice, “The three immortals of the readers, even if they want to be famous in history, they should take the avenue in a dignified manner, not a shortcut, it is the two of us who are biased.”

“Knowing one’s mistakes and correcting them is a good thing.” Chen Tai nodded slightly.

A few moments later, the scribe led Xu Qi’an and Xu Xinnian into the elegant room.

Both of them bowed at the same time, “The students have met their teacher.”

Li Mu Bai and Zhang Shen glanced at each other, both surprised and delighted by Xu Qi’an’s arrival.

“Sit down!” Zhang Shen said.

“Ning Banquet, you’ve come to the academy because you have a good sentence for my master to appreciate?” Li Mubai said tentatively.

Xu Qi’an shook his head and said, “The student has come here to ask for something.”

“But there’s no harm in saying it.”

Xu Qi’an tells the two teachers about his intentions, concealing the idea that he wants to take revenge on the Minister of the Household, only saying that the mastermind behind the tax and silver case is most likely Minister Zhou, and that the other party will surely retaliate against the Xu family if they get past the Beijing inspection.

“This ….” Li Mubai looked at Zhang Shen, who also had a difficult look on his face, and helplessly said, “The academy prohibits outsiders from staying overnight, this is the rule.”

Readers are most disciplined.

Xu Qi’an had just demanded it when he heard Xu Xinnian say, “Doesn’t the Eldest Princess live in the academy from time to time as well.”

Zhang Shen shook his head, “What kind of status does the Eldest Princess have.”

Xu New Year nodded, “The academy prohibits outsiders from staying overnight unless they are royal relatives.”

Hey! As usual, this rube can’t talk.

The three great scholars present laughed in exasperation.

Xu Qi’an almost laughed out loud, Er Lang’s venomous tongue was still as sharp as ever.

Li Mubai shook his head, “Brother Jingyan, this student of yours, I’m kind of looking forward to him stepping into the Life Establishment Realm in the future.”

That would be horrible ….. The corner of Zhang Shen’s mouth twitched.

Only Chen Tai, smilingly scrutinizing Xu Qi’an, interjected at this time, “You’re Xu Ningyan?”

“Exactly student.” Xu Qi’an, who was wearing a Confucian shirt to pretend that he was really a scholar, bowed.

“I’ve heard that I’m quite talented in poetry, how about this, if you can make a poem on the spot that satisfies all three of us, I’ll be the one to make the decision to let the women of the Xu Mansion stay in the academy temporarily and keep them safe.”

Granting permission for the women of the Hsu family to stay at the academy is not the point, the point is his last sentence, to keep them safe.

That was what the two Xu Qi’an brothers had come here for.

Xu New Year’s face was slightly happy as he turned his head to look at his cousin, “Big brother ….”

He was both delighted and apprehensive, composing poems was not difficult, every reader could make neat poems, what was difficult was to satisfy the three great scholars.

Is that hard?

It’s too hard.

Poetry? Are you forcing me to whore myself out to you? Xu Qi’an didn’t immediately agree, but said with deliberation:

“Poetry at Rates, or Fixed Subjects.”

The three great scholars exchanged glances with each other, and Zhang Shen said, “Persuade!”

Sure enough, it is impossible to compose a poem rashly, or else, I will come up with another song for the ages in a minute …. Xu Qi’an sighed in his heart.

At the same time, he was relieved that the question wasn’t over the top, and his little literary background could still handle it.

The word “persuasion” first made Xu Qi’an think of the “Persuasion” he read in high school, but since it was a poem, this ancient text was not applicable.

There is a golden house in the book, and there is a face in the book!

In Xu Qi’an’s mind, this abstruse and circulating poem of persuasion immediately surfaced.

There are not many that can be compared to it in terms of popularity in the field related to persuasion.

He was just about to decide to use this poem to white whore the three great scholars when he suddenly thought of the situation that the Cloud Deer Academy had been in for two hundred years.

“If I remember correctly, this poem seems to have been written by a Song Dynasty emperor? It’s laced with the flavor of merit and fame, and the students who graduated from Yunlu Academy have always had a difficult career path.”

“Resignation of the old examination in the lifts have lamented, I do not know the future will be sent out to that poor countryside ….”

“By copying this poem, I’m not poking the heart of Yunlu Academy, it’s counterproductive ….”

Seeing his prolonged silence, Xu New Year’s frown grew tighter and tighter, and of the three great Confucian scholars, Zhang Shen and Li Mubai had been looking forward to it, while Chen Tai smiled and sipped his tea.

Xu Qi’an retrieved his thoughts, arching his hand and saying, “The student has made an offering, Resignation, sharpen the ink for me.”

Xu New Year found the pen, ink, paper and inkstone and set them on the table, grinding the ink for his cousin with his own hands, holding the pen in one hand and pulling up his sleeve with the other, dipping the tip of the pen in the ink and twisting his head to signal his cousin to take the pen.

No shame in my shoddy calligraphy …. No, I don’t know calligraphy at all ….. Xu Qi’an spat in his heart, and on the surface, he assumed the posture of a scholar pointing out the mountains and stirring up words, and said:

“Resignation to ghostwrite for me.”

Xu Xinxin nodded and sat upright in front of the case.

“Three shifts of light and five shifts of chicken.”

“It’s the time for men to read.”

“Black hair doesn’t know how to study early.”

“I’m sorry I was late for my studies!”

When Xu New Year finished writing, he put down his pen and gazed at the seven words in handsome handwriting on the rice paper, his eyes brilliantly glowing and his face slightly agitated.

There was a brief silence in the room as Xu New Year experienced the aftermath of the poem, and the three great scholars walked briskly to the shore, staring at the rice paper in silence.

Silent stares.

Chen Tai, who had a long beard stored up to his chest and was dressed in black robes, had a flickering gaze.