Seeing everyone's stunned expressions, Jing Zhe secretly felt smug.
At this point, he couldn't resist asking, "What do you all think of these poems I've written?"
"..."
Is it alright?
That's really great.
Jing Zhe glanced at Feng Mubai, deciding to rub salt into his wounds, and asked with a smile, "And what about you, Young Master Feng? Do you think my poems are worthy of being left as calligraphy?"
"..."
This is tantamount to dragging Feng Mubai out and beating him. When has Feng Mubai ever suffered such humiliation? He never felt this way, not even when he was repeatedly defeated by Lin Wan'er.
Feng Mubai's face flushed red and then turned pale. He stiffened his neck and couldn't utter a single word, but his fiery eyes revealed his anger.
"President Jing's poems are indeed excellent. Any one of them could easily be used as a calligraphy masterpiece."
At this moment, Master Xia stepped forward. Although he was praising Jing Zhe, his main purpose was to help his student out of the predicament.
Jing Zhe nodded: "I admire Master Xia's vision."
"..."
"However, Master Xia is wrong about one thing. It's not that you can just pick one poem at random, but three poems at random, and they can all be kept as today's masterpieces."
"..."
Jing Zhe's meaning was clear: he intended to take all three poems at today's Peach Blossom Poetry Gathering. He certainly had the ability to do so, even if it would make the others very uncomfortable…
"Brother Wei, what do you think?"
Fatty Wei had already made a name for himself, so whether he left his calligraphy or not was no longer important to him. He smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Jing Zhe was the one who told me about that poem, so it's no problem for Brother Jing to leave his calligraphy!"
Jing Zhe nodded, then looked at Master Xia: "What does Master Xia think?"
"..."
Although unwilling, Master Xia nodded in agreement, because his poetry was indeed inferior to Jing Zhe's.
Finally, Jing Zhe asked Feng Mubai again, but Feng Mubai did not answer, or perhaps he was too ashamed to answer, and simply turned and left.
Watching his retreating figure, the Jiangling scholar felt a pang of regret. This wasn't the first time Feng Mubai had lost, or rather, he should have gotten used to losing by now. Standing up and admitting defeat openly was the best option. Instead, he simply turned and left, acting like a sore loser. He had lost both the poem and his reputation, disgracing the people of Jiangling.
However, even after he left, Jing Zhe did not forget to lash out at his corpse.
"Young Master Feng's demeanor... no wonder he's been suppressed by my seventh sister all these years. With that kind of demeanor, he can't write any poems with a grand vision."
"..."
The scene was completely silent. Although everyone felt indignant on behalf of their fellow Jiangling people, the most frightening thing was that they were actually starting to subtly agree with his point of view...
After finishing his sentence, Jing Zhe went to ask Lin Wan'er as usual, hoping that the poem would end with Lin Wan'er praising him.
"Seventh Sister, which of these poems do you like the most?"
To everyone's surprise, Lin Wan'er shook her head directly: "I don't like any of them."
"..."
Jing Zhe was stunned. He never expected that it would be his own seventh sister who would come to cause trouble in the end. He should have known better than to ask her!
But having already said that, he could only say dejectedly, "Seventh Sister, why don't you like any of them?"
Lin Wan'er pouted and said, "Because none of them were written for me!"
So you wanted a poem!
That's easy!
Jing Zhe clapped his hands and laughed, "That was to leave behind my calligraphy and to prove to everyone that I have real talent, so I wrote five poems in one go. But as for the poems for Seventh Sister, I have another one prepared."
"Oh? Really? Then write it now!"
Lin Wan'er's eyes lit up.
She had heard about the poems Jing Zhe had written for Zhu Xinning and others. Jing Zhe had been her closest friend since childhood, and it was one thing for him to finally acknowledge her as his son, but he hadn't written her a single poem, so she was unhappy.
That's why they "made things difficult" for him in front of everyone.
"Okay, then I'll write it down."
As he spoke, Jing Zhe walked to the stone table and picked up a pen.
Seeing this, Master Xia said, "President Jing's poems are all excellent. I'd also like to see how good his calligraphy is. It should be just as good as his poems, or even better than mine, right? I'll help President Jing grind the ink and learn from him at the same time!"
Even at this moment, Master Xia still wanted to cause trouble.
In his mind, a person can only be proficient in one thing, such as his calligraphy being unparalleled in the world—of course, that's what he thought, so his poetry was not so good.
Jing Zhe's poetry skills are unparalleled, so his calligraphy is probably just average. But after he said that, everyone will surely think that Jing Zhe's calligraphy skills are the same as his, and when he actually writes it, it will probably be a laughing stock.
Jing Zhe glanced at him and said, "Master Xia's calligraphy isn't very good, but he does know his own limitations."
"..."
Master Xia almost spat out a mouthful of blood: "Since President Jing is so confident, then I must see just how good President Jing's calligraphy really is!"
The last few words were practically chewed out!
As he spoke, Master Xia went to the stone table to prepare to grind ink, but Jing Zhe stopped him: "Master Xia, put down the inkstone. I don't leave my calligraphy works behind easily, but when I do, they are masterpieces, so not everyone is qualified to grind ink for me."
"..."
What are you showing off for?!
Do you think I really want to help you with your research?
Master Xia was so angry that he threw the inkstone on the table, put his hands behind his back, and stood aside, ready to watch the show.
At this moment, Prefect Xu chimed in, "President Jing may not know this since he just arrived in Jiangling, but Master Xia's calligraphy is recognized as the best in Jiangling. Even the plaques on the city wall of Jiangling were written by Master Xia. Moreover, even if we go back a hundred years, Master Xia's calligraphy would still rank among the top three!"
These words seem like a reminder, but they are actually a warning!
However, Jing Zhe scoffed at this idea!
"Oh? So the two characters 'Jiangling' on the city wall were written by Master Xia?"
"Exactly!"
Magistrate Xu stood tall and proud, as if he had written those two characters himself.
"It's... alright, I guess."
Jing Zhe said.
"Master Xia, Master Xia!"
This time, Master Xia didn't spit out blood. Instead, after swaying for a couple of moments, he closed his eyes and fainted!
"Pinch the philtrum! Pinch the philtrum!"
Someone shouted.
Sure enough, after pinching his philtrum, Master Xia slowly opened his eyes and stood up with the help of the others.
Seeing this, Jing Zhe shook his head inwardly, wondering why all the people of Bai Qingyuan's lineage seemed to like fainting so much. Could it be a tradition?
After standing up, Master Xia looked at Jing Zhe and said indignantly, "Since President Jing has such high standards, then I'm curious to see how good President Jing's calligraphy really is! Don't end up being inferior to me, or you'll become a laughingstock!"
After listening, Jing Zhe said earnestly, "Master Xia is overthinking it."
"..."
————
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