Chapter 23: Literary Saint of the Literary Sect

"Brother Liu, why are you here? Are you also here to participate in the Nanxi Literary Gathering?"

Liu Bi smiled: "I followed my grandfather. I don't have the face to receive an invitation to the literary gathering."

"Brother Cong is also here with his elders. I haven't heard that any elder of the Lady Rongguo Mansion is a person in the scholarly forest."

Liu Bi was speaking politely. Who in the Love Shenjing didn't know that Jia Jing, a Rank Jinshi of the two lists, had appeared in the Ning and Rong mansions twenty years ago, and it seemed that he had exhausted the rare literary spirit of the Jia family.

Ten years later, a scholar Jia Zhu appeared, but he didn't live for a few years before he died. Since then, the Jia family hadn't produced a scholar who had entered school.

Furthermore, there was no news that any Jia family descendant had made any achievements in literature in recent years, so it was naturally unlikely that any Jia family member would be invited by the Nanxi Literary Gathering.

Liu Bi's idea should also be the idea of others at the scene, but Liu Bi was curious about who had brought Jia Cong here.

"Isn't this Brother Liu? I wonder if Mr. Jing'an is here, so that we juniors can go and pay our respects."

A slightly fat young scholar looked at Liu Bi with a face full of admiration, followed by several people, all of whom looked respectful and solemn.

Jia Cong naturally understood that their expressions of looking up to the mountain were not because of this half-grown boy Liu Bi.

It was because they mentioned the literary giant Liu Liu Yanxiu, known as Jing'an. Could it be that this person was him? Liu Bi was actually his grandson.

For the next ten years, he focused on being an official in the local area. Because of his outstanding political achievements, he was promoted step by step. At the age of forty, he was appointed Minister of Rites, and before the age of fifty, he was promoted to a Grand Secretary in the Cabinet, reaching the pinnacle of his career.

Mr. Jing'an. Jia Cong suddenly felt a jump in his heart, remembering those celebrity biographies sent by Tan Chun, part of which recorded the general profile of contemporary celebrities.

After Liu Liu Yanxiu entered the government, he served as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy and was transferred to the Ministry of Justice. Because he was upright and unyielding, he offended high-ranking officials and was whipped and demoted to be a post station manager in a small county.

Liu Liu Yanxiu stayed in that abandoned post station for seven years. To vent his frustration, he focused on his studies, traveled through classics, and almost reached a state of self-forgetfulness.

Even so, he was still a literary saint respected by ten thousand people in the Great Zhou world.

It was because of Liu Bi's grandfather, the person called Mr. Jing'an.

At that time, everyone thought that this top scholar would fall from then on and would never have a chance to rise again.

He originally had the talent of a top scholar. After seven years of tempering and hard study, his talent and learning improved by leaps and bounds. In a few years, his poetry, essays, and classic treatises emerged one after another, and his works were as tall as himself.

These articles and treatises spread throughout the world, shocking the scholarly forest, and scholars who admired him traveled thousands of miles, gathering like clouds, rushing to that remote post station to ask for advice, which was spectacular for a time.

However, ten years ago, affected by the abolition of the Crown Prince, he requested to resign and lived in seclusion in Mount Luocang Mountain at the West Gate of the Love Shenjing, reading books behind closed doors and ignoring worldly affairs.

This Liu Liu Yanxiu lived a legendary life.

The imperial court knew that his fame had spread, so they transferred him back to the capital to be an official, but he declined and only wanted to be the magistrate of the small county where he was located.

His imperial examination resume was perfect enough to make people jealous. Now, more than forty years later, it was still talked about by the readers of the Great Zhou.

This incident once shocked the court and the public. Many scholars wanted to be his disciples, but this Mr. Jing'an loved quietness, and in ten years, he hadn't accepted a single outside disciple.

In the past ten years, he had taught his nephews and grandchildren, and actually produced six Rank Jinshi, not to mention those who passed the scholar and provincial examinations.

At that time, Jia Cong felt novel and interesting reading these celebrity biographies. Now that this person appeared before his eyes, his heart still felt a bit trance-like.

Liu Bi had such a literary saint as his grandfather, no wonder he passed the provincial examination at the age of twenty. In the eyes of ordinary people, this was absolutely an early success in the imperial examination, and it was not an exaggeration to call him a genius.

However, in their Liu family, he was just an ordinary person.

Liu Bi saw the expression on Jia Cong's face and smiled proudly. No matter who knew that his grandfather was Master Liu Jing'an, they would have this expression. He had been used to it since he was a child.

But when he turned back to see the slightly fat young scholar, his face stiffened, and he said indifferently: "So it's Brother Wu Jinrong. Grandfather's carriage has also just arrived. My grandfather has been feeling a bit of a cold these days. After we enter the villa, it won't be too late to meet with you gentlemen."

There were dozens of carriages gathered under the archway, and at least forty or fifty people. If they all came to pay their respects, they could tire the old man to death.

Jia Cong watched from the sidelines. Liu Bi should have been used to this kind of scene, and he was quite familiar with dealing with it. It was just that he was cold to that slightly fat scholar, not knowing why.

That slightly fat Brother Wu Jinrong's face had a trace of imperceptible flattery and heat, and he looked somewhat helpless as he stopped his actions.

A young scholar of medium build behind him stared at Jia Cong for a long time, with a mocking look in his eyes.

These people came to pay their respects out of respect for the contemporary literary saint. They had already seen his grandson, but if they didn't come over to greet him, they would lose the etiquette of the scholarly forest.

It wasn't that they had to line up and bow in this icy and snowy weather.

Just when Liu Bi wanted to ask Jia Cong again which elder had brought him here.

At this moment, several people came down the stone steps behind the archway. The leader was in his twenties, wearing a purple gold crown inlaid with treasures, wearing a four-clawed sitting dragon python robe, his face like jade, his eyes like bright stars.

And the two people following him, Jia Cong also recognized them.

That middle-aged scholar was Zhou Zhou Changyan who went to the mansion to send him a letter, and the other one wearing a blue woven gold makeup fish robe and a black gauze mountain crown was Wang Dong who sent Jia Cong New Year's gifts on New Year's Eve.

Five claws for a dragon robe, four claws for a prince's python robe. Jia Cong guessed that the leader must be Prince Prince Jia Shun.

The young man wearing the python robe walked to a simple carriage with two horses and smiled and bowed to the carriage.

He said: "Mr. Jing'an can grace Shuyun Villa with his presence. This Prince is truly honored. I am late to welcome you, and I hope you will forgive me, sir."

A warm laugh came from the carriage, and the curtain was lifted. An old man with gray hair walked down from the carriage with a somewhat stumbling gait.

"Your Highness is too polite. I am old, and my legs and feet are not as convenient as before. I hope Your Highness will forgive me."

Prince Prince Jia Shun kept saying he didn't dare. Although Master Liu Jing'an hadn't accepted disciples for ten years, Prince Prince Jia Shun had always had a name for learning, and his status was noble.

He respected Master Liu Jing'an even more. In the past few years, he had visited Mount Luocang Mountain several times to ask for advice, and Master Liu Jing'an had received him every time. For this talented prince, it could be considered a half-teacher relationship.

Prince Prince Jia Shun asked his attendants to carry a sedan chair surrounded by warm curtains, preparing to send Liu Jing'an to Shuyun Villa on the mountainside.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of horse hooves from not far away, and a carriage with four horses came toward them.

The Emperor's carriage had five horses, and the Prince's carriage had four horses.

But the person who came was not a prince. Jia Cong saw that there were two exquisite triangular small flags inserted on the carriage, with Daoist talismans embroidered on them.

The curtains around the carriage were bright yellow, covered with patterns of the Zhou Tian Bagua and Yin-Yang double fish, fluttering in the cold mountain wind.

Behind the carriage followed a young Daoist priest with red lips and white teeth, with an ape's back and a bee's waist, carrying a long sword, riding a horse, and following the carriage closely.

This carriage with four horses had obvious Daoist imprints. The person in the carriage should not be a prince, but his status must be as noble as a prince.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 24 =====

This four-horse carriage had clear Daoist markings; the person inside should not be a Prince of the Blood, but their status must be as noble as a Prince or Marquis.

(End of chapter)