I'm in the Red Mansion

Chapter 174: Brother Cong is actually written into my heart

After everyone had eaten for a while, Shi Xiangyun smiled and told them about the plan to set up the Chrysanthemum Poetry Society.

All the girls knew about it, except Jia Cong and Jia Baoyu.

When Jia Baoyu heard this, he couldn't help but clap his hands and laugh, saying, "Starting a poetry club is naturally a very good thing. Let's all start it now."

After saying this, Jia Baoyu hurriedly ordered his men to clear away the remaining food and set up another table.

Jia Cong said, "There's no need to set it up. Let's just write some poetry. Put the big round table in the middle and put the wine and food on it. There's no need to restrict the seats. Anyone who likes to eat can go and eat. Wouldn't it be cheaper to sit anywhere?"

Baochai nodded and said, "That's absolutely true."

Xiangyun took the title of the poem and pinned it on the wall with a needle.

Jia Cong looked at it and said, "It is novel, but I am afraid it cannot be made."

Xiangyun then explained the reason why there was no limit on rhyme.

Baoyu said: "This is the correct principle. I also hate rhyme restrictions."

Since Lin Daiyu didn't drink much and didn't eat crabs, she asked someone to bring her an embroidered cushion and sat on it against the railing, while she fished with a fishing rod.

Baochai played with a chrysanthemum in her hand for a while, then leaned over the windowsill, pinched a bud and threw it into the water, attracting fish to float up and eat it.

Xiangyun came to her senses for a moment, while Tanchun, Li Wan and Xichun stood in the shade of weeping willows watching the gulls and herons.

Yingchun was alone under the shade of the flowers, threading jasmine flowers with a needle.

At this time, Jia Cong was inviting a few girls to eat crabs while thinking about poetry in his heart.

Today's poem is actually not a good reference.

Naturally, there were many chrysanthemum poems in the Qing Dynasty.

However, the title of the poem is strange, and it is really difficult to find a chrysanthemum poem that completely fits the title.

Baochai also took a sip of wine, then dipped her brush into the wall and crossed out the first character "Remembering Chrysanthemum", and added an extra character "Heng" below it.

Baoyu hurriedly said, "Good sister, I already have four lines for the second one, please let me stop!"

Baochai laughed and said, "I finally got a poem, and you are so busy."

Daiyu did not say anything either. She took the pen and ticked the eighth one, "Asking about the Chrysanthemum", and then ticked the eleventh one, "Dream of the Chrysanthemum", and added the word "Xiao".

Baoyu also picked up the pen and checked the second poem "Visiting Chrysanthemums", adding the extra character "怡".

Tanchun came over to take a look and said, "No one has composed 'Pinning the Chrysanthemums in the Hair', so why did you ask me to compose 'Pinning the Chrysanthemums in the Hair'?"

As he spoke, Xiangyun came over. The fifth line, "Offering Chrysanthemums", was ticked, and the character "Xiang" was added as an extra.

Tanchun said, "You should also come up with a nickname."

Xiangyun smiled and said, "Although we have several pavilions at home, I don't live in them, so it would be boring to borrow them."

Baochai smiled and said, "I heard from the old lady that your family also has a pavilion called 'Zhenxia Pavilion'. Isn't it yours? Even though it's gone now, you are still the former owner."

Everyone agreed that it made sense. Without waiting for Xiangyun to do anything, Baoyu erased the word "Xiang" and replaced it with "Xia".

At this time, the girls saw that Jia Cong had not made a choice, so they urged him to make one quickly.

Shi Xiangyun couldn't help it, so she wrote the word "Cong" directly after the fourth pair of chrysanthemums.

Then he smiled and said, "Since Third Brother Cong doesn't want to choose, I'll just choose one for you. By the way, Third Brother Cong hasn't chosen a name yet!"

Forget it, it doesn’t matter what he writes anyway, so he just let Shi Xiangyun write.

Jia Cong thought about it again and said, "My nickname should be Misty Rain Guest."

After hearing this, Shi Xiangyun crossed out the word "Cong" and wrote the words "Yanyu" instead.

Seeing this, Lin Daiyu couldn't help but smile and said, "Since Yun girl helped Third Brother Cong choose one, then I might as well help Third Brother Cong choose one as well."

After saying that, he drew a check mark under "Ode to Chrysanthemum" and wrote the words "Misty Rain".

When Xue Baochai saw this, she was not to be outdone. She crossed out the painted chrysanthemum as well and wrote the words "mist and rain" below it.

The three girls, Shi Xiangyun, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai, each helped Jia Cong choose a topic for his poem.

In this way, Jia Cong alone accounted for three poems.

Seeing this, Jia Cong was speechless.

I couldn't even think of a poem, and now someone had chosen three for me. How could I write this?

For a moment, Jia Cong was dumbfounded.

After another meal, all twelve questions were completed.

All the women started writing.

Jia Cong suddenly had an idea and thought of a suitable poem, so he wrote down three chrysanthemum poems one by one.

Each of them copied it out and handed it to Yingchun, who also took a piece of Xuelang paper and copied it out as well, with the pseudonym of the person being written under the person's work.

After handing in the poems, the girls all looked at the three poems written by Jia Cong first.

The first one is the couplet "Chrysanthemum" that Shi Xiangyun helped Jia Cong choose:

The flowers transplanted from other gardens are more precious than gold, some are light and some are dark.

Sitting bareheaded beside the sparse fence, I hug my knees and recite poems in the cool fragrance.

There is no one as proud as you anymore, it seems I am the only one who understands you.

Don’t waste the fleeting autumn days; cherish every moment you spend together.

The second poem was the one that Lin Daiyu helped choose: Ode to Chrysanthemum:

The rogue poetry demon invades me day and night, and my voice sinks into obscurity around the fence and rocks.

The tip of the brush is full of beauty as he writes in the frost, and his mouth is full of fragrance as he recites to the moon.

The whole paper is filled with self-pity and plaintive complaints, but who can understand my autumn heart with a few words?
Ever since Tao Ling became the Prime Minister, his noble character has been talked about to this day.

The third one is the painting of chrysanthemums, which Xue Baochai helped to choose.
I write poems in a playful manner without being wild, so why would I compete with painting?

The gathered leaves are splashed into thousands of dots of ink, and the gathered flowers are dyed into a few traces of frost.

The shadow in the wind is divinely combined with the fragrance from autumn's wrist.

Don’t mistake me for picking flowers leisurely by the eastern fence, I’m sticking them on the screen to comfort myself on the Double Ninth Festival.

Everyone watched it and couldn't help but praise each song.

Li Wan couldn't help but exclaim in amazement after reading it, "Brother Cong is indeed worthy of being the immortal poet of our family!"

"Lin, Yu, and Bao each chose a poem topic for him."

"And the Cong brothers actually wrote a poem each based on their own temperament and tone."

"If I cover the names and just look at the poems, I would think they wrote them!"

"If he could just write poetry, it would be fine, but if he could imitate others and write poetry that was completely accurate or even better than the original, it would be amazing."

"No wonder Brother Cong was able to write such a masterpiece in such a short time at the apprenticeship banquet."

After Li Wan finished speaking, everyone looked carefully and found that it was indeed true.

The three poems written by Jia Cong were actually modeled after the identities, habits, and talents of the three women, and they were extremely fitting.

It is even three points better than the poems the three girls wrote based on the test topics they chose themselves.

Seeing this scene, everyone couldn't help but marvel at it.

When Shi Xiangyun, Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai saw these three poems, they were a little dazed for a moment.

It was because Brother Cong's poems completely touched their hearts.

It was as if it was taken out from the bottom of their hearts. When they saw it, they felt happy and couldn't help but feel like they had found a close friend.

Well, actually these three poems were originally written by them.

Jia Cong plagiarized the original author's poem in front of the original author.

This is a poem they wrote themselves. It would be strange if they still don't think it is appropriate.

However, there was a hint of inexplicable color in the eyes of the three women when they looked at Jia Cong.

As the saying goes: It is easy to get ten thousand taels of gold, but it is hard to find a close friend.

Because the three girls selected a poem for Jia Cong, they had unknowingly already regarded him as their lifelong confidant.

(End of this chapter)