In Hai County County Government, the poetry meeting on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year has reached its climax.
After the county magistrate Ren Hongcai spoke, it was time for everyone to show off their talents. In order to ensure the effect,
Many well-known old talents have been notified long ago, and each of them will prepare one or two poems of their own.
Then he recited it in public at a poetry festival to gain fame.
The fifth day of the first lunar month is commonly known as breaking five festivals, also known as driving away the five poor: the "five poor" are also called "five ghosts". They refer to the five poor ghosts such as "poor in wisdom, poor in learning, poor in literature, poor in life, and poor in friendship".
Han Yu wrote in his "Song of the Poor": "All these five ghosts are my five troubles," so I have to send them away.
Because of this, some places regard this day as a day to welcome the God of Wealth.
The Poetry Society was chosen on such an important day, which shows that Ren Hongcai also wanted to use the Poetry Society to bring good luck to this year's term of office.
Even if it is the day to welcome the God of Wealth, the theme of the Nature Poetry Society will also be related to this.
Of course, literati cannot talk about money, something that smells like money, so we can only talk about it in a different way.
Bamboo symbolizes wealth and honor, and is also known as wealthy bamboo among the people. Therefore, the theme of today's poetry meeting is Bamboo Ode.
As soon as Hou Yao entered the hall, he heard someone chanting:
"The spring breeze blows the bamboo branches, and the green leaves fill the courtyard. I hope it will grow like this, and we will see each other in the old age."
Zhou De shook his head in a daze, and from time to time he clapped his hands and sighed:
"Wonderful, wonderful, good poetry, good poetry..."
Hou Yao sat down and said with a faint smile:
"My little cousin is wet? Why don't you go home and change your pants if you are wet?"
Zhou De opened his eyes and rolled his eyes at Hou Yao:
"I mean, this brother's poem just now is good. What have you been doing? You've been here for a long time, but you know how much wonderful things you've missed."
Hou Yao smiled contemptuously and said:
"Are you so excited that your pants are wet?"
Zhou De angrily turned his face away:
"I...I'm ignoring you."
Hou Yao grabbed the cakes on the table and stuffed them into his mouth and said:
"Oh, I'm so curious about it."
After saying that, he ignored him and continued to eat and drink by himself. Unknowingly, he lay down on the table and fell asleep.
I don’t know how long it took, but Hou Yao suddenly felt someone shaking him.
So he opened his eyes sleepily, and saw that he had become the focus of everyone's attention.
I wiped my eyes vigorously, and when I woke up, I realized that the host on the stage had been replaced by Hou Chengyun at some point.
"Look, everyone, today all the talented people have produced so many masterpieces and masterpieces, but this man is soundly asleep. He must have found that what everyone else is doing is hard to listen to.
This person is the only scholar in the eight villages along the coast, Hou Yao and Hou Jieqiu. Since he can fall asleep on such an occasion, it must be that he has a beautiful medal hidden in his chest.
Why don't you recite one or two poems so that we can read them and study them carefully?"
Although the words were polite, they aroused everyone's dissatisfaction with Hou Yao.
Without thinking about Hou Yao, he stood up and said loudly:
"You talented men, I'm really sorry that I fell asleep just now.
Just because I was too excited yesterday and stayed up all night, I just fell asleep without knowing it.
Yao has no intention of belittling your masterpieces, and please forgive me."
After saying that, he honestly bowed to everyone three times.
When everyone saw that Hou Yao was so sincere, it was hard to pursue anything further.
I originally thought that the matter would be settled, but I didn’t expect that after Hou Yao stood up, he stared at Hou Chengyun and said:
"Your name is Hou Chengyun, right? Although we belong to the same clan, my ancestors separated from the clan three generations ago.
What are your intentions in targeting me several times?"
As soon as the words came out, the contradiction between the two people was immediately exposed.
Everyone looked at Hou Chengyun in surprise, and instantly understood that he just wanted to use everyone as a gunman.
After Yao Yingzhe saw Hou Yao's performance, he immediately admired in his heart:
It seemed like he was apologizing in a low-key manner, but he actually took the initiative into his own hands, and in just a few words he reversed the situation that had caused public outrage.
In this situation, this kind of treatment is undoubtedly the best. This Hou Yao is not simple.
Su Mingzhi also sighed in his heart about Hou Yao's good tactics.
When Hou Chengyun saw that the situation was suddenly reversed, he immediately became angry and said:
"I just can't bear to see you trying to gain fame. The clothes you're wearing are my old clothes that my brother threw away, so why did I wear them on you? I'm afraid you didn't steal them."
Wearing second-hand clothes is considered indecent, and most scholars are ashamed to wear second-hand clothes.
When Hou Chengyun thought about it, if he exposed it in public, it would definitely make Hou Yao embarrassed. Who knew that Hou Yao had no intention of being embarrassed at all:
"The clothes I'm wearing were bought at a clothing store in Yazhou City when I was visiting my master's house. I was afraid that I would be disgraceful to my master.
There is a receipt as proof, so why steal it?
Also, what’s wrong with my family being poor?
Have you eaten your rice?
Is there any law in Daxia that stipulates that poor people commit crimes?
My family neither steals nor robs, and we farm and feed ourselves. Although life is hard, I feel at ease.
On the contrary, it’s your home. I just want to ask you,
A businessman does not engage in production, but relies on buying and selling to live a comfortable life. Are you so proud?
Little do you know that every penny you earn comes from squeezing the hard work of the people. Do you really feel so at ease?
Since ancient times, our country, Daxia, has ranked people according to scholars, farmers, industry and merchants, with merchants ranked at the bottom.
When did it become possible for a businessman to discriminate against farmers if he only had two pieces of dirty money?
Fortunately, you are still a scholar. It can only be said that it is a tragedy for the country to read the sage books like this.
This is really unreasonable, I have never seen such a shameless person."
Hou Yao scolded and scolded him for a while, saying something to Hou Chengyun that was even catchy. His face turned blue and white.
He was anxious and angry but helpless. In full view of everyone, he couldn't grab Hou Yao and beat him.
If you really do this, you will undoubtedly offend the owner of this place.
Seeing Hou Chengyun's complete defeat, Yao Yingzhe could no longer sit back and watch, and immediately spoke out:
"Brother Jieqiu's words are biased. Regardless of whether they are scholars, farmers, industry or commerce, they are all industries that are beneficial to the country.
There is no distinction between superiority and inferiority. Our Holy Father made such remarks in the early years. We cannot argue with them.
Besides, today is a poetry meeting and we won’t talk about state affairs. Since Brother Hou is here, he happened to be wrong.
Both emotionally and rationally, I should come up with a proud work for everyone to appreciate, what do you think, Brother Hou?"
Yao Yingzhe's words were reasonable and he forcibly brought back the topic that Hou Yao had diverted.
The focus once again focused on Hou Yao's sleeping situation.
Ren Hongcai also stood up at this time and said:
"Master Yao is right, Jieqiu, since you are a scholar in our county, you should also strive for our county.
How about I give you a moment to burn incense and write a poem about bamboo?"
The county magistrate had already spoken, but Hou Yao had no choice but to say:
"Okay, write poetry. What level of poetry do you want? Do you have any requirements?"
Everyone was stunned when they heard this. Even Yao Yingzhe was stunned. It was extremely difficult to write a poem on the spot. Who could write a poem even if he asked for it?
Ren Hongcai thought for a moment and said:
"Just write that kind of rhythm that you're good at."
Hou Yao spread his hands:
"Anyway, I'm not good at that. I just write whatever you want to hear.
Forget it, the meter doesn't matter, what theme do you want?
For example, poetry, narrative, lyricism, farewell, frontier fortress, landscape and pastoral, nostalgic and so on."
Everyone just felt that their intelligence had been seriously insulted.
Even Zhou De, who was standing next to Hou Yao, couldn't stand it and complained softly:
"Cousin, why are you asking questions when you're not good at anything?"
Hou Yao said angrily:
"You have to shut up. The book boy is still in charge of the master. Besides, how can I know what to write if I don't explain it clearly?
At what point do they not like you being in charge?”
Everyone present took a deep breath. Hou Yao was so bold, he told others to write whatever they liked.
What does this mean for writing poetry? It also shows too little respect for the status of poetry, the first of the four subjects in the imperial examination.
Ren Hongcai was about to get angry, but Yao Yingzhe stood up first and high-fived:
"Okay, Brother Jieqiu is so confident.
I, Yao, want to know whether Xiong is truly confident or arrogant.
How about starting with a poem about your ambition?"
Everyone said, "Yes, that's the truth. If someone is really talented, then it doesn't matter if they are crazy."
After all, great talents are all arrogant. The so-called arrogance based on one’s talents is not right.
If you are a straw bag, just kick him out. It is not worth getting angry with a straw bag.
Ren Hongcai heard this and pushed Na Biao back. He had better listen first and then talk.
The purpose of organizing this poetry meeting today is to make a name for myself. If I can really publish a masterpiece that will be handed down from generation to generation, my name will be greatly spread.
Su Mingzhi also stood up and said with a smile:
"If Brother Jieqiu really has this talent, as long as the level of his poetry is between the middle and upper levels,
I, Su, will introduce my mentor, Mr. Yi Zheng, to my brother."
Everyone was suddenly in an uproar. There were three famous Confucian masters in the Daxia Kingdom in the contemporary era: Yizheng in the capital, Yangming in the south, and Hanmo in Chang'an.
Seventy percent of the officials in the court came from the schools of these three great Confucian masters. It can be said that the world is full of talents.
Not to mention whether you can learn anything after entering the door, the nepotism alone can make people fly into the sky.
No one expected that Su Mingzhi was Mr. Yi Zheng’s disciple.
This is a sure-fire future boss.
But it was obvious that Hou Yao was not very interested in this famous Confucian master, so he just said lightly:
"Thank you Brother Su for your kindness, but my parents are not traveling far away, and Hou has not thought about going to the capital.
So I can only accept my brother’s kindness with my heart.”
Su Mingzhi raised his hands in embarrassment:
"Filial piety comes first among all good deeds. Brother Jieqiu's concern is human nature, but it was Su who was abrupt."
Hou Chengyun jumped out again at this time and said:
"Do you think Yi Zhengxian is so easy to get into? It sounds like you can actually write it.
I advise you to save some face, otherwise you won’t be able to write it down and it will embarrass your ancestors.”
When Hou Yao saw this idiot, he jumped out again and said happily:
"Okay, since you don't think so highly of me, why don't we take a gamble? If I write it out,
How about you lose me a thousand taels of silver?"
Hou Chengyun was speechless immediately. One thousand taels was not a small amount. His monthly payment for three months was less than one thousand taels, which he could easily come up with.
Hou Yao said deliberately with a look of disdain.
"You can't take it out, can you? The richest man in the South China Sea can't even take out a thousand taels, but he still has the nerve to show off. That's bullshit."
"you……".
Hou Chengyun couldn't stand this kind of stimulation and shouted on the spot:
"Let's bet, but what if you can't do it? Since it's a bet, both parties must have a stake."
Hou Yao looked helpless:
"How could I not do it? Forget it, I don't believe it even if you look like this.
I definitely don’t have the money, otherwise, if I can’t do it, what if I let you do it?”