Chapter 54

Since Lu Chengzhou was able to pass the imperial examination, it was definitely not just because of luck or his father being a minister.

In fact, he was very smart when he was a child.

The real seven-step poem was about Lu Chengzhou, not Jiang Hanwen.

When Jiang Hanwen was a child, he came to Beijing from Jiang's family in Jiangnan, and entered the Imperial College through Lu Weitong's relationship. When he lived in Lu's family, Lu Weitong rewarded Jiang Hanwen very much, and always compared Jiang Hanwen with Lu Chengzhou. At that time, Lu Chengzhou was young and energetic, and he simply gave up literature and followed the military.

Even so, he was able to pass the imperial examination, which was enough to prove that Lu Chengzhou had some talent in studying.

The people around him did not think so. When they saw Lu boarding the platform by boat, they immediately started talking.

"When I was taking the exam, Lu Chengzhou sat next to me. He slept for four out of the nine days in the exam room! He was so desperate that he embarrassed his father. I think he will be embarrassed again this time!"

"That's right. Jiang Hanwen is the hot candidate for the top prize. Isn't Lu Chengzhou asking for trouble?"

While everyone was discussing, Lu Chengzhou had already stepped onto the stage and said, "Let's compete."

Seeing Lu Chengzhou coming up like this, Jiang Hanwen said hypocritically: "Cousin, don't be impulsive. I'd better give you a few more steps."

Lu Chengzhou shrugged and said nonchalantly, "No need."

Jiang Hanwen clapped his hands and said, "Great! My cousin is a man of integrity. In that case, why don't we add some more chips?"

Lu Chengzhou looked at him in confusion: "What do you want to play now?"

Jiang Hanwen curled his lips slightly: "Whoever loses will have to take off his clothes and walk around the streets of Beijing, shouting: I am not as good as the other person."

The crowd in the audience was excited, and they shouted: "Now Lu Chengzhou will have to parade naked in the streets!"

Si Nanhao frowned: "This method is too cruel."

Lin Nanjie nodded.

【When studying at the Imperial College, my friend once praised Lu Chengzhou for his talent in poetry and prose, saying that he could understand everything at a glance, but Jiang Hanwen's poetry was criticized for being superficial, which led to Jiang Hanwen always trying to surpass Lu Chengzhou. Jiang Hanwen really hated this cousin. He ran around naked, ruined his reputation, and probably couldn't hold his head up for the rest of his life.】

【But when he met Lu Chengzhou, he hit a wall. 】

In the elegant room on the second floor, Li Yunluan subconsciously tightened the wine glass in her hand and looked at Lu Chengzhou with worry.

"You're not really going to strip naked and run around the capital, are you?"

If he runs away and Minister Lu dislikes his son... the Princess's Mansion will take him in if appropriate.

Li Chengqian saw through Li Yunluan's inner thoughts at a glance, but when he heard Lin Nanjie's inner voice, his expression did not change at all, and he calmly enjoyed the wonderful poetry competition downstairs.

Jiang Hanwen said: "My cousin is straightforward. I will do it first. I can think about it for a while."

Jiang Hanwen took a step forward, one hand behind his back, his eyes looking far ahead, and each step was extremely steady. At the fourth step, he began to compose a poem: "Outside Luoyang City, the cuckoo cries, and the sad sound moves the heart of the traveler. I have no idea when I will return, and I am far away from home. I can only send my longing to the bright moon."

In seven steps, a poem is ready.

The words flowed freely and the thoughts were not at all stagnant.

The audience applauded.

"Good! Well done!"

"As expected of you, you are the son of Jiang's family in Jiangnan! You have extraordinary literary talent, and I admire you!"

"It's time to land and take the boat. I wonder what he can do?"

"Of course he can't even finish a sentence after walking ten steps."

Jiang Hanwen smiled lightly and looked at Lu Chengzhou complacently: "Thank you, cousin, it's your turn now."

Lu Chengzhou took three steps forward, frowned and thought deeply. He took the fourth step, raised his head and looked towards the private room on the second floor. He took seven steps in a row without saying a word.

The audience whispered, "This is impossible, right?"

"It looks like I can't do it. I might as well give up early, so I don't have to run naked on the street."

At the eighth step, Lin Nanjie suddenly stepped forward and walked to the first row, smiling and saying, "Are you missing something? Bring me the wine!"

He raised his hand and threw the sky-blue wine jug into the air.

Lu Chengzhou's eyes lit up, he raised his hand to catch the wine bottle, tilted his head back and drank half of it, then took another step forward while half awake and half drunk, and finally spoke -

"The cuckoo cries in Luoyang, the night is deep and people are awake. The moonlight is like water pouring down on the ground, the breeze blows my heart away. The prosperity of the world is like a dream, and the troubles of the world are like smoke."

"In this life, I only envy the birds, not the gods and immortals who are free and unfettered in heaven!"

After finishing the last sentence, the step fell exactly on the tenth step.

All the waiters in Chunfeng Mingyue Tower looked up at Lu Chengzhou, slightly stunned. Only the waiter who was pouring wine looked at the guest in front of him with a confused look: "You...the wine you asked for is here."

The guest brushed the servant away and stood up, looking from afar at Lu Chengzhou on the stage, his eyes showing admiration and murmuring.

"In this life, I only envy the birds, not the gods and immortals who are free and unfettered in heaven... I don't envy the gods and immortals who are free and unfettered in heaven, what a poem!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone praised the poem, and the excited voices rolled out like boiling water: "What a good poem! What a good poem!"

"I didn't expect Lu Chengzhou to write such a good poem! It's even better than Mr. Jiang's poem."

Li Yunluan on the second floor let go of her wine glass and sat back calmly.

"In this life, I have only envied birds..." She smiled and drank the remaining wine in the glass.

Several young men who had been on good terms with Jiang Hanwen before, especially the young man headed by Sun Zhenwen, suddenly questioned: "Did you write this poem yourself?"

"I don't believe it either!"

"If Lu Chengzhou had done it, I would have taken off my clothes and ran around the streets."

After Lu Chengzhou finished reading the poem, Jiang Hanwen looked a little unnatural: "Is this a poem you wrote?"

[Wow! You are not as good as others in poetry and you want to slander me. What a wishful thinking!]

Lin Nanjie hit back in public, "Are you afraid of regretting it? If you lose, you will have to run naked in the capital. Master Jiang, think carefully."

Jiang Hanwen sneered: "How could I regret it? Keep competing!"

The second round of poetry competition began. Xu Lanyin raised her slender hand and said, "Mr. Jiang, please."

Jiang Hanwen's face was no longer full of complacency. He took the first step with some hesitation, and sweat broke out on his forehead. He took four steps in a row, and only spoke slowly when he took the fifth step: "The moonlight shines on the nine provinces, and the clear light fills the jade building. I have no place to send my longing, so I lean on the river alone to look at it."

The leaders in the hall cheered one after another, and even the ministers from the court who had secretly come to the private room upstairs to drink nodded their heads.

This poem has a beautiful artistic conception and moving emotions. It is indeed a good poem.

Jiang Hanwen quietly wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a smile, "Thank you, thank you."

The others, led by Jiang Hanwen, sneered and said, "Brother Jiang is a master of poetry and prose. Now you guys just wait to admit defeat."

Lin Nanqi raised his eyebrows slightly: "That's not necessarily true."

Everyone looked at Lu Chengzhou, wondering if he could come up with a poem that could beat Jiang Hanwen's this time.

Someone said: "The poem just now might have been a mistake. Jiang Hanwen's poems are very outstanding in this class. Lu Chengzhou will probably have a hard time this time. It's hard for Minister Lu."

There was even a minister in the private room on the second floor who directly ordered his servants to bring paper and pen, saying confidently: "Since Lu Chengzhou has run naked in the capital, I will write a memorial now and report it to Minister Lu as soon as I go to court tomorrow!"

Someone beside him advised: "This matter has not been settled yet, please be patient."

Everyone saw that Lu Chengzhou showed no fear at all. He took three steps forward and suddenly stopped.

The people in the audience whispered, "Are you giving up?"

However, Lu Chengzhou just frowned and murmured softly: "I always feel like something is missing?"

Lin Nanjie, who was sitting in the audience, had expected this and said with a smile, "Brother Lu, why don't you use your sword as a pen and write down the poem?"

Lu Chengzhou's eyes lit up: "Using a sword as a pen? Great! Bring paper and ink!"

As soon as Xu Lanyin raised her hand, the people in Mingyue Tower directly lowered the hanging rice paper from the second floor and put the ground rice on top.

Lu Chengzhou drank the remaining half bottle of wine in one gulp, dropped it to the ground with a bang, and pressed his fingers on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

The sword was unsheathed, and everyone saw a flash of cold light. Lu Chengzhou relied on his agile lightness skills to leap into the air, tapped the rice paper with his toes, dipped the sword in his hand into thick ink, and as he raised his hand and waved it, a poem slowly came out -

Zhao Ke's hair is long and thin, Wu Gou's hair is bright like frost and snow. The silver saddle shines on the white horse, which gallops like a meteor. He kills one person every ten steps, and leaves no trace in a thousand miles. When the work is done, he leaves, hiding his identity and name.

When the poem was finished, Lu landed lightly on the ground in a boat.

Including the first three steps, there are exactly seven steps.

Not one step more, not one step less.

The rice paper, like a long white satin, hangs high in the air, and the dark ink marks split the snow waterfall like a sword.

Awesome, high-spirited, and full of passion!

Offstage——

The whole room was silent.

The red candles burned high, dropping red candle tears all over the ground. The beautiful girl held a wine glass, but forgot to pour wine for the guest beside her. The gold and jade in the room, the glittering silks and satins, and the priceless jade liquid were all beautiful in the quiet candlelight. The brilliance of the jewels was just like that.

Everything in Mingyue Tower seemed to be still.

All the drinkers and diners repeated the words in a drunken manner: Kill one person every ten steps, and leave no trace in a thousand miles.

Everyone entered a dream full of heroic sentiments. Everyone was a swordsman, and their wine glasses and chopsticks fell to the ground. The official on the second floor who was originally planning to join Lu Weitong in raising his children poorly dropped his brush. He suddenly woke up and rushed to the railing. He looked down madly at the hanging poem, with a wild light in his eyes: "What a good poem! What a good poem!"

These words awakened everyone from their dream, and everyone became excited.

“What a poem!!!”

"Absolutely great poetry!!!"

Look at Jiang Hanwen’s poem again, it is so vulgar!

Xu Lanyin struck the gong and drum again: "Everyone, who wins?"

This time there were no more voices of doubt. The people who had questioned Lu Chengzhou just now all showed expressions of shame and clasped their fists together: "Brother Lu, we were blind to speak so arrogantly to you before. Your poem deserves to be the first tonight!"

Seeing the overwhelming voices of praise, those people did not dare to refute in front of everyone and could only swallow their words in disgrace.

Anyway, it’s not them who are running naked.

Jiang Hanwen's face turned pale immediately, like a bloodless piece of white paper. He stared at the hanging poem with his eyes wide open, his eyes seemed to jump out of his sockets, full of disbelief.

"Impossible, this is impossible..."

"There is no way this could have been written by Lu Chengzhou!"

Si Nanhao raised his eyebrows and stepped forward: "Why, you don't want to admit defeat?"

"You said that the loser would be stripped naked and paraded through the streets of Beijing. You are not afraid to admit it, are you?"

Lin Nanjie looked at Jiang Hanwen: "Master Jiang comes from a Jiangnan family. Could it be that he would only be ruthless to others and go easy on himself?"

Jiang Hanwen's forehead was covered with sweat, and he tried to calm himself down: "How can you be sure that he wrote this poem?"

The disciples were stunned: "Mr. Jiang, even though you are a talented writer, you have to admit that there are always people who are better than you."

A few people headed by Sun Zhenwen followed suit and said, "Brother Hanwen is right. Everyone present here knows what kind of person Lu Chengzhou is on weekdays. He suddenly wrote a poem today. Didn't you have any doubts?"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

Sun Zhenwen even raised his finger and pointed at Lin Nanjie: "And he, he was the one who passed the wine and asked someone to get the paper and ink, who knows if the two of them were in collusion!"

Jiang Hanwen stepped forward and said, "Brother Sun is right! He is a probationary, and is very good at playing tricks. During the imperial examination, he made things difficult for many people in the examination room, forced poor students to be searched multiple times, and even disrupted the examination room in the name of patrolling. Do you believe what he said?"

The children all looked at Lin Nanjie: "I remember him. He was indeed the eunuch who patrolled the examination hall. It was said that he was appointed by the emperor."

"I saw him having his body searched. The man in front of me had clearly been searched before, and he had the Royal Guard search him again."

"That's not right. The second time I searched, I did find cheating."

"Who knows whether it is a false charge?"

Countless eyes were focused on Lin Nanjie, who suddenly stood still.

[Is this because the poetry competition is not good enough to break the defense? 】

[Hey! Is your wind direction changing too quickly? ]

[And Mr. Jiang and Mr. Sun, you cheated in the exam and incited the masses to blame others? ]

The ministers who were watching from the sidelines upstairs did not expect the situation to develop so quickly, and they all pricked up their ears.

An official from the Imperial Academy hesitated and said, "Should I go down to stop them? After all, Eunuch Lin is a man of the emperor, and he has a reputation for auspiciousness."

The most important thing is, if he lends a helping hand at this time, will the prayer be more effective?

The people beside him stopped him and said, "Don't be impulsive. Most of this year's activities are in Mingyue Tower. Don't go against Qingliu."

Si Nanhao stood in front of Lin Nanjie, his hand consciously pressing on the handle of the Xiuchun Knife: "If you lose in poetry, you lose. But you dare not admit it and even point at the winner. Is this how you act?"

Sun Zhenwu refused to give in: "Look everyone, as a member of the Jinyiwei, does he want to use a knife in Mingyue Tower?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the people around him retreated one after another, leaving Lin Nanjie and the other two where they were, clearly separated.

"He has his hand on the hilt of the knife. He doesn't really want to use force, does he?"

"Master Jiang and Master Sun are right. Lu Chengzhou is hanging out with these two people. He must not be a good person. How could he come up with such a brilliant poem?"

"Get out of Mingyue Tower!"

Lin Nanqi looked around.

[Oh no, I didn't expect Jiang Hanwen to be so unwilling to lose. ]

As they were pushing and shoving, there was suddenly push against his back.

Lin Nanjie paused and smelled a familiar scent. Then someone held his shoulders firmly and a figure stood in front of him.

"Who told the three of them to get out?"

The low and majestic voice, neither too light nor too heavy, just happened to spread throughout the Mingyue Tower.

Jiang Hanwen saw a handsome man with extraordinary bearing standing in front of Lin Nanjie. He subconsciously thought of the many rumors about the eunuchs and sneered, "I've heard that the eunuchs have a lot of fun, but I didn't expect that their mistresses are here too!"

Sun Zhenwen even shouted louder, "You damned eunuch, you actually cut off my sleeves! This is unacceptable!"

Lin Nanjie, Si Nanhao, and Lu Chengzhou all turned their heads to look at Jiang Hanwen and Sun Zhenwen, their movements seemed to be still, and the same expression appeared on their faces.

[Oh no, you are screwed now. ]