Chapter 66: Stealing the National Jade Seal

While Wu Zhiyuan was copying the poem, Zhu Huaian, who had been unable to hold back, also wanted to show his skills and recite a poem.

Everyone's eyes gathered, Zhu Huaian opened his folding fan, fanned it slowly, and sighed:

"A person's life is only a few decades. Who will remember after death? But if you can write a good masterpiece, you can pass it on to future generations and be famous for thousands of years..." Zhu Huaian's mouth slowly raised, looked around, and said: "Today I also want to recite a poem, hoping to leave a brilliant stroke in the long years!"

As soon as this was said, even the talented people who had always had prejudices against Prince Zhu had a hint of expectation.

Could it be that the silly child of the Changting Prince's mansion finally opened his mind?

Before everyone could think more, a poem about falling rain was recited from Zhu Huaian's mouth:

"One drop, one drop, and another drop,"

"Two drops, three drops, four or five drops;"

"Six drops, seven drops, eight or nine drops..."

Shaking his head and reciting to this point, Zhu Huaian suddenly closed his folding fan, narrowed his eyes and smiled, and added the last sentence—"Falling into a puddle and disappearing."

The literary meeting was silent for a moment.

Everyone knew what level and quality this poem was, but no one dared to make fun of it, and no one dared to say that Prince Zhu wrote it badly.

The reason is none other than the fact that Emperor Longping loved writing poetry when he was young. In his life, he counted his poems, and there were no less than 30,000 if not 50,000.

Among them was a poem called "Flying Snow," and the "artistic conception" of that poem was no different from Prince Zhu's current poem.

So, who dares to say this poem is bad?

No wonder Prince Zhu was so confident. This is clearly a rogue playing a rogue, playing a rogue hard!

"How is it? Can my poem enter everyone's eyes?"

The poetry-collecting official coughed lightly, wanting to divert the topic and skip this, but unexpectedly, on the silent literary meeting, praise suddenly sounded.

"Wonderful, wonderful! It's truly a rare masterpiece, especially the last sentence, 'Falling into a puddle and disappearing,' it's simply the finishing touch. Just one sentence gives this poem charm!"

Wu Wencai's personality was as unrestrained as Zhu Huaian's. After seeing that Zhu Huaian was just killing time, he clapped his hands in cooperation.

Wu Zhiyuan saw his brother take the lead, nodded and said: "Compared to me, this poem is indeed a bit more talented."

Zhu Huaian looked at Zhuang Zijun, who was silent, and smiled: "What does Zijun think?"

Zhuang Zijun's eyelids twitched, and he laughed dryly: "This poem... is indeed fresh and refined, I am far behind..."

Xu Qing watched Zhu Huaian and the others torment the talented people, feeling happy in his heart.

When he was at the Book Phoenix Pavilion, whether it was rewarding the flower building girl with his real name or shouting that he was the son of the Changting Prince while disheveled, he thought this little fatty was deliberately showing weakness to the future Crown Prince, shaping a waste image of only knowing how to eat, drink, and play.

Now seeing him showing off, he was completely in his true colors. Xu Qing couldn't tell whether Zhu Huaian was acting or really like this.

When the literary meeting ended today, the ranking of Yangxue had already finalized the top of the list.

Among them, there were only the top three in poetry, namely the Poetry Origin, Poetry Wind, and Poetry Probe.

But because a master who fished in troubled waters and played dirty appeared halfway, the host of the literary meeting at Jade Shadow Pavilion had no choice but to add a new item independent of the list, called Jin Yuan.

As for how much water is in this Jin Yuan, that is unknown.

Not to mention Zhu Huaian, who fished in troubled waters and won an individual award.

Just talking about the Wu brothers, the two brothers became famous in the literary meeting, followed by the introduction and solicitation of famous people. Some strangers who hadn't even met on weekdays also rushed to make friends with them.

Xu Qing watched from the side, and when he saw the two brothers being polite to the visitors and not deliberately flattering, he smiled slightly.

The children of the old Wu family are not bad!

Later in the evening, the old man who delivered the poem specifically came to say that a noble person wanted to see them.

Xu Qing looked up at the old man. The other party still maintained a paralyzed dead face. If he couldn't smell the living person's scent on the other party, he would have thought the old man in front of him was the real zombie.

Everyone knew who the noble person in the pavilion was. The Wu brothers were appreciated by the Crown Prince. This unexpected gain was far more useful than accompanying the flower queen to drink tea. Perhaps when the Crown Prince ascends the throne in the future, these two brothers could rely on today's encounter to rise to the top.

Xu Qing was a person without a lifespan. Secular fame was useless to him. His interest in the Crown Prince was far less than accompanying the flower queen to drink tea, or at worst, listening to Guo Dongyang tell stories, which was more comfortable than talking to the little old man in the pavilion.

"Eh? Brother Xu, aren't you going to the painting boat to drink tea?"

Zhu Huaian had a good time, and now he was still in the mood to continue the next round.

"No, didn't Zhuang Zijun say just now that he would go to the painting boat to recite poetry? At that time, no matter how good-looking the flower queen is, these people will only fight for beauty. In the end, let alone drinking tea, I'm afraid it will be difficult to see the flower queen dance."

"It's better to go back and listen to the storyteller tell ghost stories."

"Ghosts?"

Zhu Huaian became interested upon hearing this: "Are there female ghosts?"

"There can be." Xu Qing rubbed his chin, but he thought of the female corpse in "Corpse Transformation."

Storytelling is a low-class profession.

Carrying corpses, driving corpses, and fishing for corpses are also low-class.

Xu Qing still remembered his zombie evaluation, low-grade human level.

Low-grade people match low-class work. Everyone doesn't need to dislike anyone. As long as the scale in our hearts is not crooked, even if it is low-class, it is not necessarily worse than the kings and ministers sitting in the hall.

Ruiyang Teahouse.

After the storyteller finished a branch of the Eight Great Sects of the martial arts world, he took a sip of tea. After his throat was comfortable, he knocked on the awakening wood.

At this time, the teahouse was full of seats, and even people were standing at the door and corner. Some people whose homes were close even took small stools and put them outside, just to listen to this story.

This is Guo Dongyang's fame.

When Xu Qing arrived at the teahouse, seeing that there were no seats, the manager was thoughtful. Knowing that he was Guo Dongyang's friend, he ordered the waiter to move another small table from upstairs, squeezing out a seat.

Zhu Huaian was wide and round, occupying two seats by himself. Xu Qing looked at his curious look and couldn't help asking: "Is this Brother Zhu's first time?"

"It counts, and it doesn't count." Zhu Huaian held up the hot tea with both hands and took a sip, explaining: "I listened to it once before, it wasn't good. The old man always had phlegm, and he ruined a good story. Since then, I haven't listened to it again. If I want to listen, I take the script and find a little girl to tell it. You don't know, the little girl's voice is delicate and weak when telling stories, which has a special flavor..."

Xu Qing tried to imagine the picture of the flower building girl telling stories in a warm voice.

Is this storytelling? I'm afraid that ghost stories can be told until they leak water.

"You didn't find the right storyteller. You just listen to how this snuff bottle tells it..."

Without Xu Qing saying much, Zhu Huaian had already been attracted by Guo Dongyang on the stage.

A storyteller who can be fought over by major teahouses and taverns must have his unique features.

Right in front of his eyes, Guo Dongyang was telling another branch of the Eight Great Sects of the martial arts world—Thousand Shadow Thief Saint Pan Qianying stealing the national jade seal.

Xu Qing felt familiar. After thinking about it, the Linhe government office had sent him a corpse before. In the running lantern, that person was Chen Xiaoyi, the disciple of the Thief Saint ranked twenty-first in the Thousand Shadow Sect.

And his master was Pan Qianying.

Xu Qing secretly guessed, could it be that the jade seal lost in the previous dynasty was really done by Chen Xiaoyi's master?

Zhu Huaian listened intently. When the ending was concluded and he heard that a foreign-surnamed Prince had visited Pan Qianying for this but found nothing, the little fatty muttered: "How come I always feel like I've heard this in the mansion before..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 67 =====