Wanqingsi

Chapter 103 Poetry
The venue for the poetry competition was set in the garden, and the students who came to the competition gathered in groups of three or four. Fu Dakang also found his usual friends. Tables and chairs were set up in the octagonal pavilion by the pond. There are also many desks in the open space below the chairs of the sponsoring gentlemen and the judges, and there are four treasures of the study, which are probably for the students.Shaorong also came to the arena that year, saw Fu Dakang, snorted, Fu Dakang ignored him, rolled his eyes, I was secretly funny.Suddenly I heard someone say: "Several judges have arrived." Everyone sitting stood up, and everyone looked at the octagonal pavilion together. I saw a few old people coming in from the pavilion. Kang: "Master, who is Marquis Yongle?"

"Marquis Yongle hasn't arrived yet." Fu Dakang looked at the people in the pavilion and said.I saw those old men sitting on their seats, and sure enough, the main seat in the middle was still vacant, presumably it was reserved for that Marquis Yongle.A master stood up and delivered a few speeches, to the effect that he hoped that this year's students would give full play to their talents, which made all the students excited and gearing up.At this moment, someone suddenly heard a loud laugh: "Well said!"

"Master Hou is here!" All the old men who were seated stood up and saluted Yonglehou. I looked into the pavilion curiously, and saw that smiling Yonglehou, I was shocked!It was him?That Marquis of Yongle turned out to be the old master Yun who had a double relationship with me and gave me a jade finger——Yun Chongshan!

I didn't expect him to be the famous Marquis Yongle. I used to think that he was just passing through Cangdu, but I didn't expect him to be in Cangdu all the time!Yongle Hou Yun Chongshan sat down with a smile, his eyes swept across the audience, and I involuntarily shrank behind Fu Dakang. It would be bad if I was recognized by Mr. Yun. I disguised myself as a man and sneaked in. Cheating, I don't want to mess up the rich and young.Thinking of this in his heart, he lowered his head even more, fortunately there were so many people in the garden, this Marquis Yong Le probably wouldn't have noticed a little book boy, but he was still very worried.

Grandpa Yun saw that all the scholars were trembling when they saw him coming, and said with a smile: "Everyone, don't be cautious, just sit down."

I secretly complained, Fu Dakang sat down, and when I stood behind him, no one would help me as a shield, so I had to lower my head even lower. Fortunately, Fu Dakang was sitting far away from the octagonal pavilion.Only to hear that Yongle Hou said with a smile: "Just now on the way, my little boy gave me an anagram, which is quite interesting. Is there anyone here who is interested in trying it?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Fu Dakang's nemesis Young Shaorong stand up and said with a smile, "Please ask Lord Hou to come up with a question, Shaorong is willing to give it a try."

"Students are also willing to give it a try." Immediately, other students stood up one after another, unwilling to be outdone.Seeing the enthusiastic answerers, Yongle Hou was very satisfied, he smiled and said to the girl in colorful clothes standing behind him: "Jin'er, read the riddle to the young masters."

The girl in colorful clothes came out and read with a smile: "Young masters, listen carefully, the riddle is 'I have a creature that was born by coincidence, half scales and half hair, half of which is hard to live out of water, and half of which is hard to survive in water'. If you guys have solved the answer, please write the answer and your name on a piece of paper and present it."

The scholars were thinking about it, and it seemed that someone had already thought of the answer, and stepped forward to write down the answer.I smiled slightly, this old man can adjust the atmosphere, and with this little word puzzle, the tense atmosphere was easily resolved.When Fu Dakang saw someone writing the answer to the riddle, he turned his head and asked me in a low voice: "Do you know the answer?"

"Young Master, do you want to answer too?" I asked with a smile.

"Who doesn't like being in the limelight." Fu Dakang saw that Nian Shaorong was also writing the answer to the riddle, and hummed, "It's best to suppress that young Shaorong's arrogance."

It's not difficult to suppress his arrogance.I thought about it, and said softly: "This is a 'fresh' character, but the young master went up to write the answer, it's best not to write the answer directly, why not..." I whispered in his ear, his eyes lit up, and he smiled Nodding his head, he said repeatedly: "Good! Good!"

Fu Dakang got the answer to the riddle, and hurried to the desk, that young Shaorong happened to finish writing the answer to the riddle on another table, raised his eyes and saw Fu Dakang coming over, and hummed softly: "Why, Young Master Fu also got the answer to the riddle?"

Fu Dakang snorted, ignored him, and just wrote with a pen, that year Shaorong didn't care about him, he just presented his answer, and Fu Dakang also presented the answer after writing the answer.The little boy in colorful clothes stood there collecting the answers, probably seeing the right one, so he nodded and put the answers aside, when she took Fu Dakang's answer, his face was slightly surprised, and he raised his eyes to look at Fu Dakang , turned around and ran into the pavilion, and presented the answer to Yonglehou.Yonglehou looked at it, smiled "haha", looked up at Fu Dakang, and praised: "This puzzle is not difficult at all, but Mr. Fu put a lot of thought into solving it." Saying this, he handed the answer to the puzzle in his hand to someone next to him. An old man, the old man took a look at the answer, nodded, and read out with a smile: "'I have something on both sides, which is delicious and fragrant at the same time, and at the same time I go up the mountain to eat green grass, and at the same time I go into the sea to hide myself'. The solution is really good. .”

When the young man over there heard this, his expression sank.The riddle posed by the colorful boy Jin'er was originally easy to solve. In order to ease the atmosphere of the poetry competition, Yong Lehou came up with this puzzle, and most people could guess the answer.But Fu Dakang wrote the answer unscrupulously, but took a slant and wrote a riddle, which happened to solve Jin'er's riddle. Obviously, the intention of this answer was to win everyone.People who knew Fu Dakang before looked at him in surprise and whispered.Having won the praise of Lord Hou, Fu Dakang sat down proudly, looked up at Nian Shaorong complacently, saw Nian Shaorong's face was ashen, and snorted coldly, he must be elated and very happy!Then he looked up at me and whispered, "Well done!"

I lowered my eyebrows and looked down, not daring to answer him.This rich young master is also true, now that he is in the limelight, there are so many eyes in the audience, all of them are staring at him, he does not avoid suspicion at all.I secretly raised my eyes to glance into the octagonal pavilion, and sure enough, I saw Yong Lehou's gaze sweeping over to look at him, I quickly lowered my face, and turned my head slightly.

I only heard an old man in the booth announce the official start of the poetry competition. In the first round, there was a topic "Wing Chun". When it became lively, everyone's eyes no longer fell on this side.I thought about it for a while. I can’t use the poems with allusions. I’m afraid it will be self-defeating. I can’t use the ones that are too difficult to understand. Fu Dakang told him in his ear that Fu Dakang read it lightly, stood up confidently, and went to write poems.

When the poems of the students were all hung on the rope, a middle-aged scholar stood out from the pavilion and read the poems on the rope one by one to the gentlemen in the pavilion. I saw that Fu Dakang didn’t care much about other people’s poems. I just listened carefully to the poems written by Nian Shaorong, and only listened to the middle-aged scholar read:
The new knowledge of the sunset is twice the spring, and the cold weather is old and the water is coming.

When Liuxia grows old, she is always a guest, and when the sun sets and spring comes, she feels divine.

The middle-aged scholar nodded and said with a smile: "This is "Wing Chun" written by Young Master Rong."

Fu Dakang didn't know whether it was good or bad, so he just asked in a low voice, "How is his poem going?"

"Shang Ke." Seeing Fu Dakang's nervous face, I smiled lightly, "Don't worry, young master, I think your song is even better."

Hearing what I said, Fu Dakang smiled with his small eyes narrowed, and said in a low voice, "I think so too."

I almost couldn't help laughing, so I had to nod in agreement.I only heard the middle-aged scholar read a few more poems, including Fu Dakang's poem:

The jasper makeup is one tree high, and ten thousand green silk ribbons hang down.

I don't know who cut out the thin leaves, the spring breeze in February is like scissors.

The middle-aged scholar paused, and said in surprise: "This is "Ode to the Willow" written by Mr. Fu Dakang."

As soon as this remark came out, there was another "buzzing" sound at the scene. That young Shaorong looked at Fu Dakang with a look of surprise on his face, with surprise and doubt in his eyes, snorted coldly, and mocked: "It seems that Fu Dakang is here today. The young master came prepared."

Fu Dakang raised his eyes and sneered, "Why, are you prepared for it alone?"

That year, Shaorong was about to speak, when he suddenly heard someone whisper: "The spring breeze in February is like scissors, but it is unique and vivid." Everyone looked up and saw a young man with a sick face sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed over, Beside him was a beautiful girl.I raised my eyebrows in surprise, I knew the man pushing the cart, he was Mr. Yun's servant Yun De, but I didn't know who this sick man sitting in the wooden wheelchair was?
But seeing Fu Dakang's body startled, his expression was a little excited, he pulled my sleeve, I leaned down, Fu Dakang glanced at the sick son, and said nervously: "Xue..., Miss Xue is also here It's..."

snowfall?I raised my eyes to look at the beautiful woman next to the sick man, and it turned out that she was Miss Jiangxue. Pulled his sleeve: "Master, don't be too rude."

But he heard Yonglehou laughing and saying: "Why does Zheng'er have the energy to join in the fun today?"

Yunde carried the wooden wheelchair to the octagonal pavilion, all the elders in the pavilion stood up except Yonglehou: "Young Master Zheng!" The sick man waved his hands: "Seniors, please sit down." : "Grandfather, my grandson is so bored staying in the house, I want to come out for a walk."

Then everyone came to their senses and whispered: "Ah, it turns out to be Mr. Yunzheng from Yongle Houfu."

I saw everyone was surprised, Fu Dakang also stared at the pavilion, and asked softly: "Young Master, why don't you know Young Master Sun of the Hou Mansion?"

Fu Dakang said in a low voice: "Mr. Yunzheng has been weak and sick since he was a child, and he stays behind closed doors all day long. Few people have seen him."

But I saw an old man in green in the octagonal pavilion frowned and looked at Jiang Xue and said, "Xue'er, are you naughty? I won't let you come to the poetry competition, so you went to hang on to Master Zheng?"

Xue Xue's face flushed slightly, she pouted and said, "Grandpa, brother Yun Zheng wants to come too..."

"Nonsense!" The old man scolded softly, "Why are you so ignorant..."

"Old Yu, don't scold her either, just let Zheng'er come out to get some air." Yong Lehou waved his hand and said indifferently, then turned to look at Yun Zheng with a loving face, "Since you're here, why don't you give them a Play around with the topic."

Yun Zheng smiled faintly, and there was no trace of blood on his pale face: "Xue Xue has been admiring this poetry competition for a long time, how about letting Xue Xue present a question?"

Yu Jiangxue's eyes lit up when he heard it, and he said with a smile, "Since brother Yunzheng said so, how about asking them to compose a poem with the title 'Lovesickness'?"

"Xue'er, from a girl's family, why are you so frivolous and rude?" Mrs. Yu wanted to scold her again, but Yun Zheng smiled and said lightly, "That's fine!" When Mr. Yu heard the suspicious look, he immediately shut up.From the respectful and courteous attitude of those people in the pavilion towards him, I thought that although Mr. Yunzheng was sick and weak, he seemed to have great prestige, and this kind of prestige did not only seem to come from the power of the Yonglehou clan.

Now that the problem came up, all the students naturally had to show off and rushed forward to grab the desks one after another.I saw that Fu Dakang was just staring at Yu Jiangxue obsessively, and that Miss Jiangxue glanced into the arena, and when she saw Fu Dakang, she immediately moved away as if nothing had happened.I rolled my eyes and said in a low voice, "Young master, that song "Autumn Wind Ci" that day can be given to Miss Xue Xue."

"Give it away." Fu Dakang came back to his senses, and I smiled, "Did Miss Jiangxue take it? Didn't you return it?"

"Accepted, no refund." Fu Dakang's face was a little dark red, and I had an idea in my mind. I am afraid that Miss Yu is here today to take the Fu Dakang exam. He read Li Shangyin's "Untitled" "Last Night's Stars" to his ear, thinking about the second half of the poem, fearing that it might not correspond to Fu Dakang's situation, so he only read the first half, and Fu Dakang's eyes widened. Liang, with a happy face, happily stood up to write a poem.

After all the students finished writing the poem, they heard that Yu Jiangxue stopped the middle-aged scholar who wanted to read the poem, and said to Yun Zheng, "Brother Yun Zheng, let me read it." Beside the rope, he read the poems of the students one by one. When he was young, Fu Dakang was obviously nervous, and he only heard Miss Xue Xue read word by word:
After a man from Nanguan returned, Chuse Wuxin went up to the moon.

Tears are full of blowing sand and often pile up in disorder, worrying about the news is the most lovesick.

After Yu Jiangxue finished reading, he raised his eyes to look at Nian Shaorong, and said with a smile: "Young Master Nian's poem is so affectionate, could it be that he already has a sweetheart?"

Nian Shaorong quickly stood up and said: "Miss Yu is joking. This is just a random thing."

"Really?" Yu Jiangxue smiled, and didn't ask any more, then read other people's poems, and when he read Fu Dakang, his voice became louder for some reason:

The stars last night and the wind last night, the east side of Guitang on the west side of the painting building.

The body has no colorful phoenix and wings, but the heart has a tacit understanding.

The more you read down, the more surprised you sounded in your tone.After reading this poem, she glanced at Fu Dakang. I thought she would say something, but she ignored it and went on to read the next person.Fu Dakang's face turned from expectation to disappointment, he looked up at me suspiciously, and I said softly: "Young master, don't be discouraged, don't look at the surface in everything."

Fu Dakang was uneasy. After Yu Jiangxue finished reading, he returned to the Bajiao Pavilion, only to hear Hou Yongle ask Yun Zheng with a smile: "Which son of Zheng'er thinks the poem is better this round?"

Yun Zheng kept drooping his eyelashes indifferently, and raised his eyelids lightly when he heard his grandfather's question: "The grandson only remembered two sentences, 'the body has no colorful phoenix and wings, but the heart has a clear understanding'."

Hearing this, Hou Yongle smiled and nodded. Although he didn't say anything, Fu Dakang looked happy. With Yun Zheng's words, he won this round.I looked up and saw Nian Shaorong's face was ashen, and Yu Jiangxue was standing behind Yun Zheng with his head down, with no special expression on his face, but the corners of his lips were slightly hooked up.

I only heard an old man in the pavilion laughing and saying: "The poems of all the gentlemen are very good, but it's a bit boring to write for two rounds. Why don't you come and play a game?"

Yonglehou said with a smile: "What new ideas does Mr. Xia have?"

"It's better to play Poetry Solitaire. Each young master only needs to answer a sentence. You don't need to write it on paper, you just need to read it." The old Xia smiled while twisting his beard.

Both Fu Dakang and I were stunned.God, didn't this old man come here to tear down the stage?Could it be that my cheating with Fu Dakang was seen out?I almost vomited blood, read it face to face, if I didn’t write it, even if I had time to come up with the poem of Solitaire, how would I tell Fu Dakang, everyone was staring at him at that time.Just as he was so anxious that he couldn't think about it, he only heard Yongle Hou say: "This game is not bad, then Mr. Xia can come up with a random question and play."

It's over.Not only Fu Dakang's face was covered with cold sweat, but I also saw sweat on my forehead.Fu Dakang said in a low voice: "What should we do? Why don't we use an excuse to be courteous? Avoid it?"

"That's impossible!" I raised my eyes to see Yu Jiangxue's gaze sweeping over intentionally or unintentionally, and secretly cried out in my heart, "Miss Jiangxue is paying attention to you."

"Then what should I do?" Fu Dakang's face turned green, and I whispered: "Now we can only play by ear. After a while, you stand up and pick up the poem. I will read it softly behind you. You should pay attention to it."

Fu Dakang wiped his sweat, his voice was a little trembling: "That's the only way to go."

Mr. Xia had already started to come up with a question, and read a line of poem: "Moshangjiao blows spring, please follow up one by one."

A scholar who was closest to the pavilion stood up, pondered for a while, and read: "The spring is blowing on the corner of the moshang, and the music is heard in the pool."

"Okay!" Mr. Xia nodded, and the students next to the scholar continued the poem one by one. Some of them had to think for a long time, while others could answer it immediately. Although the sentences were not perfect, the game was played without interruption.Seeing that Fu Dakang was about to meet him, he was so nervous that his face turned pale. At this time, the wheel had turned to the scholar in front of Nian Shaorong, and the scholar continued the poems of the people in front of him: "Xichi Qizhan, Beisai Yiting Spring. "

After he finished reading and sat down, Nian Shaorong stood up unhurriedly, and continued: "Beisai Yiting Spring, Spring Mian does not wake up." As he said, his eyes swept over Fu Dakang: "Master Fu, it's your turn .”

Fu Dakang stood up sweating profusely, but my heart sank instead, "Chun Mian doesn't feel dawn", it's God helping me, isn't the next sentence just right after "I hear birds singing everywhere"?I quickly stood behind Fu Dakang, covered me with his [-]-jin fat body, and whispered behind him: "Smell birds singing everywhere".Fu Dakang wiped his sweat: "What?"

"Birds are heard everywhere." I repeated it again, not daring to be too loud. Everyone in the audience stared at Fu Dakang, but Fu Dakang nodded and said: "Chun Mian doesn't know the dawn..." I His heart was relieved, fortunately he heard it, but he heard Fu Dakang continue: "Mosquito bites everywhere..."

"Coax..." The room roared with laughter, I rolled my eyes, and almost passed out!Everyone was overjoyed, especially Nian Shaorong, who laughed the most wantonly. He covered his belly and looked at Fu Dakang with a sarcasm: "Master Fu, it seems that you were bitten by mosquitoes this spring, and I feel deeply..."

Fu Dakang's face was green, and he kept wiping the fine sweat off his face. Everyone saw him in a state of distress, and there was a "buzzing" sound. I sneaked a glance into the pavilion, and saw Yu Jiangxue's expression was a bit strange .But I heard a calm voice from the pavilion: "The mosquitoes this spring are a bit annoying, and I also suffer from them, and I have experienced the feelings of the rich son."

The laughter stopped immediately, and everyone looked at Mr. Yunzheng who had rescued Fu Dakang, and did not dare to say anything in front of this Young Master Sun of the Hou Mansion.Yonglehou looked at Fu Dakang meaningfully, and I even hid behind him and dared not move, but I heard Yonglehou said with a smile: "This is the end of Poetry Solitaire, and the game is about the same."

Relieved, Fu Dakang sat down sweating profusely.I can't help but have a good impression of Mr. Yunzheng in my heart. This is the demeanor of a real nobleman. He is magnanimous, tolerant, and considerate. Looking at that young man with a mean face, he pretended to be a rich man. The dragon robe doesn't look like a prince either!
I only heard Old Man Yu say: "For this last round, according to the usual practice, Master Hou should come up with the questions. I don't know what kind of questions Master Hou will come up with this year?"

Yonglehou pondered and said: "A man who stands between heaven and earth should not worry about spring and autumn all day long. He should have great ambitions and a good plan in order to contribute to his family and country. It is better to write a poem with the title of "Yong Zhi" , what do you think?"

Lord Hou opened his mouth, and naturally no one objected.Yong Zhi..., my head is getting bigger, there are quite a few heroic and expressive poems written by the ancients in my time and space, but most of them contain allusions, place names and people's names that do not exist in this time and space, which are absolutely unusable .Looking at Fu Dakang's expectant eyes, I felt my head throbbing. He had just made a fool of himself, so he must really hope to save face in the last round.Seeing that someone has already gone up to write poems, I feel even more flustered, "Huangsha wears golden armor in a hundred battles, and will not return it until he breaks Loulan?" No, there is no such place as Loulan here. Husband?" No, what if someone asks who Huang Chao is?There is no code, there is no code, I secretly cursed in my heart why Mr. Yun had such a wicked problem.A man should have the whole world in his mind, and when you think that everyone can "hold the Wu hook with one hand, his spirit is higher than a hundred-foot building?" How many people can do it like..., wait, I just remembered that sentence, it seems to be not bad, it seems It is a poem of "Ten Laws" written by Li Hongzhang when he entered Beijing for an exam. There is no allusion. It is enough to replace "Lugou Bridge" with "Cangdu Mansion". Pay attention to Fu Dakang, and quickly attached it to Fu Dashao's ear and recited the poem to him. Fu Dashao read it softly. I don't know if it was because of the embarrassment that just happened, the psychological pressure increased, and the tension was too high, or the Qilu was too long to remember. , I just can't read clearly.I saw sweat on my forehead, and when I saw Fu Dakang also looked panic-stricken, I became ruthless, thought for a while, cut off the beginning and the end of the poem, leaving only the middle four lines, and read it again to Fu Dakang, this time He finally read it clearly.I wiped off my sweat, and saw that others had almost finished writing, so I hurriedly pushed him up, and Fu Dakang finally finished writing the poem after wiping off his sweat.

The middle-aged scholar came down to read poems again. I have no intention of hearing how other people's poems are doing. I just hope to pass this test soon. To be honest, the artistic conception of Li Hongzhang's poem is much worse if the beginning and the end are cut like this. , I always feel that the explanation is not clear, and I can't control so much. Who made Fu Dakang himself worthless, so useless at critical moments.The middle-aged scholar finally stopped in front of the poem written by Fu Dakang. Everyone wanted to see Fu Dakang making a fool of himself, and they all had weird smiles on their faces, and listened with their ears straightened up, especially Young Shaorong winking at the follower behind him. You are angry, even if the artistic conception of this poem is a little bit worse, it is much better than the one you wrote just now, but I heard the middle-aged scholar read aloud:
Who wrote the history for 1 years, and found a prince from eight thousand miles away.

If you will be quick to follow the journey, you will have the leisure to chase the water gulls!
The audience suddenly fell silent, and the faces of those who were watching the joke froze, only to hear Yong Lehou laughing and saying: "Okay, okay, Mr. Fu woke up from being bitten by mosquitoes, learned from the pain, and the sentences he made are extraordinary!"

Everyone laughed again, and Fu Dakang smiled awkwardly.Yonglehou continued: "Today's poetry competition, all the young masters have put in a lot of effort. Benhou has prepared a banquet. Please move to the flower hall to have a drink. As for the ranking, it will be decided after several judges discuss it. After finishing speaking, Yonglehou stood up, and Yun Zheng raised his eyes to look at Yonglehou: "Grandfather, my grandson feels a little tired, so I won't go."

"Then you go back and rest." Yong Lehou told Yun De in a blink of an eye, "Send Young Master Sun back to rest."

Everyone got up to send Yun Zheng away. I saw that the poetry competition was over, so I hurriedly said to Fu Dakang: "Young master, I have nothing to do with you. I'll take a step first."

"Aren't you going to the banquet?" Fu Dakang asked in surprise. I rolled my eyes. I'm pretending to be your servant now. As soon as I was recognized by Mr. Yun, didn't the cheating behavior show up immediately?I whispered: "Master, you are confused, in case my identity is exposed..."

When Fu Dakang heard it, he immediately understood, and hurriedly said: "All right, then you go back first!"

——2006, September, 12
(End of this chapter)