Jiang Gan was startled, seeing that the girls were all filled with indignation, but not for themselves. He felt extremely unhappy and even more dissatisfied.
This Jiang Gan was supposed to be a star sought after by thousands of people, but he became a second-class person because of Cao Xueqin, whom he had never even met. This is not the first time that this happened. No matter how talented Jiang Gan is, in the hearts of talented girls He will never be able to compare with Mr. Cao Xueqin, and he doesn’t give any reason at all, saying that Mr. Cao is more powerful. This makes Jiang Gan hate Cao Xueqin so much that he dreams of trampling Cao Xueqin under his feet every time he eats or dreams. Everyone in the world wants to see who is truly talented and knowledgeable.
Jiang Gan was frightened by the girls' anger for a while, but he quickly calmed down and refused to retreat in the face of everyone's anger. He whispered: "I am telling the truth! What are you talking about Mr. Cao? Has anyone seen him? ?What’s the point of shrinking one’s head and thinking? Hiding behind books, pretending to be a ghost, writing sensually and Machiavellian, and loving children, you are doing harm to the country and the people.”
"You, you, you... don't talk nonsense!" The girls were so angry that their faces turned green, but they couldn't get angry in such an occasion.
Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted: "Cao Xueqin, Mr. Cao is here today. Don't be arrogant. Mr. Cao will definitely be able to control you by then."
"What?!"
"Mr. Cao is here?"
This time the scene became more noisy, and everyone was asking a question.
"Who is Mr. Cao? Where is he?"
Everyone was looking left and right to see who might be Cao Xueqin.
Jiang Gan was disdainful and sneered: "Hahahaha...Cao Xueqin will be here? Impossible!"
Fang Rui stood up: "This is absolutely true, otherwise our sisters wouldn't be bothered to come to this poetry gathering!"
"Who could it be if they were there?"
"Mr. Cao is a low-key person by nature, so he is naturally unwilling to reveal his identity. Who is like you? A noisy crow or a street rat!"
"Don't try to use your words. Find Cao Xueqin first and then talk about it."
"I have a way to know who Cao Xueqin is."
Everyone's eyes lit up: "Oh? Tell me what's going on?"
"Everyone of us here will tell us our lives one after another, and everyone here will verify whether we are telling the truth. Find out all the people with suspicious identities here, and one of them must be Mr. Cao Xueqin."
After saying that, the proposer Fang Rui started talking to himself: "My name is Fang Rui, and my father is the shopkeeper of Yuxiang Jinzhai, as everyone around me can testify."
Then, another woman stood up beside him: "My name is Li Fu, and Li Qiyuan, the shopkeeper of Suzhou Lijia Clothing Store, is my father."
As we were talking, one by one, you stood up and announced your identity.
At the blink of an eye, there were more than ten people, and the number of young people present was reduced by one-third.
It can be verified that the first dozen or so people came from their own families, and no one lied. Everyone after that also had nothing to hide, and they were all young talents with some reputation in Suzhou.
Seeing this situation, he looked sad at first sight and looked towards Xia Shang.
Xia Shang's dark color remained as usual, and he whispered comforting words: "Don't be impatient. This God-given opportunity allows you to stand in front of everyone, so what do you have to be afraid of?"
"Sir, what I am afraid of is not the exposure of my identity, but the sentence 'smoke locks the willows in the pond'. If I make it public in the name of Cao Xueqin, but I am unable to solve this problem, wouldn't it be an insult to Mr. Cao Xueqin's reputation?"
"What's there to be afraid of? Let me tell you something."
As he spoke, Xia Shang lowered his head and whispered in Chu Jian's ear. Chu Jian's expression was shocked after hearing this, and he looked at Xia Shang with admiration.
Xia Shang smiled: "Put away your little daughter attitude. They only look at you with such adoring eyes."
His face turned slightly red at first, but he soon calmed down.
In the blink of an eye, the names of all the young ladies in the garden were revealed, but none of them called themselves Cao Xueqin.
Some people wondered: "Why is there no Mr. Cao? Who else hasn't reported their name?"
"Yeah, it seems it's almost done, right?"
"No, there is another person here."
While he was talking, everyone's eyes fell on Chu Jian, who was sitting alone and silent.
Chu Jian tried his best to remain calm and was about to stand up when Xia Shang behind him took the lead: "You don't need to look, the person sitting in front of you is Mr. Cao Xueqin Cao who wrote "Dream of Red Mansions"."
"Wow!"
The scene suddenly exploded. Both men and women looked surprised and suspicious. After so long, Cao Xueqin finally appeared. But how could he be a young man who was no more than twenty years old and had a handsome appearance that seemed a bit enchanting?
This image is great, but it is also extremely unexpected. No one thought that Cao Xueqin would be such a young and beautiful young man...
"It doesn't look like it..." A young man walked up to Chu Jian, looked at him again and again, and shook his head again and again.
As an outsider, Xia Shang had a lot of fun admiring the world's speculations about Cao Xueqin. Seeing the young master's expression, he asked, "How come it doesn't look like him?"
"Everyone in the world calls him Mr. Cao, but the man in front of me is clearly Mr. Cao."
"The title of Mr. Cao is nothing but a fabrication made up by the world. Is there even half a sentence in "A Dream of Red Mansions" that calls himself Mr. Cao? Has anyone in the world seen Mr. Cao? How can you conclude that Mr. Cao is not like this?"
The young man who spoke was speechless.
Jiang Gan also came over, looked around, and still doubted: "Is this Cao Xueqin real or fake? I have heard that many people pretend to call themselves Cao Xueqin. You say he is Cao Xueqin, what proof is there?"
After Jiang Gan finished speaking, Chu Jian stood up and looked at Jiang Gan with a bit of disdain: "No one needs to prove to anyone what my surname is. This is a strange question for you to ask, so I want to ask you. Then you can prove it to everyone."
Take a look and prove that you are a human being."
"you!"
Jiang Qian was shocked by this question and was so angry that he didn't know what to say.
Everyone around them burst out laughing.
Chu Jian held his own attitude and said calmly to everyone: "Whether you believe it or not, it all depends on you and not others. If you believe me, I am Cao Xueqin. If you don't believe me, then who do you think I am?"
Having said that, he sat down for the first time and poured himself a glass of wine, ignoring everyone else.
When everyone saw it, they thought that Mr. Cao was so aloof and unrestrained. Despite his young age, his words had the air of a nobleman. He was really different from ordinary people.
Is he really Cao Xueqin?
While everyone was puzzled, only Jiang Gan, who was attentive, came forward and said, "Just to make things mysterious, I will assume that you are Mr. Cao Xueqin. The girl in the world said that Cao Xueqin was the number one literary giant at that time. He knew everything from music, chess, calligraphy and painting to poetry, lyrics and songs.
No. You were also present earlier, and you also heard Master Jiang Gan’s first couplet. Since you, Cao Xueqin, are so powerful, might you be able to guess the second couplet?”
Really? If he is really Mr. Cao, can he be right about the sentence "Smoke locks willows in the pond"?
In doubt, the girls are full of expectations, but the gentlemen are hoping for luck. How can the person who calls himself "Cao Xueqin" get to the stage? (To be continued)