Chapter 238: A Few Things About the Outing! (Part 2)
"Teacher Cai said the opposite, didn't he?" Jiang Chengfeng sneered, "Zhang Quanshu can only make couplets, unlike Teacher Cai who likes to accept officials' children as students and enjoy the honor. Even I admire him!"
Jiang Chengfeng didn't know whether Cai Xianglan had real ability or not. But just by looking at her contempt for the lower class people, he knew that her character was not very good. And those officials' children who joined her school probably just wanted to gild themselves.
Seeing Jiang Dazhu and Cai Guoxue confront each other, some were surprised, some were confused, and most just stood by and watched. Ye Lingshuang was caught in the middle and felt very embarrassed.
As a famous teacher of Jiankang Academy, Cai Xianglan was respected wherever she went. She had never been ridiculed like this before. Her fragile self-esteem was immediately overwhelmed. She wanted to curse, but she didn't want to lose face, so she could only snort coldly: "Mr. Jiang is really good at speaking! In this case, why don't you compete with His Highness?"
Jiang Chengfeng laughed loudly, "Why shouldn't I dare to say it? I'm just worried that if I dare to say it, some people won't dare to listen!"
Li Anning immediately responded, "Jiang Dazhu, don't be so arrogant! What is there to be afraid of? Listen carefully, my first couplet just now was "One cow leads two calves!"
You are such a jerk! Jiang Chengfeng glanced at Li Anning and said disdainfully, "How dare you say such a vulgar and superficial couplet? My second line is "Two donkeys in the same den!"
Li Anning and Cai Xianglan's faces immediately turned pale. This was simply a slap in the face! Especially Li Anning, as a member of the extremely noble royal family, he was actually compared to a donkey. What a shame!
"Jiang Dazhu! You deserve to die! You actually humiliated the royal family--" Li Anning shouted.
"May I ask, Your Highness, how have I humiliated the royal family?" Jiang Chengfeng asked innocently.
"I--" Li An Ning was speechless. After all, Jiang Chengfeng did not explicitly say that the royal family were all donkeys, but everyone understood what he meant.
When the young prince was embarrassed, Cai Xianglan immediately jumped out and pointed at Jiang Chengfeng's nose and cursed: "Jiang Dazhu, you are speaking nonsense and humiliating the royal family! Everyone has seen it, do you still want to deny it?"
Jiang Chengfeng laughed in anger, stared coldly at the old woman, and said, "Teacher Cai, please don't put such a big hat on me, it will scare people to death! I just had good intentions, but I didn't expect someone to deliberately misinterpret it and deliberately humiliate me, the founding emperor of Northern Tang!"
Cai Xianglan was puzzled and scolded: "Jiang Dazhu, explain it clearly!"
"Farmers work hard in the fields and earn their livings with their own hands. They are much better than you prodigals who have everything handed to them! If you didn't have a good father, you would still be digging wild vegetables in the fields!"
"Jiang Dazhu, you--" Cai Xianglan was trembling violently due to the scolding. She felt difficulty breathing and almost fainted. Ye Lingshuang hurriedly supported her staggering mentor, but glanced at Jiang Chengfeng for help.
"My Northern Tang Kingdom is based on the people. The people are the foundation of my Northern Tang Kingdom. What qualifications do you have to look down on them? Teacher Cai, you come from a famous family, so you can be superior to others and treat the people as pariahs. This is because you have a good background, and I have nothing to say!"
"But I'm very curious. Did your ancestors also have noble births? In fact, your ancestors were just like these peasants. Who is superior to whom? You divide people into different classes. Who gave you the confidence to do that?"
As he spoke, Jiang Chengfeng stomped on a palm-sized stone beside him in anger, and the hard stone was crushed to pieces by him.
Everyone was shocked and took two steps back, and no one dared to refute anything. The most important thing was that when everyone thought about it carefully, although Jiang Dazhu's language was vulgar, it did make some sense, and even Cai Xianglan and Li Anning could not refute it.
"Your ancestors were just like them, so you have no right to laugh at them! After all, the founding emperor of our Northern Tang was also born a peasant. Excuse me, your contempt for peasants does not mean that you also despise Emperor Taizu? Your Highness, you are a descendant of Emperor Taizu, but you humiliate Emperor Taizu like this. You are much bolder than me!"
The scene was completely silent, leaving only Jiang Chengfeng's scolding. The story of Emperor Taizu was well known to everyone in Northern Tang. It was rumored that Emperor Taizu was once a poor tenant farmer, but he rose from a peasant uprising leader to the founding emperor. His Highness the Crown Prince's contempt for peasants was indeed equivalent to his contempt for his ancestors.
Although Jiang Dazhu's words were crude, his logic was sound. It .
Li Anning was shaking all over, his fists clenched, he was powerless to refute. But he was unwilling to admit his mistake, so he had to lower his head and remain silent. He lost this round.
There were also many scholars from the north who came for the outing today. They wanted to please the young prince and Cai Xianglan, so they wanted to suppress Jiang Chengfeng's arrogance. One of them stepped forward and said loudly, "This brother Jiang is really talented in writing! I am Jibei Liu Sanbian, and I will also come up with a couplet - An ant trying to shake a tree, a mantis trying to stop a chariot, how dare you talk about courage?"
Jiang Chengfeng sneered and said loudly: "Ants climb along the locust tree, and a cat crosses the river. How dare a fool call himself a wise man?"
Liu Sanbian's face turned pale immediately, and he stared at Jiang Chengfeng with eyes burning with anger. Before he could refute, Jiang Chengfeng said with a smile: "Since Brother Liu wants to please His Royal Highness, then I will also come up with a couplet! The morning glory does not bloom——"
Liu Sanbian snorted coldly and immediately argued: "Mr. Gouweicao, I——"
However, just after he finished speaking, he realized something was wrong. It seemed that the second line of the couplet was insulting Teacher Cai!
Sure enough, as soon as Liu Sanbian finished speaking, everyone burst into laughter. Everyone understood that Brother Liu had fallen into Jiang Dazhu's trap.
Jiang Chengfeng also laughed and said, "Oh! Brother, you have great literary talent! I admire you!"
Cai Xianglan's face turned red with anger, but she was a famous master of Chinese studies for many years, so how could she allow a junior to be so arrogant?
So, she waved her sleeves and snorted, "A monkey is sawing wood in the forest. How can a stupid monkey say something like (sawing)?"
"A yellow dog fell into a manure pit. How could this beast pose any problem (hoof)?" Jiang Chengfeng replied.
Everyone's eyes widened. Jiang Dazhu was the only one who dared to insult Cai Daxue so blatantly. However, Jiang Dazhu's insults were very clever, making it impossible to refute.
As expected, Cai Xianglan's face turned red and white, and Jiang Chengfeng laughed secretly. He just wanted to let the old woman suffer, so that she would remember it and not think that she could laugh at others just because she had some knowledge!
"In such a huge country like Bei Tang, the only person whom I admire is Lord Tang Yin! Speaking of which, Teacher Cai, with your character and talent, even if you practice for another twenty years, you may not be able to catch up with one-tenth of Lord Tang! I hope you take care of yourself!" Jiang Chengfeng said.
