Of the three competitions, Qi Junguang was most confident in this one, which was his calligraphy.

He studied under the National Preceptor of the Southern Qi Dynasty and began copying calligraphy before he could even read. As someone just said, he has truly mastered calligraphy since childhood.

A person's energy is limited. He didn't believe that Jing Zhe, who was proficient in poetry and calligraphy, could also be proficient in calligraphy.

After finishing his poem, he calmly returned to his seat, closed his eyes to rest, and waited to see Jing Zhe.

Zhou Zhiwei didn't dawdle and finished writing it in no time.

In comparison, his handwriting was rather appalling, which is understandable. Jinxi's literary style was weak to begin with, and it was already quite remarkable that he was proficient in poetry. To ask him to write well was indeed asking too much.

Therefore, of the two who finished writing, Qi Junguang was better, and his smile was even brighter.

Zhou Zhiwei maintained a good attitude and was not discouraged by the situation.

Actually, he was already extremely satisfied with advancing to the second round. Moreover, for him, the biggest gain today was not advancing, but meeting Jing Zhe, such an interesting and awesome brother.

After finishing writing, he walked over to Jing Zhe and saw him staring at the Xuan paper on the table, holding the brush in a daze. So he asked curiously, "Brother Jing, why have you been not writing for so long?"

Everyone else held their breath, waiting for his reply.

"because…"

Jing Zhe thought for a moment, then said with some difficulty, "I know too many styles of calligraphy, and I haven't decided which one to write right now."

"..."

Zhou Zhiwei gave him a thumbs up, thinking to himself that his brother Jing was really awesome. He could brag to me, but he did it in front of Emperor An and so many scholars!

"Brother Jing, choose a piece of calligraphy that you are best at and can write the best!"

Jing Zhe spread his hands again: "But... I'm good at everything, and I can write better than him in any one of them!"

After saying that, he gestured towards Qi Junguang with his lip. Zhou Zhiwei was speechless after hearing this and decided not to try to persuade him anymore: There's no way to persuade him with this kind of boasting!

Qi Junguang sneered and mocked, "If you're so capable, write it all down! What's the point of just talking without doing anything?"

Jing Zhe shook his head. "Alright, since it was the Third Prince who said it, then don't blame me for being ruthless!"

"hehe!"

Qi Junguang continued to sneer.

...

Jing Zhe stood still, closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. After a moment, he suddenly opened his eyes.

He then put pen to paper.

Compared to Qi Junguang, his writing posture was strange and his speed was extremely slow. He didn't look like a veteran; he looked more like a novice.

Qi Junguang originally wanted to go over and take a look, but seeing his unfamiliar appearance, he sat back down after he had just sat up.

Just as I guessed, he didn't know calligraphy. He took a sip of tea and remained calm and composed.

Strange noises could be heard from the crowd surrounding Jing Zhe.

"Huh~"

"Oh~"

Ah~

If it weren't for a few grown men uttering those few interjections, people would definitely misunderstand.

"Hmm, Young Master Jing, these characters are square and upright, with straight and vigorous strokes, quite pleasing to the eye. I have studied the classics for many years, but I have never seen this kind of calligraphy before. I wonder..."

"Oh, this is called regular script. It's a style of calligraphy that I created myself. It's square and straight, and can be used as a model. That's why it's called regular script. It's normal that you haven't seen it before!"

Jing Zhe said casually.

"It's actually a font created by Young Master Jing himself? No wonder I've never seen it before! Young Master Jing looks quite young, yet he can create his own font. With such skill, he can be called a master, right?"

A group of people echoed this sentiment.

"Hmm, the handwriting is so messy, all wild and unrestrained, I can vaguely make out a few characters... It seems to be Jingzhou... August... Thousand Flowers?"

Someone pointed to the wildly cursive characters on the rice paper and asked.

"Oh, this is cursive script, also my own creation. It reads, 'In August, the capital city is ablaze with a thousand flowers, like brocade in the daytime!'"

"Amazing, amazing!"

"Ah, I recognize this one! 'A thousand sorrows, three hundred cups of fine wine. Though sorrow is plentiful and wine is scarce, pouring wine will not bring sorrow.' This poem seems to be a perfect match with the two above, and the characters are flat, neat, and exquisite. Could it be that Young Master Jing created this himself?"

"Absolutely! This is called clerical script, which is both rigorous and magnificent yet graceful and lively, and it is also extremely easy to write! As for these two poems, they belong to the same series as the previous two, but they are divided into four parts!"

"..."

As a Chinese literature graduate student, Jing Zhe is very familiar with various fonts and has even copied the calligraphy of various masters, so it is not surprising that he can write them.

If Jing Zhe's writing of lyrics and poems had only amazed these talented men of Jingzhou before, then now he had truly won them over.

They stared intently at the two new poems written in various different, self-created, and extremely elegant and beautiful fonts—any one of which could make them famous—and kept praising them.

"No wonder Young Master Jing insisted that Young Master Chen was the second most talented scholar. With Young Master Jing ahead of him, who would dare to claim to be the best?"

The person speaking had just visited Wuxian Garden the day before yesterday, so he had naturally heard Jing Zhe refer to Chen Jiannan as the "second most talented scholar".

"Indeed, Young Master Jing is undoubtedly the number one talent in Yongzhou!"

"Um... if you don't understand, just ask. Isn't Young Master Jing from Pengzhou?"

"..."

Listening to the flattery from everyone, Jing Zhe felt smug and then added, "Is it just Yongzhou and Pengzhou?"

"Right, it should still be—"

The speaker looked around and, noticing that Song Jimao, who hadn't advanced, had left sometime earlier, boldly declared, "Young Master Jing is equally deserving of the title of the number one talent in Jingzhou!"

With this person starting, the others followed suit without any restraint, showering him with compliments. Finally, someone said, "If you ask me, you're all wrong! Young Master Jing's talent makes him the number one genius in Anguo!"

Indeed, he casually wrote five poems that will be remembered for generations, and his various self-created fonts are all of master quality.

Most importantly, they were also given the opportunity to taste strong liquor, which further enhanced Jing Zhe's image in everyone's eyes, and they were generous with their praise.

So when he said that, everyone responded.

"The greatest talent in Anguo!"

"The greatest talent in Anguo!"

Seeing this, Jing Zhe very modestly pressed his hand down, "No, no...stop!"

"..."

Qi Junguang stood on the outskirts of the crowd, getting increasingly agitated and curious as he listened to everyone's praise of Jing Zhe.

What exactly did he write that could make them react like this?

Could these all be pre-arranged shills?

With this question in mind, Qi Junguang also mingled into the crowded flow of people and approached the table.

"In August, the city of Jingzhou is ablaze with flowers, as beautiful as brocade in the daytime."

"Thoughts are plentiful, but wine is scarce; pouring wine will not bring sorrow."

Upon seeing these two sentences, Qi Junguang felt a chill run down his spine.

Upon seeing that each line of poetry was written in a font he didn't recognize, yet which was extremely elegant and beautiful, he let out a sigh of relief, knowing that he had completely lost.

————