Chapter 82: Calligraphy fame spreads (Please collect, please follow!)

Jia Cong returned to the mansion on the second day of the eighth lunar month.

By this time, the birthday banquet for Jia Mu had been going on for two days.

The Jia family was a top-tier noble family of the Great Zhou, and Jia Mu was a State Lady of the highest rank. Since the founding of the country, the Jia family's glory had been endless, and their position among the Four Kings and Eight Dukes was pivotal.

Princes, nobles, court colleagues, old subordinates in the military, the Eight Branches of the Love Shenjing, the Twelve Branches of Jin Ling, and in-law families like Wang, Shi, and Xue all had to send people to celebrate the birthday.

In the late seventh lunar month, the Ministry of Rites received an imperial decree, bestowing upon the Rongguo State Lady a jade ruyi, four rolls of colorful satin, four gold and jade cups each, and five hundred taels of treasury silver.

Since then, old friends and relatives from both court and countryside had been sending gifts in an endless stream.

Because there were too many guests and they feared the banquet couldn't be arranged, Jia Zheng, Jia She, Jia Lian, and others decided that the birthday banquet would be from the first to the third of the eighth lunar month.

Both Ning and Rong mansions held banquets. The Ningguo Prefecture invited only official guests, and the Rongguo Prefecture invited only female guests.

On the first of the eighth lunar month, they invited imperial relatives, imperial sons-in-law, the Four Kings, Eight Dukes, various cabinet ministers and regional commanders, and noble female relatives, etc.

He was called by Jia Zheng to the Ningguo Prefecture to entertain guests along with Baoyu, and they also brought along guest-friends like Zhan Guang, Cheng Rixing, Hu Silas, and Shan Pinren to help out.

But Li Dekang was a high-ranking Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works and was a hot candidate for the next Minister of Works, so his status was sensitive.

The sound of pipes, flutes, drums, and music echoed through the streets and alleys.

Although Jia Zheng's official position in the Ministry of Works was not high, he was the legitimate son of the Duke of Rong, born into a prominent family, and according to the palace's instructions, he lived in the Rongxi Hall of the imperial-built Rongguo Prefecture, so his status was not ordinary.

With the State Lady of the Jia family having a grand birthday, how could these old official oil-slickers not come to show their faces and celebrate?

……

Coupled with the fact that Jia Zheng had always been kind to others and lived a mediocre life, he had no ambition to climb higher in the Ministry of Works, so he had excellent popularity in the yamen.

Among them, the four Directors of the four bureaus of the Ministry of Works actually all arrived. In terms of official rank, Jia Zheng was a Grade 5B Assistant Secretary, and these four Directors were Grade 5A, all considered Jia Zheng's superiors.

Therefore, colleagues and superiors in the Ministry of Works were all willing to give face to this old good-natured man from a prominent background.

For a Vice Minister to visit the mother of an Assistant Secretary to celebrate a birthday would be suspected of currying favor with a Duke's noble family, and an impeachment by a censor would appear the next day.

Although people like Jia She and Jia Zhen were wealthy officials who didn't sit in the yamen, the human relationships with colleagues in the same ministry still had to be managed.

The arrival of the four superiors from the same ministry to congratulate him gave Jia Zheng enough face, which naturally made him overjoyed and he entertained them diligently.

So he sent gifts but didn't show up, and also brought out a pretext of seeking Jia Cong's calligraphy, so others couldn't find any fault.

Jia Cong had just arrived at the Jia Mansion and unpacked his luggage in the Qingzhi Study, not yet having time to see Yingchun and the sisters in the garden.

Li Dekang was old and sophisticated, with meticulous thoughts. The four Directors of the Ministry of Works were only half a grade higher than Jia Zheng, in the ranks of colleagues of the same level, so visiting to celebrate a birthday was not abrupt.

The official guests entertained by Ningguo Prefecture today included some of the colleagues and superiors of Jia She, Jia Zheng, Jia Zhen, and others.

On the second of the eighth lunar month, they invited various officials and noble ladies, close friends and relatives of the Love Shenjing, female relatives, old relatives of the Wang, Shi, and Xue families, relatives and friends of the Twelve Branches of Jin Ling, and female guests.

The third of the eighth lunar month was the birthday banquet held by Jia She and Jia Zheng for the old lady, and the birthday banquet held by Jia Zhen and Jia Rong of the Ning Prefecture.

His official position was not high, but the foundation and connections of the Ning and Rong Duke Mansions behind him were incomparably rich. Who knows, maybe one day they would be needed.

After this, there were birthday banquets pooled together by the managers of the mansion like Lai Da and Lin Zhixiao, which will not be repeated here.

Along the way, Jia Cong saw that both mansions were hung with lanterns and decorated with colors, screens opened with phoenixes, and mats set with hibiscus.

Even the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, Li Dekang, although he didn't come in person, had others bring birthday gifts and specifically asked Jia Zheng for a piece of Jia Cong's calligraphy.

……

The reason Li Dekang could use Jia Cong's calligraphy as a pretext was that Jia Cong's calligraphy had become famous in the past two years.

The reason was that somehow, the matter of the Retired Emperor treasuring Jia Cong's Heart Sutra calligraphy gradually spread to others.

Many people traced the source and discovered that when Prince Emperor Jia Zhao invited Jia Cong to participate in the Nanxi Literary Gathering that year, it was because he valued his outstanding calligraphy.

And the literary master Liu Yanxiu, when gathering with old friends, had also inadvertently praised Jia Cong's calligraphy to the skies.

These pieces of information gradually gathered together, making Jia Cong's calligraphy increase in value several times over in these two years.

Initially, when Jia Cong was still lowly, Xiao Jindong obtained four pieces of his calligraphy, and later sold two of them for a high price of one hundred taels.

By the time he realized it, it was too late to regret, so he treated the remaining two pieces of calligraphy like treasures, placing them in his shop on Wenhan Street as the shop's anchor items.

It is said that countless calligraphy lovers came to the shop to observe, making the business in Xiao Jindong's shop improve by thirty to forty percent for no reason.

Jia Zheng felt that bringing his nephew Jia Cong, who had long been famous for his literary name, out to entertain guests was truly a matter of honor.

He regretted not letting him return to the mansion two days earlier; otherwise, wouldn't it be a decent thing in front of princes and nobles? However, it was not good to disturb his studies at the academy.

That year, Jia She asked Jia Cong to write calligraphy to give to others, but was slapped in the face by Jia Cong in front of outsiders.

However, toward Jia Zheng, who had always been generous to him, he wouldn't do that.

At the moment, he stepped forward to be humble. In these two years, he had been at Qingshan Academy, and the instructors and headmasters he came into contact with were all great scholars of the scholar forest. Under this influence, his way of dealing with people also had a magnificent atmosphere.

Compared with Baoyu, who despised the corrupt smell of the country's thieves and salary ghosts but was awkward and restrained in his response, it was a completely different scene.

This scene made Jia Zheng increasingly satisfied with Jia Cong's demeanor in dealing with people, and even more angry and disgusted with Baoyu's timidity.

Over there, Jia Zhen heard that Jia Cong was going to leave calligraphy for the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, and had long ago prepared the best brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. Jia Cong wrote it right there in the hall.

In fact, when Jia Zheng first entered, everyone had already noticed Jia Cong behind him.

In these two years, Jia Cong had grown from a thin and weak illegitimate son of the Jia family into a handsome, elegant, and jade-like young man.

As he entered the Ningguo main hall with Jia Zheng, almost everyone present noticed this peerless, handsome, and outstanding young man almost simultaneously.

Baoyu, who had always had a complexion like a flower in the spring dawn, stood beside Jia Cong and not only couldn't seize his momentum, but instead appeared somewhat eclipsed.

When the Directors of the four bureaus of the Ministry of Works learned that this young man with an extremely outstanding appearance was actually the founder of the new calligraphy style that had been famous in the Love Shenjing in recent years.

Their eyes all revealed shocked expressions. How old was this young man to have such outstanding calligraphy cultivation? This talent and endowment were truly one in ten thousand.

Jia Cong had heard Jia Zheng say that this Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works had greatly appreciated that poem of his, "Bu Suan Zi," so he wrote that poem again on the spot and asked the several Directors of the Ministry of Works to pass it on for him.

In these two years, Jia Cong had been studying on Mount Luocang, and his calligraphy path had not been left behind. Every day, he would practice his brushwork with unwavering determination.

Compared to two years ago, his calligraphy was more concise and sharp, gradually reaching great success.

The female guests attending the banquet at Ningguo Prefecture today were mostly officials from various ministries in the capital, almost all of whom were from the imperial examination, while those who became officials through hereditary privilege like Jia Zheng were very few.

These people were from ten years of cold window study and were all experts with sharp eyes. Jia Cong finished a piece of calligraphy, immediately drawing praise from the whole hall.

Qiu Qingyuan, the Director of the Ministry of Works' Waterways Bureau, was also a person who loved calligraphy and praised it endlessly.

He said: "Cunzhou, your Jia family is about to produce a calligraphy master, congratulations!

People like you and me toil for a lifetime, gaining some fame and salary, but in the end, it is just a passing cloud. Who will remember us after a hundred years?

But your nephew's calligraphy is elegant and can be passed down for generations without decay!

The Jia family is worthy of being a clan of bells and cauldrons, their luck and blessings are extraordinary, actually producing such an outstanding descendant. It truly makes us envious."

Jia Zheng saw this scene and heard such praise from his colleagues, and he was so happy that he felt a bit dizzy.

Looking at the outstanding Jia Cong, his eyes were full of appreciation and love. How old is Cong Ge'er to be able to do this? It really... makes people envious.

Jia She, to one side, saw this scene, his heart full of anger.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 83 =====