42 Chapter 42
◎Not knowing people well◎
"Brother Xiao, why are you here?" Jiang Jingyun took two steps forward.
"My nephew is born now. I'll take some time to pick out a gift for him." Xiao Muyan said, holding up the small box in his hand.
Jiang Jingyun squinted at him and said, "That's my nephew, not yours. What kind of gift is that?"
Xiao Muyan looked into his eyes and smiled without saying anything.
Jiang Jingyun looked at the other person's expression and suddenly realized what was happening. He immediately felt like he had shot himself in the foot. He coughed awkwardly, touched his nose and changed the subject: "Have you bought it yet? Do you want to go back together?"
Xiao Muyan took the package from him as usual and replied, "I've already picked it out, let's go."
"Oh." Jiang Jingyun followed behind like a quail.
A few days later, after asking the business to take back the letters from home and the gifts they had prepared, everyone returned to their normal routines.
——
This day happened to be a holiday.
Early in the morning, Su Yuheng ran to the Jiang family excitedly, and under the cold eyes of Xiao Muyan, he pulled Jiang Jingyun out of the bed.
"What time is it now? Doesn't the poetry meeting start at 3 p.m.?" Jiang Jingyun rubbed his eyes and got up. He regretted agreeing to Su Yuheng. It was a rare day off, but he had to get up early. "I'm so sleepy..."
"It's the hour of Chen. Have you ever felt sleepy?" I didn't know how many times I had been caught by the teacher during class.
"Ah...ha..." Jiang Jingyun yawned, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, "There are still more than two hours left, why are you in such a hurry?"
"To participate in a poetry gathering, you have to prepare two poems in advance. What if you can't finish one when asked?" Su Yuheng took out a piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to him. "This is what I thought of last night. Please help me see if it works."
Jiang Jingyun was speechless when he saw the piece of paper in front of him. It was the first time he saw someone giving him extra homework and completing it ahead of time. "Shouldn't you go to Brother Zhang for this? He's more knowledgeable."
"I'm just embarrassed." Su Yuheng chuckled.
"...Okay." Jiang Jingyun took the rice paper resignedly. There were two poems on it, one five-character quatrain and the other seven-character regulated verse, corresponding to different scenes. He raised his eyebrows, "You've prepared quite well."
Although he was often accused of writing poems by filling in the words according to the level and oblique tones, and lacking in spirit, Jiang Jingyun still had the foundation of reciting 300 Tang and Song poems, and his appreciation ability was still good. He carefully read Su Yuheng's two poems. Although they were not amazing, they were also somewhat lively. He nodded affirmatively, "It's well written. I can't say it's better than the others, but it's definitely better than half of them."
"Really?" Su Yuheng was delighted, and then he thought of something, "What about you? Have you prepared anything?"
"What's there to prepare? If you have inspiration, just make it up. If you don't have any inspiration, just put your hands in your pockets." Anyway, he didn't know those people, so who cares what they think? Jiang Jingyun went to the kitchen to find the breakfast that his second brother had left for him, and handed Su Yuheng a steamed bun, "Do you want to eat?"
"Eat." I came here without eating anything in the morning and now I'm hungry.
The two chatted after breakfast and continued until lunch time before they slowly went out.
The venue of the poetry gathering was located in a villa on the outskirts of the city. The environment was deep and quiet, surrounded by pine and cypress trees. When the two arrived, many people had already gathered in the yard. Zhang Zhengbai stood outside the pavilion by the lake and waved to them, "Brother Jiang, Brother Su, this way."
When I got closer, I found that in addition to Zhang Zhengbai, there were several young men dressed as scholars in the pavilion. They looked unfamiliar and should not be from their academy. They were sitting around a table covered with pens and ink, drinking wine, tasting tea, reciting poems and painting. They were so free and easy.
"The people sitting here are Brother Zhang, Brother Li, and Brother Wang from Qingshan Academy..." Zhang Zhengbai introduced them one by one from left to right along the table, and then introduced two people to everyone, "These two are my good friends in the academy, Brother Su and Brother Jiang."
Jiang Jingyun and the other person bowed and said, "Nice to meet you."
The other party responded perfunctorily with a casual bow, then enthusiastically pulled Zhang Zhengbai to the table, "Brother Zhang, let's continue talking about the article just now. I think..." The two of them were left standing there awkwardly.
Su Yuheng frowned and was about to say something when Jiang Jingyun spoke first, "Since Brother Zhang is busy, I won't disturb you. I thought this courtyard was very beautiful when I came in. Let's go for a walk around the area. Bye." After that, he took Su Yuheng, who had a depressed look on his face, and left.
The two of them walked around the lakeside promenade at will. After walking for a while, Jiang Jingyun suddenly smiled and said, "Luckily we came here after lunch, otherwise we would still be hungry. I just secretly looked at their table and saw a few plates of dry snacks. Who can eat them? They just sit there and drink in the northwest wind, not even bothering to burn their stomachs."
Su Yuheng rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Do you only have food in your eyes? Aren't you angry at those people's attitude?"
"What's there to be angry about? The world is full of people who step on the powerful and flatter the weak." Jiang Jingyun said indifferently, "Besides, there's nothing good about making friends with such people. Wouldn't it be better to see through them sooner rather than later?"
"That's true," but Su Yuheng was still unhappy, "Then my poem was prepared in vain?!"
"How about you read it again here and I'll praise you again?" Jiang Jingyun gave him a bad idea.
"No, your praise is not good enough."
"Tsk, you're still picking it up..."
The two were bickering as they walked, when suddenly they heard a voice from behind: "Brother Jiang, Brother Su, wait for me..."
Turning around, they saw Zhang Zhengbai holding the corner of his clothes and walking towards them breathlessly. Both of them were a little surprised, "Why is Brother Zhang here?"
Zhang Zhengbai stood there for a long while before catching his breath. He explained awkwardly, "I don't know those people. We just happened to sit together to discuss the article. I didn't expect... I chased you out after you left, but I didn't expect you to leave so quickly. You disappeared in the blink of an eye..."
Seeing Zhang Zhengbai sweating in the cool late autumn, Jiang Jingyun couldn't bear it and suggested, "Why don't we find a place to sit nearby?"
After walking a short distance, the three of them found a stone table. Not long after they sat down, two maids suddenly appeared from nowhere, brought them snacks, drinks, paper, ink, and brushes, and then left quietly, leaving Jiang Jingyun, who had never seen the world, amazed.
Su Yuheng picked up the wine pot and poured wine for the two of them. He introduced it to Jiang Jingyun, "This villa is owned by a wealthy businessman in the city. He likes to show off his literary talent and often holds poetry gatherings like this. I have never been here before and didn't expect it to be like this."
Seeing Zhang Zhengbai was a little embarrassed, Jiang Jingyun changed the subject to smooth things over, "Hey, isn't a poetry gathering just about drinking and writing poetry? The three of us can do the same." After saying that, he took out a package from his sleeve mysteriously, "Hey, I also brought you some snacks to go with the wine."
The things were wrapped in lotus leaves with a layer of oil paper inside. They were wrapped tightly. Only after opening them could I smell the fragrance. It turned out to be braised chicken wings and duck necks.
"I was wondering why I always felt that your sleeves were bulging. Turns out you were hiding something." Su Yuheng was speechless. "Everyone else is here to enjoy the scenery and write lyrics, but you're here to eat braised food? I always feel like I've been lowered in class for some reason..."
"Then don't eat it."
"That won't work." Su Yuheng grabbed a duck neck and started chewing it, taking a sip of wine from time to time, looking contented. "This stewed food is perfect as a side dish for drinking, why isn't it sold in restaurants?"
"Yes, but I have to wait until I research a few more duck dishes." Otherwise, it would be too expensive to sell just that for a duck. Jiang Jingyun called out to Zhang Zhengbai, who seemed a little reserved, "Brother Zhengbai, would you like to try it too?"
"Yes, yes, yes, Brother Zhengbai, please try it, it's really delicious."
Zhang Zhengbai was taught to be cautious in his words and deeds since he was a child, and to behave like a gentleman. When he first saw someone living such a carefree life, he was very envious and inexplicably infected. He followed them and picked up a duck neck with his hands to eat, "It tastes really good."
After finishing the stewed food and drinking almost all the wine, the greedy Su Yuheng got drunk and slammed the table with a red face, saying, "We've seen the scenery and drank the wine, now it's time to write a poem. Who goes first?"
"...Why haven't you forgotten this yet? How much do you want to write poetry?" Jiang Jingyun was almost speechless at his persistence.
"You go first?" Su Yuheng, who was drunk, came over and asked.
"I won't." Jiang Jingyun stretched his neck to avoid him and shook his head to refuse.
Zhang Zhengbai wiped his hands carefully with a handkerchief and said with a smile: "Why don't you let me go first?"
"Okay, then let's take 'Autumn' as the theme and write a poem based on this scene."
Zhang Zhengbai nodded, thought for a moment, and then wrote on the paper: "In the green mountains and white mist, the hermits are happy with each other. When we look at each other, we climb to the top, and our hearts rise with the autumn wind." [1]
"Good poem!" Jiang Jingyun praised. As expected of the top of the list, his writing was brilliant. No wonder those people rushed to curry favor with him. He looked at Su Yuheng, "Would you like to write one?"
“Come on.” Su Yuheng did not use the two poems he had prepared in advance, but composed another one on the spot. “Since ancient times, autumn has brought sadness and loneliness. I say that autumn is better than spring. When the autumn wind blows in the clear sky, it brings poetic sentiment to the sky. [2]”
"Okay!" Jiang Jingyun, who seemed to have turned into a ruthless machine of praise and applause, suddenly felt that all eyes were focused on him. The meaning in their eyes was obvious: It's your turn.
"This..." Jiang Jingyun hesitated, "I don't need it..."
"No, one song each, that's fair!"
"That's fair. I don't care." Jiang Jingyun, who was forced to do something, looked at the sweet-scented osmanthus tree in the courtyard helplessly under the expectant gazes of the two people, and gritted his teeth and composed a poem, "I listen to the sweet-scented osmanthus flowers falling, and drink Qingzhou wine. The wind rises and scares the mountain birds, and the autumn breeze blows my clothes cold." [3]
..., no one responded.
Jiang Jingyun scratched his head, "Is it that bad?"
The two looked at each other, and Zhang Zhengbai murmured, "Sure enough, Brother Jiang was being modest before..."
Su Yuheng came over and asked bluntly, "Have you come to your senses?"
"Well, it was just a flash of inspiration." Jiang Jingyun stood up uncomfortably and greeted the two of them, "Okay, we've enjoyed the wine and poems, let's stop here today and go back."
After the poetry reading, the level of poetry writing did not improve much, but the relationship between the three became much closer.
【Author’s words】
[1] The original text is from Meng Haoran’s “Autumn Climbing Lanshan to Send a Letter to Zhang Wu”: In the white clouds of the northern mountains, the hermit is contented. I climbed up the height to see you, and my heart disappeared with the flying geese. Sadness arises at dusk, and excitement starts in the autumn. Sometimes I see people returning to the village, walking on the sand and resting at the ferry. The trees on the horizon are like shepherd's purse, and the island by the river is like the moon.
[2] The original text is from Liu Yuxi’s “Autumn Lyrics”: Since ancient times, people have felt sad and lonely when autumn comes. I say that autumn is better than spring. A crane flies above the clouds in the clear sky, bringing poetic sentiment to the blue sky.
[3] The original text is from Wang Wei’s “Birds Singing in the Valley”: When people are idle, the sweet-scented osmanthus flowers fall, and the spring mountains are empty in the quiet night. The rising moon startled the mountain birds, which sometimes chirped in the spring stream.
(It has been slightly modified according to the real scene, so please forgive me for the poor imitation.)
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