"Master Xia has fainted again! Someone, come quick!"
As soon as someone shouted, people nearby rushed over and quickly helped Master Xia up.
"Pinch the philtrum! Quickly pinch the philtrum!"
As soon as someone nearby reminded him, the person supporting Master Xia started pinching Master Xia's philtrum.
"Huh, still not awake..."
"Pinch me again!"
"oh."
"Still not awake..."
"Pinch me again!"
"good…"
After pinching Master Xia three or four times without waking him up, the man dared not pinch him anymore, fearing that he might kill Master Xia and then blame him.
Jing Zhe shoved the man away, "With your strength, you think you can wake Master Xia up? Watch me!"
As soon as Jing Zhe struck, Master Xia jumped up.
"I'm awake! I'm awake! I'm awake!"
Actually, Master Xia woke up after the first pinch, but he was afraid of being embarrassed and didn't want to open his eyes. However, Jing Zhe pinched him too hard, and he had no choice but to wake up...
When Master Xia frowned slightly when he pinched Xia's philtrum for the second time, Jing Zhe knew he was faking death.
So Jing Zhe deliberately instructed others to keep pinching him, to see how long he could keep up the act.
Fortunately, Master Xia was sensible enough; otherwise, if Jing Zhe had continued to strangle him, he would have either fainted or been strangled to death.
Seeing Master Xia get up, Jing Zhe didn't forget to show some concern for him: "Master Xia, are you alright?"
"It's...it's alright now..."
If he doesn't get up soon, something bad might happen. This kid is really ruthless! Master Xia thought to himself.
"It's good that you're alright! You scholars, how can you manage with such weak hands? It's obvious you don't practice calligraphy much. If I hadn't been there, would Master Xia have been able to save you?"
"..."
The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, thinking, "How can this be related to calligraphy? You're really something else."
Master Xia suddenly understood after hearing this and clapped his hands, saying, "President Jing is right! Calligraphy requires diligent practice. Mu Bai has a great talent for calligraphy, but his progress has been limited in recent years, which I couldn't understand. But after hearing President Jing's words today, I feel as if I have suddenly seen the light!"
Although Mu Bai is talented, he prefers poetry and spends most of his time studying it, leaving very little time for calligraphy. This results in his calligraphy being merely superficial and lacking spirit. On the other hand, President Jing, at such a young age, writes characters that seem to penetrate the paper. Presumably, President Jing's calligraphy has been the result of countless days and years of practice to achieve such skill!
"With President Jing's calligraphy alone, retaining his works is more than enough! Furthermore, President Jing's poetry is also excellent, so it's only natural that all three of his calligraphic works from this year's Peach Blossom Poetry Gathering belong to him! Not only that, I also propose that we remove the three plaques outside the city walls and replace them with President Jing's three calligraphic works!"
"Whoosh!"
These words caused an uproar in the audience.
Jing Zhe asked Lin Wan'er and learned that there were actually ten plaques he had seen outside the city walls when he entered the city.
The poems engraved on these plaques were all selected from the poetry gatherings held over the years. The selection criteria not only required the poem or lyric to be superior to the others, but also required the calligrapher of the poem or lyric to be outstanding. Only when both conditions were met could the calligraphy be engraved on the plaque and hung outside the city wall for people to appreciate.
Jiangling has been known for its talented scholars since ancient times, but it is actually very difficult to meet both of these conditions. Even someone as outstanding as Lin Wan'er only had one poem displayed outside the city wall, while Feng Mubai had none at all.
Moreover, no one has managed to occupy two of the ten plaques outside the city wall.
Master Xia's statement that Jing Zhe's three calligraphy works could be hung outside the city wall caused a huge uproar. Of course, most people still felt that Jing Zhe was not qualified.
Although he is talented, most of those plaques were left by their ancestors, and Jing Zhe is so young…
After hearing this explanation, Jing Zhe pouted and thought to himself, "If you're not willing, I don't care!"
Believe it or not, if I'm unhappy, I'll just replace all ten plaques with mine—no, nine of them, leaving Lin Wan'er's one...
At this moment, Jing Zhe waved his hand at Master Xia and said, "Master Xia's words are not entirely correct."
"..."
Master Xia looked over, somewhat puzzled.
"What you said earlier is correct, but the later claim that my calligraphy is so good because of daily practice is a bit unrealistic. Everyone knows that I am the president of the Da'an Newspaper. When I am in Jingzhou, I have to attend court and then manage the newspaper. Moreover, I spend most of the year away from Jingzhou, busy dealing with matters all over the country. Where would I find the time to practice calligraphy or poetry?"
"President Jing doesn't practice often... so how could he..."
Before Master Xia could express his thoughts, Jing Zhe interrupted him directly: "It's just a hobby, just a hobby! I don't have time on weekdays, so I can only write a few poems when there's a poetry gathering!"
"Hobbies? Just write whatever you want?"
Not only was Master Xia shocked, but everyone present was shocked.
If someone can create such a masterpiece simply by writing something as a hobby... how come there's such a huge difference between people?
"Um... I have some matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving now..."
Jing Zhe's act was too over-the-top, so much so that Master Xia couldn't take it anymore and just wanted to faint. However, he was afraid of being pulled back to his senses after fainting, so he simply left.
Watching Master Xia limp away, Jing Zhe shook his head and said, "I was planning to teach Master Xia a few moves, but he ran away. What a pity, what a pity... ouch~"
Just as Jing Zhe was about to show off again, Lin Wan'er couldn't stand it anymore—even though she knew he was her younger brother, she still couldn't help but want to hit him, so she pinched him without leaving a trace.
Jing Zhe was somewhat helpless, as Seventh Sister's tricks were exactly the same as those of the other sisters, just like when they were children!
"Zhe'er, read aloud the poem you wrote for me!"
After saying that, she rolled her eyes at Jing Zhe.
This poem was originally written for Lin Wan'er, but after it was finished, everyone became interested in the calligraphy, and no one paid attention to the poem itself. Lin Wan'er was furious.
"Oh, okay."
Jing Zhe agreed and began to read it aloud.
"The peach tree is young and tender, its blossoms are bright and beautiful."
When a daughter marries, may she bring harmony to her family.
The peach tree is young and tender, and its fruit is abundant.
When a daughter marries, may she bring harmony to her family.
The peach tree is young and tender, its leaves are lush and green.
"When this daughter marries, may she bring harmony to her family."
This is a poem from the Book of Songs, Zhou Nan section. Writing this poem in front of everyone for the first time to Lin Wan'er was quite bold, because the first line of each two lines describes peach blossoms, peaches, and peach leaves, while the second line praises the girl in front of him, saying how wonderful it would be if she were married.
As expected, when Jing Zhe recited the poem in front of everyone, Lin Wan'er's face turned as red as the evening glow!
————
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
