Chapter 18 Poetry Contest
Nine people stood in front of nine tables, thinking hard.
The two boys from Class C smiled faintly and started writing with confidence.
Zhu Qingyan only thought for a moment before picking up his pen and writing.
Zhu Lan pondered for a moment, then picked up the brush and began to write carefully, stroke by stroke.
Xiang Wenyuan held the brush and hesitated to move. He turned his head and looked in the direction of Zhu Qingyan with a silly smile, and the tip of the brush left a large stain of ink on the paper.
Mr. Zhao's blood pressure in the audience rose!
But it’s okay, after all, there is a little girl from Class T at the bottom, so I won’t be the ugliest one.
"Please pay attention to the answering time, students. Students who have completed their works can hand them in for the poetry notes." Ouyang Ye reminded.
Xiang Wenyuan then scribbled something on the paper.
Two boys from Class C-1 handed in their poems first and waited on the side.
Zhu Qingyan and Zhu Lan folded the papers in their hands almost at the same time, left the desk and walked towards the poetry notebook.
Zhu Lan came to Shi Ji, who first asked her name and class, marked them on the back of the rice paper in front of him, and then took her paper.
After opening it, he was slightly startled, then looked up at Zhu Lan before starting to copy it.
Then the paper Zhu Lan wrote was put into a small stove and burned.
After everyone's poems were copied, they were hung on a row of racks on the stage and the voting process began.
The students will vote first, and then go on stage in order of class. Each person can receive a soybean before going on stage.
Under each poem there is a small wooden box with a hole on the top where soybeans can be thrown in, but the exact number of soybeans in the box cannot be seen clearly.
This can prevent students from following the crowd in voting and ensure fairness to the greatest extent possible.
Groups of students came up to the stage to vote. Someone pointed at one of the poems and suddenly burst into laughter:
"Qingyan is infinitely beautiful, but it is near dusk... What is this? It's plagiarism, but they changed 'sunset' to 'Qingyan'. This is completely nonsense!"
"Who wrote this? Was it someone who went on stage to cause trouble?"
“Do I even need to ask? I can tell whose work it is just by looking at it. Hahahaha!”
Everyone's eyes were on Xiang Wenyuan, but he held his head high and chest out, looking very proud.
Zhu Qingyan turned away silently.
It’s unbearable to watch. It’s really unbearable to watch.
"This Xiang... is Brother Zhao's most talented disciple, right?" Several teachers looked at Master Zhao, all with expressions of trying not to laugh.
"Brother Zhao's teaching method is indeed extraordinary!"
Master Zhao has no desire to live.
I'm not, I don't, I don't know him.
The voting ended and Ouyang Ye announced the results of the competition.
In the first round of nine to five, the winners were Chen Ziming and Zhang Tao from Class 1, Zhu Qingyan from Class 2, Xue Mei from Class 3, and Zhu Lan from Class 3.
When Zhu Lan heard the name Chen Ziming, his heart started beating loudly.
In the original book, this Chen Ziming later had an affair with Zhu Qingyan!
But judging from their current appearance, they don't know each other yet.
Zhu Lan silently marked this melon in his heart.
Two girls from Class Four were eliminated. Before leaving the stage, they passed by Zhu Lan and glared at her hatefully, looking very unconvinced.
The students below also started discussing:
"Wow, I didn't expect that the junior sister from Class T would make it to the second round!"
"I guess she's just lucky. The second round will depend on her strength. She will definitely not make it."
"If she survives, I will go back and eat the Analects!"
"Yes, the second round is from five to three. The two brothers from Class 1 are from scholarly families. They are amazing. They will definitely win!"
"Yes, I guess the winners of this round will be the two brothers and Sister Qingyan!"
The second round of competition began, requiring the works to contain the four images of "wind", "frost", "rain" and "snow" at the same time.
The questions this time were obviously more difficult than the previous round, and it took everyone longer to answer.
When the incense stick was almost burned out, the five people handed in their works.
"This article has a unique angle and uses words with great style. It is very similar to the style of the poems written by Senior Brother Ziming from Class 1. I guess it must be his!"
A female student gave a very clear analysis and put the soybeans in her hand into the corresponding wooden box. Several girls next to her nodded, thinking it made sense, and followed her to vote.
It was the turn of the students in Class T to go on stage to vote. Qiao Youyou held the soybeans in her hand and looked at them again and again. The handwriting was the same and she couldn't tell which one was written by Zhu Lan.
"Stop guessing." Qin Yuwei walked to her side and threw the soybeans in her hand to the article she thought was the best.
"Just vote for the one you think is the best. We have to believe in Lanlan."
"Yeah!" Qiao Youyou nodded vigorously, and then submitted the same work with Qin Yuwei.
After the voting, Ouyang Ye came to the stage and ordered people to open the five boxes.
This round of competition was quite fierce. There were quite a lot of beans in the five boxes. Ouyang Ye ordered people to weigh and count them directly.
The results came out quickly, and Ouyang Ye took the two eliminated works off the stage.
"Impossible! How could I not write better than them?" Zhang Tao from Class C-1 yelled. Chen Ziming beside him hurriedly whispered to him to calm down.
Zhang Tao stared at Zhu Lan with hatred. It was such a shame to be eliminated in the same round as her, who was in the T-class!
Ouyang Ye said: "The students who are now announced to enter the final round are -
Chen Ziming from Class C1, Zhu Qingyan from Class C2, and Zhu Lan from Class D!"
The whole audience suddenly went wild.
"What? Senior Brother Zhang Tao from Class 1 was eliminated, but that Zhu Lan made it to the finals!?"
"Hahaha, who just said they wanted to eat The Analects?"
"How is this possible? She must have cheated!"
"Look, look, someone has fainted!"
Chen Ziming supported his classmate who had fainted from anger. Soon, Doctor Sun arrived and ordered someone to take Zhang Tao away.
"Zhu Lan, Zhu Lan, there will never be any difficulties!"
"Zhu Lan, Zhu Lan, break the waves and set sail!"
"Don't worry, Lanbao, fly. We will always be with you!"
The voices of the T-Class grew louder and louder, attracting countless hateful glances.
What are you so arrogant about? !
Everyone in Class D: Hehe, we just like the way you can’t stand us but can’t compare to us.
The teachers were all dumbfounded, and Master Li from Class 1 was even more embarrassed.
"Ahem, Zhang Tao has been too busy with schoolwork lately. He must be tired, so he didn't perform well..."
Other teachers: Well, we will just watch you save your dignity.
Master Zhao suddenly said "Huh!" and looked around: "Why didn't Old Xie come?"
"Didn't he go home to farm? Anyway, I haven't seen him recently."
"What a pity that Old Xie missed such an important opportunity." Master Zhao pretended to feel regretful, but his tone was gloating.
The other teachers nodded silently.
Xie Ding's student has become so famous. If he were here in person, where would we old guys put our faces?
"Mr. Ji, the county magistrate, has arrived—"
County Magistrate Ji Tian walked in with a smile on his face, accompanied by several people from the county government office. Ouyang Ye and several teachers quickly stood up and went forward to greet them.
Ji Tian was specially invited by Ouyang Ye to serve as a judge for the final round of the poetry competition. After some polite greetings, Ji Tian sat in the middle seat.
The students in the audience became even more excited.
"I heard that this county magistrate likes poetry, calligraphy and painting. Our county magistrate doesn't like to take care of things, and government affairs are almost all handled by the county's experts!"
"And he is the chief examiner of our county exam every year!"
"I would have signed up for the competition earlier. If I could show my face in front of the county magistrate, it would be of great help to this year's county exam..."
"Come on, even if you sign up, can you beat those three people on the stage?"
As the students were joking, Ouyang Ye was about to announce the content of the third round of competition, but he saw Zhu Qingyan stepped forward and saluted:
"Mr. County Magistrate, Mr. Supervisor, I suggest that we cancel the poetry copying in the final round of the competition and let the three of us write poems on the wall of Wulei Pavilion in person to commemorate this grand event."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in Class Ding changed their expressions, and Ding Xiaoqiu's mouth corners also drooped.
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