Having witnessed the whole thing, Jing Zhe narrowed his eyes. It seemed that Emperor An had foreseen this situation. Opening a branch of the newspaper in Jiangling would be more difficult than in Ruzhou!
In Ruzhou, the people led by Yu the Crown Prince were naturally trying to obstruct him. Unfortunately, Yu the Crown Prince was too stupid, and since they were mostly openly scheming, they were actually easy to deal with.
Xu Wenchang, relying on his position as the local official of Jiangling, incited the people and cultivated their hostility before I even arrived in Jiangling. I estimate that according to his plan, he would appear obedient to Jing Zhe in front of him, and then secretly sabotage him.
This kind of two-faced, backstabbing villain is much harder to deal with than a villain who is openly bad. Fortunately, Jing Zhe came to Peach Blossom Temple in advance and saw through his true colors.
Next, Jing Zhe frowned and pondered, trying to figure out how to get this Prefect Xu to his death sooner.
Xia Bingrong, who was next to Xu Wenchang, either felt that Prefect Xu was talking too much, or he was startled because he did not know that Prefect Xu would say this beforehand, so he quickly coughed and changed the subject.
"Prefect Xu, haven't we gone off-topic? Isn't today the Peach Blossom Poetry Gathering? Shouldn't we be talking about the gathering?"
"Oh dear, Master Xia is right."
Magistrate Xu slapped his forehead, pretending to suddenly realize something, and asked, "Right, where were we?"
"The third piece of calligraphy..."
...
At this moment, Fatty Wei also rushed into the crowd to watch the excitement, while Jing Zhe remained outside the crowd, standing on the outermost edge, lost in thought.
Just then, someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind.
Jing Zhe was startled and quickly turned around, only to find a pretty young girl standing behind him. She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old and was dressed like a maid. She wasn't particularly beautiful, but Jing Zhe felt vaguely familiar with her, though he couldn't quite place where he had seen her before.
At this moment, after the maid recognized Jing Zhe's appearance, her eyebrows rose: "Young Master Kun, it really is you!"
"..."
What a long time no see!
Upon hearing "Young Master Akun," Jing Zhe was momentarily stunned, still unable to recall who the little maid was.
"I am…"
The maid noticed that Jing Zhe didn't recognize her, and she looked somewhat dejected, but she still said, "My young lady has invited you upstairs, young master!"
Jing Zhe's eyes lit up, and he immediately guessed: "You belong to Miss Wan'er..."
The maid's eyes immediately curved into crescents, and she nodded like a chick pecking at rice: "It seems that young master only has an impression of beauties like my young lady."
"Hehe, hehe..."
Jing Zhe smiled, trying to hide his embarrassment.
Then he looked behind him and asked, "By the way, I still don't know your name—and where is your young lady?"
The maid glanced at him and said, "I think you don't really want to know my name. You just want to ask my young lady, right?"
"hehe…"
"If you see through something, don't say it, or you'll have no friends," Jing Zhe thought to himself as he looked at the little maid.
However, the maid had a good personality; she only teased Jing Zhe once before saying, "My name is Huaping. My young lady originally planned to come, but relatives suddenly came to visit, so she decided not to come and specifically asked me to come and tell them."
"Oh, I see..."
Jing Zhe was a little disappointed that he was going to see that celestial woman again, but she didn't come. However, he thought it was no big deal. He had plenty of celestial women around him, and his third and fourth sisters were there, especially his fourth sister, Pei Yunxi, who was very jealous. It was better not to see her than to cause her to get jealous and make things difficult for him.
Having figured this out, Jing Zhe looked at Hua Ping and smiled, "Hua Ping, that's a good name..."
When Jing Zhe first heard the maid's name, he felt it sounded familiar. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that his sixth sister's maid was named Huaqin, and this maid was named Huaping. They did sound quite similar.
The two chatted for a few more minutes, and then Huaping prepared to say goodbye to Jingzhe and go inform Prefect Xu, but Jingzhe stopped her.
"What's wrong, Young Master Kun?"
Hua Ping asked curiously.
“Miss Huaping, don’t rush. Let’s listen to Master Xia’s poem first.”
"All right."
Hua Ping thought about it for a moment, and since she wasn't in a hurry, she agreed.
...
In the crowd, in front of the stone table.
After discussing the talented scholars of the world, the final topic returns to the three calligraphic works of today.
Since none of the scholars present volunteered, Magistrate Xu suggested, "Master Xia, since no one wants to write, then Master Xia, please write one for us!"
"This...isn't this inappropriate?"
Master Xia laughed and said, "Besides, Mu Bai and Miss Lin haven't arrived yet. If I were to write it, it would be against the rules and make people laugh."
"Who dares to laugh at us?"
Prefect Xu immediately said, "Master Xia is the teacher of Mu Bai. No scholar in the entire Jiangling is qualified to write this, but Master Xia is qualified. Master Xia, there is no need to be modest. Just write it!"
Master Xia waved his hand after hearing this, but still asked the crowd, "Then I will write a poem. What do you all think?"
"..."
No one spoke, because everyone was pondering a question: Fatty Wei had already left a piece of calligraphy, and Feng Mubai and Lin Wan'er would inevitably need two more. What if Master Xia wrote another one…
Wouldn't that mean one of Feng Mubai and Lin Wan'er can't be written about? If that happens, one of them will definitely get scolded.
Insulting Master Xia?
That's impossible; no one dares to criticize it, and no one can criticize it.
Then they could only curse Fatty Wei, who was the first to leave his calligraphy. Thinking of Fatty Wei's smug face just now, everyone was furious. So no one spoke up at this moment, hoping that Master Xia would write quickly and then see what Fatty Wei would do!
Their only question was: why did Fatty Wei's calligraphy, which was originally placed on the top shelf of the stone table, suddenly disappear?
As for Fatty Wei, Jing Zhe had already told him that if others wanted to leave their calligraphy, they didn't need to make a fuss. Since they were the first to leave theirs, no one could blame them.
Besides, it's not scary to wear the same clothes as someone else; it's embarrassing if someone looks worse. The same principle applies to leaving calligraphy. After Master Xia leaves his calligraphy, one of Feng Mubai and Lin Wan'er will inevitably be unable to write anymore. At that time, someone will definitely criticize them. Who will they criticize?
We certainly can't criticize Fatty Wei, who's better at writing poetry, right?
Criticizing Master Xia?
I doubt it.
Then we'll have to find that guy who deliberately hid Fatty Wei's calligraphy at the bottom and did something malicious. Jing Zhe had this in mind, which is why he deliberately didn't let Hua Ping reveal the news that Lin Wan'er wouldn't be able to attend the poetry gathering beforehand.
————
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