Xu Wenwu nodded and said, "He's quite courageous. Facing such harsh words, he remained unmoved. This shows how calm he is."

Qian Xuedong and others nodded in agreement.

Master Wen on the stage also noticed that this person was different, so he took the initiative to bow and said, "Brother, I am really sorry. The words of this distant relative of mine only represent himself, not me. I hope you can forgive me."

"Master Wen, it's okay. He can't affect me." The young man returned the greeting.

"May I ask what your name is?" asked Master Wen.

"My surname is Zheng and my name is Yaoyang."

"It turns out to be Master Zheng. My name is Wen Yuan. If you have any problems in the future, you can come to the Wen Mansion to find me." Master Wen smiled faintly.

"Thank you very much, Brother Wen."

The middle-aged man said, "Okay, now that all ten of us are here, we'll start the competition by drawing lots. Here are ten slips of paper. Each of you draws one and has to write a four-character poem using the words on the slip. Whoever can do it will advance!"

The servant brought a wooden box with ten rolls of paper inside.

Each of the ten people on the stage drew a card, opened it and looked at it. Some people frowned when they saw the topic they drew, while others smiled.

"Ten gentlemen, you only have half an incense stick of time. Write down whatever comes to mind so that everyone in the audience can see it together."

Zheng Yaoyang was the first to start writing. His pen kept moving without stopping, but he stopped writing after a while.

The middle-aged man was a little surprised and said, "Mr. Zheng, did you think of it so quickly? It's really amazing."

At the same time, Wen Yuan also stopped writing, while some people continued to think and write.

"It's not easy to get these five hundred taels. We only have half an incense stick of time, and we don't even know the topic, so we have to improvise." Qian Xuedong said.

The others nodded, it was indeed a bit difficult.

When the time is up, everyone must stop writing.

The middle-aged man took out the poem written by Zheng Yaoyang, as he was the first to finish. He said, "Mr. Zheng drew a poem about the wind. Let me read it to you."

"Wind and frost give rise to white angelica, whose fierce energy reaches the heavens. Beyond the blue clouds, the cold water flows clear and gurgling."

"good!"

After the middle-aged man finished reading, there was applause and cheers from the audience.

"Don't you look down on Master Zheng on the stage? Now you know there are people out there, right?"

The man who had just argued with Gao Yuan said.

"Hmph! I haven't even read the poem written by my brother Wen! It's definitely a thousand times better than this poor scholar's." Gao Yuan remained arrogant.

The man looked at him with disdain. Young Master Wen had already distanced himself from him, but he was still trying to establish a relationship with him. This was too shameless.

"This Young Master Zheng is really amazing. He has created such a profound poem in such a short time. You can't judge a book by its cover!" Qian Xuedong said with emotion.

"Yes, fortunately the dean brought us out, allowing me to see that there are so many knowledgeable people out there." said a classmate.

"Brother Zheng, you have great literary talent! I admire you." Wen Yuan said.

"Brother Wen, please come and talk."

Wen Yuan admired Zheng Yaoyang's character very much. Knowing that he was the prefect's son, he did not take the initiative to make friends with him. It can be seen that he is an upright person.

"Next, let's read the poem that Master Wen wrote with snow." said the middle-aged man.

"After the snow, there is the source of the river, and the mountain people are unmatched. Flowers and moon are on the empty steps, and the sky shines all over the palace."

“Good, wonderful!”

"Yes! I didn't expect Master Wen to be so knowledgeable!"

The middle-aged man also showed a look of satisfaction. He was also a person who loved poetry. He set up this competition mainly to take this opportunity to collect some good poems. It seemed that the five hundred taels were not a loss.

Among the remaining eight people, six also succeeded, but they were still far behind the first two.

Two others only completed half of the task and failed to complete the rest, so they had to leave with regret.

But no one laughed at him. After all, this was a bit difficult, and not everyone was as talented as the two people mentioned above.

The middle-aged man continued, "Now we will move on to the next round. I will give you ten first couplets, and the two people with the fewest correct answers will be eliminated."

"Interesting, are you going to answer it quickly?" Qian Xuedong said with a smile.

"Whoever raises the wooden sign first will answer first. Please listen to the question. Green water is originally worry-free, but it wrinkles because of the wind. Please answer."

"That's an interesting couple. I haven't heard couplets this short before."

"The shorter it is, the harder it is to get it right! And it has to be neat too, how difficult!"

"Brother Wen, come on! Kick this poor bastard off the stage!"

Gao Yuan's voice sounded, and the people around him all looked sideways, speechlessly looking at the man who was jumping around like a monkey.

The people on the stage who were thinking frowned when they heard the shout. They were thinking but were affected by the sharp voice and suddenly became angry.

Although Gao Yuan was the son of a county magistrate, there were many people who came this time from wealthy and powerful families. Some of them had much stronger backgrounds than him. Seeing that he had angered everyone, he said no more, but stared at Zheng Yaoyang on the stage with resentment.

"The green mountains are never old, but they turn white because of the snow." A faint voice came out.

"Green water against green mountains, wrinkles against white hair, what a perfect match!"

"Yes, it's neat and rhymes. This Master Zheng is truly talented. I can't compare to him!"

The middle-aged man laughed and said, "Great! Well done, Master Zheng! Many people have matched the second line of this couplet before, but none of them matched it as well as Master Zheng. This first point goes to Master Zheng!"

The other people on the stage also admired Zheng Yaoyang. Judging from his clothes, his family background must not be very good. Unexpectedly, he was more capable than them, who had hired a teacher to teach them since they were five years old.

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