Chapter 23: Someone Read Out Scholarly Aura

Twenty-ninth year of Tianfeng.

September 20th.

The elegant prose "Dream of the Red Chamber," serialized in the Great Zhou Literary Gazette, set off a nationwide discussion craze in the capital. Among them, the "Song of Well-Being" and the "Verse of the Stubborn Stone at Qinggeng Peak" in the first chapter were held in high regard.

"Have you read Dream of the Red Chamber today?"

This sentence was the most common phrase in the capital recently.

If you, a scholar, hadn't read "Dream of the Red Chamber," you couldn't even join the conversation at the wine table. Even if you went to places like song and dance workshops, you would be discriminated against by the courtesans and have to "pay extra."

There were no brothels in the Great Zhou Dynasty; instead, there were entertainment venues similar to song and dance workshops.

This type of industry was different from what was recorded in history in the previous life; it was protected by the Great Zhou law, and the female courtesans inside also sold their art but not their bodies.

Similar to the female streamers of the previous life, they only accompanied guests to "recite poems and compose couplets" and drink and sing, not doing flesh business.

If one wanted to use power to "force" them, the law would not indulge them, and they would also get a bad reputation. Anyone with a bit of status would not do so.

As for mutual affection and redeeming oneself, that was a beautiful story.

There were also people in the Great Zhou Dynasty who did flesh business, called prostitutes, which were not tolerated by the law and belonged to the grey industry.

In the past few days, an interesting thing happened in the song and dance workshops and pleasure boats along the Nanyun River in the "South of the Capital," which was talked about by many people.

"Red Sleeve" Song and Dance Workshop.

A courtesan named Liu Piaoxu, after dancing with long sleeves on the stage, confessed affectionately to Lu Fang, who wrote "Dream of the Red Chamber," in front of everyone:

"Thinking of the young man, missing the young man, longing for the young man, Lu Fang, Lu Fang, Lu Fang. I often read the Red Chamber, hoping for the young man to come and go. Mandarin ducks playing..."

The beginning was still fine, but the words later became increasingly bold.

According to a talented scholar on the scene, Liu Piaoxu's cheeks were flushed at that time, and her appearance of wanting to refuse but still welcoming was truly fascinating.

Just because of this confession, Liu Piaoxu became a popular courtesan.

Courtesans in other song and dance workshops and pleasure boats followed suit. In the past few days, every day in these places, there would be a few popular courtesans writing love poems to Lu Fang.

This made the many talented scholars in the capital extremely envious.

There was a good side, and naturally, there was a bad side.

For example, a group of people headed by the Xiao family criticized this fiercely, saying that Lu Fang was just a "lowly person" who wrote stories of romance!

Whether it was "Liaozhai Zhiyi Nie Xiaoqian" or "Dream of the Red Chamber," they were all low-class idle literature.

Semi-Sage Xu Xu Han Yi accepting this child as a disciple was simply blind, and so on.

What was even more ridiculous was that Wenyuan Academy main lecturer Xiao Jin said in front of the students that that imagery-level "Ode to Quelling Demons" by Lu Fang was not written by him personally.

You must know that the creation of imagery-level poetry would trigger visions.

Li Yu and Magistrate Zhao saw it with their own eyes, how could it be fake? But even so, quite a few people still thought Xiao Jin's point of view was correct.

"Bullshit!"

Lu Fang couldn't help but curse after hearing Chen Ji describe the news in the capital these past few days. How could people be so shameless?

After the "Xiao Jinchen" matter was settled, Chen Ji specifically visited Lu Fang at the Li Fu once and had been in and out of the Li Fu these past few days.

Yesterday, Li Yu said that the Xiao family might target "Dream of the Red Chamber." Lu Fang was grounded, so he let Chen Ji help him find out some news outside.

"The Xiao family descendants acting like this, I really feel sad for the Duke of Xiao."

Chen Ji poured a glass of water and drank it indignantly, picking up the "Dream of the Red Chamber" that Lu Fang had just written on the desk and reading it.

His love for Dream of the Red Chamber was no less than Li Yu's.

Whether it was the character description and portrayal in the book, or the delicate and rich emotional description and the poems in the book, they all made him fascinated.

"..."

Lu Fang was just about to complain a few more words when the voice of the "Realm Spirit" of the Ink Brush Realm rang in his mind. Someone had read "Dream of the Red Chamber" and condensed scholarly aura, so he also obtained the same scholarly aura.

"What is this?"

Chen Ji muttered, twisting his fingers.

Only to see on his index finger, there was a colorful gas "small" like a needle point. Twisting it with his fingers, he could touch it but couldn't wipe it off.

Lu Fang also saw it and recognized it as scholarly aura at first glance. He didn't expect that the first person to obtain scholarly aura would actually be Chen Ji.

After asking the Realm Spirit of the Ink Brush Realm, Lu Fang finally understood that the more outsiders interacted with him and the more they read the books of the Ink Brush Realm, the easier it was to obtain scholarly aura.

It could also be said that the Ink Brush Realm recognized Chen Ji relatively easily.

But when Lu Fang asked about the criteria for recognition, the Realm Spirit didn't answer and kept silent no matter how he pursued the question.

"This is scholarly aura, I also have it."

Lu Fang decided to tell the function of scholarly aura. In the future, more people would obtain scholarly aura, and wanting to hide it was impossible.

After all, people were reading the books you wrote to obtain scholarly aura.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, flipping through elegant prose could obtain supernatural power. Although the appearance of scholarly aura was alternative, it could also be accepted.

After Chen Ji finished listening to the function of scholarly aura, he couldn't hide the joy on his face, "Brother Lu, do you also have scholarly aura? Why can't I see it?"

Lu Fang could see the scholarly aura that outsiders took into their bodies, but others couldn't see his scholarly aura unless he deliberately displayed it.

This was the special feature of being the master of the Ink Brush Realm.

If others could see the scholarly aura on his fingers, wouldn't they be scared to death?

Others had a "dot" of scholarly aura. He had strands of scholarly aura a foot long; there was simply no comparison.

The scholarly aura of outsiders, if not taken into the body, could be seen by everyone. It was just that there was very little at the beginning, and if you didn't look carefully, you couldn't see the scholarly aura.

As for taking scholarly aura into the body, it was also very easy. As long as you concentrated your spirit and had a thought, as long as you weren't a fool, you could basically master it.

"Xiao Mansion" on Xiande Street in the east of the capital.

"Your son Xiao Jinchen is dead?"

"His head was severed in front of everyone?"

"The killer is still a disciple of that old fellow Xu Xu Han Yi and is still at large. Such a big thing, why didn't you inform me at the first time?"

Former Prime Minister Xiao Wanlin sat on the grand master's chair in the hall, his inverted triangular eyes revealing ruthlessness. The muscles on his wrinkled face were twitching because they were too tense.

Xiao Qi stood with his hands down, lowering his head, "Father was attacking the Semi-Sage realm, and I was afraid you would be distracted."

Xiao Wanlin snorted coldly. Attacking the Semi-Sage realm had already failed, and now coming out of seclusion, he learned that someone had killed a direct descendant of the Xiao family. Now he was even more angry on top of anger.

"Blood debt should be paid with blood!"

"If we can't even do this, wouldn't the Xiao family become the laughingstock of the capital? You can afford to lose this face, but I, Xiao Wanlin, cannot afford to lose this old face!"

"I want everyone in the capital to know that those who dare to kill a direct descendant of the Xiao family will not have any good end!"

One hour later.

The powerful people in the capital who were related to the Xiao family all received an invitation to attend the Xiao family banquet. ===== CHAPTER 24 =====