Pei Yunxi glanced at Jing Zhe: "If I hadn't told you, how would your seventh sister have known you were here? You were the one who never asked a single question, otherwise I would have told you long ago!"
Who is Pei Yunxi? Why would she take the blame for Jing Zhe for no reason? Besides, even if the blame is hers, it can't be solely hers. Didn't her second sister, third sister, fifth sister, and sixth sister not tell him before?
So if this matter were to be truly divided, none of the sisters would be innocent, which is why Pei Yunxi quickly shifted the blame!
"Yes, Fourth Sister is right! How long have you been away from Pengzhou? If you really cared, how could you not know? I think you just don't want to!"
"..."
Jing Zhe opened his mouth, but no tears came.
Of course, the one who was most upset at this moment was not him, but Feng Mubai, who was watching Lin Wan'er flirt with him. As Lin Wan'er's defeated opponent, Feng Mubai became more and more courageous in battle, and seemed to have masochistic tendencies. The more miserably he was defeated by Lin Wan'er, the more he liked her.
However, Lin Wan'er never liked him.
Feng Mubai wondered if Lin Wan'er was ignoring him because he had never beaten her. With this thought in mind, Feng Mubai practiced poetry diligently, and while Lin Wan'er was not attending the poetry gathering, he racked his brains to come up with a poem about peach blossoms, confident that he could beat her.
Unexpectedly, Lin Wan'er said she couldn't come halfway through. He was filled with mixed feelings of sadness and joy. He was sad because all his preparations had been in vain, but happy because this would help alleviate the awkwardness of Master Xia leaving behind his calligraphy.
But after all the twists and turns, Lin Wan'er finally arrived. He thought this was the best outcome, at least he could take this opportunity to defeat Lin Wan'er. But he never expected that after Lin Wan'er arrived, she would start flirting with the "younger brother" she mentioned. Feng Mubai was furious.
So he stepped forward and said coldly, "Miss Lin, you've come at just the right time. Two masterpieces have already appeared today, and since neither of us has composed a poem yet, it seems the only option is for the two of us to have a contest!"
After listening, Lin Wan'er looked at Jing Zhe and smiled lightly, "Young Master Feng is overthinking it. I'm not here to compose a poem today."
"Not writing poetry?"
Feng Mubai was stunned for a moment.
Lin Wan'er smiled and nodded: "Over the years, writing poetry has also cultivated a habit, which is that as long as I write, I must win first place. If I can't win first place, I simply won't write. This time, I feel that even if I write, I'll just be a foil for others, so I won't write."
"..."
Feng Mubai was silent for a moment, feeling that he seemed to understand Lin Wan'er's meaning. He waved his hand and said with a smile, "Wan'er, there's no need to be modest. Although I won first place in the poetry competition twice, it was because Wan'er wasn't there! I may not necessarily be able to beat you this time!"
"..."
Lin Wan'er opened her mouth slightly in surprise, then glanced at Feng Mubai and said, "The person Wan'er is talking about is not Young Master Feng. If it were just Young Master Feng, Wan'er would definitely win!"
"..."
This time, it wasn't just Feng Mubai who gaped open; the onlookers all opened their mouths wide, but eventually closed them again. They wanted to laugh, but they were afraid of embarrassing Feng Mubai, so they all held it in.
It turns out that Miss Lin never took Feng Mubai seriously from the beginning, yet he still got pregnant.
"Hahaha…"
Others might not dare to laugh, but that doesn't mean Jing Zhe wouldn't. Just as flamboyant as Feng Mubai was, so too did Jing Zhe's laughter.
After Lin Wan'er finished speaking, Feng Mubai's expression turned sour, and after Jing Zhe finished laughing, his face turned completely dark.
"I've long heard that President Jing seems to have some poetic talent. Today's opportunity is quite good, allowing us scholars from Jiangling to broaden our horizons and see just how talented the scholars from Jingzhou really are!"
Feng Mubai was a clever man; even under extremely unfavorable conditions, he knew how to win over others and form a united front.
Sure enough, after he said that, everyone suddenly realized: he was from Jingzhou! He was known as the number one talent in Jingzhou, but that was only because he had a group of hired guns behind him. The poem that Fatty Wei just wrote was from him. It was indeed good, but only good. It was still far from being able to defeat the number one talent in Jiangling.
Moreover, this must have been written for him by someone else, and it was only this one poem. That's why he secretly gave it to Fatty Wei. Perhaps he never intended to reveal his identity from the beginning, because how could he win first place in the Peach Blossom Poetry Festival with just this one poem? Wouldn't he have been exposed then?
The thought of this possibility excited everyone.
"Since you're President Jing, shouldn't you be able to recite poems off the top of your head?"
"Indeed, he is, after all, the number one scholar in Jingzhou!"
"President Jing, hurry up and write a poem so we can see your true talent!"
"..."
These people's words seemed to be praising Jing Zhe, but upon closer listening, they were actually more sarcastic and cynical.
"Young Master Feng is right."
Jing Zhe gestured for everyone to be quiet, then smiled and said, "Listening to me write poetry, Young Master Feng will certainly broaden his horizons."
"Phew~"
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire audience erupted in uproar.
Jing Zhe, however, was determined to make a shocking statement. Before Feng Mubai could react, he turned to the crowd, smiled, and shook his head, saying, "What you just said was a bit incomplete. Let me add something. I am indeed the number one talent in Jingzhou. Of course, besides being the number one talent in Jingzhou, I am also the number one talent in Anguo."
"Whoosh!"
This time, everyone couldn't hold back any longer.
Provocation, blatant provocation!
A commotion erupted in the crowd. Logically, the Jiangling people, who were known for their xenophobia, should have been outraged and hurled insults at Jing Zhe for making such outrageous remarks in front of so many Jiangling scholars. However, contrary to expectations, although the crowd chattered, not a single person actually raised their voice to question or curse him. Jing Zhe believed there were two main reasons for this.
First, they were all scholars and were too embarrassed to speak up. Second, and most importantly, Jing Zhe was a high-ranking official of the second rank, several ranks higher than Prefect Xu, the local official of Jiangling City. What were these scholars compared to him? Did they dare to curse him?
"Arrogant! Utterly arrogant!"
Someone whispered, and others chimed in.
Jing Zhe continued his taunts, scanning the crowd and saying with a cold laugh, "As you all know, I've been here for quite some time, so I heard all your honest thoughts just now."
"..."
Everyone was stunned, and felt somewhat ashamed, because they had said so many bad things about Jing Zhe without knowing he was there. Now that they thought about it, it was normal for him to mock them. If it were them, and someone said so many bad things about them, they probably would have jumped out and started cursing long ago!
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