Chapter 26: Talented Person

After everyone was seated in their respective positions, a maid came to lead Jia Cong to his seat. His seat was the large desk outside the stone pavilion.

He was the recording official of this literary gathering and needed to transcribe the poems and essays produced at the gathering. This desk was specially arranged for him.

At this time, the clouds in the sky were churning, the winter sun was gradually overcast, and after a while, a light rain fell.

Zhang Liu Yuqing, who was sitting, smiled and said: "The rain falling on the day of the Lantern Festival is a good omen for the Water Official to resolve disasters. The Prince has chosen a good day for the literary gathering. Today, literary masterpieces will surely be produced."

Prince Prince Jia Shun laughed: "Then I will accept the Celestial Master's good words."

He turned his head and asked Liu Liu Yanxiu: "Mr. Liu, why not respond to this scene and take rain as the topic, regardless of poetry, lyrics, or prose, to open the voice for today's literary gathering."

Liu Liu Yanxiu said: "Very good, just follow the Prince's words."

Prince Prince Jia Shun wrote down the topic, knocked on the jade chime on the table, and a female official stepped forward to take the topic, let the welcoming maid see it, and passed it down along the clear canal.

The Nanxi Literary Gathering of the tenth year of Emperor Jia Zhao thus opened its prelude.

Everyone seated here was a person of profound talent, and no one didn't want to use this literary gathering to raise their own reputation. Before coming, everyone had prepared proud drafts.

Liu Liu Yanxiu, Prince Prince Jia Shun, and Zhang Liu Yuqing were all figures with prominent literary names in the world. They commented on and deliberated on the submitted poetry drafts, during which clear laughter was heard.

Finally, these three trays were sent to Jia Cong's desk, and he unified them for transcription. After the literary gathering ended, these manuscripts would be compiled into books and spread in the Love Shenjing and even the scholarly forest of the Great Zhou.

So there was no need to worry that these people would bring some untalented relatives and friends to make up the numbers.

Not far away, Wu Wu Jinrong glanced at Jia Cong, who was concentrating on writing, but a trace of disdain flashed in his eyes.

A few people couldn't find talented people around them, so they would rather give up this recommendation quota than recommend someone casually and ruin their own reputation.

Wu Wu Jinrong brought his cousin Qiu Qiu Xuanfu. Although his cousin was not a Rank Jinshi, he was a provincial graduate with quite a bit of talent and had some reputation in the circle of readers in the Love Shenjing.

It was also a coincidence. Jia Cong had been confined in the granary courtyard of the East Courtyard since he was a child, and very few people outside the mansion knew him. Even some side branches living on Ningrong Street didn't necessarily know him, but this Xuanfu was one of the very few, and there was a reason for it.

These Hanlin Academy Rank Jinshi were all arrogant. Whether the people they recommended had real talent represented their vision and dignity.

Qiu Qiu Xuanfu's elder relative and the elder of Jia Huang outside the mansion were relatives, and the two families often had dealings, so Qiu Qiu Xuanfu also knew a woman who was a neighbor of Jia Huang.

He had enough fun practicing calligraphy. In just one month, the muscle memory of his body was gradually formed, and the stagnation that still existed in this body had disappeared without a trace.

The Hanlin Academy Rank Jinshi invited this time were all the best among the readers. To prevent missing pearls, every Hanlin Rank Jinshi could recommend one person to participate in the literary gathering.

Naturally, female officials took them out and presented them to Prince Prince Jia Shun and the other three.

This clear canal was cleverly built. Although the stone pavilion was slightly higher, the poetry manuscripts in the canal could go against the current and float smoothly into the stone pavilion.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, someone put the poetry manuscripts into a wooden box and put them into the green canal to float away.

Practicing calligraphy didn't need to be stingy. Every day, besides studying the Four Books, he would practice ten sheets of raw rice paper early in the morning and five sheets before going to bed, focusing on every character and carefully pondering it.

At this moment, he was calm and focused, his brush flying, and every moment he transcribed a stack of poetry manuscripts. The calligraphy under his brush was ancient, elegant, and already revealed a trace of sophistication.

It was thought that there were many masterpieces in the submitted poetry manuscripts, and each person put the poetry manuscripts they had read into three sandalwood trays, one carved with plum blossoms, one with peonies, and one with chrysanthemums, to show the distinction.

But Prince Prince Jia Shun made a topic to respond to the scene, which was not difficult for them. It was just a matter of spending more time pondering and creating it.

Originally, Jia Cong was short of money and wrote on five sheets of coarse rice paper every day, which was considered extravagant. Later, Tan Chun and Prince Prince Jia Shun sent a lot of brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, and he earned some silver himself, so he didn't wrong his stomach.

That woman was about the same age as Qiu Qiu Xuanfu, with a beautiful appearance, and she grew up to be slender and charming, and was seen by Qiu Qiu Xuanfu at a glance.

That woman also liked Qiu Qiu Xuanfu, this poor scholar with an official title, and the two had made a secret promise of love early on.

Who knew that heaven had unpredictable storms? That Jia Huang loved to curry favor with the relatives and nobles in the Ning and Rong mansions, and used this to fish for some benefits to live his life.

He knew that Jia She loved beauty the most, and his neighbor had such a stunning beauty. How could he not go and stir up trouble?

So he found an opportunity and let Jia She see the neighbor's daughter. Jia She saw such beauty, how could he not be moved?

So, relying on Jia Huang's matchmaking, Jia She spent a thousand taels of silver to take that woman as a concubine.

That woman came from a poor family and had lived a life of poverty since she understood things. Where had she seen much of the world?

Now that she could have the dignity of being taken into a Duke's wealthy family, how could she not be willing? She had long thrown her poor scholar lover behind her.

Qiu Qiu Xuanfu had always been proud of his talent and arrogant. In an instant, his dignity and love were stepped on like dog shit, and he almost went crazy.

From then on, he hated Jia She to the bone. He didn't know his own limitations and always wanted to take revenge on this first-class general who snatched his love, to vent the evil energy in his heart.

So he couldn't help but pay attention to the things around Jia She. A huge loophole and stain like Jia Cong was found by him without much time.

Today he had made up his mind to find an opportunity at this literary gathering that gathered the celebrities of the Love Shenjing to publicize Jia Cong's embarrassing background.

As long as that topic was brought up, the entire Love Shenjing would know about it by the next day. He would fiercely trample on Jia She's face and vent the evil air in his heart.

Although he was surprised that Jia Cong, at this age, was invited to be the recording official of the literary gathering.

But seeing that he was on good terms with Liu Bi, he guessed that his calligraphy was good, and it must be that Liu Bi begged his grandfather, and Prince Prince Jia Shun went with the flow and sold Liu Liu Yanxiu a favor.

As for his difficulty for Jia Cong, whether it would offend Liu Liu Yanxiu because of this, he didn't take it to heart. It was just a pedantic scholar who had been in seclusion for ten years.

In the current officialdom, how many people could still remember him? Anyway, he wouldn't use him in his life. If he offended him, he offended him.

Wu Wu Jinrong glanced at Qiu Qiu Xuanfu sitting beside him, seeing him staring at Jia Cong with hatred in his eyes, and his brows couldn't help but wrinkle.

His cousin had talent, but his vision was shallow. He spent all day worrying about these dog-shit things. Was it worth it for a woman who changed her mind?

Wu Wu Jinrong was good at drilling. Because he knew that Liu Bi was the eldest grandson of the contemporary literary saint Liu Liu Yanxiu, he had deliberately made friends with him, and the relationship between the two was okay at first.

Seeing Liu Bi's indifferent expression today, he probably hated him because of his reliance on Zhou Zhou Junxing.

These literary families valued reputation and purity the most. The friendship between him and Liu Bi was considered broken.

Since it was like this, he was happy to see the embarrassment of Liu Bi's friend. Anyway, if something happened, he would just say that his cousin acted on his own and he didn't know about it.

Liu Liu Yanxiu and the others couldn't blame him, and it didn't matter if this cousin would bring disaster because of this.

It was just a cousin.

At this time, two cups of tea had passed since Prince Prince Jia Shun passed the topic.

Everyone participating in the literary gathering today was good at classic studies, and some had achievements in classic essays, and not everyone was good at poetry.

However, since they participated in the literary gathering, they had to respond to the scene. Even if they couldn't make outstanding poems, it was no problem to make one.

Wu Wu Jinrong noticed that everyone in the seat had finished their poetry drafts. He and Qiu Qiu Xuanfu had also finished their poetry drafts and put them into the clear canal to pass them up.

Qiu Qiu Xuanfu beside him drank the wine in his cup in one gulp, his cheeks slightly red, looking at Jia Cong who was concentrating on transcribing, his eyes becoming more and more fierce and contemptuous.

Wu Wu Jinrong sneered in his heart, just waiting for a good show to start.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 27 =====

Thinking about it, perhaps he was able to develop such high-level calligraphy at the age of a young boy because his wisdom was opened by that mangy monk.