Chapter 365: 459 chapters, it's her intelligence that made her become a great beauty

459 chapters, it's her intelligence that made her become a great beauty.

459 chapters, it's her intelligence that let her become a great beauty…

――――A red apricot branch sticking out of the wall.

Continuing from where the previous letter left off.

As mentioned last time, Li Bai was writing poems for Yang Guifei, and his poems were truly brilliant. Relying on Li Bai's three poems alone would be enough to let Yang Guifei's fame flow down through the ages. Moreover, this fragrance will continue to flow on…….

Actually, Yang Guifei was not particularly beautiful in appearance. However, she was an extremely intelligent woman; it was her great intelligence that turned her into a great beauty in history.

The Imperial Consort's great intelligence lay in her skill at using the brushes of famous people to package and promote herself. Having Li Bai write poems for her is a typical example.

Li Bai was a very high-spirited person, a person of temperament. The Yang beauty treated him so well, and sincerely so. Li Bai naturally gave her his most beautiful verses. Moreover, for scholars, verses fill their bellies, more than the most advanced computer storage. And they are inexhaustible.

Wanting to say, 'Scholarly affection is half a sheet of paper.' Scholars have no talent: they neither engage in business nor have capital to set up factories. They merely get by saying nice things for others. You treat me well, value me, and I want to repay you, but I'm short on cash, so let me write a few lines of poetry or an essay for you.

But this poem, especially an essay, is worth only a single cash coin to commoners without office or position—it's useless. For those who hold even a minor post, it can still be of some use.

However, those with office and position now have many attendant scholars, so there's no need for you to chatter on.

Thus, those third- and fourth-rate scholars like us can't find anything to eat.

Go get a job.

When scholars take odd jobs, it's best to find something respectable, because they'd feel embarrassed to take off that worn robe. Doing bricklaying is too hard physically, and mentally they can't accept it.

This has been the case since long ago.

Remember Lu Xun saying Kong Yiji 'also read books, but ultimately didn't make it into school.' Not making it into school nowadays means not getting into college. Even now, just getting into college doesn't mean there aren't many people like Kong Yiji who can't find work. Many university graduates are inferior to vocational school graduates. Vocational graduates have a skill, while many university graduates only have empty theory. University graduates who can't make a living, after encountering hardship, end up having to beg.

Kong Yiji had one redeeming quality: 'Fortunately he writes a good hand.' Writing well is also good; it's said that some calligraphers' characters are worth a lot—there are plenty who get a thousand dollars per character.

But Kong Yiji is absolutely not a calligrapher. He merely writes characters a bit nicer, a bit better than others. With that 'triangular hair,' by rights eating bitter meals would be no problem. After finally finding a job, he didn't do it conscientiously. Unfortunately he has a bad habit: he's lazy, gluttonous, and a thief. After a few days, not only the person but also the books, paper, and inkstone go missing.

This is enough. Look at this scholar, a lowly embryo.

But Li Bai is noble; he would rather starve to death than do something embarrassing like Kong Yiji.

That Emperor Xuanzong was also wise; he even knew of Li Bai's future poetic fame before the Imperial Consort did. For that reason he summoned the commoner Li Bai to his side to compose poems especially for him. Xuanzong also knew that, after hundreds of thousands of years, he would be like clouds in the sky and dust on the earth—traceless, unmentioned.

To leave a name for eternity, one must borrow the brush of the famed poet Li Bai to add luster to one's own name.

Indeed, that is the case.

We are giving up our rest in today's sweltering heat, and this has absolutely nothing to do with Emperor Xuanzong, nor even less with that beauty Yang Guifei. To us they are utterly worthless and meaningless. We are doing this because of the few lines Li Bai wrote for Yang Guifei.

Look, how intelligent Yang Guifei is—she bought a ten-thousand-year guarantee for her beauty. Her beauty is eternal; as long as this earth exists and civilization remains, as long as people read the praising poems Li Bai wrote for her.

Then one will recall the Imperial Consort's beauty.

The big topic of Yang Guifei ends here for now. Let's return to the topics of Li Bai and Qin Shihuang, then talk about Xiangling studying poetry, then discuss punctuation marks. Please, friend, remind me promptly, because I've scattered the article's threads, and for survival there are many odd jobs. My thoughts are in disarray, affecting your reading interest……………………

(Heart with the disaster area, emotion with the disaster area: May peace, courage, confidence, and strength be with the people of the disaster area, accompany them!)