Chapter 038: Too Much
"Shang Jieyuan is truly a man of great talent. I am very pleased to hear this. I would like to offer you a toast. I hope Shang Jieyuan will do me the honor."
Xu Jiaren, who was sitting at the main table, raised a glass of wine, hoping to drink with Shang Lu.
As one of the top famous courtesans along the Qinhuai River, in terms of academic level, Xu Jiaren might be no worse than some of the scholars present. Naturally, she could also hear the high level of these two lines of poetry.
If nothing unexpected happens, Shang Lu will be the first in today's Feihua Ling. Dong Yujing is also impressed by his talent and shows her admiration for him.
You have to know that the talented scholars and beautiful ladies in Qinhuai during the Ming Dynasty complemented each other in a sense. The presence of brothel geishas gave the talented scholars a lot of creative inspiration, and the articles and poems of the talented scholars were also known to more people because of the spread and recognition of geishas.
Take Xu Jiaren's behavior now for example. Her invitation to Shang Lu to drink together was an indirect recognition of Shang Lu's literary talent, and its effect was no less than the praise from Lin Zhen or Sun Tixue.
Even in the eyes of other literati, they might envy Shang Lu for winning the heart of a beautiful woman. If it were further developed and spread, it might be a romantic affair, and the poem could be spread more widely.
"Miss Xu is willing to drink with me, I am more than happy to have you. Please!"
Shang Lu readily agreed, and in his words he put himself in a low position, not feeling any superiority because of Xu Jiaren's status as a prostitute. Later historians commented that Shang Lu was "generous and tolerant" in his treatment of others, and it seems that what he said was true.
The two raised their glasses, toasted each other, and drank them all in one gulp.
"I have heard of Shang Jieyuan's name in my early years, and today I am able to see his true appearance. He is indeed a genius."
Sun Tixue looked at Shang Lu with admiration. These two lines of poetry were definitely at the level of the top scholar. It was a pity that it was a flying flower order. If it was a complete poem, it might become a masterpiece handed down from generation to generation.
"Grandmaster, thank you for your compliment. I am a student with little knowledge and experience, and I am truly ashamed to accept it."
Listening to Sun Tixue praising him in front of everyone, Shang Lu felt a little overwhelmed. After all, he had failed the exam once, and he knew what it felt like to be praised to the sky and then dropped to the ground.
"Shang Jieyuan, there is no need to be modest. I am also optimistic about you."
Seeing that Shang Lu was being too modest, Lin Zhen expressed his agreement. He was a genuine top scorer in the imperial examination, and his words were persuasive enough.
"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Zhuangyuan."
Shang Lu could only respond and say thank you at this moment. After all, in the eyes of many people, being too modest would seem fake.
Originally, the opening of this poetry gathering could be described as a hundred flowers blooming, but now that Shang Lu's flying flower order came out, it basically became a single flower. Even before the order had finished a circle, many people didn't notice that the focus of the whole audience was on Shang Lu.
"Shen Yichen, this Shang Jieyuan looks very powerful. How are you going to respond?"
As Li Da spoke, he spat out the fruit shells, looking relaxed and contented. Anyway, Shen Yichen was in charge of receiving the order, so he was just a spectator.
"Shut up!"
He is really bringing up things that are not related to the topic. Shen Yichen is already in a state of confusion, and Li Da is adding fuel to the fire.
"If it's a blessing, it's not a disaster. If it's a disaster, you can't avoid it..."
Perhaps Li Da's bad luck really came true. After the bigwigs at the main table exchanged pleasantries with Shang Lu, they remembered that the Feihua Order had not been accepted for the last table.
"There is still one table of Feihualing that has not been accepted. Considering the talents of the scholars attending today's meeting, perhaps they will come up with a masterpiece."
The last table was so remote and inconspicuous that it was not even fully occupied and was often neglected.
Lin Zhen's original intention in saying this was to cheer up the last seat. After all, the scholar who chose that table must be the type with poor talent and introverted personality.
He didn't expect that a familiar face would stand up from the last seat...
Shen Yichen's face was full of embarrassment. He stood up shyly and introduced himself according to the rules.
"My dear friends, my name is Shen Yichen. I haven't chosen a courtesy name yet. I'm sorry to show off my ugliness..."
Others might say that they are being modest when they say that they are making a fool of themselves, but Shen Yichen said that he was making a fool of himself, and that might really be a bit embarrassing.
Take the most basic self-introduction for example. Those who stood up from other tables were all candidates from some place, or at least had the title of student. Only Shen Yichen was too embarrassed to say that he was a student, so he simply skipped this step.
Sure enough, when this kind of self-introduction came out, the scholars present looked at Shen Yichen with strange eyes.
If Shen Yichen knew what Li Da was thinking, he would have expressed his approval. If he had known that Feihualing was played like this, he would not have chosen the last seat where no one was sitting. It would have been much better to find a table with more people...
"Shen Yichen, why does this name sound familiar?"
"The poem "Linjiangxian" that was circulated in Yingtian Prefecture before seems to have been written by someone named Shen Yichen."
"I also remembered that it was Shen Yichen, the son of the Duke, who even surpassed Zeng Mengjian, the top scholar in Yingtian Jingkui!"
"He looks very young, indeed a young talent."
Originally Shen Yichen was prepared to be ridiculed by everyone, but he never expected that when his name was announced, most of the comments were praises.
It seems that the previous song "Linjiangxian" has indeed had a great influence, and has reversed the previous bad impression of Shen Yichen, a maid-born son, as being unlearned and unskillful.
Why is he here !
When Zeng Mengjian saw Shen Yichen appear at the poetry gathering, his face became extremely ugly.
After all, half of Shen Yichen's current fame was achieved by stepping on Zeng Mengjian.
When enemies meet, how can they not be jealous of each other?
"Yi Chen, why are you sitting so far back?"
Seeing Shen Yichen, Lin Zhen was actually happy inside and asked with concern.
After two months of contact, Lin Zhen has completely accepted Shen Yichen as his disciple, even though he has no achievements and is just a student.
Because whether in terms of diligence, insight, calmness, and pattern, Shen Yichen was far superior to his peers, and he wrote in the Taige style, which even amazed Lin Zhen, the top scholar.
Many times, seeing the calligraphy is like seeing the person. Only after personal contact did Lin Zhen understand why his old friend Li Tingxiu would recommend a student to him as his disciple.
Because he knows very well that Shen Yichen will never tarnish his reputation!
After the poetry reading began, Lin Zhen scanned the entire venue more than once, trying to find , but was greatly disappointed. He thought that his disciple did not choose to participate in the end.
Now that he suddenly saw Shen Yichen appear, he was naturally happy.
Not to mention Lin Zhen, even Sun Tixue had a smile subconsciously on his face.
"Sir, I know that I am not very knowledgeable, so I sit at the end of the table."
As soon as Shen Yichen said this, it immediately aroused dissatisfaction among many scholars at the scene.
The reason for dissatisfaction is not that he is modest, but that there is a big problem with the way he addresses people!
The scholars present only addressed Lin Zhen as "Mr. Zhuangyuan", but Shen Yichen called him "Mr.". At the same time, they usually referred to themselves as "younger generation" or "younger generation", but Shen Yichen called himself "disciple".
It is human nature to want to take advantage of the top scholar, and everyone knows it. But you are going too far, claiming to be his disciple. You are really shameless.
"What is Shen Yichen's status and achievements? Why does he call the champion 'sir'?"
"I have no academic title, I am just a student. As for why the champion is called sir, guess what?"
Zeng Mengjian finally seized the opportunity and exposed Shen Yichen's true colors. The fact that a schoolboy could sneak in and participate in the poetry gathering had already lowered the level of the entire Winter Solstice Poetry Meeting.
Now you still want to curry favor with the top scholar, Shen Yichen, you are really getting carried away!
Sure enough, when Zeng Mengjian said this, it instantly ignited the whole audience. When Shen Yichen introduced himself earlier, many people wondered why he had no official title.
Now everything is explained. This kid has no achievements, so he deliberately concealed his past.
"Although this boy has talent, he has no morals and does not even understand the basic rules!"
"Whether he has talent or not is another matter. I heard that Shen Yichen was uneducated and naughty in Duke Cheng's mansion before, so he couldn't even pass the examination for a student after several years of study."
"Then how to create a masterpiece like Linjiangxian?"
"I suspect that the Duke hired a ghostwriter for him, just to stand out at the family dinner!"
If we say that at the beginning most people still had the impression of "Linjiangxian", they mainly praised and admired Shen Yichen .
Then, as Shen Yichen's identity as a student was exposed, and he referred to the top scholar Lin Zhen as his teacher, these people turned against him and ridiculed and despised Shen Yichen in various ways, even saying that Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong had found a ghostwriter for him.
Shen Yichen just laughed off these remarks. The only thing that made him a little depressed was that it seemed that fame and fortune were always linked to people in every occasion, and everyone would mention whether they were human or ghost. It was very similar to how people in later generations would discuss your academic qualifications and major when looking for a job.
As a student who graduated from an unpopular major, Shen Yichen has experienced a lot, and it seems like the scene is replaying itself in his life.
However, what happened next was a shocking change for the scholars who were mocking the incident on the spot!
I don't know if Lin Zhen heard the noise or wanted to help Shen Yichen, so he said: "Yichen, I know your knowledge and writing skills very well. People should not be proud, nor should they be too humble."
Besides Lin Zhen, Sun Tixue also helped out at the right time, saying, "Mr. Zhuangyuan is right. Yichen, you can come to the table."
Sun Tixue had seen Shen Yichen sitting in the corner at the last table more than once. He behaved in such a low-key manner at the family dinner at Duke Chengguo's mansion.
If the first time was accidental and due to his humble status, then the second time was enough to show that this person's character is indeed low-key, modest and unpretentious.
In ancient times, this kind of humble quality was highly respected. It was especially rare for Shen Yichen to be able to do so under the premise of worshipping the top scholar as his teacher!
The more Sun Tixue looks at Shen Yichen, the more he likes him. If his daughter wasn't already married and his granddaughter wasn't too young, he would really want to marry her off as his son-in-law!
To be honest, Shen Yichen didn't know what Sun Tixue was thinking. If he knew, he would be confused. He didn't choose to say hello and show off, and sat at the last seat in the corner. Maybe it had something to do with being low-key, but it was more because of his lack of ability...
If he could show off to the fullest, he would do it. Why should he be so low-key?
As a result, now I have unexpectedly achieved success and frequently won the favor of the big guys. It is really a coincidence.
