“‘Literary works flow overseas, if one wants to compose poetry and drink wine, they will stopover at the west gate again?’ Seems like this Lu Yuan truly has some real ability.”
“Hehe, grandpa’s judgment wouldn’t be wrong. If I say he is talented, it means that he is!”
“Grandpa, matching a couplet cannot mean anything. It can only prove that he isn’t an ignorant and incompetent person. There are so many people here, are they not all people of talent?”
“Hehe, I know your judgment is very high. Have you heard of [Für Elise] before? That was created by him.”
“I’ve been immersed in ancient poetry these few days, I’ve not heard of that yet.”
“If you are free, you should listen to it. The melody of Für Elise has already been entered into the teaching books. After you listen to it, you will know why grandpa regards this young man so highly.”
“If he is really a person of talent, he would surely display his brilliance here in the Poetry Exchange! If he can get within the top three rankings, I will consider him.”
“Your requirements are too high. It’s very rare for there to be men who are proficient in all fields in the world. Unless he is a genius of course. I feel that he is already sufficiently outstanding, and he is also very humble. He doesn’t have the air of arrogance most literati have.”
“No! My requirements will not change. Even if I cannot meet someone like that in my entire life, I won’t change. It isn’t so bad to live alone until I’m old.”
“Sigh, you really…what can I say to you…”
On the second level, Grandpa Chen looked to be in vigorous health. He looked at his granddaughter while shaking his head and sighing in his heart.
This granddaughter was good in many aspects. Her talent and ability were high too.
But her brain must have been damaged.
What kind of man would have the talent so high that it reached the requirements she was looking for?
Wasn’t this pure nonsense?
………
This time, the Poetry Exchange was split into two factions.
The classical poetry society and modern poetry society.
Ever since ancient times, they had always scorn each other.
The modern poetry supporters felt that classical poetry supporters were too inflexible and kept adhering to old ideas. They only knew how to follow the old ways and were lacking in new ideas.
The classical poetry supporters felt that modern poetry supporters had forgotten their foundations. The poems they wrote contained no depth, and in recent times, no one in the modern poetry society was overflowing with talent. Hence, the content of their poems was simply sentimental nonsense.
These two factions would always clash with each other in the Poetry Exchange every year, comparing their poems. Everyone hoped that the faction they supported could suppress the other. However, they both had an equal share of limelight every year and the difference was truly minimal. Basically, they were in a tie…
After all, regardless of classical poetry or modern poetry, they had never been compared to see which was better in history. They were all poems. Only the talent of poets was being compared.
Maybe it was because those who could enter the Poetry Exchange were all students ranking at the top of various universities. Their accomplishments in literature were naturally outstanding. Hence, when the judges gave out the points, the score would always hover around the 9-point mark. It was very rare for there to be a lower or higher score given. The winner of each year also won barely by 0.xx+ points. It was impossible for there to be a situation of absolute crushing dominance.
Hence, in such a situation, even the number of talents in each faction was something the two factions wanted to compete about.
Lu Yuan managed to match an extremely difficult couplet. In the eyes of people of this faction, he was a rare talent!
If Lu Yuan hadn’t been dragged to the west gate by Li Dongqiang, he most probably would have been sitting at the classical poetry side, eating fruits and idling away his time. If that happened, he would occasionally glance at the people and clap a little for the atmosphere, waiting for the exchange to be peacefully finished. But now…
The situation wasn’t too good.
“Lu Yuan, you say for yourself. Now, you have two entry passes, so you can choose to sit at two seats. Which one do you want?”
“That’s right, what would you choose? The classical poetry side or our modern poetry side!?”
“…”
The light here was very bright, and it shone down on Lu Yuan’s bitter and somewhat forced smile.
Not far away, on an empty space at the footpath, a few cameramen hurriedly turned their cameras and filmed Lu Yuan. The reporters at the side had looks of interest on their faces as they wrote down notes…
At this moment, regardless of who they were, all the members of the Poetry Exchange were staring at Lu Yuan, waiting for his choice. The atmosphere became slightly awkward once again.
“Can I choose to stand and watch? I feel that standing up is quite good.” Lu Yuan took in a deep breath upon seeing the gazes of the people and the flash of the cameras.
He felt that there would be a problem no matter where he chose.
“No way!”
“No way! You have to choose!”
Shen Rong and Dao Yuting spoke out at the same time.
“Ah, no good. My stomach is aching. It’s so painful that I cannot stand it. Where’s the toilet? I need to make a trip there…” Lu Yuan instantly thought of an idea as he looked at the people here. Under the dumbfounded gazes of the crowd, he clutched his stomach and ran toward the direction of the toilet.
Out of the thirty-six stratagems, fleeing was the best one!
“We will wait for him to come back and choose.”
“Sure!”
The attitudes of Dao Yuting and Shen Rong were so intense that there was a smell of gunpowder in the air. After that, they returned to their seats.
…………
Lu Yuan ran to the toilet, and he subconsciously searched in his pocket.
His disappointment continued to ferment.
He wanted to hide in the toilet and would only come out when the Poetry Exchange was about to be concluded. It could be considered that he had ‘finished enduring’ today.
However, he didn’t know which bro was it that had diarrhea. In the toilet, sounds of firecrackers popping kept ringing out. The sound was one thing, but the smell was so pungent that those who smelled it would instantly feel like vomiting.
How could Lu Yuan, who was not smoking, endure such a thing? He finally cursed ‘MMP’ in his heart and speechlessly ran out of the toilet.
Under the light, he stared at the two entry passes in his hand…
(Forget it, I’ll go to the Old Master’s seat.)
He ultimately had to choose one after all.
Lu Yuan hesitated for a while. Ultimately, he walked in the direction of the seat the Old Master had arranged for him, under the sound of sighing from Shen Rong and the excited gaze of Dao Yuting.
When the talents of the classical poetry faction saw this scene, their expressions were filled with a few hints of satisfaction. As for those from the modern poetry faction, all of them were glaring at Lu Yuan with envy, speechlessness, and rage…
There were all sorts of expressions.
If looks could kill, Lu Yuan would probably already be dead.
“Brother, not bad! You have good judgment! My name is Xu Xiaonian, it’s an honor to meet you!”
“Eh, my name is Lu Yuan, it’s an honor to meet you…”
Lu Yuan just sat down and there was already a youth wearing a traditional Han Chinese robe coming over to converse with Lu Yuan. This youth clasped his fists together and had a very polite look on his face.
Lu Yuan also mirrored his mannerisms. It was just that the more he did so, the stranger he felt.
He wasn’t used to this.
“It’s really good that brother decided to join our classical poetry faction. Your presence really brings light to our humble location!”
“Ah? Actually, I don’t really know much about poetry. I’m just a dabbler and I came here because I wanted to learn…”
“Brother, you are too humble. Being able to match the lower part of that couplet already shows your skill. If you are a dabbler, wouldn’t I be a layman? Brother, there’s no need to be so unduly humble. If you are overly humble, that would be considered flaunting…”
“My luck was just good…I really don’t have much talent and ability.” Lu Yuan blushed with shame when he saw the impressed look on the youth’s face when speaking with Lu Yuan.
He also felt extremely awkward.
“You are just too modest. Oh, by the way, I received news that the test topic today will be about ‘farmer’. We have to use the topic to craft a poem. Do you have any insight on this?”
“Farmer?” Lu Yuan shook his head. “No. Actually, I don’t really know how to write poems. I will just watch as you write it,”
“Everyone has to write one…this is the rule of the competition.”
“Ah? The rule?”
“Yes.”
“Is there a reward?”
“For the first-place in every category, the winner would have an honor certificate…”
“I’m not asking about the certificates. I mean, are there any monetary rewards?”
“Yeah, the monetary rewards should be $50,000 for every category.”
“$50,000!”
Lu Yuan, who had planned to slack like a salted fish, suddenly changed his attitude. His eyes brightened when he heard this.
(Farmer? Wait a minute…)
(I… Want to thank my primary school’s language teacher!)
Lu Yuan took in a deep breath and felt a little high.
“Yea, what about it?”
“Nothing…”
As the two were discussing below the stage, the music of the opening ceremony rang out from the stage. After that, a few old men sat on the judging table. The one at the corner was none other than Old Master Chen.
“Respected gifted scholars, a very good night to everyone. Today, our Poetry Exchange is honored enough to have invited…”
After the host’s introduction, the lighting on the stage dimmed. After that, the audience who were initially making noise suddenly fell silent.
A giant screen at the back of the stage showed the topic of this category…
The test topic was ‘Farmer’!
“Farmer, hehe. It’s truly the case. Luckily, I did some preparations. Brother…brother? Mn?” When Xu Xiaonan glanced over, he saw Lu Yuan already lifting his brush in excitement and wrote words on the xuan paper…
When Xu Xiaonan took a closer look, he discovered that Lu Yuan’s words were as messy as the dance of dragons and phoenixes.
Mn…
He completely had no idea what Lu Yuan was writing.
This calligraphy was truly…
Too unique?
Note:
MMP is the acronym of a chinese cursing phrase: “Your mom is a prostitute.” The alternatives are mmp [pinyin acronym] and X賣批 [mā mài pī].