I'm in the Red Mansion

Chapter 146 Flying Flower Order

Time flies and ten days have passed.

This day happened to be the day when Prime Minister Kou was recruiting disciples.

On this day, Jia Cong arrived at Kou's house early with the gift of becoming a disciple.

On this day, Kou Xiangguang invited his good friends to witness him accepting him as his last disciple.

As the auspicious time approached, the guests invited by Prime Minister Kou arrived one after another.

Prime Minister Kou brought Jia Cong with him and kept introducing the guests to him.

Those who could be invited by Prime Minister Kou were at least high-ranking officials at the level of Vice Ministers of the Six Ministries. Those who were lesser were not qualified to be invited at all.

Even Prince Yi Zhong, Prince Zhong Shun, and Prime Minister Qin were invited by Prime Minister Kou.

This invitation to become a disciple and witness the event was equivalent to Prime Minister Kou putting a talisman on Jia Cong.

Soon, all the guests arrived and the auspicious time had arrived.

In front of everyone, Jia Cong knelt in front of Prime Minister Kou and served him tea as a token of respect for his teacher.

Kou Xiang gladly took it, then picked up the teacup, took a sip, and placed the tea on the table beside him.

At this point, the apprenticeship ceremony is officially completed.

Next, many guests also presented Jia Cong with gifts.

Jia Cong thanked them one by one.

After the apprenticeship ceremony, the banquet officially began.

Prime Minister Kou sat at the main table, and also seated were several princes including Yi Zhong, Zhong Shun, and Prince Beijing, and behind them were high-ranking officials including Prime Minister Qin and the Shang Shu.

Jia Cong sat at the first seat at the table for the younger generation, and Kou Jie, the youngest son of Prime Minister Kou, sat beside him.

This time, Prime Minister Qin also brought his young son Qin Tao with him, and he happened to be sitting at this table.

And this Qin Tao obviously came with bad intentions.

He and several young men present deliberately wanted to make things difficult for Jia Cong.

So he constantly made things difficult for Jia Cong by referring to the Four Books and Five Classics, poetry and songs.

However, although Jia Cong is the youngest, he has studied just as much as them.

What's more, Jia Cong also has the thinking of later generations.

He easily resolved all the difficulties posed by Qin Tao and others.

Seeing that Jia Cong was much more knowledgeable than them, Qin Tao frowned and came up with a plan.

Qin Tao couldn't help but laugh and said, "We are all disciples of Confucius, and have been well-read since childhood. Drinking like this is boring."

"How about we play a game of flying flowers? Each of us will say a line of poetry in turn, and the most popular word in the line must be red."

"If anyone can't answer, how about lying on the ground and barking like a dog three times?"

"good very good!"

“This game is really great!”

“This game is fun, I agree!”

And Jia Cong did not object.

In his spare time, he read a lot of poetry.

He believed that in terms of the amount of poetry he had, he must have more than these playboys.

The loser by then will definitely not be him.

Jia Cong wanted to see if these dandies would lie on the ground and bark like dogs if they lost.

However, what Jia Cong did not see was that Kou Jie, who was standing next to him, had an embarrassed look on his face.

At this time, Qin Tao stood up and said, "Since it was me who proposed it, I'll go first. The lotus flowers are especially red in the sunlight."

"Next, let's line up in order of seating. Next, Brother Zhang, it's your turn."

Starting from the Three Hundred Poems, there are quite a lot of poems with red words at the end accumulated from all dynasties.

But this requires a large accumulation of poetry and sharp thinking, and the ability to recall it at critical moments. And this kind of game often makes you suffer more as time goes on.

Because as more verses are spoken, there are fewer verses left.

The most terrifying thing is that you may have just thought of two suitable lines of poetry, but they were already said by the person in front of you.

In this way, you have to think about it again.

However, this game has a time limit. Under stressful circumstances, you may not be able to think of the solution in a short period of time.

Unfortunately, according to the order of the game, Kou Jie happened to be the second to last, and the last one happened to be Jia Cong.

Soon, it was Kou Jie's turn to play the game.

What’s even worse is that the two lines of poetry that Kou Jie thought of were just said by the person in front of him.

Therefore, when it was Kou Jie's turn, Kou Jie couldn't help but hesitate.

For a moment, my mind went blank and I couldn't think of a single word.

At this time, Qin Tao couldn't help but laugh and said, "Mr. Kou, what's wrong? Can't you think of it?"

"It's not a big deal. Just lie down on the ground and bark like a dog three times."

Qin Tao's voice was a little loud, which attracted the attention of people in other seats.

Including the first table, everyone's eyes were focused on this table.

Facing everyone's gaze, Kou Jie felt even more pressured.

At the head of the meeting, Prime Minister Kou's face suddenly became gloomy.

Kou Jie, of course, was unwilling to admit defeat, and for a moment, he could not think of a poem for the contract.

Seeing that time was running out and he was about to lose, he had to make up a line: "The willow catkins are flying in red flakes."

The other young men present couldn't help but reveal disappointment on their faces.

I didn't expect that in the end, it was this idiot who figured it out.

But it doesn’t matter. At most in the next round, his true colors will be revealed.

Unexpectedly, Qin Tao laughed and said, "Mr. Kou, the rules of this game are that you have to recite famous poems from the previous dynasty or the current dynasty. Your own random verses don't count."

Kou Jie blushed and said, "Who said I made this up? It's obviously because you haven't read much and have little knowledge."

Qin Tao sneered and said, "I have little education. I wonder if Mr. Kou can tell me which dynasty this poem came from? Who wrote it?"

"The willow catkins are flying red. The catkins are obviously white, so how can they be red? Is the author blind and unable to recognize colors?"

Qin Tao's words immediately caused everyone to burst into laughter.

Before Qin Tao revealed it, no one thought of this flaw for a moment.

It seems that this poem was indeed made up by Mr. Kou.

Now it's getting even more embarrassing.

At the head of the group, Prime Minister Qin happily drank a glass of fine wine and said with a smile:

"Prime Minister Kou has a profound family background in education and is a good parent!"

Prime Minister Kou snorted coldly, his face as gloomy as the earth.

Prime Minister Kou was originally a very cunning man, with the ability to maintain his energy so that he could remain calm even when faced with a huge crisis. However, at this moment, he was broken by the anger of his young son.

When Prime Minister Qin saw this, he laughed even more triumphantly.

At this moment, Jia Cong stood up and said, "Mr. Qin really has not read much and has little knowledge. He has never even heard of this poem."

Hearing Jia Cong's words, Qin Tao couldn't help but say with interest: "Oh, so Mr. Jia actually knows this poem? Then why not tell us which blind poet wrote this poem?"

After Qin Tao finished speaking, the audience burst into laughter again.

Jia Cong nodded and said, "Since Master Qin is willing to learn from me, I will teach you."

"This poem is a poem written by Jin Nong, a poet of the Yuan Dynasty, to praise Pingshan Hall. The full poem is: Twenty-four winds blow by the Twenty-Four Bridges, I lean on the railing and still remember the old Jiangdong. The setting sun shines back on the Peach Blossom Garden, and the willow catkins fly in red flakes."

"Indeed, the catkins are white, but the setting sun dyed them red. After they flew over, every catkin turned red!"

(End of this chapter)