Next, the scholars flattered each other again, attracting frequent glances from the young women, who were quite pleased with themselves.
The fat scholar was pushed out of the crowd and stood alone outside, looking somewhat lonely.
Of course, once he was out of the public eye, the fat scholar started talking more.
"Keep pretending!"
"Pah, that's disgusting!"
"I write doggerel? You guys are just oil sellers!"
"Hmph, all that talk, but you all still don't dare to write it, do you?"
"I can't write poetry, and yours aren't much better than mine!"
"..."
Seeing the fat scholar muttering to himself, Jing Zhe found it amusing, so he walked up to him and patted him on the back.
The fat scholar was nearly scared to death by the slap, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he turned around and saw Jing Zhe.
"Why is it you?"
He glanced around and, seeing that no one else was looking in his direction, the fat scholar breathed a sigh of relief. If they had heard what he said earlier, it probably wouldn't have just been mockery; they might have even beaten him up!
"You've come to the poetry gathering too?"
Jing Zhe nodded and smiled, "I must thank Brother Wei. It's only natural that I had to come and see such a grand peach blossom poetry gathering!"
"How...how did you know my surname is Wei?"
The fat scholar's surname was indeed Wei, but no one usually called him "Brother Wei" like Jing Zhe did. Instead, they all called him Fatty Wei, because he was really too fat. So when he heard Jing Zhe call him that, Fatty Wei was very touched.
Then he thought about it again, and realized that Jing Zhe must have heard those people calling him Fatty Wei, so his mood became a little down: "You must have heard what they said just now, right?"
Jing Zhe nodded without comment, then asked, "It seems they dislike Brother Wei quite a bit. I wonder why?"
"Oh, it's because they're jealous of me..."
"..."
Jing Zhe had assumed that this Fatty Wei would start bragging like those scholars—that they were jealous of him and that's why they were slandering him. But the key point was that Jing Zhe hadn't found anything about Fatty Wei that was worth being jealous of!
However, after Wei Pangzi explained things to him, Jing Zhe finally understood the whole story.
Fatty Wei's surname is Wei, his given name is Zhijian, and his nickname is Wei Zhijian.
Jiangling has many scholars. Children generally enter private schools as soon as they reach a certain age. Therefore, if you randomly pick someone out of Jiangling, they are a scholar, regardless of their interests or age.
Fatty Wei doesn't like studying; he only loves eating and drinking. His family is in business and quite well-off, so he can eat and drink well at every meal, which is why he's so fat.
When he was in school, he couldn't concentrate in class and slept most of the time, so he couldn't write any poetry. It would be quite an achievement for him to write even a doggerel.
Not everyone in the school is rich; in fact, most of the students come from impoverished backgrounds. After all, everyone needs to attend school, but the wealthy are few and far between.
Therefore, rich people like Fatty Wei became an anomaly. While others could only eat vegetables and rice, he ate chicken, duck, fish and meat with gusto. Who could tolerate that?
Therefore, it's normal for Fatty Wei to say that everyone is jealous of him.
Jing Zhe couldn't help but sigh after hearing this. It's really something that someone is envied for eating. However, if Fatty Wei went to his world, he would definitely become a very awesome food streamer. It can only be said that he was born at the wrong time.
After expressing sympathy for Wei Pangzi's plight, Jing Zhe asked curiously, "Brother Wei, in my opinion, although your poem is a bit simple, it's still easy to recite. They asked you to write it, so just write it down. What are you afraid of?"
Fatty Wei knew his own limitations very well, and blushed immediately after being praised by Jing Zhe.
He waved his hand and said, "Brother, you flatter me! My poem... is indeed catchy, but I can't write it down! You didn't see? Not only do I dare not write it, but none of those people dare to write it down, even though they talk about it. It would be shameful to actually write it down!"
"Oh? Why is that?"
Jing Zhe asked curiously.
Next, Fatty Wei explained the rules of the Peach Blossom Poetry Gathering to him.
The Peach Blossom Poetry Gathering has been running for three days, and today is the last day.
People like Fatty Wei, or those unknown scholars who mocked him earlier, all wrote poems a couple of days ago. If nothing unexpected happened, their poems were all mediocre and nothing outstanding.
Of course, they all know their own limitations and are only writing poems to make up the numbers. The truly good poets will write their poems on the third day, which is today.
According to the rules, a maximum of three poems can be left on the stone table, and these three poems are not written randomly.
Just as Jing Zhe had guessed, to leave a poem on the stone table, one either needed to be a highly respected poet, someone whom everyone present greatly admired, to be allowed to leave their calligraphy.
Either one possesses exceptional poetic talent, capable of writing poems that astound and surpass all others, and are universally recognized as the best; only such poems deserve to be inscribed on the stone table.
For this reason, the three poems that are left behind at each Peach Blossom Poetry Gathering are all outstanding works and will be spread to various places for people to appreciate. So if Fatty Wei really writes his doggerel on it, not only will the people of Jiangling laugh at him, but the whole world will laugh at him!
This is why not only Fatty Wei dared not write it, but so many people present dared not write it either!
Jing Zhe understood and asked again, "So, according to Brother Wei, those who can leave their calligraphy haven't arrived yet, right?"
Fatty Wei nodded, glanced behind the door, and said, "At the poetry gathering attended by Young Master Feng and Miss Lin, the two who can win first place are naturally the ones who will win. Not to mention Jiangling, in the entire An Kingdom, who can write better poems than them?"
Under Jing Zhe's persistent questioning, Fatty Wei began to speak again.
Young Master Feng's name is Feng Mubai. He comes from the Feng family, which is a prominent family in Jiangling. Feng Mubai's father, Feng Huanyou, once served as an official in Jingzhou. At his peak, he was a fourth-rank scholar of the Wenyuan Academy. Later, he retired and returned to his hometown of Jiangling. Even the governor of Jiangling had to respectfully address Feng Huanyou as "Master Feng," which shows how high Feng Huanyou's status was.
With Feng Huanyou at the helm, the Feng family is naturally quite powerful. Moreover, the Feng family is related to Lin Qingshan, the leader of the Qingcheng Sect, making them one of the top families in Jiangling City—as for the number one family, that belongs to someone else.
Upon hearing Lin Qingshan's name, Jing Zhe immediately thought of the guy who had once tried to seduce his third sister, Qingqiu, but failed in his love and ended up injuring her at the martial arts tournament. He instantly lost any goodwill towards this complete stranger, Feng Mubai.
————
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