After Jing Zhe finished asking his question, the hall fell silent.
The Crown Prince of Yu was thinking too simply. After Jing Zhe's poem was presented, the scholars in the hall realized their own limitations. In front of Jing Zhe, they were even embarrassed to call themselves talented scholars.
Either of these two poems could be immortalized and become the iconic poems of the Lantern Festival.
With their level of expertise, who would dare to try and teach them a lesson?
This also shows that the crown prince of Yu was ignorant about poetry, otherwise he wouldn't have asked Zhou Zhiwei to buy the poems.
Although he could tell that Jing Zhe's poem was good, he only felt that it was similar to his own, and he didn't know exactly why it was better or by how much better.
That's why they let others continue writing poetry.
Looking at the quiet hall, Jing Zhe smiled and said, "I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint the young master; it seems no one is willing to compose a poem."
The Crown Prince of Yu was also quite indignant: "What's wrong with you all? You've been bullied by an outsider right at your doorstep, and you can tolerate this? Have you forgotten Manager Hu's promise that anyone who can write a better poem than him will receive a reward of one thousand taels of silver! What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and write!"
"..."
The hall remained quiet.
The Crown Prince of Yu was furious again: "You've even spent money on lighting the lanterns just to participate in the Lantern Festival Poetry Gathering, and if you don't write any poems, you're just wasting a tael of silver. Are you all stupid?"
"..."
Everyone looked at Yu the Crown Prince as if he were a fool.
Not writing poetry is just a waste of a tael of silver, but if you do write it, it's not just a waste of a tael of silver, it's also shameful!
So everyone remained silent and refused to appear.
Seeing this, Jing Zhe laughed and said, "Since no one is willing to compose one, why don't you, Prince Yu, compose another one?"
"..."
The Crown Prince of Yu remained silent: If I could do it, I would have done it long ago!
At the same time, I was filled with regret: I'd already bought them, why didn't I buy two in the first place?
"Could it be that the Crown Prince only bought this one poem from the Third Prince of Southern Qi?"
The Crown Prince of Yu was deep in thought when he heard this and instinctively became angry: "Bullshit! I clearly bought it from Zhou Zhiwei, don't make false accusations!"
"..."
These words caused an uproar in the audience.
"Zhou...Zhou Zhiwei?"
"I've heard of that name; he's the most talented scholar in Jinxi!"
"That's right, I heard that this young master Zhou has been selected as the number one talented scholar in Jinxi for five consecutive years. His poetic talent is quite outstanding!"
"No wonder the young master's poem was so good; it was written by Young Master Zhou..."
"However, even Young Master Zhou's lyrics pale in comparison to this young master's. This young master's poetic talent is truly remarkable!"
"Of course! Otherwise, how could he be a master of fast poetry!"
"..."
The crowd's voices were not loud, but the hall was so quiet that their words were clearly heard by the Crown Prince of Yu.
The Crown Prince of Yu was filled with shame and indignation, glaring fiercely at Jing Zhe as if he wanted to devour him.
Today he not only lost the words, but also the honor!
A lifetime of illustrious reputation, ruined in an instant!
"I was wrong!"
Jing Zhe cupped his hands in apology and said, "So it turns out that Your Highness bought the poem from Young Master Zhou. I thought it was from the Third Prince of Southern Qi! I shouldn't have made such a guess. I hope Your Highness will forgive me!"
"..."
The Crown Prince of Yu was panting heavily; at this point, whether he accepted the apology or not was futile.
Jing Zhe, however, was not about to let him off the hook and continued, "It seems that the Crown Prince of Yu is quite talented in poetry. There is no talented person in Ruzhou City that the Crown Prince feels he can rival, so he is unwilling to produce his own masterpiece and has instead bought lyrics from Young Master Zhou! If the Crown Prince of Yu were to write them, I'm afraid no one in the world could compare!"
"..."
"So the one who lost was Zhou Zhiwei, and it had nothing to do with the Crown Prince of Yu!"
"..."
Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince of Yu suddenly understood: Yes, it was Zhou Zhiwei who lost, it has nothing to do with me!
However, his joy lasted less than a second before Jing Zhe spoke up again: "Since Zhou Zhiwei's poem was the one that lost, why doesn't Your Highness compose one yourself and let us all see what it's like?"
"Yes, Your Highness, please write one!"
"The Crown Prince's talent is unparalleled in the world!"
"The Crown Prince's masterpiece is unparalleled!"
"..."
Those who would fawn over someone like Chen Jiannan are naturally the ones doing this; no one else would have the nerve to do it!
At this moment, the Crown Prince of Yu's face turned pale and then blue, and his hands and lips began to tremble.
"It seems that the young master still disdains to write poems for me. Even if he loses to me in the Juxianlou, he is unwilling to write, fearing that competing with me in poetry would unnecessarily tarnish his poetic talent!"
"..."
The outcome was already decided. The Crown Prince of Yu was unwilling to stay here for even a second longer. He snorted coldly, then turned and went upstairs, leaving everyone standing below the cloud ladder, dumbfounded.
At this moment, Jing Zhe dropped his joking expression and his face turned gloomy.
It's time to settle accounts!
...
"Manager Hu, the outcome is now decided, and Juxianlou is mine!"
"This...this..."
Even though he was unwilling, Manager Hu didn't know how to say it to change the outcome.
Jing Zhe remained aggressive: "Since that's the case, then while Prefect Liu is here, Manager Hu, hurry up and bring over the land deed so we can complete the handover! This will save Manager Hu the trouble of running to Juxianlou tomorrow morning!"
"..."
He's already thinking of kicking people out before the land title has even been handed over?
Manager Hu could even foresee that once he handed over the land deed, Juxianlou would no longer have any connection with him!
Therefore, this land deed cannot be handed over!
It can't be paid now, at least not yet!
His eyes darted around, and he chuckled, "Young master, since so many people are here to witness this, I'm certainly willing to accept defeat! However, the land deed isn't in Juxianlou, but rather at my old home in the countryside. I'll have to send someone out of the city to retrieve it after dawn tomorrow!"
Upon hearing this, Prefect Liu immediately replied, "Young master, since the land deed is not at Juxianlou, the handover ceremony will have to be postponed!"
Jing Zhe was not satisfied: "Then Manager Hu must guarantee in person that the land deed must be returned by noon tomorrow! Otherwise, if Manager Hu keeps dragging it out and fails to return the land deed for a long time, I don't have time to stay here for that long!"
"Alright, I promise I'll get it back by noon tomorrow!"
"I don't believe your guarantee. You need to write a guarantee in front of Prefect Liu. If I don't see the land deed by noon tomorrow, this Juxianlou will belong to me directly. Prefect Liu and Manager Hu can both sign and affix their fingerprints to it!"
"..."
Manager Hu and Prefect Liu exchanged a glance, clearly not expecting that the previously foolish Jing Zhe would think so thoroughly. It could only mean that he had been pretending to be stupid all along!
Thinking about this makes one feel a chill: Could he have been pretending to be stupid from the beginning just for this moment?
————
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