Chapter 70 A masterpiece
After hearing what Guo Yongxin said, Chen Qingtong suddenly realized that the feeling of being suffocated before was not an illusion.
Facing the doubts of other young ladies, Guo Yongxin could trust Shen Yichen as much as she did herself. This could not be explained by simple admiration.
As expected, women’s intuition is often very accurate.
But Chen Qingtong didn’t understand why Guo Yongxin had a good impression of Shen Yichen, even though they had never had any interaction.
As for the young masters and scholars, facing such rampant provocation from Shen Yichen, many of them could no longer hold back. If it were not for the occasion today, there would probably be many who wanted to take action.
At this time, Xu Donghai stood up and said, "Shen Yichen, do you really think that just because you won the first place in the case, you are unparalleled in literary talent?"
Shen Yichen glanced at the person who came and seemed to have seen him in the examination room before. Oh, by the way, this guy also jumped out once when he went to Zhaowen Academy to visit the teacher that day.
Shen Yichen didn't know why this person kept holding on to him. Since he couldn't get rid of him, he had no choice but to let him shut up.
"I don't know if my literary talent is the best in the world, but I know it should be better than yours."
Shen Yichen had complete confidence in saying this, as he had won the first place twice in the county examination and the prefectural examination, and had beaten the other guy every time. Why couldn't he say that he was better than him?
Hearing this, Xu Donghai was so angry that his lungs almost exploded. The most frustrating thing for him in the past six months was that he was always surpassed by Shen Yichen in the imperial examination.
There is also the feeling of humiliation of being ignored by the other party at Zhaowen Academy that day, which always lingers in my heart.
I was looked down upon in front of everyone again today. Shen Yichen was really going too far!
"Oh, better than me? If it weren't for Duke Cheng, how could you have won the first place? Why did all the relatives of Duke Cheng's mansion win the first place? Don't you have any idea in your mind?"
Such remarks, which directly pointed out that the other party had cheated in the imperial examination, had previously been discussed in private among the young masters of literature and art because they concerned the Chengguo Mansion and the chief examiner.
Especially since Xu Donghai himself is the son of an official, and standing behind him is Xu Qi, the Minister of War of Nanjing, he has to be more cautious in his words and actions.
But Xu Donghai was still young after all, and in his anger he didn't care and directly disclosed in front of everyone the suspicion of cheating in the imperial examination at the Chengguo Mansion's private school.
It is almost impossible to settle the matter peacefully now.
"Xu Donghai, you can have doubts , but don't bring Duke Cheng's relatives with you."
After hearing this, Zhu Ji had to stand up and give a warning, but the deep meaning behind his words was worth pondering for everyone present.
First of all, Zhu Ji actually confirmed Xu Donghai's suspicion of fraud, which means that he allowed the attack on Shen Yichen personally. Another point is that he emphasized not to bring the relatives of Duke Chengguo, which is what the son of Duke Chengguo must do.
At the same time, another point is also brought up. Shen Yichen was not actually a member of the Chengguo Mansion clan, which means that he was not considered a clan member.
If those who had doubted and expressed dissatisfaction before were still somewhat afraid of Zhu Ji and the power of the Chengguo Mansion behind him, his words now were equivalent to directly singleing out Shen Yichen.
As long as you don’t involve my Chengguo Mansion, you can do whatever you want.
The public opinion that had been suppressed was instantly ignited.
"A man who won the first prize by relying on the power of his ancestors dares to call himself talented?"
"Shen Yichen, others are afraid of your identity, but I am not afraid of you. I will definitely expose your true face today!"
"How dare you, a man seeking fame and reputation, speak so arrogantly?"
"Today I will report you to the Confucian Education Promotion Office and strip you of your title as the first in the case."
Feeling that he could no longer restrain the anger of the crowd, Zhang Qi stood in front of Shen Yichen and said, "Brother, why don't you run first? I'll cover your back!"
In Zhang Qi's eyes, Shen Yichen had boasted too much this time and aroused public anger, so he was probably bound to be beaten.
He used his big and fat body to block the crowd and buy him some time to escape, and maybe he could avoid a beating.
Seeing Zhang Qi's posture, Zeng Mengjian realized that Shen Yichen was going to run away, so he shouted: "Block the garden gate, don't let this guy run away!"
Having been slapped in the face and suppressed by Shen Yichen several times, Zeng Mengjian has learned his lesson and no longer dares to be the first to speak out.
But this does not mean that he has chosen to surrender.
It was nothing more than turning an open fight into a secret revenge, just like what was happening now. Zeng Mengjian would not take the initiative to take the lead in provocation, but he was not willing to miss the chance to kick a fallen dog.
Seeing that everyone outside was about to take action, Duke of Wei Xu Xianzong could no longer sit still. If a bloody incident really happened and it got out, he, as the host, would lose face.
Chen Qingtong on the other side was also extremely anxious. She wanted to rush out of the gauze curtain to help Shen Yichen.
But she was just a little girl and couldn't do anything in front of so many people. And due to etiquette, if Chen Qingtong did something impulsive and angered her father, she might never see Shen Yichen again.
After thinking about it, since I can't help, I can only ask my father for help.
Just when Chen Qingtong was about to go to Jingmiao Hall, Guo Yongxin beside him took a step ahead and ran towards Jingmiao Hall. It was obvious that her idea was the same as his.
Now Chen Qingtong couldn't care about anything else and followed Guo Yongxin. The two of them rushed to the front of the ministers one after another.
Xu Xianzong, Duke of Wei in Jingmiao Hall, was just about to ask the servants in the mansion to maintain order, but he saw two little girls running in breathlessly, feeling a little puzzled.
"Yong Xin, you look so flustered, how can you be a lady from a noble family?"
Before the State of Wei could speak out, Guo Sheng, Marquis of Cheng'an, saw his daughter's appearance and scolded her, which was really inappropriate.
"Dad, I saw some disturbance among the young masters in the garden and was worried that something might happen, so I came here to seek help."
"Since my father and the ministers are here, why would a girl like you need to worry about it?"
As soon as Guo Sheng finished speaking, Chen Qingtong asked Taining Hou for help: "Dad, Brother Yichen is in danger now, please help him."
Upon hearing his daughter's words, Taining Marquis Chen Ying's face turned black. He never expected that after half a year of house arrest, his daughter had not changed at all and still could not forget Shen Yichen, the son born to a maid.
Originally, Duke Wei was a little puzzled as to why these two young ladies were so anxious. But when he heard Chen Qingtong say the words "Brother Yichen", he instantly understood that these two were worried about Shen Yichen.
However, a bigger puzzle followed. What virtue and ability did Shen Yichen have to make the two marquis' daughters so worried?
"No need to help, just look around the garden, Shen Yichen has his own way to solve it."
The Minister of War Xu Qi, who had been watching from the sidelines, finally spoke. Looking in the direction of what he said, everyone in the garden had made way for him and Shen Yichen was walking towards .
He took the rice paper and ink brush from the servant, and then directly pasted the rice paper on the notice board. Then he wrote with great speed, and artistic characters appeared on the paper.
Sword Like a Rainbow
"There is no smoke without fire; there is no talent in the world."
"When young, I aspire to be a famous scholar; when old, I look back on my fame."
"Besides being made a marquis and a general in Qilian, all his talents are full of moving emotions."
"Golden swords and iron horses break through the Zen gate, and the beauty is like jade and the sword is like a rainbow."
This poem originally came from "Night Sitting No. 2" by Gong Zizhen of the Qing Dynasty. It describes his frustration at being unable to realize his talent and his unrealized ambition to govern the country, and his hope that one day he would be able to display his talent.
However, apart from borrowing the original line "Beauty is like jade and sword is like rainbow", Shen Yichen modified almost the entire poem, completely changing the artistic conception.
The meaning of the first two sentences is that the reason why rumors can spread far and wide is because one looks around the world and finds that there are no talented people.
Rumors are something that starts with schemers, starts with fools, and ends with wise men. You guys are using cheating in the imperial examination to attack me, which is enough to prove that none of you are talented, you are all just stupid fools!
The second paragraph is easier to understand. I was young and ambitious to win the first place in the case. All the controversies, fame and achievements can only be judged when I look back in my old age. Why do you say that I am a fraud?
The third sentence expands the picture and no longer cares about other people's opinions. It expresses that only by being granted a title of nobility and a general outside the Qilian Mountains can the world understand this talented and heart-wrenching poem.
The name Qilian Mountain is a reference to a line in the Song of the Xiongnu: "If I lose Qilian Mountain, my livestock will not multiply." This corresponds exactly to the Mongolian threat on the northern border of the Ming Dynasty. Shen Yichen has the lofty ambition to conquer the Xiongnu.
The last sentence is what Gong Zizhen meant originally. When all these shackles are broken, people can be like beautiful jade, and swords can emit powerful aura.
Previously, Shen Yichen’s poems were pure plagiarism because of his lack of understanding of ancient literature.
But now it's different. After almost a year of hard study, Shen Yichen's understanding of ancient literature has improved substantially. At least he has gotten beyond the level of doggerel and can use poetry to express his aspirations.
Of course, if he wanted to achieve something shocking, he still needed to rely on the golden words of the ancients, so he chose the sentence "Beauty is like jade and sword is like rainbow".
When this poem came out and when this handwriting was placed in front of everyone, all the previous doubts, criticisms, and rumors were now left speechless.
The poems of Wei Zhuo, Xu Donghai and Zhang Zhong mentioned above can indeed be considered good, but now compared with Prime Minister Shen Yichen, the description of "three catties of broken poems" is really not wrong.
Because the value of a masterpiece that is handed down from generation to generation is thousands or tens of thousands times greater than that of an ordinary mediocre poem. For example, if Qianlong wrote 30,000 poems in his lifetime, could the total of those poems be comparable to any of the classics handed down from Li Bai and Du Fu?
Poetry has never been determined by quantity, but by the talent contained in the words!
Looking at Shen Yichen's poem, Taining Marquis Chen Ying said silently with a complicated expression: "It seems that I was wrong. He is just like his poems. This boy has a magnificent spirit and lofty ambitions that are rarely seen in life. He may not suffer for Qingtong in the future."
