Chapter 26: The Slanderer

Slap!

A loud slap rang out.

What surprised everyone was that the person who was slapped was not the Third Rank Great Confucian Su Li, but Xiao Wanlin, who was only half a step away from entering the Semi-Sage realm.

"You... entered the Semi-Sage realm!"

Xiao Wanlin's face turned pale. On his old face was a blood-red palm print, which was just slapped by Su Li.

Slap, slap, slap...

Su Li slapped Xiao Wanlin several times and scolded: "You old bastard, let you bully my junior brother."

"Presumptuous!"

A voice like thunder exploded.

The Xiao family Semi-Sage made a move!

"This old man is going to the Xiao Mansion to ask how 'presumptuous' is written!"

Su Li grabbed Xiao Wanlin and shook his body, disappearing on the spot, leaving the people in the hall in a mess in the wind.

Third Rank Great Confucian entering the Semi-Sage realm, because the foundation is different, the strength is also worlds apart.

The strength Su Li displayed was much stronger than the vast majority of Semi-Sages.

"Your Majesty, this child Lu Fang recklessly discussed and arranged the family affairs of the Royal Family and the Duke's family, should be executed!" Xiao Qi was trembling all over.

He was not worried that Xiao Wanlin would have an accident. As long as the three Semi-Sages of the Xiao family were there, Su Li, even if he had become a Semi-Sage, couldn't turn over any waves. The key now was to let the Emperor admit that Lu Fang was guilty.

Only by entering the Ministry of Justice prison would everything be easy to handle.

"Your Majesty, the student believes that he is jealous of my literary talent, and because I am under Master Xu's sect, he wants to kill me."

Lu Fang said in a deep voice.

Just now he was indeed a little uneasy, but Eldest Senior Brother Su Li, a Semi-Sage, had come to support him, so what was there to be afraid of.

Dream of the Red Chamber was published in the Great Zhou Literary Gazette after the Zhou Emperor had seen it.

Asking the Zhou Emperor to kill Lu Fang for this, what difference did it have from slapping the Emperor's face? Now Lu Fang had to do was to speak of "reason" and confuse the concepts.

"I am jealous of your literary talent? Ridiculous!" Xiao Qi sneered: "Your two pieces of elegant prose are low-class idle literature of romance, and the imagery-level 'Ode to Quelling Demons' was not written by you personally. It must have been stolen from somewhere."

Lu Fang refuted:

"This official, please be careful with your words. You have no evidence to say that 'Ode to Quelling Demons' was not written by me, yet you assert that I stole it. This does not conform to reason and law."

Xiao Qi frowned and said: "What evidence do you have that 'Ode to Quelling Demons' was written by you? If you have no evidence, shut up!"

"Of course, if you can write another imagery-level poem in front of His Majesty, I will kowtow and apologize to you immediately, otherwise you..."

Lu Fang interrupted: "Good! This is what you said."

A Xiao family student on the side said coldly: "What if you can't write it?"

Writing an imagery-level poem, did you really think it was growing Chinese cabbage? Some Great Confucians couldn't write one in their whole life.

"If I can't write it, I will be at the disposal of your Xiao family!"

Lu Fang said confidently.

In the previous life, there were so many poems that had been passed down for ages, how could there not be one imagery-level one.

"Good! I accept it. Please, Your Majesty, be a witness."

Xiao Qi didn't want to get entangled in this topic, but upon hearing Lu Fang's wild words, he immediately accepted it.

Ji Feng's eyebrows were all wrinkled together. It was already a headache for him that Xiao Wanlin and Su Li fought in the hall, and now he had to be a witness. He reminded:

"Lu Fang, you must think clearly. Imagery-level poetry is hard to come by."

Lu Fang pondered for a moment and smiled: "Your Majesty, the student has thought it through. How about this poem?"

"Ode to Lime."

"A thousand hammers and ten thousand chisels out of the deep mountains, burning in the fire as if it were nothing."

"Not afraid of being crushed to pieces, I want to leave innocence in the world."

The echo of "wanting to leave innocence in the world" rippled, and everyone in the hall stared dumbfoundedly at Lu Fang, who was standing straight.

Violent cyan Haoran Zhengqi surged out, and a picture scroll appeared above Lu Fang's head. A young scholar stood on the top of the mountain, his face full of determination.

The moment everyone saw the young scholar, they couldn't help but have the poem "Not afraid of being crushed to pieces, I want to leave innocence in the world" emerge in their hearts.

What a noble character this is. As long as one can prove one's innocence, what does death matter?

"It is a good imagery-level poem."

Semi-Sage Sima Yu of the History family appeared out of thin air and reached out in ecstasy.

An "ancient aura" condensed without dispersing, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into the Semi-Sage ink treasure · History Book of Time, and the Semi-Sage ink treasure · Pen of Time. Sima Yu wrote while saying:

"Twenty-ninth year of Tianfeng, September 22nd."

"Xiao Qi, descendant of the Duke of Xiao, slandered the scholar Lu Fang, saying that the imagery-level 'Ode to Quelling Demons' he wrote earlier was stolen, and used the Zhou Emperor as a witness to bet..."

"Lu Fang wrote another imagery-level good poem in front of everyone. The 'Ode to Lime' with 'wanting to leave innocence in the world' was born, and the civil and military officials of the whole court were shocked!"

After writing the last stroke, Sima Yu was eager to try, with no intention of putting away the History Book of Time and the Pen of Time.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Ji Feng laughed and clapped, "Is there anyone among the ministers who questions Lu Fang's literary talent?"

The civil and military officials of the whole court whispered and discussed, but no one dared to step forward again.

Xiao Qi's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and his heart was full of regret.

Why did he have to be cheap and bet on this with the other party? It was clearly agreed that he would use the excuse of "recklessly discussing and arranging the family affairs of the Royal Family and the Duke's family" in "Dream of the Red Chamber" to let Lu Fang go to prison.

Now it's good, Lu Fang wrote an imagery-level good poem "Ode to Lime" on the spot.

"Not afraid of being crushed to pieces, I want to leave innocence in the world."

Just these two sentences ruined Xiao Qi's reputation and he was recorded in the History Book of Time as a "slanderer" by the History family Semi-Sage Sima Yu, leaving a bad name for ten thousand years.

And he had to kneel and apologize to Lu Fang on the spot. If he admitted his mistake, how could he send the person to the Ministry of Justice prison?

Finished! All finished!

Stealing a chicken didn't succeed, but lost the rice.

"This official, just now you seemed to have said that if I could write an imagery-level poem, you would kneel and apologize." Lu Fang said with a smile.

"You deliberately prepared the poem to lure me into the trap!"

Xiao Qi glared.

In the Great Zhou, one doesn't kneel when seeing the Emperor, only when worshipping ancestors. Even when seeing elders, one bows. It is conceivable how humiliating kneeling is.

This is also why, if a conflict occurs in the Great Zhou, one would let the other party kneel and apologize.

"Lu Fang, Xiao official is the Minister of Justice. You should be forgiving where you can. Why not just treat it as a joke." Fan Sheng stepped forward to advise.

"Who is this official?" Lu Fang asked.

Fan Sheng cleared his throat: "Ministry of Revenue..."

Lu Fang interrupted with a smile: "I don't even know you, why should I be forgiving where I can? When he slandered me, why didn't you say that? Just treat it as a joke, what kind of joke are you making."

Fan Sheng was so angry that he almost fainted. This child was so arrogant.

"Who slandered you!" Xiao Qi said angrily.

Lu Fang pursed his lips at the History family Semi-Sage Sima Yu and said to Xiao Qi:

"You can only shout at me, and it's not what I said. If you have the ability, go find him. Furthermore, His Majesty was the witness just now. Could it be that Xiao official wants to go back on his word?" ===== CHAPTER 27 =====